"What secret do you know human?" Verradon growled. "If your answer satisfies me, I will grant you a quick death. Otherwise, I will torture you for eternity! Hahahaha!"

Aron grinned and said nonchalantly, "You will definitely like it. In fact, it will probably be the most memorable moment of your life."

Verradon's curiosity grew immediately. Behind Aron, the surviving humans clenched their fists so tightly their knuckles turned white.

What secret could an F-rank hunter possibly know that even the top elites of the world didn't? And why was he trying to reveal it to that monster?

Only Iris and the Martial Lord kept their eyes locked on Aron. In their entire lives, they had never seen mental strength like this. Who could talk to a Calamity like it was an equal?

Verradon leaned in closer, his voice rumbling the ground. "Tell me. What is it?" His massive eyes trembled with excitement.

Aron chuckled and pointed back at the humans behind him.

"You see them, right? Still standing back there. And look at me... a severely injured F-rank piece of trash, yet I'm still standing right in front of you. Don't you want to know what our secret is?"

Verradon nodded his massive head. It truly was surprising to him. He knew he would win in the end, but no matter how hard his armies struck, these human ants never stopped resisting until their hearts stopped beating.

By now, the humans had realized Aron was just spouting nonsense to stall for time. Still, no one made a sound. They wanted to see what he would do next.... Why he was stalling time for?

Iris whispered to the Martial Lord, "What... what is he doing?"

The Martial Lord shook his head. His throat was dry and his voice was strained. He swallowed hard and answered, "I don't know. But seeing him talk to that monster like that... it makes me feel ashamed of myself."

Iris also nodded, hearing his words. She felt exactly the same. They both knew just how terrifying Verradon was, yet a weak F-rank was speaking to the dragon as if they were equals.

Aron leaned forward and whispered, "The secret is..."

The entire battlefield fell silent. Every monster and every human stared at him. Even Verradon strained his ears to catch the words.

Ptui!

A heavy glob of bloody spit landed squarely on Verradon's massive face.

The dragon's expression turned instantly grim. Behind Aron, the humans gasped. Iris and the Martial Lord stared in absolute horror and disbelief.

Aron threw his head back and laughed out loud.

"HAHAHAHA!"

" HAHAHAHA! "

" Hahahaha! You wanted to know the secret, right? The secret is our courage! Our love for our people! Our attachment to this beautiful planet!"

He grinned straight into Verradon's cold eyes. The dragon's face burned hot as a furnace, flushed red with pure shame and fury.

"You are a terrifying Calamity, Verradon, the SSS-rank Dark Dragon! "

" You won the war today. I know you will kill everyone here," Aron said, his voice dropping into a cold, fierce register that echoed across the dirt.

He looked directly into those ruthless eyes and said again, "But before we die, I wanted to show you the true courage of humanity. I wanted to show you that even a little F-rank piece of trash like me can spit right in your face!"

The hearts of the surviving humans grew heavy. Tears welled in many of their eyes. None of them could have ever imagined an ordinary person doing something so incredibly brave.

Verradon growled, then threw his head back and roared toward the heavens. The sky shook and the earth cracked under the weight of his terrifying dragon might.

Yet Aron stood perfectly still. Alone in front of the god of destruction, he did not move a single inch...even the grin on his face never faded a little.

Verradon unleashed his Dragon's Breath with a deafening roar. A torrent of black fire erupted from his jaws and instantly engulfed everything. The dragon was beyond furious.

He never could have imagined that a mere human ant would dare spit on his face. And especially in front of everyone.

Aron embraced the flames. The mocking smile directed towards the monster...

Through the roaring fire, he caught one last glimpse of the survivors. They covered their faces in shock, staring at him with teary eyes filled with absolute respect. Even though they were about to die, they had just witnessed a giant dragon get completely humiliated by a human.

Iris and the Martial Lord stood dumbfounded. Then, as Aron perished, they bowed deeply toward the flames to show their final respect.

Aron felt his skin, his bones, and his very soul begin to melt under the intense heat. The pain was blinding. His vision quickly dissolved into pitch black, the realm of the dead...

But just before his consciousness disappeared completely, a mechanical sound echoed in his mind...

[Ding!]

[Congratulations! You have met the hidden conditions to bind with the Ultimate Face-Slapping System.]

[Initialization starting... 1... 2... 3...]

[Binding successful!]

[WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!]

[Host's body, soul, and consciousness are rapidly disintegrating...]

[System is deploying emergency measures...]

[Initiating Time Reversal... 3... 2... 1...]

BOOM!

A blinding white light erupted from Aron's melting body. The burst of energy was so sudden and powerful that even the giant dragon froze, completely dumbfounded.

The surviving humans watched in awe as the white light shot upward and swallowed the dark red sky. It did not stop there. The light exploded outward like a cosmic wave, and in milliseconds it covered the entire planet.

Then everything stopped.

Their thoughts faded, and everyone's consciousness went blank, plunging the entire world into total darkness.

***

Aron woke up from his sleep with a jolt.

His breathing was heavy and sweat poured down from his face. He looked around quickly and found himself sitting in his small, familiar bedroom in Archeon City.

"Wait! Archeon City?! "

He immediately thought about something, and checked his hands and his body. He was stunned. Everything was fine. His left arm was whole, and his crushed leg was completely healed...

He scrambled out of bed and ran straight to the bathroom. In the mirror, a young, handsome face stared back at him. It was him, but several years younger.

He gulped, trying to process the impossible truth.

He had regressed. Not by days or months, but by a full ten years. Long before the Calamity destroyed his world.

[Ding!]

[Host, have you gone completely nuts? The moment you bound to this Face-Slapping System, you tried to get yourself killed in dark flames!]

[You are already bound to this system. Stop trying to kill yourself!]

Aron stared at the glowing screen floating in front of his eyes and snapped back.

"Killing myself, my foot! That damn dragon killed me with his Dragon's Breath! You were the one who bound to me out of nowhere! Who tried to kill themselves?!"

[Ding!]

[Oh... so that was why. You were already trapped in the flames. Good, good! This system sensed someone had just delivered a massive face-slap to a powerful being. The hidden conditions were met, so I bound to you.]

Aron was speechless. Just because he spat on Verradon, he got a system? Then why didn't he just find a Calamity before and spit on its face?

In truth, Aron was not from this world at all. On this exact day ten years ago, he had died on Earth and transmigrated here.

Back then, when he first discovered his weak F-rank skill, he had felt immense hatred toward this world. Unlike other transmigrators, he hadn't received a golden finger or an overpowered ability.

He had struggled for ten painful years until the Calamity hit, dying a brutal death. But now he had a second chance, and this time he finally had his cheat.

He rubbed his hands together excitedly and asked, "System! You are really powerful. You actually reversed time by ten years!"

[Ding!]

[Obviously, I am powerful. I am the Ultimate Face-Slapping System!]

[The system will provide incredible rewards whenever you complete a mission or successfully slap someone's face.]

[Speaking of face-slaps, since you slapped the face of an SSS-rank Dark Dragon on your very first try, you have received an Unknown-Rank Face Slap Reward!]

[Do you want to open it?]

A wave of happiness washed over Aron. His grin stretched so wide his lips almost touched his ears. Rubbing his hands together, he yelled, "Open it! Open it!"

A brilliant light burst out from the floating screen, filling his small bedroom. Slowly the light shrank and condensed until it formed a shining, rainbow-colored card.

Aron reached out and touched it. There were no words on it. Instead, mysterious runes were engraved across the surface in a strange, otherworldly design.

[Ding!]

[Congratulations, Host! You have won a Legendary-Rank Skill Advancement Card.]

Aron scratched his head. He was thrilled his useless F-rank skill was finally going to rank up, but he had never heard of a Legendary rank before. In his past life, SSS-rank was the absolute peak.

"System, what exactly is this Legendary rank?" he asked.

[Ding!]

[Host, the Legendary rank is a tier that completely surpasses SSS-rank.]

[You just need to use the card. Only then will you truly understand what kind of power it holds.]

Aron scratched his head again. He broke into a foolish laugh, staring blankly at the screen.

"Hahaha...!" He reached out awkwardly, trying to grab the glowing interface with his hands, trying to find any description from the panel.. How to use it. 

[Ding!]

[(°~°)... You don't actually know how to use it, do you?]

Aron nodded immediately, totally shameless.

[Ding!]

[Just activate it with your mind, you dumb Host! My god... what kind of idiot did I get bound to?!]