CHAPTER 168: CHAPTER 168: CHILD OF DEATH

Chapter 168 – Child of Death

One with death.

What would such a thing mean? Even Kaden didn’t know that but he still ordered his trait to make that happen.

It didn’t linger. A sharp and intense white light pierced through the boundless dark space and wrapped around Kaden’s body in a warm embrace, alongside the pure black half-scythe.

The process had started.

Inside the white light, Kaden’s body didn’t have any visible transformation—well, if you looked at it from the outside point of view, that is. But inside, his whole being was being shifted and rewritten in a way no human mind or imagination could ever comprehend.

His organs, intestines, and blood vessels were being twisted and shaped to become vessels of death. They began to be covered with a faint dark light that gave off the scent of death. Added to that effect, they became sturdier, thicker, more durable.

His affinity for death rose to a ridiculous degree, the intent he had just obtained was further refined, and his control and manipulation over it grew exponentially—as now, Kaden didn’t even need to focus for his entire intent to envelop his body like protective clothing.

His faint aura of death became purer, stronger. His mere presence caused the surrounding space to quiver, and every breath he took made the air around him decay.

Kaden was feeling a sense of euphoria never before felt. He felt like he had found a very important missing part of him. And now that he had obtained it...

...he felt liberated, and more...complete.

The transformation started to end, and soon the white piercing light retreated, letting the boundless dark take its place again, drowning the space in shadow that was only broken by the soft, almost invisible silver glow lingering in one part of the space.

As it ended, Kaden was lying down on the cold floor, his breathing even, and his eyes still closed, reliving the sensation he had just experienced and how his body had transformed.

He had sensed something new added to his very being during the process. Something—

DING!

The Will chimed again.

{Kaden Warborn, Child of Blood, you have done something worthy once again.}

{You made the half fragment of Death-Aspect entirely yours.}

{You have obtained a new title: Child of Death.}

{You have obtained a new trait: The Call of Death.}

The Will paused for a moment, letting the tension settle down before continuing,

{You have obtained two half fragments: War and Death of ******.}

{Complete all of them.}

Finally, The Will stopped and disappeared, letting Kaden digest all that had just happened.

And as if it were the catalyst, crimson flames started to burst forth all around the space, illuminating it further.

Kaden was now able to see the space in its entirety, and if he tried to expand his perception, he found he could do so without any problem.

He looked around and saw that there wasn’t much to see. It was a room-sized space, with no other interesting objects beside the small puddle of black blood behind the dried corpse.

Well, that’s what he initially thought until he raised his head to the ceiling and saw something that almost made his heart leap out of his mouth.

The ceiling was completely scratched off, leaving only a small part where Kaden saw words. The scratching was wild and animalistic as if a deep, terrifying creature with claws far too sharp had wanted to hide a harrowing truth.

But Kaden did see some words.

He didn’t understand the language, but he instinctively knew the meaning of those words.

"...the master of the river that drags all things into silence, I am the conqueror without horizon, the one..."

Kaden stopped there, as it was the only visible part he could read. He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t stop his blood from boiling as he read those words.

Instantly, he found himself in the middle of a dreadful warzone. The sky above was bleeding with crimson blood, and the sun...the sun was bleeding with golden blood.

Kaden’s heartbeat rose as, for a moment, he saw a vague silhouette far above in the sky standing very close to the bleeding sun but before he could glance further and make out the features of the being,

Kaden’s eyes burst out as a sharp pain pierced through his brain.

"Aarghhhhhhh!" Kaden groaned in pain as he fell on his knees with a loud thud, his eyes now empty sockets, red blood flowing down freely like waterfalls.

But in the next instant, the blood stopped flowing and started to retreat back into his eyes. At the same time, his eyes began to be reconstructed from scratch, his constitution now enhanced by death kicking in healing him completely.

He found himself lying on the cold floor again, this time with exasperation burning in his chest.

"Fucking hell," Kaden cursed with irritation as he touched his now-healed eyes.

"I didn’t even get to see..." His voice was filled with indignation. At least he could have seen something before his eyes burst. That would’ve made the pain worth it.

Sighing heavily, Kaden started to recall the words he managed to read, trying to form some understanding.

"The master of the river who drags all things into silence..." he muttered, his eyes holding a pensive expression.

His expression began to tighten into a frown, sensing now that he was getting involved in things far above his pay grade.

’At least now I know...a sun can bleed.’ he thought, recalling the scene he had seen, his heartbeat still beating fast.

He sighed heavily.

Deciding to let his future self worry about solving this issue, Kaden ordered Death to give him the description of his new trait.

[The Call of Death: You can transform the beings you kill into your summons of death.]

Kaden’s face immediately split into an open smile reading the description. This was, after all, exactly what he needed to put his organization into place but before all that, this was what he needed to clear this dungeon.

The heavy feeling in his chest started to melt away as hope filled his heart. He stood up with great enthusiasm, looking around to see if there was anything worth plundering.

Now the child of death, Kaden felt weirdly — or maybe not at all — at ease in this death filled space.

He stood up shakily from the ground and approached the dried corpse more closely and noticed a black ring on one of its bony fingers.

Kaden smirked evilly before, without any shame or respect for the dead, taking the ring.

He immediately linked the ring to himself with his mana and looked inside, and oh...

"Holy Mother of Bloody Hell." Kaden exclaimed with wonder, his voice echoing through the space.

Inside the ring were almost thousands of Master-ranked beast Origins. Considering that Kaden had already absorbed more than a hundred of them and still had some left in his space ring...

’If I combine all of this into one...’

His face broke into a wide smile,

’...I can surely obtain a Grandmaster Origin, right?’

His saturation was near.

—End of Chapter 168—