The Earth After Rebirth

"Huh? It's evolving?"

Kiro watched the excruciating process, he figured it must've been since he could hear every one of his bones cracking and mending.

All Hubris was capable of doing was groaning and moaning.

This was unheard of, usually the tamer would go through a lot just to get it's mount to level up let alone evolution. But here was Hubris, the great shame he suffered turned into a trauma, which turned into his greatest strength and triggered an evolution.

An evolution his body wasn't quite ready for. This why this moment of supposed celebration, became one of pain to him, his body was still too weak.

Kiro decided to ignore him, he figured he deserved at least this for almost getting themselves killed.

Even though they were at the bottom of the mountain, the cold weather could be felt as it was nearing dusk. The sun was well, hidden behind the mountain, only it's orange hue could be seen.

Fortunately for him, he made a great investment with the armour, as it kept him warm enough. He went in and out of vibrational sense, it still felt awkward.

It didn't feel like something as natural as breathing. He still needed to concentrate, albeit the time was cut significantly in half.

Entering the state became more troublesome.

The more he entered the state the more it made him feel like someone who had been living in a dark underground cave for thousands of years.

Someone who has never known light, to step out into it for the first time, that would no doubt make their every sense uncomfortable.

It was the same for him, he wasn't yet used to sensing vibrations this way, so it was still very much a discomfort. He couldn't exactly explain where the discomfort came from.

Upon realising this he quit for the time being, and took his staff to practice some moves. He was, in his way waiting for Hubris to finish his evolution. He didn't exactly know when it would finish, so he couldn't very well be lazy and do nothing.

With perfect fluidity, he swung his staff from left to right, with occasional pokes. He hadn't noticed but the more he swung, the more he was in charge of the direction the wind went.

The wind in the vicinity moved at his says so, he listened to it in return, he didn't force the movements he listened and moved it where it intended to go. It was a beautiful sight, even though Kiro wasn't aware. He was in the zone.

[Due to continous uses, staff wielder has increased to 50% damage.]

Kiro didn't stop at the notification, he kept this up until he was drenched in sweat. Which despite having the armour, made him a bit chilly.

"Fraud, this armour was definitely a fraud," he mumbled, realising he hadn't looked at Hubris for several hours, he took a peek.

The hellhound was glowing, enveloped in purple flames. It was a spellbinding spectacle.

'When is this gonna end?'

"System, where are my rewards, for killing the Harbinger?"

[...]

"..."

"You're ripping me off aren't you? Unbelievable," he remarked with scorn.

[Guardian, your rewards are still being calculated—]

"It's been several days!"

[Due to the great number that the EXP came to, the EXP is being converted into levels. In the meantime, here's a skill book the Harbinger dropped and 100 million coins.]

Kiro didn't hear anything else, he took the skill book eagerly and went through it, it was SSS ranked. It was the stealth that alluded even the system.

[May I make a suggestion?]

"No."

[The skill book would be more useful if the Demihuman assassin Nikolai had it. You're all guardians, it won't be a loss.]

"Dammit. Stop giving unsolicited advice, now I can't ignore it!"

Kiro's eyes bled with tears. His heart was heavier. He couldn't believe the first SSS ranked skill he obtained, was a skill he must give away, for free.

"Sigh..." he took the skill and sent it to Nikolai with the message 'use it well.'

Nikolai immediately sent back a skill called 'absolute senses.' With a really lengthy message, telling Kiro he was at the north of the Kingdom, roaming abandoned temples for a quest and that he shouldn't leave him behind next time.

Absolute Senses

Rank F

Can Evolve

500 MP per second.

Enhances all of your senses, depending on its rank.

[You've learned absolute senses, due it's low rank you can only choose one sense to permanently enhance. The more it ranks up the more sense enhancements you'll receive.]

'Sh*t. An F ranked skill? I didn't win at all.'

"I choose my sight." It was a no brainer for him, sight was the most important thing, he thought.

When it finished repairing his vision, he could see about 5 kilometres away. Beyond that it was fuzy, he could barely see the field. The best it could do beyond that were outlines, of people clearly fighting monsters.

Even though it was getting dark, his vision didn't get duller, it instead got sharper. Kiro went around collecting fire wood. He didn't really want to stop training just because of a bit of sweat.

After starting a really big fire, he started without a staff this time. He motioned sublimely, punching and kicking and moving with the wind this time.

He summoned lightning from within. His eyes glowed blue, with bits of lightning dancing within them. He concentrated the lightning on his palms, bits of lightning spheres appeared.

He tried pushing them out to blast a far away rock, but the moment they left his hands they disappeared.

'Bummer.'

He continued training his punches, reaction speeds and kicks. Before he knew it, he'd entered a meditative state, while training like this. He saw himself standing in front of that same gigantic door. He could feel a whole universe beyond it. But unlike last time, he didn't push his way through, he sat in front of it.

[Warning. Your mount is dying. The evolution is too much for him to handle.]

"Am I cursed? because I feel like I am cursed."