Taking a deep breath as if he hadn’t breathed in eons, Liam sat down cross-legged. He started to meditate and try to regulate his thoughts. He would only allow himself to leave the room when he could function normally at the very least. The hours crawled by as he struggled to maintain his sense of self. The pain and pressure came in waves, as if trying to grind his sanity down.

Hours turned into days in the blink of an eye. During this time, Liam didn’t even budge. He merely continued to withstand the onslaught caused by the increase of his Perception, letting his Will shoulder all the weight and develop as a result. He had always believed that what didn’t kill him would only make him weaker, which was true in a lot of cases; thankfully, it wasn’t the case for his Will. The more it endured, the stronger it grew. He could feel it. The development of his own willpower. He felt as if it had grown to the point where he would be able to train for thousands of years straight.

Dripping with sweat, Liam tiredly opened his eyes. He had finally managed to get himself together. He looked at his own body.

‘It’s been a long time since I last sweat.’

Normally, his Aura passively kept all of his vital functions in prime condition. The fact that he was sweating could only mean that his energy had almost been completely depleted. He stood up and circulated his Aura, making all the sweat evaporate. There was no need to clean himself since the existence of his Ethereal Body Skill had long since cleared his body of all of its impurities. He merely felt a bit uncomfortable being sweaty after such a long time.

With a thought, he opened his Status Window. He focused on the two stats that had changed.

-----------------------------------Status Window----------------------------------------

Name: Liam Allister (Last Star of Order)

Level: 30

Species: Irrelevant

Race: Irrelevant

Personal Attribute: Dying Star of Humanity’s ??? ???

Attributes:

Strength: 25,937

Dexterity: 25,937

Constitution: 25,937

Recovery: 25,937

Intelligence: 2,593

Perception: 250

Aura: 25,937

Will: 50

TITLES:

. Fire King’s Blessing; Ancient Forest’s Conqueror; Mountain Spirit’s Possession; Kingslayer; Sourcekeeper’s Tale; Fateless; Last Star of Order.

Skills:

. Passive Skills:

Survive! (S); Danger Sense (A); Hand to Hand Combat; Long Distance Runner (B); Basic Knife Mastery; One with the Spear; Aura Incorporation; Grandmaster Aura Path; Advanced Footwork Mastery; Intuition (A); Unbreakable Will (?); Grand Flow (S); Masterful Prowess (A); Undying (S); Depths of Knowledge (S); Masterful Aura Conservation; Expert Aura Condensation; Aura Density Increase (B); Aura Perception; Master’s Domain; Enduring Soul (SS); Ethereal Body (SSS).

King’s Crown; Great Sourcebearer; Titanslayer; Inner World.

. Active Skills:

Singularity; Aura Blade; Event Horizon; Flying Spear; Aura Manipulation; Waterstep; Crescent Moon Wave; Drizzle; Flow; Riptide; Drought, Aerial Movement.

. Hybrid Skills:

Chaos; Order.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He already knew Perception had reached the value of 250, but his eyes widened once they hovered over his Will stat. The last time he checked, its value was a measly 15, yet now it had gone all the way up to 50. As expected, withstanding the onslaught of existential pressure and dread created by the increase in his Perception was the best way of tempering his Will. Liam was a serious believer that whatever didn’t kill him would only make him weaker, but it wasn’t the case when it came to Will; the pressure only tempered it and made it grow stronger. He could feel it. The change in his willpower itself. He felt as if he would be able to train for thousands of years straight without collapsing or giving up.

It was a thrilling sensation, to know one’s willpower had grown and developed further. Liam smiled, satisfied. With a wave of his hand, the Status Window in front of him vanished. He stood up.

‘It’s time to go to Cinzolia.’

He should continue following his plan. There was no such thing as downtime. He started running around the room while executing some simple spear movements. This continued for a while until he felt like he had gotten the hang of moving in his new condition.

Liam opened the doors and left. He walked all the way to the entrance of the ship, dismissing the stares he received along the way. Still donning nothing but simple clothing, he looked at the fortress in the distance, before looking down at his body.

‘I should get another armor when I have the time.’

The Elite Captains’ Armor wasn’t an S-ranked Equipment for no reason. The inventory alone made things much more convenient. It also provided a decent layer of defense that was improved as one poured more Aura into it. With Liam’s current Aura stat, the armor wouldn’t break even under the pressure of thousands of Elite Captains. Of course, Liam didn’t need armor per se; his regenerative abilities alone were the greatest strength of his body. However, they presented a problem.

‘I don’t want to create any bad habits.’

When he obtained his current regenerative power as his Recovery stat reached 10,000, he had allowed all the enemies’ attacks to fall upon his body, knowing that he would regenerate after all of them. It was a rather reckless way of fighting that was only possible when he felt certain that there were no enemies capable of harming his soul. If he fought a Commander capable of damaging his soul, for instance, letting himself get hit would only cause a serious injury for no reason. The habit of letting himself get hit because of his regeneration could only be described as a harmful one.

Steeling his determination to continue training his defensive skills, Liam nodded at the guards and took flight, staying close to the ground. He applied Twelve’s teachings and hid his presence and Aura and burrowed underground to stay out of sight. This way, he would only be detected once he arrived. It wasn’t out of concern for himself.

‘I’m more worried about them running away before I get there.’

His eyes flashed with a cold glint.

He would get more powerful, no matter what. It was his duty as humanity’s strongest.

...

Arthur’s eyes widened. His hurriedly outstretched arms seemed to desire to wrap themselves around something unreachable. He voiced his anguish in a throat-rending scream.

“Isolation!”

David’s figure, a few meters ahead of Arthur, shimmered. The enemy’s moving sword phased through the boy’s head as the dagger he held dug into the enemy’s stomach, glistening with Aura. The dog-like beastman wailed in pain and tried to bite into David’s neck, but the youth backed off just at the right time, stumbling. His untrained steps proved to be effective enough to save his life.

Arthur squinted his eyes, trying to see past the mist of blood that floated over the battlefield, dashed forward, and stabbed at the enemy’s chest. The dog beastman swung its sword in a wide arc, its blade cutting through the air just a few centimeters above Arthur’s sword’s. The enemy’s eyes clearly displayed the despair it felt.

In the next second, Arthur’s Aura-coated sword sunk into the beastman’s chest, piercing through his heart. Blood leaked out of the beastman’s mouth as it emitted its death throes, the light in its eyes getting progressively dimmer until it faded completely. Heaving, Arthur pulled his sword out of the enemy’s chest and looked at David, his eyes not bothering to hide the genuine worry he felt.

David, who was also looking at him, gave him a thumbs-up and smiled. Arthur couldn’t smile back. It was because he was busy carefully analyzing the boy’s condition. David’s body was covered in cuts and scratches, his clothing and armor damp with blood and sweat. Scars could be seen on his skin from head to toe, while his tired eyes and the dark circles under them made it obvious just how much exhaustion the teenager felt. Arthur realized it. They had both been on the battlefield for way too long, but David seemed to be the one getting affected the most by it. It was natural. The boy’s level was lower and he had less experience compared to Arthur. With these thoughts in mind, Arthur spoke to him.

“We should retreat a bit closer to our territory. Just enough not to be called deserters by the Drakkhan. There will be more humans there. They’ll help take the load off our shoulders.”

Still keeping his smile, David gave Arthur a tired nod. It seemed as if he didn’t have the energy to argue. With their immediate plan settled, Arthur looked around.

This battlefield was both different and similar to every other he had been on. Maybe it was because of the fatigue he felt, but all the battlefields in his memories were starting to blend together and become indistinguishable. A mist of blood so thick as to hinder one’s vision still covered every inch of ground; the earth under his feet was wet with blood and soft. The cacophony created by pained screams and death throes was the same as usual, as was the tiredness that permeated his very bones. His throat was parched and his lungs ached, while the smell of burned flesh was omnipresent. Humans and beastmen surrounded them from all sides, every individual fighting their own desperate battle for survival in the midst of this chaotic, unreasonable land.

After taking in their surroundings, both young men gripped the hilt of their weapons tightly and ran in a specific direction. They weaved in between different battles, having no room to interfere or try to be heroes. They weren’t strong enough to do so. Trying to save another human would only result in them spending more energy, which would mean that they would be weaker; the weaker they were, the more likely they were to die.

Arthur’s eyes darted from side to side as he tried to find the stronger beastmen in the crowd. It would be best to avoid them completely. While doing so, he naturally watched many humans’ last moments. A red-haired woman wielding a small, crude dagger was torn apart by an ape-type beastmen as it knocked her down and mauled her to death. A tall, black man fought against two beastmen with his bare hands at the same time before finally being overwhelmed and bitten in the throat by one of them. Such situations were happening all around him. He was saddened by them, much to his surprise. Was it due to being around David for too long? It was confusing.

Straight ahead, a black-haired, white, and short woman wildly swung her sword at the ape-type beastman in front of her. She screamed at the top of her lungs while doing so.

“Stay away! Someone! Help me, please! Help!”