Chapter 92

### Reborn in the Gathering Room

I revived in the gathering room fourteen hours after death. Tsk, I was pretty far out.

Debuff Received: [Energy Channel Collapse]

Effect: All primary and secondary stats reduced by 99%.

Duration: 69 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds… 58… 57…

Achievement Unlocked: [First Among Equals]

You delivered the world’s most powerful strike.

Reward: +20 to all stats.

Damn it, nobody warned me about this! Self-Sacrifice amplifies one magical attack’s power tenfold—but only if specific conditions are met. Turns out, it’s one week of debuff per amplification tier. Two whole months without magic?! Hell, I can’t even run now!

—Status Window.

Name: Saji

Level: 170

EXP: 610,722 / 672,500 (61,788 to next level)

Race: Human

Class: Unselected

Core Stats:

- Strength: 2 (151)

- Agility: 4 (362)

- Stamina: 3 (344)

- Intelligence: 19 (1,987)

- Wisdom: 8 (818)

Unallocated Points: 0

Secondary Stats:

- Speed: 4 (377)

- Athletics: 2 (229)

- Spirit: 5 (500)

- Vitality: 4 (535)

Combat Stats:

- Physical Damage: 1 (Strength/2, min. 1)

- Carry Capacity: 5 kg (Strength × 10/4)

- Mana: 15,330 (Wisdom × 10)

- Health: 30 (Stamina × 10)

- Stamina Pool: 30 (Stamina × 10)

Regeneration Rates:

- Health: 40/min (Vitality × 10)

- Mana: 50/min (Spirit × 10)

- Stamina: 20/min (Athletics × 10)

- Movement Speed: 7 km/h (1 + Speed/10)

Defense: 55

Resistances:

- Physical: 15.27% (Ignores up to 81,422 dmg/sec)

- Poison: 12.60% (47,368 dmg/sec)

- Fire: 35.62% (1,177,204 dmg/sec)

- Lightning: 18.35% (292,021 dmg/sec)

- Mental: 35.52% (1,155,597 dmg/sec)

Skills:

- Cooking: 250

- Trap Mastery: 19

- Archery: 250

- Swimming: 250

- Breath Control: 250

- Stealth: 250

- Life Magic: 266

- Spirit Magic: 255

- Spatial Magic: 254

- Earth Magic: 254

- Water Magic: 250

- Fire Magic: 261

- Air Magic: 259

- Light Magic: 255

- Dark Magic: 250

- Meditation: 268

- Hand-to-Hand: 92

- Perception: 172

- Necromancy: 250

- Blood Magic: 252

- Chimerology: 250

- Ritual Magic: 252

- Artifact Crafting: 250

- Poison Crafting: 25

- Salve Crafting: 25

- Metal Hardening: 25

- Wood Hardening: 25

- Body Enhancement: 26

Professions:

- Herbalist: 250

- Fisher: 250

- Tailor: 250

- Blacksmith: 250

- Carpenter: 250

- Miner: 25

Abilities:

- Imp’s Eye

- Elevenfold Consciousness

- Insider

- Veil of Darkness

Gifts:

- Delayed Encounter

Holy hell! Forget running—I can barely walk! My gear weighs 7 kilos, and my backpack’s stuffed with junk. How am I supposed to move? Another oddity: my Spirit should’ve been around 700, but it’s capped at 500. Must be the limit.

The good news? My mana pool’s ocean-deep, and my resistances aren’t nerfed—so, death to all living things, and long live skill grinding! Wonder what a Meteor spell would look like with these stats…

But with my speed and carry limit, I’ll need a pack mount.

A minute later, Phi appeared—shaking, eyes wild.

"What the hell were you thinking, idiot?! That god laughed at your attack! I almost died too—" She froze, studying me. "Wait… what’s wrong with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You look like a ghoul. Pale, translucent skin, veins everywhere. Yellow pupils, sickly as hell."

"Lovely." I pulled up my hood. Now not even a god could recognize me.

"Hold on—what is that debuff?!" (Damn, should’ve left the party first.) "Where’s the usual post-death penalty? Did suicide cause this?!"

"Sacrifice, dumbass! I poured my soul into that strike. It was 20x stronger than anything else—and that god just chuckled."

"Rough luck. Never seen a debuff like this. Oh, and Talamay swore to find you and rip your head off for attacking him."

"He can get in line."

"Why’d you leave the party?"

"Our paths diverge. The trial’s over—pretty sure we failed. Half died, the rest fled. No shot anyway."

Another killer revived in the room; the last arrived via portal, grinning—loot goblin. Our proctor appeared twenty minutes later.

"Candidates, you’ve failed the mission. The target leadership survives, but you did kill the raid bosses. As consolation, survivors may now become Hunters."

Huh. Didn’t expect victory anyway. Time to assess next year’s odds. For me, this trial wasn’t even hard—Hell and Hashan were worse.

Themis bristled at the verdict.

"Honored proctor! You know we’d have failed without him." She pointed at me. "This isn’t fair."

"Assessing situations, adapting, and teamwork define a Hunter. Call it luck—we call it skill. If he’d sacrifice himself for one strike, he’s not Hunter material. Value your life—screw others’ opinions. Same for those who died to the god’s AoE."

…He’s right. About everything. I want to stand beside professionals like this. See you next year, "dear Hunter." I’ll exceed every expectation.

"Sir, do the deceased get to retry next year?"

"Yes, little miss. That was their reward for passing the first trial."

So he figured me out. Whatever. We’ll meet again.

"Survivors, step forward. You’ll receive your Hunter codenames and a skill of choice."

The last-arriving assassin went first.

"Your callsign: ‘Smoke’—for evading attacks and striking unpredictably. You can’t catch smoke. Desired skill?"

"Enhancement."

Next was Themis. She barely glanced at me—and I didn’t care. I’ve got bigger goals than skills or levels.

"Your callsign: ‘Death’s Shield’. You guarded the ‘Death-Bringer’ at his weakest and fought like death incarnate. Desired skill?"

"Enhancement."

As Phi sat down, the proctor continued:

"Next year’s trial is in Denever, Radam Continent. Find ‘The Gates’ restaurant and order six servings of Muscat Soup."

▣ Trial Access Unlocked: Hunter Initiation

Location: Denever

Time: 11 months, 28 days

Objective: Order 6x Muscat Soup at The Gates.

A judge whispered to the proctor, who announced:

"A god wishes to thank you for your bravery. Proceed through the portal to Iris Fortress for an audience and rewards."

Fun. Just what I needed—more divine attention. And I can’t walk.

"Apologies. My post-death debuff leaves me immobilized."

"Ask a teammate to carry you."

Refusing would draw more eyes. I looked at Themis. No choice.

"Phi, can you haul me to this ‘ceremony’? I’m too crippled to even walk, let alone run."

"I was gonna offer. We’d have failed without you. Fighting undead 300 levels higher, then five-manning raid bosses? And attacking a god?!" She laughed. "Now another god wants to meet us. What’s next—the entire pantheon shaking hands and handing out year-long buffs? Hop on."

And so, carried like luggage, our party of five stepped through the portal.

Sunlight. Applause. Confetti. Cheers greeted us on the other side.