UNLOCK: I CAN SEE MY STATS

chapter 5 : the Betrayal

The ground trembled beneath their feet with every step. Branches snapped, and dust rose with their ragged breaths. The darkness of night was absolute, yet somehow, it didn’t hinder either Liana or Ryo from seeing clearly.

They dashed through the forest at full speed. Liana's face was pale, her expression tense and frightened. Even Ryo, usually composed, looked visibly strained, his head turning back every few seconds with wary eyes.

“Damn it! I didn’t expect things to go like this... Everything was set, perfectly... What the hell happened back there?”

Ryo frowned, his thoughts racing as he ran, trying to sense the enemies tailing them.

Behind them, the sounds of their pursuers gradually faded. But neither of them relaxed. They knew it was only a temporary reprieve.

“Faster!”

Ryo shouted, pointing toward a familiar rocky slope.

“The cave is just ahead!”

They ran toward it. Liana stumbled for a moment, and in that instant, the image of a young man with blood-soaked black hair flashed through her mind. The same cave. The same place they had left him.

She glanced at Ryo’s grim face, whispering in a barely audible voice,

“Do you think… he’s still alive?”

Ryo didn’t answer immediately. His mind was spinning, trying to pinpoint where it had all gone wrong. Everything happened so fast. The plan, the ambush, Marcus...

“It wasn’t supposed to go this way. The Ironland patrol wasn’t supposed to be there...”

He muttered under his breath, then suddenly punched a nearby tree. The bark cracked with the impact. It was enough to show his physical strength wasn’t ordinary.

“Damn it... I planned everything down to the last detail...”

He turned to Liana, eyes dark and intense. She flinched under his gaze.

“Someone leaked the plan and Gave our information to the enemy.”

Liana bit her lower lip, confusion and anger twisting her features. She frowned.

“But... who could’ve done that? Besides the two of us, there’s only Mr. Leo, Mr. Rasa Kilami...”

Her voice dropped.

“And the last one… is your family’s Guard Commander… Mr. Shorey Daivon…”

Ryo paused, staring at her, his breath hot and shaky.

“I know...”

After a brief silence, he added,

“I won’t deny it. I’ve started suspecting Daivon. But it’s troubling ... He’s the commander of our family’s guards .... Even my father respects him.”

He rubbed his temple, sighed deeply, then spoke in a calmer tone.

“Leave that to me… I’ll look into it later. Besides, the fact that the plan was leaked might not be entirely bad. If it hadn’t, we would’ve been long gone from here…”

Liana shook her head, her hands trembling slightly.

“I really regret it. If we had just waited a little longer… we might’ve received the family’s reply approving the annulment...”

Ryo raised an eyebrow, frowning, and cut her off.

“Seriously…”

He sighed again, then added,

“What’s done is done. There’s no going back. Besides… I can sense Marcus is still alive in the cave… and it feels like he’s starting to wake up.”

But Liana ignored his words and continued.

“Even so, we shouldn’t have… left him like that. We shouldn’t have used his love for me like that. If he dies ...”

“He chose.”

Ryo cut her off again, but this time his tone was sharper.

“He chose to be the shield… and you agreed. Don’t forget that.”

She lowered her head, unable to meet his eyes.

“Yes, I agreed... but I feel ashamed of myself now…”

Ryo didn’t respond. Instead, he raised his hand and quickly performed a sequence of hand seals, activating a sensing technique. Thanks to his remarkable talent, he could detect everything within a 1000-meter radius.

The technique worked by sending waves of Eternal Energy outward, which bounced back loaded with information about the surroundings. The process occurred rapidly and required both talent and mental sharpness to process the massive influx of data.

Once he confirmed the area was safe, he exhaled in relief and looked toward the cave. A flood of memories rushed into his mind all at once.

Even though he had spent a long time crafting that plan, the outcome had been a complete failure.

Because of the arranged engagement between Marcus and Liana, she had always been someone out of reach. And with the pace of the war accelerating, Ryo wasn't sure if he would even live to see the next day. So, he convinced Liana to submit a formal request to annul the engagement, hoping he could be the one to propose to her afterward.

But when days passed without any response, he began to prepare a plan to eliminate his teammate, Marcus Abomarian.

He gathered detailed information on the Abomarian Clan, which possessed a unique ability , a curse that afflicted anyone who killed a member of their bloodline. His plan was to create a scene where it looked like they were ambushed by Eternal fighters from an enemy nation, or at least, that's what Marcus would see.

What he hadn’t accounted for was that Marcus possessed a forbidden technique , Void Seal , a technique only used by members of the Abomarian Clan, even those who hadn’t awakened the Seal Body.

Void Seal, an S-rank forbidden sealing technique, worked by collapsing and compressing the space around a victim into a singularity, until they vanished entirely , erased from existence.

Despite its terrifying power, like all techniques, it had its flaws and side effects. Its greatest weakness was the cooldown , it could only be used once every ten years.

And its side effects were dangerous enough to earn it the label of a forbidden art.

It placed an enormous burden on the user's body and mind, draining an entire decade’s worth of vitality , especially in users who hadn't yet awakened their Seal Body.

And in Marcus's case, who had not yet awakened his bloodline, the cost was likely far greater.

After Marcus killed most of the enemies, Ryo’s plan unraveled. He and Liana resorted to exploiting Marcus’s love for her. When Marcus was on the verge of death at the hands of the fake enemy, an Ironland Army patrol suddenly appeared in the area.

They weren’t supposed to be there.

Everything fell apart. And knowing that the last memories of any Abomarian Clan member were passed to the Clan Leader upon death, Ryo had to improvise.

He left the wounded Marcus to die alone in the cave and escaped with Liana, pretending it was to mislead the enemy. That way, no one would question him.

But again, things didn’t go as expected.

While they were fleeing, a messenger hawk arrived with news: the engagement annulment had been approved , but on one condition.

Marcus had to stay alive.

If not, the Abomarian Clan threatened to prevent Liana from marrying anyone else for the rest of her life.

That’s why they had returned to this cave, where Marcus Abomarian lay. The eighth son of the Abomarian Clan Lord.

After a long, exhausting silence, Ryo sighed and looked at Liana’s sorrowful face. He raised his hand gently to her chin, lifting it so she would look at him.

“Wipe that expression off your face. Everything’s fine now.”

“We got what we wanted. There weren’t any major losses... except for Nicole’s life.”

He patted her shoulder and added,

“Let’s take him and get out of here...”

“Hmm...”

She nodded faintly, then began walking toward the cave, while Ryo cast one last look behind him before following her inside.

------

The glowing triangle pulsed quietly on Marcus’s forehead, emitting a steady radiance as it worked in silence, purifying the Eternal Energy flowing through his body.

Inside him, mental energy mixed smoothly with both spiritual and physical energy. Through a precise transformation process, they merged to become pure Eternal Energy, spreading like threads of light through the meridians across his body.

With each passing moment, his chakra gradually filled.

Each minute was like a stone added to his energy reservoir, until it finally reached its limit.

But Marcus didn’t stop there.

He kept extracting, as if forcing himself to push beyond the boundary.

The Eternal Triangle Technique wasn’t just a recovery method.

It was a tool designed to raise the very limits of energy , if the right conditions were met. And the most important of those conditions was expanding maximum capacity.

According to the system panel earlier, Marcus’s energy cap in this current state was 100 units only.

But now, after his Soul stat had risen to 9 full points, that cap had changed again.

The increase wasn’t massive, but it was noticeable. The body was the container—and if Marcus wanted to expand that container, he needed to improve his physical fitness.

Mind and spirit could contribute too, but their influence remained limited compared to the body.

After nearly thirty minutes, Marcus slowly opened his black eyes. His vision was still somewhat blurry. He had stopped extracting because he had hit the maximum limit again. He wanted to continue, but unfortunately, he couldn’t.

After all, Eternal Energy wasn’t created out of thin air.

The purification process required consuming mental, physical, and spiritual energy. And his body’s current capacity had reached its ceiling.

Still, a faint smile spread across his face as he immediately felt the difference in his energy reserves.

“My energy increased a bit...”

He thought with quiet satisfaction, then summoned the panel with a single thought to confirm.

[Status Panel]

Name: Marcus Abomarian

Age: 14

Physical Fitness: 5

Soul: 9

Eternal Energy: 137 / 137

Bloodline Factor: Seal Body – Not Awakened (100)

Unlock Points: 0

Skills:

• Energy Devourer (SS) – Level 1 (100)

• Eternal Triangle Technique (S) – Level 1 (100)

• Instant Step (D) – Level 2 (500)

• Mirage Clone (D) – Level 3 (1000)

• Lightning Style (B): Thunder Serpents – Level 4 (5000)

• Earth Style (B): Earth Wall – Level 3 (1000)

• All for One (SS) – Level 9 (1,000,000)

• Healing Technique (C) – Level 4 (5000)

• Disguise Technique (C) – Level 0 (50)

He studied the panel carefully until his eyes settled on the Eternal Energy stat.

He placed a hand under his chin and murmured,

“Hmm... it increased by 37 points. Not much, but it’s a start...”

With the strengthening of his body, soul, and mind, especially physical fitness ,and with the expected growth of the Eternal Triangle Technique, he could predict that the technique’s efficiency would definitely improve. Then, he would be able to recover and extract energy much faster.

Right now, his growth rate might not seem impressive compared to other prodigies, but that might not be the case for long. After all, he had 43 years of experience from an alternate future, not to mention the panel, which allowed him to evolve his techniques and awaken his bloodline.

Marcus gave the panel one last glance before closing it.

His gaze fell on the Energy Devourer technique, his system’s core ability. It allowed him to extract Eternal Energy from his own body and convert it into a Core.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he recalled its details.

“I need to prioritize this technique. It might be... the key to rapid evolution.”

He closed the panel and exhaled.

“First, I need to focus on the plan...”

With that thought in mind, he stopped wasting time. He refocused, pulled off the light blanket that covered his body, then got out of bed and grabbed the leather armor resting to the side.

His eyes settled on the black insignia stitched into the fabric , a ring of twelve dark dots with a bronze star at its center.

He smirked and muttered,

“So this country’s emblem is still the same... even in this alternate timeline.”

He picked up the small side pouch containing some supplies and strapped it to his waist. Then, he grabbed a few small brown orbs and tossed them into his mouth.

“Hmm... still disgusting...”

He chuckled internally at the taste of the compressed ration pills.

These pills could supply the body’s nutritional needs. They were used exclusively by Eternal Fighters. If a normal person ate one, nothing deadly would happen, but the stomach cramps would be unbearable.

He hadn’t eaten anything since waking up in the cave, and using the Eternal Triangle Technique had drained his physical energy. That’s why he felt weak and hungry.

Fortunately, the rations digested quickly. In less than a minute, Marcus felt his hunger disappear and some strength return to his limbs.

He stretched lightly, then scanned the area again.

All he saw were the wounded and the sick lying on beds.

“Hm?! Where did he go?”

He realized the doctor had vanished from the tent.

“He wasn’t done treating the soldiers... where could he have gone?”

He muttered, frowning, then shrugged and sighed.

“Either way, it’s not like I’m in a rush. I’ll wait for him here or...”

He paused mid-thought. His eyes locked onto one of the injured men.

“That... is actually a good idea.”