Infinite Awakening: 10,000x EXP Converter!

The cosmic roulette wheel ignited. Not the brass proficiency wheel beneath it, but the primary wheel, the one forged from starlight and nebulae. Three reels of light spun faster and faster, blurring into bright streaks of color.

The Bloodhounds froze mid-combat.

They could not see the wheel because it only existed inside Alvian’s System interface, but they could feel its power. The air pressure in the room dropped. The energy in the air began to shake, reacting to a massive force building up. The hair on every mercenary’s arm stood straight up.

Griff Maddox’s Kinetic Reaver Talent warned him. The movement energy in the room was being pulled toward the E-Rank kid like water down a drain. Griff’s combat instincts, built from forty kills, told him one simple thing.

Run.

He took a step backward. One step. Two steps.

The reels slowed down.

Bronze flashed past. Then silver. The first reel clicked into place with a sound like a church bell.

Gold.

The second reel...

Gold.

The third reel did not stop at gold. It spun past gold into a rainbow light that was too bright to look at. It blurred between gold and rainbow colors for three long seconds.

[DING!]

[EPIC ROLL! 8,500X MULTIPLIER!]

[Proficiency Pool: 70 base EXP × 8,500 = 595,000 Proficiency EXP!]

[CLEARWATER PALM PROFICIENCY THRESHOLD BREACHED!]

[D-Rank cap → EXCEEDED!]

[Evolution triggered!]

The cascade hit Alvian like a physical blow. His Clearwater Palm, enhanced by three circuitry sessions, pushed to the edge of D-Rank through weeks of combat, detonated past its cap. The accumulated proficiency EXP multiplied by 8,500x overflowed by a huge amount.

The Skill didn’t evolve.

It mutated.

[ANALYZING EVOLUTION FACTORS...]

[Host Stats: STR 28, AGI 27, VIT 42, INT 16, Essence 22]

[Talent Resonance: Clearwater/Dissolution (ABNORMAL)]

[Hydroxyl radical concentration exceeds E-Rank parameters by 400%]

[Proficiency Multiplier: 8,500x (Epic Tier)]

[Combat Context: Active engagement against superior numbers]

[Host HP: Critical (22/136)]

[Adrenaline surge detected]

[Survival instinct amplified]

[EVOLUTION OUTCOME: CLEARWATER PALM MUTATES!]

[E-Rank Clearwater Palm (Enhanced) → S-RANK: ABYSSAL DISSOLUTION DOMAIN]

[Effect: The Host generates a spherical field of sub-atomic solvent energy extending from the point of contact. The field dissolves all matter within its radius at the molecular level, breaking chemical bonds and reducing substances to base components.]

[Radius: Scales with Essence investment. Current maximum: 50 meters at full Essence.]

[The field ignores physical defense, energy shielding, and Talent-based barriers.]

[Cost: 50% of current Essence to activate. 10% per second to maintain.]

Alvian’s brain stalled.

S-Rank.

Not A-Rank. Not enhanced D-Rank. S-Rank. The same tier as the most powerful Talents in Vaeloria’s recorded history. An S-Rank Skill from an E-Rank Talent, achieved through circuitry enhancement, combat farming, and an 8,500x Epic multiplier.

The Clearwater energy in his body changed character. It was no longer a thin film of acidic water. It was a dense shimmering field of iridescent liquid that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it. The hydroxyl radical concentration had undergone a qualitative shift.

The acid energy did not just melt things anymore. It destroyed the strength of matter itself.

The operatives stared. Something was wrong. The air around the E-Rank kid bent like heat over a hot street. The concrete under his feet cracked just from standing near him. The energy on his sword faded, replaced by a deep glow that soaked through the entire blade.

Griff Maddox’s face went white.

He had fought S-Rank Talents before. He knew what this aura felt like. Every part of his body screamed at him to run away from this boy as fast as possible.

”Fall back!” Griff roared. ”Everyone fall back NOW!”

But it was too late.

Alvian looked at his hands. The glowing liquid gathered in his palms, heavy and hungry. He could feel the Domain waiting inside him like a wild animal ready to jump. Fifty meters of total destruction. Everything inside that circle would vanish. Not burn, not melt.

Vanish.

’Breaks down all matter,’ he thought, his mind racing. ’That is not a normal attack. That is an apocalypse button.’

The truth hit him hard.

At full Essence, he could make a fifty-meter circle of total breakdown. That was a disaster. He could melt whole city blocks. If he used this near Martha, near Leo, near Serah, or near anyone he cared about...

The power made to protect his family could destroy them instead.

Fifty meters. Everything inside fifty meters. Gone.

The mercenaries were still frozen, staring at the shaking air around him. Griff’s order to run echoed in the tunnel, but nobody moved. They could not understand what they were feeling. Their energy scanners showed errors. Their training had no answers for this.

Pell Ossuary’s Bone Lance shook. The white bone weapon, usually solid as steel, flickered like a small flame in the wind. Her Talent felt the dissolution power and pulled back in fear.

”What... what is that?” she whispered.

Alvian did not answer. He stared at his own hands and the strange liquid. The System message burned in his vision. S-Rank. Abyssal Dissolution Domain. The words felt too heavy and dangerous to be real.

But they were real. And twenty mercenaries were standing inside his maximum range.

’The cost,’ he calculated, his INT 16 forcing his racing heart to slow down. ’Fifty percent of current Essence to start it. I have twenty-two Essence. That means eleven Essence to start it. Then ten percent every second to keep it going. I can hold it for one second. Maybe two if I am lucky.’

One second. One second of a fifty-meter sphere of destruction. One second to erase everything in range.

The front group stood six meters away. The middle group was fifteen meters back. The guard team was thirty meters out. Griff was twenty meters to his left. Pell was twelve meters to his right.

All inside fifty meters.

All inside the kill zone.

’One second,’ Alvian thought. ’That is all I get. One second to end this fight before my Essence runs out and leaves me empty.’

The S-Rank Domain pulsed in his hands, hungry and waiting. The System did not make funny sounds this time. The message was serious and quiet. Something big had changed in his connection with the System. He was not just rolling numbers anymore.

He was holding something that could rewrite the world.

Or break it.

Griff took another step back. His Kinetic Reaver Talent gathered every piece of movement energy in the room. If the kid attacked, Griff would shoot it all back out in one huge shockwave. It was his only choice. Pure movement energy had no body to break down. Maybe he could blast his way out.

Alvian saw the plan in Griff’s eyes. The mercenary leader was trying to escape. He was fast enough, perhaps, to clear the fifty-meter circle before the field fully spread out.

But the others were not. The front team was too close. The middle team was too slow. Pell was hurt and limping.

Eighteen people. All inside the kill zone.

Alvian’s hands stopped shaking. The fear did not leave, but something cold took its place. The instincts of an Undercity survivor. The boy who had fought giant bugs with a broken knife and saved every coin like a heartbeat.

These people came here to kill him. They were paid to end his life. They would have cut him down without pity.

Alvian looked at Griff. The mercenary leader looked back. Both of them knew the rules of the fight had completely changed.

”You should have stayed home,” Alvian said quietly.

He slammed his palm into the floor!