Inside the Ancient Ruin
Deep inside the ruin—Heat roared.
The air itself burned.
Rivers of lava flowed—
The young man stood at the edge of a broken platform.
Below—
A sea of molten fire.
"…No way I can cross it…"
He clenched his fists.
Then—
He remembered the carvings on a wall he had seen before.
A pattern.
"…Right."
He took out the notes he had previously taken on carving
"There it is, symbols"
Looking at the symbol, strange excitement bubbled inside his stomach
"I just have to follow this
He stepped forward, as the pattern said.
The moment his foot touched the air—
A faint platform appeared.
Formed from condensed Qi.
His eyes widened.
"It works…!"
Step by step—
He crossed.
The lava lake, which was trying to swallow him whole—
But he didn't fall.
Not once.
After he passed the lava lake
-------
Then appeared a massive gate.
Covered in ancient symbols.
No key.
No handle.
Only a single line carved into it—
"Prove your will."
"…What does that even mean…?"
He hesitated at first.
Then—
Frustrated—
He punched the gate.
Nothing happened.
Again.
Again.
Blood dripped from his knuckles.
But he didn't stop.
"I'm not going back…"
"I'm not losing this chance…"
"I'll break through—no matter what!"
As his voice echoed, the gate trembled, then slowly it opened.
And what appeared after the gate opened was a glowing formation.
present at the centre of the hall
A teleportation array.
"…I made it?"
Disbelief.
Relief.
Excitement.
All at once.
A grin spread across his face.
"I actually made it…"
"Since the system has not announced that anyone has ascended yet, then I am the first to reach ascension"
"HAhaha"
He stepped forward.
Closer.
Closer.
Victory was right there.
-------
Meanwhile Phoenix
Across the void—
A blazing figure tore through space.
Flames burned wildly.
Unstable.
Violent.
The phoenix screamed silently.
Its body—
Cracking.
Its essence—
Burning.
Each second—
Costing it more.
But it didn't stop.
It couldn't.
Because its master had commanded it.
Speed—
Beyond limits.
Beyond endurance.
Yet—
Even then—
"…One more day…"
The distance—
Still remained.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Inside the separate space
In front of a vast spherical object
The rows of aliens were monitoring, people of blue star
On top of the screen was a real-time image of a person inside the ruin
"Sir, one of our assets has reached teleportation ruin, which is connected to a higher dimension"
"It's expected that he will ascend soon"
Listening to this, one of the senior aliens said
"Good, people of Blue Star are progressing faster; this time we didn't choose wrong"
"Sir...." an alien called,
realising that he had talked about a forbidden topic
The senior alien apologised
"Sorry, I got emotinal"
"But, forget about that, prepare the reward for the winner of this ranking event, I will personally give him this reward"
saying he sat on a chair, and started observing the progress of the ruin guy
-----
inside ruin
As he discovered the teleportation array, he was on cloud nine
because, according to instruction on the wall, this teleportation array will help him ascend
without further thinking
He got in the middle of the array, and started to do the basic thing instructed on the wall pattern to activate teleportaion array
as array was activated, the bright light glowed
and light filled the room
The guy noticed his body vanishing, he understood he was about to ascend on higher realm
Soon, he completely vanished
----
Inside the space, all aliens cheered
"It's completed isnt this new record?"
"Someone actually ascended within less than 5 days. Has this ever happened in the history of the system?"
"We really hit gold this time"
"The atmosphere of celebration spread across the aliens"
Even the senior alien allowed a faint smile.
"Prepare the reward. I will personally—"
He stopped.
Mid-sentence.
Because—
The main screen flickered.
Just once.
A subtle distortion.
The celebration paused.
"…Replay that."
Instantly—
The screen rewound.
Back to the ruin.
The moment of ascension.
The young man's body—
Dissolving into light.
Vanishing.
Everything—
Normal.
Perfect.
Exactly as expected.
Yet—
The senior alien's eyes narrowed.
"…Why hasn't the confirmation appeared?"
Silence.
The system should have already announced it.
[First Ascension Achieved]
But—
Nothing appeared.
No notification.
No update.
No change in ranking.
The chamber fell silent.
One of the aliens quickly checked the data.
"Sir… the subject has… disappeared from the ruin."
Another voice followed—
"But… he hasn't appeared in the higher realm."
A pause.
"…What?"
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Hey everyone 👋
I'd really appreciate your thoughts on the story so far.
What do you think about the current chapters?
Are you enjoying the pacing and plot?
Which parts did you like the most?
Did anything feel confusing, slow, or unnecessary?
I especially want your honest feedback on:
Tension and excitement level
Any mistakes or areas that need improvement
Your point of view matters a lot to me.
It will genuinely help me improve and make the story better going forward.
Feel free to be honest—good or bad feedback is welcome 🙌
Thanks for reading and supporting ❤️