I Have 10,000 SSS Rank Villains In My System Space

Chapter 22 - Taking Risk

[”What are you planning, Host?”] The systemʼs voice echoed in his mind with mechanical curiosity.

Razeal just smiled, rubbing his chin as if lost in deep contemplation, his eyes narrowed, mind stretching far into the possibilities. ”Of course, Iʼm thinking of using my second cheat.”

[”Second cheat? I was never aware you had two systems, Host?”]

”Who said only a system can be considered a cheat?” Razeal replied calmly, still focused on his thoughts, half-speaking and half-drifting through his plans. His tone was nonchalant, but his mind was working like a well-oiled machine.

The system fell into silence, waiting.

”Having the knowledge of the worldʼs future progression... thatʼs a cheat too,” he said, voice low, almost like a whisper to himself. ”A very powerful one, if used correctly. And one is daring enough, they can twist that plot to their advantage.”

But he knew the risk. He understood what that kind of gamble demanded.

Changing the future meant changing the very advantage he relied on.

If he altered too much, the events he remembered might no longer happen as expected. His foresight his edge could vanish, just like that.

But if he did nothing if he stayed passive and let events play out heʼd simply be reacting. Running. Hiding. Never capitalizing on the real potential of his knowledge.

It was a gamble either way. Stay safe and gain nothing. or risk it all and maybe just maybe reap unimaginable rewards.

[”Oohhh... What is your plan, Host?”]

The system finally broke the silence, a tone of eager curiosity threading through its synthetic voice.

Razeal let out a faint chuckle.

”Nothing, really. Just... thinking about using a little bit of that future knowledge,” he said, flashing a faint grin as he adjusted his collar with practiced elegance. His posture was relaxed—but only a fool would mistake that for weakness.

He had already seen the entire sequence unfold in his mind.

The plan was dangerous. Possibly irreversible.

But deliciously rewarding.

”It might disturb some of our future paths,” he added thoughtfully, ”but letʼs see. Itʼs risky... Iʼm not even sure itʼll be worth the loss.”

[”Will it help you pass the trial?”] the system asked, more serious now.

Razeal scoffed softly, brushing imaginary dust off his shoulder as if preparing for a portrait.

”That?” he said with a smirk. ”If all I wanted was to pass, I already had hundreds of ways.”

His voice dropped to a whisper laced with venomous ambition.

”But Iʼm looking for profit. Leverage. A way to squeeze the most out of this opportunity. If Iʼm going to burn pieces of the plot, Iʼll make damn sure the fire lights a path to something bigger.”

He paused. There was a distant glint in his eyes now not hope, but certainty. Certainty wrapped in chaos.

He didnʼt use the future knowledge often.

Because once the timeline bends, it never bends back.

[”I am intrigued. What is this plan? Even I canʼt calculate any logical way for you to get into the Royal Class right now. Only realistic option is... well, hunting other students. Thatʼs the easiest route. Anything else, and youʼre too weak to implement most of my protocols,” the system said bluntly.

Razeal grimaced slightly.

”How classless,” he muttered, adjusting his shirt as if prepping for a noble gathering. Every gesture was elegant, deliberate. Calculated.

There was pride in his movements. As if to say: I refuse to win like a rat.

[”Then what is your genius plan, oh great tactician?”] the system responded dryly. If it had a face, Razeal imagined it would be blank maybe even twitching in frustration.

He chuckled at that thought and slowly walked toward an open patch of terrain a clearing surrounded by jagged stone formations. Just enough space for two people to stand. His boots crunched over gravel as he came to a stop, hands in pockets, gaze tilted upward.

”Do you know where we are?” he asked with amusement.

[”The Graveyard of Forgotten Stone,”] the system responded instantly. ”As the novel notes, itʼs a useless area. Right now, anyway. Even if you tried to escape to the monster zones, itʼd take thirty minutes minimum assuming you can navigate the jagged terrain without getting killed. Also... you should be wary of that personality here. All in all, itʼs just bad luck you directly teleported being here as you know, the world hates you,]” the system replied.

Razealʼs grin widened.

”Yeah. Graveyard of Forgotten Stone...” he repeated with a sense of theatrical wonder. ”A cursed place. Abandoned by the narrative in earlier plot... but also a place where that item lies, right?”

There was a pause.

[”That item...”] the system echoed, tone shifting from casual to alarmed. ”But... what does that have to do with you? Youʼre well aware you canʼt use that item. Itʼs not for you to begin with. You~”

””Who said I need to use the item to profit from it?” Razeal interrupted, his gaze sharpening like a blade under moonlight.

The system stuttered in code.

[”...Huh?”]

”Letʼs not waste time, shall we?” Razeal said, his voice steady, tone clipped. ”We donʼt have much to begin with.”

He bent down and picked up a palm-sized stone from the ground just an ordinary rock, weathered and cracked. But the weight in his fingers felt heavier than its mass.

[”What do you mean?”] The systemʼs voice rang again, this time laced with genuine confusion.

Razeal didnʼt answer.

Instead, he abruptly hurled the stone to the ground with full force.

Crack!

The sharp sound echoed through the silent graveyard, bouncing between the monoliths and jagged gravestones.

”I summon Kaeryndor, Warden of the Forgotten Graveyard,” he declared, voice solemn, as though performing a ritual.

[”-_- Are you being serious?”] The systemʼs tone turned sour with disbelief, almost as if it wanted to crack open his skull and check if there was anything rattling inside. [”I literally just warned you to be cautious of that personality! And youʼre... calling it?”]

The ground beneath Razealʼs feet began to shudder.

A tremor. Subtle at first, then slightly stronger.

Tiny pebbles bounced. Dust danced. The air grew dense and cold.

Then

[”Such disrespectful manners, human.”]

The voice rumbled, deep and aged, like a mountain complaining in its sleep. The very air in front of Razeal shimmered and began to twist unnaturally. A gas dark grey, almost transparent spiraled and coiled into form. At first faint like a specter, it gradually condensed, taking on definition.

A humanoid figure emerged.

Broad shoulders like twin slabs of stone. A naked, muscular chest that defied his elderly face, which bore the creases of age but none of the weakness. He had two massive, curved horns protruding from his skull, arching upward like dragon horns. His eyes glowed green.

Arrogance bled from his presence. A proud warden, and a spirit of impossible might.

He stood easily over seven feet tall.

And in his right hand, he carried a weapon that turned the graveyardʼs gloom to awe.

A Green Dragon Blade.

A crescent shaped, polearm like weapon forged from something that shimmered like emerald. It glowed faintly, the entire blade crystalline, translucent and wickedly sharp. It wasnʼt just a weapon. It was a symbol.

Kaeryndor, the Warden of the Forgotten Graveyard, had arrived.

Razeal exhaled slowly, eyebrows lifting in subtle appreciation.

No fear on his face.

But his fingers twitched.

He smiled.

”Apologies,” he said with practiced nobility. ”But that was the fastest way to summon the Warden of this place.”

The spiritʼs frown deepened.

”If you know my name, then surely you are also aware you didnʼt need to throw a stone and shout. All you had to do was speak it. Calmly. The act of hurling a rock and calling me like some cheap spell...”

Kaeryndor leaned forward, disdain blazing in his gaze. ”Did you intend to mock me, human?”

His tone turned darker, colder. Something was clearly bothering him beyond just being summoned disrespectfully. The fact that Razeal knew his name that unnerved him.

Razeal didnʼt flinch outwardly.

But his fingers trembled.

His breathing hitched for half a second.

Pressure. Immense, suffocating pressure leaked from the spectral being. It pressed down on Razeal like a mountain placed upon his shoulders.

again!!

He hated this feeling.

He despised it with every fiber of his soul.

But unlike before, he didnʼt collapse Fully well pressure was no where near that crazy bitch but still.

Instead, he clenched his fists and remembered the systemʼs advice:

Imagine you can crush them. Imagine theyʼre just ants.

He repeated the words again.

And again.

Just an ant. Just an ant.

And yeah it wasnʼt working.

His feet trembled. Sweat broke down the back of his neck. Every instinct screamed at him to kneel.

The system couldnʼt read thoughts thank the gods because if it could, itʼd probably be laughing itself into oblivion.

Still, Razeal lifted his chin.

”I do not have time to waste, Sir Kaeryndor,” he said with strained composure. ”Please refrain from irrelevant questions.”

He stood his ground. Barely.

His tone remained polite.

But his voice cracked ever so slightly.

And Kaeryndor noticed.

Kaeryndorʼs gaze darkened. The green glow of his spectral eyes flared subtly, like coals stirred by wind.

”Such weak strength,” he muttered, voice dipped in scorn. ”You are not even worthy of knowing my name. I feel insulted just standing before you.”

His jaw tightened. The translucent spiritʼs grip on the jade-forged blade in his hand flexed. One twitch. That was all it would take to sever the air, and Razealʼs body with it.

”I would like to know...” Kaeryndorʼs voice dropped, almost dangerous. ”How do you know my name?”

He corrected himself a second later, leaning forward like a storm leaning into a mountain.

”No... how do you dare know my name?”

A spark of murderous curiosity flashed in those glowing, ancient eyes. His entire being exuded controlled wrath, the kind of cold fury only a long-dead warlord could possess. Not because he was angry. But because he was thinking about killing Razeal. Genuinely considering it.

And yet he hadnʼt.

Not yet.

Razeal stood still beneath that soul-crushing gaze, posture composed. But beneath the surface, every nerve screamed under the Wardenʼs mere presence. Kaeryndor wasnʼt emitting pressure. He didnʼt have to. His existence was pressure. A silent verdict. A judgment of everything weaker that dared to share the same plane.

”So this... is what true power feels like?” Razeal thought, a cold trail of sweat sliding down his spine like a whisper of death.

Unlike the System Space, this world didnʼt offer even a fraction of the overwhelming aura he had felt there yet the knowledge that this was reality, where death was absolute, made it all the more terrifying. And ofcourse... this power was far more than enough to crush his meager strength. So wasnybig surprise he was feeling like this.

Still, he didnʼt step back.

His lips curled slightly, forcing a grin that almost passed as natural.

”Of course I know,” he said coolly. ”Kaeryndor.”

His voice didnʼt tremble. His heart did. His instincts screamed to run, to kneel, to do anything but stand here and mock a legend to his face.

But Razeal was no longer the child begging for mercy. He had died once before. That weakness had burned with his corpse.

Kaeryndorʼs expression froze just for a moment.

Kaeryndor studied him.

Longer than expected.

He stared deeply into the young humanʼs eyes, expecting to see the flicker of fear. A crack. A flinch. But there was nothing.

No trembling gaze. No begging. No collapse.

There was weight in this boyʼs stare.

An arrogance too unnatural for someone at his level.

A grin still lingered on his lips tight, unshaken.

Kaeryndor paused.

Then, slowly, the spiritʼs eyes narrowed in a different way, like a judge reconsidering the sentence.

Kaeryndor said nothing for several long, choking seconds. His gaze locked onto Razealʼs with such intensity it felt like the air between them might ignite. Then, slowly, his lips parted.

”...Since you know my name,” the Warden said, voice lower now, colder, ”and you seem aware of what this place is...” He raised one brow, the ancient creases of his ghostly face deepening. ”Then I assume you also understand the most sacred rule of the Graveyard of Forgotten Stone.”

Razealʼs breath slowed. But a crazy grin appearing on his face.

Kaeryndorʼs eyes narrowed further.

”No one,” he said, voice like cracking glaciers, ”leaves this place after learning even the smallest secret buried within it.”

---

[SYSTEM WARNING]

[You are crazy, Host.]

[This spirit Kaeryndor his spiritual readings exceed high-tier saint class. At the minimum.]

[What are you after? That... item?]

----

Hail the shameless author who chose to write Chapters instead of studying for tomorrowʼs exam... Iʼm so doomed, I swear.

Here I am, once again, boldly collecting daily rent in the form of Power Stones and Golden Tickets like a true professional procrastinator.

Thank you all for reading~ your most handsome, charming Author

With gratitude (and panic),

Your ever-shameless, most handsome, charming Author