Back to what was happening in reality, the thuggish driver escaping from the police was still on the run.

After gathering many of his accomplices, he disposed of the body the quickest way he knew.

Since it was easier to hide a tree in a forest, the gangsters hid the Simon's corpse in a cemetery.

Body disposal like this wasn't that rare. The only reason they didn't take him somewhere to be decomposed was thanks to the other Fangs. The order had been given to keep what's left of him.

It was planned that they'd pick up the corpse in a few months. The 'heat' on them had died down.

Little did he know that... the corpse had started to resurrect ever since Jordan told him to 'Wake up!'.

Once the old drunkard began to blink and fully open his eyes, the Holy Energy within circulated.

His consciousness waned several times...

Perhaps thanks to his recent 'death', the geezer's really long life started flashing before his eyes...

Some scenes were random and disjointed, but there was one origin of all the things that occurred.

It was before his first Summoning; when he was just your 'average genius high schooler' of no reputation. He didn't know that his life would turn out so ridiculous and full of misfortune events.

All he knew was that he was beyond others...

Simon understood that it was hard for someone like him to fit into society. He was far too rational to an extreme. Smart? Sure... However, there was a lot more to life than being able to do math equations.

Being able to form meaningful connections was one of them. After all, humans were social animals.

High school was an educational facility which was a microcosm of society. It was a poorly constructed summarisation of the ways people reacted in real life, but it was enough. Imperfection meant having the innate potential to turn into something more.

Despite being a mere youth at the time, Simon had already been able to see straight through 'society'.

He wasn't devoid of emotions, yet there was nothing to fill the emptiness that came from alienation. Nothing could make him feel like he was doing his best. Everything felt so halfhearted...

Still, at least he wasn't alone in his alienation. There was one friend he had that accompanied him in life.

That young dreamer's name was Ronald Nocturne.

The kid was truly foolish and strange. Perhaps it was from having too many escapist ideals of Otaku.

No one liked someone who was all talk. He had the drive and motivation, but not the skills necessary.

Still, Simon admired his fellow 'comrade'.

Others would use alienation as an excuse to run away from their problems. They'd give up on their dreams easily and add being a NEET on top of the status of Otaku. However, Ronald was a fighter.

They shared the same loneliness, but only one of them had the drive to dream instead of coming up with dark yet realistic futures. The two had became friends on account to their great compatibility.

One of them was the brains, the other was 'heart'.

Or as Ronald put it: Simon himself was the 'Living Supercomputer', and he was the 'Otaku Dreamer'.

One had the capabilities, and the other held the ambition and dreams to overcome themselves.

He missed Ronald a lot, especially now...

The scenes of the past ended, and he sighed. This was the first time he truly woke out of his stupor...

His mind, which was always clouded by his obsession with alcohol and drunk was, had finally regained clarity. He was fully sober, but he wasn't so full of resentful feelings like he was earlier.

Simon instantly understood the situation by putting together all the clues. A casual tap on the ceiling of the coffin was enough to figure out how deep he was. The current situation was extremely dire.

He was going to run out of oxygen before he could get out of here. Even if he tried digging out with all his might, there was no way to get out. He'd just be buried by the soil piled up on top of the coffin.

Was this enough to deter his burning motivation?

No, this much wasn't even close to enough. It'd take a lot more than certain death to deter him.

The old geezer was already at the bottom of his life like his old friend. There was no way to go lower.

Meaning: The only way to move in life now was going up. Things couldn't really get worse for him.

His resolution became even stronger once he got out of the dreamworld. There was no going back.

The old hippie went into Negativa Core immediately upon realising what needed to be done. He leveraged the floor underneath with his three limbs while putting his right hand upwards.

His hand touched the ceiling of the coffin. There was limited choices he could make at this moment.

'Inch Impulse' might be his strongest move, but it wasn't enough. The move's overall power couldn't push the coffin six feet through soil, and he didn't even have the strength to use it multiple times.

He could only invent a new move using the new power he had on hand: Which was Holy Energy.

With the completed construction of his inner 'Holy Labyrinth', he could feel Ariadne blessing him.

His body became a conduit that circulated Holy Energy into a circular halo. Although he was constantly leaking his spiritual power, the way he regenerated it was faster after gaining 'assistance'.

Things then started changing. The halo of Holy Energy started to rise out from inside his body.

The creamy cyan glow of the energy halo was a first for him. What was even more surprising was its connection to him. He felt this materialised spiritual power was bound to his Holy Labyrinth.

"So this... is a 'Skill Root', huh?" The old hippie muttered while feeling familiar about this power.

Almost foreign memories awoke in his mind about when he used to wield a similar 'Skill Root' like this.

He remembered that times he wielded a fully cyan coloured halo to battle. When he did so, there was one 'Skill' he'd always use as his main form of attack. It was an ability called the 'Ghost Spear'.

It was basically him using the properties of spiritual power- No, 'Yin Energy' to shape a good weapon.

Although every Skill Root had their own integral Skills that couldn't be replicated by others, Simon could distinctly 'feel' that he could transform this former Skill of his into his own personal 'Art'.

Since it was an ability he used thousands of times in the past, he was familiar in creating it even without the guidance of a Skill Root. That's why he chose to replicate it as a new 'Technique' instead.

The geezer converged the blended energy Holy and Yin in the Skill Root to the centre of the halo.

From there, he mentally 'pushed' the spear towards the coffin's ceiling. He was hoping to shoot it out of the 'Halo of the Holy Goddess' Skill Root. Then he'd use that opportunity to escape.

However, he overestimated his capabilities.

*Cough* Despite using as much power as he possibly could, the only thing materialised was the spearhead. This wasn't even close to the 'Ghost Spear' he used in the past. It was a knockoff...

Actually, the 'Angelic Spearhead' he materialised wasn't really bad in quality. The problem was that having the spearhead itself was useless. With the amount of energy he had currently, he could barely even move the blade if it strayed too far from him.

Others would be in a tight spot, but how would the drunkard live up to his nickname as the 'Living Supercomputer' if he had no solutions? The nearly forgotten 'Sacrilegious Wine' returned to him.

No, perhaps it had already came back earlier...

Not that it even mattered. What was important was that he was creating a new move out of old ones.

It was practically recycling...

The contents of the 'wine' itself and Evil Energy were sealed under his Holy Labyrinth like his Kill Switch and Rau, but the positive power that returned strengthened the maze carved within him.

Thus, the Angelic Spearhead also strengthened...

He let the glowing small blade stay hovering in the air while moving closer to his right hand's palm.

Since the space inside the coffin wasn't big, he could only turn his hand and the spearhead itself so they'd connect properly. Once the back of the small blade started entering his palm, he could feel the control over it become firmer telekinetically.

The geezer once again leveraged the 'ground' using three limbs while winding the spearhead back in his arm. It was like he was synchronising his arm and two techniques he melted together.

The tip of a spear would only make a hole on the coffin no matter how powerful it was, but 'Inch Impulse' could distribute the power perfectly. This would enlarged the impact area by a large margin.

Of course, Simon was probably the only one who could mix a purely physical technique with a purely magical Skill to create a Secret Art. He learnt from the past and patiently waited while charging up.

Air started to become thinner. He was running out of oxygen, yet his expression was perfectly calm.

He was doing all he can to not focus the spiritual power into his leaky body, but into the technique itself. The Skill Root was practically the medium for the technique rather than his body or muscles.

However, that didn't mean they never played their part. Just that the role was more of a minor one.

The old geezer scattered his energy around his palm while vibrating it at a breakneck speed.

Next, he brought the ethereal into the corporeal.

It was only then was the new technique executed properly. A new variant of 'Inch Impulse' formed.

If the previous version used the only two 'Burrowing Pulses' he could physically produce to ignite the technique, then the current version used thousands of ethereal pulses create an explosion.

The power difference between two and a thousand couldn't be underestimated. It was a deep and qualitative change that turned the originally healing properties of Holy Energy into that of piercing...

[Holy Spirit Hybrid Impulse!

—Pulsing Spearhead!]

*Boom!*

A thunderous explosion resounded as the coffin was forcibly opened up from the inside. The soil and dirt between him and the surface was thrown into the air, followed by the wooden lid he struck.

As it was the first time the drunkard used this technique, his arm was rattled. However, some Holy Energy was enough to patch it up. He leapt out with superhuman strength at that moment.

Tumbling onto the ground in front of him, he watched the coffin fill up with soil from the corner of his eye. There was no way he would've been able to escape without this feeling driving him...

Even with his intelligence, there were things only those with the will to achieve could really attain...

He acknowledged the Otaku Dreamer and clingy woman who used to hang out with him in the past.

Without them, he'd never had felt this epiphany.

Looking at the Halo of the Holy Goddess that materialised back into his hand, he finally tried it.

The 'real' Skill he was holding back since earlier...

Activating his Skill Root, the halo lifted up before manifesting an object separate from itself.

He could feel his innate Gifts had seeped into this Skill Root and altered his 'Main Skill' appropriately.

[Main Skill- Patchwork Box!]

A suitcase-like, medical kit-like... 'box' was formed in front of him. It just large enough to be used like a shield should he feel like it. He quickly placed the corporeal form of his Skill down before opening it.

Inside the 'Patchwork Box' were four special objects pertaining to each of his bestowed Gifts.

One cyan contact lens, a bottle of disinfectant with detoxifying properties, a role of bandages, and a normal-looking scalpel. He didn't know which one was what, so he checked them one at a time.

As expected, the scalpel was the only armament that the Sword Goddess's Gift could merge with.

The white bandages seemed heavily influenced by the Eclipse God's Gift to suppress powers.

Next was the detoxification medicine.

From what he smelt after opening the cap, it was practically alcohol. A part of him really wanted to taste it immediately. The only thing stopping him was the fear of doing so would cause Jordan harm.

He needed a clear mind. Even if it DID have the Life Goddess's Gift of vitality, the result wasn't worth it.

He'd hold back for as long as he could...

Lastly was the contact lens. It only seemed to have the Twilight God's 'adaption', but he wasn't sure what he'd see after putting it on. Regardless, there was no harm in testing what it did beforehand.

He carefully placed the contact lens onto his left eye. Then he let the power flow through his head.

The creamy cyan energy felt like it cleared up his mind. Not only that, but it 'melted' upon contact.

Since the contact lens wasn't made of any worldly materials, the power merely coated his left eye.

A brand new world opened up as soon as he did...