Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger-Chapter 108: EX . Extreme Art

Leon stepped into his room and quietly shut the door behind him, the soft click of the lock echoing through the space. He exhaled, slow and steady, then leaned back against the door.

"I’m way stronger than when I faced that last demon..." he muttered to himself, eyes gleaming with confidence.

"But to completely annihilate them next time, I need to prepare. No more surprises."

He walked toward his desk, but midway stopped and smirked.

"But first..." he raised his hand, and a light-blue translucent screen shimmered into view.

[Status Panel]

Name: Leon Kael

Rank: E

Talent: {Attack} — EX Rank

Status: Normal

Health: 100%

—

[Skills]

[Echolocation]

[Mirror Split]

[EXTREME ART]

His gaze locked on that single line:

EXTREME ART

His creation. His masterpiece. His weapon. His path.

"The more I look at it..." Leon grinned, pride warming his chest,

"...the more broken it seems."

He stepped over to his bed and sat down, his fingers brushing against the air as if flipping through invisible pages. His mind drifted to its creation.

In the world of trial takers, arts were ranked from Basic, to Advanced, to Superior, and finally, Supreme. Each rank was a significant step, a new layer of enlightenment, an ascent toward strength.

But Leon’s art broke that scale entirely.

Extreme Art wasn’t just a new art, it was a new system.

Most trial takers needed to meditate on one single art to rank up. They had to hope for clarity, struggle for understanding, and pray for enlightenment. It was a journey of uncertainty, an evolution shaped by talent and fate.

But with Extreme Art, Leon bypassed that entirely.

He didn’t need to understand one art. He devoured them.

The more arts he absorbed, the stronger the Extreme Art became. Every technique, every concept, every style, it was all fodder for his creation. And with each art consumed, the Extreme Art reshaped itself, expanding and refining, its foundation growing wider and its power growing deeper.

And as Extreme Art evolved, so did Leon, allowing him to break into higher ranks not with understanding alone, but with sheer, overwhelming accumulation.

"It’s like using a dozen torches instead of one to light the way forward..." he murmured.

But it didn’t stop there.

Where most trial takers had limited skill slots, dictated by their rank, Leon had none of those constraints. Extreme Art allowed him to absorb skills as well, not just for ranking, but for combat versatility. The system classified them separately from arts, yet Leon’s creation devoured both. With every new skill added, his fighting style expanded, evolving like a living weapon.

"If a normal art is a sword," Leon whispered with a grin,

"then mine’s a whole damn arsenal."

He finally closed the status screen and stood up, his expression now serious.

"Okay. Enough admiring my genius."

His fists clenched.

"It’s time to get serious."

The true reason he had come back wasn’t to rest or admire his stats. No, Leon was here to do something unprecedented once again. Something no one had managed before. Something most didn’t even think was possible.

He was going to try to forcefully awaken his Affinity.

And for Leon Kael, the boy who had bent the rules of combat, reshaped the concept of evolution, and created an art that defied the system itself,

doing the impossible had become... normal.

****

An Affinity was vastly different from a Talent, a truth known to every serious Trial Taker.

A Talent was rigid. It came with a defined purpose, a strict design, and little room for growth. If someone awakened the talent Flame Fist, then that was all they could ever do with it, channel fire through their fists, punch harder, maybe burn through some armor. Useful? Absolutely. But limited? Without a doubt.

But an Affinity... that was something else entirely.

An Affinity gave someone reign over the element itself.

To awaken Fire Affinity wasn’t just to coat your fists in flame, it meant wielding the very nature of fire. One could bend it, shape it, summon it from the ether, extinguish it at will. It was the foundation for spellcasting in mages without A magical talent, and a backdoor for martial warriors who lacked martial talent to still learn devastating martial techniques.

Whereas a Talent was a tool, an Affinity was dominion.

Affinities were ranked from Tier I to Tier VI, and the higher the tier, the more profound the control and compatibility. However, they weren’t unlocked lightly. The system only awakened an Affinity once a Trial Taker reached C-rank, when their essence had matured and their spiritual resonance stabilized.

But of course... Leon Kael didn’t follow rules.

He had the idea long ago, but back then, even he knew it was reckless. As an F-rank, Leon struggled to control his own physical strength, and the last thing he needed was elemental chaos on top of it.

But now?

Now, after ranking up. After gaining control. After surviving battles that defied logic and rank.

Now was the time.

He understood something others didn’t: Affinity was not trained like regular stats. It was an acquired stat, a hidden threshold the system would only reveal at a certain point. Worse yet, it could only be upgraded with rare Trial World resources. Meaning, if someone awakened a Tier I Water Affinity, they’d be stuck with it forever unless they stumbled upon a high-tier elemental crystal or core, an impossible feat for most.

But Leon had something even better than elemental crystals.

[Attack Points].

The cheat code of his EX-rank talent. Pure, concentrated progression, gained through pain, battle, and reckless resolve.

As he looked at his Talent Page, it glowed:

[Attack Points: 0 / 10,000]

He smirked.

"I just need to max this out."

He quickly went to the training ground to accumulate the attack points. Once he was done, he quickly left, drawing curious glances from the soldiers training there. After arriving at his room, he checked his screen again.

[Attack Points: 10,000 / 10,000]

"Perfect."

****

Back in his room, Leon locked the door behind him. He didn’t need any distraction or interruption for what he planned to do.

He opened his Talent Page once more, then muttered:

"Put 10 points into Affinity."

The numbers ticked down instantly.

[Attack Points: 9,000 / 10,000]

He held his breath, waiting.

A second passed.

Then five.

Then ten.

Still, nothing.

He stared at his status screen.

There was No change.

No new stat.

No elemental glow.

Then it hit him.

He blinked.

Then blinked again.

And then...

"Did my talent just scam me?!"

The shout rocked the room as Leon flailed backward onto the bed, hands in his hair.

"A thousand points vanished, just like that!"