In sleep, the red fruit continued reshaping Caelum’s body and bloodline.
His physique and strength rose at terrifying speed.
Without him knowing it, his bloodline also began to change, giving birth to some unknown inherited power. In the depths of that half dream, the rhythm of all things in the world grew clearer and clearer beneath his perception.
His strength grew.
His swordsmanship Realm and Haki intensity rose with it, and his proficiency surged at an astonishing pace.
Just like that, an unknown amount of time passed.
Deep within the dim underground ruin, moss gave off a faint green glow. A strong, steady heartbeat echoed through the darkness like the beat of a drum.
Then, suddenly, a pair of golden eyes opened.
The ruined chamber shook.
A figure burst straight through the buried debris and awakened from deep beneath the earth. Terrifying force tore open the island’s ground.
Caelum brushed dust from his body and felt the incomparable power now held within his flesh.
He was almost an ancient super class Danger Beast in human form.
Resilient muscles.
Hard bones.
Reaction speed beyond anything before.
He had obtained a physique and strength comparable to the enormous island turtle. Now, even without using swordsmanship or Haki, he could still smash an island apart with one punch.
Even without Armament Haki covering his body, ordinary attacks would not be able to break his skin.
Caelum carefully felt the changes within himself.
"This power... is a bloodline ability?"
The inherited power flowing through his blood seemed to have fused in a strange way with his Observation Haki.
He could not use the power of bloodline awakening, but his perception had advanced another step.
With each beat of his heart, Caelum sensed the emotions, thoughts, and rhythms of all things in nature.
This was a Realm higher than sensing the breath of all things.
Now, even Danger Beasts with low intelligence, creatures that could not clearly express their own thoughts, could have their emotions and inner voices partly read by Caelum.
He could even communicate with them to a certain degree.
Demon Blade Crimson Moon left its sheath.
Caelum felt the rhythm of alchemy, then naturally swung Cloudrend in his hand.
As easily as breathing, he cut Crimson Moon into several pieces.
"Looks like my swordsmanship has improved quite a lot."
Caelum checked his proficiency data.
Swordsmanship Proficiency: 90000000
Observation Haki Proficiency: 18000000
Armament Haki Proficiency: 18000000
Conqueror Haki Proficiency: 18000000
His swordsmanship was still 10000000 proficiency away from breaking into the next Realm.
The strength of all three forms of Haki had increased by one hundred and eighty times.
It had reached a level that could shake heaven and earth.
Caelum’s original idea had now become reality.
He truly could form black and red lightning from Conqueror Haki and strike someone directly from a hundred or even eighty kilometers away.
The perception range of his Observation Haki seemed to have reached its true limit.
After reaching a radius of 100 km, it no longer continued to grow.
Instead, Caelum’s Observation Haki showed even more powerful results in seeing the future.
Now, at most, he could see 3600 seconds into the future.
A full hour.
A light breeze passed.
Caelum reached out and felt the emotion in the wind.
Light.
Unhurried.
He sank into that feeling, as though he had become part of nature itself.
His mood had never been so pleasant.
Afterward, he came to the shore and discovered that the island turtle had not left.
Beside it were several eggshells that had long since cracked open. A few little island turtles were crawling everywhere on the ground.
These creatures had an extremely long growth cycle.
Once grown, their bodies would become enormous, but in infancy, they were only the size of mountains.
Of course, compared with other Danger Beasts, that was already very large.
Seeing Caelum emerge, the island turtle greeted him.
"Woo..."
The deep, resounding call was deafening.
Caelum was a little surprised.
"You were waiting for me?"
The island turtle said, "This place is very far from land. I will send you back."
"That works."
As he spoke, he climbed onto the island turtle’s back.
Under the island turtle’s call, the young turtles slowly crawled up as well.
Several more mountains appeared on the turtle’s shell.
On the way back to land, Caelum asked the island turtle, "How long did I stay on the island?"
"I do not know."
The island turtle had little concept of time.
To it, even several hundred years might pass in a single sleep. This much time was nothing it could truly feel.
Caelum found a pool and looked at his reflection.
His appearance had aged considerably.
He shook the Hourglass of Ages tied around his wrist.
In the blink of an eye, time rapidly reversed.
Caelum returned at once to the youthful appearance he had had at twenty.
Judging from the way he had looked before, he estimated that at least ten years had passed.
Several days later, a familiar cry came from the sky.
"Caw!"
Caelum immediately felt a sense of familiarity.
He waved.
The news bird circling overhead descended at once, then pulled a copy of the News Gazette from the leather bag around its neck.
"Looks like a lot of time really has passed. The News Gazette’s business range has even expanded onto the sea."
Caelum opened the newspaper.
The date printed on it was June of Imperial Year 1263.
Sixteen full years had passed since he went to sea.
"Sixteen years?"
Caelum paused.
He had actually slept for that long.
After so much time, the Empire must have changed quite a bit.
There was also the question of whether Tekular’s resistance army had managed to survive until now.
Sixteen years had passed, yet the Empire’s rule still seemed very stable.
The Calamity System had continued until the present day.
Caelum flipped through the paper and saw a familiar name.
Cerys.
Compared with the Six Calamities from sixteen years ago, three had already been replaced by newcomers.
Mavren, however, still held his position as firmly as ever.
Cerys was one of the new Calamities.
The fact that she could defeat a Calamity and take their place meant she now had at least Grand Sword Master level swordsmanship.
Caelum felt somewhat gratified.
Then a line in one section of the paper caught his attention.
His expression grew serious.
The printed words were short, but the information they carried was enormous.
To the players of the opposing faction, I will be waiting for you in Gemstone Town.
Since the word players was mentioned, there was no doubt.
This was a challenge issued by the sole player from the hostile system to Caelum and the others.
Searching the entire world for players from the opposing faction was like finding a needle in the sea.
The difficulty was the same for both sides.
Although this was clearly a trap, some players on the game system’s side would definitely be willing to take the risk.
No matter what, this was still an opportunity.
Since the latest issue of the paper still carried this message, it meant that the hostile system player had not yet been killed.
The only question was how many players from the game system’s side had already died at his hands.
With that, Caelum’s next destination became clear.
He had the island turtle change direction and swim toward the port city closest to Gemstone Town.