Chapter 3 The Surge Of Power
The sunlight streaming down made Axel slowly open his eyes.
"Uugh… what happened…?" he muttered weakly.
Then the memory of what had happened earlier suddenly returned to him.
"AAAH! AAH!!! AHH!!!"
He immediately grabbed his stomach. Earlier, his abdomen had been torn open by the dragon's bite but now the wound had somehow closed completely. The moment he realized that, a wave of nausea hit him.
"Uuughrh Blegh…!"
He vomited onto the ground.
Remembering how the dragon had bitten him and the unbearable pain he had felt pain unlike anything he had ever experienced before left him deeply shaken.
(I'm… still alive?)
Then another realization struck him.
(Too real the pain is unbeareable.)
"Bleeegh!! Huff… huff…"
Axel vomited again before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Breathing heavily, he slowly looked around.
"What happened…? Why is it so quiet? Wasn't this place supposed to be filled with dragons?"
He looked up at the sky and around his surroundings.
"What…? Why is the sky so clear? And why does the ground look like it has lost all its magma and fire, as if everything has gone out?"
He began walking around the area. From a distance, he noticed a massive crater about a kilometer wide, and so deep that the bottom couldn't even be seen.
"What the…?"
Then Axel suddenly remembered that he had used the Black Hole Bomb.
"Don't tell me… all of this is my doing?"
He rubbed his head, still in disbelief.
"That item you made, Fuji… it's seriously way too powerful. Maybe you really are going to get fired."
Suddenly, a dragon landed behind him.
Axel heard the heavy impact of its landing. His entire body trembled in fear, and his teeth wouldn't stop chattering. The memory of the pain from being chewed by a dragon earlier was still vivid in his mind.
He didn't dare turn around, yet at the same time his body felt frozen in place.
"Huff… huff… huff… huff…"
His breathing became uneven.
Gathering what little courage he had left, he slowly turned his head, hoping it wasn't a dragon behind him.
But his hope wasn't answered.
The moment he saw it, his eyes widened in shock, and he collapsed to the ground. The dragon roared at him, its deafening voice making Axel even more terrified. He couldn't move at all, tears streaming down his face.
Inside his mind, panic filled every thought.
(Why… why is it him again!? I don't want to feel that pain again!!! What!? I died!!! But I already died!!! Why am I here!? What did I do wrong!? I don't want to feel that pain again!!!)
Axel's mind was completely consumed by fear.
The dragon sensed Axel's terror and began to devour him. Axel had already given up his legs wouldn't move no matter how hard he tried.
The dragon bit down on him.
But Axel felt nothing.
He kept his eyes tightly shut, hoping he would die quickly.
The dragon sensed something strange. It tried biting him harder.
Yet Axel remained completely unharmed not even a scratch appeared on his body.
After waiting for what felt like a long time for death to come, Axel slowly opened his eyes. Right in front of him were the dragon's tongue and rows of sharp teeth.
Startled, he shut his eyes again. But something felt wrong.
(Why… am I not dead yet? No… why haven't I felt any pain?)
He opened his eyes again.
This time he saw the dragon whining in frustration, struggling as it tried and failed to bite through him.
While still inside the dragon's mouth, Axel grabbed the upper and lower jaws with both hands and tried to pry them apart. To his surprise, the dragon's jaws opened easily.
"What? Why is it so easy?"
Then he forced them open even harder. With a brutal pull, the dragon's mouth tore slightly at the sides. Axel quickly jumped back, putting some distance between them.
He looked at the dragon's mouth as it whimpered in pain, and a satisfied expression appeared on his face.
"I don't know what happened to me… but maybe I'll make you regret ever being born."
He slowly approached the injured dragon and threw a punch at its body. The impact left a visible mark on the dragon's scales.
"HAHAHAHA!!!"
He struck it again this time even harder punch after punch, raining down on the dragon. The creature groaned in pain while Axel felt a twisted sense of satisfaction.
A few moments later, the dragon's groans of pain faded into silence. Axel's face was smeared with the dragon's blood.
He slowly sat down beside the dragon's corpse, staring blankly into the emptiness.
After a while, he suddenly vomited again.
"Blergh…!"
When he finished, he looked down at the blood covering his body. He wanted to deny it wanted to believe that all of this was just a dream. But he couldn't.
The blood, the smell, the pain, his emotions, the sunlight, the wind everything felt painfully real.
(Earlier, I thought it was just a long nightmare because I'd been too busy working on the development of the game Aetherion Fall… but…)
Then another thought struck him.
(Right… if this isn't a dream, then the tutorial and everything else before… AH! that wasn't a dream either, was it?)
Axel quickly opened his status window and looked at the stats and level he had.
His eyes widened in shock.
"Hey… you've got to be kidding me, right?"
Race: Human (Celestial)
Level: 1897
Bonus Stat Points: 1897 Skill Points: 1897
HP: 1,899,000
MP: 1,907,000
STR: 1897 INT: 1907
AGI: 1899 WIS: 1899
VIT: 1898 PER: 1899
END: 1898 LUK: 1898
Active Skills
Appraisal Lv.1
Allows the user to examine and appraise items in descriptive form. The higher the level, the clearer the information becomes, and rare or higher-tier items can be appraised.
Insight Lv.1
Allows the user to inspect HP and MP values of a chosen target. Higher levels provide clearer and more accurate readings.
Overlord Aura (MAX)
Suppresses enemies whose level is at least 10% lower than the player's total level, inflicting a Fear effect.
Limit (MAX)
Allows the user to suppress their own stats to a desired level. If HP reaches zero, the limit automatically resets and releases an AOE shockwave, stunning nearby enemies.
Spells
None
Passive Skills
Weak Fire Resistance Lv.1
(5% Fire Resistance)
Provides slight resistance to fire. The higher the level, the more effective the resistance becomes.
Celestial Human (Special)
A Human race that evolves into a Celestial after surpassing level 1000 without party. Celestial Humans possess a much longer lifespan than ordinary humans.
Death Threshold (MAX)
When HP falls to 20%, all stats increase by 100%.
Titles
Irregular Existence (Always On)
Permanent Level Cap
• No maximum level limit.
Presence Blur
• High-level entities can sense abnormalities.
• You are not bound by the fate of this world.
Double Title
• Can equip two titles
Dragon Calamity Slayer +50% damage against all dragon-type enemies
• +70% Fire Resistance
• Immune to Fear effects from draconic creatures
• Low-rank dragons cannot attack first
• Fire attacks can damage fire-type creatures
• Dragons instinctively fear you
One-Man Cataclysm All stats increase by 15% when not in a party or team
• Damage increases by 30% when not in a party or team
• If killed while fighting alone, you will revive 1 km away from the enemy's location (once 5 year)
Axel felt a wave of relief wash over him. He let his body fall backward onto the ground and started laughing.
"Hahaha… HAHAHA!!!"
He let out a long breath as he stared up at the sky.
"I won't have to feel that pain again… hahaha!!!"
After calming down a little, he looked at his status window again.
"Hmm… there are some new skills. Some of them I recognize, but there are also a few that I've never seen before."
Then his eyes stopped on one particular skill.
Celestial Human.
"What's this? This is the first time I've ever seen it. Is this some kind of hidden skill?"
He held his chin thoughtfully.
"Hmm… could it be because of my Irregular title that I'm able to reach levels beyond the limit…?"
He began to analyze it.
"In the game, the maximum level for players is 200. But because of my title, I can apparently exceed that limit. And this title can't be turned off, unlike my other titles."
Then he checked another skill.
"Hmm… this skill called Limit lets me control my level and stats? I want to try it."
Axel activated the Limit skill and attempted to reduce his level down to 200.
Soon, his status changed and appeared like this:
HP: 200,000
MP: 200,000
STR: 200 INT: 200
AGI: 200 WIS: 200
VIT: 200 PER: 200
END: 200 LUK: 200
"Ah, it worked. Maybe this will be useful for deceiving enemies who can see my status. And if my HP drops to 0, I could even use it to make my enemies think I'm dead and stunt them then catch them off guard."
He paused and thought again.
"Hmm… did I get this skill because my level exceeded the limit? If that's the case, then that's pretty good."
Axel let out a long sigh.
"Even though I'm one of the developers of this game, there are still so many new things I'm discovering."
He looked up at the sky again.
"Maybe I shouldn't underestimate this world as if it's just the game I developed. Besides, I don't know all the information in the game either, so staying cautious won't hurt."
Then Axel opened his inventory and was immediately surprised.
"Wow… I got something completely unexpected."
Inventory
Calamity Dragon Heart (SSS Rank)
The heart of the Almighty Dragon that ruled the continent of magma and fire the king of all fire dragons.
It is said to possess hidden powers yet to be discovered. Blackhole Bomb (Dev Item)
A Developer Item capable of creating a black hole that absorbs and kills enemies, allies, and other entities within a 1 km radius.
Upon activation, the item's owner will automatically be teleported 1.5 km away. Dragon Scales (S Rank) ×400
Durable dragon scales that can be used as high-grade crafting materials. Dragon Meat (S Rank) ×999
Extremely rare dragon meat sought after by master chefs.
Its taste is said to feel like experiencing heaven itself.
Depending on the chef's cooking skill, consuming it can grant temporary bonus stats for one hour. Dragon Bones (S Rank) ×500
Bones from dragons that can be used as valuable crafting materials. Dragon Hearts (S Rank) ×50
The hearts of dragons.
They can be used as crafting materials, and it is rumored that mages are willing to offer immense wealth to obtain them.
"Okay, I got some pretty important items especially the Calamity Dragon Heart."
He scratched his head.
"I forgot what its hidden effect is."
Axel let out a sigh.
"Well, the game has been running for five years already, so it's only natural that I'd forget what it does. Besides, the updates for that game were insane. There's no way anyone on the team could still remember every single item effect. Hahaha!"
After finishing checking and understanding his status, Axel looked around at his surroundings.
"Hopefully there's a village or a country somewhere around here."
He opened his map. About five kilometers of the surrounding area had already been revealed, and none of it was covered in black fog.
"Let's see if there's any place that looks like buildings."
He scrolled through the map, searching carefully, but found nothing.
"Hmm… that's really strange. Wasn't there supposed to be a place around here? Don't tell me the map is different from the one in the game?"
He shook his head.
"No… no, that can't be… unless…"
In the game, time and kingdoms didn't develop they always remained the same. But this wasn't a game. Time continued to move forward, and nations would naturally grow and change.
"Ah… don't tell me the village near here was destroyed? Or maybe it moved somewhere else? I don't know."
Axel closed the map.
"Well… it looks like I don't have much of a choice. I'll have to start walking and find a village or some kind of settlement."