2024-05-28 18:10:32The ground was cold and hard against Talon's cheek. Slowly, he opened his eyes to find himself lying face down on a stony floor. Groaning, he sat up, a fleeting memory of Eren’s fiery attack flashing through his mind.
“How am I still alive?” He inspected his body in disbelief. His broken arm and mangled hand were completely healed. His clothes, once charred and tattered, were restored as if nothing had happened.
'But where is this?'
The surroundings were unfamiliar. Darkness enveloped him, save for a single beam of light illuminating his position. The stone floor felt alien, unlike anything he’d ever seen or touched.
“Hello?”
A synthetic voice responded, echoing in the emptiness. "Welcome to the Interdimensional Bazaar, where infinite realities meet."
Talon staggered backward in shock. “Who’s there? Show yourself!” he demanded, his hands instinctively raised.
"I am the Admin, the consciousness of the Interdimensional Bazaar. I cannot manifest myself for your own good."
The voice was emotionless, unnerving Talon. “How did I get here? I remember dying. Is this hell or the afterlife? Are you the Devil?”
"I transported your soul here and reconstructed your body and personal effects to their optimal state. Yes, you died. No, this isn’t hell or any afterlife. This is the Interdimensional Bazaar, and I am not the Devil. I am the Primal Treasure of the Universe, existing to maintain balance between good and evil across infinite realities. I give second chances to those who die before their time to help protect the world. You were chosen at random."
Talon calmed slightly, processing the information. He knew he had died; there was no mistaking that. Reflecting on his death, he clenched his fists, “Those bastards really killed me. They squashed an ant with a sledgehammer. Shameless, so shameless.”
"Now that you are back to life, you have two choices. Accept a contract of employment with me, or return to your previous state."
A cold shiver ran down Talon's spine. The Admin’s emotionless delivery was unsettling. “Let’s not be hasty,” he chuckled nervously. “I have a sister waiting for me back home. If I accept your contract, will you send me back?”
"Yes."
"That’s all I need to know. If I can go back home and expose the Verdant Brothers to the Duke, they’ll get what they deserve. Let’s do this. Where’s the contract?”
A light blue screen appeared before him, startling him. He stepped back involuntarily.
"Read the contract and accept it."
Talon moved closer to read the screen. Despite its surreal appearance, he reminded himself that this Admin had the power to resurrect him, so a floating screen was trivial by comparison. He read the straightforward contract, grateful for his literacy skills learned in the orphanage. The terms were clear: he would become a Hero, undertaking missions to support the forces of good against evil. He had to complete at least one mission per year.
Accepting the contract, he vowed to fight those like the Verdant Brothers. As he confirmed, the screen vanished.
"As a new hero, you must undertake a mission now. It will help you understand the job and allow you to earn rewards. New heroes receive preferential rewards for their first three missions. Each mission completed will earn you System Coins. Each monster you kill in your own world, as long as it threatens humanity, will grant you System Coins. Each evil force you quench in any world will grant you System Coins. The Interdimensional Bazaar is both a marketplace and a nexus of realities where you can trade, buy, and sell once you have enough coins. Now, your mission awaits. Here are your mission details."
Another screen appeared, and the Admin began to explain.
[Mission Description: Evil individuals worshiping one of the outer deities, Egermont, are planning to create a path between their world and Egermont’s domain. If this occurs, many innocent lives will be lost and the world may fall. Your mission is to find and kill the person with the talisman before they can start the summoning.]
[Mission Rewards:
- 100 System Coins. - 20 Karma - 3x Fortune Ticket. - Awakening Baptism][Penalty: If you fail, you will need to choose between the following:
- Paying the price in System Coins. If you don’t have enough System Coins, you will be exterminated. - Engaging in another mission without rewards, of which another failure would lead to extermination.][Accept Mission] [Decline Mission]
Talon’s eyes widened at the rewards. 'Awakening? Will I become Awakened?' he wondered, skepticism and awe warring within him.
"Yes. Only Awakened can survive missions for long. All heroes are investments of the System. As the Admin, I aim to make the most use of each asset."
Taking a deep breath, Talon marveled at the opportunity to become Awakened. It felt like a dream come true. Even if this Admin was the devil, he was prepared to take the risk to fight against evil.
He accepted the mission. A white portal materialized behind him, illuminating the space. Talon, heart pounding, stepped into the portal. Blinding white light enveloped him, and then everything went blank.
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Chapter 103: Avoiding Debt
After nearly an hour of running, the forest finally opened up into a small clearing. Talon slowed to a stop, his chest rising and falling as he caught sight of figures ahead. He blinked in disbelief. Magnus. Renard. Xara. Raeve. Brythan. All of them—elites of the Blue Devil Guild, and apart from Brythan, they were all at the Warrior level. A cluster of carriages and horses rested just off the path, their reins tied loosely to trees. Clearly, they had been waiting here for some time. Talon’s surprise showed on his face. Magnus noticed immediately, his sharp eyes catching the flicker of confusion. “You’re wondering how I knew you’d come this way,” Magnus said calmly. “It’s my other Profession—Discerning Mage. I foresaw we would cross paths here if I waited long enough.” Talon’s brows drew together. Something about Magnus felt… different. Stronger, heavier, like standing near a mountain. His curiosity rose instinctively, and before he realized it, he had cast his gaze inward toward
Chapter 102: Meeting Familiar Faces
By now, Talon had stripped the tiger of its value like a merchant intent on squeezing every last copper from a trade. Bones, claws, sinew, even fragments of hardened marrow—nothing escaped his practiced hands. The forest floor around them looked more like a butcher’s yard than a monster’s den. He moved with surprising patience, his black blade occasionally flashing as he sliced through tendon or carved neat lines along the hide. When at last he stood upright, his arms dusted with dried blood, the pelt folded carefully over his shoulder, he exhaled in satisfaction. “That should do it. Between this and the core, we’ve got something worth a decent pile of coins.” Reaching into his pack, he drew out a folded pamphlet—creased from repeated use, its inked pages a hunter’s crude guide to the region’s notable beasts. He ran his eyes over it, tapping a fingertip against the section detailing Warrior-level monsters. His expression hardened, a spark of ambition flickering behind his gaze.
Chapter 101: My Life Wasn't Mine
Talon stared at the dead Redbone Tiger for a long moment, then glanced into the shadows between the trees. “If we work together, we can kill warrior-level monsters,” he said suddenly. “Why don’t we hunt a few more?” As he said it, the logic clicked for him. That was why hunters teamed up. Alone, most adventurers hit their limits and had to avoid anything too strong. With a partner you doubled your chances, cut the danger, and increased the reward. It was simply more efficient. Veyra let out a low groan—half annoyance, half resignation. “Fine,” she said. “But if we meet something with weirder tricks than that tiger, you take the lead. I’ve got enough to worry about.” She wasn’t exaggerating. Underneath her calm, she was still fighting the blood-forged shackles that lived inside her soul. Every fight chipped at those chains and left her unable to use her racial powers fully. On top of that, her level had been forced down to Warrior, which l
Chapter 100: Warrior Level Monster Core
Talon slid down the rough bark of a tree and let himself drop to the ground, the weight of fatigue pressing down on every bone and muscle. His chest heaved with ragged breaths, sweat plastering his hair to his forehead. The Redbone Tiger lay sprawled in the clearing, its once fearsome body now nothing more than a broken carcass. Its lifeless eyes glared at nothing, jaw slack, tongue hanging out like a discarded banner of defeat. Across from it, Veyra stood unsteadily, her figure pale even for a vampire. Her right femur jutted grotesquely from her thigh, the bone piercing through torn flesh. Dozens of jagged bone shards stuck out from her torso and arms, tiny spikes that pulsed faintly with residual aura. A normal person would have been dead ten times over, but Veyra’s physiology was a strange, stubborn thing. Already, the shards were being pushed back out as her body began knitting together torn muscle and sealing ruptured veins. Still, the sight was gr
Chapter 99: Facing the Redbone Tiger
The fight with the Redbone Tiger quickly settled into a rhythm of danger and restraint. Veyra, despite being at the peak stage of the Warrior level, found her strength strangely muted before the Tiger’s bone-control ability. In theory, her higher cultivation should have allowed her to brush off such tricks as if swatting a fly. But in practice, she discovered that the beast’s manipulation pressed against her body like invisible chains, constantly tugging at her frame and bones, demanding a portion of her concentration simply to remain unharmed. She could resist it, yes, but not with the same effortless mastery Talon displayed. For her, every forward step came with the fear of her own ribs suddenly splintering against her will.So she took a cautious stance, eyes sharp, shoulders tense. She played the spectator’s role, orbiting the battlefield rather than diving headlong into it, searching for the opening that would never come freely. Her strength was shackled not by la
Chapter 98: The Redbone Tiger
They moved through the forest in silence, still running on leftover adrenaline from their last fight with the Bulwark Team. Their steps were careful now, breaths steady, senses sharp. The path to the Ironwood Plains stretched ahead like a tunnel of fading light and rustling leaves. Two kilometers from the previous battlefield, the trees thinned, and the quiet grew heavier—the kind of silence that meant something dangerous was nearby. Talon stopped suddenly, his senses catching something. Veyra froze beside him, recognizing the way his body tensed. He didn’t look around. Instead, his focus shifted into the Mental Plane, as naturally as slipping a hand into a pocket. There in the Firmament, a new light burned bright and fierce. “Warrior Level,” he said quietly. He could easily recognize the threat level based on the size of the 'Mental Star'. Veyra sniffed the air, her instincts sharp. “Smells like iron and old bone,” she muttere
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