The First Clue
"The Dark Crystal… could it be underground?" Edric wondered, furrowing his brow.
It had been six long months since he started searching for the it—six months of aimless wandering with absolutely no clue where to begin.
"This is much harder than I thought!" He sighed. When he first embarked on this quest, he was confident that his mythic powers would make it easy. He imagined soaring over the Dark Forest, scanning the land below, and finding the crystal within a few weeks at most. Yet, despite covering most of the forest's surface, he had found nothing—not even a hint.
"I've already scanned nearly the entire Dark Forest from high above, but there's nothing…" he thought, frustration creeping into his mind. "Next, I'll have to do it all again—but more carefully this time."
Even with his speed, his mythic abilities as both a knight and a mage, and an arsenal of powerful spells, he had failed. He had hoped that surveying from the skies would yield some kind of lead, but the forest revealed nothing.
"If I keep searching blindly, it could take decades… maybe even centuries! This damn forest is massive—just a simple high-altitude scan took months!" Edric clenched his fists. "I need clues, or I'll be stuck here forever!"
His clone, Sylvara, had been tirelessly seeking any information about the Dark Crystal, but so far, she had come up with nothing. It was as if the artifact didn't exist at all.
But Edric knew better. The system had confirmed its existence—there was no doubt.
"It'll take time… but I have time." His eyes glowed with determination. "I'll keep searching while Sylvara hunts for clues. One way or another, I will find it!"
...
More than ten years had passed.
"I've scanned 1% of the surface!" Edric grinned, feeling a sense of accomplishment.
A full decade had gone by, and yet—he had found nothing. Not a single clue. Sylvara, despite her relentless efforts, had also come up empty.
But Edric never wavered. He had absolute faith in the system. If the system said the Dark Crystal existed, then it existed.
"System!" he called.
A translucent blue window flickered into existence before his eyes.
...
Status Window
Name: Edric
Age: 47 years, 8 months, 19 days
Rank:
Mythic Mage (184/40,000,000) Mythic Knight (31/40,000,000)
Skills: 12/15
Divination Resistance (Black) Bloodline Shield (Black) Mental Fortitude (Purple) Blessed by the Abyss - Suppressed (Purple) Abyss Emissary (Purple) Demonic Ancestor (Purple) Disguise (Purple) Magic Computer (Pink) Magic Intuition (Cyan) Spell Storage (Cyan) Formation Intuition (Cyan) Spell Intuition (Cyan)
— Skill Shop Available
Talent:
Mage: Mythic (0/45,000,000) Knight: Legendary (0/10,000,000)
Tasks: None
Points: 42,330,000
Cheat: Moderate - 10,000 XP/day
...
"Time to upgrade!" Edric thought, his eyes gleaming as he gazed at the mountain of XP he had accumulated. Every day, he passively gained 10,000 XP. After ten years, he had saved up an astronomical amount without lifting a finger.
"System, add 39,999,969 XP to my Knight training!" he commanded.
He had long decided—he would upgrade his Knight rank first. There was no point in advancing his Mage class yet. Without corresponding talents and high-tier spells, he wouldn't even be able to cast Ultra-rank magic. Mages had higher potential but a much lower starting point.
...
Ding!
Knight Rank: Mythic (40,000,000/40,000,000)!
Congratulations! Your rank has been upgraded to Ultra!
...
The moment the notification appeared, a searing heat erupted inside Edric's body. It was as if his entire being was being incinerated—his bones cracked, his muscles swelled, and his blood boiled with power.
He nearly blacked out.
"Am I going to die?!" The pain was unbearable.
But he gritted his teeth and endured. His [Mental Fortitude] skill kicked in, keeping him conscious through the torment.
Seconds turned into minutes.
Minutes turned into an hour.
Finally, the raging energy settled.
Edric opened his eyes.
"This aura… it's at least ten times stronger than before!"
He clenched his fist, feeling like he could shatter the heavens and split the earth with a single punch. Of course, that was an illusion—but even so, the sheer strength of an Ultra Knight was nothing short of monstrous.
A single strike could carve mountains, evaporate rivers, turn cities to dust.
Looking around, he noticed something astonishing.
He could now see for miles—dozens of miles—with his bare eyes, without using a spell or skill.
As a Mythic Knight, Edric's vision had already been incredible—able to pierce through darkness and obstacles, seeing over a mile ahead.
But in the endless expanse of the Dark Forest, that was nothing.
Now, however, he could see tens of miles into the distance. It was still a mere fraction of the forest's vastness, yet the upgrade was a massive, qualitative leap in power.
Then, he looked down—
And what he saw stopped him cold.
He could now see two miles underground—without using a single spell or skill.
This was just his normal vision.
Before, as a Mythic Knight, he had barely been able to see two hundred feet beneath the earth.
"I wonder how strong a Super Knight is…?" He hesitated, contemplating whether to activate [Super Knight Boost].
The temptation was strong.
But he shook his head.
The Dark Forest was dangerous. If he used his trump card now, and something truly terrifying appeared, he'd have no way to fight back or escape. The skill had a month-long cooldown, after all.
Instead, he focused on something else.
The surging pink energy within him—it was unlike anything he had ever felt before. His power was boiling, begging to be tested.
"Alright… let's see what this body can do."
He clenched his fist, gathering all his strength—and punched the ground.
...
BOOOOOOM!
The world erupted.
A deafening explosion echoed for hundreds of miles. The earth shattered. A towering mushroom cloud of smoke and debris pierced the sky.
Lava spewed from the depths like a ruptured volcano, devouring the land. A tsunami of rock and soil exploded outward, annihilating everything in its path.
Beneath the crumbling mountains of moving stone, Edric wriggled free. He was completely unharmed—but his clothes were nothing more than melted scraps.
His eyes widened as he took in the apocalyptic destruction around him.
"How are there still cities standing… when every single Ultra Knight can do this?"
He stood atop the roaring tsunami of molten earth, watching as it swallowed trees whole and turned them to ash.
Still in disbelief, he exhaled sharply.
"One punch… completely wiped out everything in a 10-mile diameter."
"If an Ultra Knight is this strong… how terrifying must a Super Knight be?"
At this rate, a single strike from an Extreme Rank powerhouse could sink an entire island like Silver Flower.
If such beings dedicated themselves to destruction, they could shatter the world's surface before they perished.
But the world itself?
"No, they wouldn't destroy the world itself—only its surface."
It was like those human extinction movies on Earth. Even if a meteor wiped out all life, the Earth itself would remain. The land would be scarred, but the planet wouldn't cease to exist.
"Does the world even care that we live on its surface?"
That thought struck him.
He knew this wasn't a planet—it was a world. A true world. And unlike planets, worlds had a will.
"Well… I don't know."
His gaze fell back to the Dark Forest below.
For centuries, it had remained untouched, not because of its strength, but because no one could venture deep enough inside. And yet, despite its ancient mystery, it was… fragile.
Every tree here was merely Mortal Rank. There wasn't even a Great Rank, let alone a Silver Rank beast within its depths.
Just as Edric was pondering this mystery, he noticed something strange—
Something he hadn't paid attention to before.
Because he had been too preoccupied—
Thinking about the overwhelming power of an Ultra Knight.
"The light from the lava… its reflections… its penetration… is wrong!"
Edric frowned.
Despite the sea of lava before him, the surrounding area remained eerily dark. The light should have illuminated everything, yet it seemed trapped, unable to spread properly.
"It's as if light itself struggles to move in this place."
In the past, he had always used magic for illumination, so he had never noticed this strange phenomenon before. Magical light had no such restrictions.
But now—
"Mortal light… it's being heavily constrained here."
Then, something even stranger caught his attention.
"Wait… the light moves more freely toward the east than the west?"
He narrowed his eyes, focusing.
Activating his Ultra-Ranked [Magic Computer] skill, he began running precise calculations. His Ultra Knight vision amplified the details, allowing him to analyze the movement of light itself.
And finally—
He found his first clue.
"Light is more restricted moving west than east."
It wasn't much, but it was something.
"Could it be… the Dark Crystal is in the west? Is that why light is being suppressed in that direction?"
There was no guarantee, but he didn't need one.
Any clue—no matter how small—was infinitely better than searching blindly.
His decision was made.
With a powerful leap, he soared into the sky.
As he streaked through the air, he kept his eyes locked on the ground below, scanning everything in his path.
His Ultra Knight vision made it effortless.
Not only could he see the surface clearly, but he could also peer two miles beneath the ground—
Searching for the truth hidden beneath the Dark Forest.