Villain: Ultimate Mutation System in the Alternate World

His once quickly moving wings froze, hovering in the sky.

'There's something out there,' he thought, eyes fixed on the horizon.

A hunch urged him to investigate.

He looked down at the track below, torn between continuing to the next city or following his instinct.

'Where there's danger, there are rewards,' he mused. If it was another crystallized negative energy, he couldn't afford to ignore it.

Crystallized Energy was one of the best resources for him. It allowed him to gain attribute and skill points without relying on the slow process of normal leveling up.

SWOOOOSH!

With a decisive flap of his wings, he sped toward the source of his odd feeling.

As he flew closer, the air grew colder and the landscape more barren, confirming his instincts.

'This is farther than I expected,' he thought, already over 10 kilometers in.

Soon, he spotted a hill, sensing something emanating from there.

After landing, he found only sand swept by the wind from his wings.

'I'm certain I sensed something,' he thought, kneeling to touch the cold darkened sand.

'It's underground,' he concluded .

With his discovery, he reshaped his hand into a rapidly spinning drill. He drove it into the sand, piercing through with ease.

He kept drilling, the ground giving way under the rotation of his makeshift drill.

Suddenly, a loud crack echoed through, followed by a rumble as the hillside collapsed.

Dust and debris flew as the ground gave in, revealing a massive hole beneath.

"What is this feeling?" Reign was stunned.

After the hole was exposed, he sensed a resonance deep within himself.

Shutting his eyes, he concentrated, trying to figure out what it was.

'My runes are reacting!'

He decided to investigate the hole further. With slow steps, he approached the edge where the hill had collapsed.

Peering down into the darkness, he sensed an unusual energy emanating from below getting stronger.

Without hesitation, he extended his wings and descended into the depths.

As he descended deeper, the air grew cooler.

The sensation of power grew stronger, drawing him closer and closer.

After a minute, he touched down on solid ground at the bottom of the hole, greeted by a sight that was both extraordinary and unfamiliar.

Cave walls had patterns and symbols he did not understand.

The markings resembled Asian script, characterized by intricate strokes and complex characters. The symbols had graceful but meticulous design. Each stroke connected seamlessly to the next, forming elaborate patterns.

'Are they the same ones from my old world?' he wondered.

It wasn't impossible for the same type of language to exist here, especially considering that katanas also existed.

'What's that?' His eyes were drawn to a particular object in the middle of the cave; a small glowing rock sat on a stand.

But this rock was unique. It wasn't just glowing; symbols around it moved in real time. Just by looking at it, he could tell this rune contained a lot of power.

'No wonder the Hunters could grow so strong with this' he muttered, studying the rune closely.

"But is finding a rune really this easy?" he wondered silently.

He had imagined it would be more challenging, considering how powerful and useful it was.

However, he didn't sense anything wrong with the place at all.

After pondering for a while, he began to consider that maybe it had been easier for him to find this place because he possessed something that others did not.

And that was because he had a number of runes.

With several of them integrated into his core already, they acted like a radar, guiding him to this place that would normally be very hard to find.

'I'll just take it then, the more the better,' he chuckled. It was an unexpected perk, so there was no need to hesitate.

He slowly walked toward the stand and observed rune. It was yellow with intricate patterns etched into its surface.

As he extended his hand towards the rune, expecting an easy grab, the rune suddenly surged with power.

'What's happening?' he asked with a puzzled look.

In the next moment, the rune erupted with a blinding flash of light and a deafening boom.

A shock-wave blasted outward. It slammed him so hard that he was hurled backward and crashed against the cave wall.

'The heck was that?' he grumbled, shaking off the surprise.

The shock-wave was not strong; it had just caught him off guard.

He tried grabbing it again, this time bracing himself.

As the light flashed, he planted his feet firmly on the ground and channeled his power to anchor himself, determined not to be thrown back again.

'Okay, bring it on… I'm ready,' he muttered confidently.

But to his surprise—and slight embarrassment—the shock-wave turned out to be even stronger than before.

Despite his efforts, he found himself flying backwards again

"Whoa, okay, maybe not that ready,' he exclaimed as he crashed into a nearby pile of rocks, sending them scattering in all directions.

He quickly stood up and shook off the debris from his body

'Third time's the charm,' he reassured himself with a determined nod.

This time, he came more prepared.

He created spikes on his feet for better grip and summoned hundreds of sharp tendrils that pierced into the cave walls, acting like cables to anchor himself firmly against the expected attack.

As the stone flashed and hummed with power again, he braced himself.

BOOOOOOM!

The shock wave hit with unexpected force, despite his preparations.

The spikes gripped the ground, and the tendrils strained against the walls, but he was still lifted off his feet, soaring through the air again.

'Seriously?' he exclaimed in disbelief as he landed with a thud, this time in a heap of loose rubble.

He shook his head , dusting himself off again.

'I don't think this rune wants to be taken away,' he clicked his tongue in annoyance. At this point, he was convinced that the shock-wave was not following the laws of physics at all.

He calculated the level of force each shock-wave had generated.

Despite their power, they shouldn't have been able to throw someone like him off balance.

This meant something strange was shielding the stone from his grasp.

'If I can't take it with my strong body, there's no way a human could. So how did the hunters get this things?,' he reasoned .

'There must be a way to get this stone.'

Unfortunately, he lacked the knowledge to figure out what it was, so trial and error looked to be his only option.

He paced around it, deep in thought. He knew brute force wouldn't work, so he began considering alternative approaches.

First, he tried to use his wind to blow the stone away. As the rune flashed again, he put more effort, but the stone didn't even flinch.

"If wind isn't enough, then how about this?" He materialized a railgun and shot it point-blank.

As the round left the barrel with a loud humming sound, it traveled at hypervelocity toward the stone.

However, just before impact, the projectile bent around the stone. It then ricocheted back towards him.

He was struck in the arm at close range, sending him flying and pinned against the wall.