Charles strolled into the outer hunting grounds of Zephyr, the air tinged with salt and wind from the distant Sea of Gineva. The trees whispered around him, tall pines swaying like they remembered blood spilled beneath their roots. It was here the original Charlemagne Ziglar had died—crushed, betrayed, forgotten.
Not today.
Today, Charles had returned. Not to mourn, but to hunt.
"[System, activate Combat Protocol: Field Training Mode.]"
[SYSTEM ONLINE.]
Tracking Objective: Eliminate 100 Thundersnout Boars. Bonus Objective: Execute 50 kills using Crimson Sunfall Style — Stage 1. Rewards: Skill Progression + Weapon Affinity Boost + Loot Credit.
Charles rolled his shoulders. The generic iron longsword in his hand hummed with latent weight—not ideal, but good enough. He had designed this entire blade art from scratch, patterned after the samurai swordsmanship of his past life, merged with fire attribute qi in this one.
[Crimson Sunfall Style | Shakunichi Rakujin] Type: Elemental Sword Art (Fire-Attribute Compatible)Grade: Epic
The style was built on elegance and annihilation, patterned from his favorite Katana Japanese style—burning momentum crafted into flowing arcs and delayed combustion. He had trained the patterns into his muscle memory. But theory was one thing.
Reality was full of fangs.
The first beast lunged from the thicket—a Thundersnout Boar, three-hundred pounds of erratic lightning-charged meat with tusks like conductive sabers.
"Let's dance, bacon bolt."
Charles exhaled. Then drew.
"[Blazing Petal Unsheath!]"
The iron sword arced from its crude leather sheath with terrifying grace. In that instant, qi surged through the blade—red-orange fire spiraling outward like a blooming sunburst.
The air ignited.
FWOOSH—
The cone of fire slammed into the charging boar, staggering it mid-gore. It squealed, singed tusks crackling, but the blade followed through—slicing down its flank in one clean, decisive stroke.
[Critical Hit!] [Fire Element Bonus Applied.] [Target Down. Loot Generated.]
"One down," Charles muttered, wiping sweat from his brow.
From the trees, another three came, their hides rippling with static as they snorted arcs of electricity into the air.
"Damn. Word gets out fast. Must've fried the dinner bell."
The next ten minutes were chaos. Blades. Flames. Boars charging like drunken lightning golems.
He rolled. Pivoted. Parried with the edge of his sheath once, then sliced through a weak point beneath one beast's chin. Each time he drew, the ignition from the fire qi increased, forming wider arcs of flame.
But it hurt.
Every strike drained his reserves. His limbs trembled from overuse, his skin stung from static shock backlash.
One boar clipped him in the ribs, sending him flying five meters into a tree.
"System… ow. Update: remind me why I'm doing this again?"
[To ascend. To survive. To prove them wrong. Also, loot.]
"Right. Especially the loot."
He stood, spitting blood, grinning like a lunatic.
A cluster of six boars stampeded at once. He shifted, slamming his foot into the earth and channeled qi through his shoulders.
"[Flame Form—Level 5 Sync. Initiate Recovery Boost.]"
His aura shimmered faintly. Heat pulsed through his veins.
"[Blazing Petal Unsheath!]"
Again.
And again.
And again.
Fire burst into sunlit cones, scorching the forest. The afterimages of his blade traced burning petals into the air.
At kill number 37, his footwork faltered.
At 45, he nearly collapsed, laughing through cracked lips.
At 61, a boar dragged him ten feet before he managed to stab it through the spine.
At 89, he was screaming profanities at a tusked mutant twice his size.
At 99, he dropped his sword from sheer exhaustion…
Only to catch it midair with his left hand, spin, and cleave the last Thundersnout Boar from shoulder to groin in a diagonal, flaming slash.
The woods went quiet.
Steam hissed off the soil. Ash drifted down like summer snow.
[SYSTEM UPDATE: QUEST COMPLETE]
Kills Confirmed: 100 Crimson Sunfall Style – Stage 1 Proficiency: 100% Fire Qi Control +2% Strength +1 | Endurance +1 | Reflex +2 Loot:
100 Conductive Tusks
97 Static Hides
64 Lightning Residue Shards
Gold Earned: 13,500 coins
Charles collapsed onto a rock, breathing hard. He looked like hell—singed hair, bloodied lip, soot-streaked face.
But he was grinning.
"A hundred lightning pigs later… and I still hate cardio."
His hand trembled slightly as he lifted the longsword.
"Now that," he said, inspecting the scorched iron blade, "is what I call bacon with attitude."
He pulled up the System again.
"Time for Stage Two. Let's see what Dance of the Molten Leaves feels like."
And then, barefoot and blistered, Charles vanished into the shadows of the forest once more.
Toward pain.
Toward mastery.
Toward fire.
The Molten Leaves Fall
Charles stalked deeper into the forest, the foliage growing denser, humidity hanging like a weighted cloak. His muscles ached from the boar hunt, but his spirit surged. This wasn't just exercise—it was vengeance through fire.
New objective.
[SYSTEM QUEST: SLAY 200 COPPERBACK VIPERS]
Type: Poison/Metal Hybrid Crystal Core: Venomsteel Core Traits: Quick strikes, venomous fangs, reflective scales Loot Drops:
Venom Sac (alchemy and poison crafting)
Copperback Scale (entry-level shield crafting)
Snake Eye Gem (used in precision-enhancing accessories)
Gold Drop: 250 gold coins each
His eyes narrowed.
"Let's get snakey."
The first viper struck from the canopy, a blur of emerald and copper, fangs flashing.
Charles dodged just in time, rolling into a kneeling stance.
"[Dance of the Molten Leaves!]"
The second stage of Crimson Sunfall activated.
He stepped. Flame afterimages trailed his every move.
One strike—then another. A zigzag dance through fangs and coils. Each blow layered fire. His blade blurred, wrapping the serpent in burning arcs. The last strike landed.
BOOM—
A fiery sunburst exploded from the center of the viper.
It writhed, disintegrating into smoke.
[Kill Confirmed. Loot Generated.]
The pace quickened. Copperback vipers slithered from every crevice, hiding beneath leaves, blending into tree trunks, hissing from hollow logs. One lashed from above—he decapitated it midair. Another came from below—he stomped its skull, blade following through in a fiery spiral.
He slipped once—fangs grazed his arm.
[Poison Affliction: Mild] [Antidote Consumed Automatically.]
"System, remind me why I don't have snakeproof armor yet."
[Insufficient snake scale count. Continue extermination.]
"Fair."
Hours passed. Blood—green and red—painted bark and roots. Charles's fire qi burned hotter, more precise. His footwork had adapted, dancing through the poison clouds and metallic strikes.
He'd stopped grunting.
Now he laughed.
With every twirl, every slash, molten afterimages burned viper silhouettes into the leaves.
At 150, he was barely breathing.
At 190, his tunic had melted from acid burns.
At 199, he had no blade—just the hilt, half-melted and sparking.
The final Copperback slithered from beneath a tree stump, ten feet long and armor-plated.
"Guess what, snake. I'm fresh out of mercy."
He picked up a sharpened stick from the dirt. Just a stick.
He charged.
A punch. A knee. A slide beneath the serpent's coiled body. Then—he drove the stick into the thing's mouth.
It burst into flame from inside out, ignited by the remnants of fire qi.
The air smelled of cooked venom.
[SYSTEM UPDATE: QUEST COMPLETE]
Kills Confirmed: 200 Crimson Sunfall Style – Stage 2 Proficiency: 96% Strength +2 | Reflex +2 | Fire Affinity +1% Loot:
142 Venom Sacs
176 Copperback Scales
71 Snake Eye Gems
Gold Earned: 50,000 coins LEVEL UP: FOUNDATIONS RANK 6 Bonus Reward: 10,000 gold coins
Charles fell back, gasping.
He lifted his hand—and fire danced on his fingertips.
"That's it," he whispered. "I'm getting a proper sword."
He turned to a nearby tree.
Drew fire qi into his palm.
Slashed.
The trunk split cleanly, smoke hissing.
But the sword cracked in half. Again.
"Tsk," he muttered. "System, remind me to mug an enchanter."
[Note saved. Would you like to locate blacksmiths nearby?]
He grinned. "After I get a bath."
He vanished into the trees once more, flaming leaves falling behind him like embers in his wake.
The stream was ice-cold. Honest.
Charles knelt in its current, scrubbing dirt and blood from beneath his nails. His arms were heavy, his spine sore, and his ribs still hummed from the earlier stampede. Qi pulsed through every joint like pins and needles dipped in fire. He hadn't felt this alive in years—and never this exhausted.
A twig snapped nearby. He didn't even flinch.
[SIGMA SYSTEM: Strike Set Review Complete.]
"Twelve viable fist art combinations found. Two optimal. One may blow out your elbow but looks very impressive."
"Noted," Charles muttered, dragging himself upright. "Saving the dramatic one for last stands and midlife crises."
By dusk, Charles had returned to his study, shirt damp, fingers sore, and mind racing. The walls of the manor glowed with lanternlight.
He sat behind his desk. No noble heir's idle lounge. No ceremonial writing. This was war table work.
He needed funds. Fast.
Fortunately, Charles had a weapon no one else in this world did: knowledge.
He dipped his quill and began to write.
The diagrams were vivid. Muscle memory from a past life guided his strokes. Martial theory intertwined with chi flow blueprints. What emerged on the page wasn't just another technique—it was a threat.
Heaven-Crushing Fist Technique
"The heavens cannot be begged. They must be struck."
Grade: Heaven-Tier – Advanced
Type: Explosive Qi Fist Art
Required Qi: Dense physical qi. Recommended affinities: Thunder, Earth, Force.
Ideal Users: Warbody cultivators, berserkers, martial saints.
Technique Flow:
Anchor Stance – Root. Compress. Coil. Sky Breaker – Straight-line punch. Breaks guards. Thunder Fang – Rising hook with lightning qi. Pillar Sunder – Downward smash. Breaks weapons. Void Crusher – Mid-air feint with invisible qi burst. Heaven-Crushing Blow – Full-body step-in. One-shot shockwave capable of fracturing stone and rupturing organs.
Core Features:
Qi pulses that bypass armor
Torque-based momentum flow
Meant to overwhelm, not trade
Weaknesses:
High qi drain
Overcommits
Requires brutal physical conditioning
[SIGMA: Estimated auction value: 9,000–12,000 gold coins.]
"Make it 9,500 starting," Charles said aloud. "Let them fight for it."
He sealed the tome with his blood and compressed it using a Grade 1 rune seal. The parchment drank his essence greedily, bonding as if it recognized its maker.
One weapon. One product. One step closer to power.
But he wasn't done.
He leaned forward, quill still wet, and began sketching again. This time, it was a killing array—an orchestration of runes and functions that merged pure slaughter with beautiful logic. In his mind, it had taken form already: a hybrid of five distinct killing arrays combined through his own original modifications.
And SIGMA helped him refine the flaws into something crueler. More… poetic.
"Alright," Charles murmured. "Let's compose some murder."
[SIGMA SYSTEM INTERFACE – ACTIVE]
"Warning: You are attempting to transcribe a Rank-Epic Killing Array onto limited material. Estimated inscription failure rate: 47.3%."
"Are you insane, or simply confident?"
Charles smirked. "Those aren't mutually exclusive."
"Noted. Logging current mental instability under: 'high-functioning megalomania.' Continue."
He dipped his quill into Nightshade Lotus Ink, its sheen rippling like starlight. One breath. Then the strokes began.
"Begin diagram: Infernal Thorn Crucible Array. Version 1.3a."
"Would you like to activate autocorrective rune symmetry assist?"
"No. Manual runes. If someone's paying ten thousand gold, they deserve a soul-etched signature, not a glorified copy-paste."
"Spoken like a proper artisan with daddy issues and vengeance in his heart."
Charles chuckled. "Also not mutually exclusive."
"Spatial isolation, anti-flight, domain lock. Nice."
"Threat mobility suppression: 41% confirmed. Kill probability against Core Realm 4: 74%."
Next came the crucible nodes—miniature rotating traps that analyzed incoming attacks and responded with mirrored elemental bursts.
Then the center.
Five layered runes converging into the core matrix: soul ignition, meridian lock, qi backlash, pain magnification, and dantian disruption.
Each line he drew shimmered with a low, burning heat. Sweat pooled at his collarbone. This wasn't just work. It was war design.
"Protocol embedded," he whispered, hand trembling. "Molten essence chains initiate on Unity Realm targets. Bind. Burn. Break."
"Tactical cruelty: 98%. Effectiveness: borderline war crime."
"That's the point. I'm not selling weapons. I'm selling certainty."
Finally, Charles signed it with a drop of essence blood—silver-black and humming faintly with void qi.
The parchment glowed once, then dimmed to a dangerous simmer.
[ITEM REGISTERED: INFERNAL THORN CRUCIBLE – EPIC GRADE KILLING ARRAY]
Starting Bid: 15,000 gold
Estimated Final Price: 20,000–26,000 gold
Unique Mark: [Shadow Made]
Charles capped the stasis tube and leaned back in his chair, breath steady.
"Understood. May the corpses form tasteful patterns."
Charles stood. His shirt clung to his back, and his eyes were dry from hours of focus. But in his hands, he held two weapons. Two silent storms wrapped in ink and parchment.
He would test the market with these. Just two. Just enough to send a message to the black halls of Duranth—
The shadow of Ziglar had begun to move.