Chapter 292: Grand Achievement, Shocking Development, Miracle’s Afterglow

Chapter 292: Chapter 292: Grand Achievement, Shocking Development, Miracle’s Afterglow

’Ten, nine, eight...’

Lance counted down silently in his mind.

Just as he expected!

The very instant his mental countdown hit zero,

He suddenly felt the formless pressure that had been weighing on him for a solid month abruptly vanish!

His body became unprecedentedly light.

The Heroic Achievement was complete!

However,

what surprised Lance was that,

during the process of obtaining this Heroic Achievement, some strange phenomena occurred that were completely different from the previous two times.

The moment the conditions were met,

Lance suddenly felt a clear sense of the two Heroic Achievements he already possessed.

The auras of the Heroic Achievements [Overstepping Gods] and [Resist Death] suddenly emerged from the depths of his soul.

Immediately after, the aura of this third, newly born Heroic Achievement also merged with them without any resistance.

The three powers, each representing a miracle, shone together in his soul, forming a stable, triangular cycle.

Then,

in the instant these three Heroic Achievements resonated with each other,

Lance’s Spirit felt as if it were being pulled upward by some force, high into the clouds.

It was as if he had entered the Star Realm.

Then, he heard a distant bell toll.

"DONG~"

’Is that the giant bell on the legendary Holy Mountain ringing?’

At this moment, Lance felt a strange force pulling him, while his three Heroic Achievements stabilized his spiritual body as it traveled through the Star Realm.

However, his Perception and Spirit were not yet strong enough, and everything around him was a blur to his senses.

Besides that,

Lance also seemed to feel another strange force tugging at him, as if trying to drag him back.

But compared to the force pulling him forward, this one was too weak.

But soon, the pulling sensation vanished, for he had already reached his destination...

When Lance opened his eyes, he was standing firmly on a patch of grass. Not far ahead was what looked like a manor.

This place felt very real, like the instance he had entered during his Heroic Spirit Baptism, but the panel gave no notification.

The air was exceptionally fresh, and the surroundings were peaceful.

The sky was like the [God’s Game] instance from before; he could see stars that looked very close.

Looking into the distance, it seemed there were quite a few manors like this one in this world. Farthest away, there was a mountain with a huge castle on it.

Lance felt that something in that castle was attracting him; it was the very thing that had just summoned him here.

If not for the force that had been tugging him back, he felt he would have landed in that castle instead of on this lawn.

Lance pulled his gaze back. Through the iron fence of the nearby manor, he could see what looked like a woman in a white dress watering a flowerbed.

He was just about to take a step forward to ask the woman for information when he suddenly felt a violent tug. A force instantly pulled him away from this place and back to the Material Realm.

In that same instant, the woman seemed to notice something and looked toward where Lance had just been, but the spot was already empty.

Then, the woman in the dress turned her gaze toward the castle.

’Has another clansman completed three Heroic Achievements and been brought over by completing the [Spirit Manifestation Triangle Ceremony]?’

’This time, it seems the Knowledge of "Alchemy" is restless.’

’Could it be that an Alchemist with the aptitude of a "Philosopher" has appeared among the descendants of Lot?’

The woman thought to herself.

But why did that Knowledge feel so furious right now, as if the person it had its eye on had been snatched away right in front of it?

...

Lance shot up in bed. ’What was that place?’

While he was being pulled forward, he couldn’t perceive the force tugging him back. But that violent jerk just now...

...made him realize it was the Power of [Jhin, the Virtuoso]!

[Jhin, the Virtuoso] must have sensed some danger to be desperately pulling him back to the Material Realm.

It was also a warning that the thing in the castle was extremely dangerous!

And for [Jhin, the Virtuoso] to exert so much effort, there was only one possibility.

Morlock Lot.

So the thing there must be related to him.

Lance closed his eyes and tried to connect the three Heroic Achievements again.

That strange pulling force seemed to appear again. But this time, he sensed a feeling of joy from the other side. It was as if it were a living thing, seeming to say:

So you’re still here!

Lance immediately severed the connection between the three Heroic Achievements, cutting off the pulling force.

’What in the world is this thing?’

’But this shouldn’t be part of that mastermind’s plan. At the very least, [Overstepping Gods] and [Resist Death] definitely weren’t achievable just with the ability of Unlimited Stamina.’

So, his consciousness being pulled away this time was a complete accident.

He frowned, his resolve to quickly advance his Profession, [Jhin, the Virtuoso], strengthening.

Suppressing the confusion in his heart, Lance turned his attention back to the most important matter at hand.

’First, let’s see what kind of effect this new Heroic Achievement, which took me a whole month, actually has.’

He took a deep breath, and with a thought, he immediately opened the system panel.

[Heroic Achievement information is being generated...]

—

Conditions for Achievement:

1. Maintained high-load Status Skills uninterrupted for thirty consecutive days.

2. Surpassed the limits of body and spirit.

3. Integrated the Ether cycle into your biological instincts, synchronizing it with the basic action of breathing, achieving a state of ceaseless, self-sufficient Ether circulation, day and night.

—

[Judgment: Passed!]

[Congratulations, you have achieved the Heroic Achievement: "Turn Suffering into Firewood"!]

[Heroic Achievement Effect: You can take negative events you are caught up in during your life (for example: encountering undeserved disaster, falling into a life-or-death situation, suffering serious injury or disability, or even losing property—any encounter defined as "suffering").]

[You can conceptualize and materialize it, then actively cast it into your Source Melting Furnace to be incinerated!]

[Based on the "suffering" you incinerate, you will refine a "Miracle’s Afterglow" with a completely different effect, using it as a temporary buff for yourself.]

[Note: There is no polar night that cannot be overcome. Since the roaring flames could not consume you, this burning pain shall become the torch that illuminates the path ahead.]

The effect of this Heroic Achievement was too unique!

This was actually the first support-type Heroic Achievement Effect he had obtained so far that wasn’t directly for combat.

Moreover, it could directly convert the suffering he encountered into tangible buffs.

Lance stroked his chin, his expression a little odd.

’In other words, the unluckier I am in this world from now on, the stronger the positive buffs I can get?’

That’s a bit masochistic.

However, snark aside, Lance was quick to put this new ability to use.

He closed his eyes and began to check just how much "suffering" he was currently shouldering.

He didn’t know until he checked, but the result was a shock.

Under the special perspective of the Heroic Achievement, he discovered more than a dozen scattered, grayish-black clusters of light clinging to him.

These light clusters represented the "suffering" he was currently experiencing.

However, after a closer look, he found that the color of these clusters was very faint, representing only minor, fragmented bits of misfortune.

For example, one of the slightly larger black clusters.

The event recorded within was actually from this afternoon at the command headquarters.

Philis, that Cat Girl, had been handing in a document when her movements were too big, and she accidentally knocked over the inkwell on the desk.

All of the ink had spilled onto a casualty registration form that Lance had painstakingly stayed up late to verify.

To avoid affecting the evening’s strategic deployment, Lance had been forced to spend over an hour redoing the entire form.

’This counts as suffering too?’

Lance’s mouth twitched.

It seemed the system’s threshold for defining suffering was quite low. As long as he suffered an unwarranted loss or trouble due to external, uncontrollable forces, it would be recorded.

However, Lance also discovered a key limitation during his observation.

These grayish-black light clusters, representing minor suffering, were slowly becoming ethereal in his perception as time passed. Their color was fading, as if they could dissipate completely at any moment.

’Looks like it’s time-sensitive.’

Lance concluded.

’These suffering events, which can be judged eligible to be burned, will dissipate if they aren’t used within a certain amount of time. They can no longer be exchanged for buffs.’

To test the specific operational flow of this Heroic Achievement,

Lance unhesitatingly selected the minor suffering that represented the "destruction of the casualty registration form."

’Incinerate!’

He gave the command in his mind.

The next second.

Lance looked inward and saw the miniature Melting Furnace burning with Ether Energy in his heart suddenly expand.

The tiny, grayish-black cluster of light was yanked into it by an invisible suction force.