Gabriel left the ancient knight’s chamber through the same narrow side route he had used earlier, his steps quieter than before as the old pressure faded behind him.

The shard remained inside his inventory, but the strange reaction from his Extraction talent stayed in his mind longer than the knight’s warning.

He wanted to pull it out and extract it immediately.

The urge was stronger than he expected, especially because the shard contained information about Core Suppressing Spike. However, this was still the Buried God’s Tomb, and using his talent on something ancient here could leave him open at the worst possible time.

’Not here. If it pulls me into something like the memory fragment, I might die before I even understand what happened.’

Gabriel slowed his breathing and continued moving.

The side route was just as narrow as before, but the air inside had changed. The yin pocket he had crossed earlier had thickened, and dead qi now pressed against him with more force than before, making the walls feel closer even though the passage itself had not changed.

His mana flickered once.

Gabriel frowned slightly beneath the mask, not from fear, but from irritation. This tomb was getting worse quickly, and if the side routes were already changing this much, the main paths were probably becoming more dangerous as well.

As he walked through the dense qi, another thought entered his mind.

His gaze moved to the wall beside him.

The stone was old, cold, and soaked with the same energy that filled the tomb. Since it carried qi and had existed here for countless years, it might be something his talent could extract from.

Gabriel stopped and placed his palm against the wall.

"Extract," he muttered.

A faint system prompt appeared before his eyes almost immediately.

[Do you wish to extract from Ancient Tomb Wall? Cost: 50 EP]

Gabriel looked at the screen for half a second before answering.

"Yes."

The wall trembled lightly under his palm, and three choices appeared in front of him.

[Iron Body Palm Technique]

[Minor Grave Qi Circulation Method]

[Class Fragment: Martial Artist]

Gabriel’s eyes moved over the options slowly.

The first was a martial art skill, most likely a close-range palm technique that used qi to strengthen the body and strike with force. It sounded useful, but without the proper foundation, using it would be like swinging a weapon without knowing its balance.

The second option was even less suitable.

A cultivation method was useful for people who followed the Tianlan system, but Gabriel was not a cultivator. Learning it now without time to build a foundation would only waste the value of the extraction.

His gaze stopped on the third option.

So far, he only had two proper classes, his main Berserker class and his Demonic Exorcist subclass. If he could gain a Martial Artist class fragment, even a low-grade one, it might help him deal with the qi inside the tomb.

"Choose Martial Artist."

The system screen flashed once.

The change happened instantly.

Gabriel’s body did not explode with power, and there was no painful shift like when he had completed class advancement before. Instead, something inside him adjusted quietly, as if a part of his senses had been turned toward a direction he had never used properly.

The qi around him became clearer.

It was still oppressive, still cold, and still dangerous, but he no longer felt like he was walking through a force that hated his existence. He could feel the flow now, faintly but clearly, and his body understood how to move with a small part of it instead of resisting everything head-on.

A new system message appeared.

[You have learned Qi Manipulation LV.1]

Gabriel lifted his hand and pulled a faint thread of qi from the air. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The strand moved around his fingers awkwardly at first, but after a few seconds, it formed a thin line before breaking apart. It was rough control, but it was control all the same.

’Not bad.’

After testing out the skill, he continued moving.

The difference became clearer with each step. The dense yin pocket still pressed against him, but now he could guide a thin layer of qi around his body, reducing the direct pressure on his mana and making the passage easier to cross.

A few minutes later, sounds of battle reached his ears.

Metal struck bone somewhere ahead. A spell exploded against stone. Someone shouted an order, and another voice cursed loudly before a monster screeched in response.

Gabriel’s perception spread forward and soon found the source of the sound.

It was ChaosKnight.

They were close, and from the number of chaotic movements he sensed, they were not having an easy time. Several presences were weaker than before, and more than one member seemed injured.

Gabriel stepped into a thinner section of the passage and pressed one hand against the wall crack in front of him.

The gap was small, far too narrow for most people, but his body slipped through it with a slight twist of his shoulders. A few pieces of stone scraped against his coat, but he passed through without slowing much.

On the other side, ChaosCleric nearly dropped his staff.

The man had been aiming a spell toward the front when Gabriel stepped out from the wall crack beside him. His fingers loosened, his eyes widened, and the staff dipped so suddenly that the spell gathering at the tip almost collapsed.

"What the hell?"

Gabriel glanced at him calmly. "Careful. You almost hit your own foot."

ChaosCleric’s face twitched before recognition settled in. "White Phantom? Why are you coming out of the wall like some cursed tomb monster?"

Before Gabriel could answer, a skeletal beast crashed through one of the front shields and sent two ChaosKnight members stumbling backward. One of them had blood running down his arm, while the other could barely hold his weapon properly.

BANG!!!

The beast slammed into the floor, leaving a basin-sized hole in the stone before raising its broken head again. Its bones were darker than the monsters near the entrance, and the dead qi around its body moved more violently.

Gabriel’s eyes moved across the battlefield.

ChaosKnight was locked in a deadly battle. Several members were injured, and even those still standing looked strained. IceQueen fought near the center, her face colder than usual, but her breathing was heavier than before as she managed the formation while casting attacks at the same time.

Vv stood at the front with the massive sword in hand.

The armored figure had blocked two monsters alone, but the scratches across the armor and the slight delay between movements showed that the tomb’s pressure was affecting even Vv. The others were in worse condition, and the guide looked pale as he pointed toward another wave coming from the deeper passage.

ChaosCleric swallowed and tightened his grip on his staff. "They got stronger after the last turn. This place is insane."

A monster lunged toward Gabriel from the left.

Gabriel did not draw his sword. His hand moved first, catching the creature by the skull before it could bite, and with one twist, he drove its head into the wall.

CRACK!!!

Bone broke apart, black fluid splashed across the stone, and the body dropped beside his feet without moving again.

Gabriel looked toward the deeper corridor, where more monsters were coming with heavier pressure than the ones before. Their levels had clearly risen, and the dead qi around them was thicker, almost forming a faint layer over their rotten bodies.

His gaze narrowed, and he nodded his head.

"They are indeed stronger."

But he didn’t panic.

...This was progress, and it only meant one thing. They were getting closer to the deeper part.