Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Do You Have to Be Killed by the Antagonist to Level? Up?
It wasn't due to a fanatical belief capable of transcending life, nor did he harbor any extreme fetishes deep within. Char was well aware that his mental and spiritual state was perfectly normal.
He just looked like a cultist, but it didn't mean that he was driven to madness.
In fact, Char was fully aware of what he was doing and the potential consequences.
Ultimately, he was conducting this ritual to communicate with the forbidden entity, all in pursuit of becoming stronger.
To become stronger, to possess the power for revenge, he was willing to do anything. But don't get it twisted; methods like sacrificing and plunging into darkness for fleeting power were beneath Char. Moreover, these approaches were highly susceptible to the enticement of unnameable entities. After all, in their dictionary, the phrase "equivalent exchange" didn't exist, and there was a greater likelihood of being consumed entirely, then becoming a mere walking corpse.
He merely intended to use this ritual to communicate with that mysterious witch, transport himself there, and then let her kill him.
Being killed would make him stronger.
Doesn't that sound rather incredible?
A decade ago, on that night when Char woke up from the darkness, his body had fully healed, and he found himself stronger than before, and that too had seemed incredible.
"[The host has perished, successfully meeting the activation condition. The Infinite Life System is at your service.]"
"[Your level has been elevated from LV.1 to LV.3!]"
At that time, Char, who had just been revived, was still immersed in grief and pain, having no time to pay attention to the sudden change in the system's appearance. So, he temporarily set it aside.
After he left home to journey to the capital, he finally had the time to examine the system's functions.
Apart from the somewhat clichéd personal status interface, the system's sole function had been mentioned before.
Being killed makes you stronger.
Regardless of the form, as long as Char's status ultimately reached death, he would instantly resurrect and gain a certain amount of experience, thus leveling up.
It's like playing a pay-to-win online game, where as long as you have enough money, you can become an invincible player with an abundance of in-game currency.
The only difference is that Char's currency to spend is his own life.
Apart from sacrificing his life, any attempts Char made to enhance his strength through methods like training, meditation, or taking substances had no effect.
This was another reason why Char had to initiate this ritual.
Of course, the system did have limitations on who could kill him, otherwise, Char would have become an immortal being a long time ago, and that alone would have made him invincible.
Limited to antagonists.
Only individuals defined as antagonists by the system who kill Char can allow him to resurrect and become stronger.
For instance, the army led by the knight in light armor that destroyed Char's village and initiated a massacre on that gruesome night ten years ago – such a bloodthirsty executioner's behavior was no different from that of a devil and was naturally defined as antagonistic by the system.
So, Char could only resurrect after being killed by the knight bearing the sun emblem and gained two levels directly.
In the first few years after obtaining the system, Char had been actively searching for targets who could be defined as antagonists by the system. He would provoke them and then get killed. He succeeded and rapidly grew stronger in a short time through this method.
However, as his level gradually increased, the experience gained from being killed by those antagonists became less and less, to the point where it couldn't make him level up anymore.
Char couldn't help but start thinking.
According to the principles of online games, after one's level increases, lower-level monsters will no longer provide experience points. To level up, one must seek out stronger monsters to kill.
Could this be the same as leveling up by defeating monsters? The stronger the antagonists who killed him, the more experience he would gain?
With this idea in mind, Char embarked on a new experiment.
However, this time, he no longer focused on the run-of-the-mill bandits and thugs but set his sights on the Imperial wanted criminal list, working his way up from the bottom.
As expected, the experience bar that had stagnated for a while began to rise again.
Unfortunately, it still didn't last long.
In about a year, the experience provided by those heinous criminals gradually became insignificant.
In the end, not even the cult leader on the Imperial wanted list with a reward exceeding ten million gold coins could provide enough experience
That was the largest cult that plagued the entire country, and its leader undoubtedly ranked among the top twenty in combat strength among the Empire's elite. He was the instigator of the horrifying "Blood Moon Massacre" and had brutally blood-sacrificed tens of thousands of civilians in an attempt to summon an evil deity.
Even with such a powerful adversary, killing me still didn't provide Char with any experience.
At that time, Char was only at [LV.26].
To continue leveling up, he had to seek out even more powerful antagonists.
In the entire Empire, there were indeed individuals more powerful than the leader of the cult. But could those people truly be defined as antagonists by the system?
After much contemplation, Char ultimately turned his gaze towards a forbidden place.
If you were to spread out the vast map of the Rand Continent, you would quickly notice in the northernmost part of the entire continent, in a region marked by rifts and gorges, an area that looked like spilled black ink. In this region, there were no markings for any human or other racial powers.
It's not that humans didn't want to occupy that place, but they had tried for many years and still had no way.
The Source of Curses, the Land of the Dead, Hell... In comparison to various theological terms, human scholars preferred to call that area the Endless Black Mist.
The terrifying black mist that shrouded a small part of the northern continent had existed for thousands of years. Wherever it passed, no grass grew, and even a slight touch meant instant death for ordinary people. Even the Empire's strongest individuals who were sent to explore couldn't survive within it for long and returned empty-handed multiple times.
Its source couldn't be traced, and its end couldn't be predicted. It simply persisted, looming as a threat – that was the Endless Black Mist.
According to hidden lore found in ancient texts, these horrifying black mists were merely the result of some forbidden entity's power accidentally leaking into the world. Legend has it that during the creation of the world by the gods, there was once an extremely wicked witch in the land of Rand.
Witches were naturally mysterious and brought curses of darkness to everything in the world. Wherever she walked, death followed. Anything she touched withered and died, and the entire world was shrouded in black mists, robbed of vitality. As time passed, the witch became more and more powerful.
In the end, she even possessed power equal to that of a deity. With a mere wave of her hand, she could bring destruction to the entire continent. Eventually, the witch's actions angered the creators' deities.
In order to punish the witch, they joined forces and banished her to the abyss, using their absolute power to seal her there, never to see the light of day again.
The witch's powers encompass the entire region sealed within the endless black mist, making it nearly impossible for any life to survive there. Char's speculation is that if he could communicate with this witch and be killed by her, it would undoubtedly lead to a significant increase in experience points.
This idea may sound crazy, but for Char, it might be the only way to gain immense power, regardless of the high cost. For revenge, for becoming stronger, he's willing to take all these risks.
About this forbidden existence, the book mentions only this much, and it's mostly vague and open to interpretation. Half of it relies on Char's own inferences.
But having this information is already enough.
If we were to compare this world to a video game, the extreme witch sealed in the deepest part of the endless black mist is undoubtedly the world-class final boss that looms over all players.
According to the literature, the witch possesses power on par with a deity. Even the strongest individuals of the Hiren Empire, if they were to challenge her, would likely not be able to withstand a single attack.
The mortal body can never rival a deity's, and this is one of the eternal truths in the entire continent.
However, for Char, there could be no better news. According to the system's rules, the stronger the witch is, the more experience points he would gain from her death, leading to faster growth in strength.
"Heh... Well, let's get started then."
After triple-checking, Char focused on the bizarre pattern on the ground and whispered softly. He slowly crouched down and placed his hands on the wooden floor.
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