Chapter 190 — Breakthrough
6 min read ·
Damian felt something click into place inside his core, barriers that had been holding him back suddenly dissolving.
’I’ve been stuck at C- for months. Training constantly but never advancing. I thought it was because I needed more combat experience or more time.
But... It was because I’ve been on edge constantly. Never allowing myself to truly relax. Never feeling safe enough to let my guard down.
Fear and stress create tension that prevents natural growth. And I’ve been drowning in both without realizing it.’
He opened his eyes, looked up at the night sky, and smiled.
It was a genuine smile!
Not the cold smirk he showed enemies or the careful expression he maintained around allies.
Just honest contentment!
He spread his arms wide, embracing the Aura flow, letting it wash over and through him.
The pull intensified dramatically, becoming visible to anyone with Aura sensitivity.
Energy spiraled toward him from hundreds of meters away, creating a vortex centered on his body.
****
[Various Locations - Stormhold Academy]
Professor Seraphina Vale sat lazily on her couch, a glass of wine in hand, reviewing student performance reports with detached interest.
Then... she felt the Aura shift.
The ambient energy throughout the entire eastern section of campus suddenly moving in one direction, being drawn toward a single point with intensity that suggested major breakthrough.
Her violet eyes went sharp, wine forgotten.
She disappeared from her apartment, her S rank speed carrying her across campus in seconds.
****
Puff
Professor Salazar Blackwood sat in his office, smoking a cigar while reading through weapons proposals.
The Aura shift made him pause mid-drag, his black eyes narrowing.
’Someone’s breaking through. The pull is so massive... Who is it?’
He stood and vanished, his curiosity overriding any concern about interrupting.
****
Several other professors detected the phenomenon and responded similarly, their experience recognizing breakthrough patterns.
Within a minute, six professors had gathered at a respectful distance from the eastern garden, standing among trees, careful not to disturb whoever was advancing.
They all saw the same thing.
A young man with bare chest and shoulder-length crimson hair standing in the center of the garden, arms spread wide, smiling at the sky.
His muscular frame showed scars from recent combat. His posture radiated confidence despite obvious exhaustion. And Aura flowed into him like a river finding the sea.
Professor Seraphina and Professor Salazar exchanged a look.
"He’s back!"
Their voices overlapped, both saying the same thing.
The other professors looked at Damian with complex expressions.
The troublesome student had finally returned again...
The one who’d challenged Noble authority from his first day.
The leader of the Mafia that protected commoners.
The boy who’d fought Demons on a train and Giants in a portal dimension.
The student the Imperial families had explicitly ordered them not to guide because his talent and ambition made him dangerous to the established order.
And now... he was breaking through right in front of them, his power advancing without any instructor’s help.
One by one, they turned and left, respecting the privacy of advancement while making mental notes to report this development to their allies.
Because Damian Valcor getting stronger was something that would affect many things.
****
[Eastern Garden - Breakthrough Completion]
Damian’s hair whipped violently in the Aura currents, his body glowing with accumulated energy.
The breakthrough happened in stages.
First, his core expanded, density increasing and capacity growing.
C rank!
The jump from C- to C rank happened smoothly, months of accumulated combat experience and training finally being resulting into a fruitful gain.
But the Aura didn’t stop flowing.
His core continued expanding, the density increasing further, barriers dissolving faster than expected.
C rank peak!
Then.. one final push.
C+ rank!
The advancement completed, and the Aura vortex slowly dissipated with ambient energy returning to normal flow patterns.
Damian opened his eyes, feeling power coursing through his body in ways that made his previous strength seem almost quaint.
His Aura was denser, more refined and responding to his will with precision that exceeded anything he’d managed before.
He immediately opened his status screen, curious about specific changes.
"Status."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Damian Valcor
Age: 16
Rank: C+
Talent: S
Core Attributes:
Strength: 450
Speed: 460
Stamina: 460
Vitality: 480
Aura: C+
Will: 310
Perception: 200
Intent: Slaughter
Skills: —
Shooting: A
Hand Combat: A
Telekinesis: A
Macro Vision: A
Sonic Blink: A
Self-Healing: A
Aura Control: B+
Aura Magnification: 2×
Weapon Arts: —
Omega Point - S: Level 3
Abyssal Slaughter - SS: Minor Success
Devourer Body Art - ???: Minor Success
Bond: Kuro (C+ Rank)
- Unknown Entity
- Talent Unknown
Domains:
Domain of Despair
- A mental Domain capable of making any person within its boundaries feel the full weight of their negative emotions and experience absolute despair.
- Host can use his own negative emotions to power the Domain. The more the host understands the essence of despair, the more powerful the Domain becomes.
- Current Range: 100 meters
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Damia n studied the numbers carefully, his analytical mind processing the implications.
’Physical attributes didn’t increase by much. Makes sense – the Devourer Body Art already pushed me beyond normal C rank physical capabilities.
The breakthrough was more about Aura refinement than body enhancement.’
But when he looked at the skills. Everything had reached A rank. Shooting, hand combat, telekinesis, macro vision, sonic blink, self-healing. All of them hit the same barrier.
He frowned slightly.
’To break through from A rank to S rank in skills requires more than just practice. I need actual guidance from masters. I need to understand the fundamental principles I’m missing.
Same with weapon arts. Omega Point is at Level 3, but advancing further requires dedicated training with firearms under combat conditions.
Abyssal Slaughter needs a deeper understanding as well.’
His eyes moved to the Domain section.
’Domain of Despair... I unlocked it, but I barely understand how it works.
Tonight’s fight showed my inexperience clearly – I could trap them but couldn’t maintain focus when the leader engaged.
I need to learn Domain combat properly. Will Reinforcement, Mental Barriers, offensive Domain skills...
All the advanced skills that awakeners use routinely.’
The list of things requiring improvement was extensive.
Telekinesis had become much stronger with the rank advancement.
He should leverage that advantage in combat rather than treating it as a supplementary skill.
He needed to create new skills as well. Develop original skills that suited his specific fighting style rather than relying on learning from others.
So much to learn and so much to master.
Years of training compressed into months because circumstances wouldn’t allow slow and careful development.
’But first...’
Damian’s expression shifted, warmth and contentment replaced by something cold and focused.
His foot tapped the ground lightly.
And he disappeared.
The movement was so fast that even the lingering Aura disturbance couldn’t track his path, just the displacement marking where he’d been and suggesting the direction he’d gone.
Toward unfinished business that had been delayed too long.