Crash! The Life Vessel shattered. A wisp of black smoke slithered out. The skeletal body that had been bound together by magic began to crumble.

[Th-this cannot be. How did you so easily pierce through the source of my hidden life...?]

I could see its thoughts. Confusion. Fear. Disbelief.

"......"

I did not answer. A creature doomed to die. No need for words.

Yet—

Crash—

Even as it collapsed, the lich let out a final cry.

[Kruooooo!]

A desperate struggle against death. Greed, etched into every bone, still clung to this world. Desperately. Fiercely.

And with it— The lich’s spirit surged.

Thump.

A faint pulse at first. Then, it grew massive.

‘Ideation?’

I opened my eyes wide. With my sharp vision, I saw it. An incorporeal will manifesting, turning into a tangible curse.

The lich’s Saga had materialized.

‘Monsters can wield ideation?’

At that moment—

Kwaaaaaa—!

The undead monsters from Waves 1 to 6. Black mist erupted from their bodies.

Death’s Echo. A spell that transforms the death contained within undead into a curse.

I saw through it, but I had no means to stop it.

“Curse you, curse you, curse you.”

Countless dead opened their mouths. The curse spread, swallowing space, encroaching reality, and finally reaching me.

–-------------------------------------------------------------

[You have cleared the Dungeon of Despair.]

[As the first clear reward, you have obtained the Elixir of Saturday.]

[You have obtained a Skill Enhancement Scroll.]

–-------------------------------------------------------------

A message popped up above my head, announcing the dungeon’s completion. But more importantly, my senses returned—touch, taste, hearing, smell.

There was no time to rejoice.

"…Urgh."

A groan slipped out. My body collapsed. Black energy coursed through my veins. My skin cracked, and my fingertips lost sensation. Even my bones felt like they were decaying.

A curse unleashed by 666 undead at the cost of their own lives. I was slowly dying—while still alive.

"Damn it... Is this a suicide attack? If you're going to die, do it cleanly. Do you know how hard it was to get this second life?"

I tried to steady my gaze. But my vision blurred.

How is it so hard to cling to a single thread of life? I just wanted to see the world clearly with my own eyes.

Was that too much to ask?

Frustration boiled inside me. But my lungs were already failing.

"Khk...!"

A cold pain stabbed my heart, forcing me to swallow a breath. Oxygen entered, but did not leave. Carbon dioxide built up.

My blood turned black. I could see the blood vessels at my extremities contracting. My fingertips darkened. Gangrene spread.

Peripheral nerves died. Central nervous system shutting down. Loss of pupillary reflex. Heart rate dropping.

At this rate It would be over.

This is real death.

‘Damn it, I’m out of potions too.’

My mind flickered. Sharp eyesight was useless against curses and status effects.

The last image imprinted on my retina was the cold night sky.

Cardiac arrest imminent.

As the violet light of my soul faded from my pupils—

At that moment.

The day changed.

–-------------------------------------------------------------

[Today is Creation Sunday]

[A special opportunity arises on the day when all the powers of the week awaken.]
[The essence of all days has gathered in one place.]

[Harmony of the Seven Days]

[When the cycle of the days is complete, a new possibility is born.]

Elixir of Monday: Essence imbued with the miracle of Growth.
Elixir of Tuesday: Essence infused with the flames of Glory.
Elixir of Wednesday: Essence drenched in the tears of Tenacity.
Elixir of Thursday: Essence brimming with the miracle of Healing.
Elixir of Friday: Essence imbued with the energy of Prosperity.
Elixir of Saturday: Essence that has blossomed amidst Despair.

[The six essences have completed their fusion.]

[The Arcane Art of Creation has been activated.]

[Would you like to begin the creation?

[Yes] [No]

–-------------------------------------------------------------

Death was near.

No reason to hesitate.

I hastily pressed the button. A rainbow-colored elixir appeared in my palm.

[The Elixir of Seven Days has been made.]

The Elixir of Seven Days.

My last hope.

There was no time for contemplation. Survival came first!

Gulp.

As it passed down my throat, Seven colors—red, blue, gold—boiled within me.

"…Hah."

With an exhale, my consciousness drifted away. Like wind sweeping through a deep valley, my mind sank into a quiet abyss.

I seized control of my body with ideation and delved deep inside.

‘This elixir was taken without proper preparation. I need to stay sharp.’

A thought. A bolt of blue lightning pierced my brain.

Blood churned within me.

My heart pounded like a drum.

The energy contained in the Elixir of Seven Days surged through my narrow meridians, storming through every vein.

Seven forces—yang and yin among them—clashed violently, trying to devour each other.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

"Grrr...!"

Flames ignited in my stomach, while icy currents crawled under my skin.

The intense conflict twisted my very innards.

Suddenly, my heart swelled like a rotting fruit.

‘It’s going to burst. My heart is going to burst!’

My vision flipped.

Blood spewed from my nose and mouth at once.

Veins bulged as if they would rupture.

Energy surged through my brain, making my hair stand on end.

Crack. Rip.

The sound of skin splitting and muscles tearing rang in my ears.

I tried to suppress the energy, but it was like stopping a landslide with my bare hands.

"Aaaaaaah—!"

A scream burst from me. I writhed on the ground, clawing at the stone floor.

My fingernails shattered as they scraped against the rock.

Thunder roared inside me. Sweat poured down my back like a torrential downpour.

In that hellish agony, I realized—

If I absorbed the seven energies as mere life force, my body would never withstand it.

‘This... is an elixir beyond human limits.’

The elixir contained seven powers.

At a glance, it seemed to have fused into one, but the reality was completely different.

Seven Luminaries. Like seven celestial bodies, they orbited along separate trajectories. The Moon was solitary, Fire blazed, Water sank, Wood spread, Metal was forged, Earth held the center, and the Sun shone alone.

My dantian remained empty. The Seven Luminaries did not settle. Instead, they raged like a storm. Tearing, shattering, consuming me whole.

My ideation was too weak to guide this overwhelming force in the desired direction.

‘If the Seven Luminaries do not achieve harmony, they will tear my body apart.’

But how?

I was still a fledgling. Not even past the threshold of the academy.

The method of controlling true energy was called an internal cultivation technique. But such things were only properly taught after admission to the academy.

Still, I steeled myself.

The effect of my C-rank skill, [Composure].

‘Truth does not only come from the mouth of a master.’

Newton discovered gravity beneath an apple tree without anyone teaching him.

Everything depended on insight.

With my keen vision, my knowledge was already broad and deep. If so, I must condense everything I had seen up to this point.

Reflecting on what I had observed, I traced the flow of my blood and energy.

The seven energies tangled, twisted, and clashed against one another.

Balance had long since crumbled, harmony broken. The Seven Luminaries still sought to devour me.

Perhaps that was why—

Thump—

In this extreme crisis, the form of the Black Dragon flashed through my mind.

Heavenly Martial Body

I wove it into inspiration.

My pupils gleamed, radiating violet light.

‘I won’t force the energy into control. If I do not lean toward any side, the principles will naturally fall into place. I will simply observe with ideation.’

The heavens and earth balanced themselves. So too should I.

It improved.

The Seven Luminaries flowed of their own accord, sustaining me. As if this feeble life, on the verge of being snuffed out, was something even they did not wish to lose.

That was when I understood. Just as humans have thoughts and ideation, so too did energy have its own will.

But the problem remained.

‘I’m still going to die from the pain.’

To refine the seven energies into one, I needed one final piece.

Myself.

But I was lacking. I couldn’t handle it. A twelve-year-old girl was weak, fragile.

My ideation alone could not control this vast energy all at once.

So I sought a substitute.

The lich’s curse, the grudge of 666 undead. I inverted all their despair and darkness.

I did not let the curse consume me—I consumed the curse.

I did not resist.

Shaa—

Black energy surged, rapidly engulfing my entire body.

It was fierce. Flowing through my veins, burrowing into my muscles, gnawing at my bones.

‘This really might kill me.’

It felt like ice-cold poison rushing through my bloodstream.

As a result—

Every organ in my body began to rot black. Even my dantian was consumed by the curse.

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwaang—!!

At that moment, my heart nearly stopped.

Darkness swallowed my vision.

All senses were severed.

Only ideation held my heart in its grasp.

‘Move. Move. Move.’

The biochemical processes of a living organism.

That terrible sight I had perceived countless times with [Clairvoyance].

I forcibly mimicked that flow with ideation.

Regulating the electrolyte balance in my blood, artificially generating nerve impulses, tightening muscle fibers.

And in doing so, I merged the Seven Luminaries into the curse.

The rainbow-hued energies clashed violently.

‘All colors mixed together become black.’

There was resistance, but it was meaningless.

Light devoured light, tearing each other apart in agony.

At last.

What remained was a dark energy, demonic aura.

‘Now I just need to control this unified energy!’

At that moment—

The condensed demonic aura resonated with my dantian, causing my entire body to tremble.

Sweat poured endlessly from me.

A surge of explosive power gathered in my dantian and pounded against my meridians.

It felt as if every fiber of my being was set ablaze.

“Guh…!”

I vomited blood.

Why?

I had created demonic aura, but instead of saving me, it dragged me deeper into the abyss.

It ran rampant, openly devouring my life.

Far from achieving a full circulation, my dantian was on the verge of collapse.

‘The Heavenly Martial Body handled it like this… Wasn’t this the right way to control energy?’

I attempted energy circulation again.

I sent the energy from my dantian down toward the meridian points.

But the demonic aura refused to respond.

No—it outright rejected me.

It clung tightly together, blocking the flow, thrashing like a wild beast baring its fangs.

A sudden thought crossed my mind.

The demonic aura also had a will.

I read its intent.

‘…You want to reverse the flow?’

I traced it backward.

Reversal of the Heavens.

Not defying the heavens, but reversing the flow itself.

Even reversal could form a new current if it gained momentum.

Agony ripped through me, as if my flesh was being torn and my bones twisted apart.

My consciousness blurred into whiteness.

The pain was unbearable.

I had to endure it all.

With my mind unwavering, I forcibly reconstructed my body.

I overturned my meridians.

Reopened my blood points.

Tore my muscles and rearranged them.

My dantian screamed in agony.

Energy reversed its flow.

But I did not falter.

My ideation and [Composure] skill held me steady.

I grasped the scattered energy.

Steadied my trembling body.

‘The Heavenly Martial Body is useless. If this doesn’t work, I won’t survive.’

A reversal of the Heavenly Martial Body.

This body had to be reborn upon that foundation.

I had to walk with the demonic aura as one.

And finally—

Each meridian was completely misaligned.

Yet that very disharmony interlocked in a strange balance.

Vwoom—!

The energy surging in my dantian shot up my spine.

My conception and governing vessels trembled in unison.

Perineum—Gate of Vitality—Sea of Qi—Middle Cavity—Central Altar…

And the Crown.

All these meridians burned with demonic aura.

One by one, my nerves were rewoven.

A new flow, a new meridian system, a new me was taking shape.

Vwoooom—!

It happened in an instant.

All principles intertwined and condensed into a single point.

Complete convergence.

Flash—!

Defying the existing laws, an unrestricted flow was formed. Now, the demonic aura reversed its flow on its own, and I was its master.

After a long while, I opened my eyes. I looked around.

A pool of blood spilled from my body. Two fingernails ripped out from clawing the ground in pain. Yellowish sweat, tainted with blood, covering my body. Dried tears of blood.

But none of that mattered anymore.

I took a slow breath in. And exhaled.

A haze of energy rose from my entire body like smoke.

"I actually survived."

Gradually collecting myself, I stood up.

Pain? None.

Rather—

From every fiber of my being, a power I had never felt before surged.

"Oh."

A body unparalleled under the heavens. The completion of the Heavenly Demon’s Body.

The 44th Academy Entrance Ceremony. An unprecedentedly brutal exam had shaken the Academy.

Everyone agreed:

"This year’s test was absolute hell."

Most of those who made it through were on the waiting list. Lucky ones. Barely scraping by. Dragged in by a thread.

Which meant—

Those who passed on their first attempt were truly remarkable.

Like Jung Chaemin.

She sat in her seat, scanning the hall with a small smirk. A slight sense of pride bubbled up.

‘I knew it. I always thought I was just a genius in my hometown, but turns out, I’m world-class?’

At this rate, could she even become a state-ranked hunter, like the Martial God?

Just as she was lost in her daydreams, imagining herself at the pinnacle—

Her attention was drawn elsewhere.

The faces of this year’s freshmen were unusual.

‘Wow, this batch is insane. They’re all famous.’

The disciple of the Omnigod. The child who survived the North. The heir to the Hellhounds. The one beloved by spirits. The fourth-generation heir of the Esperance family, and so on.

All of them were the kind of people who would typically be student representatives.

‘Of course, our El isn’t lacking either…’

Jung Chaemin muttered to herself, recalling Erniaan, who had ranked first in the entrance exam.

"Hehehe. So cute…"

Startled by the sound of her own voice, she froze.

That was… her voice?

A high-pitched, unsteady tone she had never used before.

At that moment, she locked eyes with a nearby student.

That student gave her a strange look.

Crap.

"Ahem. Must be the seasonal change, my throat’s a bit hoarse."

She quickly covered it with a cough.

Feigning indifference, she slowly turned her gaze away.

But internally, it was pure chaos.

This is… too cute.

Her carefully constructed persona was crumbling.

No, this wasn’t just regular cuteness. It was lethal.

Small, pale, an expression that instinctively triggered a protective urge.

And then, sometimes tilting their head slightly, whispering, "Is this… right?"

A little bird, tilting its head at the vastness of the world’s knowledge.

"…Kuh."

Jung Chaemin clamped her mouth shut.

If she wasn’t careful, she’d let out another thoroughly uncharacteristic reaction.

‘I need to be cautious. More importantly… where is El?’

Her focus narrowed to a single point.

The student representative’s oath.

Of course, this year’s representative was El.

Which meant, soon, she would see them walking onto the stage.

‘…And just how adorable will they look?!’

Golden hair fluttering, small hands neatly clasped, speaking in a clear, slightly nervous voice.

Despite not being able to see, handling everything perfectly.

How incredibly endearing would that be?

Jung Chaemin, filled with anticipation, pulled out her camera.

The latest model, developed by the Celestial Dragon Group.

Optical zoom? High-speed recording? AI auto-enhancement?

All supported.

‘I have to capture this.’

However—

Time passed, and El did not appear.

The host hesitated slightly before carefully asking again.

"Freshman Representative, Erniaan Ludwig, are you present?"

Murmurs spread.

A freshman representative failing to show up on time for the entrance ceremony?

Unprecedented.

Even the professors exchanged glances, whispering among themselves.

‘What’s going on? Did they get lost?’

Just as Jung Chaemin anxiously scanned the hall—

Someone emerged from the opposite side of the stage.

Accompanied by a white Labrador Retriever.

"……"

Jung Chaemin’s breath caught in her throat.

‘What? When did she grow so much?’