moment the new energy settled within my core, a violent tremor swept through my body, as if every cell were redefining itself from the ground up.
The air at the bottom of the crater was no longer an empty space I merely breathed in… it had become a living presence, responding to my will.
I slowly raised my hand.
The pale aura that had accompanied me for so long vanished without a trace, replaced by a green glow tinged with blue—dense, stable, and flowing around me with calm smoothness. No explosion. No chaos.
Only control.
"So… this is the limit allowed by the ancient roots."
I lifted my gaze upward.
At the edge of the crater, the pale spirits were still there.
But something had changed.
They no longer charged at me in madness. Instead, they staggered— their incomplete forms trembling, releasing sounds like wounded wind howling through broken branches. The energy that had granted them "existence" had been stripped away.
I didn't need a ladder.
I didn't need a rope.
I focused mana into my feet, compressing it within my new aura until the air beneath them collapsed for a single instant—
—then exploded.
I launched upward like a silent shot, the air tearing apart behind me as the remains of the decayed ship shattered in my wake. I landed atop the wreckage with perfect stability, dust cascading from my shoulders like the mantle of a warrior returning from battle.
One of the spirits tried to approach.
It never touched me.
The pressure radiating from my aura alone was enough to tear its existence apart, causing it to dissipate like mist caught in a raging gale. The others followed—one after another—without screams, without resistance.
I extended my hand into the air.
I didn't shape a weapon.
I didn't invoke a complex technique.
I released only wind mist—dense, compressed, razor-sharp.
Invisible blades swept across the surface, erasing every remaining spirit. No trace. No chance of reformation.
Silence fell.
I looked down at the broken remains of my sword at my feet.
I felt no regret… and no sense of abandonment.
I slowly clenched my hand.
"The power was never in the blade… but in the one who wielded it."
After that, I searched what remained of the shattered ships.
No treasures.
No weapons.
Only strange symbols carved into wood and stone—far beyond my understanding.
There was no reason to stay.
I left the area immediately, moving through the forest at a speed I had never reached before. The dead trees faded behind me, and with time, the natural colors of living green began to appear once more.
I finally stopped and took a deep breath.
The power was real.
Survival was real.
But the heaviest truth remained unchanged.
I was… still lost.
And I didn't know the path that would lead me back to my family.
I stood at the edge of the mysterious forest, where the faded hues of dead trees gave way to vibrant green life. The sun had risen high in the sky, its rays filtering through the leaves to paint the ground with light and shadow. Despite my newfound strength, I felt small before such vastness.
Behind me, the forest stood in heavy silence, like an ancient being that had ceased its attempt to devour me and now merely watched my back. There was no pressure, no wailing spirits… only an unsettling stillness, as if the land itself remained aware of my presence.
I took a deep breath.
The air here was different—purer, yet utterly devoid of any human trace.
I looked around.
No paths.
No footprints.
No signs of passage.
Only untouched land, tall grasses untrampled by human feet for ages, and trees stretching endlessly across the horizon.
I lowered my gaze to my hand.
The faint blue aura still surrounded me, stable and balanced. It wasn't raging, nor was it weak—calm, confident. It no longer felt like mere energy encasing my body, but something that pulsed in harmony with my breathing.
"The Green Rank…"
I whispered.
"But closer to its upper limit."
I hadn't reached the Blue Rank yet, but the gap between us was no longer vast. My aura rested in the medium blue state—stable, dense, and fully under control… a far more dangerous state than uncontrolled power.
I closed my eyes briefly and extended my perception through wind mana.
Nature responded quietly.
No submission. No hostility.
Only acknowledgment.
I opened my eyes, my expression hardening.
"So… no humans here."
That meant only one thing.
This region wasn't abandoned—
it was avoided.
I moved forward slowly, my steps cautious despite my strength. The green forest ahead was no sanctuary, but another stage of trial. Creatures stronger, more dangerous, perhaps even more intelligent than those I had faced before.
Even so…
I didn't retreat.
I tightened my fist slightly and let my aura contract to its minimum. There was no need to reveal my power now. In a land unknown to humans, the one who survives is the one who knows when to disappear.
I continued onward through the tall grass, the wind stirring it around me like a silent green sea.
And deep within, I understood the truth without the need for words:
The road back to my family
would not be short,
would not be safe,
but I would not stop.
Not anymore.