Once again, Ren found himself in a completely different place.
'Now where is this?' Cautiously looking around, he found himself in what seemed like an enclosed chamber.
The room had four mossy walls with thin green twigs spreading out from the gaps.
The air felt fresh to breathe despite the packed atmosphere, and touching the stone walls, he could feel the damp moisture.
"I need to get out of here." Knowing he was in another world without food or water, he needed to conserve energy while searching for something to eat or drink.
He stepped out of the chamber with uneasiness, half-expecting a trap to trigger—but nothing happened.
With two paths visible, one on the left and the other on the right, he was about to choose one randomly but something caught his attention.
Carvings.
They were on the mossy stone walls depicting what seemed to be thousands—no, millions of beings rushing forward.
He felt something seeing the carvings, but couldn't describe it clearly.
"What is this place?" Wondering, he chose the left path randomly and started treading forward.
While walking, he could see that all those beasts were not only of a single kind. There were a few that looked like wolves with a single eye, small humans running with weapons in their arms, people with long pointed ears, etc.
As he kept moving forward, his fingers grazed the detailed carvings when suddenly, he halted.
There was a turn towards the right but what astonished him was the wall that blocked his path forward.
It showed a seven-meter-tall human-like being with four arms, each holding a different weapon.
A demon-like creature was standing right beside it.
It was throwing one of its weapons towards someone—or rather, something.
'A war?… but against whom?'
He wondered.
Why? Because the direction in which the demon threw its weapon depicted… nothing.
The carvings ended there.
He thought of going the other way to see more of these, but survival forced him to walk ahead.
With some twists and turns, he finally reached a somewhat big and open hallway that contained a massive statue.
"Whoa… who built this?" It was more than ten meters tall and made up of some white rocks.
But he couldn't see the details because he had come out from behind the statue.
Going around it, he finally saw the figure—no, two figures to be exact.
His eyes widened, his heartbeat stopped for a second, breath turning heavy as his gaze locked with the first figure.
It was a man choking another being by the neck.
The second figure had wings on its back with its head and lower body missing.
But he was completely focused on the human because it had the same eyes as Ren.
To be exact, the man's sclera was completely black with a white pearl acting as the pupil in the centre of it.
'It-it must be a coincidence. The statue was made up of white rocks, which made the carver make the sclera black.'
'Yes, that must be it, so why can't I move my head?' He was shocked to realize that he couldn't move, nor could he close his eyes or speak.
It was as if the statue was forcing him to stare at it.
And the longer he looked, he felt as if he was trying to uncover a huge veil inside his soul but was constantly failing to achieve it.
And that's when he realized that he was crying.
Tears of blood ran down his face, some soaking his clothes while the rest splattered on the floor.
He felt a soul-wrenching pain from the inside.
He tried to scream, but no words escaped from his mouth.
He tried to run, but was unable to move his legs.
Seconds bled into minutes, in the endless agony, when Ren finally felt his mind couldn't take it anymore, he heard a chime.
[Ding! Ultimate Paragon System Initializing..]
He couldn't focus on what it was; his brain was still filled with muddled thoughts, and his eyes were continuously dripping blood.
[17%...36%…67%...99%…]
[WARNING! WARNING! DETECTED HOST WAS AWAKENING HIS SOUL WITHOUT SPIRIT POWER!]
[FORCING THE SOUL TO BE LOCKED UNTIL THE HOST BECOMES POWERFUL ENOUGH!]
The next second, his body dropped onto the ground covered with his own blood.
But his brain didn't even register the pain.
A few moments later, suddenly, Ren's leg twitched.
His eyes suddenly regained clarity, and then came the guttural roar of a wounded beast.
"AHHHHHHHHHH...…." Only now had he snapped back to his senses, and when he did, he felt a pain he had never experienced in his lifetime.
He screamed, cried, but after some time… his voice started to turn hoarse.
Hours passed by, and finally, Ren stood up slowly.
He didn't even speak now; his vocal cords had become sore after those endless screams.
He took off his school shirt and cleaned the blood from his face.
He once again looked up at the statue, but this time, his gaze was calm, and nothing happened.
'The Paragon System…' He got a lot of information poured into his brain after he had snapped back to his senses.
Knowledge about the fact that the system had protected him from awakening his soul.
But it didn't provide information on why his soul was locked in the first place.
'But why did my soul try to awaken after seeing the statue?' This was his biggest doubt, but seeing as how he couldn't get answers from the system, he decided to focus on something else for now.
Nevertheless, he had also received some other relevant information.
'Status.' He beckoned forth and the golden-panel materialised once again in front of him.
｢Name: Ren
Level: 0
Bloodline: Heir of Oblivion
Strength:10
Agility:10
Vitality:6
Stamina:11
Mana:0
Spirit Power:0
Skill:———｣
He didn't even spare a glance at his weak stats, his eyes were fixed only on the bloodline—Heir of Oblivion.
"The only thing I can assume is that this screen has some sentience and has protected me."
'So I need to trust you for now, huh?' He slightly chuckled.
"Gurgle..." he realized that it had been a long time since he had eaten anything.
'I need to get out of this damned place.'
Tying his shirt at his waist, he moved towards the entrance of the ruined… temple?
That was the closest description he could provide for this wretched place.
Anyways, as he went past the entrance without doors, he finally understood where he was.
"Shit," was all he could say, staring at the massive forest ahead.