{Argus's POV}
Finally, he opened his eyes and wiped the sweat from his brow.
"I almost killed myself by not understanding it fully."
Argus now grasped the core of the issue. According to the information he had received about forming his core, he was supposed to choose only one type of energy to cultivate. He needed to select either Yin Qi or Yang Qi, as the two energies were too volatile for someone at the Beginner Realm.
Attempting to absorb both types of energy simultaneously could result in an explosive backlash that could kill any being in the Beginner Realm due to their fragile bodies and insufficient energy control.
Argus remembered that he was supposed to create a single core using his chosen energy and convert the Mana he had into that energy type. However, he had greatly deviated from the intended path. He had neither chosen both Yin Qi and Yang Qi, failing to convert his Mana into either type. Instead, he had created three cores using three different types of energy.
Realizing the gravity of his mistake, Argus felt a mix of frustration and relief. Fortunately, he had survived, thanks to his intuition and will.
"It looks like I deviated from the Cultivation Art I received."
He wasn't sure whether this deviation was a good thing or a bad thing yet.
"The final step..."
Argus closed his eyes to prepare for the final step so he could truly have a breakthrough. He needed to integrate the runes from the formation that had formed those energy vortexes into his cores.
A while ago, before Astrea and Argus had gone outside to face his tribulation, the vortexes of energy had already disappeared, but the Formation Paper continued to absorb energy. He had been tempted to take it, but his intuition told him not to do that, so he stopped himself.
Looking inside his Space Ring, he found the two Formation Papers that were shining dark and crimson from time to time.
Bringing out the Formation Papers, Argus tore both of them at the same time, just as the information instructed, and let the papers do the rest.
After tearing the papers, the runes of the formation started lighting up once again as if alive. Crimson and dark lights began to shine on the thousands of runes as they immediately entered his body.
Argus was already prepared for what would happen next as the runes began to fuse with his cores.
This would be an easy yet painful step once again, or so he thought. But instead, all the runes fused directly into his cores and disappeared, as if nothing had happened. Then, Argus received a barrage of notifications on his Status Window. Before he could check them, he immediately sensed his power increasing, slowly but surely.
Argus supposed to just tear the chosen Qi energy that match his cores, however since he possessed both he speculated that it will work and it did.
"Looks like I officially broke through."
Without fusing those runes with his cores, he wouldn't have been able to break through to the next realm. This time, the increase in his stats didn't feel painful but rather like a soothing wave of energy coursing through him.
When a being broke through, they would typically experience a comfortable surge in power compared to the usual pain that came from forcibly adding stats.
"Tsk."
Feeling the surge of power rising within him, Argus clicked his tongue in annoyance rather than satisfaction.
'I'm an idiot, aren't I? If I had this power earlier, I wouldn't have been near death facing that tribulation. I was too careless.'
He shook his head in frustration, recalling how recklessly he had summoned the tribulation right before breaking through to the next realm.
"Wait, why do I still felt weak?"
A question appeared on his mind. Before he can found the answer, the space around him twisted and a big hole appeared, his eyes shot open. The first thing he saw was the shadow of a person leaping towards him. Before he could react, he was met with an unexpected, fragrant, and soft sensation.
"Master! You're awake!"
Astrea embraced him tightly. His face immediately met the very source of that fragrance. He tried to speak but only a muffled voice can be heard.
"Calm down, Astrea."
Argus tried his best to separate from her, but it seemed he'd need to force his way out, so he simply let her stay. Before he could fully process the situation, another figure emerged from the space hole. It is none other than Ying Zhu, of course.
Before Argus could greet him, Ying Zhu knelt and bowed deeply.
"I'm sorry for being an incompetent knight, My Liege! I'm so weak that I couldn't even help you with your trials!"
Argus smiled bitterly at the words.
"Stand up. As you said, it's my trial, so of course, you couldn't help. Besides, you're far from worthless. You've been guarding me while I was asleep, haven't you? And I see you've reached level 25 already. That's great news for me."
Ying Zhu's soul fire flickered with pride at his master's praise as he slowly stood.
"I didn't dare slack off, not even for a second, while you were unconscious, My liege!"
Astrea, still holding on to Argus, began to slowly pull away, not wanting to overstep as she feared he might not appreciate too much affection.
"Ying Zhu never returned to this cave after you became unconscious, Master, he was hunting and leveling up while patrolling the area. If I hadn't forced him to come back, he'd still be out there."
Argus just smiled bitterly.
"Any other information?"
"None, Master. That is all."
"Okay, you two rest for a while. I'm just going to check something, then we can go back. I, no, we need to get to the city before it's too late, or we won't be able to enroll."
Argus then started to navigate his system window to check all the notifications he received. He ignored those level-up prompts from Ying Zhu and looked for the others.
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
[??? Is intervening...]
[System protection is being activated]
[System Error]
[System Error]
[Player Argus does not have Security Protection]
[??? successfully intervened]
[Heavenly Tribulation Trial will start without your permission]
[Survival Quest: Survive the Heavenly Tribulation
Status: Not Complete
Reward: ???]
[Survival Quest: Survive the Heavenly Tribulation
Status: Completed
Reward: ???
Note: Reward will be distributed after reaching Core Forging Realm]
[Your Soulbound Ying Zhu has reached Level 25]
[You have met the requirements to learn a skill]
«Soul Mark Seal»
•Rank: Special
•Seals the Unique Mark of a Soulbound, rendering it invisible.
•Reduces the Soulbound's stats to 50% while sealed.
•The seal can be removed at any time by the Master.
Requirements:
•Own Three Level 25 Unique Soulbounds/One Level 100 Unique Soulbounds
[Congratulations You have reach Core Forging Realm → Beast Orb(Dark Violet)]
x3.0 VIT Stats
[Error]
x1.0 Vitality Stats
x4.0 Strength Stats
x3.0 Agility Stats
x3.0 Intelligence Stats
[You have unlocked new stats]
+250 Yin Qi
+250 Yang Qi
+5000 Mana
[You have gained a New Title]
[You have gained a New Skill]
[You have gained a New Title]
[You have gained a New Skill]
[You have gained a New Skill]
Title:
«Heaven Defier»(New)
•Rank: Unrank
«Heaven Defier»(New)
•Rank: Unrank Passive
•A being that defies the heavens.
•The user suffers from constant misfortune.
•Each breakthrough summons a Heavenly Tribulation
Title:
«Forsaken Anomaly»(New)
•Rank: Unrank
«Forsaken Anomaly»(New)
•Rank: Unrank Passive
•A being that shouldn't exist, cursed with perpetual misfortune, leading to unpredictable outcomes in their actions.
«Bounded Arsenal»
•Rank: Special Passive
•Physically incapable of utilizing long-range attack magic or support magic.
[??? intervened...]
[System acknowledges intervention]
[You have gained a New Skill]
«Forbidden Knowledge»(New)
•Rank: Unrank Passive
•Cannot learn active skills from skill books, as the knowledge is deemed forbidden.
•Remove Skill Learning Limitations.
•Cannot upgrade skill through skill points.
•???
[Skill Slot is being removed]
[Skill Point is being removed]
[Skill Point is being converted to Free Stats...]
[Additional Free Stats...]
[You have received 200 Free Stats]
[All Skills learned from skill book has removed]
[You're «Nebula Step» skill has been removed]
[As compensation: randomly upgrade the rank of your current skill set]
[Additional Skill Scroll has been rewarded]
[Selecting... Selection Complete]
[You're «Unique Insight» Skill have evolve]
[«Unique Insight» Skill evolves to «Unique Nemesis»]
«Unique Nemesis»(New)
•Rank: Unrank Passive
•Enhances the Awakener's ability to discover and acquire items and entities labeled as "Unique"
•Reduces All Stats of Uniques by 20% during combat
[You have use the skill «Rebirth»]
[All stats have been sealed by 60%]
[Time Remaining: ??? Hours 59 Minutes 59 secs]
[Time Remaining: ??? Hours 59 Minutes 58 secs]
...
[Time Remaining: 46 Hours 59 Minutes 4 secs]
Status Window
Name: Argus Orpheus♂️
Race: Human
Level: 25(???%)
Realm: Beginner(Peak)
Class: Twilight Battle Summoner
Attribute: Life, Death, Arcane
Health: 100%/100%
Mana:550
VIT: 1474(Sealed)
STR: 1850(Sealed)
DEX: 1220(Sealed)
INT: 1160(Sealed)
Free Stats: 200(↑200)
His current stats.
VIT: 590
STR: 740
DEX: 488
INT: 464
Argus's expression deepened into a frown.
'F*ck, are you saying I'm a walking misfortune now?!'
Argus was angry; who wants to be unlucky, right? Sighing, he began to control his emotions, realizing that being angry wouldn't solve anything. He had an idea why he received these cursed skills and titles. However, what made him even angrier was that he was banned from using skill books to learn skills. Even the Nebula Step skill that's he hasn't use, not even once, was removed.
He brought out a skill book he had gotten from a dungeon treasure box to try.
[Do you want to learn this skill?]
[Accept/Reject]
[Error!]
[Error!]
[«Forbidden Knowledge» activated]
[You cannot use active skill books]
"Is this the start of my misfortune?!"
Looking at the skill scroll compensation of the system. He opened it up to see what skill is it and his eyes widens.