Demonic Po*nstar System

Chapter 275: Bottleneck

Bottlenecks were limitations placed on awakened people. It made it so that safely farming XP wasn’t the end-all be-all of power progression.

You could only get so far by killing weak monsters. Not only because you’d receive significantly fewer Stat points for each level up, but also because of bottlenecks.

At level 24, with the XP bar at 24000/24000, Kaiden faced his first such hurdle.

[You have reached your First Bottleneck.]

[Paragon of Sin: Evolution Threshold Detected.]

[To advance, prove your Dominance over Sin.]

The next line scrawled itself out more slowly.

As if the system wanted him to feel the weight of each demand.

▸ Trial One – Prove Your Wrath:

Kill 100 enemies of level 25 or higher in solo combat using only Wrath Stance.

(All assists will nullify the kill. Group kills do not count.)

▸ Trial Two – Feed the Glutton:

Consume a total of 1,000 liters of enemy blood, harvested from creatures or awakened enemies of level 25 or above.

(Only blood consumed through combat-triggered Gluttony abilities will count.)

▸ Trial Three – Conquer the Sinner:

Kill a Sin-Wielder and consume their sin.

Kaiden stared at the final line for a long, quiet moment.

This wasn’t just a test of strength.

It was a proof of concept.

Whoever was behind the whole awakening system didn’t care how many monsters he sliced through.

It wanted to know whether Kaiden could wield Sin as more than just fuel.

Whether he could bend it, own it.

Only then would it let him grow again.

Kaiden’s eyes slowly scanned the three conditions.

He could feel Wrath pulsing in his veins at just the mention. Gluttony stirred with a predatory ripple of hunger, and somewhere far off, Pride waited with quiet confidence.

”So that’s what it takes to evolve this class.”

It was quite the tall order, especially because the first bottleneck was usually rather simple to complete. The fact that he has not one but three requirements and said requirements were easier said than done indicated that his class was an immensely powerful one.

The weaker the class was, the weaker the bottleneck they faced.

’Kill a Sin-Wielder and consume their sin...’ Kaiden repeated the final line many times in his head. What could that mean? Consume a sin?

It sounded ominous. But without more information, all he could do was press on. He’d already decided his path would be that of ultimate power. He was ready to do whatever was needed, so long as it didn’t go against his most basic dogmas, such as protecting his girls.

Their gazes met.

Nothing was said aloud. Not with the stream still broadcasting and with the other half of their expedition standing nearby.

But Kaiden didn’t need words.

Not from Luna, or Aria, or Nyx.

Not from his tanned felinid either.

The moment they each received their own bottleneck prompts, he saw it: glimmering behind their irises.

Not despair. Not fear.

Eagerness.

The thrill of a challenge and the tantalizing prospect of immense rewards.

Kaiden’s lips curled into a proud smirk. ’Good.’

He turned his attention forward, where a new set of double doors stood tall at the end of the broken, reformed corridor. They hadn’t been there before. It was clear the room had shifted again after the challenge was completed.

”Is everyone ready?” Kaiden asked.

His girls responded immediately, wordlessly.

Luna gave a sharp nod. Nyx flicked her daggers up between her fingers using [Telekinesis], being a bit of a show woman.

Aria smiled.

Bastet cracked her knuckles.

But from the side to them came a voice that did not match their rhythm.

”No.”

Jack groaned, reaching into a satchel hanging off one of Vaelira’s weary minions. He pulled out a wrapped loaf, tore into it like a starving beast, and began chewing with no care for grace.

Kaiden turned toward the man.

The hungering curse. It was worsening. His stomach was visibly sunken, and his eyes, though still burning with willpower, were ringed with exhaustion. Every bite he took was desperate.

But Jack wasn’t the worst off.

That title belonged to Leon.

The longsword-wielding swordsman was slumped against the stone wall, both hands occupied with meat, bread, and even dried herbs. He ate like a man possessed, like ten men possessed.

But even now, even with food crammed into his mouth, the parasite inside him writhed.

Thin, nearly translucent veins pulsed beneath his skin, crawling up the side of his neck and curling near his temple.

Kaiden didn’t like what he saw. ’He needs to be checked right this instant.’

But there was no turning back now.

With a deep breath, Kaiden stepped toward the looming double doors. As his hand touched the handle, the entire dungeon seemed to breathe by sucking the stale air inward.

The doors creaked open.

What lay beyond was a circular chamber bathed in an eerie crimson light. Blood-colored vines lay across the floor and walls, and the ceiling loomed high above with jagged Gothic arches. It was by far the biggest room they’d seen in the dungeon thus far, being much bigger than whole football fields.

In the center of it stood a woman, unmoving.

She was dressed in a rotting gown of noble silk that had fused with her pale flesh. Her eyes were closed, and her mouth curled into a wide, too-perfect smile even in her slumber.

At the center of the woman’s chest, embedded where her heart should’ve been, was a pulsing crystalline object.

Aria gasped. ”It looks like an artifact was placed into her body...”

”Some undead don’t need such organs to live...” Bastet hissed with disgust.

”Wait, the monster is unresponsive. Let’s do a preemptive strike,” Kaiden suggested, looking at his girls, all of whom could cast long-range spells, though Luna was decisively worse at it than the others.

”I’ll join in,” Diaz added, getting his twin daggers ready.

”Me too...” Sasha whispered with dark circles under her eyes.

”Three... two... one...” Kaiden counted.

”Go!” Aria whispered, and the volley launched.

Aria’s [Lunar Overload] fired like a charged-up magical cannon. Bastet’s [Sunlance] flared like a mini-star. Luna released a wind-slicing shockwave. Nyx flung her anti-undead blades with force. Sasha fired a black-tinged arrow infused with bleed debuff. Diaz hurled one of his knives, utilizing one of his long-range rouge spells.

The attacks moved together to converge on the unmoving woman.

A single blink.

That’s all it took.

Her eyes opened. Wide. Glowing. A cold ruby light flickered from within as her gaze tracked each incoming attack.

Her expression never changed.

She raised her hand in a single gesture of dismissal, and the entire volley of spells and blades exploded in a violent burst of reversed energy.

Then she spoke.

”I see it upon you... The curse. The gnawing hunger that bleeds your sanity one breath at a time. Yes... You wear it well.”

She stepped forward with slow, regal grace. Every inch of her posture screamed nobility. Not the kind forged in court, but the kind born from absolute belief in one’s supremacy.

”I once knew that hunger. I was that hunger.” She placed a porcelain-pale hand across her heart, just beside the embedded artifact that pulsed rhythmically. ”But I overcame it. I consumed it. I became more than thirst. I became sovereign.”