Path of the Unmentioned: The Missing Piece - Chapter 3: A Brush with Death

Liam was a nobody, whether it was grades or sports or appearance or social life. Not because he didn't have a brain but because his luck was just that bad. However, everything changed when a mysterious game called 'Evolution Online' was suddenly launched. The world he knew changed upside down!

There was blood, death, and carnage everywhere. While everyone from small companies and big governments scrambled to get a foothold on this mysterious video game, some people's lives turned for the better and some for the worse.

Liam, unfortunately, being the latter, still somehow ended up at the bottom of the barrel. His insignificant life was squished like an insect and his loved ones were destroyed right in front of him. In the end, he was already dead without ever having a single chance to fight back.

But his story did not end there. Liam found himself returned back to the time before everything began!

Watch as the young man who was once a nobody reaches for the pinnacle of strength and power wreaking havoc on the world that destroyed him once! This time everything will be different!

In this world, there exist Confucians, Daoists, Buddhists, Demons, and Arcanists.Xu Qi’an, a police academy graduate, suddenly finds himself waking up in a prison, set to be exiled to the frontier three days later…His initial goal was to protect himself in this world with no human rights and to be able to live a leisurely life as a rich man.…Many years later, Xu Qi’an looks back on the past, with long-dead enemies and friends, as well as the numerous bones he has left behind.As the Yangtze River flows eastward, the waves wash away the heroes; right and wrong, success or failure will all turn into nothing but history.However, just like the sun’s rays gleaming over the towering mountains, after each sunset, a new sun will rise.

It begins on the mountain.

With the glint of a knife, a flash of steel in the hands of a sworn brother. A betrayal.

Stabbed and pushed down the mountain, Zi Chen lied within the red-stained snow, left to die.

This is where it begins; he is given life by lightning,
baptized by thunder.

Those who had once betrayed him should all suffer in his cruel revenge.

- Description from Novelupdates

Facing extinction, humanity seeks salvation in the Astral Verge, a dangerous dimension accessed via portals that threatened to wipe out the entire planet.Few years later, aspiring recruit Daniel Vance enters the Verge for his final assessment, hoping to Awaken a Talent and secure his future. While others gain common abilities, Daniel secretly Awakens the mythical SSS-Grade Talent: [Soul Assimilation]. This allows him to absorb essence, enhancing gear, gaining stats and EXP from slain creatures, and crucially, absorbing attributes and skills from fallen Awakened.Witnessing the swift death of the arrogant Jaxon Rex, Daniel makes a grim choice: he assimilates Jaxon, gaining his first skill, [Kinetic Pulse]. This sets his path: scavenging the aftermath of others’ battles. He enhances gear and, after achieving his first kill on an injured beast, waits patiently to assimilate two more fallen recruits, acquiring [Quick Step] and the invaluable passive [Aura Sense].Starting as average, Daniel rapidly gains power in secret, enhanced gear, multiple skills, and boosted stats , far exceeding his peers while remaining outwardly unremarkable. He navigates the lethal Verge alone, using its inherent dangers to fuel his growth, wrestling with the moral cost of his unique, overwhelming power.