Awakening! Sequence Transcendent!

Qin Mao stood aboard the boat, looking down at Wang Tai.

The scene was so familiar.

It was so much like the scene seven days ago, when he had encountered the Hope while drifting at sea.

Only now, their positions were completely reversed.

"Wang, I want to save you too."

"But everyone says the first thing you have to cut down in the apocalypse is the bleeding heart. I, Qin Mao, have no intention of being one."

He chuckled twice, took out the contaminated standard-grade Sequence Potion, and examined it from every angle.

He had heard that becoming a transcendent greatly improved one's physique, boosting strength, speed, recovery, stamina, and more.

His shoulder was badly injured. He could only take a gamble and awaken as a Sequence Transcendent.

Ideally, he would awaken a sequence that enhanced his body or gave him healing abilities.

[Ding-Sequence Potion (standard grade) · damaged detected. Repair/upgrade?]

"Upgrade!"

[Ding-Host's Kill Points balance: 11,400. Spend 10,000 points to upgrade the Sequence Potion?]

"Yes!"

[Upgrading...]

A gentle breeze swirled over the test tube.

Qin Mao felt a chill in his right hand, and the cracks in the Sequence Potion vial closed up as good as new.

At the same time, the pale green liquid deepened to the color of jade, a rich green that looked just like a pool of liquid top-grade imperial green gemstone.

Bubbles burbled through the green liquid, occasionally bursting with sounds like the wailing of souls.

[Sequence Potion · perfect]

[Information]: Barring any accidents, this perfect-quality Sequence Potion allows an ordinary person to awaken as a Sequence Transcendent upon drinking it.

[Description]: Exceptionally precious.

Qin Mao pulled out the stopper and poured every last drop into his mouth.

A tingling sensation spread throughout his body. His muscles twitched slightly, and every cell seemed to leap for joy.

It took quite a while for this state to subside.

But to Wang Tai on the water, the sight was sheer madness.

Someone who had already awakened a transcendent sequence had just downed another Sequence Potion right in front of him!

And it was a severely contaminated Sequence Potion with tremendous side effects!

The night was dark, the moonlight was pale green too, and he was some distance away.

So he had failed to notice that this Sequence Potion's appearance had changed from before.

"Impossible, y-you... madman! Madman!"

The rumors circulating before the apocalypse and everything he had seen and heard over the past year since it began all told him one fact in no uncertain terms:

If a transcendent drank a Sequence Potion, the conflicting transcendent traits would kill them!

"How dare he? How dare he..."

"Were all the things I heard false? Or does he have some wondrous item that can cancel out the conflict between transcendent traits..."

Wang Tai's mind was a mess.

He thought he finally understood the real reason Qin Mao had betrayed him:

-This Sequence Potion!

To the east over the sea.

Without anyone noticing, a thread of golden light shot from the horizon, cutting through the pitch-black night sky.

Dawn had come.

Like a great orange-red fireball, the rising sun mustered all its strength at the far end of the sea, leaping up bit by bit, slowly and firmly revealing half its body.

Golden light dispelled the mist, and the faint, eerie murmuring over the sea gradually faded away.

The long night was over. Hope had arrived.

Qin Mao leaned against the gunwale, staring blankly out at the sea.

It was the most beautiful sunrise he had seen in months.

Wang Tai watched the sun slowly rise in the east. Even his body, chilled from soaking in the sea, seemed to gain a little warmth.

His eyes held hope, wonder, anticipation...

Yet all of it withered in an instant, turning into unwillingness to accept his fate.

"Madman, madman..."

"The potion... my potion..."

He had planned everything out. By now, he should have swallowed the Sequence Potion, awakened transcendent powers, risen to the top, and ruled the seas...

Wang Tai murmured unconsciously as his upper body slowly tipped forward until he lay facedown on the sea.

Only then did it become visible: a large plank of wood protruded plainly from the back exposed by his forward lean, having pierced his leather jacket and lodged firmly in his body.

He had long since been on his last legs, beyond saving.

Just before he died, he suddenly remembered what that Diviner had said fourteen days ago.

-Captain Wang Tai, this old man has calculated the result. Fourteen days from now, when the sun rises, whoever takes this potion will certainly awaken transcendent powers!

"Heh... transcendent powers..."

His murmuring gradually became inaudible.

As the plank that had supported him drifted away on the current, the middle-aged man finally sank slowly into the sea, disappearing without a trace.

[Ding-You killed an ordinary human. Gained 500 Kill Points.]

Qin Mao lay on the deck, listening to the system announcement in his ears, and slowly closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, they were filled with resolve.

"Brother Wang, you didn't have a system anyway. Drinking that contaminated poison would have killed you. You should thank me for saving you again!"

"Yeah, you're welcome. Rest in peace!"

With that, he gritted his teeth and violently pulled the wooden spike out of his shoulder.

Then he quickly bound the wound tightly with clothing to prevent heavy bleeding.

The seawater touching his wound made him grimace in pain, yet he burst out laughing.

"Just what I'd expect from a Sequence Transcendent! My physique really has improved. The bleeding is gradually stopping!"

The pain from his wound was unavoidable, but after awakening, his whole body felt at ease. He felt like an entirely different person from before.

The most obvious change was that his nearsightedness had vanished completely. His vision was incredibly clear, his mental state was better than ever, and even his thoughts were much clearer.

Streams of information automatically flooded his mind.

They helped him quickly understand what had happened to him.

[Awakened sequence: Free Person]

[Sequence 1: Lone Walker]

[Ability 1: Enjoying Loneliness] Enhances basic physical fitness and improves physique. This ability can grow, strengthening as your sequence level rises; additionally, when you spend more than two-thirds of each day alone, your attributes double.

Qin Mao clenched his fists hard, feeling much stronger than before. His five senses were much sharper too.

If he spent each day alone, his physical attributes could even double.

As his sequence level gradually rose, this boost to his physique would grow greater and greater. He had a promising future.

Although it could not compare to those Sequence Transcendents whose specialties were pure strength and bodily toughness, it was still quite good.

[Ability 2: Free Running] Greatly increases physical stamina, endurance, and recovery speed. Running speed reaches three times its normal value, and terrain obstacles are ignored.

This ability was perfect for escaping when he encountered eerie entities!

Although neither islands nor boats offered much space to run, he did not need to outrun the eerie entities. He only needed to outrun other people.

Qin Mao's feet itched. He wished he could take a few running steps right then.

[Ability 3: Escape Restraints] You can always break free of physical restraints. Handcuffs, ropes, shackles, and so on... have no effect on you.

This ability was a little like some godlike conceptual power... It looked impressive, but eerie entities mostly killed people outright and devoured them completely on sight. It did not seem particularly useful.

It would probably only come into play under certain specific circumstances.

[Ability 4: Yearning for Freedom] Your yearning for freedom surpasses everything, and you refuse to be bound. Greatly increases mental power: grants immunity to lower-tier mind control, resistance to same-tier mind control, and brief resistance to higher-tier mind control. This skill can grow, strengthening as your sequence level rises.

Finally, a useful skill! Qin Mao cheered up.

While fleeing, he had heard of many people dying in inexplicable ways.

Some had killed themselves after hearing a piece of music. Others had seen who knew what, wandered out of their shelters in a daze, and never returned.

Besides, myths and legends spoke of many spirits in the sea that bewitched people with their singing. Once bewitched people approached the gunwale, they would be dragged into the sea and drowned.

Although this was a passive skill, its strength lay in its practicality.

Qin Mao happily read on, thinking, Next should be a powerful attack skill, right?!

Huh? That's it?

Where are my other abilities? Why are there only four?

Qin Mao let out a long sigh.

"What kind of Free Person is this? These are all escape skills. Person Fleeing for His Life would be more like it!"

After grumbling inwardly for a bit.

Having heard that different Sequence Transcendents all had their own costs, Qin Mao continued sorting through the information in his mind with a somewhat serious expression.

[Free Person sequence cost 1]: You must not remain in the same location for more than 24 hours, or something bad will happen.

[Free Person sequence cost 2]: A new "taboo" refreshes every 3 days. Current taboo: do not eat your fill. Violating the taboo causes persistent weakness and disables some abilities.

Qin Mao: ...

Good news: it was not the sort of cost that targeted his body, taking a hand, a foot, or his eyesight.

Good news: he did not have a single bite of food aboard his boat, so there was no way he could eat his fill.

Great. Nothing but good news!

[Lots of readers say this sequence is weak. It is only Sequence 1, after all. It will become strong later. Even if it eventually lets him do whatever he wants and freely break away from the laws of physics, he still has to level up slowly.

After all, as you grow up, from going shopping and choosing clothes to needing pocket money as a child... restrictions are everywhere. Only by growing up step by step can you venture out step by step and do what you love. Freedom is something you fight for little by little like this.]

Incidentally, these sequence taboos are foreshadowing. Because "freedom means constantly breaking free of restraints," taboos are also one of the ways to grow stronger later on.