The System Awakens: Rise of the Champion-Chapter 98: The One-Week Plan

[The leader of the [Vampire] faction, ’Aeron Brenlith,’ has accepted the declaration of war from ’Infinity,’ the leader of the [Circle of Ouroboros] faction.]

[In one week’s time, the war between the [Vampire] faction and the [Circle of Ouroboros] faction will begin.]

[During this one-week period, all conditions of the war declaration will take effect.]

[Until the war begins, members of both factions are forbidden from attacking each other, and the hostage, ’Arlen Ayre Dathyra,’ will be kept safe until the war ends.]

[Make your necessary preparations before the war begins.]

[Remaining time until war begins: 06(D):23(H):59(M):59(S)]

"W-What did you do?"

Shiru, Sir Holloway, Elfie, Maria, and her seven sisters all stared at Damian, who continued eating his meal as if he hadn’t just declared war on one of the most powerful factions in the realm of Solarta.

"I just executed my plan. What else?" Damian shrugged, unconcerned.

"You’re kidding, right?" Sir Holloway shook his head in disbelief.

"You were stressing about finding a peaceful way to save her brother and avoid conflict with the noble vampires, then you go and declare war against them? What the hell were you thinking? Do you seriously believe you can take on the noble vampires alone?"

"No... I don’t think I can fight them, at least not with the power I have right now... That’s why I made sure there’s a one-week delay before the war begins... I’ll make sure I get strong enough to beat them in that time."

"You’ll do what?" Elfie clutched her head in frustration.

"What are you even talking about? This is bad. This is so bad. I can’t believe I asked for help from someone this crazy. And I even joined his faction. Now I’m going to die."

The elf’s eyes welled up with tears, while Maria and her sisters shook their heads at the absurdity of Damian’s actions.

Damian frowned at their reactions. "Can you all stop overreacting? The world hasn’t ended yet."

"Then how do you think they’re going to react when they hear you declared war against a faction of vampires? What was your thought process when you did this? Didn’t I tell you that once a war is declared and accepted, there’s no taking it back? What gave you this kind of confidence? This is outrageous. You’re not just gambling with your own life, you’re gambling with the lives of everyone in this faction."

Shiru dropped to her knees, already imagining the grim fate that awaited her in a week’s time.

She wondered if she’d go to heaven or hell when she died, most likely hell, considering all the degenerate, naughty novels she secretly read.

"This is out of control now," she muttered.

"And since the war has already been declared, there’s no leaving the faction either. I’m stuck in a war I don’t even care about."

She held her head, mirroring Elfie, who was having a similar crisis.

Damian sighed and stood up, trying to calm everyone down. "Stop it, stop it. This isn’t the end of the world. Trust me, I have a plan and we’re going to win."

"You have a plan?" Shiru smacked her forehead.

"Yes. No, because you all won’t stop sobbing hysterically," Damian rolled his eyes, exasperated.

"What is this plan of yours?" Sir Holloway asked, taking a deep breath.

He wasn’t too worried since his contract with Damian stated that he didn’t have to participate in battles, and he could leave the faction anytime he wanted, even with the war countdown active.

But he wasn’t going to leave just yet.

He was curious to see what this uniquely abnormal human would do.

"All our problems will disappear as long as I gain the power to deal with them. Right now, I’m not strong enough to defeat them, which is why I made sure the war starts in one week," Damian explained.

Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.

"First of all, how the hell do you plan to become that strong in just one week? And second, why the hell would you declare war in the first place?" Shiru stomped her foot.

"Listen, if I hadn’t declared war with a time limit, they could’ve attacked us anytime they wanted. But since I declared it, they can’t touch us for a whole week until the war officially begins. And since we’re already at war, no other factions will interfere either, making us basically untouchable for one week."

Damian then turned to Elfie. "And since one of the war conditions is that if we win, they’ll have to release your brother, and until the war ends, they can’t harm him in any way, he’ll be safe for at least a week. So yes, I thought this through before declaring war."

"And before you ask, I made sure to declare war first because it gave me the right to set the war conditions and the preparation time. I didn’t want to take any chances. What if they attacked us tonight or tomorrow morning? I didn’t want any surprises."

"...That’s not a bad plan," Maria commented.

She wasn’t too concerned since she wasn’t a part of this faction, but she was curious about what Damian would do.

For some reason, she had a feeling that he had everything under control.

Maybe it was his confidence, or maybe it was the calm, nonchalant look on his face, but she wanted to see what he was planning.

"...Then why did you have to put that humiliating statement in the war declaration announcement?" Shiru asked, sighing.

"Well, he wouldn’t have accepted the war challenge otherwise... I know his pride wouldn’t allow him to refuse after such a humiliating statement. I didn’t want to give him any chance," Damian shrugged.

"It’s not a bad plan, but it only protects us until the war begins. What about after that? Do you really think you can grow strong enough to fight them?" Sir Holloway asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"...Well, not exactly," Damian admitted with a sigh.

"I don’t know if I can become strong enough to defeat them, but I do know I can grow significantly stronger, maybe strong enough to defend us at least."

"And how exactly do you plan to get that strong?" Shiru asked, frustrated.

"Ever since I evolved, I’ve started feeling something. It’s complicated. It’s like a hunch, or a sense of knowing, almost like premonition. I don’t have the exact words to explain it, but I can say for sure that I’m really close to figuring something out, something that will make me much stronger."

"What kind of bullshit is that? Are you telling me you’re evolving again or something?" Shiru raised an eyebrow.

"No. I can’t explain it. I just know it," Damian shrugged.

"It might actually be a premonition," Sir Holloway mused.

"You know how some humans get a bad feeling that something terrible is going to happen, and somehow, it actually does? Or how some people guess things correctly with an impossible level of accuracy? I’ve seen this kind of phenomenon before in different beings. Maybe what’s happening to you is the same, but on a much stronger scale."

Experience tales at novelbuddy

"You mean because I’m an evolved human, I’m feeling it more intensely?" Damian asked.

"Possibly. But this isn’t exactly a premonition. It would be more accurate to call it an instinct. Normal humans experience feelings like this sometimes, but they’re usually wrong."

It’s just probabilities.

The ability to truly foresee the future is incredibly rare, and even if a human had it, their mind wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Many races have racial abilities that require training and practice to develop.

Take noble vampires, for example.

One of their racial abilities is telekinesis, but they can’t use it naturally.

It has to be trained.

Even after years of practice, a noble vampire would struggle to move something as small as a can of blood.

"I believe this ’premonition’ of yours is similar. It’s a racial ability, but for humans. Unlike other races, humans can’t develop it, and it doesn’t work consistently."

"However, since you’re an evolved human, the accuracy of your instincts has increased significantly. You may not be able to see the future, but your intuition is now far stronger than that of a normal human."

Sir Holloway smirked. "This is actually very interesting. I always thought this was just a stupid theory of mine, but seeing you, I might be right. Even humans have racial abilities, huh?"

"Whatever… I’m going to follow this intuition of mine. I also have something in mind, but I haven’t figured it out yet. I’m going into seclusion, or rather, I’m going somewhere else, just not anywhere in the First Tower Realm," Damian said with a serious expression.

"I’m going to become stronger. That’s how it is."

"This intuition of yours… is it about reaching the Grandmaster Realm? Are you going to become a Sword Grandmaster?" Sir Holloway asked with doubt.

"No… it’s related to my cultivation," Damian shook his head before looking at his two faction members, who would be most affected if he didn’t grow strong enough to defeat the vampire faction in one week’s time.

"Just trust me… when I’m finished, this faction war will be nothing but a small matter."

Damian summoned something from his system inventory, and a golden-colored card manifested out of thin air, landing in his hand.

[The Elemental Dungeon Card (Grade: Custom)]

"I’m going dungeon hunting…" Damian said.

This was one of the rewards he had obtained from completing one of the twenty trials before reaching the First Tower Realm.

"I don’t know what you’re planning to do, but I strongly advise you not to overdo it," Sir Holloway sighed.

"Come on, we both know I’m definitely going to overdo it regardless, but thanks for your advice," Damian replied before suddenly raising an eyebrow as he remembered something.

He turned his gaze to the eight ex-warrior nuns.

"Before I go, I want a favor from you all. And of course, I will return the favor if you decide to help me with this," Damian said, looking at the eight women.

"What do you want from us? We have nothing valuable enough to give you," Maria asked, shrugging.

She was right.

She and her sisters didn’t possess anything that would be worth a favor in return.

"Oh, but you do… I want your Holy Energy," Damian smiled.

The others had a look of disbelief in their eyes.

"You’re not going to do what I think you are, right?" Sir Holloway asked.

He knew that Damian had some sort of ability that allowed him to obtain any type of energy he wanted, and it seemed he was about to witness it in action.

"How? I can’t give you my power. That’s impossible," Maria said, confused.

She didn’t know much about Damian’s abilities, so she had no idea what he was talking about.

"I can absorb your power for myself, but I can assure you it won’t harm you. It might drain your Holy Energy reserves, but you can replenish them with some time. What do you say?" Damian asked, thinking this was a good opportunity to obtain Holy Energy for himself.

Maria didn’t fully understand what kind of ability Damian possessed, but since what he was asking for wouldn’t cost them much, just a temporary depletion of their Holy Energy, which could be restored through meditation, she saw no real downside.

She looked at her sisters, and after a couple of minutes of pondering, she returned her gaze to Damian.

"If I agree to let you do this, I want something in return. As for what I want, I haven’t decided yet, so I’ll need a contract to formalize our deal."

"Alright," Damian agreed.

After a few minutes of formulating the contract and getting it signed by both parties, Damian pointed his hands at the eight sisters.

"This won’t hurt at all, but you will feel drained of energy," he warned before activating his unique innate ability.

[Extraction: Unique Innate Ability Activated]