I Level Up by Killing Gods-Chapter 59: Miss Me?

He had changed too.

And the academy’s ghosts weren’t the ones he needed to fear.

The real dangers lay ahead, in unknown territories and Dr. Levi’s mysterious research wing, waiting to test whether their transformations had made them stronger—or merely easier to break.

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The training hall vibrated with etheric energy, a symphony of controlled violence that spoke the language of survival.

Kael moved like a weapon forged from pure intent, each movement calculated to neutralize rather than simply score points. His techniques transformed the practice session into something that blurred the line between training and actual combat.

Sweat beaded on his forehead, a telling to the intensity of his movements.

The training floor was littered with fallen opponents—not through brutality, but through a surgical precision that left no room for error.

Each strike was a lesson, each defensive maneuver a statement of survival.

Second-year students watched with a mixture of fear and reluctant admiration.

The rumors that had followed Kael from the First Reach Trial hung in the air like a dense fog—whispers of the bottom-ranked student who had become something else entirely.

Something dangerous.

Something unpredictable.

Lerai circled nearby, his sparring style a stark contrast to Kael’s brutal efficiency.

Where Kael was a razor-sharp blade, Lerai was water—flexible, adaptive, using humor to soften the edges of their increasingly intense training environment.

His movements were a dance, each deflection accompanied by a quip that momentarily broke the tension.

"Careful there," Lerai called out to a student nursing a bruised arm, "he tends to forget this is practice, not an actual battlefield." The joke fell flat, tension crackling more intensely than the etheric energy surrounding them.

Kael’s mind drifted momentarily.

He remembered the First Reach Trial—the blood, the chaos, the moment everything changed. The moment he discovered what he was truly capable of.

The moment he became something more than just another bottom-ranked student...more than wisp of a past life.

A young student—barely sixteen, with trembling hands and eyes that had seen too much—approached Kael between matches.

The boy’s uniform hung loose, several sizes too big, marking him as someone still growing into both his body and his role.

"Is it true?" he asked, voice barely above a whisper.

His eyes darted between Kael’s face and the Earth Faction badge that seemed to weigh more than mere metal.

"Is it true you stole a God’s heart?"

The question hung in the air, charged with equal parts terror and fascination.

Kael turned, his gaze cutting through the student with surgical precision.

The brief moment stretched, filled with unspoken history and violence. Memories flickered—the heat of the battle, the impossible choice, the moment....

"Perhaps," he said finally, coldly. "I stole a lot of things."

The student stumbled back, more terrified by the casual admission than any elaborate denial. Lerai caught his elbow, steadying him with a sympathetic smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

As the training session wound down, a holographic projection materialized in their dormitory.

Dr. Levi’s image flickered—sharp, precise, her voice clipped and devoid of warmth.

"Report to Lab 7. Immediately."

The research wing beneath the academy was a labyrinth of sterile corridors and sealed containment units.

Each chamber held artifacts tainted by experimented Etherion, their surfaces writhing with corrupted energy that seemed to breathe and pulse with a life of its own.

Kael moved with practiced caution, his body reading the etheric signatures like a language only he could understand.

Memories of previous expeditions flickered through his mind. The blood. The chaos. The transformation.

Sealed chambers lined the corridor, each more mysterious than the last.

But one caught his attention immediately: "Titan’s Heart: Project Lazarus" etched into frosted glass, ice crystals forming intricate patterns that seemed to move when he wasn’t looking directly at them.

Something about the chamber felt alive, waiting—a predator holding its breath.

The walls told a story of their own.

Mural fragments depicted a battle between a lone figure and Celestial beings—the figure’s movements suggesting a dance of destruction that defied natural law.

The sword was unmistakable.

Dr. Levi stood at a terminal, her attention fixed on a soul core pulsing with Blight-tainted energy. Tendrils of corrupted essence writhed around the core, creating patterns that seemed to tell a story just beyond comprehension.

She didn’t look up as Kael entered, her fingers dancing across holographic interfaces that projected complex diagrams of cellular structures and etheric manipulations.

Diagnostic screens flickered with data—genetic markers, cellular regeneration rates, anomalous energy signatures.

"After our last conversation before your disappearance, I stayed up many nights. To understand things...to understand You" She paused for a second.

"Just what kind of human...utilizes Blight, i carried out countless research and test to get an answer i was determined to di chasing"

"Your cells regenerate faster when exposed to it" she said without preamble, her tone clinical and detached. "A trait only one other person has ever demonstrated."

She turned, her eyes calculating—not just observing, but actively dissecting every micro-expression, every potential response. Years of research, of careful observation, culminated in this moment.

"Kain Valtherion, the God Killer," she continued. The name hung in the air like a challenge.

"Are you a Valtherion, Kael?"

The question was both an accusation and an invitation. Kael’s response was measured, each word chosen with deliberate care.

"Who else knows about this?"

Dr. Levi’s shoulder lifted in a casual shrug that belied the intensity of the moment.

"Just me," she paused, a hint of something—anticipation? excitement?—flickering in her eyes.

"And her."

The "her" stepped forward, emerging from the shadows of the laboratory. And nothing could have prepared Kael for what he saw.

Lira stood before him, transformed.

Gone was the scrappy Sanctus Rat he remembered—her clothes were pristine, her posture confident, her hair a dark cascade that spoke of careful maintenance.

But it was her eyes that truly changed everything: sharp, knowing, with a predatory intelligence that had been merely hinted at before.

A silver tooth caught the laboratory’s cold light as she smirked.

"Long time no see, corpse."

"Miss me?" The words dripped with a confidence that was entirely new, entirely dangerous.

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