Leveling Through Betrayal

CHAPTER 10 — The River That Chooses

Alex remained frozen at the edge of the river.

The water was crystal clear, allowing his eyes to see straight through to the glistening stones at the bottom. A soft blue light radiated from deep within the water, spreading a magical glow that enveloped the entire area in serene tranquility. For the first time since being thrown into this cruel and foreign world, Alex felt a real sense of peace.

He noticed something strange — the wounds that hadn't healed and were still bleeding slowly began to improve after he entered the sacred area. The pain gradually faded, replaced by a soothing warmth.

“What kind of place is this…?” Alex muttered softly, his voice nearly swallowed by the silence.

Ding.

The familiar cold sound of the System suddenly rang in his mind.

[Emergency Mission Completed.]  

[Host has successfully survived the threat of an Elite Monster.]  

[Reward Obtained.]  

[+500 EXP]  

[New Skill: Pain Resistance Lv.1]

Alex froze for a moment. “Pain Resistance?”

A confirmation window immediately appeared in his field of vision:

[When receiving pain, the body’s resistance increases passively.]

A faint, sarcastic yet relieved smile formed on Alex’s face. “At least this time you gave me something truly useful,” he whispered to the silent System.

Beside him, the Kirin stepped closer. Its movements were graceful and soundless, pulling Alex from his thoughts. “Go in,” the majestic creature said flatly.

Alex turned, his brow furrowed. “Go in?”

The Kirin gave a small nod toward the shimmering river. “Cleanse yourself. You will understand how special this place is once you experience it.”

Alex narrowed his eyes, still suspicious. However, after everything insane he had just gone through, he decided to lower his guard a little. Besides, he didn’t have many other choices but to trust it. At least for now.

Slowly, Alex stepped forward. His boots touched the surface of the water, creating small ripples. A refreshing coolness greeted his feet. He convinced himself this would be a calming, refreshing bath.

But in the next second—

“AAAAARGH!”

A hysterical scream escaped Alex’s throat. An overwhelmingly intense pain, as if thousands of burning needles were stabbing him at once, struck his entire nervous system.

In panic and with ragged breaths, Alex jumped back onto the shore. His body trembled violently as cold sweat instantly soaked his temples.

“What the hell is this?!” Alex snapped, clutching his heaving chest. “This isn’t a healing river! It feels like poison!”

Nero, who had just poked his head out from the Shadow Nest, was also startled by his master’s scream. The little creature quickly darted back in fear and hid behind a large rock, only daring to peek with its round eyes.

Meanwhile, the Kirin only gave a faint smile, as if Alex’s extreme reaction was something it had expected. “That’s normal.”

“Normal, you say?!” Alex stared at the Kirin with disbelief and anger. “I almost died from that insane sensation!”

The Kirin remained unmoved, its aura as calm as the water before them. “Yes. It is.”

Alex froze, his tongue suddenly failing him at the creature’s casual answer.

“Your meridians will be destroyed,” the Kirin continued without concern. “Your bones will crack, and your entire body structure will be broken down to its roots.”

Alex’s face instantly turned pale. “And you deliberately told me to go in there?!”

The Kirin nodded calmly. “Of course. Because after everything is destroyed, your body will be rebuilt into something new.”

Alex fell silent, staring at the mystical creature in front of him with a blank gaze. “You’re crazy.”

“Perhaps,” the Kirin shrugged, not denying it. “Besides, I have lived too long to care about the definition of crazy.”

A harsh curse was already on the tip of Alex’s tongue, but he forced himself to swallow it. Deep in his heart, his cold logic whispered that the Kirin wasn’t lying or trapping him. If a creature as powerful as the Kirin wanted to kill him, Alex knew he would have been a corpse since yesterday without needing to be brought to this river.

Alex looked back and forth between the deadly blue-glowing water and the graceful Kirin standing nearby. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the damp forest air, trying to gather what remained of his courage.

“Damn it,” Alex cursed quietly at his fate. “I really hate making decisions like this.”

The Kirin chuckled softly, a sound like rustling old leaves. “That means you’re still alive, young one.”

Gritting his teeth, Alex stepped forward again. This time, he steadied his steps and refused to stop.

The cold water touched his skin once more. Slowly, it rose to his knees… waist… until it reached his chest. The terrible pain returned, even more intense. It felt like millions of fire insects were gnawing at his internal organs and blood vessels from within.

Alex clenched his teeth so hard his jaw creaked, holding back the scream that threatened to escape his throat. When the shimmering river water finally reached his neck—

Ding.

[Purification Process Initiated.]  

[Clearing Mana Pathways.]

Alex’s eyes widened amid the tormenting pain. “Mana… pathways?” he thought in confusion.

Wasn’t Aldric — the original owner of this body — mana defective? Hadn’t the poor young man been labeled as worthless trash his entire life and abandoned by his family because he had no magical talent at all?

As if able to read the storm of confusion in Alex’s mind, the Kirin’s voice echoed from the riverbank. “Do you still believe the lies the world has fed you?”

Alex struggled to turn toward the shore, his face twisted in pain. “Lies…?”

The Kirin nodded slowly. “This body you possess was never weak from the beginning.”

Hearing that, Alex’s heart pounded hard — not just from the physical pain, but from a new reality suddenly crumbling before him. “That’s impossible…”

“The mana capacity of this body is actually very large,” the Kirin continued, its eyes staring sharply into Alex’s. “It’s just that… someone has sealed it very thoroughly.”

Sealed.

The word echoed in Alex’s head, making his entire body stiffen. If what the Kirin said was true, it meant that all this time Aldric wasn’t born without talent. Instead, someone had deliberately taken away his future and made him appear as a talentless loser.

“Why… Why would someone do something so cruel?” Alex asked in a hoarse, broken voice between the water’s ripples.

But the Kirin only shook its head slowly. “That is a question you must find the answer to yourself in the future.”

Before Alex could process the meaning of those words, the next wave of pain struck mercilessly. This time it was far more devastating, causing his vision to darken for a moment. His body felt crushed and melted again in an invisible furnace of fire.

Time lost its meaning. He didn’t know how many hours or even days had passed. Alex lost consciousness several times in the embrace of the river water, only to be awakened again by the stinging pain that kept renewing his body’s cells.

Yet every time his soul was on the verge of giving up and sinking, one image always appeared in his mind: King Theron.

The cruel man who had abandoned Aldric without mercy. The man who sent troops to hunt his own flesh and blood like an animal. The man responsible for Nero’s mother’s death.

If Alex wanted to survive in this brutal world, if he wanted to take revenge for all the injustice and suffering this body had endured someday… he could not die here. He had to endure.

Again and again Alex lost consciousness.  

Again and again the Holy River forced him to wake up.  

Every time he opened his eyes, the pain returned to destroy his body from within.

Days turned into nights, wrapping the forest in thick darkness, and nights gave way to streaks of morning light. Alex remained standing motionless in the river, allowing his body to be reforged by fate.

Until finally, the tormenting pain slowly began to subside. The water that had once felt like corrosive poison now turned into a soothing warmth. His body felt incredibly light, far healthier and more energetic than he had ever felt in his life.

Ding.

[Purification Process Completed.]  

[Anomaly Detected.]  

[Mana Pathway Seal Successfully Destroyed.]  

[Mana Pathways Restored.]

Alex slowly opened his eyes.

The water around him still shimmered softly.

But something was different.

For the first time since waking up in this world, his senses caught something he had never been able to see before.

Small glowing particles floating in the air.

Mana.

The pure energy flowed freely throughout the world.  

Drifting between the trees.  

Flowing with the river current.  

And now…  

Alex could feel it moving inside his own body.

Ding.

[Main Mission Completed.]  

[Survive 7 Days in the Forbidden Forest.]  

[Reward Given.]  

[+1000 EXP]  

[+10 Mana]  

[+2 Vitality]  

[New Skill: Mana Sense Lv.1]

Ding.

[Host Status Updated.]

Alex was stunned. A semi-transparent holographic screen slowly unfolded before him, emitting a blue neon light that contrasted with the morning mist.

And for the first time since setting foot in this world… the rows of numbers and his status had completely changed.