space

Everything was dark. The only thing I could see was a bottomless blackness that gave me a profound sense of emptiness.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" I shouted.

But there was nothing, only an eerie silence answered my question. Not that I had any hope that someone would answer in the first place.

The whole situation in general reminded me of a specific situation. Death.

"But I can't be dead, I can't be dead again," I thought.

As my paranoia increased, my desperation became more and more evident. I couldn't believe that everything I had built in these 9 years had gone up in smoke. My dreams, my hopes, my ambitions, everything was gone.

Suddenly, I started to hear a faint crunching sound. I turned my body to see where the strange sound was coming from, but every time I moved, the sound always seemed to come from my right side.

Without warning, a small purple spot appeared on the surface I was standing on. I crouched down to get a closer look at the peculiar spot. It seemed to be made up of small purple lines forming an isosceles triangle.

For some reason, as soon as I saw it, I felt the need to touch it. The faint light of the small triangle illuminated my hand as it slowly approached the strange shape.

As soon as my fingers came into contact with the peculiar geometric figure, cracks of purple began to form all over the space filled with darkness. The cracks peeled away from the darkness and gradually formed what appeared to be a purple circle. This circle now seemed to be emitting a faint violet light that pushed away the darkness that had overwhelmed me moments earlier.

The appearance of this strange circle made me reconsider what was really happening. Without warning, the circle began to glow and emit a more powerful light. I felt as if that light was gradually absorbing me, and my existence was fading away.

And suddenly, I woke up.

"Phew, phew," I breathed deeply. I felt like I was short of breath and very tired. I wiped the sweat dripping from my forehead, and at that moment, I realized that it had all been a bad dream.

Or had it?

That's when I noticed that my right side hurt a little. I took off my shirt and noticed a small black triangle tattooed on my chest. This was a surprise to me because this had never happened in the novel. Just in case, I checked my condition, and what I saw left me surprised.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------[Name]: Liam Lewis (9 years old)

[Race]: Human

[Profession]: Locked

[Affinities]: Wind (medium), Darkness (innate)

[Potential]: High superhuman (max 5 rings)

[Bloodline ability]: Locked

[Skills]: None

[Combat arts]: None

[Power]: 1 lesser uncomplet ring.

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That was a surprise even to me. Normally, the plant would have given me a little nudge, not taken my potential for understanding to a higher level.

Objects that can increase your potential for understanding are scarce, if not nonexistent. Truth be told, I could consider myself the luckiest man in the world.

That's when I remembered something similar happening to the protagonist in the third arc of the novel.

At that moment, Seth was injured, which caused several wounds in his core. Seth was dying at that point, so his companions took him to a wizard.

The wizard gave him a potion that led him to visit his energy space, the place in the body where all the energy gathers.

When Seth repaired his core, not only did his power increase, but he also unlocked a new ability.

I believe something similar happened to me, but instead of gaining an ability, it increased my understanding of the [darkness] element.

What I couldn't find an explanation for was my newly acquired strange triangle tattoo.

The novel didn't mention anything about a triangle-shaped tattoo, which seemed odd to me.

Without giving it much thought, I realized it was still nighttime. "System, what time is it?" I exclaimed. "It's 2:48 AM, host," a robotic voice replied.

Upon hearing the system's response, I quickly got up.

I should have been home five hours ago, and considering the fact that there are mana beasts roaming at night, I wouldn't be surprised if my father had mobilized the police. "I better get back home as quickly as I can," I thought.

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While Liam was trying to make his way back home, a mysterious woman was passing through the dark forest.

The woman wore a cloak that covered her face, but it couldn't hide the scars on her arms and her athletic body.

The most notable thing about this woman was that she carried two curved swords at her waist, and combined with her aura of mystery, it exuded a sense of lethality.

As the woman walked through the ominous forest without a care, she suddenly came to a halt.

She gazed towards some bushes where something seemed to be moving.

Without wasting time, she drew her two swords and, at a speed imperceptible to the human eye, sliced the bush branches into thousands of pieces.

Once there was no trace of vegetation, a square with letters from an unknown language could be seen where the bush once stood.

Around this square, there were mutilated parts of beasts, blood, and other bodily fluids.

The woman took out her mobile phone and took a photo of the gruesome scene.

Without warning, a creature leaped toward the woman at great speed. She seemed to have anticipated the situation as she swung her sword with great agility and decapitated the abomination.

Once it was dead, the woman could examine the creature more closely.

It was a dog with the head of a frog, also featuring a pair of bat wings.

The monster had many deformities around its body, giving it an unnatural appearance.

The woman took out her mobile phone again and, while recording the creature, said:

"It appears that an illegal transmutation has taken place here using that magic diagram as a conduit, creating a hybrid between a fierce dog, a swamp frog, and a terrible bat. Unlawful experiments are being carried out here against Lotus rules."

Once the message was sent, the woman waited for further orders. After 5 minutes, a clear message appeared on her phone's screen.

[Get rid of everything].

The woman snapped her fingers, and blue flames disintegrated the creature and the circle.

"It seems this mission won't be easy" sighed the enigmatic woman.