Chapter 2

Wang Yan took a deep breath and, following the instructions of the skeleton mentor, slowly walked towards the nearest light point, silently chanting the word 'absorb' in his heart.

The light point, which was not far away, suddenly disappeared from its original spot, but he did not feel anything at all. "Is that it? I don't feel anything."

Wang Yan couldn't help but start to doubt the skeleton's words. If he wasn't convinced that he was still relatively clear-headed, he would have thought he was hallucinating.

"You naturally won't feel anything right now," the skeleton's voice sounded again. "If you want to feel something, your spatial points must reach 10. I once told you what you need to do to gain a point, remember?"

"Let a thousand souls be reborn." Wang Yan remembered the skeleton's words very clearly, after all, this was crucial to his ability to truly dominate the world.

"Yes. But to be precise, it should be a thousand first-level souls." The skeleton nodded in satisfaction and corrected him.

"First-level souls?" Wang Yan asked in confusion.

"The light points you see, representing souls, vary in size. If you look closely, you can see numbers floating on the surface of the light points. First-level souls have a '1', second-level souls have a '2', and so on..." The skeleton mentor patiently taught Wang Yan.

Wang Yan walked to a light point and indeed found a '1' floating on its surface. Not far away, a slightly larger light point had a '2'.

"To be more specific, first-level souls belong to the kind of people you often refer to as below warriors or the souls of low-level monsters. Second-level souls are the souls of warrior-level humans or beast soldier-level monsters. Third-level souls are the souls of general-level warriors or beast general-level monsters..." the skeleton continued.

Since the outbreak of the HH virus two hundred years ago, humans have seen their strength, reaction abilities, and mental perception improve by nearly a factor of two. Some individuals even discovered they possessed special abilities.

However, the changes were not limited to humans; they also affected birds and beasts, and these changes were even more pronounced. The most terrifying were the wild beasts, which, following the natural laws of competition, developed intelligence after the great destruction. Especially the marine creatures, which humans had never been able to reach, brought even more devastating attacks to humans a year later, leading to the fall of many cities and turning humans into food for monsters.

In the post-apocalyptic era, human nations were reshuffled, forming the current seven continental countries and numerous survival bases, all of which depend on the seven continental countries. Wang Yan's location is now in the Huaxia Continental Country, specifically the former Qing City of the pre-apocalyptic Huaxia Nation, which is now a wasteland overrun by monsters. Wang Yan came here to hunt monsters and earn high tuition fees.

After two hundred years of development, the seven continental countries have each formed a cultivation system that has been integrated into the education system. Now, almost everyone is cultivating, but due to physical limitations, only one percent become warriors. The strength of warriors is divided into warrior, general, venerated, and divine levels, each with three sub-levels. Monsters are also classified into beast soldiers, beast generals, lords, venerated beasts, and beast kings.

"I understand a bit more now," Wang Yan nodded. "What conditions are needed to absorb a second-level soul?"

"Once your points reach 10 and you become an apprentice-level controller," the skeleton continued without paying attention to Wang Yan's reaction. "Actually, you are not yet a true controller of the omnipotent rebirth system; you are at most a quasi-controller. Only when your points reach 10 will the system automatically recognize you as an apprentice-level controller."

"I get what you mean. Only by becoming an apprentice-level controller can I absorb the mental power and soul strength of those souls to nourish myself?" Wang Yan finally understood.

"Yes. Your current spatial points are 1, so you only need to absorb 9,000 more first-level souls to reach 10 points and officially become an apprentice-level controller." The skeleton gave a satisfied snap, and his figure disappeared again.

"Me... Okay." After all the talk, Wang Yan finally understood. It seems that to gain more benefits, he still needs to work hard. However, the number 9,000 made him feel weak all over.

With the first experience, Wang Yan found it much easier to proceed. If each light point represented a soul, he discovered that the density of souls in the area was quite high, meaning the death rate was also high, though it was unclear whether they were human or monster souls.

"...97, 98, 99..."

On the first day, Wang Yan successfully absorbed 2,750 souls, increasing his points to 3.75.

On the second day, Wang Yan successfully absorbed 1,842 souls, increasing his points to 5.592.

...

In the following days, Wang Yan's speed of absorbing souls significantly slowed down. By the ninth day, it was difficult for him to find any first-level souls in a free state. To complete the apprentice-level task, Wang Yan had to personally hunt low-level monsters. If this news got out, his two best friends would laugh at him, but fortunately, they were not around, so Wang Yan worked with enthusiasm.

"Ziyun, look, isn't that Wang Yan? What is he doing? He's actually hunting low-level monsters. That's too undignified," a voice sounded nearby as Wang Yan was busy.

Wang Yan stopped his actions, worried about what he feared would happen. He least wanted to meet acquaintances here, and worse, one of them was Ye Ziyun, whom he had once pursued. He could only laugh bitterly.

Following the voice, he saw five people standing not far away, more accurately, five beautiful women. Two of them were among the four most beautiful girls in his school, and the other three he had never seen before.

However, from their expensive, highly sought-after A-level limited edition adventure gear, it was clear that they were from wealthy or noble families. Compared to them, Wang Yan was a typical low-level bumpkin.

Although he no longer had feelings for Ye Ziyun after she rejected him a year ago, he still felt embarrassed doing such a low-level thing in front of someone he had once liked.

"Xue, you said this guy once pursued Ziyun?" A curly-haired beauty in a purple adventure suit looked Wang Yan up and down, then turned to Lu Xue with a suppressed laugh.

"Not only that, but he did it in front of the whole class. He should have peed in a corner and looked at himself. He doesn't know his own weight. Can just anyone pursue our Ziyun?" Lu Xue looked at Wang Yan with disdain and mocked him.

"Really, a toad wanting to eat a swan!" The other women also looked at Wang Yan with disdain, as if he were a beggar or a poor, low-level nobody. If not for Lu Xue's story, they wouldn't have even glanced at him.

Wang Yan remained calm. He actually agreed with their words. In this era, one must have either strength or power; otherwise, no one would respect you. Wang Yan deeply understood this, which was why he was determined to fight and strive to make a name for himself. In the past, he would have argued with them, as being looked down upon by a group of women was embarrassing. But now, with the omnipotent rebirth system, he believed it wouldn't be long before he could prove to them who the real toad was. By then, even if they begged to marry him, he might not even look at them.

"Wang Yan, they are talking about you like that, and you're not angry?" Ye Ziyun, who had been silent, frowned, clearly dissatisfied with Wang Yan's silent endurance. Being insulted to this extent, he should at least have responded.

"Ziyun, didn't I tell you he's a softie? A person like him will never achieve anything unless the world goes through another great destruction," Lu Xue's sharp tongue didn't spare him.

"Right, I admit I'm a toad now, but you're just pampered little geese. You're far from being swans. Don't laugh at me from a distance. I don't have time to waste my youth with you." Wang Yan turned and continued hunting the low-level monsters without paying them any attention.

"You..." Lu Xue and the others were instantly furious at Wang Yan's words.

"Enough! We didn't come here to argue..." Ye Ziyun looked at Wang Yan's back in surprise, stopping the others from attacking. She was genuinely surprised by Wang Yan's response.

"Ziyun, this kind of person..." Lu Xue still felt resentful.

"We were in the wrong first. If you hadn't mocked Wang Yan, he wouldn't have retaliated. Is it only fair for officials to set fires and not for the common people to light lamps?" Ye Ziyun cut Lu Xue off before she could finish.

Ye Ziyun turned and walked in the opposite direction. Lu Xue and the others looked at each other speechlessly, then glared at Wang Yan's disappearing back and followed Ye Ziyun.

After this small incident, Wang Yan hunted monsters even more diligently, almost devoting all his time to it except for eating and brief rests.

Three more days passed, and Wang Yan finally successfully sent the 9,000th first-level soul into the omnipotent rebirth system. He was so exhausted that he was almost drained. If the Qing City ruins were not close to the human base and lacked high-level monsters, it would have been much harder for Wang Yan to collect 9,000 souls. The high-level monsters alone would have given him a headache, and he might have become their meal.