"What...?" Wain muttered with confused looks while realizing what had just happened.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

Without his knowledge, his body began to release a huge amount of gray energy that spread in all directions.

"You couldn't have warned me about this before?! Fuck!" Wain exclaimed, clenched his teeth, and kicked the ground with his foot.

"I tried! I mean... It was too late when I said it, but who knew you'd act so harshly!" Gladius uttered in a muddled voice.

"Ah? What did you expect me to do with those Souls? Pray on them?" Wain shouted in an irritated manner, "Shit! Why is this happening now?! When am I going to start getting lucky?"

Whoooooooosh.

Wain's Soul Temple was undergoing an amazing change. The core of the Second Torch emptied instantly, and the torch lit up. The gray flame was only a small one, as it was still a long way off, but it was enough to make Wain feel a powerful surge of strength.

Even though there was no wind, his hair and cloak fluttered violently as his eyes got deeper. The energy was still coming out, but technically Wain was already on the Second Stage of Ascension.

"Well, well, this might be hard for me right now, but I feel fucking great!" Wain uttered with a mad smile on his face as he clenched his hand into a fist.

Crackle.

Many shadows appeared in the fog with red eyes whose light was slightly diffused. They were all looking at Wain as though at the most important treasure in their lives.

"Huh, you're already here. In that case, attack! Show me what you can do!" Wain shouted with an insane look since he summoned Gladius.historical

.

.

.

A smoked cigarette flew sideways as it fell to the ashy ground that was completely soaked in blood.

"Damn... I need more..." Wain muttered, took a cigarette out of the pack, and lit it.

He brought the cigarette to his mouth, sighed, and blew out a massive puff of smoke, then did it many more times.

,m Wain was leaning against a mountain of the corpses of various monsters, most of which were from the Fourth Chronicle. There were so many that the blood literally turned into several rivers that flowed around Wain.

"It was crazy... I feel like I've aged a few years in that hour..." Wain muttered while changing his cigarette.

"Wain... Are you sure you're okay? I mean, you've sustained some serious wounds." Gladius uttered in a worried manner.

"Don't sweat it. I'm feeling better by the second, and from the looks of it, either the enemies are over, or no one else wants to fight me, but..." Wain muttered while looking at the energy flows, "When will it end?"

As though at his will, the energy flow suddenly stopped and returned to its owner. At the same time, the Second Torch lit up unusually brightly as vibrations went through the entire Soul Temple.

Wain felt a surge of strength as his wounds began to heal at an accelerated rate, minor cuts completely disappearing.

[Your Second Torch is lit to full power.]

[You have reached the Second Stage.]

[The ability to fill Third Torch is open.]

"Huh, just in time." Wain smirked, "Well, that was a tough fight, but in cases like that, the winner always has a lot of trophies."

Wain waved his hand as hundreds of Souls of various sizes appeared before him, all colors except amber.

"I wonder how much I can fill the Third Torch with it?" Wain muttered before absorbing the souls.

[You received a small amount of Soul Essence!]

[You received a medium amount of Soul Essence!]

[You got a large amount of Soul Essence!]

The messages didn't stop appearing as only after a couple of minutes Wain saw the last one.

"Well... For some reason, I have a bad feeling..." Wain muttered as he opened the status.

[Wain Norheim

Ascension: Second Stage (7.77%)

Race: Human

Beyond: Calamity (Coelacanth)

Soul: Nameless King

Title: Savior of the Damned, Echo of Samurai, Mentor Inquisitor, The First, Soul Gatherer, Cartographer, Slayer of Goliath, Contender, Defeating One of the Four Kings, Killing the Legend, etc...

Majesty: 10]

"7.77%... I guess that's all my luck can do..." Wain sighed while shaking his head in a frustrated manner.

'That's actually a pretty good result,' Gladius uttered.

"You think so?" Wain asked as he raised an eyebrow.

'Yes. You just need to raise the level of the opponents you're fighting. If you absorbed a few Legendary Souls, you'd make a big jump in progress right away.'

"Huh, defeating opponents like that isn't easy. I've defeated four, but they only recently reached the Fourth Chronicle, as some of the monsters here were almost as strong." Wain waved his hand before rising from the corpse of the monster.

'Well, a lot depends on Stage, though I think you already figured that out,' Gladius muttered in a serious voice.

"Sure. I'm at least twice as strong now as I was before, so... When Ceozi makes my gear, it will be time for Nameless to return to the Colosseum." Wain smirked as he headed forward.

Step. Step. Step.

Wain slowly approached the dark crystal that lay carelessly on the ground. The monsters couldn't get near it because the crystal's aura scared them off, but that didn't matter to Wain.

He picked up the crystal, moved it into the ring, and said, "Great. Now it's time to go back."

Tremble.

Suddenly a powerful pressure came over Wain that literally shackled him completely since he couldn't move.

'What...?' Wain inwardly muttered as he looked up.

A shiver went through Wain's body as a massive red eye stared at him as though it could turn him into nothing at any moment while a dense fog hid the creature's body.

'Is that the Fifth Chronicle one...?! Ceozi said it doesn't care about Crystal!' Wain inwardly exclaimed while in disbelief.

Whoooooosh.

The pressure was gone as the monster disappeared. Everything was calm as if Wain had imagined it.

'Wain, it's time to get out of here as soon as possible. You're lucky that girl told the truth, and that monster isn't interested in you.' Gladius uttered.

"Yeah. You're damn right." Wain nodded.