Free Web NovelChapter 141: Chapter 135: Awakening... Again
After Zeke was done speaking, Damon remained silent. It was all too much for him to process. Regression, the creation of a new race, death and resurrection, the Mad Immortal turning into a child, taking over an entire world—any one of these feats alone would have been an unbelievable achievement. But all of them together? It was almost incomprehensible.
Damon struggled to wrap his mind around the sheer magnitude of the information. It felt like too much, like trying to drink from a waterfall. He once again recalled Alexi’s words, the way the man had looked at him with an expression that was now painfully clear—pity. Finally, Damon broke the silence and asked, "So how exactly does an adult soul in a kid’s body work?"
Zeke sighed and replied, "Like I said before, it’s not an adult soul in a kid’s body. It’s more like a kid’s soul in a kid’s body, but with the memories of an adult. I’m still a kid. Puberty will still hit me just as it would for you or Cass. Both physically and emotionally."
Damon frowned, considering the implications. "Did you know me in the future?"
Zeke shook his head. "Never heard of you."
Damon let out a humorless chuckle. "Chances are..."
"...that you were already dead," Zeke finished for him. "Yeah, that’s the most likely scenario."
Damon exhaled sharply. "Makes sense. I couldn’t have survived without your potions." He took a deep breath and straightened up. "Alright, this is all still too much for me. I need time to process everything. But for now, let’s just get on with it. I want to Awaken. Any advice?"
Zeke nodded. "Your Awakening will be different from before. Right now, you have Mana Conduits inside your body, but they are in a sealed state. The System will flush your body with mana and high concentrations of Aether. It might even use pure Aether."
Damon raised an eyebrow. "That sounds... unpleasant."
Zeke smirked. "Oh, it will be. What you need to do is endure. Endure until all of your conduits have been unsealed. It’s going to be extremely painful, but if you manage to complete a Transcendent Awakening, then your future will be limitless. You’ll be able to use the Supreme Conduit Codex to its full potential."
Damon narrowed his eyes. "What’s the Supreme Conduit Codex?"
Cass answered this time. "It’s a technique exclusively for Neo-Nephilims. It allows us to refine all three of our Vessels and is perfectly compatible with our Affinities." fгeewebnovёl.com
Damon frowned. "But my Affinities are going to be different from yours."
Zeke shrugged. "That’s not gonna be a problem. The world I took over, Murim, had a lot of techniques that worked on a similar principle. I’ll just tweak something to suit you."
Damon was about to argue, but Zeke held up a hand to stop him. "I know what you’re thinking. And no, you are not an experiment. I did this a lot in Murim. Hell, the technique I used there was also modified by yours truly. And I was the strongest. So chill."
Cass coughed. "But we still haven’t tested his physical limits yet."
Damon groaned. "Dammit."
Leonel grinned. "Cass is right. But we’re not gonna be barbaric about it. I had some equipment made specifically for you guys."
Cass looked at him curiously. "Why?"
Leonel threw up his hands. "Because you guys are like some sort of mutant caterpillars! You keep on emerging from cocoons, and each time, you’re somehow different. Last time, you had an extra pair of arms. And Zeke, you even had a pair of horns. Your bodies keep evolving like there’s no tomorrow. And you need to document this shit."
Zeke opened his mouth to argue but then stopped. He couldn’t refute Leonel’s words. In just three years, they had fundamentally changed at least three times. First, when they Awakened. Second, when they resurrected. And third, when they ascended to the E Grade.
And that wasn’t even counting the smaller changes, like when they activated their Celestial Trinity Racial Trait. That was a lot of evolutions in just three years. So, Damon was taken to the examination room, and after a series of rigorous tests, Leonel finally made his judgment.
"Hmmm," Leonel mused, staring at the data. "Damon’s stats are comparable to a Level 15 Neo-Human. His healing, on the other hand, is comparable to a Level 30 Neo-Human."
Damon blinked. "What did you just say?"
Leonel nodded. "I know, right? I had the same reaction."
Damon’s mind raced. "So, if I’m this strong before Awakening..."
Zeke smirked. "That’s why I said you should aim for a Transcendent Awakening. All of the Neo-Nephilims have achieved it."
Damon was once again shocked. "Wait, weren’t there supposed to be only two people who had achieved Transcendent Awakening aside from you and Cass? What the fuck is going on?"
Cass scratched the back of his head. "Well... Zeke might or might not have given an order that if they couldn’t do it, they were failures who should kill themselves. And those idiots went ahead and achieved it. Fanatics, am I right?"
Damon let out an exhausted sigh. "You two are impossible to deal with. Now please, lead me to a mana-rich room so I can Awaken."
Cass nodded and led him to the chamber they had used for their own Awakenings. To say it had been upgraded would be a gross understatement. The formations lining the room pulsed with power, refined and reinforced since their last use. Damon sat in the middle of the chamber, and Zeke activated all the formations. Mana surged into the room, growing so dense that it turned into a mist.
At that moment, the System triggered the first trial.
"Neo-Nephilim has met the prerequisites. Initiating the First Ascension Trial."
The concentrated mana in the room underwent a shift. It became more violent, rushing into Damon’s body with an almost predatory hunger. He clenched his teeth. The pain was intense, but surprisingly bearable.
Then, another System notification appeared.
"Error! The concentration of Aether is insufficient. Increasing the concentration of Aether."
Something in the mana changed. It no longer felt like energy—it felt like molten glass seeping into his veins. His blood turned into liquid fire, shattering him from the inside. Tiny cuts formed all over his skin, and blood seeped from the wounds.
Despite the agony, Damon refused to scream. He endured. He could feel something moving inside him, a system of pathways he hadn’t known existed. It had to be his Mana Conduits.
’Zeke was right... They were sealed. But not for much longer.’
He gritted his teeth and pushed forward, diving headfirst into the storm of power that would determine his future.
