Path to Transcendence

The next couple of days passed by in relative peace. He went over to see Selene and officially met her uncle, Arthur. The man was quite guarded when he met Julius, but ultimately he seemed like a pleasant man. He could see why Selene trusted him.

However, Julius also noticed how well life mana seemed to behave around Arthur. It was like seeing how Drasil interacted with life mana. Almost as if he were one with it. But he also got the feeling that Arthur didn’t just use life mana for healing. If anything, it felt a little overwhelming and oppressive compared to how life mana normally felt.

During these couple of days, Julius spent a lot of time with Lily. They had a lot of catching up to do, and they both enjoyed their time together immensely.

That being said, when he wasn’t with Lily, he started to work on his other stuff. For example, he was working on his skill evolution test. At first he had planned to use the spear as the construct he would keep active for a week, but realized that keeping a spear beside him was very annoying. For one, it was just big and cumbersome.

It wasn’t like a sword or a dagger he could sheathe away. Even if he strapped it to his back, he wasn’t able to carry it around with much ease. And it wasn’t like it could be placed inside his dimensional space either. Trust him, he tried for almost an hour.

So in the end he formed a small dagger and placed it inside a sheath he bought from a random store. The sheath itself was specially meant to hide mana from leaking out, so it was perfect for him. Or rather, it was close to perfect. A little bit of mana still trickled out of it, but as long as he kept an eye on it, he could eliminate that small leakage.

He was also still working on the list of constructs he would make, and he almost had a hundred. He still had around five days until he could complete the week-long requirement, so he wasn’t in too much of a hurry. But the requirement of him controlling a hundred constructs at once was still quite challenging. He had figured out the minimal amount of mana and optimal shape of the construct he needed to use, but the amount of mana was still the primary issue.

Even with his impressive mana control, it was still a high task to command so many constructs at once. He’d been playing around with a smaller number of them at nighttime, but hopefully he would be ready to go for it after several more days of preparation. With it using so much mana, he didn’t want to just keep on trying it and wasting mana. Even with the blanket helping with his regeneration of mana, it still wasn’t pleasant to wait and deal with the mana deprivation.

When he wasn’t doing this, he was brainstorming how he was going to use his Skill Combination Crystal. He already had several options for the skills he wanted to combine.

The first option was to combine [Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin], [Spirit Fortification], and [Harmonic Balance]. [Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin] would provide a solid base for the skill, and the other two skills would add a much-needed bit of enforcement and stability to it.

He suspected that [Spirit Fortification] would allow him to add more mana, aura, and Authority to the body skill. While [Harmonic Balance] would make sure the excess energy didn’t go out of his control.

A second option was to combine [Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin] with [Field of the Shattered Will] and [Spirit Fortification]. Much like the previous option, [Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin] would be the base, and [Field of the Shattered Will] would add efficiency and more focus on kinetic energy. Kinetic energy was by far his most efficient and best tool for close combat. And [Spirit Fortification] should make sure that he is able to add as much kinetic energy as needed.

There were two more options that he found quite interesting. Both of them involved his void skills.

One of the possible combinations used [Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin] again, but would merge [Void Strike] along with either [Harmonic Balance] or [Spirit Fortification]. He didn’t know which one between these two, but he thought the offensive potential of this skill combination to be quite dangerous.

The last and one he was the most fascinated about, but also the most skeptical of, was a combination of [Void Strike], [Void Step], and [Spirit Fortification].

The way he was thinking about it, [Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin] was already ready to evolve, and considering it was a skill that he gained from a pinnacle-grade token, he had a good feeling that it would evolve into a very useful skill. It already had almost all the things he was looking for in a body enhancement skill. So while he wanted to combine it with other skills, he didn’t think it was strictly necessary.

However, it might be a good idea to get something different. His void skills were powerful, but perhaps having two of them was a waste. He was a little nervous about losing his movement skill, but with a pinnacle-grade Combination Crystal, he doubted it would offer him something that went against his direct wishes.

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He also realized that he could just evolve [Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin] now and see what he got, and if he wasn’t happy with the results, then he could use the token on it. He doubted he would be able to evolve it into a higher-ranking skill, but he might as well see what happened.

Actually, the more he thought about it, the more he enjoyed that idea, and so that was what he was going to do. Screw waiting. He’d been waiting for so long that he was tired of it. He wanted a new legendary skill and wanted to see how different a superior epic skill was when it evolved.

He focused on the skill and released the subconscious hold he had over it. He’d been holding it back, but now for the first time, he was allowing it to advance on its own.

He was slightly taken aback by the surge released from the skill orb in his soul. The skill was erupting like a volcano, and he did his best to steer it in the proper direction, but that was it. He allowed it to continue pulsating outwards, and when it seemed to reach a precipice, it tipped over the edge.

[Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin] has reached the threshold. Would you like to evolve the skill?

He accepted it and let the notifications flood in.

Appraising requirements…

Relevant skill level... satisfied.

Comprehension of skill… satisfied

Related Concept… satisfied.

Relevant Seed of Authority… satisfied.

Latent potential of Seed of Authority… satisfied.

Congratulations. Requirements for skill evolution have been met.

Skill evolution test generating…

Notice: Superior skill detected…

Requirements for Skill Evolution Test have been removed.

Proceeding with the evolution of [Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin] (Epic+)… possible advancements: [Avatar of Ruin], [Tyrant of Destruction], [Shattered Vector Frame], and [Lord of the Dying Sun].

He went over the names with a wide grin. He didn’t really know what to expect from a superior epic skill, but he was glad to see that he didn’t have to go through any evolution tests. He was also happy to see that he was given a list of options. He hadn’t really been given options of skills to choose lately, and he’d missed it.

That being said, now came the hard part. What skill was he going to choose? He was given four options, and all four options appealed to him.

Like typical skill evolutions, the first option seemed to be the most direct upgrade. [Avatar of Ruin] seemed to stay with the ruin theme he had going on. He also suspected the skill had aspects of fire and kinetic energy woven into it. Thus, it was immediately one he was drawn to.

The only thing he wasn’t sure about was whether or not he wanted to continue down this ruinous path. He liked the power and utility of his ruinous aura, but it seemed like a lot of his skills and abilities revolved around it.

He had enjoyed the skill initially because it gave him a taste of ruinous aura, but he now had a dedicated skill in [Inexorable Aura of Ruin]. He wasn’t scared of losing the former skill now. Furthermore, it wasn’t like his ruinous aura was the best for pure close combat. There were certainly some nice benefits of it, but ultimately, nothing he couldn’t mimic with his aura control.

The other skill, [Tyrant of Destruction], was one he wasn’t really drawn to. It sounded strong, but he wasn’t really heading in the direction of destruction. If he wanted to, then he’d rather stick with ruin, but maybe he was underestimating the skill.

The third skill was more along the lines of what he mentioned previously. [Shattered Vector Frame] sounded unique, and it was a skill that had clearly evolved towards a more kinetic-focused path. However, the name, or specifically the “shattered” part, was what truly piqued his curiosity.

Cain’s title was the Lord of the Shattered Throne, and Julius was almost certain that the skill was named this way because of him. That being said, it was also a good indicator that the skill was quite powerful. Cain was a monster through and through. Everyone who knew of the man said as much.

Yet for all of the impressive list of options, the final one was what made his heart race.

[Lord of the Dying Sun]

He didn’t know why, but this skill in particular seemed to jump out to him. He could practically feel it reaching through the notification window and wrapping its arms around him. Just looking at the name made his skin crawl and thrum with energy.

He maintained his calm, though, and did his best to be rational.

First off, the “lord” part of the skill screamed high level. He knew that only those who were Tier 6 gained the privilege of attaining a Lord title. Hence, seeing the name presented in one of his skills had to be a good sign.

The last part was confusing, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized just how strong the skill sounded. A dying sun was essentially just a star on the verge of a supernova. He couldn’t imagine anything with more force and destruction than that.

That was why he had a feeling that his kinetic energy would be present as well as his ruinous aura. The sun part basically ensured that his fire mana would be a prominent part of it.

Another important thing to note was the resemblance to his experience inside the Solstice Realm at the Burning Sun Sect. The feeling he got from the possible skill was similar to what he felt from that core. It was as if the core had been a dying star. Somehow both intensely fierce and restrained at the same time.

He also couldn’t help but notice the connection to his family’s bloodline. As far as he knew, he didn’t have House Hyperius’s inherited bloodline or talent for the Sun Affinity. But perhaps it was slightly influenced by it? Or maybe it was just a coincidence.

He was tempted to select it immediately, but held off and instead told himself to at least sleep on it. He could decide later when he thought about it some more. However, he couldn’t keep the grin off his face. He had finally evolved the skill, and all of the options sounded really good. He didn’t think he was going to need to use the Skill Combination Crystal on it. Rather, he could use it on another skill.

And he couldn't help but be excited about what other possibilities there were out there.

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