The worldly natural energy, associated with a feeling of extreme comfort, rummaged through Kailen's cells at an astonishing pace, each second leading to an increase in strength.
Kailen's eyes remained closed, each moment of concentration significant to him.
[You have completely absorbed the B-ranked energy orb.
Congratulations, you have become a B-ranked Awakened.
You have obtained 4 more slots for creating shadow creatures.]
The voice of the time dilation artifact rang in his mind, confirming Kailen's breakthrough.
His eyes snapped open, each cell in his body brimming with newfound power. His gaze—now sharper and more intricate—scanned the cave, noticing even the tiniest movements.
When I received the temporal boost of the system to become a B-ranked Awakened, coupled with the reinforcements of my shadow creatures, I was able to defeat an A-ranked Awakened, even though the strength gap between Awakened increases with ranks. I'm running out of time. Now that I'm officially B-rank, I suppose I could try duking it out with the wyvern, Kailen mused inwardly.
He had made considerable progress. To be honest, he felt weird and nostalgic—so much had happened to him during his little trip to the wilderness.
"Who knew that an attempt to hunt a few creatures would take such a dramatic turn," he mused to himself, replaying the events that had occurred since his awakening.
"I've come far, but compared to those S-ranked diabolic beasts lording over the seas of the continents, I'm still considerably weak," Kailen sighed.
His thoughts drifted to the geography classes he had taken a few years ago. Earth was previously divided into five continents. However, 200 years ago, an event known as The Great Change occurred, causing the planet to undergo massive transformations.
Some individuals began to experience a process called awakening at the age of sixteen, whereas others remained normal humans. This occurrence was accompanied by the mutation of animals, which led to one of the darkest periods in human history.
The mutated animals were referred to as diabolic beasts, and rightly so—they were nothing short of diabolic. Some were extremely savage, ginormous, and barbaric. They traversed cities and continents, ravaging human lives and civilizations to nothing.
For a long time, the Awakened—barely able to keep up with the beasts—fought with all their strength. Even so, the diabolic beasts managed to completely destroy two continents: Narama and Antarctica.
"Well, Antarctica, being full of ice, was barely habitable for humans, yet it was still a continent that was completely dominated by the beasts, so…" Kailen mused.
Humanity had eventually managed to barely hold the line by creating a strong system of defense: a united world government called The Federation. It combined the military and Awakened forces of all nations into one, to defend the human race against the terror of the diabolic beasts.
However, everyone knew that terrible, grotesque creatures still lurked beneath the seas of the two destroyed continents, and even around the remaining three habitable ones: Rath, Sia, and Urna.
Occasionally, these monsters would suddenly launch large-scale attacks against humanity, leading to massive loss of life and territory.
"Compared to those guys, the beast tides we experience regularly are nothing. Those bastards…" A look of coldness and pain graced Kailen's demeanor.
Like every human, he was well aware that the beast tide that caused the destruction of New York City—leading to the death of millions, his parents included—was triggered by one of those eldritch monsters lurking beneath the seas.
"That bastard… the Coiling Terror..." Kailen shivered at the mere mention of its name.
It was a monstrous, ginormous diabolic beast whose size he could not estimate. From what he had seen on the news, the snake was unimaginably massive, barbaric, and terrifying. Recalling the footage of New York's destruction two years ago, Kailen shivered again.
"Everywhere it passed, ice followed. A world of ice and destruction."
Kailen sighed, followed by a sarcastic laugh.
"Yet my goal is to give that monstrosity and its colleagues a taste of their own medicine... Worst of all, according to scientific literature, we don't even know how many of those monsters exist beneath the seas, not to mention the uncountable number of diabolic beasts hoarding the forests and ravaged lands of Narama and Antarctica. I really need to become stronger. I may have come far since my awakening, but compared to those monsters, I'm extremely weak.
Only S-ranked Awakened can match them—but even they pale in number compared to those monstrosities. However, with my shadow creatures, who grow stronger as I do, I'm sure that one day I can give them a taste of their own medicine."
Kailen sighed, but his gaze grew resolute. "A step at a time, Kailen."
He stood up and walked toward the edge of the cave. The shadow wall parted and became ephemeral, dispersing into nothingness.
"As expected." Kailen stared at his shadow creatures, his confidence in defeating the wyvern rising.
Feral had become a C-ranked shadow creature. She now stood at the same height as Avarice—about five meters tall—her obsidian body more compact and robust.
Avarice was now a B-ranked shadow creature, though with nothing else outwardly different. However, Kailen knew that the creature's terrifying flute ability would only grow more dangerous from here on.
The three nameless Dark Fiend shadow hounds had also entered B-rank, standing at three meters tall. Their obsidian skin appeared more resilient, and their eyes carried an insidious glint.
"Avarice, search for the body of the A-ranked Awakened I killed and bring it to me," Kailen ordered.
Avarice darted into the forest at incredible speed.
"He's faster than before," Kailen noted, awaiting his return.
Meanwhile, Feral and the three hounds seemed to be bickering. Kailen's attention drifted to them, and he quickly understood what was going on.
The hounds had approached Feral to ask why their master had not yet given them names. Acting like a senior, Feral—being the first shadow creature and extremely loyal—had reprimanded them not to question Kailen's judgment. She insisted that he would name them when he deemed fit.
The hounds were clearly dissatisfied, and the squabble continued.
"They can't verbally speak at their current level, but their intelligence can't be scoffed at," Kailen observed with intrigue. "In time, as they grow stronger, I'm sure I'll be able to communicate with them verbally."
Soon, Avarice returned—but he was empty-handed.
"The body was probably devoured by some hungry beast... Quite a letdown."
Kailen had planned to turn Ice into his shadow creature, but now that was impossible. He berated himself for forgetting to take the corpse, but there was no use dwelling on the past.
"Well, I guess it's finally time to pay Mr. Wyvern a visit."
Kailen sighed, then activated Shadow Manipulation.