Chapter 2: Newfound Strength

"You don't know what happened afterwards?" the CA's agent asked while making doubtful glances at me. For some reason, he seemed to be troubled by the lack of information I gave him.

"Like I said I blank out…" I said, leaning on the bed while crossing my arms in dismay. 

"Well, you might not believe me but the demon found on the subway was in fact an Archdemon. It's true that we don't have much information about it, but we are sure that it's strength is not something that can be defeated even by an A-tier alone…. Much more of a raid composed of 2 C-tier, 5 E-tier, and an F-tier. Given its appearance it could easily be labeled as an S-tier quest."

"So you're saying someone was able to defeat the Archdemon?" I asked.

"Didn't you?" he asked. 

I looked at him and blurted, "I'm afraid that might be impossible even for me!" 

"But it is confirmed that your sword was pierced into the demon's heart, there is no doubt about that…" 

"Believe me… I did point my sword at it, but I really have no recollection of fighting that beast!" I truthfully declared. 

"I see, sorry for bothering you. Call us if you remembered something important," He gave me a business card where his number was supposedly printed. 

The number was then recorded from my "Iris Lens" after it scanned the code imprinted on the card. 

Then I saw him leave so monotonously like a robot. 

Now that I think about it, everything did seem odd. My arm was healed and I came back alive…. The demon was even killed. 

There may be something wrong with the system. That is the only conclusion I had arrived at. Or perhaps that might just have been an illusion. 

Well, I know it is not. But what happened really doesn't sound logical. 

I opened my status, since I wanted to check if we didn't finish the quest like they are telling me. 

Upon opening the panel, I noticed that the texts are jumbled and the screen is on static. I can tell a glitch happened on my account. 

"Seriously, how am I supposed to read this?"

I tried to remove the "Iris Lens" from my left eye, since I thought I broke it, when a notification suddenly appeared on the screen. 

<Do you want to remove the seal?>

Of course that startled me. Is this some kind of system malfunction? 

"C-confirm!" I said softly, even though I had know clue what kind of 'seal' this was talking about. 

Not later I can feel my head jolted and a flood of memories entered my mind. 

* * *

I saw myself running towards her. 

She had a well figured body that was twine-thin. Her waist was tapered and she had a pale white complexion.  

She was looking at me, silently—  With a pair of arched eyebrows and long lashes. 

She was sophisticated, showing her set of dazzling, angel-white teeth as she gently blew her obsedian-black fingernails. 

Her flowing, moon shadow-black hair was dragged by the young winds. Her enticing, constellation-like eyes gazed at me over her puffy carmine-painted lips. 

She was laying down sideways on a glassy olivine crystal. She was staging a composed and juvenile appearance. 

She was my mother Lilith, the most controversial figure in the Garden of Eden. Adam's supposed forgotten first wife. 

She conceived us by stealing Adam's seed, for she refused to be subdued and never mated. She is a hard core masochist, letting her husband have another woman. 

She loved him, well that is what she told us, but she wanted to be his equal, reason wise, because they both came from mud, born together, and lived at the same time. 

Father thought differently… if I would say both of them failed to be good parents. 

Now I remember, Adamas, that is what our race is called, quite true as we are a race known to be unconquerable and indestructible. We are just that strong, the only one who could dominate us in a fist fight was Father. He boasts that much strength if I say so myself. But we could somehow defeat him by outsmarting him with the high intellect that we inherited from our Mother. 

"This feels awkward," I said as I remembered my pathetic self. Now it makes sense…. Wait, does that mean I should tell them? Well, I think at least not for now. I don't want them questioning me about being of a different race. More or less a son of a woman they hardly even know. 

I looked at the mirror and my eyes went back from caramel-brown to bluish-white like Rigel. 

I tried to go for a jab when I heard my bones crack, "Wait, that doesn't sound good." 

It appears to me that this body is too fragile, it cannot seem to handle my strength now that it is slowly coming back. In order to utilize this body further, it definitely needs some work out. 

Well, as long as I had enough time, I’d be able to get back into an ideal shape. Although my body might hurt for a bit. I breathed heavily, got down to the floor and began doing press-ups.

“One."

Obviously, I can feel no great change yet.

“Two.” 

Well, I'm starting to feel my weight dragging me down. 

 “Three.” 

I raised my head a little and looked at the clock. I'll finish this in thirty… no twenty seconds. After a few hundred reps I finally started to feel my body becoming lighter. 

"Ahhh…." I think I could now go a bit faster. 

"Four hundred ninety-nine!" 

I finished my drill with 500 presses and I could feel my muscles turning thin into kinda-muscly. 

Let's try this one more time, I punch in mid-air and still, some of my tendons snapped.

"Huh…. Gimme a break!"

I was dumbfounded, and I wasn't able to move my hands for a few minutes. Once my body regenerated, I continued the exercise. I don't want to break anything anymore so I didn’t stop the exercise until the 5000th press.

I still had 50 more press-ups to go. After that, I was also planning to do some traditional sit-ups, squats and maybe some running. I might be able to run faster than before…. 

….Then, 2 hours later. "Finally!" I said when I punched and my body didn't crack at all. Though I noticed the tiles are destroyed to a considerable amount. I mindlessly flung a towel at the cracked tiles, as if thinking that would hide it. I went out and discharged myself. 

They easily let me go as they did not notice any injuries or fatal wounds. My medical fees were covered by the insurance, after all the incident happened because of a miscalculation in the system, so I did not need to pay even a single coin. Quite lucky if I say so myself. 

Now I just needed to run and my warm-up was finished. I ran around the city and I noticed how fast I'm going, I even outran a sports car just a second ago.

"This feeling feels so new yet so old."

I ran around the Daejeon for two laps and continued doing my exercise regime for a week and I feel my stamina is improving but not there yet. I could still feel some heavy fatigue from doing all that workout. I may have overworked myself these past couple of days. 

I think I need to give it a rest, and do some light training every morning.

I stopped by from a nearby bench, my breath reeked of a bitter-sweet smell. As my face and back were soaked in icky sweat.  

"Pant…. Pant…."

My body now has a definite chisel to it, physically this is my body's limit, I don't want to appear much more muscly than this, a fit 8 pack abs was the best I could bargain on. 

I was indiscriminately lifting my sweatshirt when a pair of female challengers noticed my refined body. "He's hot…." I heard one of them whisper. 

The other one was obviously ogling me. 

For some reason that did not matter at all, I think my attraction towards the descendants of Eve was reduced when my memories came back. 

Anyways, I think I'm ready, looking at my status board that changed quite significantly. 

Name: Azriel Iliac (Eleceed) - F-tier 

Strength: Unmeasurable 

Agility: 5*000";';'!$($ 

Luck: 1*";";393000

Defense: 5*503039';_;4_;_

Intelligence: 1384;_&;!$"(3939

Immunity: _!138$($($2!2??)/39

[Warning: Incompatibility was detected to the player body to status value ratio, it might result in inefficient use of statistical factors.]

Well, I anticipated that physical training just won't cut it, maybe it is time to come back to that quest. But for it to be viewed as a glitch… it is obvious that my existence is not expected by the system. 

I had learned two things about reality living in my past and present consciousness.

Firstly, humans are far more weak…. There are a lot of strong monsters out there, and I don't mean because I just thought of it. It is just that I encountered some of them. 

Now I'm certain that the appearance of these demons and mythical creatures has something to do with an upcoming event. If those creatures start resurfacing, it might not be an understatement to say that the world is bound to end. 

The second thing I learned was that this world was crawling with sin. Aside from demons there are many deceitful creatures out there, even humans. Trust should never just be given to anyone. 

Your strength will be nothing if you completely let your guard down. I did once in both my life, and it never ended well for me. And by that you also need to be trustworthy and never betray anyone.

Right now, surviving is not the only thing humanity needs to do, I still don't know why the world was reduced to this state, but if my hunch was right then it might be related to that.

If that's the case, I swore to take on any necessary risk, as the stakes are now not just for my survival, but the survival of a much more significant reality. 

Those were two important life lessons I got to engrave in my heart after experiencing a long life.

To become stronger than before, and to become more prepared than before. I will not make the same mistake, not anymore. 

“I will do this.”

I intend to return to Daejeon Underground Subway Station because the quest is still ongoing and the quest stab is still intact. It still recognizes me as a member of the subjugation team, despite the fact that my status board's glitching had not yet been resolved. That was very effective for me. That is, if I do say so myself.

This time I wanted to face them with all my heart. And destroy my enemy with my strength. 

First off, I'll go to the Challenger's Association. I need to send back a detailed report to the counter involving the incident a week ago. 

The place was kinda new, it must've been refurbished. I headed out to the reception counter and opened my status board, there a new icon appeared telling me to input my Challenger I.D. number. 

As I entered the digits the NPC receptionist suddenly talked. "Good day! Mr. Iliac, please proceed to room 148, Mr. Nathaniel was waiting inside."

"Thanks," I walked towards room 148 and saw a sitting Mr. Nathaniel, he is the NPC agent that went to interrogate me in the hospital. His undercut hair was still shiny as ever. 

"Mr. Iliac, please sit down." 

"Ah, I will not stay for long, I just wanted to hand you the detailed report," I said.  

"Very well, just put it on the table," he glanced at me carefully, "For some reason you got a bit taller, and you gained some muscles…." 

I see the reason why he suddenly looked suspicious of me. "Ah, I worked out!" I said, passing it as a regraded plan. 

"That's a good change," he said it like he's being sarcastic, but I'm quite unsure since his face was expressionless. 

Before the conversation got more awkward I excused myself. 

I finally got up to leave since I just finished my business here. 

I had already applied to re-enter the quest, thankfully no one yet tried to subjugate it due to the recent issue. All I could say is I'm quite lucky. 

I exited the Association building and held my quest stab.

"It is a great day to finish where we left off, then?"

Upon entry I was notified of the basic information regarding the quest location and it's objective. 

Difficulty: E-tier

Location: Daejeon Underground Subway Station, 2nd floor.

Objective: Eradicate the monsters lurking in the deepest part of the subway. Kills: 0/10000

Reward: 5,000,000 points

"So they increased the reward, huh…."

But it looks like even if there were an increase to the reward no one really reconsider finishing the quest. The appearance of a S-tier Archdemon must've scared them. 

If it was about this quest, then I had plenty of unforgettable memories regarding this one.

Back then, I was able to survive because of the party members that stupidly attacked the demon, but….

But, if I go now I need to face the same danger as before. Now all alone. 

Well, I'm confident with my strength….. I did train after all. I could do this.