Chapter 62: The Path ahead

Jackson was completely unaware of Veronica’s actions. At that very moment, he was simply relaxing at home, with no idea that someone might already be closing in on his true identity.

Despite taking the utmost precautions to conceal himself, it seemed those precautions might not be enough.

Sitting cross-legged in his room, Jackson browsed through the vast list of skills available in the virtual world. After reaching the Second Sequence, he had gained something that First Sequence Awakened did not possess: magical power.

It was a unique form of energy created through the fusion of mana and spiritual energy. With magical power circulating through his body, Jackson could now unleash attacks capable of dealing devastating damage, far beyond what he had been capable of before.

However, his recent battles had also exposed a weakness.

The Golden Brush was terrifying when used correctly. As long as he could create the right conditions, he could directly disrupt an opponent’s internal balance and destroy them from within. But relying entirely on the Golden Brush was not practical. His spiritual force was limited, and using the ability repeatedly could quickly drain him.

He needed more skills.

More importantly, he needed skills that could give him reliable combat power even without relying on the Golden Brush.

With that in mind, Jackson continued browsing through the virtual marketplace, carefully examining one skill after another. Unfortunately, the better the skill, the more ridiculous its price became.

Then, a particular skill caught his attention.

[Nine Origin Sword Skill]

[A devastating attack skill created by the legendary-grade hunter, Nine Extremes. Once fully mastered, a hunter can destroy a small city.]

Below the description was a demonstration video.

Jackson clicked on it.

The scene immediately changed.

A lone hunter stood in the middle of a vast wasteland, his figure completely motionless. He held an alloy knife loosely in one hand, yet the aura radiating from his body was enough to make the atmosphere itself seem heavy.

Several hundred meters ahead of him stood an enormous army of monsters.

There were simply too many to count.

The creatures stretched across the horizon like an endless tide, their bodies packed so densely together that the ground beneath them was barely visible. Their roars merged into a deafening wave of sound.

Just looking at the scene was enough to make an ordinary person feel despair.

Yet the hunter remained completely calm.

Then, he moved.

His alloy knife swept through the air.

Boom!

A terrifying surge of magical power erupted from the blade, transforming into a massive beam of energy that tore across the battlefield.

The attack swept through hundreds of meters in an instant.

Everything in its path was annihilated.

Monsters were reduced to charred corpses before they could even react. The earth beneath them cracked apart and melted under the terrifying heat, while streams of molten rock began flowing across the battlefield.

The entire scene looked less like a battle and more like an apocalypse.

Jackson stared at the video for several seconds.

His eyes gradually brightened.

This was exactly the kind of skill he needed.

Unlike the Golden Brush, this skill did not depend on some complicated setup. It was a straightforward offensive technique capable of producing overwhelming destructive power.

For a moment, Jackson genuinely felt the urge to purchase it.

Then he looked at the price.

His expression froze.

There were so many zeros behind the number that he briefly wondered whether he had accidentally opened the price of some legendary treasure instead.

Even after becoming a Second Sequence hunter, he still couldn’t afford it.

A hunter without the backing of a major organization could only stare at skills of this level from a distance. The resources required to obtain powerful cultivation techniques and combat skills were simply beyond what an ordinary hunter could accumulate.

The same was true for Jackson.

Unless he joined a major corporation or organization, earning enough money to purchase something like the Nine Origin Sword Skill would probably take him an absurdly long time.

Jackson stared at the price for another moment before finally shaking his head.

"Forget it."

He closed the skill page.

There was no point obsessing over something he couldn’t afford.

Besides, there was less than half a month left before he entered the academy.

Once he joined, he would have access to far more resources than he did now. There would certainly be opportunities to learn powerful skills without having to spend an astronomical fortune.

Jackson leaned back slightly and continued browsing.

For now, he could only make do with what he had.

After all, humans had a strange habit of putting a price tag on everything, including the ability to survive the apocalypse.

Of course, there was a reason talented Awakened from all over the world were eager to enter the academy.

Not only were the teachers there highly qualified, but depending on their performance and other contributing factors, students would also have opportunities to learn powerful skills at extremely reasonable prices. Some skills could even be obtained for free.

For someone like Jackson, who lacked the backing of a major organization, the academy was an opportunity he could not afford to overlook.

Afterward, he began browsing the internet, searching for any information he could find about the Gold-Rank hunter who was the elder brother of the Desolate Troop leader.

Unfortunately, no matter how much he searched, he couldn’t find anything useful.

It was as if information concerning Gold-Rank hunters had been deliberately hidden from him.

After digging through several databases, Jackson finally discovered the reason.

Information regarding Silver-Rank hunters and above was restricted. Ordinary hunters simply did not have the authority to access it. If he wanted to obtain more detailed information about higher-ranked hunters, he would first need to increase his own rank within the Hunter Association.

Thinking about it, Jackson felt that the system made sense.

The higher a hunter’s rank, the more dangerous the information surrounding them became. Allowing anyone to freely access their identities, abilities, and whereabouts would be little different from handing assassins a complete list of targets.

Jackson closed the search page and leaned back slightly.

"I should head to the Hunter Association office and get my rank assessed..."

Since he had already reached the Second Sequence, advancing his official hunter rank shouldn’t be particularly difficult.

With that thought, Jackson stopped worrying about the matter.

Night gradually descended.

Instead of sleeping, Jackson sat cross-legged on his bed and began meditating.

The Dragon Method circulated through his body, guiding the magical power within his spiritual space and directing it toward the invisible boundaries surrounding it.

After reaching their limits, spiritual spaces could no longer increase in size during the Second Sequence.

However, that did not mean an Awakened had reached the end of their growth.

At this stage, magical power could be used to slowly nourish and strengthen the boundaries of the spiritual space. As those boundaries became stronger, the spiritual force contained within would gradually undergo a fundamental transformation.

Jackson had already been doing this for several days.

Now, the boundaries of his spiritual space had begun to take on an ash-gray color.

This was the process known as elementalization of the spiritual space.

Once the entire spiritual space had transformed into an ash-gray color, Jackson’s spiritual force would have reached its limit.

At that point, he would possess the foundation required to break through to the Third Sequence.

Unfortunately, the process was painfully slow.

Even with the Dragon Method, nourishing the boundaries of his spiritual space using ordinary magical power required an enormous amount of time and energy.

Jackson frowned slightly.

"If I want to speed up the process, I’ll need to consume an enormous amount of resources rich in metal essence."

Previously, obtaining such resources would have been a serious problem.

But things were different now.

He had money.

And where money existed, humans had apparently decided that even treasures capable of strengthening an Awakened’s spiritual foundation could be bought in bulk.

Jackson immediately opened the virtual marketplace.

He began searching for treasures and pills containing rich concentrations of metal essence.

Once he found suitable resources, he didn’t hesitate.

He bought them in bulk.

The savings he had accumulated over the past few days vanished at an alarming speed.

One minute, his account balance was still substantial.

A few minutes later, it had been reduced to a fraction of what it had been.

Jackson didn’t even blink.

One hour later, his small room was filled with pill bottles and treasures of various kinds.

Some emitted a faint metallic radiance, while others contained such dense vitality that simply standing nearby made Jackson’s body feel warm.

For an ordinary person, consuming even a small portion of these resources could significantly improve their physical vitality.

Some of the treasures were so ancient and exquisite that they looked as though they belonged in a museum rather than inside a sixteen-year-old hunter’s bedroom.

Jackson couldn’t care less about their appearance.

To him, they had only one purpose.

Resources.

Without wasting any more time, he began cultivating.

He didn’t sleep that night.

Instead, Jackson consumed one treasure after another, refining the energy within them and using it to nourish the magical power in his spiritual space.

His appetite seemed almost absurd.

Treasure after treasure disappeared.

Pills were swallowed.

Essences were refined.

Power surged through his body before being guided toward his spiritual space.

Yet Jackson remained completely calm throughout the process.

His spiritual space was like a bottomless pit, continuously devouring the energy he supplied to it.

Under the nourishment of that immense energy, the boundaries of his spiritual space gradually became stronger.

The ash-gray coloration spread little by little.

Jackson continued without rest.

Before he realized it, the darkness outside his window had faded.

Morning had arrived.

Despite staying awake throughout the entire night, Jackson didn’t feel tired.

Quite the opposite.

His body radiated astonishing vitality, while an indescribable sharpness seemed to linger around him.

His eyes were especially striking.

They glowed with a faint brilliance, like twin lanterns shining through the darkness.

Jackson slowly opened his eyes and looked around the room.

Something felt different.

The world seemed clearer.

Much clearer.

Even without deliberately activating any special ability, Jackson could perceive details that he would have completely overlooked before.

His gaze shifted toward the wall.

A thin crack had begun to form along its edge.

It was so small that an ordinary person would never have noticed it.

Yet Jackson could see it clearly from several meters away.

His senses had undergone a tremendous transformation after a single night of cultivation.

Curious about exactly how much he had improved, Jackson summoned his status window.

The familiar translucent screen appeared before his eyes.

[Name — Jackson Von Maximus]

[Age — 16]

[Talent — Aura of Absolute Slaughter, ...]

[Realm — Early Second Sequence]

[Spiritual Force — 14.7]

[Mana/Physique — 15.1]