Chapter 9: Nonchalant

⚠️You’ve entered danger-zone: CRIMSON EXPANSE, slay all the monsters and defeat the boss to exit.Flashing red notifications appeared before their eyes the moment they entered, but the three ignored them, focusing instead on their surroundings.

The Crimson Expanse covered an area as wide as three football fields combined. The air inside was thick with malevolent energy radiating from the abnormalities lurking within.

Daylight turned bright crimson because of the red-hued barrier, adding to the malevolence of the space.

The nerds shivered, but Marlon did a little stretching as his eyes gradually noted the positions of the different groups of monsters within the expanse, especially the group of sand raiders not too far away.

The sand raiders were one of the well-known desert abnormalities. They had humanoid builds and stood over six feet tall. Their bodies were brown and rough, seemingly molded out of desert sand. Each wielded a heavy rocky weapon powered by brute strength.

SHRIEK!

Suddenly, the group of six sand raiders shrieked with bloodlust and began stomping toward the boys, unaffected by the heavy sand.

"Fuck, they’re coming!" Ashton cried out, scared shitless, jumping to hug his friend.

Logan quickly turned to Marlon, who calmly observed the raiders with a nonchalant smile. His eyes widened with confusion—had they made a mistake following him?

But as soon as the sand raiders were a few seconds away from closing the distance, Marlon sprang forward with astonishing agility, spraying dust in his wake.

"Your opponent is me!" he barked.

In an instant, he was before a sand raider that swung its heavy rock bat at him, trying to shatter his waist with a single strike.

Before it could connect, an ethereal white glow covered Marlon’s hands as he activated Punch of Iron, striking the raider’s stomach with brutal speed.

—450

A gaping hole appeared in its sturdy body. Its entire health drained from a single punch, and it collapsed into the sand, raising a cloud of dust.

[ You’ve killed x1 Low-Rank Sand Raider. EXP +42 ]


[ Drain activated! You’ve absorbed 10 Aether Points. ]

The remaining five sand raiders froze immediately after one of their own was taken down.

Their hollow eyes widened in shock as they stared at the corpse, the hole glowing faintly under the crimson light.

The two nerds stood frozen in disbelief. How is that possible? He killed a sand raider with a single punch, something that would take a typical level 5 hunter more than thirty seconds of combat to defeat. No wonder he had been so confident from the beginning.

"What are you staring at? Come on, swing your weapons and fight, or it’ll be boring!" Marlon’s voice rang out, provoking the other san raiders as he punched another one to death.

Seeing a second one fall, the rest became furious and agitated.

With loud shrieks, they charged at Marlon.

Two of them kicked up sand in his direction, spraying dust to weaken his vision and take him down.

’I’ve studied you guys enough to know what you can do.’ Marlon smirked, shutting his eyes briefly before sprinting into a clearer spot.

When he opened them again, two sand raiders came into view, and he didn’t hesitate—his brute punches took them both down instantly.

Now only two remained, the same ones who had used the dust trick earlier.

But they were too agitated now, their minds clouded by rage. All strategy forgotten, only the urge to kill filled their heads.

"You want a piece of me? Come and get it!"

Marlon reached them before they reached him.

He performed a sweep kick, making one lose its footing, then struck the other dead with a clean hit.

As the one on the ground tried to rise, he brought down a merciless punch, shattering its head into fragments of rocky skin and splattering black blood.

[ You’ve killed x1 Low-Rank Sand Raider. EXP +42 ]

[ Drain activated! You’ve obtained a new skill: Rocky Body ]

[ Do you want to learn Rocky Body immediately? ]

"Yes!"

Instantly, a surge of foreign data rushed into his mind, followed by a sharp sting that coursed through his veins. Marlon gritted his teeth as his muscles tensed under the strange pressure.

The pain subsided after a few seconds.

Marlon felt his skin grow denser and heavier, as if covered by an invisible layer of armor.

[ Rocky Body (F-rank, Passive) — Reinforces the user’s skin and muscles, making the body denser and more resilient. Permanently increases physical defense by 5%. Reduces all earth-type damage taken by 20%. ]

"Incredible!"

He knew how rare it was to permanently raise defense stats. A free 5% boost without spending a single credit was insane.

Normally, people would burn through hundreds of thousands of credits for something like this—but he’d gotten it from a quick, effortless battle that lasted less than five minutes.

"I’m blessed with the most incredible system and talent!" he grinned, clenching his fist in excitement.

At the back, near the red-hued barrier, the two nerds wore incredulous expressions as they stared at him, still clinging to each other in fear.

They were speechless.

Marlon was known across camp as the weakest and weirdest trainee. People even said that if it wasn’t for his family status, he wouldn’t have been allowed to participate.

Yet now, that same person was one-shotting monsters effortlessly.

As their thoughts raced, Marlon turned toward them.

"You two, come and harvest these monsters," he ordered loudly.

They nodded quickly, afraid disobeying might get them beaten up.

Rushing to the sand raider corpses, they drew their small daggers and began digging into the skulls, occasionally stealing glances at Marlon—the nonchalant, confident, and heroic figure standing tall amidst the crimson sand.

But before they could finish, the ground suddenly trembled as one of the toughest beings in the Crimson Expanse made its grand entry.

....

First Week Challenge:

Every 50 Powerstones Equal 3 Extra Chaps.

Current: 50/50

STATUS: complete

3 Extra Chaps would be released today and tomorrow.

Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

BONUS: 1 Extra Chapter for any comments, 2 for reviews .