The System Awakens: Rise of the Champion

Damian shook his head, reminding himself that it was useless to dwell on matters like this.

It didn't matter what consequences his actions might bring; he just had to grow strong enough to face them all.

"Let's just think about what I should do next," Damian said as he glanced around the room he was in.

Since the day of Awakening, he had been living in random empty houses he stumbled upon.

He had found dozens of such abandoned homes.

The house he was currently in appeared empty at first, but his exploration had uncovered a gruesome secret in the basement.

There, he found several corpses, their hands bound with chains and their mouths and legs tightly wrapped with tape.

At least fifteen bodies hung by their wrists, lifeless.

These people hadn't died from monsters or mutated beasts.

They had bled to death from deep slashes on their necks and wrists, and their fingers had been severed.

"This isn't the work of a monster," Damian thought with disgust. "This is the work of a human... a very disturbed, crazy, psychotic... a serial killer."

He examined the evidence of torture on the dead bodies.

He could see various cuts and slashing marks all over them.

Damian hoped that this person didn't survive because if they had no qualms about killing people, they certainly wouldn't hesitate to kill awakened ones to level up.

After all, killing awakened ones would be far more beneficial than hunting monsters.

It was the easiest way to level up and grow stronger, but it came at a price.

Damian, of course, knew about it.

Before his regression, he remembered that the Awakener's society had been hunting a few individuals who were constantly killing other awakened ones to grow significantly stronger than their peers.

The desire to kill others to become stronger was somewhat understandable, even though it was a crime and punishable by the Awakener's society.

But imagine someone who needed to kill, who wanted to kill to satisfy their emotions, or even worse, who wanted to kill just for the sake of it.

People like that could become a serious problem.

"It's as if this person enjoys cutting off the skin of their victims..." Damian muttered, shaking his head.

"For the sake of all that is good, I hope this mentally-ill person didn't survive the apocalypse."

He shook the disturbing thoughts from his mind before leaving the house.

The place disgusted him to his core, and he didn't want to spend another second there.

Once he uncovered the horrific secrets of the house, he left immediately.

To push the image of the bodies from his mind, he began to think about his progress and what he should do next.

In these past two months, all he had done was focus on leveling up and practicing magic, and he had successfully become a 1st-circle mage.

Damian glanced at his status on the system panel.

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[Awakener: Damian Ignatius]

[level: 26]

[Class: None]

[Martial Cultivation: Body Refinement Realm(Peak)]

[Magic Cultivation: 1st Circle(Shade)]

[Titles: Regressor, Solo Hunter]

[Achievements: First Killer Titles, First Dungeon Clearer]

[Talents: Elementalist, Martial Lord]

[Abilities: Extraction(Unique), Warrior's Will(Inherited)]

[Strength: 38 ║ Agility: 49 ║ Vitality: 47 ║

Stamina: 49 ║ Perception: 51 ║ Mana: 108 ║

Qi: 0 ║]

{Stat Points: 45}

[Spells: Flame, Wind, Earth, Water]

[Skills: Swordsmanship(High), Archery(Basic), Axe Techniques(Basic)]

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In the past two months, Damian leveled up only three times, not because he didn't work hard but because he devoted his time to developing his magical abilities and spells.

Cultivating magic is a long and arduous process, even with the knowledge of mana he received as a reward from the system.

Unlike martial cultivation, which can be advanced by training and absorbing Qi, magic cultivation requires mages to deepen their understanding of the elements and magic itself to progress in their realm.

Despite dedicating two months to this pursuit, Damian had not yet become a full-fledged 1st Circle mage, though he could sense he was very close.

Sitting cross-legged, Damian focused his mind.

After a few minutes, his consciousness entered his inner world, also known as his sea of consciousness.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself standing on an endless expanse of water that resembled an ocean, but the water was grey in color.

Above him, the sky stretched endlessly, mirroring the ocean's grey hue, creating a surreal, boundless space.

In the distance, his eyes caught sight of something unusual.

He walked toward it, each step sending calm ripples across the surface of the water.

Soon, he stood before the object he had spotted, a small, strange plant growing out of the grey ocean.

It was unlike anything he had ever seen.

The plant was not green but dark blue, from its stem to its leaves.

It stood about a foot tall and bore a dozen or so leaves.

"I wonder what this represents," Damian mused, aware that a person's inner world is a reflection of their true self.

He sighed as he sensed the atmosphere around him.

The gentle warmth and soft wind brushing against his cheeks gave the space a peaceful, tranquil feel.

After a moment, his consciousness returned to the real world.

Refocusing, Damian invoked his mana core.

Four streaks of light shot out from his chest, materializing before him as four transparent circular rings, each a different color: earth brown, reddish orange, light blue, and sky white.

These rings represented his progress in the elements he had an affinity for.

In magical cultivation, a mage's level is determined by how many elemental circles they have successfully formed for their respective affinities.

For instance, if a mage has an affinity for the Flame element, forming a complete Flame elemental ring signifies that they have reached the level of a 1st Circle mage.

Creating a second Flame elemental ring advances them to a 2nd Circle mage.

As more circles are formed, the power and potency of the associated element grow significantly stronger.

The only way to create elemental circles is by deepening one's understanding of the elements and elemental magic as a whole.

There are three stages in forming an elemental ring:

1. Outline Formation – The mage creates the initial outline of the ring.

2. Shading – The outline is gradually filled in.

3. Perfection – The mage completes the final, perfected elemental ring.

Damian's innate talent granted him affinity to four elements: Wind, Water, Earth, and Flame.

Over the past two months, he had advanced his understanding of all four elements to the second stage.

As soon as he perfected one of these elemental rings, he would become a 1st Circle mage.

But Damian was ambitious.

He wasn't content with mastering just one element.

He aimed to perfect the elemental rings of all four elements, pushing himself to achieve what few could.

Damian wants to take everything for himself.

He was certainly not going to stop until he became the best in everything he does.

As for magic, of course, he was aiming to become the best mage in all the realms of the tower.