Strength was the ultimate truth.
Like the level 7 stone giant which could easily destroy a small hill, a level 8 would have no problem breaking large cities apart.
A level 9 would be even more dangerous. The fight of peak level 9s could cause moons to undergo permanent geographical changes.
And Sovereigns…
They could break apart the continental plates of the planets, divide seas into half, blow up asteroids with ease and kill hundreds of thousands of low awakeners with a strike.
‘I am lagging behind.’
If he strictly viewed through the lens of potential, he should’ve been at least a level 7 by now.
Yet, he was still a level 6. Varian didn’t spend time on useless things, but he could’ve surely managed his time better.
‘It feels bad to know…’ Varian smiled wryly. ‘But even if it is better, truth must be said.’
Shhh!
The rustling wind shook Varian out of his short introspection.
He tried to stand up but stopped.
Moving around arbitrarily would only worsen injuries that just began to heal in his body condition.
Thankfully, he didn’t need to use his body to check.
Varian’s space sense spread out and he quickly searched for the source.
Outside his cave on a mountain, there were small bushes. The sound came from small insects—which were around level 3 hopping from one bush to another.
‘Phew.’ Varian sighed in relief but shook his head again. ‘This is Serpent Ranges…’
Serpent Ranges was the mountain rages visible from the violet woods he was teleported to.
There were multiple reasons for the name. The most commonly accepted one was due to the enormous amount of Morpher beasts here. And like the name hinted, most of them were snakes.
These snakes turned into even scarier versions of snakes after morphing.
Legend had it that the whole mountain range, spanning several dozen miles was actually a layer of skin shed by a snake.
‘That would be a celestial rank snake.’ The thought popped up in Varian’s mind naturally.
He couldn’t help but imagine the immense power of such a creature. If a Sovereign could break apart continental plates, and split seas, then what could a celestial ranker do?
[For starters, blowing up a planet.]
‘Whoa—Fuck you for startling me’ Varian cursed his beloved system.
‘Then the Deva Civilization, they even captured such celestial ranks…’ Varian felt a sense of awe.
[Those losers are nothing to be in awe of] System said coldly.
‘What did they lose…no, who did they lose to?’ Varian asked and in response, the System said.
[Don’t overthink. Just fight.]
‘Fight my ass.’ Varian raised his fist, but the sharp sting from his wounds brought him back to reality.
His injuries were no longer threatening, but they still needed time. At least ten minutes.
‘Ten minutes in this place…’ Varian didn’t panic, however.
Only his body was unusable for the moment. His other powers were still usable.
He always had the option of using his space powers to escape from the fight.
Unlike the time with the stone giant, this wasn’t a plain but a mountaineous area. So, his opponent wouldn’t be able to reach him quickly once he teleported.
Using that gap, Varian was confident of ditching even a level 7 beast.
But he didn’t think such a need would arise. ‘This cave and even the hill have a low concentration of aura. That means…’
“Hiss!”
Following a light hiss, his space sense saw a snake crawling up the hill towards the cave he was in.
It was only ten centimeters long and looked very cute. That was until it reached the cave entrance and sensed him.
It seemed like a cobra with green scales.
“Hiss!”
Its scarlet tongue hissed into the air and the snake’s body glowed green.
“What the—”
The cutey snake was gone and a menacing snake more than five meters long and as thick as a person hissed at him.
Its green scales were replaced by scarlet scales and it got a third eye on its forehead.
Moreover, its aura was at the peak of level 6, around 4/6 or 5/6.
‘This can scare children.’ Varian rolled his eyes.
The snake senses its prey and slithered towards him in the blink of an eye.
Whenever its tongue hissed, green saliva splashed on the floor and melted soil and stones in its way.
As it opened its mouth to bite him, Varian’s body still didn’t move.
All this time, he had been thinking of something else.
‘Since this thing appeared here, it means this cave is its nest. A level 6s nest…it should be a child of some big snake. So, this area is safe for the next ten minutes.’
He nodded inwardly and moved his gaze towards the snake’s wide mouth.
Whoosh!
When its mouth was only a few inches away from his neck, the snake’s movements suddenly halted.
Its mind started to hurt and it lost control of its body.
The snake immediately regained control, but could no longer attack him with all its mind.
Right then, an invisible force gripped its neck and yanked it to the cave wall.
“Hiss!”
As it was so sudden, the snake was unprepared. So, it easily crashed into the wall.
However, the collision did little to injure it as its black scales were tough.
“Tsk.”
The real attack came before the snake could adjust.
The space around its head solidified while the invisible force once again tightened around its neck.
“Hiss!”
The snake lashed out its tail at Varian to kill him before he could do anything funny, but he simply teleported to another place.
Kreee!
As the snake was about to break free of the shackles, a golden light flashed in the cave.
Whoosh!
A golden spear thrown with the strength of a telekinetic and filled with lightning mana pierced the snake’s head.
Blood splattered and dyed the cave green.
Shaau!
The blood was also acidic as it melted away everything it came in contact with.
Varian formed an invisbile barrier and was unharmed.
‘Well, now that’s how you fight without moving a finger.’ Varian laughed.
The next ten minutes passed peacefully and his injuries finally recovered.
Varian stretched his body and stood up.
Even if he didn’t want to, the increase in his strength was obvious.
‘Status’
[Body Path Level 6: 3/6 (+1)
Space Path Level 6: 3/6
Lightning Path Level 6: 2/6
Morpher Path Level 6: 3/6 (+1)
Telepath Path Level 6: 2/6
Telekinetic Path Level 6: 2/6 (+1)
Water Path Level 5: 0/2000]
“Haa~” Varian exhaled deeply and walked out of the cave.
With a light tap, a screenshot out from his bracelet, showing the explored and unexplored locations of the Ruins along with general information.
‘To reach level 7…’ Varian narrowed his eyes and recalled one particular place.
Before they entered the ruins, Enigma gave him some important info.
In her own words, she visited all the Ruins except earth’s.
She didn’t give him a reason why she was doing it, but it didn’t seem to be solely for finding materials to build her space shuttle.
And even though she had never been to Earth’s ruins, it seems like she got enough information.
‘Use this information to your advantage and grow stronger.’ Her words echoed in his mind.
Varian’s lips curled up and he selected an explored location on the screen.
‘The Golden Room’