A slanting evening sun and a gentle breeze; withered trees and crows at dusk.
In the Sanctuary graveyard, tombstones stood in chaotic rows, desolate and quiet.
From deep within the cemetery there would occasionally come a few eerie, ghastly bird calls that set one's teeth on edge.
Because so much time had passed, most of the gravestones were cracked, their inscriptions weathered away, many overgrown with moss, and many graves already swallowed by weeds.
The Sanctuary graveyard buried many monstrously powerful figures whose movements were like lightning, whose fists could shatter the earth and tear the sky, who could even contend with gods.
Seeing the burial place of such mighty figures in such disrepair was enough to make one sigh...
"Even if the main plot has shifted, as long as I can keep Pandora in check, I believe the Holy War won't kick off so easily. I need to cherish this hard-won transmigration..."
Damian smiled at his reflection in a puddle ahead, looking rather pleased.
In the puddle, the young man had sword brows and starry eyes, red lips and white teeth, a high bridge of the nose—handsome beyond words.
His body, cloaked in a black cape that hid his form, still showed a lithe power like a crouching tiger, ready to spring at any moment.
Damian slowly extended a thick arm from beneath the cape, then bent it and clenched a fist. The biceps swelled quickly, nearly ripping his tight underclothes.
That feeling of a body brimming with strength and muscle filled him with joy and satisfaction, even a thread of excitement.
Yes—he was only fifteen this year!
The belly was gone, the grease had vanished, his thick hair had returned, and his whole body was hard muscle.
He had also grasped the Cosmo.
He owed all of it to this graveyard.
Now that the scourge named Pandora had shown up and the Holy War might start earlier, he had to accelerate his own growth.
He swung his shovel over a few neglected old graves...
Not until the horizon was awash with rosy clouds did Damian finish his work.
Tapping the dirt off the shovel, he looked at the old graves before him.
Suddenly, a golden light flashed across the grave he had just cleared of weeds.
Peering closer, he saw that the previously blank headstone inexplicably displayed several lines of perfectly clear golden text.
[Corpse: Manigoldo]
[Rank: Cancer Gold Saint]
[Yield: Cosmo +5]
[Extractable Ability: Requirements not met]
[Grave Grade: Black Iron]
A Gold Saint's grave!!!
Seeing it clearly, Damian couldn't help swallowing, feeling his pulse and blood pressure spike in an instant.
At last—he had found another grave of a Gold Saint from the previous generation.
He couldn't stop a smile from spreading. The thrill of striking treasure was hard to put into words.
He studied the faintly glowing inscription, the letters traced as if by a highlighter, shimmering with pale golden light.
He stepped forward and pressed his hand to the stone. A clear current immediately flowed up his palm into his body and spread swiftly through his limbs and bones.
This warm flow seemed tranquil, yet it contained immense power, as if a single spark could set off an explosive force.
Yes—this was the Cosmo!
The Cosmo is the latent cosmic energy within the human body, a seemingly calm cosmic force residing deep in the soul, yet containing power like a Big Bang.
True Saints ignite the Cosmo within, pulverizing the atoms of matter and unleashing superhuman power to smash stars and rend the earth.
The Cosmo, as the symbol of a Saint, is not easily obtained.
Normally only through arduous training and exceptional talent can one grasp the Cosmo.
But Damian could draw Cosmo from a grave simply by touching the headstone.
He tried circulating the Cosmo within him; it ignited at once, becoming extraordinarily active, and in an instant flowed into his fist.
Looking at his fist again, it was faintly wreathed in a pale golden glow.
Thump!
Damian suddenly punched a large block of granite nearby.
At the instant his fist made contact, the rock—hard as could be—was triggered by some mysterious power and abruptly exploded into countless shards, dust billowing.
His fist didn't hurt at all. It was like a high-power detonator.
And when the shards struck him, he didn't feel a thing.
Hah!
He tried circulating all of his Cosmo with full force, spreading it throughout his body.
In the blink of an eye, his entire musculature swelled, muscles ripping through cloth, cords thick as rebar.
Damian looked himself over.
The muscles of his arms had more than doubled in size, with a sculpted sense of depth in the sunlight, even a faint golden sheen.
At this moment, the toughness of his body, in the age of cold steel, far surpassed any perfected iron-body techniques. Not only was he blade- and bullet-resistant, he could swagger through both ancient and modern times.
After long absorption, Damian's Cosmo had now reached maturity—he had even attained the Seventh Sense.
He certainly knew what that meant.
Once he activated his Cosmo, he had the qualifications to become a Saint and could go fight in the Cloth contention, becoming a Saint.
Possessing the Seventh Sense meant he had the power and qualification to become a Gold Saint.
Yes.
This was the quirky System Damian had obtained!
On his first day in the graveyard, he discovered strange text on the headstones. Thereafter, as long as he successfully restored a grave, that Saint's grave would be activated.
So long as he kept repairing the Saints' graves and raising their grade, the deceased's lifetime Cosmo or skills would be transmitted to him.
The better he restored a grave, the higher its grade, and the better its yield.
The stronger the Saint buried there had been in life, the more Cosmo he gained and the stronger the skills he received.
Thanks to this ability, he had grasped the Seventh Sense of the Cosmo, and even learned many unknown techniques, including Saints' signature moves.
In the glow of sunset, Damian raised his shovel and carefully tended Manigoldo's grave.
This grave was in terrible shape, the headstone covered in cracks, the mound a mess of crumbly soil, with piles of rubble above it, all in disarray.
After all, this Cancer Gold Saint of the previous generation had died more than two hundred years ago; the fact that the headstone still stood at all was pretty good.
Previously he had only cleared away the weeds. Now Damian was earnestly repairing the grave—packing soil to bond the broken pieces of the marker, clearing away rubble and roots, doing all he could to refurbish it.
He huffed and puffed for over an hour before he finally finished the overhaul.
After all that, Damian looked at the headstone again.
[Corpse: Manigoldo]
[Rank: Cancer Gold Saint]
[Yield: Cosmo +10]
[Extractable Ability: Sekishiki Meikaiha]
[Grave Grade: Bronze]
Sure enough, the information on the stone had changed.
The yield had become "Cosmo +10"—more than double—and the text, once gray, had turned golden again.
The grave grade had risen from "Black Iron" to "Bronze," and the extractable ability had even added Sekishiki Meikaiha.
Especially when those words "Sekishiki Meikaiha" appeared, Damian's little heart began to pound wildly, the hand gripping his shovel trembling slightly, unable to contain his excitement.
Sekishiki Meikaiha.
Ha, at last—another Gold Saint's ultimate move has dropped!
Heads-up: In the original storyline, the previous "Little Ma" and "Little Lion" don't have bodies left, but in the author's setting their remains still exist—you can also take them as cenotaphs.
Don't nitpick—fan fiction will have some tweaks to facilitate the plot. Thanks for understanding, and if you like it, please vote.
Thanks for reading!If you enjoyed the chapter, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and leave a review.Your support keeps the cosmos burning and helps me write more epic Saint Seiya battles!