CHAPTER 90: DEAD WORLD: CHARIX (1)

After going through the changes of the Codex Null, Noel had actually become satisfied with the upgrade, but he couldn’t help but wonder about additional possibilities.

Maybe there were still some other changes? Hidden ones not stated by the Codex Null?

Thinking along that line, Noel opened his status window to investigate.

[Status Window]

Name: Noel Cross

Age: 21

Overall Rank: Second Rank (Law Seeker)

Soul State: Eclipsed

Laws:

Destruction – Inherited (Fragmented; in slow recovery)

Dominion – Inherited (Semi-Dormant)

Silence – Initial Understanding (Linked to the Scarf relic)

Control – Inherited Fragments

Wood – Inherited Fragments

Relics: Hollow Scarf (Recovering)

Talent: Weak Soul Recovery (Seedling Talent), Endurance Bloom (Seedling Talent), Sixth Sense (Seedling Talent), Dense Bones (Rooted Talent), Martial Growth (Seedling Talent), Regeneration (Formed Talent), Boundless Soul (Ascended Talent), Resilient Soul (Formed Talent)

Null Points: 894,229

Free Simulations Remaining: 0

’Well, it seems there’s no change to the status window.’ Noel concluded after his examination.

Scanning his information and noting how much it had changed over time, Noel’s eyes eventually stopped on the Overall Rank designation: Law Seeker.

Was it really the overall rank though?

No, it was not.

It was simply his rank in the Transcendent Path, which starts from Soul Initiate, then Law Seeker, Law Bearer, Law Adept, Law Master, and finally Domain Lord.

In the simulation before, Selena had called this path the Soul Path.

He, who didn’t have his memories returned at the time, had thought that it was not about the soul but instead about the Law.

It turned out both were wrong in their own ways.

Selena had deliberately lied, and he had deduced incorrectly.

It was simply the Transcendent Path, one where from its very name, it was apparent what it pursued... Transcendence.

All that aside though, and returning to the main point... the overall rank designation.

Why were they calling it the overall rank in the first place?

Noel wondered for a moment before he shook his head, deciding not to dwell on that.

His thoughts moved on to his current rank: Law Seeker.

To him, ranks were actually not a reliable indicator for actual strength after all.

Because currently, even with himself at the Law Seeker level, he was confident he could take on someone at the Law Bearer rank without any difficulty.

And if he didn’t care about the potential consequences?

Then taking down someone at the fourth rank, Law Adept, was also within the realm of possibility.

How could he be so confident? It was his Soul... and furthermore, the Scarf Relic in his possession.

There were many kinds of ranking systems, starting from the Transcendent Path, to the Soul Path, while physical strength previously didn’t hold formal ranks, but through the Blood Refinement Path, it did now. Then there were the Law Mastery stages, and finally, Relic classifications.

For him? He also had talents, which possessed their own ranking system as well.

So which ranking could accurately indicate the strength of him and others?

Was it the mainstream Transcendental Path? The overall rank according to the Codex Null?

No, it was the combination of everything working together, and if he were to add something more, then it would be the specific type of Law one was familiar with.

Depending on the individual, no law was inherently better than another... but well, that was relative to circumstances.

Destruction could be considered one of the most deadly Laws in existence, after all.

But Destruction aside... there was also the matter of compatibility between opponents.

Person A could be stronger than Person B, but still find themselves weaker than Person C in a direct confrontation.

Then was B the weakest of the three? No, he was actually stronger than Person C in a different matchup.

So really, nothing was absolute in terms of power rankings.

Arriving at this point, Noel, who felt like he was overthinking these simple matters, shook his head and turned his attention back to the Codex Null.

It was time to try simulating in a Dead World for the first time.

[Do you want to spend 100,000 Null Points to start a Premium Simulation?]

[Select the mode of simulation.]

[1: Normal mode.]

[2: Transmigration mode.]

After the previous question, another window appeared, and Noel naturally selected the new option, already curious about how this one was going to unfold.

[Searching for possible Dead Worlds to transmigrate to...]

[1: Charix World]

[2: Tharos World]

’With just the name of the world, how would I know which to choose from?’

Noel raised an eyebrow as he thought to himself with amusement, before he decided to go with the first choice and see what happens.

[Simulation in the Charix World begins.]

[21 years old. You opened your eyes and discovered that you are currently inside a forest... a forest of silent trunks, stripped bare of any semblance of greenery.]

[Rising up from the ground, you checked yourself, noted the sky holding two moons, and examined your surroundings more carefully, coming to the conclusion easily that this is really another world entirely.]

[You wandered inside the eerie silent forest for a long time, searching for someone to ask information from, or at least something you could sustain yourself with, to avoid dying from hunger.]

[One week later, you were still inside the forest, but instead of the devoid-of-life trees that had surrounded you before, this time you were surrounded by greenery and trees bearing some kind of fruits you had never seen.]

[You were unable to determine the reason this world was called a Dead World, but coming to the conclusion that this world was actually far wider and bigger than yours, you decided to settle down here and simply train to build up your strength.]

[One month passed. You had already made a makeshift house and divided your time equally between training in the Blood Refinement Path and your Destruction Law.]

[Both were progressing at an equally slow pace, but you didn’t mind and simply continued training, believing that there was nothing time and effort couldn’t solve.]

Yes, here was the point — how long was he going to survive?

Noel wondered with growing interest. To him, this new mode was most important for living longer and gaining more strength, after all.

Because with enough time, nothing was impossible, just like his simulated self believed.

[Two months passed. You were training like usual, pushing deeper into the Six Gates stage, when suddenly you felt the presence of someone entering your sensing range.]

[You immediately went toward it, and the presence turned out to be an ant. Not the small kind, but the large variety, bigger than a dog.]

[The ant had an aggressive attitude, attacking you instantly, and you in turn killed it in one strike.]

[Even though you killed it easily, the ant was by no means weak. A hundred ordinary people could have attacked it, and all hundred would have died.]

[You examined its corpse after that and found out that its anatomy was quite different from the usual small ones, with its hind legs far sharper, just like scissors, and its flesh and blood seemed to be poisonous.]

[You contemplated your plans as you looked at the dismantled ant corpse, and in the end you decided to try eating it.]

[It was disgusting, but for the sake of strength, you bore it.]

[Or so were your thoughts, until you grilled the meat and it turned out that its taste was not that bad after all.]

Reading this part, Noel nodded with approval, giving internal praise to the version of himself in the simulation, while already deciding that it was not worth it to select the memory of this particular simulation.

[Poison was still present in the meat, but with your body’s current strength and the regeneration talent, its weak poison proved useless against you.]

[And so, you simply continued training after that, digesting what you had eaten, before you decided to investigate the trails of the ant and where it had come from.]

[It was the first living organism you had found in this world, and you were determined not to lose this lead.]

[In the end though, there was no need for you to make such a fuss, as the same kind of ants seemed to start pouring endlessly in your direction after that encounter.]

[On the first day, there were merely around ten ants. On the second day around fifty. Then, by the time a week had passed, you stopped counting altogether.]

[You barely took any rest, as you simply killed and ate their flesh continuously.]

[One month later, standing atop a mountain of ant corpses and surrounded from all sides by a sea of ants, you finally understood that things couldn’t continue like this and decided to stop facing them head-on.]

’Well, it feels like even in this Charix world, I’m not going to be able to survive very long?’

Noel shook his head with resignation, feeling like if the beginning was already like this, then how much better could it possibly get later on?