Imprisoned for a Trillion Years, I Was Worshipped by All Gods!

This… How much time has even passed?!

Dixon's eyes were wide in shock.

He had never expected Daniel to advance this quickly!

It had barely been any time at all—and yet, Daniel had already broken through to Jade Rank?!

A surge of Jade Rank energy exploded from Daniel's body.

At that moment, many of the competitors were just waking up from their meditative states, having finished their comprehension attempts.

Veya was among them.

She looked at Daniel in utter disbelief.

Because she could clearly sense it—

Daniel had advanced to Jade Rank.

When did that happen?!

Did he… just break through?!

—

Daniel's breakthrough had created a massive energy fluctuation, drawing the attention of almost everyone.

No one had ever imagined that something like this could happen at the Enlightenment Competition.

Why would someone ignore the sword mark's comprehension—

And choose to break through instead?

Wasn't that a waste of an opportunity?!

—

"I told you, didn't I?" Kara said to Morris.

"This kid… is a monster."

If she hadn't personally investigated Daniel, she wouldn't have believed it either.

But now—

Daniel had proven it with his actions.

Breaking through from Platinum Rank to Jade Rank in mere moments…

And doing so without any bottleneck…

It was something almost unimaginable.

A true anomaly.

Even Morris, despite being an experienced master artificer, was visibly shaken.

He could sense the fluctuations in mana and was certain—

Daniel had used a magic array!

Otherwise, it would have been impossible to gather so much mana in such a short time.

Which meant—

If Daniel were given enough mana…

How far could he actually go?

—

A Strange Phenomenon

But suddenly—

Morris noticed something else.

An invisible force pulsed from the center of the arena.

"Wait… The Blue Stone?!"

Morris immediately sensed the disturbance.

The source of the strange energy ripple was none other than the Blue Stone itself.

"The Blue Stone… Something's happening to it!"

Morris exclaimed.

The Thousand Suns Hall officials also noticed the anomaly.

This was unprecedented.

Nothing like this had ever happened before in any previous Enlightenment Competition.

"What's going on?"

"Could someone have… somehow resonated with the sword mark?"

The lead official of Thousand Suns Hall swiftly locked onto a single figure—

Daniel.

Even from his vantage point, it was clear—

Daniel, who was still in the middle of his breakthrough, had somehow triggered a resonance with the sword mark.

And yet—

Daniel's energy was still rising, showing no sign of stopping.

It was as if—

He was using the sword mark's power to fuel his breakthrough.

Of course—@@novelbin@@

That's exactly what Daniel wanted them to think.

In reality—

His previously set-up magic array had been designed to absorb surrounding mana.

Now—

Daniel had used a minor trick.

He had subtly manipulated the sword mark using his understanding of destruction laws, making it seem like they were resonating.

But in truth, all he had done was artificially stimulate the sword mark.

It was merely an illusion.

—

Within minutes, Daniel had advanced from Jade Rank to Diamond Rank.

All of the surrounding mana had been completely drained into him.

And just like that—

Daniel's rank had stabilized at Diamond Rank.

At this point, many of the other competitors had stopped meditating.

Because they realized—

With such an enormous spectacle, there was no way they could continue comprehending anything.

Daniel's grand breakthrough had been too distracting.

No matter how strong-willed someone was—

There was no way they could focus amidst such a massive energy disturbance.

So, they had no choice but to stop.

—

Shock Among the Competitors

"Wait… this guy just jumped straight to Diamond Rank?!"

The other competitors were stunned.

Daniel had—

Resonated with the sword mark.

And used it to advance all the way to Diamond Rank.

That was…

An impossible feat.

Even if they tried to do the same, there was no way they could pull it off.

—

"He's insane," one competitor muttered.

Even the other contestants couldn't help but admire Daniel.

To witness something like this at the Enlightenment Competition…

It was beyond rare.

An unprecedented event.

Everyone was in awe—

None of them could even begin to comprehend how Daniel had done it.

To them—

It was nothing short of a miracle.

And just at that moment—

The bells of Thousand Suns Hall rang out.

The final round of the competition had officially ended.

—

The Aftermath

As the bell echoed across the arena, the Thousand Suns Hall official stepped forward, smiling.

"What an incredible competition this has been!"

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"Now I'm even more excited to see what surprises you all have in store!"

Then—

He turned toward Daniel.

"Especially you."

Daniel simply smiled and said nothing.

The sword mark…

Did they really need to ask how much he comprehended?

He was the one who had helped Rose master it in the first place.

—

Veya's Congratulations

"Daniel, congratulations!"

Veya approached him with a smile.

"I always knew you weren't normal… But I never expected you'd be this insane."

She sighed.

She had already known that she and Daniel weren't on the same level.

But she hadn't expected the gap to reveal itself so quickly.

So quickly that she felt caught off guard.

With this kind of talent…

Even Artisan's Sanctuary would fight over him.

Daniel simply waved a hand dismissively.

"What about you?" he asked. "How do you feel about your results?"

"I think I did okay," Veya said. "Honestly, I probably made the top ten, and that's thanks to you fixing my magic array core."

"That's good," Daniel nodded.

Then—

"How about we exchange insights?" he suggested.

"Maybe we'll both gain something."

—

The Final Test

Now, it was time to determine the rankings.

Each competitor would demonstrate how much they had comprehended from the sword mark.

The Thousand Suns Hall officials had prepared another Blue Stone.

Each contestant would strike the stone with a single sword attack—

And their ranking would be determined based on the depth of the cut they left behind.

The first competitor stepped up.

This was the same contestant who had openly challenged Greg earlier.

Looking confident, he gripped his sword with one hand—

And unleashed his strike!

A powerful sword aura collided with the Blue Stone, sending stone fragments flying.

A loud boom echoed across the field.

As the dust settled—

A sword mark measuring just over two inches deep was left on the stone.

The competitor exhaled in relief.

He seemed satisfied with his result.

Compared to the original sword mark they had studied, this was nothing—

But considering the short amount of time they had for comprehension, it was a decent result.

And in the next few attempts—

No one had managed to surpass his record.

Most of them only left behind sword marks around one inch deep.

Some didn't even reach one inch.

At the moment—

Only one other person, a female contestant, had come close to the two-inch mark.

But then—

Kara turned her gaze to the back of the group.

"I wonder…"

She murmured.

"How will Daniel perform?"