Min-ho locked his bedroom door and dropped onto the bed. He didn't even bother taking off his hoodie. His stomach was full, and the lingering heat from the meal acted like a sedative, dragging his consciousness down into the abyss. The 110x dilation took hold instantly, pulling his mind through the cracks of reality before his head fully settled into the pillow.
He opened his eyes to the familiar violet vortex of the Slumber Realm. The black sand beneath him felt colder, vibrating with a low-frequency hum that rattled his teeth.
[Notice: Successor has reached the threshold of Level 10.]
[Trial of the Sovereign initiated.]
A massive stone gate rose from the mist. Guarding it was a figure that made the Scavenger Hounds look like insects. It was a humanoid warrior clad in rusted, ancient plate armor, its face hidden behind a visor leaking white soul-fire. It gripped a broken greatsword that bled a distorted, humming melody into the air.
[Boss: The Forgotten Vanguard]
[Reward: Hidden Class Advancement / Ancient Cultivation Technique]
'The system isn't just giving me stats anymore,' Min-ho thought, his pulse stabilizing into a cold, rhythmic beat. 'It's testing if I can actually handle this weight.'
The Vanguard moved with a speed that defied its massive frame, closing the gap in a single, earth-shattering stride. The greatsword swung in a wide horizontal arc, whistling as it sliced the air. Min-ho activated Silent Step, his body blurring as he ducked beneath the blade. He felt the sheer wind of the strike peel the top layer of sand off the ground.
Min-ho surged forward and focused his Basic Mana Circulation, spiraling the energy from his core directly into his knuckles. He drove a heavy punch into the Vanguard's chest plate. Instead of shattering, the armor pulsed with a pale light, absorbing the impact and sending a localized shockwave of frost back into Min-ho's arm.
'A counter-aura,' he realized, leaping back as the ground where he had just stood erupted into jagged ice spikes. 'Brute force won't work if the armor eats the impact.'
The Vanguard followed up with a vertical overhead smash. Min-ho spun to the left, the blade burying itself three feet deep into the black sand. He saw the opening. He lunged in and pressed his palm against the creature's rusted gauntlet. He injected his mana directly into the suit's joints, forcing his energy to clash with the jagged, stuttering flow of the Boss.
The great sword faltered, the Vanguard's arm locking up. Min-ho seized the moment. He delivered a flurry of precision strikes to the visor, each hit cracking the rusted metal. The white soul-fire flared wildly. With a final roar, Min-ho concentrated every drop of his mana into a single point on his fingertips and shoved his hand through the shattered visor, crushing the core of the soul-fire.
The armor collapsed, turning into a pile of ash and scrap metal that the wind immediately swept away.
[Trial Complete.]
[Level 10 Reached.]
[Hidden Class Acquired: Dream-Weaver Monarch (Phase 1)]
[Skill Learned: Sovereign's Pressure (Active) — Crush the will of lower-tier enemies using pure mana density.]
[Technique Acquired: Star-Forged Marrow (Cultivation) — Permanently refines the body to store 500% more mana and endure extreme physical stress.]
Min-ho sat on the sand, gasping as the Star-Forged Marrow technique took effect. It wasn't the explosive agony of his previous level-ups. It was a deep, cooling sensation, as if his bones were being replaced by unbreakable diamond. The hunger that usually plagued him faded, replaced by a self-sustaining internal engine of light.
'I don't just feel stronger,' he thought, watching the golden glow settle beneath his skin. 'I feel like I'm finally becoming what the system wants.'
He closed his eyes in the dream, ready to wake up. He had the class. He had the technique. And now, he had the Power to make sure nobody could look down on him again.