Advancing Beyond: Enlightenment Black Iron

Darkness, shrill cries, pain...

Just as Aaron was about to collapse, a screen of light finally appeared before his eyes.

Energy detected. System activated...

A brilliant beam then cleaved through the darkness. The heavy shadows vanished without a trace, and the low murmurs disappeared.

The Rat-Face's soul let out a shrill, miserable cry. Bathed in the beam, its spectral form rapidly faded away.

It was only a separated fragment of a soul and had no strength to resist. Full of venom, it said, "Aaron, don't celebrate too soon. We've seen you. We'll find you, and you will join us..."

Still unable to recover from the pain, Aaron gave no response. Numbly, he watched the Rat-Face's soul dissipate before his eyes.

All he could sense was that he seemed to have gained something, as though someone had set their sights on him.

Before he knew it, the scene before him had returned to normal—the old man was swinging his wooden staff down at him.

At that moment, a faint realization came to him. He felt as though he understood something, yet when he tried to put into words what exactly he understood, he could not say.

Then words began to appear on the screen of light.

Connection successful. Adaptation complete. Translation concluded...

Having undergone the "Enlightenment Ritual" and witnessed the soul form of the extraordinary creature "Rat-Face," Knowledge Points +1. Rat-Face Codex: 1/7

Aaron, male, human, Enlightenment Black Iron Tier. Talent: unactivated. Strength 3, Agility 4, Constitution 4, Willpower 7, Spirit 4. Knowledge Points: 1

Consume 1 Knowledge Point to randomly increase an attribute by 1 point?

Notice: The next stage will be unlocked upon obtaining 50 Knowledge Points.

Aaron glanced over his attribute panel, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

A normal person's average attributes were around five, yet aside from his willpower exceeding that of ordinary people, every other attribute of this body was actually below average?

Was the original owner of this body really that useless?

"If I weren't so gifted, this might actually have been troublesome..." Aaron muttered. "System, add the point!"

1 Knowledge Point consumed. Constitution +1

He vaguely understood now. Knowledge Points came from extraordinary events or extraordinary information. As long as he perceived such things, the system would automatically convert them into Knowledge Points.

In a sense, that was precisely what the extraordinary people of this world did: they continuously came into contact with information beyond their understanding and thereby grew stronger. The system merely used the term "Knowledge Points" to further quantify those realizations.

But this "Rat-Face 1/7" description...

Why did it feel like some kind of collection-and-development game?

At that moment, he noticed that the scene before him was gradually fading, becoming ever more illusory.

In a daze, he slowly opened his eyes. His mind felt blank. Though he was already familiar with his surroundings, when he saw the slightly nervous Sart before him, he instinctively wanted to speak—but when the words reached his lips, he had no idea what to say.

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Sart swiftly scattered the Spirit Powder he had prepared long ago, then quickly glanced at the crystal ball. Only then did he let out a long breath, though his expression soon turned strange again.

Aaron's soul had somehow remained uncontaminated by the aura of the Heretical Cult, even though it had clearly been completely engulfed by that aura just moments ago.

Even if the aura had come from the Rat-Face, which did not specialize in corrupting souls or misleading hearts, there was no reason for him to have remained completely untouched.

Sart could only vaguely guess that the extreme purity of Aaron's soul came from that Two-Colored Gold Coin, which had carried an intense aura of fate.

If he had not misjudged the situation, it was not that Aaron had never encountered extraordinary events or the aura of a Heretical Cult. Rather, every trace of such aura had been purified by that coin.

"Don't rush to speak. This is normal. You need time to sort through the extraordinary aura gained from the Enlightenment Ritual," Sart reassured him, thoroughly familiar with Aaron's current state.

When Sart had first undergone the Enlightenment Ritual and advanced to the Black Iron Tier in his younger days, he had been just like Aaron.

Still, he muttered inwardly that although he had tried to estimate Aaron's talent as highly as possible, he had never expected him to advance beyond the ordinary after just one Enlightenment Ritual.

Back then, even with the help of his teacher Julian, Sart had needed two Enlightenment Rituals before he successfully advanced.

Two attempts were not an especially outstanding result, of course. That was merely the average standard at the Star Tower.

But what kind of place was the Star Tower?

It was one of the Three Towers of Sun, Moon, and Stars—the Prophet's Tower, the holy land of Gold Coin Path extraordinary people!

Even if Julian considered Sart untalented, that was only relative.

And now, Aaron had managed to advance in a single attempt?

Such a result would have been considered quite impressive even at the Star Tower, second only to "Self-Initiation."

But upon further thought, Sart realized that it was only natural for Aaron to achieve such a result.

If Aaron did not possess such talent, it would have been difficult to explain why he could provide advancement assistance to his future self.

As far as Sart knew, Aaron had experienced a Rat-Faced Cult descent ritual, then encountered the Rat-Face's aura again during the Enlightenment Ritual. That meant he had personally experienced two extraordinary events in succession, both of them Heretical Cult incidents.

If absorbing extraordinary aura was like drinking water, then the Enlightenment Ritual was like carefully preparing someone a cup of water.

An ordinary person experiencing an extraordinary event, meanwhile, was like throwing someone who could not swim into a pond. As long as they did not drown, once they crawled ashore, they would at least have had their fill of water.

And extraordinary events involving Heretical Cults were undoubtedly stagnant pools of toxic filth.

Without question, in Sart's eyes, Aaron was someone who had managed to drink his fill.

Sart silently reminded himself of one more thing: this Arthur who had been thrown into that filthy pool had someone ready at all times to pull him out...

Even now, that Two-Colored Gold Coin still left him deeply unsettled.

He had merely caught a glimpse of it, yet as a Bronze Rank Gold Coin Path extraordinary person, he had already vaguely seen an immense number of fragmented images.

In that instant, even though his soul was accustomed to receiving extraordinary information, he had still nearly lost himself in that ocean-like sea of knowledge.

Perhaps it was the future. Perhaps the past. Or perhaps somewhere in the present.

He did not know, nor did he wish to know.

For Gold Coin Path extraordinary people, knowing when to remain ignorant was the best habit.

Just as Sart and Aaron sank into thought, a sharp feminine shout rang out. It was as if a massive hammer had smashed into the door. The somewhat flimsy door could not withstand such violent force and instantly shattered into pieces.

A silver-white figure charged inside, accompanied by an enraged roar: "Die, heretical cultist!"