Savant Awakening

Jayde was stunned at the sight that lay before him. It was a mass of hulking flesh and muscles—two gigantic humanoids, giants. They both sat beside the gates of the colossal city, sleeping. From their size, he estimated them to be about twenty-three feet tall.

Both had well-defined muscles, and jagged beards hung from their lower jaws. His eyes roamed to their chest area, where faint outlines of their energy circles could be seen, pulsing rhythmically. Counting the circles, Jayde's eyes constricted into pinholes as he counted six on each of them.

One had to truly understand what was going on here. A giant, on a normal day, had a terrifying physical prowess that even Jayde, in his current state, wouldn't dare confront. So one could really try to fathom by what order of magnitude their strength had been enhanced. There was also the possibility of them having a very high-level cultivation art, multiplying their efficiency. It could be said that even one of these giants had the strength to wipe out armies.

It was only now Jayde was understanding how far ahead these ancient civilizations were.

---

Meanwhile, on the Minoan's island, Kalikun was just arriving from his trip, where he met Kawari and the others waiting for him.

"Did you get it?" Kawari quickly asked upon seeing Kalikun.

"Yes, but something bothersome happened," Kalikun informed them.

Seeing he had their attention, he went ahead and told them about his encounter with a human who could speak their language and was so strong he couldn't stop him from escaping. This came as a shock to the rest. They knew how powerful Kalikun was. In fact, it was because of his power that they sent him in the first place. The fact that a modern human could exchange blows with him and still live to tell the story was supposed to be impossible. After all, Earth was still in the first phase of the sequence, and there shouldn't be any form of resource existing on the planet.

The truth was that though Jayde had managed to deduce the existence of Hollow Earth and the fact that it had more resources than the surface planet, he still underestimated by what order of magnitude Hollow Earth dwarfed the surface planet. It could be said that growth in Hollow Earth was a thousand times faster, if not more, than the surface planet.

So it was understandable why anyone from an ancient race could be so powerful. But for a modern human to exhibit that much power now, it had barely been two weeks since the beginning of the sequence. For a human to grow that fast on the surface, what if one day he managed to stumble onto Hollow Earth? How fast would he progress?

Sweat matted their backs at the thought of such a scenario. They all came to the same conclusion unanimously—it seemed they would have to expose their presence to the world. They couldn't let such a threat grow. Exchanging glances, they all moved back into the gate to go inform their chiefs and elders.

Jayde had unknowingly brought a disaster for the humans. Now that the ancient civilization had been alerted to the possibility that modern humans were a threat, they would act to enforce their superiority. Even though it was just the Minoans, they weren't a force the current humans of today could handle.

---

Meanwhile, back at Jayde's island, Elior was on edge when he saw that Jayde lost, but it was good he was able to retreat. He was holding the ether crystal, ready to activate the protective formations should the Minoan turn his attention to them. Fortunately, it wasn't needed as the Minoan just went to retrieve a tablet and left.

Though this was a relief, they were all still worried for Jayde. It was unknown where he was or what he was facing. At least they just hoped he could come back soon.

Back at the dungeon, the nine individuals were only just rounding up. They didn't expect that they would take so much time, so it was a shock to them when they still hadn't cleared it after a week. Though they were trying their best, not everyone could be like the regressor Jayde. Unlike him, they had yet to even understand their talents and capabilities. One also had to note that they were just experiencing the sequence for the first time, so it was understandable that the whole series of events was confusing for them.

But still, they showcased their adaptability. They got a hang of their abilities pretty quickly. It wasn't all of them that faced combat tests; not all of them had combat-oriented talents. The same could be said especially for the individual named Nicholas Bane. He had a utility-type talent for forging, and long before the sequence began, he was an experienced weaponsmith. So one could imagine him awakening a talent was like arming a harmless tiger with fangs and claws. And Jayde now even took a step further and helped him enter a nurturing dungeon. This was akin to an act of giving this same tiger wings.

On entering the smith temple, one could say his progression was as smooth as could be. This was one of the few advantages some humans got during the awakening of talents. If a person was to awaken a talent that was suitable or in perfect order with their already acquired skills, their progression would come far more easily as they already had a solid foundation on the said path.

Right now, Nicholas was progressing through the temple test astonishingly well. His growth was evident on his status screen as his stats read:

[Name: Nicholas Bane]

[Race: Human]

[Talent: Forge (EEE+)]

[Lineage: Smith God (Legendary)]

[Physical: Fourth Circle]

[Mental: Fifth Circle]

[Comprehension:]

[Metal (4%), Creation (2%)]

[Items:]

[Fallen Star (??), Voided Anvil (??), Stars Heart (??), Thousand Refinement Art (??)]

One could see that he had grown significantly. In fact, when he comprehended both metal and creation, his talent had increased in class, and the system bestowed him a lineage legacy, which included the four items showcased on his interface.

Fallen Star was a smith's hammer, but it was so large that it was hard to tell the difference. It was heavy beyond belief. If not for the fact that the Thousand Refinement Art was a cultivation art that helped him quickly advance his body, he wouldn't have been able to wield it. In fact, there was a test related to this, in which he had to cultivate his body to a certain threshold before he could progress further into the temple.

The Voided Anvil was an anvil as stated in its name, but it bestowed him abilities useful for forging. Stars Heart was a forging table. When he tried to get a description of its abilities, it only had one, which was called **[Unbreakable]**. One could imagine his awe when he saw such an ability.

One of the common problems powerful weaponsmiths across the universe always came across was the difficulty in finding a forging table strong enough to bear their strength when crafting. So it could be said that this forging table in Nicholas's possession was something that other weaponsmiths would die for. Unknowingly, this lineage legacy of his had eliminated a future problem he would have likely come across. He also noticed that the grade of all his legacy items was unknown as they just displayed a series of question marks. So basically, there was a high chance they were very high-grade items.

Right now, he was performing his final test. After this test, he would clear the dungeon. He was to forge a D-class item or above if he wanted to pass the test. One would notice him sweating profusely as he hammered a metal upon the anvil. One could see pulsing runes all over the hammer as the runes were slowly but surely melding into the metal. Not far from him, one could see a lot of scrap metals, evidence that this wasn't his first try.

His body glistened as sweat cascaded down his well-defined form. Faint steam wafted from his arms as he swung his hammer rhythmically, the clanging noise ringing out.

But just when the metal started morphing, forming the shape of a blade, a slight mishap occurred as the veins protruding all over his arms burst, emitting a bloody mist. This caused a delay in his follow-up strike, and the metal seemed to spark. All the runes on the surface died out, turning the metal into a char. This was obviously a failure. Nicholas, though, didn't seem to care. He immediately switched the metal with a new one and continued hammering away, not giving any regard to his bleeding and sore body. If anything, his eyes seemed to glow with a crimson light as he thought,

*'So it's this way.'*