"I have to eat this?"

Chun Ma stared at the eerie black pill. Even the dumbest person would know it was brimming with poison.

'I get the theory, using poison to build resistance, but that's supposed to be a gradual process. It takes years, even decades or centuries. Poison resistance isn't built overnight.'

He turned the pill over in his hand, then glanced at Rim Soo-Yun. She had already swallowed hers without hesitation and now sat cross-legged in meditation.

"Hmm?" he muttered, observing her carefully. She remained completely still. Not a single shift in the molecules around her, not even a subtle movement of her breathing.

It seemed… there really might not be a trick to enduring the poison after all.

Then, Chun Ma swallowed the pill in one gulp.

Immediately, green veins spread across his body, and a searing pain shot through his chest.

He collapsed to the ground, roaring like a starving beast, then fainted on the spot.

He wasn't alone; other ordinary people were going through the same ordeal, caught between life and death.

"This is the second gate: the Gate of Spirit. Haha."

The bearded man grinned as he observed the chaos. His gaze inevitably landed on Chun Ma. But when he saw him writhing, crying, and roaring in agony and fainting, he shook his head in utter disappointment.

"I thought he was special, but it was nothing more than abnormal strength. Unfortunately, strength can only carry you so far."

Chun Ma felt like he was drifting in a dream, a void of endless darkness, where he floated weightlessly.

The only sensations that reached him were coldness and an all-consuming shadow.

Then, slowly, a gate appeared before him, parting the darkness. A violet-purple light spilled into the void, casting eerie glows in every direction.

Whispers began to echo in his ears.

"Outsider, how dare you try to open your soul in our world."

"That's right... in our world... hehe..."

Thousands of voices overlapped and echoed, crawling into his mind as Chun Ma slowly opened his eyes, only to be struck by a horrendous pain piercing through his heart.

Before he could speak, his vision shifted, to a blood-soaked battlefield strewn with millions of corpses. Rivers of blood flowed endlessly, painting the land in crimson.

He was bound in chains atop a tower that loomed over it all.

A searing heat radiated from every fiber of his being. Then the clouds parted, revealing a god-like figure descending from the heavens.

"Human. Surrender all resistance and die a peaceful death. Otherwise, I shall grant you eternal torture and damnation."

"Ahhh—!"

Chun Ma's scream of agony echoed across the desolate plain as he thrashed his arms and legs, struggling to recover from his wounds, but he couldn't.

Something, something strange and unseen, was suppressing him, preventing him from healing, from fighting back.

Pain, perhaps the highest form of imagination, couldn't even begin to describe what he was feeling. It was as if his very body were shattering, his nails being ripped out with every breath, and countless needles piercing his skin with every passing nanosecond.

It felt like the door to death had already swung open before him. He could sense it, feel the pull, but his hand couldn't reach it. Death, it seemed, had become heaven in itself.

"What is happening to me? What is this unspeakably terrifying sensation?" Chun Ma screamed in turmoil, the overwhelming emotion pushing his senses to the brink of madness, with no escape in sight.

Though his body roared in agony, his cold blue eyes gleamed with calculation. He wasn't actually consumed by the pain.

'This pain, this place—they're only affecting my mind, aren't they?'

With his hive mind skill, even the highest invasion couldn't invade his mind. He had only fallen victim to it because of his disorientation earlier.

"Do you give up, outsider?" The giant entity's voice rumbled as it extended its hand. Before it, Chun Ma seemed like nothing more than a speck of dust, unable to even raise his head.

But, despite the excruciating pain ravaging his body, a grin tugged at the corner of Chun Ma's lips.

"I'll never give up, you mere insect."

His cold words echoed through the void, and reality itself began to crack like shattered glass.

"How can your spirit remain unfettered, human?!" Thousands of voices reverberated around him.

"Die."

Chun Ma spoke a single word, and in that instant, everything disappeared, as if swept away by an unstoppable force.

[You have survived the catastrophe of the outer creature.]

[You have gained the title <Invader>.]

...

<Invader> (Exclusive)

A special title granted to those who have successfully integrated with a new world. It bestows one random ability from that world. You have gained the ability of Martial Space.

...

His vision shifted again, this time, it wasn't reality he saw, but a grand throne room. In the center of the room, a massive blob of green pulsed and grew with every passing second.

Is this... poison?

Before he could consider it further, green figures began to emerge from the core, each one armed and preparing to strike.

Chun Ma shot forward with lightning speed, his fist smashing through the fire-green figure. The moment it was destroyed, its liquid contents splattered all over his body.

Cough!

Chun Ma spat blood but quickly shook his head, 'This is just an illusion, nothing more.'

With each passing moment, his limbs grew weaker as he tore through each figure, one by one.

The exhaustion was overwhelming, his body screaming in pain, but he kept going. By the end, he was utterly drained, collapsing to the ground, his eyes vacant and hollow.

But, the figures didn't stop. They continued their relentless march, growing in number with each passing second.

Chun Ma, lying there, glanced at the advancing figures, a smirk slowly curling his lips:

"Hahaha, I'm so stupid. Why fight the poison, when I can become the poison?"

In that exact moment, every green figure froze in place.

Chun Ma, barely able to stand, limped toward the green blob. Without hesitation, he leaped into it, embracing it entirely.

The excruciating pain that had been tearing through his body vanished instantly, replaced by a strange warmth.

The next moment, Chun Ma's groggy eyes opened. He was being carried and right ahead was a flowing green river, its currents filled with death energy.

Before he could comprehend what was happening, two figures tossed him into the river without a hint of mercy.

"What the fuck!?"