Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger-Chapter 109: EX . New Affinity

Leon lay on his bed, eyes fixed on the bland ceiling above as if waiting for it to give him answers. The glow of his talent screen had long since faded, but the sting of what felt like a betrayal still lingered.

"I was so sure it would work," he muttered, voice dull. "Where did I get it wrong?"

His limbs sprawled lifelessly, but his mind raced through all the theories he had built, all the calculations he had carefully made. Nothing made sense. But then, like a spark lighting dry tinder, the fire in his eyes reignited.

’If it didn’t work the first time... I’ll just have to go harder.’

He sat up.

"Put 20 points into Affinity."

[Attack Points: 9,000 >>> 7,000]

Nothing.

There was No pulse, no glow, no system ding. Just silence.

Leon’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t stop.

"Put 30 more points into Affinity."

[Attack Points: 7,000 → 4,000]

Still nothing.

The fire in his eyes flickered, for just a second. Doubt began to settle in like cold fog.

It felt... familiar. Like the moment after you’ve chased a high, only to fall back to earth hard. His voice was low, thoughtful, and bitterly honest:

"Should I just share the rest of the points into my other stats...?"

At least then, he’d see numbers rise. Something concrete. Something real. His body would be stronger, his aura denser, his speed sharper. But then he clenched his fists.

No.

"Leon, what are you doing? You’re not a quitter."

His reflection on the black screen of the room’s console showed that fire again, brighter than ever.

"When you start something, you see it through."

And with no hesitation, he spoke clearly, as if declaring war on the system itself:

"Put 40 points into Affinity."

[Attack Points: 4,000 >>> 0]

All his points were gone.

The screen went dark. And Leon just... sat there.

Expression frozen.

Face pale.

His eyes slowly widened with the creeping horror of a man who’d gambled everything.

He looked exactly like a broke university student who had spent their last cent, money meant for tuition, on a final bet, now praying that somehow, the dice would land on his salvation.

And then,

It happened.

A faint glow began to bloom in his chest, slowly at first, but rapidly intensifying like a sun being born from within. Leon’s eyes shot open in awe.

"It worked—!"

But before the sentence could leave his lips—

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

The scream tore through the room like a sonic boom.

—KRRRRRRRGHHHHH—AAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!

The sound was raw, guttural, and monstrous, like a wild beast being torn apart and reborn in the same breath. The walls shuddered. Light fixtures above flickered. His bed creaked and bent, as if the very air around him was warping.

Leon arched his back violently, limbs trembling as if lightning coursed through his veins. His hands clawed at the bedsheets, nails digging in deep as the glow in his chest expanded, burning, searing, reshaping.

And all the while, his voice was the only sound in the room:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

The cost of forcing the system to awaken an Affinity prematurely?

Leon was about to find out.

****

Luckily, all the rooms in the military base were soundproof, thick steel walls insulated with enough silence to drown even the most hellish of screams. Because if they weren’t, his squadmates would’ve burst in thinking he was being murdered.

They had no idea what Leon was enduring.

If Leon were to rank all the pain he had felt in his life, this one, the pain of awakening an Affinity forcefully, would be a clear second.

The first would always be the moment he was impaled clean through the stomach by that S-rank demon.

And the third? The time he broke his stat limits, back when his body nearly tore itself apart from the inside out.

This pain, however... this was different.

This was soul-deep agony.

It wasn’t just his body that hurt, it felt like his very existence was being unraveled and sewn back together.

As the pain coursed through his nerves like wildfire, Leon thought to himself with clenched teeth:

"Maybe I should stop breaking limits."

But that... was just the pain talking.

Because deep down, he knew the truth, this was the cost of being exceptional.

And Leon Kael never took the easy path.

Seconds dragged into a full, torturous minute.

His body convulsed.

His hands clutched the bed so tightly the frame creaked under his grip.

Sweat drenched him from head to toe, his white hair sticking to his skin, tangled and wild.

Then finally, the pain subsided.

Leon collapsed onto his bed like a puppet with its strings cut, chest rising and falling in ragged breaths.

"...I never want to go through that again," he gasped, his voice hoarse.

But even as he said it, something deep inside whispered otherwise.

Because he wasn’t done pushing limits. Not even close.

After several moments of catching his breath, Leon sat up, barely. His muscles ached, his limbs trembled, but the fire in his eyes hadn’t dimmed.

"Let’s see what all that pain was for."

With a shaky hand, he called up his status screen.

It shimmered to life in front of him.

His gaze scanned down, skipping past familiar lines.

Then he saw it.

A new addition.

A new line.

And for a few seconds, Leon just... stared.

His lips parted slightly, trying to process what he was seeing.

Then, with a voice filled with disbelief and awe, he whispered:

"Force... Affinity?"

****

Leon blinked at the screen, then rubbed his eyes just to be sure he wasn’t hallucinating again.

[Force Affinity]

Tier: I

Description: Gives the user control over force.

Note: Since what you’re good at is hitting, this affinity should suit you well.

He stared at the last line in particular.

"...The system’s got jokes now?" he muttered.

His expression was somewhere between amused and offended.

Still seated on the edge of his bed, Leon rested his elbows on his knees, eyes still locked on the floating status screen.

The tier—Tier I—didn’t even faze him. He knew better than to care about that.

Unlike others, he had a cheat: Attack Points. With them, he could evolve his affinity far beyond what normal Trial Takers could ever dream of.

But...

"I don’t know how many points it’ll cost to evolve... and I’m not about to gamble away another 10,000 without knowing."

That thought alone sent a shiver down his spine. The pain he just went through still lingered like ghost fire under his skin.

So he shelved the idea, for now.

Instead, his gaze returned to the main line.

Control over force.

Leon leaned back slightly, resting against the wall, his mind slowly processing what that could mean.

"Not fire. Not lightning. Not wind. Just... force?"

It sounded vague at first.

But then again... so was his talent: Attack.

And look how broken that turned out to be.

Leon narrowed his eyes.

"Let’s see what that actually means..."