Chapter 2: Is It Possible to Level Up Only by Being Killed by Villains?
It’s not that Shaya harbors a fervent belief that surpasses life itself, nor does he have some extreme obsession hidden deep within. Shaya is very clear that his psychological and mental state is as normal as it gets.
He only appears to be a cultist, which doesn’t mean he has been blinded by madness.
In reality, Shaya understands perfectly what he is doing and what the consequences will be.
Ultimately, the reason he is conducting this ritual to communicate with the forbidden existence is to become stronger.
To become stronger, to have the power of revenge, he is willing to do anything.
But don’t get it wrong; sacrificing oneself to the darkness for a fleeting power is far too lowbrow for Shaya.
Moreover, this method is easily swayed by some nameless entities; after all, in their dictionary, there is no term for “equivalent exchange,” and the greater likelihood is of being completely drained and then becoming a living corpse.
He merely wants to communicate with that ominous witch through this ritual, have her kill him, and then be revived.
Being killed would allow him to become stronger.
Does that sound a bit unbelievable?
On that night ten years ago, when Shaya awakened from the darkness, his injuries healed completely, and he found himself stronger than before, it was just as unbelievable.
[Host has died; activation conditions met. Infinite Life Exchange System is at your service.]
[Your level has increased from LV.1 to LV.3!]
At that time, the recently resurrected Shaya was still immersed in sorrow and pain, unable to pay attention to the sudden appearance of the system, so he temporarily set it aside.
It was only after he left home for the royal capital that he had time to study the functions of the system.
Aside from the somewhat clichéd personal status interface, the only function of the system had just been mentioned.
Being killed would make him stronger.
In whatever form, as long as Shaya’s state ultimately reached death, he would instantly resurrect and gain a certain amount of experience points, thereby leveling up.
It’s like playing a pay-to-win online game; as long as you have enough money, you can become an invincible player.
The only difference is that what Shaya has to spend is his own life.
Aside from paying with his life, no matter how he tries to use methods outside the system, such as exercising, meditating, or taking drugs to enhance his strength, there is no effect.
This is also one of the reasons Shaya must initiate this ritual.
Of course, there are limitations on what kind of person can kill him; otherwise, Shaya would have long since become an immortal being. Just this point alone would be enough for him to be invincible.
It is limited to villains.
Only those defined as villains by the system can kill Shaya, allowing him to resurrect and become stronger.
For example, on that night ten years ago, the army led by the Light Armored Knight destroyed the village where Shaya lived and initiated a massacre. Such a bloody act of butchery is no different from that of a devil, and thus was naturally defined as a villain by the system.
Therefore, Shaya could only resurrect after being killed by the knights bearing the sun family crest and directly leveled up by two levels with the experience gained.
In the first few years after obtaining the system, Shaya actively sought out targets that could be defined as villains by the system, deliberately provoking them, and then getting himself killed.
He succeeded and quickly became stronger using this method in a short period of time.
However, as his level gradually increased, the experience points gained from being killed by those villains became less and less, to the point where they could no longer level him up.
Shaya couldn’t help but start thinking.
According to the theory of online games, after a player’s level increases, low-level monsters will no longer provide experience points, and to level up, one must seek out stronger monsters to kill.
Is this not the same as leveling up through monster hunting?
The stronger the villain who kills him, the more experience points he gains?
With this thought, Shaya began a new attempt.
But this time, he no longer focused on those insignificant bandit leaders; instead, he turned his attention to the imperial wanted list for criminals, looking for targets from the bottom up.
As expected, the long-stagnant experience bar began to surge once again.
Unfortunately, the good times were short-lived.
After about a year, the experience points that those infamous criminals could provide gradually became negligible.
In the end, even the leader of the evil cult, with a bounty over ten million gold coins on the imperial wanted list, could not provide sufficient experience after he had cast a curse on Shaya.
That was the greatest evil cult that troubled the entire nation; its leader undoubtedly had combat power ranked among the top twenty in the empire and was the instigator of the notorious “Blood Moon Massacre,” having sacrificially killed tens of thousands of ordinary citizens to summon the Evil God.
But even such a powerful being could not provide experience after killing Shaya.
At that time, Shaya was only at [LV.26].
To continue leveling up, he needed to find more powerful villains.
Speaking of those in the entire empire who could be stronger than the cult leader, there were indeed some, but could those individuals really be defined as villains by the system?
After much contemplation, Shaya finally set his sights on a forbidden place.
If one were to unfold the vast map of the Land of Rand, they would see that at the very northernmost part of the continent, there lies a region filled with rifts, a dark area that resembles spilled black ink, with no range marked by human or other racial powers.
It’s not that humans do not want to occupy that place, but after many years of attempts, they still found no way.
Source of curses, land of the dead, hell… Compared to various theological descriptions, human scholars prefer to call that area the Endless Black Mist.
That terrifying black mist, which engulfs nearly half of the Northern Continent, has existed for thousands of years, leaving nothing alive in its wake. Ordinary people who come into contact with even a trace of it instantly die, and even the empowered individuals sent by the empire for exploration cannot survive for long inside, repeatedly returning empty-handed.
Unable to trace its origin or predict its end, the Endless Black Mist continues to exist, posing a threat.
According to the secrets recorded in ancient books, this horrifying black mist is merely the power unintentionally spilled by some forbidden existence!
Legend has it that at the dawn of creation, there once appeared an Extremely Evil Demoness in the Land of Rand.
The witch was born with ill fate, bringing forth dark curses to everything in the world. Wherever she walked, death would follow; any living being she touched would wither and decay, enveloping the entire world in black mist, stripped of life, countless races perishing.
As time passed, the witch grew increasingly powerful.
Eventually, she even possessed strength rivaling that of the deities; with just a wave of her hand, she could bring destruction to the entire continent!
Ultimately, her actions incited the wrath of the deity who created the world.
To punish the witch, the deity, in conjunction with several other deities, cast her into the Abyss and used absolute power to seal her there, never to see the light of day again.
There is only so much mentioned about this forbidden existence in the books, and they are mostly vague; half of the conclusions were drawn by Shaya himself based on his own inferences.
However, this information is more than enough.
If this world is compared to a game, then the Extremely Evil Demoness sealed at the deepest part of the Endless Black Mist can definitely be considered a world-class villain and final boss looming over all players.
According to the literature’s description, the witch certainly possesses god-level power, and even the strongest individuals in the Hiren Empire would probably not be able to withstand a single blow from her.
A mortal body will always be unable to compare with a deity—that is one of the unchanging truths of the entire continent.
But for Shaya, there couldn’t be better news than this.
According to the system’s rules, the stronger that witch is, the more experience points he would gain upon being killed, and the quicker he would enhance his power.
He is already feeling anxious with anticipation.
“Since that’s the case… then let’s begin.”
After confirming several times, Shaya looked at the strange patterns on the ground and softly said.
He slowly crouched down, placing his hand over the wooden floor.
