The decision was a difficult but necessary one, one he could not shy away from or push aside to take later.

Thus, he stayed as long as he could, carefully weighing his options, and after some time, he finally reached a decision.

His pick.

Adamant Body (A)

Blood Manipulation (A)

Amongst all the available skills, those were the two he decided to go with at this moment.

From the novel he had read back on Earth, merging an elemental skill with a physical defense skill always came with major advantages.

What would be the advantage of this one?

The system sent the usual prompt, asking if he was sure about his decision.

"Yes."

He responded without hesitation.

[ Fusing Blood Manipulation + Adamant Body ...1% ]

The process began, and it was slower than he had expected.

The progress increased by a single unit every couple of seconds, and only after around six minutes did the fusion finally complete.

[ Skill: Bloodsteel Physique (A) has been added ]

[ Bloodsteel Physique (A-rank, Passive): Your blood forges your body beyond mortal limits, heavily suppressing physical damage taken from attacks below A-rank and rapidly repairing injuries through enhanced blood circulation. ]

As the description appeared, Marlon felt an ethereal sensation slowly creeping through his body.

He felt his body undergo changes he could not explain. After a few seconds passed, even without looking at the full description of the skill he had just obtained, he could clearly tell that his physical defense had skyrocketed by a large margin.

Still, he proceeded to read the description carefully, and as he did, his eyes widened.

His first speculation was correct, but what intrigued him even more was the self-recovery aspect.

Even with healing potions, recovering from injuries always took a considerable amount of time. Only a healer, and a strong one at that, could hasten the process significantly.

But with this skill, he needed neither potions nor a healer to recover.

It was indeed interesting.

A smile crept onto his face as he examined his body for quite some time.

Aside from the mentioned effects, Marlon also discovered that his skin now carried a smooth and healthy glow, far more refined than before.

'Interesting.'

Without paying further attention to such a trivial change, he brought out the second true core and, without wasting any time, began to absorb it.

And it was then.

His body suddenly tensed.

His eyes widened, and his jaw clenched tightly.

A pain similar to the first time he obtained a true core washed over him without warning.

'There is a memory fragment in this true core.'

Marlon clenched his teeth and dropped to one knee, using all his willpower to keep his mouth shut and prevent a scream from escaping, even as his body desperately urged him to cry out.

The pain persisted for several minutes. Gradually, Marlon felt his vision begin to darken, but he remained unbothered.

Some time later, the pain finally subsided, but his soul and mind were no longer anchored to his body.

Against his will, he drifted into a dark void.

He was unfazed by the darkness that stretched endlessly before him. He was already used to it.

Then, just as before, a blinding light consumed the darkness, and in the next instant, the scene changed completely.

Marlon spread his gaze across the unfamiliar scene, and his expression slowly crumbled.

He quickly discovered that his vision was far more powerful than it should have been.

He was able to perceive and grasp immense details with effortless clarity.

And what he saw.

This looks like the galaxy as depicted in movies and books on Earth.

He thought to himself.

What lay before him was similar to an endless void, yet unlike complete darkness.

This place was filled with light and countless fascinating sights.

There were hundreds of millions of stars, and he even caught sight of distant comets streaking through space.

Like every Milky Way, there were planets as well.

The one closest to him, which was the most visible, bore a striking resemblance to Arden.

He recognized it immediately.

He then extended his gaze further, taking in the surrounding expanse.

More planets came into view, gently floating in space.

Some were hundreds of times larger than Arden, while others were several times smaller or roughly the same size.

Each possessed its own distinct features, but one planet in particular seized his attention.

It was the largest his vision could reach, an enormous celestial body that appeared to be a massive expanse of deep purple.

At the top of the planet rested a colossal blazing object, shaped like a crown.

As he focused on it more deeply, a strange sensation stirred within him.

It felt as though the blazing crown was alive.

He could feel its presence echoing within his soul, though he could not explain why such a feeling arose.

'What is that?'

He wondered.

'Is this what this memory fragment is about?'

He stared at it intently, searching for some kind of clue, but nothing happened.

Or so he thought.

Slowly, he began to notice something unusual taking place around the purple planet.

"It is shrinking."

He gasped softly.

The planet, which had once been hundreds of times larger than Arden, was now barely fifty times its size, and under his unbroken gaze, it continued to shrink steadily.

Marlon could not determine the exact flow of time within this memory fragment. His perception here was far from normal. He was able to grasp an immense portion of the Milky Way with ease, and because of that, he suspected that time itself flowed differently here. Even if the planet's consumption was occurring at a slow pace, it would still appear rapid from his perspective.

He did not look away from the extraordinary phenomenon unfolding before him.

He watched as the planet shrank further, eventually reaching a size comparable to Arden, before finally being completely consumed by the blazing crown.

"A planet eater."

An entity like this, even in Arden, a world filled with supernatural powers and terrifying beings, was something that only existed in fantasy books.

Yet it was real.

Marlon felt something stir deep within him, a profound sense of fear.

If such a being were to appear in Arden, it would undoubtedly become the highest-level threat the world had ever faced.

Even Axel Storm might not be able to defend Arden against it.

As these thoughts crossed his mind, the blazing crown suddenly moved.

The moment it did, an overwhelming pressure spread throughout the entire Milky Way.

That crushing pressure reached Marlon as well.

It was unbearable, countless times stronger than anything he had ever experienced before.

At the same time, a strange realization struck him. This was supposed to be a memory fragment. He was meant to be intangible, nonexistent within this timeline, and yet he was being affected by its presence.

As his mind struggled to process everything that was happening,

The entire scene abruptly turned dark.

====

Marlon's eyes fluttered open, and the first thing that greeted him was the golden chandelier hanging from the ceiling above.

He had returned to his room.

He heaved a long, loud sigh of relief.

Then he slowly sat up.

His mind immediately replayed the memories he had just witnessed.

What was that being?

Why was it shown to him through the memory fragment?

And the most important question of them all.

"Was it coming to Arden?"

As that thought struck him, his mind began to retrace everything that had happened so far.

First, there were the Aurax.

From the first memory fragment, a hidden truth that had been excused in Arden's history was revealed. The Aurax might have been the true perpetrators of the cataclysm.

And from everything he had witnessed up to this point, Marlon suspected that they were gradually returning to Arden.

Then there was the planet-eating crown, or the planet eater for short.

"Could it be that Axel Storm already knows about the planet eater?"

The planet exploration mission.

That alone explained a great deal.

Axel Storm was clearly searching for a way to take people out of Arden.

For the strongest man alive to consider fleeing as an option, it could only mean that the opponent was beyond imagination.

The planet eater.

That had to be it.

Countless questions surfaced in Marlon's mind, one after another.

"I have to meet him as soon as possible. Maybe if I tell him everything I have witnessed, he might let me in on some truth he has been holding back."

With that decision made, his thoughts finally settled.

He turned his attention to the window floating in front of him.

[ You've obtained the following:

1,000,000 EXP

X1 True Memory Fragment

1 Skill Upgrade Core (has been transferred to inventory)

300 Intelligence Points

30 Free Stat Points ]

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