First Star!

"I succeeded."

Regis spoke as he grasped for breath.

He wanted to yell and be proud of his achievement, but he really didn't have the energy to do so.

The only thing he could do as of this moment was stare excitedly at the black star in his heart.

Whenever an individual fully activates their energy, the stars on their hearts would glow and become visible to everyone.

It was like a symbol of power and prestige.

This was something that was common to every person who pursues a certain path of energy.

"Phew, I can't believe i–"

Znggg—

Regis's consciousness suddenly slipped away.

'Where am I?' 

Regis thought as he looked around warily.

He was currently in a blood red space.

All he could see was crimson.

He kept silent, not knowing if this was a sneak attack from someone.

Regis was not sure what kind of phenomenon was happening, so he decided to observe quietly.

However, a few minutes had passed by but he still hasn't sensed any changes.

There was something that he had missed.

And that was the effect of forming a star using demonic power.

For demons, this was something normal.

After all, they were native to the demonic power and knew about its properties well.

However, the same could not be said for him.

Regis was a human.

And there hadn't been a single time in history where a creature other than a demon successfully formed a demonic star.

Therefore, there was no information regarding the formation of demonic stars.

Even if there were, it wasn't something that a child from the slums like Regis could know about.

Regis stayed calm.

Since gaining his gift of Tranquility, he had always found it easy to stay calm no matter what happened.

Vruggggg—

Strange sounds started echoing in the red space.

Regis looked at the direction of the sound.

There, he saw a black river of energy.

Vruggg! Vrugg!! Vrug!!!

More rivers of black energy manifested from thin air, soon forming a spider web-like connection with each other.

Regis looked into one of the black rivers close to him and saw shining red dots.

Those red dots seemed to be stimulating the demonic power inside his body, making him attracted to them.

"This doesn't seem to be a sneak attack…"

"Okay, let's think."

"It happened just right after I formed my star…"

"This could be a phenomenon that happens once every major breakthrough…"

"So this mustn't be anything harmful."

Regis looked around further.

When he looked up, something caught his eyes.

Four huge black spheres of energy hung in the red sky.

Furthermore, he could see more shiny red dots from there too.

In fact, it was shinier than the ones in the rivers.

Upon a more careful observation, Regis found that the black rivers seemed to be connected to the four spheres.

He tried controlling his body.

"Hmmm, it seems like I can move…"

After becoming familiar with how to move his body, he tried to see if he could fly.

Soon after, a grin appeared on his face.

Regis was still a child after all.

Just the fact that he could fly excuted him to no end.

'Okay, let me get a closer look at those black spheres…'

He thought as he flew up as fast as he could.

However, as he got closer to the black spheres, he could feel some sort of pressure.

It gradually strengthened.

However, Regis kept his pace and did not mind the pressure bearing on his being.

The pressure gradually increased.

It wasn't long before Regis could feel his consciousness slowly slipping away.

However, his face remained calm.

Just as he couldn't take it anymore, it disappeared.

Regis smiled as he felt this.

'I've adapted to it.'

It was one of the things that he investigated in the past few months.

The source of the abnormality that was happening around him.

His gift of Perfect Adaptation.

In the past few months, he ingested poisonous plants and made vipers bite him.

However, no matter how many venoms and poisons he took, he always came out unscathed.

This experiment of his lasted for a while.

Until it reached the point where the vipers in the forest ran whenever they saw his face.

Nevertheless, his experiments were fruitful.

Despite suffering the effects of the poisons at first, it didn't take long before his body fully adapted to it.

This made him wonder just how powerful his gift was.

After all, the information that came with it wasn't detailed.

"You can adapt to anything…"

Regis spoke the words he received when he awakened the gift.

He didn't really have any idea where his gift could work since the information he had about it was extremely vague.

Thus, his decision to ignore the pressure was really a gamble.

However, the result of his gamble confirmed something.

"You can adapt to anything, huh…"

"Maybe, it wasn't that it was vague…"

"Maybe, it really was all the detail it had."

It was exactly what it could do.

That was Regis's hypothesis when the tremendous pressure in his body disappeared suddenly.

However, to adapt meant that he must receive the thing he wanted to adapt to.

If he wanted to adapt to poison, he must be poisoned.

Even though the adaptation process wasn't long, Regis still had to suffer.

Nevertheless, he was not one who was afraid of pain.

'I'm getting excited just thinking about my gift's infinite possibilities.'

Regis couldn't hide the excitement on his face.

However, he stopped abruptly.

Since he was out of focus, he didn't notice that he had arrived near the black spheres.

'They're huge…'

Was all Regis could think as he stared at the black spheres.

It was like looking at a pyramid from the perspective of an ant.

Regis couldn't tell how far he was from the spheres, but they really were massive.

He decided that he would choose what black sphere to go to first.

The one in the east seemed to emit a red luster.

The one in the west seemed to emit a green luster.

The one in the south seemed to emit a faint gray luster.

The one in the north which was also the biggest black sphere was only pitch-black.

"Hmmm, fuck it. If I was right, then I would be able to visit here in the future when I formed my second star."

Regis decided to take it easy and went towards the west.