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Raine stood in the ruined church, preparing for the journey ahead. In truth, there was almost nothing to prepare. He had nothing on him—no food, no memories, no weapons.
'How am I supposed to do this without a weapon?' he complained to himself.
'Now that I think about it, I don't even know how to fight. I know a bit of boxing, but I doubt that will help much here. What now?'
He hadn't thought this through properly. Blinded by his desire for a real challenge, he had rushed everything. Now he had no idea how he was going to survive combat.
Sure, he could use his spirit form, but if he needed to kill anything, he would have to do it with his physical body.
In the distance, he heard the cries of nightmare creatures—two of them seemed to be fighting.
'Man, I'm fucked.'
'No… this is exactly what I wanted,' he reminded himself. 'This is the struggle I asked for. I have to live with it.'
'But I still need a weapon.'
He scanned the hall for anything useful. His gaze eventually fell on the five Hollows lying on the floor.
'Should I kill them? They're mentally dead anyway. Leaving them here will only turn them into food for nightmare creatures. But if they die by my hand, I would get something from spell.'
He made up his mind. He would kill them.
'But I've never killed anyone before… not even a chicken.'
'Still, I have to start somewhere. If I can't even do this, how am I supposed to survive in this world?'
Raine steeled himself.
'They're like plants—alive, but not really. They don't feel anything,' he told himself as he moved toward the nearest Hollow.
'But how do I kill them without a weapon?' He looked around again. His eyes landed on some broken stones that had fallen from the crumbling walls.
He stared at the stones, then back at the Hollows.
'No, I can't do it like that. That's too brutal. First time should be gentle. I don't wanna give myself trauma on my first day.'
He searched for another option but found nothing suitable. In the end, he decided to use his bare hands.
'No need to hit them. If I just choke them and stop their breathing, they should die.'
"Okay… I can do this," he muttered, kneeling beside the first Hollow.
The man stared blankly into nothingness, breathing slowly and mechanically. Raine wrapped his hands around the Hollow's neck and applied gentle pressure at first. The Hollow didn't react at all.
'This is harder than I thought.'
He gradually increased the pressure. Still no reaction. The Hollow simply stopped breathing after a while, but his body refused to die. Raine maintained his grip until the body suddenly began to shake violently.
Raine jumped back in fright, but the Hollow's face remained completely expressionless.
'It's just a reflex. The body reacting on its own.'
He steeled himself again, climbed onto the man's chest, gripped the throat with both hands, and pressed down hard.
One minute passed. The body jerked again. Raine didn't let go. Two minutes. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven.
Breathing heavily, Raine finally felt the heartbeat stop beneath his fingers.
[You have slain an Ascended human. Name unknown.]
[Your soul grows stronger.]
Raine fell back onto the floor. A strange, warm energy rushed into him. The fatigue he had been feeling vanished instantly, replaced by a surge of power and vitality.
'I did it… I killed him… I killed a human.'
His heart pounded wildly, as if he had been caught doing something illegal. He stared at the motionless body. It looked exactly the same as before.
It took him nearly five minutes to calm his racing heart.
"I can do it again," Raine said quietly, turning toward the other four Hollows.
…
…
…
About an hour later, the hall was silent. Five corpses lay piled in one corner. In the center of the room, Raine was once again performing handstand push-ups—this time balanced on just three fingers. He moved effortlessly. After completing one hundred reps, he pushed off with extra force, jumping in the air… only to land hard on his butt instead of his feet.
'I feel like I could run for a whole month and not get tired even a bit.'
That was still an exaggeration, but he was definitely much stronger than before.
'Still hurts that I didn't receive any memories, though.'
'Nah, who cares. They've already given me enough.' With that, he summoned his runes once more.
Name: Raine
Rank: Dreamer
Soul fragments: 1000/1000
It was to be expected. These five had been Ascended humans. Humans naturally gained more soul fragments from killing their own kind, so five of them were more than enough to completely fill his dormant Soul Core.
'Now I'm confident I can at least fight those nightmare creatures… or run away if I can't.'
'Okay, one last thing to check.'
He suddenly dropped to the ground, activating his Aspect ability again—this time forgetting to lie down first.
'I feel much more powerful. If I concentrate, I might actually be able to move something solid… like a strong wind.'
He tried lifting small stones, focusing his energy into his hands. The stones shifted slightly but remained on the ground, his fingers still passing through them.
After experimenting a little longer, he realized he still wasn't strong enough to pick anything up. The best he could do was push lighter objects an inch or two from their original position.
'And this is as powerful as I can get while I'm still a Dreamer,' he thought.
'Wait—' He rushed back to his body.
"I forgot about my flaw again," he muttered, sitting up.
'Okay… I don't feel tired like last time. But I do have more soul fragments now. Wait?'
He summoned his runes again.
Name: Raine
Rank: Dreamer
Soul Fragments: 998/1000
"I understand… so that's how it is."
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