Chapter 24: Magic.

Rigel put on a black shirt and ripped black jeans that he found under the debris. He looked at the black dragon's dead body, and he had set up something for anyone who came to check. He then looked at the tower, the only thing that stood tall in the flattened land of the Czechia Republic.

He never thought the time had finally come for him to enter the tower again. But he needed to do something else first, and that was to comprehend the magic that he had learned from the old man.

The Core that Rigel absorbed from the black dragon, had no side effects on him. Not only did it not have any side effects, he also didn't feel any changes inside him. He thought he would get some kind of magical power, but he couldn't detect any difference inside his body.

"Something as powerful as the black dragon doesn't have anything to offer..." Rigel sighed in disappointment. He could feel the difference in his physical strength, but it was because of Lysara'elmaris, not because of the Core absorption.

Rigel put his disappointment aside and focused on the magical power that circulated in his body. He sat down and crossed his legs to meditate because it was the only way he could feel the sensitivity of the magical power.

The amount of magical energy inside him was so great that he couldn't use it efficiently. He learned the fact magic had tiers to divide from weak to strong based on the amount of magic circles that unclogged and trained the nervous system for releasing and withstanding magical power.

The first thing he needed to take care of was the magical energy on his spine that was located in his spinal cord. He used the magical energy and formed his first magic circle on his spine to let it get introduced to the magical energy. It was a piece of cake, and then he formed the second magic circle to make the nervous system in his spine get used to the magical energy presence.

Rigel decided to stop on the second magic circle because if he rushed it, it would injure his spinal cord and it would be fatal. He then focused on the magical energy in his heart and did the same thing until it reached the second circle.

"I need to start using magic so every part of my body can get used to it," Rigel looked at his hands and gently clenched them. "I wonder if Players also do this kind of method," he looked at the tower in the distance.

Since he needed his body to get used to magic, he decided to hunt monsters with it.

A wyrm was spotted in the distance looking for something to eat under the debris of a ruined building. Rigel silently watched it from up close and then he released a spark in his right hand. When the wyrm was busy looking deeper under the debris, it got electrocuted and its inside was fried, killing it instantly.

Rigel never thought magic was so powerful that it killed a monster with just a touch. It would need him to do a few attacks with a sword to kill it. The difference in destructive power was apparent, and it would make things easier for him in the future if he could master both magic and combat weapons.

He realized that some magic variations that he had learned from the old man were locked. The reason wasn't about his understanding of the magic variations, it was about the limited amount of magical power his body could release at a time. He had a tremendous amount of magical energy inside him, but if his body could only let in a tiny bit of it at a time, it was useless.

He had no choice but to use basic magic spells, but even with basic magic spells, no monster could withstand it. He enjoyed his time hunting monsters with magic until he had forgotten the time. He also emptied the area that was crowded with monsters.

"Hmm?" Rigel looked at the distance with his narrow-shaped pupils to look clearly at night. "A convoy?" He squinted his eyes to look more clearly but then a sound of a drone could be heard in the sky.

Hugo was looking at the scene with his binoculars to find out where the black dragon was. He used a night vision to make it visible to him, and he found the black dragon lying on the ground.

"It seems like it's asleep," Hugo said as he put down his binoculars. "Send the drone there and make sure to not wake the dragon," he warned.

When the drone observed the black dragon from above, the operator noticed something was off about the dragon. He took the risk and lowered the drone slowly and carefully. When the vision from the drone became clear, he was shocked and immediately ran to inform Hugo about what he saw.

"Com-Commander!" The operator said as he held the laptop. "You have to see this!" He turned the laptop around so Hugo could see what he saw.

Hugo squinted his eyes and when he noticed the pool of blood around the dragon, he grabbed his binoculars and tried to look at the dragon once again. He slowly dropped his binoculars as his hands trembled in disbelief.

"Sent the scout... hurry!" Hugo said.

The scout team moved stealthily, hoping the monsters wouldn't notice them. At first, they thought they were lucky that they hadn't encountered any monsters, but then they saw corpses of monsters around them. They looked at each other and reported what they saw to Hugo.

"Sir, do you think Rigel did all of this?" The captain asked Hugo who was overwhelmed by all the information that he received.

"I don't know," Hugo shook his head slowly. "I'm not sure if I should believe a single man could annihilate all those monsters and the dragon, or should I ask what kind of man that could kill all of them," he said.

Rigel watched the scout team observing the dragon's corpse, and then he saw the convoy drive to the location. He was hiding in the debris of a ruined building, waiting for them to see the thing he had set up.

Hugo came in and the scout team was staring at something on the ground. When he approached them, he saw the bottom half of a man's body lying on the ground. The wound was still fresh, it was a day old, and they could see the scabbard of Eclairswille.

Hugo was saddened by what he saw, and he wasn't the only one who couldn't accept the fact that Rigel had died. They didn't know what to do with the bottom half of Rigel's body because it didn't feel right to only bring half of his body back.

"Bring it back. We will make a proper burial for him," Hugo said.

Rigel watched the soldiers leave after they discovered the bottom half of his body. He was satisfied with the result because now they knew that he had died. He looked at the sky and it was peaceful, hoping that the peace would last forever since the catastrophe that haunted them in his past life had been taken care of.

"I have done my part. I hope you can save the world now," Rigel said as he watched the convoy disappear into the night. "Now is the time for me to go on the journey to the unknown," he looked at the tower.

Rigel stood in front of the tower, looking at how eerie it was and how it was unaffected by the dragon's breath that flattened the land and melted everything. He didn't know what was waiting for him inside, but his real goal started the moment he set foot into the tower.

"Half a year... Half a year had passed since that day," Rigel took a deep breath as he wrapped his sword in a piece of black cloth. "Let's see what kind of world the tower offers," he stepped foot into the tower, and he felt the same sensation again, being pushed away while at the same time being pulled into the tower.

The last time he was in there, there were thousands of players waiting in the inner chamber for their turn to enter the trial. This time, there was nobody in the inner chamber, only him and the echoing sound of his footsteps. The place looked dead as if it was abandoned, and he believed he was the first Adapter because, in his past life, the Adapter was discovered a year after the final invasion.

Rigel looked at his surroundings because he didn't know where to go, but suddenly a creaking sound could be heard behind him. He turned around and saw the wall had turned into a door with a blinding light that prevented him from seeing what was beyond the door.

"Here I go," Rigel took a deep breath and entered the door.