The Final Desperation

[You have returned to your world of origin. This is a low-level world, so all active skills will be sealed. Since your rank is high enough, you have access to cold weapons and nothing else]

Genji looked around and realized he was in a bamboo forest. The same bamboo forest. By his leg, a few stains of blood and some decaying bones rested.

"Seems like the animals had picked the remains apart," Genji thought. "What a sad end for someone so powerful."

Genji vowed to do everything to get stronger so he won't end up like this in an unknown world. If he does, he will drag as many down to accompany him as possible.

"Maybe it's that mindset that makes me a Nightmare?" He chucked to himself.

[You will have 3 days to rest. After that, the realm card will teleport you back to EverRealm for a mission.]

"I've finally left the League and now I joined EverRealm. Seems like I won't escape the missions in this lifetime. That's fine. It's not the missions that I was bothered about. It's the boredom. I don't think I have to worry about that in EverRealm."

Genji looked down at his clothes and realized he was back in his ripped outfit. This was something he had never paid attention to in the realm, as he was wearing the clothes from the trial world. Now that he was back, he would need something more decent. Especially with the missing sleeve on his left arm.

"I guess the first order of business is still earning some money."

Genji started walking toward the town in the distance. As he walked, he removed the last scraps of his shirt, going shirtless and revealing his well-developed muscles. With his figure, being shirtless made him more presentable than his tattered look. As ironic as it is, he would draw less attention this way.

Genji walked into town and beelined for a corner. As he turned, he purposely bumped into someone.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," he apologized to the lady in front of him.

"Hey, watch it..." The lady was about to curse him out but stopped herself when she saw his upper body.

"It's okay," she blushed a little.

"Well, since you're okay, I'll get going," Genji waved and walked past her.

After he was out of the lady's sight, he flicked his wrist to reveal a few bills he had pickpocketed during the encounter. It wasn't much but it's enough to tide him over. He walked into a clothing store and made himself look more normal. Then he spent the rest of the money on a treat at a bakery.

"I wish I still had my ID card. It would make my life a lot easier. Too bad I don't know where my wallet went."

[Items at the time of your entry have been returned to your spatial storage.]

"Thanks a lot. Couldn't you have done this earlier? Do you think I like pickpocketing people?" Genji grumbled to himself.

"And why does it seem like EverRealm always responds when I mention something it can help with?"

There was no response this time.

"Nah. That would be ridiculous. I'm not that important, even if the realm really is listening to me," Genji rationalized to himself.

Genji opened his storage mentally and reached for his wallet. He discreetly pulled it out when he was in an alley before smoothly slipping it into his pocket. Genji then went to a store to buy a new phone with the cash left in his wallet. Next, he used his personal card to set up a new account and transferred all his funds.

Once that was done, he walked back into the bamboo forest, set fire to his old cards, and destroyed his phone. He had to play the part of being dead, otherwise, the League would track him down quickly. Although his physique had improved, a bullet to the head was still dangerous. Plus even if he managed to kill an attacker and seize their weapon, it would reveal he was alive. It's just not worth the risk.

No matter how he approached it, it was better to cut ties with his past. Trying to use those accounts wasn't worth the risk to his life. Money can be re-earned, but he only had one life. When it concerned his life, Genji became very decisive. So decisive that he didn't even bother looking for the weapons he had before his duel.

After ensuring no traces were left, Genji bought a train ticket to a city. He sat down to rest, but an enthusiastic teenager kept trying to talk to him during the trip.

"Dude, you're so ripped. How did you get those muscles? You have to tell me. Man, if I had those guns, I would be able to attract all the girls."

Genji turned his head away, but the boy apparently didn't get the memo. That or he doesn't care for people's privacy.

"Come on. Don't be like that. Where are you going?"

Genji didn't reply and continued trying to get some rest.

"Bro. You're no fun. Don't you find it boring? There's nothing to do while we're waiting. Why don't you talk to me? The time will pass a lot faster if you do."

Genji opened his eyes.

"How old are you anyway?"

"See? That wasn't so hard. I'm Nen and I am 16 this month."

"And you're alone?"

"Of course."

"So care to explain why you're on this train?"

"There's something I want to do."

"Okay. Now let me get some rest."

Genji then shut his eyes and started concentrating on the shadow energy inside him rather than the chatterbox next to him. He observed the flow of everything and tried to connect himself with it. Connect, not utilize. Genji still kept in mind that he was in a public space. And unless he wanted to stick out like a sore thumb, he refused to use his powers.

A few hours later, the train arrived at his destination. Genji opened his eyes and got up. To his annoyance, the chatterbox followed him.

"What a coincidence! I'm also getting off at this place. What are you here for? Maybe we have similar purposes?"

Genji ignored him and left the station. After a few minutes of traveling, he slipped into a deserted alleyway. Once he confirmed that no one else was around, he turned around and said in a quiet voice, "Come out."

Nothing happened. The silence made it seem like he was being paranoid, but Genji continued talking as if there was an audience.

"I know you've been following me so cut the act."

Another awkward silence.

"Don't make me expose you, Nen."

Once Genji mentioned the name, the stalker finally revealed himself. A sigh came from around the corner as the chatterbox walked into view.

"That's pretty amazing. How did you sense me?"

He gave Genji a wide smile and scratched his head.

Genji didn't answer. Now the silence became awkward for Nen.

"Why are you following me?"

"Why else? I was curious. You just had such a unique vibe about you, you know?"

"Can you drop the act and explain why you approached me?"

Genji was not buying his excuse, causing Nen's smile to disappear and his demeanor to suddenly change.

"So what gave me away?"

The goofy kid had disappeared, replaced by someone of serious authority.

"Your aura. It's bloody."

"I see. I didn't expect your senses to be that sharp. You must have gotten a high rank in the realm."

Genji frowned when he mentioned the realm. He reached for his dagger, preparing to silence him depending on what came out next.

Seeing this, Nen raised his hands. "Calm down. I'm not here to fight."

"Then what are you here for?"

Genji didn't relax his grip. He would be a fool to believe the words of a stranger.

"Man, you're cautious, but that's not a bad thing. Not in a place like the realm."

Genji didn't answer and started shifting his position for the best opportunity to attack.

"Ok, ok. I'll get to the point. I'm here to tell you the rules of staying in the real world."

Genji finally stopped preparing to kill the kid.

"As you might have guessed, there are rules for our behavior here. That's why Enforcers exist."

Genji started understanding. When he read the description for the Enforcer rank, he had been puzzled at what rules the role was supposed to uphold. For what reason does the realm need people to uphold the rules? From what he has seen, the realm seems almost omnipotent so why would it need people to help it? But if it's to make sure the members don't do anything crazy in the real world, then it would make sense.

"So what are the rules?"

Here are my suggested grammar edits:

"Well, it's pretty simple. Just don't do anything that would expose our powers. And if you do, you will need to clean up after yourself. Otherwise, we enforcers would get involved and hunt the violators down."

Genji nodded.

"Anything else?"

"No."

"Good. Now would you let me out of the alleyway?"

Genji kept his distance from the kid. He still didn't trust him not to stab him if he walked by.

"Alright, I change my mind. You're not cautious, you're paranoid."

Nen gave up talking to Genji and walked away.

 

---

 

Genji checked into a hotel for a few days and started relaxing for the next few days. His revenge could wait for now. There's no hurry as the League isn't going anywhere. He will pay them a visit once he gets stronger. Right now, his top priority was to destress and prepare for the next world. He needs to survive if he wants revenge after all.

But what does relaxing look like? Now that Genji thought about it, he realized he didn't know. It's been so long since he started training as a killer that he forgot the feeling. It didn't seem like a good idea to reference his life before that either. The main reason he joined the League was because it sounded cool and interesting.

Nothing else. No tragic childhood or anything like that. The worst might be that he's an orphan, but who cares about that?

"What can I do..."

Genji rubbed his chin.

"I have 3 days but I don't know what to do. Hmmmm."

In his boredom, Genji decided to meditate and further observe the energy. Since he had nothing to do, he might as well focus on getting stronger rather than anything pointless.

In his current situation, getting stronger was an amazing feeling in itself. Although it was tedious and boring, it only meant that his future enemies would have it way worse. And the suffering of his enemies was the best joy for Genji. By that logic, training is fun and relaxing.

Genji didn't know how long it had been but he was taken out of his meditation by something unexpected. Not from the outside world or any external threats, but by the very energy he was observing. His shadow energy started getting agitated.

Not harder to control, but more active. It was like it became alive, gaining a conscience of its own. In this state, Genji felt the power of the energy growing to new heights. Heights that should not be possible without years of training.

Genji looked around to see what caused this change. No matter how he thought about it, nothing had changed. If he had to point out one thing, it would have to be the lack of light in the room. When he started his meditation, it was bright outside so he left the lights off. Now that hours had passed, the room had become dark from the lack of natural lighting.

"Could it really be because of the night? But then why did I only feel this now?"

Genji decided to test his hypothesis tomorrow when it became night again. For now, let's focus on the changes in his energy. If he wanted to make the most of it, he should get an understanding of everything he could do. Genji closed his eyes again and entered a meditative state.

This state lasted until dawn. Feeling the warmth on his skin, Genji opened his eyes. A glint of excitement flashed through his pupils. From the night of observation, he concluded a few things.

For one, the change was solely beneficial. There were no side effects from the boost. It also didn't feel artificial. Instead, it gave the feeling of a fish returning to the sea, finally being able to exert its full potential. It was almost scary how much potential this ability had. At this point, Genji suspected the level of his talent was affected by his rank. Why else would he awaken his talent after his rank had been confirmed?

The second thing he noticed was that the state gave him an all-around increase. Not the quantitative increase from increasing his stats, but a qualitative one. To put it in gaming terms, it was like he became an elite from a common mob. His level remained the same but he was way harder to deal with. Genji decided to call this state Frenzy as his energy became extremely active in this state.

The last thing he concluded was that he should constantly observe this state. When his energy entered Frenzy, it started to do things Genji never even imagined. To most, this was an uncontrollable factor, but for Genji, it was a constant source of inspiration. The different ways the energy behaved gave him many ideas for techniques to develop. Techniques that will give him an edge over others.

Genji got up from the floor and walked to a park. Then he started stretching his body to relieve the stiffness from sitting still for so long. After an hour of pushing his muscles to the limit, he went and grabbed a big breakfast, something else he neglected when he holed himself up.

"I should really consider those food pills when I can afford to use them like candy. It's very annoying having to constantly worry about my meals."

Although he said that, Genji wasn't planning on actually doing that. He knew that focusing too much on something might produce diminishing results. Doing it every so often was fine, but doing it constantly would only burn him out.

Later that day, Genji left the city and found a remote area to await nighttime. He made sure to carefully observe the setting sun and the energy inside of him. As soon as he felt his energy enter Frenzy, he opened his phone to record the time.

8:49 pm. The Frenzy was weak, but it was there. As the sun continued to set, the state of Frenzy only became more active. Eventually, it reached its peak when the moon hung over his head.

Genji took a deep breath and threw a hard punch. An intense gust of wind formed, sending all the fallen leaves flying.

"It's as I thought. I've gotten stronger."

Genji thought about his punch a little longer before shaking his head.

"No. It's not that I got stronger. It's my body adjusting itself to better utilize the force, resulting in less energy wastage. But I didn't consciously make this adjustment. Does that mean Frenzy makes me more attuned to attacking?"

To test his theory, Genji started shadowboxing an imaginary opponent. A jab, elbow strike, kick, and then an uppercut. All performed better than normal. During this, Genji also noticed his footwork was slightly better.

"Does this change actually affect my entire body?"

Genji got into position and dashed at a distant tree. As he approached, he sped up and sprinted up the tree. When he felt himself losing momentum, Genji kicked off and did multiple backflips midair before landing on his feet.

He looked up at the highest point he reached - 4 meters, a new record. Then he continued performing a series of difficult movements to test the changes in his body, from adjusting himself multiple times in midair to doing as many dodging maneuvers in a row as he could. He tested everything and realized what was happening to his body.

The Frenzy state simulated his body so he could always minimize the mistakes in his movements. Basically a stronger instinct. It minimized his mistakes, not removed them. His movements were far from perfect, but they were better. Of course, his definition of a perfect movement was very different from most people's.

"This will be very helpful in my training. By showing me where I can improve, I can adjust my normal state. Eventually, I can move like this without Frenzy. After all, I can't exactly rely on a conditional powerup, even without side effects."

For the remainder of the night, Genji focused on practicing the basic movements of his techniques. Instead of trying to improve the complex aspects, he realized that enhancing the foundations of everything would be more effective. With only one day remaining before his next competition, attempting to enhance the complex aspects seemed impossible.

When the sun rose, Genji felt a wave of fatigue sweep over him. He stumbled a little at this unexpected feeling before stabilizing himself.

"What happened? Why did I suddenly feel so tired? I was so energetic a second ago."

Genji sat down and entered a meditative state to understand his body. What he saw was the calming of his energy and the aggregation of it around his body. He removed one of the clumps of energy and realized that spot was particularly sore. Seeing how many clumps of dark purple were forming around his body, Genji realized his body was quite tired.

As for why this happened, it was quite simple. The way his body adjusted itself when he was practicing was something Genji had never experienced. His body hadn't gotten used to moving his muscles that way. As a result, his muscles were stretched in new ways and torn to complete these movements. There is also the factor that Frenzy uses more energy than his normal state.

All that energy used to optimize his movements and instincts had to come from somewhere, right? As for why he didn't feel fatigued until now, it was because Frenzy overloaded his body with adrenaline, allowing him to output power beyond his normal limit.

It was quite useful in battle, but the accumulated fatigue would all hit him once the boost wore off. He could minimize this side effect by reducing the intensity of his movements, but Genji didn’t even consider it. To him, the pain was insignificant. After all, no pain, no gain.