Formless Ascension: My Affinity Is Limitless

[Congratulations! Due to attunement resonance, you have successfully created 3 new spells!]

[Basic Air Magic (Level 1)]

[Basic Water Magic (Level 1)]

[Esoteric Blood Magic (Level 1)]

[Your proficiency in these magics has increased significantly!]

[Basic Air Magic (Level 1) → Basic Air Magic (Level 5)]

[Basic Water Magic (Level 1) → Basic Water Magic (Level 4)]

[Congratulations! Your proficiency in elemental magic encompasses several basic aspects, therefore your aspects have been consolidated!]

[Basic Air, Water, Thermal (Heat & Frost), Earth and Metal Magic → Multi-Elemental Magic (Level 2)]

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[Titles Gained]

[Hyper-Attuned: 2nd in world to achieve attunement resonance. (+800 Merits)]

[Current Total Merits: 93,800]

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Uhtred had been staring at the system notices for the past minute as he slowly came to himself. He read and re-read the lines over and over again. In his current groggy state, some part of his mind processed the words, but they didn’t really seem to make much sense to him yet.

He registered that he was reading something about a ”resonance,” but what exactly that was and how it related to him had not yet settled in his mind.

He moved on from it, not really deeming it important as he finally started to become more aware of his surroundings.

The first thing he did after more of his senses returned was to wave away the status panel containing the System notices. But that was not the only panel floating in his view.

Just as the System notices disappeared, his multiversal streaming channel chat took its place in the center of his vision.

He could see messages popping off rapidly. The multiversal entities were bantering amongst themselves, not even minding the fact that he had been completely passed out the entire time.

They were talking specifically about this ”resonance” thing, and whether or not what Uhtred had done actually qualified as one.

There’s that word again... Resonance... Uhtred thought, still groggy.

From the messages firing off, the majority of viewers in his chat did not believe what had occurred was actually attunement resonance.

A heavy argument was ongoing. Most of the viewers were of the opinion that this was simply another pre-existing ability of Uhtred’s... one that he had simply hidden from them until now.

Meanwhile, a smaller group argued that he had indeed achieved resonance.

Whatever this resonance thing actually was, it seemed like a big enough deal that these powerful multiversal entities did not want to believe it was possible for Uhtred to have pulled it off.

They seemed far more willing to believe he had simply been hiding some of his affinities from them the whole time.

However, the counterargument from the pro-resonance side was simple: if Uhtred had really just been hiding his affinities all along, how could they explain him countering an Esoteric magic?

For that to be true, he would have to secretly possess Esoteric blood magic on top of his already massive hoard of Elemental magics!

The new elemental magic he had just displayed, combined with the ones he’d shown before, already made him a Multi-Elemental Mage.

If he was secretly hiding an Esoteric blood magic attunement on top of all that, it would mean their entire assessment of his talent grade was completely wrong.

He couldn’t just be a Unique-grade Pathfinder, he would have to be at least a Legendary-grade talent to possess a class that could encompass both Esoteric and Multi-Elemental magic at the same time!

The Anuran All-Mother of Fertility vehemently championed this ”hidden talent” theory anyway, pushing the opinion harder than almost anyone else.

Perhaps it was because of how Uhtred had shown her up earlier, fleecing her of 200,000 Merits back in the trial, but it was as though she wanted Uhtred to actually be a Legendary-grade talent. As if him being a hidden monster of that caliber would justify her loss.

According to her, he was simply a master of hiding his abilities. He had played them all so perfectly that, in hindsight, a high-stakes bet like that could only have been put on the table by someone who knew exactly how deep his power really went.

Her theory was supported by several others, most particularly the vocal Nine Nether Thirty-First Young Master, along with some of the other old fogies in the chat. In fact, there were several new individuals whom Uhtred had never seen before supporting this theory as well.

The only entities who wanted to believe it was a genuine resonance achieved in the moment were FriendlyDaoistStormwarden, along with a few others whose names Uhtred did not recognize.

Wait, why are there so many new names...?

Uhtred’s eyes flitted over to his subscriber count, which tracked the number of multiversal entities currently in his channel.

To his surprise, the number had shot up from the thirty-something viewers he had before. It was now sitting at 100 out of 100, the maximum capacity a Mortal Realm stream could handle! His channel was completely full!

At this point, Uhtred had already recovered his senses to an extent. He could now remember most of what had happened before he went unconscious, simply from reading the rapid-fire chat.

As his memory came back and his mind cleared, his eyes remained locked on that subscriber count.

Whatever he had done during the fight — that weird state he had entered into, must have been genuinely shocking to these powerful multiversal entities.

Word must have spread out in the wider multiverse, and more of them had tuned into his stream to watch him personally.

As he stared at the subscriber count, the chat began to get even more active. The messages were flying across the screen wildly.

He looked through them and saw that they had already noticed he was awake and were beginning to ask questions.

There were even some new individuals who blatantly began asking Uhtred to accept them as his sponsor. They promised him benefits and resources unlike anything he had seen before.

The entire chat devolved into a mix of flattery, curious questions, and the usual banter from the original members of his channel.

Uhtred winced slightly, waving the chat panel away. Right now, he could not be bothered to respond to any of these messages.

He moved his body slowly, starting to sit up so he could take a look at his surroundings.

His eyes scanned the area, and he noticed he was lying on some sort of moving vehicle. It was a cart, to be exact, made entirely of compacted earth, likely constructed by an earth mage.

He was alone within the bed of the cart, but as he sat up and looked over the side, he saw Zara walking in stride alongside him. Her eyes were fixed forward, but she turned her head to look at him the moment he moved.

”Oh, you’re already awake... That was fast,” she said flatly, before noticing the blatant expression of shock and confusion on his face.

She scoffed.

”If you think I look bad, then you haven’t seen yourself.”

Uhtred, who had been staring at Zara’s battered state, looked down at his own body immediately.

He noticed his right arm, the one he had used to force out that weird magic. It was shriveled up terribly, to the point where it didn’t even look like his arm anymore.

It looked like the arm of a ninety-year-old who had not eaten for several weeks. It was incredibly lean and shriveled, and his skin looked dry and flaky.

He remembered the pain and the crazed state he had been in for his arm to turn out like this. As he thought about that, he also couldn’t help but think back to the resonance notification again.

The system had given him a title for being the second in the world to achieve this ”attunement resonance”, something the multiversal entities in his chat did not even want to believe he had done.

Was that weird state what resonance actually was?

Uhtred tried to remember what it felt like more vividly, but in truth, everything past a certain point had been a complete blur. He could barely remember the exact steps he had taken to trigger it.

He tried to clench his right fist, but he could barely move his fingers at all.

”Don’t worry. We’re headed over to Diya. She’ll fix us back up like new,” Zara said, noticing his failed attempts to move his arm.

Uhtred raised his head, his expression turning solemn. He looked around more carefully. All he could see in every direction was the vast, roiling desert.

He turned his head to the right, away from Zara, and spotted another person walking on the opposite side of the cart.

”Ah... It’s you...”