Endless Extraction in a Game-Like World

[System: Level Up!]

[Level: 10 -> 15]

[Combat Score: 132 -> 147]

Caelus’s body and cells began to expand as the mysterious power of the Origin Domain flooded his system. In the following moment, they were reformed and strengthened. Soon, they compressed back into shape, returning his lean physique and his slightly above-average face.

Seeing this, Caelus looked at Sylvia, who gave a firm nod. They both shot toward the fallen boss. Sylvia wanted to harvest the raw blood essence, while Caelus aimed to extract its core abilities.

He placed his hand firmly on the gigantic monster’s shell, and a notification immediately rang out.

[System: Extraction Successful.]

[Talent: Laser Manipulation (Lower B-Rank) - Manipulate concentrated light and form a domain of lasers.]

[System: You have obtained the Skill: Laser Shot (Rare, 1-Star)]

[System: You have obtained the Skill: Point-Defense Grid (Epic, 1-Star)]

"Oh?" Caelus’s expression lit up with a wide smile.

"Did you extract the essence?" he turned toward Sylvia and inquired.

"Yes," Sylvia nodded happily.

With the raid rewards, she had successfully reached Level 15! This progression speed was completely insane!

Then, another notification rang out across the server.

[System: The Raid Chests will now be distributed.]

In the next instant, a bright light shone directly into Caelus’s inventory.

[System: You have received the Item: Raid Chest (Mythical, 1-Star)]

"Where are the Mods?" Caelus frowned, not seeing the expected item.

"Do you not know? They are sealed inside the Raid Chests." Just then, a tall man with long, pointed ears stepped forward.

Floating above his avatar was the name: Nasi.

"Nice to meet you both. I am Nasi."

"Hello." Caelus and Sylvia glanced at him and nodded politely.

"You both are incredibly powerful," Nasi said with a respectful sigh. "Your Combat Scores must be at least above 110, right?"

"Maybe," Caelus replied with a blink. "Why?"

"Nothing. Reaching above 110 at Level 10 is considered very high even in the Middle Expanse. Of course, there is still a solid twenty-five percent of the population that manages to reach it," Nasi explained with a soft chuckle. "I also wanted to break the 110 barrier, which is exactly why I have been participating in these Multi-Expanse Raids. But so far, I have never gotten my hands on a good Mod."

"This time, thanks to you two, we actually managed to clear it," Nasi said with a look of genuine awe.

"They probably just used some sort of broken debuff combo. I also have a Combat Score of 140." A burly, grey-skinned giant suddenly stepped forward, interrupting the conversation.

His floating name tag read: Stern Ritter.

"No one asked," Caelus blinked, his expression completely deadpan. "Who are you, bro?"

This guy was clearly an alien creature just like Nasi. While Nasi looked exactly like the elves Caelus had read about in fantasy novels back in his old world, this new guy looked an awful lot like the demon boss Baal.

"I am Stern Ritter," the giant declared with a highly arrogant look on his face.

"Okay." Caelus gave him a lazy thumbs up, completely dismissing him, and immediately went back to chatting with Nasi.

"So, do you know any entrance to the Middle Expanse from this specific arena?" Caelus tilted his head and inquired.

"Hm? Are you talking about the popular theory regarding the entrance to the Middle Expanse hiding in the boss spawn area?" Nasi pointed directly at the massive, dark opening in the center of the arena where the God Turtle had emerged. "It has been quite a popular topic on the Origin Forums."

"Yep, that is the one." Caelus’s eyes shone with bright light upon hearing the confirmation.

So the dark pit in the center of the arena was the hidden path!

"Sylvia." Caelus turned to his partner. Sylvia met his gaze and nodded with a highly serious look.

"..." Stern Ritter stared at Caelus and Sylvia, gnashing his teeth in pure frustration. He could not believe he was being completely ignored right now. But he could not do a single thing about it either. These two were simply way too strong.

In the following instance, to everyone’s utter surprise, Caelus and Sylvia sprinted forward and leaped directly into the dark abyss of the arena’s opening.

"WTF?!" Everyone was equally dumbfounded as they rushed to the edge of the pit.

"They are incredibly reckless. If they die down there in the Multi-Expanse Raid arena, they will get hit with a massive death cooldown of two entire weeks," Nasi said with a heavy sigh.

Everyone here was still technically in the newbie phase, meaning death was not permanent yet. But that forgiving phase would soon come to an end soon.

"Sylvia, hold onto my hand." Caelus stretched his arm out.

She readily grasped his fingers as they both began to free-fall into the blinding darkness.

They were accelerating downward with immense speed, yet they still had not reached the bottom.

Amidst the violent waves of wind assaulting them, Sylvia could not help but grow worried. "Caelus, do you not think we will die from the sheer momentum we are generating from this fall? Our digital bodies might be strong, but they will not be able to take an impact at this terminal velocity."

"Do not worry. If we die, we will just return to our reality. We have not reached the Middle Expanse yet," Caelus shouted over the roaring wind, glancing at Sylvia. "We will definitely reach the Middle Expanse and download the newer version of the Domain."

"Yes," Sylvia nodded with a soft, trusting smile. "I will trust you."

As soon as she spoke, a blinking light became visible in the deep abyss, growing larger by the millisecond.

"Caelus!" Sylvia called out.

He nodded and focused entirely on the blinking light. He instantly activated his Chaos Perception Eyes. Through his mythical vision, he saw a glowing white portal opening and closing repeatedly. The light was bleeding through that precise gap. But hovering directly above it was a massive, impenetrable digital barrier.

Whoosh!

Their falling figures were just inches away from smashing into the barrier when a blaring red warning manifested in their vision.

[System Warning: You are beings of the Lower Expanse. You cannot enter the Middle Expanse without explicit permission.]

[System: You will be forcefully teleported back to the Lower Expanse.]

[3...]

[2...]

[1...]

[Initiating Teleportation.]

Both Sylvia and Caelus had a drastic change of expression. The system was forcibly rejecting them!

However, before they could be erased from the airspace, a terrifying, mysterious power that had been lying dormant deep within Caelus’s code was violently forced awake.

[System: Ender Passive has been initiated]

Boom!

A primordial, pitch-black miasma erupted from Caelus’s avatar. The sheer density of the chaotic energy surged forward, physically swallowing the glowing system screens in a wave of dark static.

[System: ...?????]

The rigid system screens in front of Caelus and Sylvia glitched out, displaying nothing but confused question marks. The foundational rules of the Origin Domain were buckling under his anomalous presence.

[System: ERRR_ Teleportation Failed.]

[System: Entity Anomaly Detected.]

[System: Player 555... Exempt from the Origin Rules.]

Whoosh!

The black miasma completely shattered the restrictive barrier. Their digital avatars glitched with origin-defying authority, seamlessly phasing straight through the broken firewall and shooting directly into the blinding white light.

[System: You have successfully entered the Middle Expanse.]

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A/N; Thank you for all the support last week. I appreciate all the PS, Gifts and GT you guys have delivered for the book.