The Extra's Odyssey

-(Past || Two weeks after entering the new Trial; Location: [Singularity] 2nd Trial)-

In an empty space, specks of blue light coagulated and formed a human shape.

Shortly, the shape solidified into an actual human.

"Guhh..."

With a groan, Leon fell to the ground.

"Did I just die?"

"Yes, my lord"

Leon flinched when he heard a familiar voice beside him and backed away hurriedly until he recognized the speaker and then stopped.

"How are you here?! Weren't you supposed to come out only when the skill leveled up?!"

"This isn't my actual manifestation, my lord. I'm using the Tower's computing abilities to generate a virtual projection of myself to talk with you."

A giant behemoth with wings behind its back and lightning coursing through his body was standing in front of him.

Leon looked at the giant, who was almost as tall as the sky.

"But how can you use the Tower to generate your image? Isn't Tower a legacy-grade artifact and nobody knows how it works?"

Leon squinted and stared at Raikou.

If he said he wasn't suspicious of the skill [Raikou] he would be lying. After all, this was the first time he heard of a skill having an ego, much less the confusing things it talked about.

"I asked the Administrator for help. We... know each other from the past."

The tone of the giant as it said the last words were solemn. As if it was a bitter topic to remember.

"Why did you come out?"

Leon dusted his clothes and stood up. Although he had been revived only a few minutes ago, he was heading to confront the boss monster again.

"My lord, please use me to clear the Trial, and not any other skill."

"No, I'll... clear the Trials with my own power"

'But lord, I am your power'

The giant didn't speak his thoughts aloud. He knew his lord could be stubborn when he wanted to be.

Leon tapped in the air and a notification appeared in his vision.

[You have chosen [Hunter Eye[Rare]] ]

A golden light embraced him and receded after a few seconds.

Leon, not sparing the giant another glance, climbed the stage and stood in front of the Boss monster.

The monster was 2 meters tall, wore white robes, had a white cloth wrapped around his eyes, and was holding a 2-meter-long sword.

Gulp-

Trying to calm his tense nerves Leon took a stance.

"Sixth Form: Empty Fade"

Fwosh-

A large amount of smoke exploded outwards from his body. Three Leon exited the smoke and bolted forward.

The boss monster did not move until the last second.

"Seventh Form: Deadline"

Clang-!

All three Leons called out the technique's name, nevertheless, the monster swung his sword with extreme precision and attacked the real Leon.

'How is he able to single me out among the doppelgangers!?'

'Empty Fade' created perfect doppelgangers. These doppelgangers could speak, move, behave similarly to Leon, and even had the same mana core fluctuations.

The move was a perfect diversion technique.

Its only loophole was that the doppelgangers were made of smoke and could not fight.

Yet the monster was able to find the real Leon every time.

Crackle-

Clang-! Clang-! Clang-!

Golden lightning coursed through Leon and he struggled to keep up with the monster. Despite the enormous size of the sword, the monster was faster than Leon.

Clenching his jaw, Leon swung his sword fiercely, not wanting to be left behind.

"[Hunter Eye] !"

Veins bulged around his eyes and wriggled as if they were alive.

Swosh-

Leon swiftly retreated without attacking.

"I still can't understand how this is happening."

Droplets of sweat rolled down his chiseled jaw as he smiled grimly.

The skill that should have been able to tell him the monster's weak point was informing him that the entire body of the monster was vulnerable.

But that wasn't the only problem.

"Why are the weak points disappearing every time I close the gap between us? Just what kind of monster is this?"

"That 'monster' is Grim Reaper, an Overlord who climbed to his position with nothing but his sword techniques"

"Overlord? Is that something important?"

Leon was confused as Raikou's voice when he spoke the word 'Overlord' was heavy.

The giant behemoth was spectating the 'match' and explained to his lord.

"Overlords, are those with a portion of chaos inside them, my lord. They are capable of becoming a 'Singularity', someone not bounded by the Laws."

While listening to Raikou, Leon did not stop attacking the monster.

Clang-! Clang-!

The boss monster had not even taken a single step since the beginning, yet Leon was the one being pushed back.

He circled the monster in hopes of finding a gap to attack through.

"But that is not important right now, my lord. The reason I chose an Overlord for your Trial, and specifically Grim Reaper, was to help you polish your skills"

"You what?!"

Schwing-

Baaam-!

Distracted by Raikou's words, Leon was hit by the monster's attack and thrown outside the arena.

His body rolled in the dust and ultimately crashed into the walls. Thankfully, he had blocked the attack at the last second or he would have lost his 2nd life too.

"Inside the Trial time flows 25 times slower, my lord. This is the perfect chance for you to grow stronger."

Leon wanted to retort that it would create complications for him if he spent too much time here, but he knew that Raikou's words were correct.

He called for the Trial's objective and a blue screen appeared in front of him.

======

[Training]

Complete the following objectives-

1. Make Grim Reaper hold his sword with both hands - Completed

2. Make Grim Reaper move from his initial position - Incomplete

3. Deflect 5 attacks from Grim Reaper in succession - Incomplete

4. Dodge 3 attacks from Grim Reaper in succession - Completed

5. Throw Grim Reaper out of the arena - Incomplete

6. Land 1 attack on Grim Reaper - Incomplete

7. Dodge or block 'Death Fissure' - Incomplete

8. Dodge or block 'Hundred Death Silk' - Incomplete

9. Create a stalemate with Grim Reaper for 5 minutes - Incomplete

10. Disarm Grim Reaper - Incomplete

======

Reading the objectives Leon couldn't deny that completing them would push his skills to a whole new level.

Sigh

"I did complete 2 objectives in the past 2 weeks, but I also died once. And those objectives were the easiest ones."

Leon failed to understand.

What kind of training leads to a trainee's death?!

"It's called Training because Grim Reaper is not using any of his sword arts, my lord"

"Is that even making a difference? The objectives are so difficult I might as well have to defeat the Grim Reaper"

Raikou stared at his lord. It seemed his lord had yet to understand what Overlords were.

"My lord, Overlords are not bounded by the Laws and regulations of Systems. Unlike other awakeners who use System to grow stronger, Overlords cannot follow the same path"

"If they can't grow stronger normally, shouldn't they be weaker?"

Leon was tired from fighting non-stop and decided to converse with Raikou while lying down.

"That is correct, my lord. Most of those that have a portion of chaos inside them die early, however, few of them manage to find a path to grow stronger."

"Overlords are not using a system and they cannot be categorized using the ranking system. A Lvl.10 Overlord can fight and defeat a Lvl.50 awakener, my lord. Without the System, although their growth is not straightforward and challenging, they are also not limited by it."

"Thus, my lord, it is incomprehensible for even you to defeat an Overlord with your current weak self."

Leon nodded to himself, who knew the Overlords could be so strong?

"They must be the peak of powers in the Universe" He mumbled to himself.

"No, my lord. Overlords don't exist anymore."

"That might be possible. From what you said, Overlords have to grow without System, which is almost next to impossible. It wouldn't be a surprise that only a few handfuls have been able to achieve the feat throughout history."

Raikou quietly stared at his lord, wondering if he should correct him, but he decided against it.

'It is not that Overlords don't exist anymore, my lord. They are now exterminated by the System before they can grow stronger. After all, once an Overlord becomes a Singularity, they will threaten the integrity of the Universe. Just like the first and only Singularity to ever exist...'

'....Mephistopheles, the Devil and the 13th Evil'

Leon rested for an hour before jumping to his feet.

"Are you returning to the arena, my lord?"

"Yes, I can't waste too much time inside the Trial or it would be a problem if I go outside with a grown body."

Leon jumped into the arena and began battling.

Minutes turned into hours, hours turned into days, and days turned into weeks.

Throughout those weeks Leon failed to complete any other objective.

"Arghhh! How am I supposed to complete these objectives!? That monster's sword skills are too superior! It can deflect my 'Deadline' as if it is a toy thrown by a child!"

Leon ruffled his hair and opened another SHTM packet.

"And you damn Master! What did you mean by ''[Singularity] is child's play. You should be able to clear the first 6 Trials with one swing''!? You damn old wo-ahem, you damn Master! You should be ashamed of tricking your one and only disciple!"

He felt a chill crawl up his spine when he almost called his master 'old woman'.

With teary eyes, Leon crushed the now empty packet in his hand. He was afraid to call his master old! And this was when she couldn't possibly hear him! This a should be enough to explain how 'kind' and 'benevolent' his master was, and why he had a red bum throughout the childhood!

"My lord, why are you not training your art before fighting the Grim Reaper? Wouldn't that increase your chances of success?"

"....I can do that?"

Leon questioned Raikou with round saucer eyes.

"You can, my lord. It was, for this reason, I chose this Trial for you and it has the name [Training]"

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

From that day, Leon trained for 16 hours, fought the monster for 4 hours, and used the remaining four hours to rest and eat.

'Lord is hardworking and tenacious even in his 2nd life.'

Looking at his lord, Raikou couldn't help but let out a rare smile.

'He is still stupid, though.'

Unable to understand how his lord didn't think of polishing his sword skills, Raikou shook his head exaggeratedly.

Time continued to pass and Leon was absorbed in his training. Without him realizing it, his short hair grew up to his shoulder and his body grew by 3 inches.

Unknowingly, Nathan had created enormous butterfly effects.