Chapter 136: 136. Unknown

Inside the domain of the infinite, William stood alone, drawing in breath after breath of nervousness.

He had placed Lia inside the hut and had now come outside in a plain where there was no obstruction to sunlight.

The space around him was empty and silent, which amplified the sound of his breathing. His shoulders rose and fell in a slow rhythm, fingers flexed at his sides as he prepared himself for what was coming.

He had faced pain before, but the sensation of agony never lessened with experience.

“Purchase some painkillers.”

The words left his mouth plainly, without bravado. He wasn’t even trying to be brave. He just wanted to survive the agony that he expected would come.

Last time he had swallowed true dragon blood, and the pain had been immense; the blood of a veil creature should be less potent than true dragon blood—that was an assumption he made.

After all, true dragons were entities beyond the bounds of this world, and the veil creature’s blood was diluted.

[Host, I don’t think normal painkillers would work completely if we take true dragon blood essence as a reference. Why don’t you purchase some ancient scorpion beast’s poison, which numbs your senses completely and shuts down your receptors?

William let out a short breath through his nose. The idea alone made his skin crawl.

His jaw tightened, and he shook his head slightly, as if the system could see the gesture.

“Tsk, that sounds horrible.”

[So what do you want to do?]

He rubbed his palm against his thigh, grounding himself in the physical sensation.

“I would prefer anything that can dull the pain, to be honest, but I don’t want to spend all my SP. Show me something cheap; even partially lessening the pain would be good.”

The system interface bloomed before him; options lined up one after another. William paced slowly in the expanse as he browsed.

Pills promising partial relief. Potions labeled with vague assurances. Substances that claimed to “numb perception” or “reduce sensory overload.” None of them sounded convincing, but convincing was a luxury he couldn’t afford.

Ten minutes passed …

In the end, he bought the cheapest painkillers available, not because he underestimated the pain, but because they were all the points he was willing to sacrifice right now.

He consumed them without ceremony.

Swallowed them all, one after another, and waited for the faint, distant warmth of dull chemicals to settle in his body.

When it was done, he exhaled and turned his attention to the capsule in his hand.

The Veil essence with cyan glow waited to be swallowed by him.

William flicked the clamp at one end of the capsule with his finger.

The clamp snapped cleanly, but the liquid inside barely stirred.

“It has such a thick jelly-like consistency; is it really blood?” William muttered, lifting the capsule closer to his face.

He tilted it slowly, watching the liquid slide with heavy viscosity.

He swirled it as though it were wine in a glass, studying how it clung to the sides and how it seemed different than normal blood.

A moment later, before hesitation could take root, he raised it to his lips and gulped it down.

The taste hit him instantly.

His body recoiled at the horrible taste; the bitterness was overwhelming for his tongue. His stomach lurched violently.

“What the hell!! It tastes like metal and sand mixed, cough!!”

The sound tore out of him as he bent forward, coughing harshly, his eyes watered, and his throat burned.

[Just sit down.]

William didn’t argue.

His legs folded beneath him, and he dropped to the ground, sitting with his back hunched and his arms braced loosely at his sides. For a few seconds, nothing happened.

But then, suddenly, something stirred.

And the notifications began.

[Ding!! blood of ??? has been detected]

[Blood of ??? is moving through the host’s body.]

A chill crawled along his skin as he felt something foreign spread inside him, as though invisible currents were threading themselves through his veins.

[Blood of ??? is examining the host’s body.]

William’s breathing hitched. “What the hell!! Did I eat a living creature alive?”

[ Blood of ??? has been discovered by the sun god’s physique and is clashing with stellar fire. ]

[Blood of ??? has been discovered by true dragon physique and is clashing with draconic flame authority.]

[Blood of ??? has been discovered by the host’s elements and is clashing with SUN, NETHER, DARKNESS, ICE, LIGHT, SHADOW, FIRE, and SPACE affinities.]

His vision blurred as opposing forces surged within him. It felt like being pulled in a dozen directions at once.

[Blood of ??? has been discovered by Mana and is clashing with Mana.]

[Blood of ??? has been discovered by demonic energy and is clashing with demonic energy.]

[Blood of ??? has been discovered by spiritual energy and is clashing with spiritual energy.]

Each notification struck like a hammer. William’s hands curled into fists, nails biting into his palms.

[Blood of ??? is trying to rewrite your DNA]

“What…?”

The word barely escaped his lips before the pain arrived.

It didn’t increase gradually but came like an explosion.

Agony tore through him with a violence that shattered all thought. His scream ripped free like a raw beast, echoing across the infinite domain.

His body slammed forward as he collapsed onto his stomach.

His fists stroked the ground hard, creating craters under the heavy, unrestrained physical force of his. He thrashed around on the ground frantically. y

His hands hammered the surface beneath him at first, but when that wasn’t enough, his fingers curled and scraped the ground, nails digging against the ground surface as though he could claw his way out of his own body.

His breath came in broken gasps between screams that refused to stop.

The pain went deeper. Past skin. Past muscle.

It felt as though his whole structure was being torn apart and examined piece by piece.

He slammed his forehead against the ground, over and over, chasing unconsciousness like a mercy that wouldn’t come.

Warmth flooded his mouth with hints of metal. His vision became red and bloody.

He could feel everything. Too much. Every nerve screamed as though it had been flayed open, in all that pain, he could not even register the blood that flowed out of his orifices.

[Absolute adaptation has activated.]

[The clash in the host’s body is being subdued.]

Slowly, the storm inside him began to recede. The forces tearing at him lost coherence.

The pain didn’t vanish, but it loosened its grip, releasing him inch by inch.

Only then did his screams taper off, collapsing into hoarse, shuddering breaths.

[Absolute adaptation looks at the blood of ???.]

[Absolute adaptation is eating the blood of ???]

[Absolute adaptation is digesting the blood of ???]

[Supreme System Shop is being updated….]

William lay there while shaking as his lungs burned.

His body rolled weakly onto its side, then onto his back.

His chest heaved as though he had run for days without rest.

“OH MY GOD! Thank fucking god!! ~”

The words came out between gasps, half-laugh, half-sob. He stared upward, eyes unfocused, the infinite sky blurring as relief washed through him.

He had rolled on the ground for minutes, but those minutes had felt like eternity.

[Ding!! Absolute adaptation has successfully digested blood of ???. Absolute adaptation is summoning unknown.]

[Ding!! unknown has descended]

The domain’s sky changed instantly.

Light vanished as though erased. The pale sky was swallowed by a blanket of thick, roiling energy clouds that pressed down from above.

William’s breath caught as the temperature dropped and as the sun faded behind a layer of black, cloudy energy.

Still lying on his back, he stared upward, dread pooling in his chest.

The dark energy churned, folding in on itself, shaping something vast.

Slowly, a massive eye formed in the sky with its lid closed; its scale was so immense that it dwarfed the horizon itself.

[Ding! Unknown looks at the Eternal Sovereign.

The eye opened.

A pupil larger than mountains revealed itself, and William’s heart raced as his gaze locked onto it. The pupil was not black, not any other color, but the cosmos itself rested in those eyes.

Stars burned there. Galaxies turned in silent spirals, endless and indifferent; they were images reflecting as if the eye were looking at them and not him.

For a brief, terrifying moment, the pupil shifted downwards.

It looked at him.

William’s mind went blank.

There was no fear, no thought.

Just the crushing awareness of being seen by something that existed beyond his comprehension.

[Ding!! unknown is assigning a mission…]

A few seconds passed as the eye looked at him.

[Ding!! unknown is leaving]

The eye closed gradually. The dark clouds unraveled, dissolving into nothingness. Sunlight returned in the sky.

[Ding!!! The host’s body is stabilizing.

“WHAT??”

William pushed himself up onto his elbows, voice hoarse, heart still pounding.

[No idea, it’s my first time too.] The system sounded confused.

[I have never seen all affinities fighting against something together; elements don’t see eye to eye unless they are from the same family.]

[Neither have I ever seen demonic energy and mana fighting alongside each other.]

[Your physiques, elements, and energies were fighting like their life was on the line.]

[It felt like the blood of ??? was threatening the whole nature of their and your existence.]

William swallowed. Did you analyze it? And who is the unknown?”

[Host unknown is not an enemy, but the information about him is locked and not accessible by me right now, as I have said in the past. I am not the whole supreme system but just a small part of it, made to assist you.]

[Regarding the blood of ???, the blood was not the real problem, but the energy it carried; it was not mana, demonic, or spiritual energy.]

[It was a new type of energy I have never seen.]

William stared at the screen with a tight jaw.

Something new and completely beyond his current understanding had just revealed itself… something that scared everything inside me.

“So that means that we have absolutely no leads about this unknown or even the Veil Essence.”

[No host, Actually, we do have something; we have a new quest that was assigned by an unknown. Items: He has backdoor access to the supreme system. I don’t know why.]

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