Harvest of Yggdrasil

Walking among the many cracks on the barren ground, Ace desperately tried to find the location.

The location of the supposed harvest and reward he would receive from this dungeon due to his unmatched knowledge about the place.

Akash, also known as the Akashic Records, had told him about the dungeon long ago.

He told him the benefits Ace could reap from the dungeon that was considered dead by the deities and celestials.

Ace remembered Akash's exact words.

"Although the rewards might not seem much to you, you'll recognize their true value once you become someone with a name."

Stroking his chin, he repeated those words inside of his mind.

"Someone with a name, huh? Does he mean I should build a reputation for myself?"

If that was the case, Ace was already doing it.

He wanted to be known around the world, and to be a popular figure, so that he could gain a high position in the Conscientious Faction.

Once he did that, his plan was to gain resources from the Conscientious Faction to fuel his plan of defeating the Deity of Destruction.

Of course, even he understood the severity of the plan, and that if it failed, Earth was doomed.

Since even the strongest people couldn't match up against a Deity, what were the chances of a random nobody pulling it off, even with Akash's help?

Suddenly, he experienced a tingling sensation radiating throughout his body.

He quickly sat down in a cross-legged position and began absorbing the material that caused the sensation.

World Energy.

In other historical texts, World Energy was also named 'Aether' or 'Aether Properties'.

It was the name of the energy that the universe consisted of.

The translations for aether were 'sky', 'space', 'atmosphere', or 'the medium for light travel'.

As the aether properties flowed inside his body, he felt no resistance whatsoever, much to his glee.

Usually, only deities and celestials could absorb aether.

Normally, humans could not absorb the world's energy due to their constitutions, and because they are lower lifeforms.

However, since Akash could not tell Ace's information, he believed the latter was the descendant of a higher life form, like maybe a monkey.

Since monkeys existed before humans, they are considered higher life forms than humans by the deities.

Of course, all of this was unbeknownst to Ace, who paid it no mind while absorbing the aether indefinitely.

The world energy became visible when forced into a high-concentration area, giving it a dark purple hue with smudges of yellow and white hidden deep inside.

As the aether was absorbed by his body, Leo watched on in envy, wondering what Ace was doing.

Having followed him and noticed the solemnity of his expression, he knew it was something important.

He just couldn't figure out what it was.

Was it mana?

Was it the mist?

No, how could he absorb the mist?

It had to be mana.

That's what he believed after running the possibilities through his mind.

But, why would Ace absorb the mana here?

Amount?

Purity?

He truly didn't understand.

Interrupting his train of thoughts, a bear soon revealed itself, emerging from inside the mist.

Leo immediately got into stance, and then quickly shot a glance at Ace, who was still in a meditative state.

"Cheh."

Sneering at the boy who was immersed in his current task, Leo clenched his fists and spat on the floor to relieve his mouth of any saliva.

He then stretched his right foot back as a signal that he was about to begin his ruthless assault of the furry-creature who was baring its teeth at him.

"Damned fatass. You met the wrong person."

He said in a mocking tone, to which the bear responded by growling loud enough for Leo's ears to begin ringing.

Sighing, he maintained composure through this.

"Seems you're not an insect at the least. Still, compared to the D Rank beasts I've met, you're still too inexperienced."

Little did Leo know, the bear had lived for three hundred years and had fought countless of its own race on the planet, having won all battles.

And, its strength was above what any D Rank could do.

However, it was still way too short of a D+ Rank beast.

But, since starting from D Rank, beasts would harness ample mana to harden their blows, it was going to be a tough fight for Leo.

Leo suddenly disappeared from his previous spot.

Following his sudden disappearance, the bear only blinked, but soon maintained his calm composure.

Leo appeared before the bear, but before the former could attack, the latter quickly punched him in the gut, forcing him back several feet.

Gritting his teeth, Leo activated [Berserker], causing red veins to pop out of his previously pale skin.

Unbeknownst to him, however, tiny muscles emerged from his biceps.

"Come on, grizzly bear."

Leo stated.

The bear growled, insisting it wasn't a grizzly bear, but a demon bear.

The two soon punched each other simultaneously, causing shockwaves to emerge from the place of impact.

The cracks under Leo and the bear's feet enlarged as the two gritted their teeth, forcing the other back.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

The two punched each other's fists, causing craters to emerge below them.

Larger cracks were formed and the pebbles that broke off from the ground flew into the air due to the air pressure.

Leo used [Horned Bull Footwork] as he raced around the battleground, matching the bear's pace, who was using mana to augment his feet.

"Bears that walk on hind legs are scary."

Leo muttered sarcastically before punching the ground, causing a crater the size of a car to form below.

Leo smirked as the bear fell right into the ditch due to the latter trying to close the distance between the two.

"Stupid."

To end things off, Leon used [Body Augmentation] to augment his feet, as he propelled upwards.

Then, he used [Body Augmentation] to harden his fist, and gather all the mana he could muster concentrated on that specific point.

His hand suddenly turned white due to the sheer concentration of mana, as he began falling downwards into the ditch which contained the gigantic demon bear inside.

Calm before the storm.

…

Shhhh!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Leo punched the bear four times, making sure he was nothing more than a pool of blood and flesh before finally retracting his fist, which was covered in the crimson substance.

As he looked at the disgusting and disheveled corpse of the late bear, he felt no remorse whatsoever.

"He disturbed Ace's meditation."

Blaming the entire conflict on the bear who no longer existed, Leo got up as he walked towards Ace, who had almost completed the absorption.

The purple hue lightened as the concentration of aether minimized.

Soon, the aether had completely disappeared.

Ace had absorbed every single drop of aether in the surrounding atmosphere, and he was pretty sure it was going to be long before he found more.

He slowly opened his eyes, which revealed a tinge of maturity in them, as if he had regained a part of his lost memories in which he was a thousand-year old scholar.

Sighing, Ace opened up his status window, and the results made his eyes widen to the size of saucers.

[Name - Ace Ambrosia]

[Age - 14 (23]

[Species - Human]

[Biological Sex - Male]

[Rank - E]

[Legacy - ??? (???)]

[Stats]

[Strength - E+]

[Agility - E+]

[Stamina - E]

[Mana - D-]

[Dexterity - B+]

[Skills - ]

[Sword Saint - SS]

[Indifference - SS]

[Flurry Steps - B]

[Mana Manipulation - D]

[Mana Cultivation - D]

[Body Augmentation - D]

[Aura Manifestation - D]

[Aether Manipulation - ?]

Firstly, there was a new section of the system interface, which was globally unheard of.

No one had ever unlocked an extra feature of the system interface, so acquiring one greatly perplexed Ace.

Secondly, he had achieved a new skill.

Of course, the skill was fine due to Ace absorbing a new substance, but the ? Ranking was unheard of, too.

Did that mean Akash was manipulating his system interface so that he couldn't view certain parts of it?

He took a mental note to ask him when he met him again.

"Legacy…"

This word sounded unfamiliar to Ace.

Moreover, it was labeled ??? (???).

"Hey, you done mumbling over there?"

Breaking his train of thought was Leo, who was standing near a pool of blood and flesh, which contained pieces of fur in it.

"Did you kill a demon bear?"

"No, I killed a grizzly bear."

"Grizzly bears don't exist in the [Ashes of Yggdrasil].

"Ah… so that's what he was growling about."

Scratching the back of his neck, he shot an apologetic gaze to the pool of blood.

Then, he turned back to Ace.

"So, what did you achieve?"

"Ah, I learnt this new skill."

Not wanting to disclose the new feature, he only told him about the skill.

"Show me."

Nodding, Ace stood up.

Walking over to an empty spot, he closed his eyes.

He tried focusing on the new energy flowing through his veins and forming a core near his chest, but all he could sense was mana.

Trying again, he tried forgetting the image of mana, and only kept one thing in his mind; aether.

Suddenly, the purple substance mobilized, flowing fluently through his body and interjecting with mana quite a bit.

However, even the mana offered no source of resistance as it let it flow through.

Smiling faintly, he brought the aether towards his palm.

Since the aether could regenerate if he even had a smidge of it left, he placed no restraints.

However, since he had another battle to fight soon, he spared a little more, so that the regeneration process would progress quicker.

Suddenly, the entirety of Ace's palm glowed purple as it emanated a beautiful light, akin to one seeing the night sky for the first time.

Ace had used [Mana Manipulation].

For him, manipulating it externally would prove to be a challenge because of the low density and the reserves of his mana, which amplifies the power of aether when imbued with it.

But, as his rank improves, he would naturally become more and more adept at using aether.

Clenching his hand into a fist, he used [Body Augmentation] to propel his feet upwards.

Jumping up several feet, he positioned his body in a way so that when he fell, his clenched fist that was glowing purple would hit the ground first.

As he looked at the miniature figure of Leo off in the distance, he let out a smug grin, much to Leo's bewilderment.

As Ace fell, he screamed…

"Get out of the way!"

Leo did as he was told, and backed away from the place of impact.

Suddenly,

Boom!

A shockwave the size of several elephants emerged from the place of impact as a crater the size of an entire street was dug up in less than a second.

The ground bounced up like jell-o when the aether came into contact with it, and not once did Ace feel any resistance from the ground.

It all felt like cutting warm butter using the sharpest knife in the kitchen to him.

The purple hue had disappeared, as Ace sat at the bottom of the crater, several feet under the level ground.

As he climbed up using [Body Augmentation], he witnessed Leo, was kneeling with his eyes wider than saucers.

"Hey."

"What the fuck was that…"

Chuckling, Ace patted Leo on the shoulder before walking away.

His steps swayed not even a bit, unlike before.

It was like he had gained a new balance; a new angle; a new position.

Leaving behind the lanky-armed individual who still didn't dare to move in the presence of such a higher being, Ace headed towards the next destination.

"That monster… and he's only at the E Rank… same as me…"

He laughed in self-mockery as he covered his face using his hand, which was filled with scars from his previous battles inside the dungeon.

*

*

*

On the outskirts of the same dungeon, a girl sat cross-legged as she formulated a strategy inside of her head.

Despite her IQ being higher than many of the adults and scholars at the tender age of just 14, she couldn't possibly create a plan to defeat an enormous beast that was above her by an entire major rank.

However, she had to try.

She couldn't risk her life and trust those idiots, who most likely possessed a team capable of defeating the boss, but didn't.

Once someone defeats the boss, they receive a return stone, which is a jade-colored emerald capable of transporting the entire team to their home planet.

After they teleport back, the remaining members are left here to die while the dungeon crumbles into dust.

Lily knew that if she stayed here long enough without keeping an eye on the boss, she would die as well.

However, she trusted her teammates in an abstract way.

She trusted that her teammates wouldn't defeat the boss, or that they wouldn't be able to before she arrived.

It was a form of narcissism that revolved around trust in others.

"I should probably head towards the boss now. They should've begun subjugating it, and all I have to do is finish it."

Wiping away the dust from her tunic, she began running towards the area where the boss resided… where her fear resided.

A few hours passed as she neared the burnt fragment of Yggdrasil, which was unbeknownst to her.

As she cleared away the nearby mist, she witnessed the most horrifying scene of her life.

The red ogre had multiplied into two, and was chewing on the corpses of Jonah and his posse.

She suppressed the urge to scream her lungs out, and tried to process the absurd situation inside of her mind.

'The red ogre had multiplied. It's smaller now and has what a normal human being would have… except that he's an ogre. Instead of being ten times my height, he is now five times my height. He is chewing on the corpses of my unlucky teammates, who I expected would have put up a decent fight against the beast, but… By the dried blood on the sidelines, it should have been a few hours since they died. No, who cares about that…'

Swallowing her saliva in utter fear, which she had felt for the first time, Lily tried to hide the noise of her feet turning around.

However, the ground created a creaking noise, which was heard by the red ogre.

The red ogre growled as bits of saliva filled with blood flew onto Lily's head.

Not minding it one bit, she started running away, only to have thought she escaped from the monstrosity of a being, which had followed after her.

Noticing the red ogre still following her, she ran faster, and faster, and faster, but to no avail.

*

*

*

"This is the second location?"

"Yeah."

Ace replied as he pointed at a patch of dark gray material that camouflaged with the regular ground.

The dark gray material was smoother than anything Leo had seen or felt before, and gave off a feeling of power and durability.

'Adamantium.'

Ace smiled brightly inwardly before reaching towards Leo's spatial ring and taking out a pickaxe.

"Ah, is that why you told me to bring a pickaxe? You knew what would happen in this dungeon?"

Ace smiled but didn't reply.

He then extended both of his arms and gripped the handle of the pickaxe tightly.

'[Aether Manipulation].'

Concentrating aether near his palm and letting it flow into the weapon.

If he used aether on weapons instead of mana, he could use an infinite amount without having to worry about the artifact ever shattering.

However, if a weapon created using adamantium is imbued with aether, it offers various different abilities, instead of just the durability.

The entire reason Ace visited Hephaestus's workshop was to try to commission a weapon for adamantium, and then retrieve it from this dungeon, just like Akash had told him to.

Well, Akash didn't know about the existence of Hephaestus, since he isn't an omniscient being, but just possessing an item which is omniscient.

As the aether diffused into the pickaxe, Ace felt a sensation of belonging, as if the pickaxe was a part of his body.

Lifting the pickaxe, he swung it down as hard as possible, only for the adamantium to not budge even a bit.

Even though adamantium had synergy with aether, it wasn't so easy to extract it, even with the substance.

Ace's power was just too low.

He swung again, and again, and again, and finally, there appeared a large crack on the adamantium.

Usually, this process would have taken less than a second for a strong individual that possessed aether.

However, since Ace was only E Rank, the aether he possessed was also weak and low in amount.

"Finally…"

He steadied his breathing before swinging for hours once again.

Crack!

Crack!

The adamantium cracked into several pieces the size of water bottles.

Ace felt pity for John, who would have to spend months melting the adamantium he would harvest today.

Ace quickly retrieved the adamantium and stored it inside the spatial ring, much to Leo's confusion.

"What's that material?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"I wouldn't believe you either way."

"Exactly."

Shooting a quick glance at Leo, said…

"Now, the preparations are complete. All we have to do is defeat the boss."

"Can you defeat the boss?"

"Well, not really. Even if our entire team, including Lily, teamed up, we still wouldn't have a 100% chance of winning."

Hearing this, Leo's eyes widened.

He couldn't even speculate Ace's strength, and he was saying that the boss couldn't be killed even after combining 10 people's strengths?

"Right, and Jonah and posse would have died by now."

"Yeah, that's kind of obvious."

Even Leo knew that Jonah and his team were set to die in this dungeon.

It was quite obvious, watching their leadership skills, teamwork, and other variables.

"Should we head towards the boss?"

Leo asked, perplexed by what their next move should be.

In this situation, he decided to trust Ace with his life, since he clearly knew something Leo didn't.

"We wait thirty minutes."

"Why?"

"Don't question me while you're in this dungeon. Just saying, it might lead to your very unfortunate demise."

Sneering at those words, he plopped down on the ground, chewing the last bit of food he got from his spatial ring.

"Hopefully, we don't die."

Staring at Leo, Ace softly whispered…

"Don't worry. Since you've trusted me with your life, I won't let you die."