The Greatest Awakener: Ruler Of Time And Portals.

Two months later

The past two months had been very tedious. Nicolas had to go through numerous dungeons—some alone, some with Emilia. He was living the same day over and over again: wake up, bathe, do two hours of physical and mana exercise, call Emilia to see if she was free, raid a dungeon, and return home by evening. It was an arduous routine but an effective one. The current Nicolas was much stronger than before. The constant physical torment he had endured had defined his muscles and mana veins even more.

The already handsome youngster now looked like a dashing actor whose face and build would turn heads in every corner of the world.

The upcoming Ranking Phenomenon had made the Aura Net abuzz with discussion. Every now and then, a new heaven-defying talent would be discovered, his feats being discussed by the people as though they were their own. Some popular They-Tubers had capitalized on this opportunity, making videos ranking the popular participants and holding polls for their audiences.

Even the Aethercrest Academy had sent each student a package, which was unprecedented. These were magical weapons that could only be obtained from higher-level dungeons. Nicolas had gotten a saber, so he assumed that each student who succeeded in the baptism had gotten a weapon chosen specially for them.

In Nicolas's mind, for even the indifferent Aethercrest Academy to have shown interest indicated that this year's Ranking Phenomenon had something different to it.

This revelation made him more excited and nervous at the same time.

Tomorrow, the Ranking Phenomenon would occur, so Nicolas had decided he would go to a dungeon today, a middle-grade one. If someone got to know about this, he could only imagine the amount of ridicule an unranked awakener would receive for trying to solo a mid-grade dungeon. Nicolas was quite confident, however. His strenuous training had given him that courage. So off he went, to the nearby teleportation point and selected the Slithery Serpents dungeon, just as the proximal staff's face had started to twitch at this unbelievable sight. Nicolas vanished.

The girl did not know how to react. "Soloing low-grade dungeons as a new awakener is already crazy, but a mid-grade one... He is definitely a goner. Would people even believe me if I told them this? The world is really full of idiots—or geniuses, for that matter."

The dungeon in front of Nicolas appeared to be a giant ancient temple with vines hanging here and there. The opening was really small, barely the size of a teenager. He didn't have to wait for his turn, though; that was a plus, right?

He crouched in through the hole. The interior was nothing to be described—an usual ancient shrine filled with carvings at every corner. The carvings themselves all appeared very crude. They were apparently schematic depictions of snakes, but they looked more like engorged vines. "The ancient people didn't have much taste, did they? Why are all those people on the Aura Net always glorifying them? Idiots!" he thought.

His jeremiad was interrupted by a rustling near his feet. Before he could react, his body was turned upside down, and now he was hanging by a mere vine. "Wait, a vine! So those carvings were supposed to be a hint. You should have researched this dungeon. Idiot, Nicolas!"

Nicolas chanted the Flamethrower spell, urgency in his tone. The flames, like ocean waves, emanated from his palms and charred the vine, making him fall hard to the ground.

He immediately stood up, surveying his surroundings for any sort of movement. Since the vines could not attack and constantly throwing him to the ground wouldn't do much damage, that meant they had been keeping him hostage for some sort of companion to come and kill him.

His hypothesis was proven correct as he heard the dim slithering of a creature. He traced the sound, and there it was—a serpent sneaking through the ceiling, planning to capture him with a surprise attack. Alas! It had been discovered and could only leap at him. The serpent was met with a promptly chanted Glacial Lance. It was able to avoid the brunt, but its side was cut neatly by the icy blade.

The huge body of the serpent plummeted to the ground. It moved swiftly and tried to bind his feet, but the Fang of Malice, his new saber, pierced toward its eyes just as swiftly, causing it to move away to dodge the attack. Nicolas followed with a flame orb, which the serpent barely avoided. Deciding to end the matter once and for all, he used Hurricane, one of his most powerful spells.

The rotating vortex of terrifying water waves enveloped the beast. It tried its best to escape, but the waves were too unforgiving. The cylindrical body of the serpent was cut and bruised again and again, causing blood to spurt out and mix in the waves. It now looked like a vortex of blood rivulets.

Nicolas moved toward the next room. Just as the stone separating the two caves was pushed aside by him, a torrent of green nebulous mist was sprayed in his direction. Nicolas immediately leapt into the air, narrowly avoiding the ostensibly poisonous mist. It had, however, hit his shoes, causing the outer Adamus parts to melt down.

As Nicolas returned to the ground, he could see multiple small serpents of various vibrant colors. They once again opened their mouths to release those toxic sprays of mist.

"Not this time," Nicolas said, a thick file of earth walls manifesting in front of him. As the mist worked to destroy the walls, Nicolas used Piercing Icicle to tear apart the cave walls on the side, rushing in through the small openings. The colorful serpents noticed and attempted to stop their attacks, but the now irritated Nicolas would not allow it.

He hastily chanted the Sandstorm spell, the dusty, hot, and dry winds attacking the group of serpents. Getting sudden inspiration, Nicolas cast the Flamethrower. The flames began to mix with the dust, creating an erupting tornado of fiery flames and dust. The serpents attempted to throw the toxic mist, hoping it would bypass the calamity and hit their target, but in vain.

Confident about his powers, Nicolas went toward the entry of the penultimate cave. He knew this because all mid-grade dungeons had four stages. Before pushing the boulder, he checked his mana reserve.

[Mana Reserve: 33/45 MP]

"I had used basic universal spells six times. Since each use cost 2 MP, it all checks out," he thought.

Finally, he pushed aside the rock and entered the room. The interior was nothing to scoff at. It was filled with statues, intricate carvings, and antiques. No monster could be seen, though.

"Another surprise attack? You're trying it on the wrong person," he said with a smug smirk.

"Glimpse of Future," muttered Nicolas.

In the vision, he could see himself standing when suddenly the ground before him quaked and split apart, a humongous serpent head charging. The movement was so fast that he could muster no attack or block, and his leg was chomped down on by the giant serpent.

"Is it a dog or something? Since when did these slithery bitches start biting like that?" he said with disbelief as the vision ended.

"So here you are," Nicolas muttered under his breath as he cast the Piercing Icicle spell toward the ground below.

The sharp and deadly icicle pierced through the ground, drawing copious amounts of blood from the sneaky attacker below. The disconcerted serpent quickly escaped out of the ground, blowing hot air from its nostrils, indicating its rage.

Its ear and the region around it had been completely wrecked, making the already hostile creature infuriated. Its mouth opened, and the air near it began to heat up rapidly. Soon, a conflagration of blazing flames blew out of its mouth, but they were met with the earth walls that Nicolas had swiftly conjured. The earth walls began to char, but they were not going down anytime soon.

Normally, a basic skill like Earth Wall would have no chance to stop such a creature, but this was the weird thing about Universal skills: they were not really universal. Their intensity, power, and duration depended on the talent of the caster. The youngster cast a Water Cutter on the giant body of the serpent, leaving a shallow cut. This enraged the dragon-like serpent even further, but it had to wait until its spell ended; otherwise, it would face backlash.

Taking advantage of this god-sent opportunity, Nicolas began casting barrages upon barrages of Water Cutters and Glacial Lances, his chanting speed so ridiculous it felt like he was the god of rap.

The serpent's spell soon ended, and with it, the earth walls. The serpent, now seething with fury and pain, approached the youngster, swinging its ginormous tail at him.

"No way I am letting that touch me," he thought. "I have no suicidal tendencies."

He decided to activate the Past-Analysis skill, his vision fading as he appeared in a weird world. There were mountains that looked more like skewers and traces of mighty rivers that had dried up. He witnessed the serpent hatching along with its siblings, presumably.

He saw how it spent its childhood playing and hunting with them. Then, as it showed its talent, the serpent's parents decided to send it to a nearby valley fraught with dangers to train it.

The serpent was initially happy to explore the bigger outer world, but a wet blanket was poured on its ambitions as it almost died on the first day of arrival. It had to endure many beatings, escape with its life on the line, and survive through cunning.

Finally, a dungeon opened in their world. Almost all its family members were sucked into it by the dungeon's will, and in the process, their beast cores were extracted and destroyed automatically.

"So, these serpents don't have mana cores. That makes no sense. How are they able to absorb mana and use magic, then? Shouldn't they die of mana bursts?" he questioned himself with a perplexed expression.

The vision ended, and he was back to the tangible present. The tail approached him, but instead of dodging, he extended his palms and began to radiate mana toward the beast. Nothing happened at first, but soon the beast started shrieking, its body twisting and turning.

While the beast moved haphazardly, Nicolas noticed the small horn on its head glowing softly with a blue candescence.

"So this is what they use to channel mana. Well, let's destroy it, then," he muttered with a smirk as he leapt on the serpent's head, the trusty Fang of Malice cleaving the horn from the base. The beast howled in pain, shaking its head aggressively to get the attacker off.

Nicolas did that himself and again radiated his mana, this time even more intensely. The rapid influx of Nicolas's fortified mana caused the body of the beast to writhe in pain, especially in the absence of its horn.

Suddenly, scarlet blood started to ooze out from the beast's body as it was torn to shreds from within. Some rivulets touched the youngster's clothes, causing his face to contort with repulsion.

Unfortunately, he could not go to the final cave as the beast was not fully dead yet, and his mana reserve was too low for a mid-tier boss fight. So the youngster had to sit in the corner while avoiding the excessive smell of blood. "Not an ick an awakener could afford to have, but what can I do? I hope I get used to it soon," Nicolas thought with a look of dejection.