"This is a training room. Just like you asked, I tried to prepare it with the most advanced technologies," August said, glancing around the massive room before speaking to Daniel.
Daniel nodded in awe as he looked at the room. Even though August called it a "room," it was at least a thousand meters. It was shaped like a cube, and each of the four walls looked as soft as a cushion—designed to prevent injury even if someone crashed into them.
"The only people who can enter here are you—and me, of course. You're free to use it however you want. I have something I need to take care of."
"Thank you very much," Daniel said gratefully, and August left after saying goodbye.
According to August, this place was completely spy-proof, with no cameras whatsoever. It made sense.
In a place like this, any spy camera would easily get destroyed by the surrounding energy waves—even the best ones.
Daniel sat cross-legged on the ground. It had been a while since he last checked his panel.
[ Status Panel: Daniel F. Noir ]
[ Rank: D / (1011/5999 EXP) ]
[ Class: The Fallen Priest ]
[ Class Rank: Transcendent / SSS ]
[ Innate Talent: God's Blood ]
[ Structure: Undying Soul of Dragon (5% / 100%) ]
[ Comprehension: Transcendent Harmony Technique (100%), Fire Element (2%) ]
[ Title: Mana's Beloved Child ]
[ Skills:
• Fallen Will (SSS)
• Crimson Judgment (SSS)
• The Light of Destruction (S)
• Slash of Destruction (S)
• Eternal Judgment (S)
• Mana Doubling (S)
• Mana Storage Doubling (S)
• Mana Healing ( S ) ]
[ Stats:
• Physical Power: 1090
• Spiritual Power: 8999
• Intelligence: 213
• Mana: 4100
• Endurance: 6700 ]
[ Body Status: Normal ]
[ Extra Lives: 8 ]
[ Mental State: Normal ]
[ Blessing: The Fallen ]
Daniel looked over all his stats, but this time he wasn't particularly shocked. His stats were, without exaggeration, several times higher than usual—and for his current rank, they were insanely high. In fact, even a Rank C awakened would find them extreme.
But since he'd basically gone to the brink of death to get them and knew the pain of acquiring that power, they didn't exactly surprise him anymore.
"My spiritual power should even surpass that of a typical Rank B awakened," he thought as he looked at the stat.
With his current spiritual power, he no longer had to worry about spiritual attacks below Rank A. And he wasn't dumb enough to go picking a fight with Rank A awakened—for now.
"But the gap between my spiritual power and physical power is way too big," he thought, frowning as he looked at his physical stat.
The difference was nearly eightfold. His spiritual power was at Rank B level, but his physical strength was just about Rank C. He needed to fix this gap as fast as possible.
The only way was the Black Swamp—but unfortunately, he had no idea how to get in. From what he knew, it was entirely controlled by the guilds, and to enter, you had to be a member of one.
"I'll think about that later," he muttered, shifting his focus to his title. With it, he could absorb mana essence.
And now that he had free time, it was the perfect moment to test it.
He closed his eyes and focused on the space around him. Suddenly, he could feel the mana energy. It was a transparent yellow color.
But he ignored that and tried to find something purer and more powerful—and fortunately, he did. Mana essence. Pure and much stronger.
Following the description of the title, he imagined himself as a black hole and tried to pull the essence toward him. The mana essence slowly began to float and flow toward him.
It didn't resist. It calmly got absorbed through his skin. His spiritual sea began to fill up with mana essence.
Daniel didn't store all of it in one place. Instead, he tried to spread it across his body just like he would regular mana—and luckily, it worked.
As the essence flooded his organs and internal systems, he could feel it reinforcing and enhancing them.
He didn't stop. That was exactly what he aimed to do—increase his physical strength.
[ Your Physical Power has increased by 10. ]
[ Your Physical Power has increased by 13. ]
[ Your Physical Power has increased by 23. ]
Thankfully, it worked. His physical strength gradually began to rise.
"If I push it any further, my body's gonna explode," Daniel grimaced, and feeling that his body couldn't handle more, he stopped.
He could tell that his muscles and organs weren't strong enough to absorb more essence. But that raised a question in his mind.
> [ Warning… Your Physical Power has reached the maximum achievable under Rank B. Further growth is not possible. ]
So how come his soul was able to become this powerful while his body had limits?
He was sure even most Rank B awakened would have trouble matching his spiritual power.
It didn't take long before he found the answer.
"My soul was completely destroyed and rebuilt as something new. But my body is still human. Until I rank up, I won't be able to get stronger than this."
The realization made him groan.
He'd thought going to the Black Swamp would be the answer to boosting his physical power, but now he understood that was just wishful thinking. Unless he ranked up, his growth was capped.
"Ugh. Why am I so unlucky?" Daniel grumbled, though he knew it was pointless. He had two options now: either challenge the second floor of the Tower, or return to the Celestial Domain and find a place swarming with corruption beasts so he could farm EXP and rank up.
To challenge the second floor, he needed two keys—and right now, he only had one.
So option one was out. As for option two… it seemed possible, but he'd have to do some research and find a suitable place.
Of course, that didn't make him feel any better. He really wanted to defeat a Rank B before reaching Rank B himself—but it seemed impossible now.
Well, at least he had achieved to withstand a peak Rank B. Better than nothing.
"Alright, time to learn how to fly," he said, shifting his focus to his next goal.