As soon as the forcefield dissipated, Arnold's summons rushed towards him. Wanting to help him but he waved them to stop and got up by himself. He then glanced down at himself. He smelled weird, he hadn't had a proper shower in days and now he was drenched in a mixture of his blood, sweat and guts. It was weird but his body seemed light maybe puking his stomach out made him feel lightweight? 

[ I assure you, that's not the case. ]

A weirdly electronic and masculine voice echoed in his head. A voice he was sure he had never heard, yet it felt like he had known this voice for ages. 

'System-sama?' Arnold thought as a smile broke on his face. 

[ Although I'm a nameless entity, there's no denying that it is I. You've done well in my absence. ]

'Yeah... Did you get an update or something?'

[ I believe you can say that. Either way, let's check your status plate. There have been some changes. ]

'Oh right! Totally forgot about that.' Arnold stretched his neck while the status plate popped up in front of his iris. 

___

NAME: Arnold Ling

TITLE : [Crouching figure], [Extraordinary figure], [Perfectionist], [Master Tamer], [Killer Of The Masses], [God Killer], [Forgemaster]

LEVEL: 162

RANK: Cosmic B

SPECIAL SKILL : [DEVIL'S RAGE]

CLASS : [Cosmic creationist]

SUBCLASSES:

[Expand to view details]

HP: 10138/10138

MANA: 20837/20837

EXP: 0/15000

STRENGTH (STR) : 161[+65] (due to the gears)

DEFENSE (DEF): 161 (due to the gears)

STAMINA (STA) : 78

INTELLIGENCE (INT) : 241

AGILITY (AGI) : 91

ACCURACY (ACC) : 94

EVADE (EVD) : 78

CHARISMA (CHA): 86

MYSTIC (MYS): 155

Summons details :

NUMBER OF ELITE SUMMONS: 8/30

TOTAL NUMBER OF SUMMONS: 354

[Expand to see details]

ABILITIES:

[Expand to see details]

ATTRIBUTE POINTS REMAINING: 404

POTENTIAL POINTS REMAINING: 214

Excess EXP: 000 (Stored EXP was converted into levels. You'll now have a choice to store gained EXP or use it to level up as usual.) 

___

"That's... Interesting." Arnold mumbled, "I have a choice whether I want to level up or not. It'll be handy. Not to mention the points I got."

[ The status only reflects the changes in your stats and not the physical changes. ]

"What do you mean?" Arnold mumbled.

He was feeling weird the entire time but he didn't know the reason behind it. After all, he had puked his guts out and was standing in a pool of his blood. Yet he had never felt so elated, so lively. 

[ Let's just say, your body went through some... changes. It's no longer the body of a human but a cosmic being. The insides of your body have been altered in a way for you to survive various hardships ahead of you. ]

"So... You're saying I'm not a human anymore?"

[ Correct. You're now what is referred to as a cosmic being. A being who's no longer bond to a mere planet. As you can feel, your body has been changed a lot, for the better. You can now do things that are impossible for others to do. ]

"Things like?"

[ You can breathe in space. Technically, you don't need to breathe in outer space. Your body will take care of itself. However, I recommend that you don't try to prove me wrong. It might lead to some... Complications. ]

"That's... A lot to take in... Wait what about-"

[ Don't worry. Your genitalia was left untouched. You can still mate and reproduce as much as you please. ]

"That's reassuring." He mumbled with an awkward smile on his face. Nina wouldn't be pleased if something went wrong with him in that department. 

But he had a more important matter to discuss now. Matters like why he was the 'third' one to ascend and who were the other two. Unfortunately, system-sama refused to answer the latter question. Stating, he wasn't allowed to disclose the information. 

The former part of Arnold's question, however, was something he could answer and it was pretty much what was shown to him. Two humans had already completed their respective ascension quest before he did. And hence he was the third one. 

Even though system-sama refused to elaborate any further, Arnold could guess one of the two ascended individuals. It was someone who used to be pretty close to him. Someone very important. His sister, Nicole. 

This could explain her sudden awakening to the power she had now and now that he knew exactly what kind of boost completing the ascension quest can give, he was sure of it. However, he decided to use his probe skill to confirm his suspicions the next time he meets her. 

Nicole wasn't stronger than him despite her ascension. No, that wasn't the case. She was strong. And since she could probably oneshot Tiamut, she might even be stronger than him. He was just lucky that he was immune to her trump card of an ability. That's all. 

Still, he had no idea as to who the other individual could be. Heck, he wasn't even sure if they were on the same continent or not. All he knew was, there might be someone stronger than him out there. If his suspicions were true and that guy turned out to be stronger than him, he might need someone to handle them. Someone like Nicole. 

"Looks like I'll have to hear her out after all. Well, I'll do that later. I think I was being harsh on her... Maybe it was too much. I should at least give her a chance to speak her mind out, that way she'll know she can still trust me. Then, we can take care of the other person..." He mumbled before getting lost in his thoughts once again.

Soon he snapped back into reality. He had created a relic, yet he hadn't made a weapon to fire the bullets. And by bullets, he remembered he had intended to see what were they exactly capable of doing, before making new weapons and gears. 

___

Name: God's Executioner

Type: Highly compressed nuclear bullet

Rank: Relic 

Damage: 30000-40000 true damage

Requirements to use: Above lvl 150/ A cosmic being. 

Length: 50 mm

Weight: 43 grams

Ability: [Poison Touch]

Upon contact, unleashes the concentrated radiation equivalent to a dozen nuclear explosions within a fraction of a second. The radiation expands rapidly up to 5 kilometres radius, poisoning any living thing within the radius and doom them to slow and painful death if they, unfortunately, survive the first attack. 

Deals 1000-2300 physical damage/second for a minute. 

Additional Effect: [God's nightmare] — Deals additional 20% damage to godly beings (Demigods, Lesser gods and Higher gods) 

Additional Effect: [Hell's Gate] — Upon contact with the target, scorches everything within the radius of 200 meters. The temperature rises sharply and anything within this radius vaporises. (Lesser gods and higher gods are not affected by this ability.) 

Remarks: An excellent weapon crafted by Earth's greatest forgemaster. If there's something the gods fear, it's death and this bullet is not only their worst nightmare but also the harbinger of their death. A perfect tool for an executioner who is willing to go beyond rules and regulations to achieve their goal. 

___

"..."

Arnold was speechless. He thought he was making a God killing bullet, not a God overkilling bullet. Talos was right. If Arnold hadn't used a small amount of celestial silver, he might as well have made a bullet strong enough to wipe out an entire continent. Just one bullet at bam! Entire civilisations could disappear without leaving a trace behind. 

The bullet was everything he had expected it to be. To be honest, it was beyond anything he had expected. It was just a handheld nuke. But now Arnold, not only had to make a gun strong enough to utilise the bullet's abilities to the fullest but he also needed a weapon to shoot from a distance as being withing 5 kilometres of the target was more or less like a suicidal move. 

"Power and range... I think the choice is obvious." Arnold stroked his beard and opened the shop, "Since I have the gunslinger subclass, there should be a knowledge related to... There it is!"

___

[Advanced Sniping Knowledge]: The advance knowledge required by [Gunslingers] to unlock [Sharpshooter] branch of gunslinger subclass. Acquiring this knowledge also increases accuracy by 10% when using snipers, bows, and crossbow. Buying this knowledge also unlocks the ability [Paralyzing Shot].

[Paralyzing Shot] : (Active ability) Basic ability for [Sharpshooter] branch. This ability paralyzes the target for 3 seconds and reduces their movement speed by 60% for the next minute. 

[ Rank: A ]

Price : 10 [Red beast] crystals.

[The amount would be automatically deducted from your inventory after purchase]

Would you like to make a purchase? 

Yes or no. 

___

This was exactly what he was looking for. Usually, the price would be a factor he would consider before buying something from the shop but right now, he was pretty loaded with high tier beast crystals. More like he had enough crystals to wildly go on a shopping spree. All thanks to his hunting trips in the swamps and the wastelands. 

"Yes." Arnold smiled as the crystals disappeared from his inventory, "Damn, I missed the shop so much!"

___

Request acknowledged.

Learning...

Learning...

Learning...

You've successfully acquired the knowledge [Advanced Sniping Knowledge].

You've unlocked new ability(s):

• [Paralyzing Shot] : (Active ability) Basic ability for [Sharpshooter] branch. This ability paralyzes the target for 3 seconds and reduces their movement speed by 60% for the next minute.

[ Rank: A ]

[Cooldown: 20 seconds]

Congratulations! You've received a new subclass: [Sharpshooter]

REWARDS :

Accuracy (ACC) : +30

___

Arnold let out a deep sigh of relief as the message ended. He was about to close the interface when another message popped up. 

___

You have unclaimed rewards. 

___