Cosmic Peak

After ten seconds, the dark red water pool started to bubble and produced mystical glowings motes that went inside Aren's body.

Aren didn't feel anything for five seconds.

However, at the 6th second and onward, Aren started to feel uncomfortable.

After twenty seconds, biting pain started to course through his entire body and deep inside him.

"Twenty-one...Twenty-two...," Aren muttered with a slight frown on his face.

The pain increased every three seconds. After ten seconds, he started to feel a strange, suffocating feeling even though he could breathe properly.

However, he ignored it and endured while counting.

"Forty-seven...Forty-eight..."

At fifty seconds, the pain increased by a notch, and he felt his soul burning a bit.

The thing suffocating was his soul as it was being pressured and infused with demonic power.

After fifty-five seconds, Aren was constantly trembling, and his eyes had turned red. The pain coursing through his body had increased by several notches, and he couldn't help but let out a painful groan.

However, he was not going to give up.

'Endure!' Aren screamed internally. He wouldn't miss any opportunity to get strong! If he can get a better and more powerful ability by enduring more, then he would endure by breaking his limits!

A minute passed, but Aren didn't give up.

[Boy, just say you give up, and I will stop the process.]

"Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...NO!" Aren screamed in pain before he denied with red eyes and a constantly trembling body. He brought up that scene where everyone died in front of him and fueled his anger and stubbornness to endure through this hell.

'I can endure more! I will bring them back! Mom, you definitely will live a happy life after struggling for so many years for my sack...definitely!'

He had reached his limit, but he forced himself to stay awake through pure willpower.

One minute and twenty seconds passed.

[Boy, you...sigh. Now you are standing on a thin thread between life and thread. If you fail to reach the two-minute milestone, you will die. Whatever that is propelling you to go this far, use it more because if you stop now, you will die.]

'Fine by me!'

Aren's body was trembling more, but he still stretched a grin on his face.

"I...better...get...something...powerful...after...going...through...this...hell..."

'STAND STILL!'

"Arghhhhhhhhhhh..."

Aren screamed more, but he forced his body to a standstill as it stopped trembling. He hoped that whatever ability he got could also aid him in getting a higher chance of luck in Miss-Fortune Revolver.

Aren stood still while crossing his hands. His eyes were fully bloodshot, and his lips occasionally trembled.

The painful expression on his face turned emotionless.

However, his soul was screaming in pain as the pain increased more.

The dark red motes were still infusing in his body and then into his soul as after the accumulation, they would conjure into a demonic ability and brand itself into Aren's existence.

Abilities were like that. They are branded into body and soul like something they were born with, so it's easy to use them but hard to improve and make them powerful. One needs drastic things to improve them.

One minute and forty seconds.

The pain, suffocation, heaviness, was increasing...his soul was being pressured.

His sight blurred as he swayed a little but snapped out forcefully through his will; he once again stood still and continued to endure.

Aren had stopped counting after one minute and twenty seconds, and right now, he didn't even know how much time had passed. However, he felt like he was in this hell for a long time.

And now...two minutes passed.

The dark red pool stopped bubbling and producing mystical motes when two minutes passed and when that happened, Aren directly passed out.

He passed out while standing still, and his arm crossed on his chest.

[Great! Hahaha]

...

Day 35...

Aren woke up and found himself under a familiar ceiling.

He first checked some notifications in his mind while still lying on the long fluffy mattress.

[You have acquired the Demonic Affinity.]

[You have acquired a special ability, <Demonic Overlord>]

Aren first checked the affinity panel.

[Affinity]

-Demonic: Level 1 affinity.

-Understanding:- 0%.

'What is the benefit of having affinity? I don't sense anything different except for feeling more comfortable in this atmosphere. Or will I get benefit as I make progress in understanding and level up the affinity?' Aren wondered.

He then looked at the new ability got, <Demonic Overlord> and...was surprised.

<Demonic Overlord>

-Special Ability: It will grow with your Demonic Affinity.

-Effect 1: You can use your will to pressurize your opponents.

-Effect 2: +300 soul defense.

-Effect 3: Demonic Descent.

--->[Demonic Descent]: Consume 5000 spirit energy to gain a boost in your overall power for 2 minutes. Your attacks will be converted to demonic damage that can weaken your opponent's mind and decrease their overall defense. Temporary gains stats boost: +30 STR, +30 CONT, +30 AGI, +200 Soul energy, +200 soul defense.

-Note: The ability will unlock more effects and upgrade existing effects as you level up your Demonic Affinity.

Seeing this ability, a smile appeared on Aren's face.

It was worth going through that hell for this special ability.

"How do you feel?"

The temple head entered the room as if he knew that Aren just woked up.

"Good. But I need to regrow my hand and leg," Aren said as he nodded with a smile.

"Well, congratulations for getting the item you wanted and your excellent performance," the temple head said with a gentle smile.

Aren didn't know how he arrived here from the demonic trial domain, but he didn't bother to ask such a useless thing and took out the Miss-Fortune Revolver] from his inventory.

"I am going to try this now," Aren said with a grin as he aimed the gun at his temple.

"Good luck, hahaha."

Aren closed his eyes and pulled the trigger as 1000 spirit energy was consumed.

The revolver glowed before a wisp released from the barrel and hit Aren.

However, after hitting Aren, it expanded and covered him in a multi-colored glow for a second before disappearing.

[Your current luck: +57]

Seeing this, Aren sighed a huge relief as excitement flashed in his eyes.

It was finally time to open those boxes.