Single for Eternity
Chapter 109: Awakening (2)

Chapter 109: Awakening (2)

The game of connecting the orbs had begun in full force, and I was at the center of it—matching, linking, synchronizing.

Each red orb responded to my will with increasing eagerness, bursting with blinding light as I connected them one by one.

At first, it was a mere hundred. Then a thousand. Then ten thousand. The numbers kept rising, escalating to impossible heights—one hundred million... and still they came.

They kept bursting, each explosion feeding me waves of unfiltered euphoria. My body trembled, not in pain, but in rapture.

The sensation was beyond anything I had ever imagined—an ecstasy that coursed through every fiber of my being, as if the universe itself was embracing me.

The aether began to circulate through my body—not just around me or within the surrounding, but inside me, like blood in my veins.

It pulsed beneath my skin, brushed through my hair, coiled around my bones, and surged with each breath I took.

It wasn’t just energy anymore—it was an organ, a living, functional extension of myself. I could command it like my fingers or my heartbeat.

One by one, the orbs exploded and poured their essence into me. My cells absorbed it eagerly, pushing me further, amplifying everything. Then it reached a threshold. A bottleneck.

And that’s when the avalanche hit.

The orbs, as if sensing my limit, stopped trickling in and instead collapsed into me all at once. A flood of energy so immense it could no longer be measured. I felt as though I were being swallowed by a star.

Crimson light radiated from my pores, my skin glowed with raw power, and an intense heat billowed from my form. I could hear the sizzle of energy cracking through the air around me.

Then—

BAM.

An explosion unlike any other.

But I didn’t die.

No, far from it.

I was reborn. Like a phoenix erupting from the ashes of its former shell, I emerged from the blast, untouched and whole, my body infused with strength beyond anything I’d known.

The light around me had not dimmed—it danced, wild and alive, responding to my every thought.

The aether, once elusive and distant, now felt like a part of my senses. I didn’t just see it—I knew it. I commanded it. Its presence was tangible and visible to the naked eye, not because of density, but because of affinity.

I had awakened.

And yet... that wasn’t all.

The space around me began to fracture. The walls of the chamber, the ceiling above, even the stable formations of aether crystals that had once been pristine—all of it shattered like glass.

Spiderweb cracks spread through the air itself. Time and space distorted, rippling from the sheer force of my breakthrough.

The room pulsed like a living thing—no longer a quiet chamber, but a wild, rabid heartbeat of energy threatening to devour its own existence.

Then came the system.

A long-awaited chime echoed in my mind, clear and powerful.

[Awakening complete.]

[Higher Elements have taken notice of your existence.]

[Ouroboris and Voidhart are seeking to bestow you their affinity.]

[The influence of Chaos has blocked the descent of their blessings.]

[Ouroboris and Voidhart are enraged. You have been cursed.]

[Curse detected.]

[Your curse has been consumed by the Chaos.]

[Nascent Rift Core: 70% saturation achieved.]

[Your control over Chaos has risen to Low-Mid level.]

[Repercussions from using Chaos have been further reduced.]

I stared at the notifications, eyes wide, brain scrambling to catch up with the implications.

How was the system even functioning again? I hadn’t heard from it in what felt like days—ever since Malthorn had submerged us in that cursed dreamscape.

But now, the silence had broken. And the answer was painfully obvious.

My awakening hadn’t just enhanced my body—it had elevated my authority, empowering my soul enough to bypass the limitations Malthorn had placed on me.

I had risen beyond his suppression, enough for the system to reconnect.

"Pretty neat," I muttered under my breath, lips curling into a grin.

[System: Missed me?]

[╮⁠(⁠＾⁠▽⁠＾⁠)⁠╭]

’Fuck... Yes. I’m glad you’re back.’

[¯⁠\⁠_⁠ʘ⁠‿⁠ʘ⁠_⁠/⁠¯]

[System: System did not expect that.]

[System: System is... happy about host’s real emotions and feelings.]

A smirk tugged at the corner of my lips. The sarcasm, the weird emoticons, the tone that always felt like a half-baked AI with too much personality—it was all back.

And of course it’s seductive voice. Somehow, that annoying interface had grown on me.

’System, what exactly just happened here?’

[System: Your awakening brought a fragment of Chaos into the living plane, resulting in multiple spatial fractures. But don’t worry—]

Almost as if responding to its own reassurance, the fractures around me—those web-like tears in reality that had made the room look like broken glass suspended midair—began to fade.

They dissolved like mist, until the world looked whole again.

[System: See?]

[(⁠´⁠ー⁠｀⁠)]

I exhaled slowly, the residual pressure from the awakening still tingling in my fingertips.

’Care to share more details?’

[System: You know the drill.]

[System: I won’t.]

I clicked my tongue in irritation, already regretting missing the brief silence I had before the System rebooted.

Still, some part of me was genuinely relieved. The system was back. That meant stability. That meant progress. That meant... stats.

"System. Show me my stats."

A familiar sound pinged in my mind, and before me appeared a glowing translucent screen, projected like an ancient HUD from a sci-fi movie.

——

— [Status Screen] —

Name: Einar Sanguis

Rank: Awakened

Physique: Chaos Incarnate

Affinity: Chaos

Quest: None

Skill: [Wild Symbiote]

— [Stats] —

Health: 100,000 / 100,000

Strength: 1200

Agility: 1500

Endurance: 1850

Intelligence: 100

Luck: 0

——

My eyes skimmed the numbers.

So, that was it. Zero luck. A big fat zero. Just staring at it made my eye twitch.

"Well, goodbye gacha dreams," I muttered under my breath.

My affinity had fully merged into Chaos. No multi-elemental hybrid. No double-core affinity dream. No second blessing. Just Chaos.

Still, it wasn’t like I could complain. If there was any affinity that could dominate the others, it was this one.

Why did I feel that way? Cause it literally consumed the curse and grew out of it.

’Guess my plan to grab another broken affinity got blown to hell, huh?’

But oddly enough, I didn’t feel as bitter as I thought I would. The corners of my mouth tugged upward into a crooked grin.

This... this was fine.

I heaved a long breath and looked around the ruined chamber. The once elegant hall, now scorched by my awakening, bore the marks of rebirth.

The shards of crystal, the fractured ground, even the remnants of glowing aether—all of it stood still, as if holding its breath.

After all this time...

After days trapped in illusions, in a dreamscape designed to test my mind, my will, my soul...

After surviving in this world for so long, I was finally Awakened. I had done it, and entered the power system here. I currently help but be happy about it.

The arrival as a fat noble, listening to the scolding and feeling the disgusted glares of the maids.

My first fight with the townsfolk then with that wretched manticore. The desperation I felt at that time, the dread of death. The feeling of mutilated bones and ruptured blood vessels.

Everything was still fresh in my mind, even the slaughter of those various creatures of the desert. The way I used their offsprings blood to attract them and kill them.

After which the negotiations or just straight up making friends with Jonas. I really want to know where he was currently.

Because of him, I went into Duskholm and my life here really took a turn.

Meeting with Ness.... Literally surviving him. With the mercenary group—Ben, Mael and Flavia.

I had given them a sporb to teleport away. They should be save and sound. And if they weren’t it wasn’t something that should concern me.

I had done my job. Everything else was there own. But above everything else meeting with Ebon Val Borg.

He was said to be an immortal, but I was sure he was much more than being an immortal.

His presence was similar to that of Ness or Skin. Not like in a corrupted way but immense. Like that of God.

I was sure that he was a God. Of what? That was a mystery.

But I was sure I would get tangled in their mess, Ness, Ebon and that spirit girl. All of them were connected and because of my shenanigans I was sure I would join there cohort.

But shoving everything aside the only thing really concerning me was my so-called finacée. I had to annul my marriage, and fast too.

Or my mind would be clogged at that thought everytime. But leaving it aside—

I had finally done it.

I was awakened.

The first real step.

The first true step into this world’s power system had finally been taken.

And all I could muster was a dry laugh. The kind that didn’t carry joy, just a release of pressure long held in the chest. My hands clenched and unclenched at my sides, still trembling with residual power.

******

Volume One: The Awakening

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