Chapter 4: Awakening
The Source Essence
a shimmering crystal veiled in faint white mist.
To most, it was more than a treasure. It was hope itself the only key capable of awakening a Source Ability, the power that determined a person's destiny within the Ark Alliance.
But its acquisition was nearly impossible.
It dropped only by chance, and only from the corpses of slain Ghouls.
Each one held value beyond gold, controlled tightly by the Ark Alliance's military command.
So when Lu Wenbiao nonchalantly pulled one out of his pouch, the mist swirling around it like breath from a sleeping god, Jiang He's heart skipped a beat.
That meant…
Lu Wenbiao had killed a D-grade peak Eye Worm alone.
Jiang He's pupils trembled.
He had thought awakening was the only path to power, but this mannthis exiled lunatic had proven otherwise.
Even without a Source Ability, strength could still shatter boundaries.
Lu Wenbiao stood proudly, posture straight as a spear, chin lifted in smug satisfaction.
Under Jiang He's envious gaze, he slipped the precious crystal back into his pouch as if it were nothing but a trinket.
"One Source Essence can reduce your sentence by half a year!"
Jiang He's voice quivered with excitement. "How many have you submitted? How much time do you have left?"
Lu Wenbiao snorted, the corners of his lips curling into a sneer.
"Submit? Why would I hand over something I risked my life for? By the time I finish my sentence, my grandson's grandson will be having a son!"
"You have a son already?" Jiang He blinked.
"Can't tell, huh? Brother Biao takes good care of himself~"
With an exaggerated flourish, Lu Wenbiao produced a small wooden box from his belt.
"This is my secret-recipe nourishing cream made from rare beast extracts. Only sixty alliance coins!"
Jiang He stared blankly.
"You know I don't have any money."
"Then trade me a Source Essence." Lu Wenbiao winked.
Jiang He rubbed his temples.
"Brother Biao, are you sure you were exiled here for punishment? You act like you came here to start a business."
"And why not?" Lu Wenbiao said proudly. "If I can make some money while serving time, my family benefits too."
"Brother Biao…" Jiang He hesitated, then took a deep breath.
"Can I borrow a Source Essence from you?"
"What?" Lu Wenbiao's playful expression froze. His eyes narrowed. "What are you planning?"
"I… I want to Awaken."
"Awaken? But you're an Ability Nullifier."
Lu Wenbiao's brows furrowed in disbelief.
"Actually—" Jiang He began, but before he could continue
Lu Wenbiao's entire body tensed. His pupils constricted.
"Wait!"
He grabbed Jiang He's arm and yanked him aside with explosive force.
A split second later
BOOM!
A monstrous insect leg, thicker than a tree trunk, slammed down exactly where Jiang He had been standing, cracking the earth and sending mud flying.
The two staggered back.
Above the swirling fog, an enormous pupil flickered open
an eye the size of a boulder, gleaming with cold, predatory intelligence.
It was staring right at them.
Lu Wenbiao's face paled.
"That size… C-grade or higher! Damn it!"
Before the words finished leaving his mouth
SWOOSH! Another leg swung sideways like a whip, slicing through the fog.
Jiang He barely managed to roll aside. His breath caught in his throat.
"We're surrounded! These legs they're everywhere! We're like turtles trapped in a jar!"
"Brother Biao isn't anyone's turtle!" Lu Wenbiao roared, crossing his twin blades.
"Stay sharp and follow my lead!"
He lunged forward, his twin blades flashing in arcs of silver light.
With a roar, he severed one of the legs clean through green ichor spraying like a fountain.
The recoil forced him back two steps, but his eyes burned with fighting spirit.
Jiang He's heart pounded as he watched. So this is his true power…
Without hesitation, he followed, sprinting across the muddy battlefield.
Using the inertia from Lu Wenbiao's attack, Jiang He vaulted up the severed leg, climbing rapidly with his blade as leverage. From his new vantage, he finally saw it the true body of the monster lurking in the fog.
The C-grade Eye Worm.
A grotesque mass of flesh covered in hundreds of eyes and writhing limbs that clawed endlessly at the mist.
Lu Wenbiao fought furiously below, slashing at its legs, while several tendrils twisted toward Jiang He.
He dodged between boulders, but the creature's limbs seemed to possess sight of their own tracking him wherever he went.
Boom!
One leg grazed his back, hurling him into the mud. The ground exploded behind him.
He scrambled up, gasping.
All around
pillars of flesh enclosed him, forming a massive, living cage.
There was no escape.
Calm down, Jiang He. Think!
His pulse thundered in his ears.
He forced his mind to focus, sifting through every bit of biological data and field knowledge buried in his memory.
Then clarity struck.
The false eye.
Among all its countless eyes, one was not an eye at all it was the heart.
Destroy it, and the beast would die.
"Brother Biao!" Jiang He shouted upward, voice echoing through the mist. "Its weakness the false eye! Stab that and it'll die!"
"Do you think I don't know that, idiot?!" Lu Wenbiao's voice thundered back. "There's a hundred damn eyes here! I've stabbed half already
ah crap!"
THUD!
A leg struck him midair. His body slammed into the mud with a wet crack.
"Brother Biao! Are you okay!?"
"My ribs disagree!"
"I've got an idea!" Jiang He shouted. "Hold on!"
Another crash echoed from above. Lu Wenbiao's body plummeted through the fog, landing hard, his face marked with a red welt. But he still moved like lightning stabbing his blade into a tentacle, swinging himself upward again like a pendulum.
"Brother Biao! The false eyes of D-grades are near the head! But the C-grades none of them were killed that way! You need to stab the eyes near its mouthparts, twenty centimeters deep!"
"The mouthparts? That's suicide!" Lu Wenbiao roared back.
"Trust me!"
There was no response but Jiang He knew the man had already moved.
Because the monster's attention suddenly shifted its gaze no longer locked on him.
The air grew heavy, the silence unbearable.
Seconds crawled like hours.
Then
a faint, guttural roar ripped through the fog.
A shadow plummeted from the heavens.
BOOM!
The Eye Worm's colossal body hit the ground with enough force to quake the mudflats.
Hundreds of glassy eyes stared lifelessly into nothing. The false one near its mouthparts was shattered.
And beside it, two blades gleamed.
"Brother Biao!" Jiang He shouted, scanning desperately.
"Over here…" came a weak voice.
He ran, shoving aside a limp insect leg, finding Lu Wenbiao half-submerged in muddy water, his face ghostly pale but alive.
"Brother Biao, you're hurt!"
"Do I look fine?" Lu Wenbiao wheezed, grimacing. "Still, not bad for a Nullifier, huh?"
He laughed weakly.
An Ability Nullifier
someone with no awakened power had just slain a C-grade Ghoul through pure skill. No one would ever believe it.
"You saved my life, brother," Lu Wenbiao said, patting Jiang He's shoulder. "We lost good men to one of these before. Even C-grade users couldn't find its weak spot. How the hell did you know?"
"I guessed."
"WHAT?!"
Lu Wenbiao's jaw dropped. "You used Brother Biao's life to test your guess? Where's my knife!"
"If you died, I'd die too," Jiang He replied calmly.
Lu Wenbiao paused. "…Fair point."
As Jiang He spoke again, his scholarly mind couldn't help analyzing:
"People assumed the weakness was linked to the eyes due to D-grade data. But combining C- and D-grade behavior reveals the weakness distance follows a quadratic regression model"
"Stop! Stop right there!" Lu Wenbiao raised his hand, eyes twitching. "You're giving me school flashbacks! Let's just collect the loot, alright?"
He pried his blades free and tossed one to Jiang He.
"Your first Ghoul dissection, eh? Have a go."
Jiang He nodded.
"The Source Essence should be near its lower abdomen."
"See? You talk like a pro already." Lu Wenbiao grinned.
Jiang He reversed his grip and cut cleanly. The Eye Worm's flesh parted with a wet squelch. Following the dissection paths he'd memorized, he sliced with precision until a faint mist rose from within.
"Found it!"
Nestled amid foul-smelling green fluid, a crystal pulsed softly, exuding faint, ethereal light.
Jiang He held it in trembling fingers.
It was beautiful and cruel.
The very thing that had cost him 115 years of his life.
Lu Wenbiao leaned over.
"That one's yours. Without you, I'd be worm food. Consider it your share."
Jiang He looked at him silently, gratitude warring with disbelief.
"Thank you, Brother Biao."
"Bah, don't thank me yet. This guy's body's got plenty more valuable parts!"
Lu Wenbiao began hacking away enthusiastically. "Inner sac perfect for bag leather. Moonstone gland great perfume ingredient. Oh! And this"
Jiang He's expression darkened. So that's where those creams came from…
He gazed down at the Source Essence again.
The mist around it pulsed faintly like a heartbeat.
He had been deemed ineligible to Awaken.
The school's decree was absolute: an Ability Nullifier could never wield true power, even with Source Essence. In the Ark Alliance's entire history, no one had ever broken that rule.
But a half-year sentence reduction meant nothing to him
not when he had 115 years to serve.
He clenched his jaw.
"Then I'll make my own miracle."
Taking a steady breath, Jiang He placed the warm crystal between his lips and swallowed.
The instant it entered his body
a surge of energy erupted from within, racing through his veins like liquid lightning.
His vision went white.
And in the depths of his mind
a pair of enormous eyes slowly opened.
Note —
1. The Ark Alliance operates a six-year school system. Before graduation, each student undergoes a Source Ability Awakening test, which determines their eligibility to apply for source essence.
2. The Ark Alliance has a Source Ability rating agency that conducts comprehensive evaluations for Source Ability Users who apply. Rating factors are not limited to Source Ability but also include physical fitness, skill, etc., and different types of Source Abilities have different emphases. For example: healing-type ratings primarily focus on healing ability.