Free Web NovelChapter 153: The Price of Ambition
The cold and darkness had covered everything...
A drop of blood separated from Kain’s fingertips and fell to the ground.
Tap...
The sound of its impact echoed several times in the small space of the room.
Kain was leaning against the stone wall, breathing, short and heavy breaths, every time his chest rose, a severe pain ran from his side to his shoulder.
He had pressed his hand on the deep wound on his side, but the blood still had not stopped, and his face had completely lost its color.
His clothes were almost entirely red with his own blood.
Several deep cuts could be seen on his arms and legs, and one of the wounds had turned black.
Poison, his body still had not been able to expel it.
He closed his eyes.
"How many days... have passed?" He really did not know.
In this room there was no window, no light, and no way to tell the passage of time.
Only pain, thirst, and the quiet sound of his own heartbeat.
A few days ago... when he had first arrived at this area, the situation was completely different.
That day he was full of hope, full of motivation, all the time only one thought repeated in his mind.
"I must not fall further behind Lian and Seraphina."
During his time in the Ruined Realm, contrary to everyone’s expectations, he had made extraordinary progress.
In just a few days, he had reached Level 13, for a first-year student, this speed was almost unbelievable.
Of course, the reason for this rapid progress was all the risks he had taken and he had been willing to go to dangerous areas.
This same matter had given him a lot of confidence.
When he saw the first broken pillars from a distance, his heart started beating faster.
Ancient ruins, one of the most valuable places any awakened one might find in their entire life.
"Maybe this is the chance... maybe there is something here that can reduce the gap between me and those two."
With this thought, he had entered the ruin.
In the Ruined Realms, ancient ruins always had legendary value.
Some of them were remains of temples, some were shrines where thousands once worshipped.
Some were tombs of very powerful ancient figures of these worlds, some were treasuries that ancient civilizations had built to protect their wealth.
And some... were so old that no one even knew what purpose they served.
Almost all the legendary artifacts that had been discovered over the past decades had been obtained from these ruins in the Ruined Realms.
For this reason, every awakened one dreamed of finding one of them one day.
Kain was no exception to this rule.
He had moved carefully through the dark corridors, passed several old traps, crossed through stone cracks.
Passed several massive doors, and the further he went, the higher the mana density became.
Until he finally reached the most central part of the temple.
And there... for a moment he was completely stunned, in the center of a circular hall, a small spring was located.
Golden-blue water, the surface of the water was calm, but a gentle light was coming from inside it.
The air around the spring was so saturated with mana that every breath created a strange feeling of freshness.
Even his body’s cells seemed to be fed by that energy.
The system suddenly activated, but unlike always, it did not display complete information.
Only a warning appeared.
[Unknown Divine Energy Detected]
Kain hesitated for a few moments, he had no information about the nature of this spring, and the mention of divine energy had made him even more uncertain.
Divine energy is one of the mysteries of the Ruined Realms, humanity has had contact with it a few times, but it is not clear at all what it is, and no information about it is available.
Some say it belongs to the gods, and some say it is the only way to go beyond five evolutions.
But something deep inside him told him that this opportunity might never repeat itself.
He quietly took a step forward and entered the water, and the moment his skin touched the water...
The entire world exploded, pain, pain that he could not even describe with words.
He felt every single cell of his body breaking and being rebuilt.
He screamed, but he did not even hear his own voice.
Then... everything fell into darkness.
When he opened his eyes again... the first thing he saw was the hall’s ceiling.
He struggled to get up, his body was heavy, but at the same time... he felt powerful.
He looked beside the spring, dry, completely dry, not even a drop of water remained.
The entire spring had disappeared, he examined his body.
His mana... had multiplied several times, his heartbeat was different, even his blood flow he could feel.
As if something inside him had changed, but before he could find time to think... he heard a voice.
"Heretic!"
Kain turned around.
Two people.
No... two humans! They wore white and gold clothes, and armors that bore no resemblance to modern equipment.
On the chest of both, a golden sun symbol could be seen, one held a long sword in his hand, and the other held a staff made of white crystal.
Both of their eyes were burning with anger.
"You have defiled the sacred water of light!"
"Your sin can only be cleansed with death!"
"Divine of Light will never forgive you!"
Kain was completely shocked for a few moments.
Humans, really humans! Natives of this realm.
He knew the existence of natives in the Ruined Realms was not impossible, but they were so rare that most people considered them legends.
And now... two of them were standing in front of him.
Kain immediately prepared for battle, he could feel the intense anger from them.
"Wait! I did not know..."
But neither of them listened, the swordsman attacked with unusual speed, sparks spread in the air.
Kain barely deflected the first strike, but at the same time, the mage raised his hands, and several spears of light fell from the sky.
Explosion.
The stones of the hall floor shattered, Kain was dragged several meters on the ground.
He tried to resist, tried to counterattack, but the gap in their power was too great.
Their coordination was perfect, every time the swordsman pushed him back, the mage would block his escape route.
Only a few minutes later... his body was covered in wounds, blood was flowing from several points, and an unknown poison had entered his body.
He was lucky that because of that spring he had become several times stronger, and otherwise, he himself knew he had no chance of surviving against these two.
He had no choice but to run.
He ran through the entire ruin, passed through corridors, passed through halls.
Several times he tried to leave through the main entrance.
But every time... the stone gates were closed, and all the exits were sealed, as if the entire ruin had turned into a massive prison.
"Damn it... why won’t they open?!" Fear had filled his entire being.
Behind him, the sound of those two humans’ footsteps could be heard again.
While gathering his last strength, he suddenly slipped next to one of the walls, blood splashed from his hand onto the stone, and at that same moment... the entire wall began to shake.
The symbols carved on it lit up one after another.
The wall quietly moved aside, a small room appeared, Kain did not even have time to think, and he threw himself inside.
A few seconds later... the wall closed again.
The sound of those two humans’ footsteps stopped behind the wall, Kain panted for a few moments and then quietly looked at the wall.
"My blood...?"
"My blood opened the door?"
Suddenly he remembered the spring.
Maybe... after absorbing that water... he was no longer completely human.
Since then... more than a day had passed, maybe more.
His wounds would not heal, the poison was still flowing inside his body, and he was getting weaker every hour.
He stared at the dark ceiling of the room and really thought about death.
"Maybe... it ends here..." A bitter smile settled on his face.
"I am sorry..." The faces of his best friends... the faces of his family... all appeared in his mind one by one.
He knew today’s result was because of his own greed... if he had not been greedy, he would not be in this situation now, he could have lived longer... he could have enjoyed being with his friends more.
At that same moment... BOOOOOOM!!
The entire room shook violently.
The stone wall in front collapsed with a massive explosion, huge pieces of stone scattered in the air, and dust covered everything.
Kain, with the last remaining strength he had, prepared for battle, even if he was going to die... he did not want to die without fighting.
His heart was beating fiercely.
"They found me... those two people..."
The dust slowly cleared, and a shadow entered the room through the smoke.
His steps were calm, confident... a few seconds of silence followed, and then... a familiar voice echoed in the space.
"Finally found you..."
Kain froze, for a moment he thought he was hallucinating, but when the dust completely cleared... he saw that person’s face.
His eyes opened wide in disbelief.
"...Lian?"
