Chapter 220: Time To Grind

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[The {Special Quest} has progressed!]

[Step 1: Hunt all Mechanical Beasts within the underground caverns: 0 -> 274/13.538]

We ended up destroying as many robots as we found on our way towards our goal. There were a lot, and I made sure to get their attention by making as much of a fuss as I could possibly make. Loud explosions, the sound of metal breaking apart, and the trembling of the earth swiftly brought every single robot within a close vicinity of at least ten kilometers.

It was a lot, almost three hundred after all, but it was not near as enough as the amount hiding underground, thirteen thousand! Although we could easily overpower all these mobs without much difficulty, it was still going to be complicated to fight so many without ending up wasting all our energies.

So, while on our way to our destination, I checked what I could do to get a bit of a boost, and I decided to inspect the items I acquired in the previous Quest, the one given by the Heavenly Empress.

[Ki Restoration Potion (S Rank)] x5

[Ki Enhancing Pill (S Rank)] x5

[Skill Level Elixir (S Rank)] x5

[Primordial Martial Beast Heart Fragment (??? Rank)] x1]

The first three items were rather straightforward—a potion to quickly recover Ki—so I'll use it once I almost run out of it to keep on fighting in this Manaless world. The Ki Enhancing Pill and the Skill Level Elixir are consumables, so I am going to chug them up quickly.

And lastly, this thing. A Primordial Martial Beast Heart Fragment. It had a question mark Rank, so it was most likely similar to that Eye of the Void I got from that one Void Ruler that doesn't stop staring at me, even now through my gauntlet.

[The {Seamless Abyss} is staring in silence.]

Yeah, yeah, I know you're there watching me. Void Rulers are apparently the only ones that can watch through these "Abandoned Worlds" as all other Streaming Services have been terminated. Void Rulers, as entities that exist "outside of everything" can observe through it all.

That also means there could be an antagonistic Void Ruler watching over me and being really angry that I am being teleported to random Abandoned Worlds. Last time, I ended up fighting the manifestation of one inside Blednica's body, the Bleeding Scream.

"Maybe it works by simply holding it and concentrating Ki into it, like the Eye with Mana?" I wondered, grabbing the small heart-shaped golden crystal and closing my eyes.

I tried to relax my senses and focus on the crystal without opening my eyes. Rivers of golden Ki energy flowed into the crystal. Slowly, something started to flow from it. An Aura of sorts, of something—a golden being, a creature, a primordial beast.

As I had my eyes closed, only my Aura of Senses could properly discern what it was, and even then, I couldn't even really make sense of its form. No, was it trying to take a form? It felt as if it was shapeless.

"Just what… Are you?"

And then something flashed into my mind—images, memories. Tectonic plates rumbled, and entire landscapes were being formed. The heavens above were slowly being created, and clouds of all colors were being made. And in between it all, there was a golden being.

It looked like a giant phoenix, but then it changed into a Kirin, and then a white tiger; afterwards, a black tortoise; and lastly, a blue dragon. But it all kept shapeshifting; it had no proper form and was endlessly shining with golden light.

And below it, a similar shapeless beast, made of eternal darkness and obscurity, its form changing from snake, lion, goat, hydra, and spiders. It constantly changed, but it ultimately went back to a shameless form.

And then both slowly realized the existence of each other. This primordial world was still divided; dark and light had yet to become one. And these beings—these beasts—started the unification.

Harmony was formed.

Their shapeless, floating bodies began to swirl around one another, creating a beautiful and perfect Yin-Yang.

"Ah!"

And then I opened my eyes as the vision ended; it was strange, and it made me slightly shocked. I think I just saw the origin of the entire world of Bestia. I mean, its origins, like, how it was made! And these must be the Primordial Beasts?

"Then was this thing given to me by such beings? Are they still here? Somewhere? Or maybe they became the world itself? A message from a dying world, perhaps?" I wondered to myself, as Gram, Sepa, and Fang Shuan didn't know what I was even talking about.

"Um, Master Anna, is something wrong? You've been murmuring to yourself." Fang Shuan wondered.

["Yeah, what with that jewel? It is glowing really brightly."] Gram pointed out.

"The jewel!" I looked at the jewel on my hands, or, well, the crystal. "Huh?"

However, its shape had changed; it was no longer a heart; it had the shape of a cat?

"Wait, huh?" I wondered. "Why are you a cat now? What's going on with this weird item?"

When I was already beginning to believe I was wasting my time trying to decipher the crystal's purpose, it began to float in midair. Suddenly, threads of Ki emerged not from me nor the crystal but from the environment. Slowly beginning to reach the crystal itself.

As it absorbed Ki, its size started to increase, and its form became more defined. It resembled a combination between a golden tiger and a sphynx. And then the messages came, albeit rather delayed for some reason.

Ding!

[You have fulfilled the conditions to awaken the [Primordial Martial Beast Heart Fragment (??? Rank)]!]

[The [Primordial Martial Beast Heart Fragment] has seen through your Soul and shared a fragment of its Memories. Through the momentary connection you created with it, you have fed the heart with your Soul's Essence.]

[The Heart has begun to absorb the environment's Ki! It has begun to form its new body! Based on your Soul and your Powers, it has taken a new aspect.]

FLAAASH!

The creature stopped growing once it reached four meters of height, made completely of golden, translucent crystals, a beautiful cat, tiger, sphynx, or something between those trees. It had sharp eyes and a long tail waving around.

"Meow!"

As it meowed adorably, it continued to exude a mighty Primordial Ki Aura, which spread around the surroundings. The destruction and pollution caused by the robots slowly healed in those areas.

"Wait a second, are you..."

Ding!

[Congratulations! The [Primordial Martial Beast Heart Fragment] has finished its gestation and has been fully reborn into the [Primordial Martial Beast of Radiant Yang]!]

[The Primordial Martial Beast has been shaped based on your memories, your experiences, your love, your hatred, your talents, your abilities, and your powers.]

[You cannot tame the [Primordial Martial Beast of Radiant Yang], as it is bound within the World of Bestia.]

[However, the Beast has a great fondness for you for having given it the chance to be reborn after only having a fragment of its former self remaining.]

"Meow! Mereow." The giant kitty kept meowing to me. "Meow!"

Suddenly, a bright golden light encompassed my body, coming from the kitty itself. This was an incredibly high Primordial Grade of Ki!

By merely touching the polluted ground, it purified instantly, something not even my miracle magic could do because of the strange, non-magical components of the robots.

"You want me to purify this world or clean it?" I wondered.

The big cat nodded happily.

"Meow!"

"I see…"

["W-What's going on? I am kind of lost here…"] Gram muttered.

"So that's it!" Sepa said. "The crystal Anna acquired on her quest was actually the last remaining fragment of this world's deities! Or well, the two original Primordial Beasts that represented Yin and Yang."

"Exactly, I think that's it." I nodded. "This one might be the Yang, but where's the Yin?" I asked.

"Meow… Graarr?" The Cat seemed to have little idea.

"If you got the first fragment on the first quest, maybe this one will give you the other?" Fang Shuan wondered.

"I hope so… Because just with a little kitty, I don't think it'll be possible to do such a big feat as purifying this world." I sighed. "But I am kind of already learning what the true goal of this Trial might be, aside from just defeating the robots themselves. There is obviously something deeper."

"The robots did leave a lot of pollution throughout the entire world; even the skies have a strange color." Said Sepa. "And above all, the nine heavens seem to no longer exist, so the ecology and the balance of the world might be collapsing."

"So these Quests, whoever is giving them to me, is actively working on saving this world as well. Was it cooperating with you?" I asked the cat.

"Meow?" However, the cat was clueless.

Perhaps somewhere within this world, the last fragments of the two primordial beasts were hidden; the quest gave them to me so I could awaken them. Or, well, only the first one, though.

[The {Seamless Abyss} is watching in silence.]

[Its eyes do not blink. Its endless mass swirls across the chaos.]

[It is staring.]

"Okay, okay, I get it! Don't make it so obvious now!" I sighed. "Despite acting like you have no personality and are only a being of the void, you sure love attention, right?"

Now I am fairly sure that the Seamless Abyss might be doing this. It has been helping me for a while now, and there's no way this guy isn't the one giving me the quests. Does this mean that he's managing my system too?

"Are you managing my system?" I looked into the sky.

Yet this time, there were no messages. Nothing. That by itself could be a nod, or simply this entity losing interest and ignoring me. Though I wasn't giving up yet.

"Okay, blink twice if yes, and once if not."

I awaited some messages like "[The Seamless Abyss blinks twice]"! Or something, but nothing again.

"Hmm… Forget it."

There was little time to think about or worry about this anyway. Quests always create items out of nowhere anyway; the reasoning behind them might probably be the materialization of Casualty Essence, the energy that changes Fate and is the pillar of Reality.

This is a revelation that was only given at the end of the novel, but I know about it: the System my brother had worked not only through Fenrir's remaining cosmic powers but through the absorption and processing of Casualty Essence.

It means that the more you change the fate of a world, or the more you work on changing it, the more Casualty you create and the more quests with better rewards are made. This is how Quests work, pretty much.

And in the Third Awakening where Scenarios with Quests are commonplace, this is how my brother was able to manipulate the Scenarios' Quests into working towards his favor.

It means that pretty much, if you want to get strong and take hold of your destiny, you have to get moving and do things to make a difference.

Or you'll simply stagnate; without any Casualty to bless you, you'll die alongside everything else, consumed by the Void.

"Hmm, we're here…"

As I swallowed the pills and drank the potions, we reached the entrance of the caves leading underground. I could sense a lot of robots below; more accumulated EXP for me.

[You have consumed the [Ki Enhancing Pill (S Rank)] x5!]

[You gained +500 Ki!]

[You have consumed the [Skill Level Elixir (S Rank)] x5!]

[You gained ten random levels for some Skills.]

[The [Divine Eye of Truth (SS): Lv4] [Great Sorceress (S): Lv4] [Cosmic Transcendent: Lv3 (SSS)] [Celestial Body (A): Lv3] [Jack of All Trades (A): Lv3] [Thanatos' Stigma (S): Lv1] [Demonic Body (A): Lv3] [Thunder Queen (S): Lv2] [Warrior Princess' Physique (S): Lv4] [Spectral Body (S): Lv3] Skills have Leveled Up!]

"Sweet. Now, Apostles of Death, I am counting on your help here." I smiled as the Apostles appeared out of the Purgatory Portal, assembling behind me in their true appearances, giant demons of all shapes and sizes.

"This world is so dry of Mana! It is so annoying, CRAAH!" Neberius complained.

"So, we need to just slay those mechanical creatures?" Bael asked.

"Yes, nothing else, nothing more. Follow me and kill as many as possible. Cover the backs of my Familiars, mostly Violet, Shiro, and Snow. I don't need protection myself." I smiled. "{Steel Body}"

FLASH!

My body suddenly gained greater weight as my skin became a shiny silver color. This was a Skill I had acquired from absorbing Heckert's Soul Crystal when I extracted his corpse. It was a Skill he once possessed, which made him so physically tough. And also, what makes me so physically tough now too.

"Ready? Let's go."

We stepped inside the cave, as thousands of mechanical foes greeted us.

Based on all the EXP I'll accumulate, I wouldn't be surprised if I get like a hundred levels once I finally Rank Up and open my Level Cap, hehe.

Time to grind!

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And gain access to all these Advanced Chapters:

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The Protagonist's Sister Is Actually The Strongest

50 Advanced Chapters of

The Heavenly Martial Empress Returns

17 Advanced Chapters of

Fantasy Story Online: The Crippled Vampire Prince Walks The Heavenly Demon Path