The chaos within the camp immediately drew the attention of the seasoned veterans.
Unlike the ordinary soldiers who had not even reached Tier 1,
most of these veterans were at least T1 Espers,
and among them, there was even a T2 Esper!
Witnessing the carnage before him,
the T2 officer's eyes turned bloodshot with rage.
"You bastard! How dare you slaughter your own people!?"
As the furious roar left his mouth,
an ice blade shot out from his hand, piercing straight through Link's chest!
The intense pain — Link was already used to it.
In fact, he was almost numb to it now.
Yet, just before death claimed him,
the corners of Link's mouth curled into a faint, satisfied smile.
[A-rank Talent: Ice Control]
This time, his death was well worth it.
...
"Huuh!"
Link gasped sharply as he sprang upright, clutching his chest in agony.
Although he had already rewound time,
the sensation of icy coldness still lingered within his body.
It took several long minutes before Link finally regained his composure.
In truth,
he had felt conflicted when he first raised his hand against fellow humans.
These were his comrades, his people —
the very ones he was supposed to protect.
And yet now,
he had drawn his blade against them.
The moral weight was almost too much to bear.
"I'm sorry,"
Link whispered, his voice trembling.
Taking a deep breath,
he slowly forced himself to calm down.
After resting briefly,
he stood up once more.
If he wanted to rapidly improve his strength,
acquiring even stronger talents was an absolute necessity.
And inside the Northern Front,
there were plenty of powerful individuals.
He needed to make as big a scene as possible,
draw them out,
and let them personally strike him down —
only then could he achieve maximum efficiency.
After hesitating for a moment,
Link decided not to use Veil of the Impostor this time.
Instead, he would face them with his true appearance.
"Stop! Come any closer and we'll open fire!"
Thump!
A Shadow Arrow shot through the air, instantly piercing the heart of a tower guard.
"Link, why!? Why betray humanity!?"
"Annora... I'll give you the chance to kill me..."
"Stop! Come any closer and we'll open fire!"
Thump!
Another guard fell.
"Link, surrender yourself!
With me, Brian, here, you won't be able to hurt anyone!"
"You bastard... you poisoned yourself to death!?"
"Stop! Come any closer and we'll open fire!"
Thump!
Another guard collapsed to the ground.
"Very well. You've successfully angered me.
I'll show you what true cruelty looks like!"
"Remember my name — Edward!"
"Stop! Come any closer and we'll open fire!"
Thump!
Another body hit the floor.
"A traitor to humanity, huh?
Listen carefully:
I'm Rawfill, second-year student at Astral Nexus University!"
"You have such incredible talents.
Why choose betrayal?"
"If this were a year ago,
I wouldn't have been your match.
But unfortunately for you,
you're still far too young."
"In your next life,
make sure not to become a traitor again!"
"I'm not a traitor! Really! I didn't kill them!"
"The evidence is right before our eyes.
There's no need for more words.
Rest in peace."
Who knew how much time passed?
Link sat numbly on the ground, dazed.
A flood of fragmented memories flashed through his mind.
Everything that had just happened felt like a surreal dream.
"I… I'm really not a traitor…!!"
His voice, filled with despair, escaped from the depths of his throat.
It took a full hour before he finally managed to pull himself together.
"Lib," he muttered bitterly,
"do you think if this keeps going, I'll end up losing my mind?"
Unusually,
Lib did not immediately respond.
After a few seconds of silence,
Lib's voice finally echoed in Link's mind.
"Master, under normal circumstances, given your current Mind Power,
there is no risk of mental collapse."
"Even if you undergo over a thousand consecutive rewinds,
it should not affect your sanity."
"However, for the sake of caution,
I would advise you to seek out a talent that can seal or delete memories.
It would help ease your burden."
Link thought about it for a moment,
then shook his head.
"Let's leave that for the future."
"These memories…
might actually serve as a form of motivation for me."
Taking a deep breath,
he finally settled his emotions completely.
After chugging a large glass of water,
he sat back on his bed and began inventorying his gains from this operation.
Over the course of dozens of deaths,
his harvest had been nothing short of massive.
This whole endeavor had netted him over twenty talents!
Admittedly,
more than half of them were B-rank or lower,
and thus not particularly valuable —
but even scraps of meat were still meat!
More importantly,
he had also managed to replicate several S-rank and A-rank talents.
But among them,
the biggest surprise came from a certain officer named Edward.
This man had already reached the terrifying level of a T5 Esper —
someone who could casually erase Link's existence with a mere flick of the hand.
Link had only succeeded in dying to him by resorting to extreme tactics,
even taking hostages.
Yet for all the trouble,
the reward was equally immense.
Because Edward's talent was none other than an SS-rank ability!
As for the guy named Rawfill —
his talent was impressive too,
but what Link valued more was his terrifying combat prowess.
Despite only being a T3 Esper,
Rawfill had managed to completely overwhelm Link through sheer skill alone.
It wasn't just strength.
It was a terrifying, instinctive combat genius.
Link had thought that, with his growing collection of talents,
he could crush any opponent below T3.
Yet Rawfill, with raw instinct and honed technique, had utterly annihilated him.
He was a true monster of a fighter.
New goal set:
Before completing his training at camp,
he would defeat Rawfill fair and square!
After reviewing everything that had happened,
Link shifted his attention to the talents he had gained.
He skipped over most of the B-rank and below talents with a glance.
Instead, he focused on anything A-rank and above.
Here were the highlights:
SS-rank Talent: Collapse
S-rank Talents: Son of Wind, Son of Solar, Vitality, Devour
Besides those,
there was one particularly special A-rank talent that Link absolutely adored —
almost as much as an S-rank talent:
A-rank Talent: Basic Spatial Ability
As the name suggested,
this talent allowed Link to perceive and lightly manipulate spatial forces.
At present, he hadn't fully mastered it —
he could only create a small storage space.
But even so,
he was overjoyed.
With this,
he no longer had to discard materials just because they were heavy or bulky.
He could stash valuable items safely inside.
The only downside was that,
even the storage space would be affected by Death Rewind,
meaning he couldn't infinitely stockpile resources through repeated suicides.
Otherwise,
Link could've easily farmed his way straight to super-tier wealth!