Feast of the Falling Star

I was just Bayu Kartika, a talentless student at the Pradipa Academy, content with my ordinary life as long as I could be by Ratna’s side. But an ordinary morning became a nightmare when her ‘Whispering Frost’ affliction flared, nearly consuming her. In that moment of desperation, a System awakened within me: [Essence Absorption Activated]. Now, every pill, every meal, every drop of spiritual brew I consume multiplies in power, a multiplier that grows with my level. My strength explodes exponentially. My initial goal was simple: get strong enough to enter the forbidden Sunken Caldera and find the legendary Sunpetal Lotus to cure Ratna. But a reborn rival, haunted by memories of a future I destroyed, stands in my way, determined to suppress me at all costs. I can handle a rival. I can handle the world’s most dangerous monsters. But the System has a secret it never told me: my body is a vessel, and the power I’m accumulating has a price. How much of myself am I willing to burn away for her, and what will be left when the countdown hits zero?