CHAPTER 1006: LEGEND RANK

With Lyra’s arrangements, Max soon stood before one of the Leveling Chambers in the depths of the Great Ruler Empire. It looked deceptively plain from the outside, like a smooth jade door etched with countless glowing runes.

But the moment he stepped inside, he felt the difference—it was an isolated space, vast and boundless, yet stable. The very air hummed with balance, carrying the exact same feel as the outside world. No distortion. No false laws.

It was perfect.

Without wasting time, Max sat down at the center of the chamber. His body glowed faintly as he pulled out the cores he had collected. Power surged through him, his Three Dimensional Body mapping every fluctuation, his soul sharpening with the clarity of his Blue Soul, and his physique roaring as draconic essences stirred.

Cracks appeared in his current realm, a storm building within his core.

And then, with a thunderous breath—Max shattered the barrier.

The world inside the chamber trembled violently, but the formations absorbed it all. Outside, no one felt a thing. But within... Max’s aura surged higher, brighter, heavier. His black flames roared. His sword concept sharpened. His body, reinforced by hundreds of draconic essences, trembled with new power.

He had ascended to Legend Rank, well not completely.

Inside the Leveling Chamber, Max sat cross-legged, his body trembling as the aftermaths of the breakthrough began. The still air of the chamber suddenly grew restless, ripples of energy cascading outward like waves breaking against the invisible walls of the sanctum.

And then it appeared once more—looming behind him, blazing in ethereal light—the Divine Path Lotus with nine lotus petals which previously bloomed during Max’s previous leveling to Champion Rank.

Its petals unfurled one by one, not the gentle blossoming of a flower but the thunderous blooming of fate itself. With each bloom, the chamber shook, runes on the walls vibrating as though they could barely contain the phenomenon.

One... two... three... six in total.

By the time the lotus stilled, it had gained twelve new petals, bringing Max’s total to twenty-one.

Far away, in a monitoring hall linked to the Leveling Chamber, Lyra and Emperor Hermes both froze as they observed the phenomenon through the crystal projection.

"Twenty-one petals..." Lyra whispered, disbelief flashing in her emerald eyes. "That’s already close to the final limit most geniuses in history ever reached at Divine Rank!"

Hermes’s gaze was darker, heavier. His deep voice rumbled with both awe and concern. "Indeed. Even the most dazzling prodigies—those who shook the Middle Domain to its core—never surpassed twenty-five petals. For Max to already reach twenty-one now, at his very first step into Legend Rank..." He paused, fists clenched behind his back. "His potential... may truly surpass what this world can bear."

---

But within the chamber, Max had no time to dwell on numbers.

The sky above the lotus tore open, and from the rift descended the Wraiths of the World.

They came as pure embodiments of the four elements he had grasped—Sword, Lightning, Flame, and Space. Each wraith was a colossal figure made entirely of elemental essence, carrying the weight of destruction and judgment. They descended with the might of third-level concepts, towering over him like executioners.

Max’s heart tightened. He had hoped this time the wraiths would manifest at the fourth-level concepts, pushing him closer to true mastery. But fate had not granted him that challenge.

Still, the trial was merciless.

A storm of lightning split the chamber into blinding arcs. A flaming titan swung burning fists that melted even the reinforced floor. A sword-shaped phantom slashed endlessly, each strike carrying enough severing intent to cleave mountains. Space itself fractured into distortions, twisting the chamber into a maze of collapsing dimensions.

Max gritted his teeth, his body roaring with draconic essence as he met them head-on. His Dragon Scales Transformation flared, black glowing scales shimmering with blue light. He countered lightning with his own storm, matched fire with black flames, fought the sword phantom with his severing concept, and bent space against space.

Every strike shook him to his core. Every clash left him bleeding. Yet he endured.

And then, finally—like smoke before a gale—the wraiths dissolved into nothingness. Their power scattered, absorbed by the chamber’s runic systems instead of flowing into him.

---

Max slumped onto the floor, his chest heaving, sweat rolling down his skin. He felt the shift deep in his core, the unmistakable surge of power that marked his ascension.

Legend Rank, First Level.

He clenched his fists, testing the raw strength that coursed through him. It was immense, far beyond Champion Rank, but a bitter frown crept across his face. ’If I had been outside... if I could have devoured the energy of those wraiths like before... I could have reached at least the third level of Legend Rank instantly.’

Later, when he asked Lyra about it, her answer was calm but firm.

"That’s the nature of a Leveling Chamber," she explained. "Its task is to let you face the wraiths without throwing the world into chaos. But because of that, the wraiths it summons dissolve once the trial is complete. They cannot be absorbed, no matter what methods you use."

Max sighed deeply, leaning back in frustration. "So all that power... wasted."

Lyra smiled faintly, shaking her head. "Not wasted. Without the chamber, your breakthrough would have alerted every force in the Middle Domain. Demons, traitors, enemies—you’d have been surrounded before you even finished. Surviving is worth more than three levels of strength."

Max exhaled, forcing his tension to ease. She was right. For now, he would have to be content with First Level Legend Rank.

When Max finally stepped out of the Leveling Chamber, his body still humming with the raw, untamed power of his new Legend Rank, he expected silence, maybe whispers of awe from the guards stationed outside. What he did not expect was the frantic rush of voices, the heavy air of dread that seemed to choke the very corridors of the Great Ruler Empire.

He paused, sharp eyes narrowing, catching fragments of panicked conversations.

"...fifty regions..."

"...slaughtered, not a single survivor..."

"...the demons have revealed themselves..."