THE GILDED LEGEND (Enternity Online)

Chapter 14 Gilded Blademaster

Axel had to swallow the lingering chill from the VR pod he'd forcefully abandoned. His real-world body felt weak and sore, but his consciousness inside the game spiked dramatically.

"Axel! Don't move!" Zara's voice was urgent through his earpiece. "Your physical connection is critical! Don't try to dive again!"

"I can't stay still, Zara." Axel replied curtly. He was already standing in front of the backup laptop. "Forty-eight hours. I have to stabilize the server before the Operator completely deletes us all."

"You used up all your GP already! You don't have enough points for a major class evolution!" Zara protested strongly.

"I have more than just GP," Axel said. He opened his private inventory. Inside were several rare items he had stored for years. Limit breaker items that should be impossible to use without the appropriate level. "I have Item Shards from the last World Boss. And I have a total of 3 GP. Enough to secure the first phase of evolution."

Axel went to work. His fingers, still stiff from the forced synchronization disconnection, moved rapidly across the keyboard. He inserted all the Item Shards he had into the Class Evolution slot.

"Standard class evolution requires Level 100, Axel! You're Level 22!" Zara exclaimed.

"The Gilded System doesn't care about standard levels," Axel countered. He allocated his three remaining Gilded Points into the attribute he needed most for the upcoming fight: Endurance.

[GILDED ENDURANCE : PHASE 1 ACTIVATED.]

[ATTEMPTING CLASS EVOLUTION : GILDED MASTER BLADEMASTER LEVEL 150]

[WARNING : This process requires full data absorption. Mental endurance will be tested to the limits of consciousness.]

"Axel, don't!" Zara worried. "If you continue, you're going to feel the pain of hundreds of players who lost their levels earlier!"

"Then let me feel that pain, Zara," Axel said, his voice deeper and rougher now. "I won't let them all disappear because of Liam's ambition!"

The simulated world greeted Axel not with light, but with complete darkness and overwhelming pain. He no longer saw data streams. He saw fragments of memories from the thousands of players he was saving.

"It's better that I feel this," Axel thought. Every cell in his body seemed to scream in pain. He let all the data flow in, condensing himself from Level 22. He was no longer thinking about Agility or Strength, but absolute endurance.

"Accept everything, Axel. Accept all this pain," the Operator's familiar voice whispered in his mind.

Axel's body swelled, then shrank back down. This time, denser and stronger. When the process stopped, he opened his eyes.

Axel stood upright. He was no longer wearing the standard beginner's gear. His black robe was now made of a material that looked like cold liquid metal, with slowly moving golden patterns on its surface. His status panel now showed the class evolution.

[CLASS : GILDED BLADEMASTER LEVEL 150]

[GP AVAILABLE : 0]

"Level 150," Axel muttered. He tested moving his arm. The new strength felt natural, fully integrated. The new Endurance gave him the capacity to use Bladed Dance multiple times without causing nerve damage.

"Axel! You made it! You're Level 150!" Zara shouted through the comms. "I'm monitoring your data. Your real-world body temperature has returned to normal limits! You managed to withstand the burden!"

"I can't feel anything anymore, Zara," Axel replied honestly.

"I understand. But we don't have much time. Only twenty hours left before the Operator's deadline runs out. Liam must already be moving toward the Data Core," Zara said, her tone regaining focus.

"The Data Core? Where is it?"

"That's what we need to find. But I found this." Zara sent an encrypted file. "This is Liam's last location before he activated the Dark Siphon. He was on the outskirts of the Forbidden Zone, near the Data Core Gate."

"Good. I'll go there now," Axel said. He glanced at his stats panel one last time. He knew his next opponent was Liam, who had probably absorbed some of the server's energy by now.

"Axel, wait! I'll wait for you on the nearest safe path. You have to stay vigilant. His dark energy might have already merged with his physical body."

"I'm going to stabilize the server from inside the Data Core. I won't let Liam touch it." Axel shut down his status panel. He didn't need indicators anymore. He could sense the energy anomaly Liam was emitting from a distance.

He leaped from his cabin, no longer running, but gliding in a straight line across the Eternity map. His movement was now a perfect blend of high speed and absolute endurance.

"I'm coming, Liam," Axel whispered.

The journey to the Forbidden Zone, which normally took days, now only took one hour for the newly evolved Blademaster. The closer he got to the target, the denser the chaotic data streams became.

Axel glided into a digital canyon guarded by the final defensive fortress established by Liam Fury. The fortress looked like a rapidly swirling maze of black code, ready to destroy anyone who attempted entry.

"Zara, I'm outside the fortress. I need you to open a path!"

"I've prepared the strongest backdoor virus I built. But you have to get in within fifteen seconds of me breaching the main firewall. Fifteen very dangerous seconds, Axel!" Zara warned.

"Alright, give me fifteen seconds, Navigator."

Axel took a deep breath, feeling the Gilded energy flow rapidly and steadily through his body. He stood firm before the threatening black code wall.

"I'm going in now!" Axel shouted.

[GILDED BLADEMASTER : ACTIVATING FULL POTENTIAL]

Axel sprinted toward the wall of black code, fearlessly touching it with both hands, which were now glowing gold, challenging every line of Liam's defenses.