Demons Within I Level Up Endlessly Chapter 81

[ … words ]

Daniel walked away from the crowd. He kept his head up, but he did not look at anyone. The whispers followed him like a swarm of bees, but he ignored them because he had something more important to do.

His right hand was still tingling. The S-Grade Skill Crystal he had crushed earlier had left a burning sensation under his skin. It wasn’t pain per se, it was power.

“Stellar Superman Strike,” Daniel whispered to himself. The name sounded simple, but the description was terrifying.

Daniel needed to know its true power, so he headed straight for the training sector of Platform Alpha.

The training sector was a long hallway lined with heavy metal doors. Each door led to a high-level simulator pod. These pods were special rooms that could create virtual monsters for aspirants to fight.

They were built to take a lot of punishment.

Daniel found an empty pod at the end of the hall. It was Pod 7. The light above the door was green, meaning it was free.

He swiped his hand over the panel, and the heavy door hissed open. He stepped inside, and the door sealed shut behind him.

The room was large and empty. The walls were made of reinforced grey alloy, and the floor was a grid of black metal plates. In the center of the room, a holographic console flickered to life.

“Welcome, Aspirant,” a robotic voice said.

“Please select your training program.” Daniel walked up to the console. He didn’t want a warm-up. He didn’t want a horde of small monsters. He wanted something big. He wanted something that could take a hit.

He scrolled through the list of enemies. He saw Level 4 beasts, Level 5 constructs, and even a holographic version of the Core Sentinel.

“Too weak,” Daniel muttered. He kept scrolling until he reached the bottom of the list. There was a section marked in red text.

[Target: Primal Effigy (Test Dummy)] [Durability: Infinite (Theoretical)] [Defense: Extreme]

[Note: Designed for heavy weapons testing.]

“That’s the one,” Daniel said. He tapped the screen. The room hummed. The air in the center of the pod began to shimmer.

A massive shape formed out of hard light and solid metal. It was the Primal Effigy. It looked like a giant block of black stone shaped like a man. It had no face and no arms.

It was just a thick, heavy slab of armor designed to sit there and take damage. It was wider than a truck and twice as tall as Daniel.

Daniel stood ten meters away from it. He took a deep breath. He checked his mana bar. It was full.

“Okay,” Daniel said. “Let’s see what you can do.” He assumed a fighting stance. He placed his left foot forward and pulled his right fist back near his ribs.

He closed his eyes and focused on the new skill in his mind.

“[Stellar Superman Strike]!”

The reaction was instant. A golden light erupted from Daniel’s body. It wasn’t soft like the healing light. It was violent.

The air around him suddenly got very hot, and the floor beneath his boots started to smoke.

Daniel opened his eyes. They were glowing with pure white energy. He felt a massive pressure building up in his right arm. It felt like his muscles were expanding, filling with the power of a supernova.

The skill description said the force multiplied based on travel speed. Daniel knew what he had to do. He bent his knees.

“[Shadowsteps]!” he shouted.

His agility tripled. He kicked off the floor with explosive force. He didn’t just run, he launched himself like a rocket.

He flew across the ten-meter gap in the blink of an eye. The wind roared in his ears.

As he got close to the Effigy, he didn’t slow down. He twisted his body in the air, adding the rotation to his momentum.

He thrust his right fist forward. The light was blinding.

“HAA!”

Daniel roared as he made contact.

BOOOOOOM!

It wasn’t a crack, it was an explosion. When his fist hit the black stone of the Effigy, a shockwave of pure force blasted outward from the point of impact.

It hit the walls of the simulator pod and shook the entire room. The heat was intense.

Daniel felt the resistance of the Effigy for exactly one microsecond. Then, the resistance vanished.

The so called ’indestructible’ test dummy atomized immediately. The massive block of stone and metal turned into dust instantly.

The force of the strike blew the dust backward, painting the far wall with a shadow of black powder.

Daniel landed on the floor. He skidded backward, his boots carving deep grooves into the metal plates.

He brought his arms up to shield his face from the heat wave.

Alarms started blaring immediately.

[WARNING! CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURE.] [WARNING! SENSOR OVERLOAD.] [SIMULATION TERMINATED.]

The lights in the pod flickered and died, leaving only the red emergency lights spinning on the ceiling.

Smoke filled the room.

Daniel stood up slowly. He was panting really hard. He looked at his right hand and his sleeve was already gone, burned away by the energy discharge.

His arm was red and steaming, but his high Vitality was already cooling it down. He looked at where the Primal Effigy had been.

There was absolutely nothing there anymore. The floor was melted into a glowing puddle of slag. The wall behind it was dented outward, as if a giant sledgehammer had struck it.

“Holy…” Daniel whispered. He couldn’t finish the sentence. If he had used this on a person, there wouldn’t even be a body left to bury. It was simply terrifying.

The door to the pod hissed and jerked. It was trying to open, but the frame was warped from the explosion.

CLANG! CLANG!

The door forced itself open halfway and got stuck. Smoke poured out into the hallway. Daniel coughed and waved his hand in front of his face.

He stepped through the broken door and walked out into the corridor. A crowd had gathered already. Other aspirants who were training nearby had felt the floor shake, so they came to see the source of the noise.

They were staring at the smoke pouring out of Pod 7. When Daniel walked out, they all stepped back, looking at him with wide, fearful eyes.