Wickedness is an understatement.

But Raith didn’t even have the strength to argue, the next time he opened his eyes was to the strawed ceiling and intense cold that closed in from the window above his head.

He flung up but with the same degree, pain struck his entire body, his back, hands, and legs especially and the old man alertedly stood up from his shout.

“Young man!”

Volmak shouted, looking at Raith with a longing gaze but showing restrictions as he wanted to hug him and congratulate him on his safe return.

Raith had sank back to the bed because he had no stamina to retain himself, he was laid like a man who had a stroke at least he still had enough strength to look sideways.

He turned to the man and his eyes rolled down, two knee holes were carved into the concrete already cracking it.

‘…did he kneel…’

Raith was puzzled and his eyes observed the man’s knee seeking answers. The man’s black pants were stained with the same concrete material around the same place where his knee should be the moment he kneels.

Raith was even more puzzled now that he was sure that the man was in a kneeling position. The rays of light entering the room were disturbing his eyes sight as he tried to look up at the man’s face so he was forced to close his eyes.

“You should rest young man”

Volmak said.

“I will prepare you warm water and help with your healing process. He was about to run away but made a sudden pause as Raith struggled to speak.

“H-H-How l…….ong?”

His voice was bassless and almost screeching till disappearance even within his speech.

“Ah,”

Volmak exclaimed and looked outside through the window and after a few seconds looked at Raith.

“By my calculations, it should be around four months. But I guess in the human world the time flow is different so I have no idea how long it has been from the perspective of the human world.”

‘Four months? It took me four months to climb down a fucking mountain and I failed the quest. Abyss or Fel or whoever you are, are you fucking with me right now?’

Raith sobbed his thoughts violently upbraided the ones who had done this to him. But there was little to no strength to sob, his tears streaming down the corners of his eyes after frequent squeezing at a point they were beginning to feel fake because he was trying too hard to cry.

However, the Volmak beheld him with pity, he had never been to the abyss but had heard stories of the harshness and chaos that this plane brings.

‘The young man must have been through unimaginable hardship,’

He glanced at Raith’s injuries with a sad countenance.

“Young man, hold on. I shall get a doctor for you!”

Volmak said and hurried out of the cabin, grabbing his coat which he had hung right beside the door.

The place got very silent after he had marched out with heavy steps, Raith could even hear his breath and the howling of the wind even though the sky was bright.

‘It must be awfully cold outside. I can even feel the strong wind from outside. I wonder how the man was able to tell how much time has passed just by looking outside.’ Raith’s gaze slowly swept downwards to the carving in the concrete floor.

‘Did he really kneel beside the bed for four months? Nah, that can be not even a fiend would be crazy enough to do that’ 𝙚𝙙𝙤𝒗𝒆𝒍．𝒄𝙤𝙢

He sighed and looked around the house slightly turning his head and when he could not endure the pain anymore he stood still.

The abyss really did a number on him this time, he couldn’t move because if he tried to move any part of his body a surge of pain would literally split the part he is trying to move while subtly splitting the rest of his body too.

‘Damned Abyss…’

And he still failed the trial.

‘I wonder if there is a consequence for failing a trial… status’

Raith summoned his status display with thoughts of it.

[Hero Status]

Name: unknown

Class: CHILD OF DEATH

Age: 001

Aura Points: 00

Mana Points: 00

Title: Celestia Slayer, One who devours death, Chosen by the claws of failure, destined for damnation.

Traits: the darkness beyond death, the dissatisfaction failure brings.

[Perks]

– Devourer(EX)

– Transcendent sense(R)

– Intimidation(S)

[Skill]

– Truth Seeker(S)

‘The skill grade changed…not just that… but my age too. And who the fuck is one?’

[Stat]

Strength: 4

Agility: 8

Vitality: 20

Intelligence: 130

Endurance: 79

‘Huh? My stats too? What the heck is going on?’

Raith’s memory of the only book that spoke of something like this resurfaced at the right moment.

—There are worlds where the voice of the world does not matter, our stats here are not the same there, our dust here is useless there and the skill rank and hero ranking that sets every one aside is nothing there… a prodigious rank skill is only equal to an R-rank skill and an R-rank skill is far from the highest rank compared to how close to the highest rank Prodigious is.

G-rank— F-rank— E-rank— D-rank— C-rank— B-rank— A-rank— R-rank— S-rank— SR-rank— SSR-rank— UR-rank— USR‐rank— EX‐rank— UEX-rank.

The memories played out page to page and Raith knew this had to be it… a world where there was no limit to how strong one could be. They didn’t need to be chosen by archons and the man spoke of a special kind of phenomenon that is power enjoyable than dust.

Magic and aura.

Magic is a form of using the formulas of concepts and nature to constitute a series of attacks or defenses or to execute different kinds of tasks while aura can be used to enhance the body or weapon in order to make the body stronger or the weapon attack and durability stronger.

One could even strengthen and cultivate their body using scriptures which are books that contain written aura flows through the veins with guidance from an external factor, one could gain a body that rivals even the celestials.

Raith’s face lit up.

Things were getting more interesting.

Just then his expression shattered to a somewhat sad form. Now that he had remembered the book he read over and over, he was made to remember how the fact that there wasn’t only one world.

The writer never specified which of these worlds had auras and magic he only emphasized the fact that Therut was weak compared to other worlds out there.

Hallan Lamur was pushing out the need for the world to stop seeking the comfort the archons bring and seek out a stronger and better force for the day that they may have an attack from the outside world.

But was executed before he could convince anyone Raith came by his book by chance– He was given it by a passerby after making a scene at Cavanaugh City library because they wouldn’t borrow him their books home.

‘I should thank that old man when I see him again’

Raith for once did not find it weird that he has never seen the man before or after he was given the book. He could miss details sometimes.