Chapter 55: Nine Stars Ice Lotus Bloom

Klaus woke up with an icy headache. As he looked a, he saw that he was still in the same place, but everything a him was now coated in ice.

"Congratulations, Klaus, on creating your first skill," the Sior's voice echoed from his soul sea.

"Really? I actually succeeded?" Klaus's face lit up with joy. He quickly oped his status window to check his gains, but to his surprise, the skill wasn't listed. It hadn't be recorded.

"You've created a skill, but you hav't named it yet, so it's not recognized as a true skill," the Sior explained.

"Sior, how do I name it?" Klaus asked.

"Just activate the skill and speak its name," the Sior replied. Klaus nodded and, almost instinctively, a lotus flower made of pure ice bloomed into existce. The temperature in the tire area dropped to below freezing level.

"Damn, this iciness alone is ough to freeze many people," Klaus muttered, feeling the cold a him. "This feels differt from the Fireball. I can actually control how much ergy is used."

Klaus smiled and thought for a momt. After a while, his smile brighted. "I will name it 'Nine Stars Ice Lotus Bloom.'"

As soon as he spoke the name, the heavs rumbled and dark clouds began to form overhead. "Sior, what's happing?" Klaus asked, panic creeping into his voice.

"You've created a skill that surpasses the standards of your world. Naturally, the heavs will try to destroy it," the Sior replied casually, making Klaus wonder if the Sior actually wanted him to fail.

"Sior, what should I do?" Klaus asked urgtly.

"It's your skill. You must do whatever you can to defd it. Destroying the skill means destroying you," the Sior said.

Klaus felt the cold air and his mind raced with calculations. Above him, the clouds continued to dark and become more macing.

"Dammit, this Paragon thing is a scam. I hav't ev joyed my life yet, and the heavs are always looking for ways to kill me. How is creating a skill a bad thing?" Klaus cursed, glaring at the heavs.

Within his soul sea, the Sior muttered to himself, "They're scared because it's the Nine Paragon Stars Ice Lotus Bloom." He sighed and th fell silt.

Outside, Klaus continued cursing at the dark clouds. Th, suddly, he stopped and grinned. "Well, if you want to kill me so badly, how about we go for a little stroll?" With that, Klaus jumped down from the mountain and began adding points to his stats. He put 00 points each into Strgth, Agility, Defse, and Stamina. Th, he added 300 points to Intelligce and 400 to Health.

With a determined smile, he dashed forward towards the Ctral Region of Ruin City, rumored to be filled with nothing but zombies.

"At this rate, I will be clearing the tire forest within minutes if all this goes well" Klaus muttered gliding through the forest. Everywhere he passes hundreds of Zombies will fall.

The lightning pythons' strikes proved invaluable, tearing through the hordes of zombies. Klaus's excitemt grew with each zombie he killed, his laughter ringing out in the storm. He danced through the battlefield, feeling invincible with the divine power of the heavs helping him.

Suddly, an intse attack struck the lightning python. The colossal serpt writhed in pain before it was obliterated. Its form shattered into fragmts of light that dispersed into runes. These runes flowed through the air and merged into Klaus's body.

As the runes tered him, Klaus felt a surge of new power. However, before he could fully grasp the new developmt, a new wave of zombies emerged. These were differt—stronger and more macing.

"Zombie Captain" Klaus immediately recognizes the new batch of Zombies as the Zombie Captains. Back in the Zombie Forest, he killed a few. However, now before him are hundreds if not thousands of Zombie Captains each a Tier 4 Dark Zombies.

"I guess this place is really dangerous, ev the Captains are this imposing, how about the Gerals" Klaus shuddered imagining that. However, he immediately recognizes he is not alone, he has the heavs supporting him. And just like he had expected, before the Zombie Captains could move, the clouds rumbled.

From the dark clouds, more than t lightning pythons emerged, their ormous forms crackling with ergy. At once, a great pressure descded on the tire forest. Klaus immediately circulated his Star qi and like before, he broke free. However, the Zombie Captains wer't that lucky, Immediately the lightning Pythons appeared, their fate was sealed. Seeing this, Klaus's laughter erupted.

Klaus's laughter grew louder and more triumphant as he witnessed the pythons' devastating effect. "You think you can challge me?" he yelled, his voice full of excitemt. "Bring it on! This is just getting started!"

He dashes forward and starts to attack with rewed vigor, his sword moving faster than ever. The Zombie Captains struggled to keep up with the lightning-fast strikes. Each swing of Klaus's sword was met with a burst of ice or fire, powered by the lightning pythons' ergy.

The battlefield was a tempest of chaos. Zombies were reduced to ashes, their numbers dwindling rapidly under the combined assault of Klaus's attacks and the lightning strikes. The sky roared with thunder, adding to the frzied atmosphere.

Klaus felt invincible. He relished the power flowing through him, driving him to push harder. "You think this is all you've got?" he taunted the Zombie Captains. "I'm just getting warmed up!"

As the lightning pythons continued their assault, Klaus darted betwe the monsters, his movemts a blur of speed and precision. The new zombies fell quickly under the reltless onslaught, their bodies disintegrating in the fiery and icy fury.

More and more Zombie Captains appeared, but Klaus was too lost in his frzy to notice. His mind had drifted away from the tribulation, his tire focus locked on the slaughter at hand. Nothing else mattered.

As he continued to kill, Klaus began to feel something stirring deep inside him. It was a dark, primal urge—a need to shed more blood. This overpowering desire consumed him, pushing everything else from his mind as he carved his way deeper into the forest.

Th, without warning, an ormous pressure surged from within the forest. The air grew thick, and in an instant, the Lightning Pythons froze. They shattered into glowing runes that rushed toward Klaus, disappearing into his body. As they did, an ev greater force erupted from within him, and one of the star tattoos on his back blazed to life.

Suddly, a bloodthirsty voice boomed from the depths of the forest. "Human, die!" it roared.

Before Klaus could react, a massive club came hurtling toward his head.