Defiant’s Edge (Black Iron Empire) - Valtir 1497

It took Markus some time to recover from that shocking revelation which Xaradel delivered without much tact, but despite feeling a massive pressure on his shoulders upon learning the events surrounding his arrival to Valtir, he came to the obvious conclusion. Originally thinking this world was nothing more than an advanced gameworld where none of his choices could affect his real life, it can be quite shocking to find out everything wasn’t as it seemed. For Markus-who now understood there was a sliver of hope in the darkness-he knew the only way to return back to Earth was to go for the completionist route.

Every game ever made always had various groups within their playerbases who expressed certain goals. Most of those players were dubbed the “Casual” players who have no goal save to enjoy the game as a hobby whereas on the opposing side were the “Completionists” who did everything they could to not only beat the game entirely, but discover hidden secrets hidden deep within the surface lore. Markus-prior to his downfall and subsequent transfer into Cruxborne Legends-was a “hardcore competitor” with a fierce competitive spirit, so he naturally fell towards the extreme side of that playerbase. For someone like him with no way to log out and a quest given to him by a deity far above the pantheon of Valtir that could let him return to Earth, he’d have no other choice.

[A bell tolls at the stroke of Midnight…] A system prompt informed Markus as if responding to the growing spark of ambition within his Soul Core. [Ancient secrets lay buried at the edge of defiance where none dare to tread. A man out of Time guides the wayward and his soul cries out in the Forging of Legends. Be wary, Progenitor of the Cruxborne, for the threads of Fate itself have begun to converge and weave a new destined path. Blood shall be spilled and fire pave the way for Carnage to take root, but not even the Dark or Light shall be seen favorably under the gaze of True Oblivion. Cultivate your darkness and temper your Light for your Legend begins…]

[Ding! Congratulations, Traveller! You have stumbled upon a Path of Destiny!]

[Path of Destiny Unlocked: The Completionist]

Markus didn’t understand what was happening nor did he give a damn about it. He knew that all he wanted was to get back home and the only way he could was to move forward. Rage boiled his blood at the unfairness of his life and the complete 180 his world took just because of this stupid game. Markus felt a whole slew of different yet contradictory emotions at these turns of events, but something else was stoked by that fire burning in his Soul Core. Something thought long since petered out since his childhood days.

“Damn you all,” he seethed and unknowingly began to cultivate. The surrounding environment had become affected with his negative emotions-drawing the attention of monsters towards the ruined city. Markus stood tall as he unknowingly tapped into the world’s energy and started constructing his first spell. At this very moment, no one had a clue of just how dangerous this spell constructed under extreme emotional duress would come in the future. “I thought this was just a game. A fantasy story where there wouldn’t be true consequences, but DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!”

Multiple explosions rang out through the surrounding area around Defiant’s Edge as Markus unleashed his devastatingly powerful spell. All of the monsters between levels one to twenty with low cultivation tiers died instantly without having a single clue on how they perished, but the effect was slightly worse for the people who carried evil intentions in their very souls.

In a nearby village situated well within the area of effect of Markus’ spell, a small child who had been beaten within an inch of his life by a small clique of pompous brats-spoiled by their parents’ status and bloodlines-felt his injuries heal rapidly. His assailants fared far worse as they felt their vitality drain at a similar speed-rapidly aging their bodies to the point of looking like haggard old men despite having young souls. None of those villagers had a clue as to what happened, but some believed an act of the gods had been delivered upon the wicked. That also sparked another legend to be birthed, but that wouldn’t be for a few thousand years.

As for the present time, one other person was saved by Markus’ spell. This particular person had suffered a great injury to her dantian-preventing her from cultivating-because she had unknowingly angered the wrong person who was significantly more powerful than her. Since her dantian had been shattered, she spent her time as an adventurer who spent her time on meager jobs searching the forests at the border regions of the Empire. Some of those jobs were small culling jobs for the local population while others were discovery quests, but those rare tasks-like the one she was currently on-were the most dangerous ones.

Unfortunately, this task had been given to her directly by the Guildmaster back in the township of Alvator and she accepted the task without knowing it was a death sentence. Her quest was to clear out the [Barrow King Fortress] dungeon near the ruins of Defiant’s Edge. The reward for clearing this dungeon was a startling 200 Gold with a D-ranked weapon of choice from the Guild Armory, but just before she could clear the dungeon, the [Barrow King] made her health drop to one in two hits. Just before the king could deal the final blow and add her into his undead legion, the spell cast by Markus ripped through the dungeons’ protective barriers and slaughtered the [Barrow King] in one hit-draining his soul-while healing the adventress completely.

Her name was Lynn Eldrin.

Going back to Markus, he felt absolutely drained after casting his first ever spell. His mana was at zero and he had a debuff active on his status known as [Energy Exhaustion]. He sat down on the now blackened ground as his mind tried to catch up with what happened after the emotional shitstorm while multiple notifications went off in his minimized screen.

After giving himself a moment to catch up, he read the notifications which made him drop his jaw in shock.

[Spell created: Gaze of Oblivion]

[You have defeated 20x Wild Boar (Lv2)!]

[You have defeated 10x Wild Boar Elite (Lv4)!]

[You have defeated 50x Sinned Humanoid (Lv 3)!]

[You have defeated 1x {Boss} Barrow King (Lv10)!]

[You have healed multiple humanoid creatures!]

[XP Awarded: 903,600!]

[You have levelled up! 1 → 30]

[Warning! Due to extensive energy expenditure, you are now afflicted with Energy Exhaustion! This debuff prevents mana regeneration and locks all mana to zero for one hour.]

[Warning! Due to a massive influx of experience points, the System has temporarily disabled overall experience gains and redirected all overflow XP points into an escrow account.]

[Ding! Congratulations, Traveller! You have discovered a hidden feature of the System! Whenever a traveller levels up too fast in one go (ex. Jumping from level one to ten directly) from a massive influx of experience points, all overflow points are funnelled into an escrow account that stores experience that can be converted into Attribute Points, Skill Levels, Class Levels, Cultivation Tiers, or can be used to cure afflictions of the soul.]

[Current Escrow: 3,100]

[Soul Strain debuff applied! Duration: 04:59 hours]

End Of Chapter Recap:

Name: Markus Reeves

Age: 20

Race: [Vil’thrum (Eternal/Elder)]

Titles: [Sole Survivor], [Cruxborne Progenitor], [Oblivion’s Descendant], [???]

Tier: F+

Level: 30

XP to Level: 900,000/961,000(0% - Disabled)

Class: [Oblivion’s Descendant]

HP: 7400/7400

Energy: 6000/6000

Available Points: 122 (+28 Prime)

Vitality: 740

Strength: 60

Agility: 80

Perception: 100

Intelligence: 300

Wisdom: 300