As Yuri finished off with her speech, she bowed her head slightly and began to walk away from the front of the crowd. Everyone remained silent at that moment, watching in near reverence, until the guards positioned around them finally broke formation and began to follow her.

Then each Awakened there began to move.

Many broke off into groups and went about their own business, some of them simply disappearing from the spot, leaving the Sanctuary within seconds as their sigils shimmered and swallowed them whole.

While many went about to explore the Sanctuary, get their classes set, and take in the scenery, others valued using their full six hours and left it for another day, retreating back to Earth to rest and gather their thoughts.

Steven, on the other hand, no matter how much he wanted to explore, also valued his six hours and wanted to use every second to make the best decisions he could. So for now, he chose to go back to Earth. After all, he had a lot of digging to do with his system, something he had not gotten the time to do ever since he came back from the Realm.

He placed a hand over his sigil and copied the same method he had used to come to the Sanctuary, willing the mark to take him back to Earth.

It did.

A bright white light shone forth, this time not fazing Steven as it swallowed him whole. He disappeared abruptly from the Sanctuary and reappeared in his massive hotel room, the silence pressing in around him like a held breath.

"Now that I am all alone, I can see the changes in the system and the new pillars," he whispered to himself as he walked over to the bed and sat cross-legged, sinking into the brilliantly soft fabric it offered. It was tempting to lie down on it and sleep just then and there, but Steven knew procrastination when he saw it and ruthlessly ushered the comfort of the bed from his mind.

Then he summoned his system.

{Name: Steven ...}

{Race: Half Awakened}

{System: Limitless Undead System}

{Talent: Gain x5 upgrade from every undead slain. Copy skills from the dead and make them yours.}

{Skill Rank: Choose a skill to be ranked}

{Skills copied: Rampage Blast, Stun, Fateless}

{Physique: 20/1000}

{Mana: 10/500}

Sponsored:

Dimension Shop

Astral Chat

{Undead cores accumulated: 70}

[Undead summon: None]

[Pick a summon: Knight, Assassin, Slave]

[Soul: 0/1000]

{Command over the dead: 0/20}

Steven was fazed by what he saw, the overall improvements to his system and the new pillars added to it. He could see massive room for growth and, more importantly, new strength waiting to be unlocked, like sealed doors begging to be forced open.

He started from the beginning of the system, not wanting to rush to the best part of things.

Apparently, his race had changed to Half Awakened because he had survived the Realm of Entry, making him typically stronger than he had been as a Marked. This was evident from his physique stat, which no longer had a bottleneck forcing him to stop at twenty points. Now, he could grow up to a thousand stat points.

The same went for his mana.

Steven fixated on the Skill Rank section next, activating it by willing the system to respond.

{Skill Rank has been activated. Select a skill to be ranked}

Steven decided to select the first skill he had obtained in the Fated Colosseum.

{Skill: Rampage Blast}

{Rank: D}

Next, he tested the Stun skill.

{Skill: Stun}

{Rank: E}

Rampage Blast was simply a tier higher than Stun. Steven placed a hand beneath his chin in thought. If Rampage Blast was only a D-rank skill, then there would be C-rank, B-rank, A-rank—and probably S-rank beyond that.

And yet, his most powerful combat skill was only at D-rank.

He sighed, thinking of the horrors he would have to fight to attain higher-ranked skills. ’Sometimes I don’t even know whether to be excited that I can steal undead skills or terrified of what it’ll cost me,’ he wondered as he moved on to the next skill.

{Skill: Fateless}

{Rank: A}

Steven’s face paled.

The skill he had stolen from Drake’s wretched corpse was an A-rank skill, ’the highest in his arsenal’ and by far his strongest.

Come to think of it, the system had also stated that the skill was too strong to be described or even used in the Fated Colosseum, rendering it useless to him at that point.

Now, it made sense.

He commanded the system for its description, and unlike the first time he had tried, information finally sprang before his eyes.

{Skill: Fateless}

{Description: A man that has deceived fate remains Fateless. As the realm has not seen a scum as horrid as you, you are now given the pen to write on the sheets of reality.}

Steven’s face twisted as he read it. He groaned and scoffed.

"Fuck me! Why does everything powerful have to sound like a damned riddle? What the hell is the use of this A-rank skill? Simplify it!" he yelled at the system.

Nothing came in response... Nothing except his sponsor’s unhinged remark.

{Your sponsor worries over your diet as you scream. He sees your cheekbones hollowing out.}

Steven frowned. "Bastard," he muttered, dismissing the description and moving on to the most crucial part, the section he had been thinking about for the longest time.

[Undead summon: None]

Pick a summon: Knight, Assassin, Slave

[Soul: 0/1000]

{Command over the dead: 0/20}

Steven sat in thought longer than expected, minutes slipping by as he stared at the Undead Summon section. According to the system, each option—a Knight, an Assassin, or a Slave—had its own value.

First was the Knight: a summon that could protect him and fight beside him, assisting him against powerful opponents without the need for a cohort. Especially if he appeared in a Realm alone, the Knight would serve as both shield and blade.

And most importantly, a summon could not betray him.

’A companion that is loyal and assists me... that sounds pretty nice.’

Next was the Assassin: a spy he could rely on for stealth and precision, useful for investigation and information gathering. But combat-wise, it would fail when faced with a skilled warrior or a mighty Shadow Eater.

’Only useful for spying... But in the Realm, how useful is a spy to me?’

Lastly, the Slave, useful for labor and other heinous forms of load carrying, but not something Steven would likely find valuable in the First Realm.

In the end, he sighed, arriving at the simplest and most practical choice.

{Knight selected}

In the next moment, a bright surge of grey light formed before Steven. The light grew more intense with each passing second, thickening and stretching as if something was clawing its way into existence. Slowly, a figure materialized from the air, soft lines becoming solid, fractured steel forming layer by layer.

Finally, a man stood before him, tightly strapped in damaged grey armor from head to toe. The only visible features were two hollow, grey eyes staring directly at Steven, empty yet obedient.

This was his first summon.

{Summon successful}

{Name: Nott the Honourable}