The System Awakens: Rise of the Champion

Damian calmly stepped out of the red gate.

As soon as he cleared its threshold, the gate began to fade, slowly vanishing until it disappeared entirely.

He looked up.

The sky was tinged with a dusky hue, though it was afternoon.

Damian remembered that the atmosphere and weather would eventually return to normal in a few days after the Day of Awakening.

Around him lay dozens of lifeless bodies, their decapitated and crushed remains scattered across the ground.

The road was stained a deep crimson with the dried blood of the fallen.

This was not the only place where the red gates had appeared.

They had opened all around the world.

Damian considered himself fortunate.

He had managed to find a low-level red gate nearby, one he could use to gain system achievements as soon as the system descended.

In the days following the Day of Awakening, high-level monsters would soon overrun most major cities.

Even the city where Sam currently lived would fall to the monsters.

Nearly 65% of the population would be killed before the awakeners began to understand the gravity of the situation and started to fight back, leveling up as they did.

What followed would be the classic apocalypse narrative: humanity would fight back and slowly reclaim the lost territories.

It would take roughly one and a half years for humanity to retake all the major cities from the monsters.

There would also be regions where monsters would completely claim the land as their own.

These monsters were so powerful that awakeners would have to reach the First Tower realm before they could completely eradicate the creatures that had overtaken those places on Earth.

"I need to kill as many monsters as I can," Damian thought, closing his eyes for a moment to focus his senses.

He could hear the sounds of distant screams and the clash of battle.

Following the noise, he leapt onto a building and began jumping from rooftop to rooftop, finally arriving at the source of the commotion.

"Interesting," Damian murmured with a curious expression as he observed the scene.

A group of people were engaged in a desperate fight against monsters resembling giant, seven-foot-tall rabbit-like creatures, emerging in droves from a red gate.

At least seventy of these creatures were flooding the area, and more were continuing to pour out of the gate.

"These rabbit-like monsters are responsible for killing nearly 50% of the people in this city because their numbers astronomical," Damian muttered under his breath.

There were two other red gates in different parts of the city, each releasing the same type of monstrous creatures.

"People are already starting to fight back and level up," Damian thought, glancing toward the person who was killing the most monsters.

"Oh, it's that bastard who streamed me fighting the savage lycans... wait, isn't he that famous streamer who does all those ridiculous stunts?" Damian had no particular fondness for him.

"Well, good for them, I guess." Damian gave the situation a passing glance before moving on, heading toward another location where he knew another red gate would continue to spawn an endless supply of monsters.

Soon, he arrived at an old indoor stadium, or at least it used to resemble one.

Now, it looked more like an abandoned mansion overtaken by a dark forest.

Damian had leapt from building to building, much like Spider-Man, on his way here.

During his journey, he had already slain at least thirty low-level monsters using the [Monster Slayer] sword, earning enough experience to level up.

[You have reached level 18.]

"The experience I get from low-level monsters is no longer enough," Damian thought. "I need to kill as many monsters as possible, level up to level 20, and then start climbing the Tower."

Damian surveyed the scene in front of him.

The indoor stadium was now covered in thick, writhing vines that sprouted from the ground, growing like a dome around the arena.

"These vine monsters should be enough to get me to level 20," Damian thought, walking toward the structure.

He was still about hundred and fifty meters away from the stadium.

Suddenly, the ground trembled beneath his feet.

Without hesitation, Damian leaped into the air, narrowly avoiding the danger.

The earth cracked open, and a giant vine shot up from the ground, striking the exact spot where Damian had just been standing.

Like a snake, the vine coiled and extended, growing longer and longer, its tendrils slowly creeping outward, spreading across the area.

"Ha, it's growing too fast. I have to find its source core fast," Damian thought.

Damian had already formulated a plan to deal with everything using the knowledge he had gained prior to his regression.

The first stage was acquiring the six [First Timer] achievements from the system.

That stage had gone better than expected.

Not only did he gain four of the achievements, but he also managed to unlock a surprising achievement that rewarded him with multiple valuable items.

The second stage of his plan was leveling up as much as possible before entering the First Tower Realm.

To qualify, he needed to clear the first twenty floors of the tower.

Everything had been proceeding according to plan, but an unexpected variable had emerged.

Damian had awakened talents and abilities.

Since that was the case, Damian had to make adjustments to his plans, especially to fully utilize his talents.

Unfortunately, he couldn't recall anything from his memories that could help him make immediate use of his [Martial Lord] talent.

Moreover, he hadn't chosen the [Knowledge of Qi] reward when he solo-cleared the Red Gate yesterday.

The reason he had skipped the [Knowledge of Qi] reward was simple: there was currently nothing in the city he could use to improve his martial powers.

On the other hand, he did know a way to enhance his magical abilities, which is why he had come to this particular Red Gate.

"I have to locate the source core of this vine monster," Damian muttered to himself.

Unlike other Red Gates, this one didn't spawn countless monsters. Instead, it had birthed a single creature called the Forest Heart Creeper.

The Forest Heart Creeper began as a two-foot-tall plant-like entity, but upon entering Earth, it started devouring energy from the land and atmosphere.

It grew rapidly, expanding infinitely and covering entire cities in mere weeks.

And it didn't stop there.

Once it adjusted to its environment, it gained the ability to absorb energy from water bodies as well.

This invasive species grew endlessly, devouring planetary energy.

Cutting its vines did little good since they regenerated almost instantly, and burning them was equally futile as the monster healed and regrew at an alarming rate.

In his previous life before his regression, the Forest Heart Creeper had grown so massive that it completely turned this city into an impenetrable forest.

Not even other monsters emerging from the gates could survive on this land.

As it grew, it distinguished between neither living nor non-living things.

It pierced through everything. Living creatures caught in its path were drained of energy until they were reduced to lifeless husks.

Worse yet, the Forest Heart Creeper consumed atmospheric energy as it grew, leaving the environment barren.

This made it exceedingly difficult for Awakeners to cultivate or strengthen their powers.

It was a dangerous, world-altering monster.

But Damian didn't care what happened to the city.

His sole interest lay in the reward he would receive for killing it.

To defeat this creature, he had to destroy its source core.

The monster used its massive vines and roots to absorb energy from the earth and atmosphere, storing it in the source core for future use.

"The problem is that the source core is located at the center of the indoor stadium," Damian murmured.

It had been one and a half days since the Red Gates opened, and the Forest Heart Creeper had already established its domain, covering a radius of 100 meters around the indoor stadium.