Unrivaled in another world

[: Daniel POV :]

The System's voice echoed in my head again. Distant. Hollow. Almost drowned in the lingering screams of everything I had just destroyed.

[: You have slain 1,282,044 Gate Entities : ]

[: Level Up! … Level 1000 → Level 1800 : ]

[: Congratulations on clearing a Gate for the first time. You have obtained a Gift Pack. :]

And just like that, the Gate shattered.

I didn't even have time to breathe.

Reality twisted, and I was pulled out—ripped from that collapsed dimension and spat into a dead field under a sky filled with cold, indifferent stars. I stood there alone, soaked in the silence, the weight of power still humming in my veins.

That was my first Gate.

Since then, it's been eleven months.

Eleven months since I entered this cursed land—the Forbidden Continent.

And in that time, I've become... something else.

I don't know what they call me now. Maybe they've given me a name. A myth. A warning whispered in the dying breath of monsters or the final screams of fallen empires.

But none of that matters.

Because I don't even recognise myself anymore.

I stopped counting how many I've killed. There's no point.

Every Gate I walked into became a graveyard.

Monsters. Entities. Constructs. Some ancient, some divine, some too advanced for me to even understand. I fought civilisations built on light-coded minds, ones that floated in orbs and launched gravity-twisting weapons at me like gods bored with existence.

I tore them down.

Others were more primal. Beastly. Tribal. They hurled spears and roared with conviction. It made no difference.

I slaughtered them, too.

None of them were innocent.

They either devoured others to survive or stood silently as others did.

So I gave them what they gave my world.

No mercy.

The first Gate led to five. Then ten. Then twenty.

Now... I've cleared a hundred Gates.

Each one is harder. Each one older, more fortified, more twisted by time and purpose. And every one of them collapsed beneath my feet.

Sometimes, I'd emerge from the wreckage with bags of relics, alien tech, or ancient scrolls. But I never looked back. Not once.

The System could barely keep up with me anymore.

[: Gate Cleared – Rank S : ]

[: Level Up! 1800 → 3000… → 4000… → 4999… : ]

The biggest change happened under the ruins of a Moon City, buried beneath miles of crushed crystal and lost dreams. There, I found Silver Mana Veins, ancient and alive. When I absorbed them, something inside me broke.

Or evolved.

My core burned. My veins pulsed with molten silver. It felt like swallowing a star.

[: Rank Breakthrough: SS Rank Achieved! :]

[: Gift Bag Acquired : ]

That was the turning point.

After that… my power skyrocketed.

Level 5000 came fast. Then higher.

And I wasn't just growing stronger—I was changing.

I didn't just use my skills anymore.

I became them.

Void Singularity, Essence Devouring, Destruction Element Manipulation—I bent them, reshaped them, fused them.

I commanded them like extensions of my thoughts.

My Void Steps no longer blinked through space—they danced between seconds.

I was no longer reacting—I was rewriting outcomes before they happened.

And when the final threshold cracked beneath my evolving self—

When SSS Rank wrapped itself around my soul like a crown—

I stopped feeling human.

[: Rank Breakthrough: SSS Rank Achieved :]

[: Level 10,000 Reached :]

My stat points had become monstrous. My presence could crush mountains without effort.

The System itself was falling behind me now. Trying to measure something it didn't understand.

And yet… despite it all… despite the oceans of blood, the broken worlds, the impossible victories…

There were moments.

Small ones.

Moments when the silence was too loud.

I remember pausing by a valley made of pure crystal, watching mana drift in the air like shimmering butterflies under an aurora sky.

I remember leaning against the corpse of a fallen beast the size of a fortress, just watching the stars rotate above me.

I remember wandering through the ruins of an old library—its halls crumbling, its words silent—and reading the last records of a people that no longer existed.

Some days, I slept.

Other days, I just… stared.

And in those still moments, when there was no battle, no enemy to destroy…

The loneliness hit me.

Hard.

It's been eleven months, and no one's called my name.

No laughter.

No warmth.

No familiar voice to pull me back from the edge.

Just… me.

Me and the silence.

No matter how strong I became, no matter how far I pushed…

I couldn't erase that emptiness inside my chest.

I miss them.

I miss the smiles. The dumb jokes. The clumsy mistakes. The quiet, simple moments.

Even the arguments.

"I wonder when I'll see them again..." I whispered once under a starlit sky, voice trembling. "If… I'll ever see them again."

My words vanished into the wind.

No answer came.

Only silence.

So I keep walking.

I keep hunting.

Keep killing.

Keep moving forward.

Because if I stop…

If I stop, I might realise that I'm already gone.

That Daniel, the one who once smiled and felt human, is just a shadow now.

Perhaps, I was just being too emotional right now...

But who could even endure being lonely for eleven months...let alone for the next few years? 

Sigh...

I wish I could see them...

As much as I miss them, I know I couldn't stop and with that, another twelve months.

Gone in a blink.

Just like that, two years had passed since I stepped into this cursed cycle.

I don't even remember the exact day anymore.

It doesn't matter.

Because every single one of them blurred into the next.

Kill.

Rest.

Eat.

Sleep.

Wake up.

Kill again.

That was my rhythm.

No breaks. No change. No conversation.

Just the endless drumbeat of survival and slaughter.

The system never stopped chiming, the endless progression of numbers that felt more hollow with each ascent.

My strength grew faster than even I could've imagined.

The further I ventured, the stronger the enemies became—but the more inevitable their death felt.

It took nearly a year of grinding through gates before I felt it—that shift.

The tipping point.

A wall I hadn't even realised I was pressing against until I felt it break.

The Epic Rank.

[: Rank Breakthrough: Epic Achieved :]

[: Level Cap Increased to 20,000 :]

But that evolution didn't come easily.

No—it came after blood.

The breakthrough happened beneath the sea, in a place even light feared to touch.

It began when I encountered a massive aquatic Gate embedded within the sunken ruins of a shattered ocean kingdom—its structure forged from coral-black obsidian and glowing abyssal sigils.

The gate pulsed with pressure, its heartbeat louder than the crashing waves above.

And from that moment, the war began.

They called themselves the Children of the Abyss, an entire race of ancient sea monsters twisted by mana, cursed by old oceanic gods.

I still remember their names—etched into my memory like battle scars:

Zoh the Abyss-Spined Leviathan – A serpentine beast with tendrils of molten salt and a scream that shattered thoughts.

Krylas, the Coral-Crowned Tyrant – A queen crusted in diamond coral, her very presence caused water to boil.

Maulgoth the Maw Collector – A devourer with mouths within mouths, swallowing entire fleets with a blink.

Serdune, the Harpooner of Silence – A phantom predator who fought in complete silence, blood trailing behind invisible slashes.

Vurhex, the Blooming Depths – A grotesque mimicry of a flower blooming with tentacles and toxins, dancing like a lure before its kill.

They didn't go down easily.

The battle lasted days beneath pressure that would turn most beings into paste.

I fought in water thick with magic and darkness, every motion like wading through syrup.

My void powers distorted the very current of the ocean.

My Oblivion Pulse ignited the sea in violet tremors, and every Destruction Element I wielded twisted the battlefield into a storm of dissonance.

And then—after the final beast fell, its last breath a cloud of crimson that turned the waters black—I found it.

The Brilliant Mana Vein.

It pulsed beneath the ruins, encased in what looked like an egg of prismatic stone.

Light refracted around it in impossible angles, like it was hiding behind time itself.

When I placed my palm upon it, it sank into me—no, it merged.

I felt my body rip apart and rebuild in a single breath.

Every cell in my body screamed.

Every thread of mana I had woven for the past two years shattered—and rebuilt itself anew.

It was as if my soul was reborn.

I remember floating there, suspended in an orb of stillness, the ocean around me frozen.

The pain was immeasurable.

But it was the kind of pain I welcomed.

Because it meant growth.

When I finally emerged from the depths, I felt it.

I had changed.

Not just in power… but in being.

[: Epic Rank: Achieved :]

And yet—despite everything… the killing never stopped.

The days after were no different from the ones before.

I woke up. I fought. I survived.

But even as my strength soared into realms no one dared to dream of, the emptiness remained.

I hadn't spoken a word to another soul in years.

Not a laugh. Not a conversation.

No smiles. No arguments. No humanity.

Just gates, blood, and silence.

And sometimes, when the world stood still, when the stars shimmered just a little too bright…

"Two years," I muttered once, staring into the abyss of an abandoned Gate. "And still… I haven't seen any of you."

No answer came.

Only the wind… or maybe the sea.

And so, I took another step forward.

Toward the next Gate.

Because this cycle… this mission… it hasn't ended yet.

And I won't stop until it does.