MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

Chapter 1643: Breaking Barriers: Legend Grade

”...Phew.”

Sensing the aura surrounding the pedestal finally start to wane, Ataraxia let out a faint sigh of relief as he retracted his own Intent in response.

”That took a lot more out of me than I thought,” muttered the young man as he took in a deep breath, his mind briefly thinking back to the progress he made throughout the fifth trial.

Thanks to the discovery that the effects of [Perception of the Grand Origin] stacked when both he and Valyr were comprehending something at the same time, the young man was able to make great progress in his first infusion of knowledge from the pedestals.

Though, by the time he had gotten to his second infusion of knowledge, there wasn’t much of an overall improvement to what he comprehended. If anything, the only thing he felt like he’d improved during his second attempt was the Intent of Tranquil Winds.

Spending three months within the barrier engrossed in deepening his comprehension of the concept, Ataraxia was able to push the Intent of Tranquil Winds to the same grade his Intent of Raging Tempests had reached, allowing him to reach the limit of the fifth trial according to Aeramis’ threshold.

Yet, knowing that an opportunity to comprehend a Force was hard to come by, the young man still stuck around for the third infusion of knowledge even after reaching the trial’s limit, causing the two to have a brief conversation on the matter.

Having spent three months to push the Intent of Tranquil Winds to 1st Grade, Ataraxia decided to spend a similar amount of time comprehending his skills and concepts in preparation for his final attempt.

At first, he thought that the improvements he would obtain from doing so would only be marginal at best, considering that the outcome had pretty much turned out that way the moment he received the second infusion from the pedestals.

However, just as he thought that there was no way for him to make even greater progress on his skills or his concepts, the young man felt his understanding over the Intent of Tranquil Winds deepen all of a sudden, greatly improving the connection he had with the world through that concept.

For a while after that, the young man was left wondering what he had achieved. After all, from the strengthened connection he had with the world, it felt as if his Intent of Tranquil Winds had broken through and reached the level of a Force.

Though, once he paid greater attention to the connection, as well as the depth of the concept itself, he soon realized that his Intent was currently at a level that existed between a 1st Grade Intent and a Force of the same grade.

”What have I stumbled upon exactly?” muttered Ataraxia to himself as he put a bit of distance between himself and the pedestals. ”Do I call this Pseudo-Force? Or do I call this Zero Grade Intent?”

’Assessment: 100% Essence Peering, 110% Assimilation.’

While the young man was still trying to wrap his head around what he had accomplished before his final attempt, the pedestal containing the Force of Tranquil Winds had finally released its result.

Inwardly thinking that his beyond 1st Grade Intent would allow him to achieve a grade of 100% assimilation, the young man was instead left stunned as he watched the pedestal give him a value that went past 100%.

”I’ve really achieved Pseudo-Force, then?” asked Ataraxia to himself, the results of the pedestal causing the gears in his mind to turn even faster.

”Although I’ve only heard of a few people call the state of your current concept that way, it does aptly describe how it feels to you.”

However, just as the young man was beginning to think that he had stumbled upon something the players hadn’t discovered in his past life, Aeramis went ahead and clarified what Ataraxia had done to him.

”An Intent that has gone past the level of a 1st Grade Intent while still being below a 1st Grade Force is what’s commonly called a Legend Grade Intent,” explained the man, inwardly letting out a sigh of relief after noticing the young man pay attention to his words.

Understanding that Ataraxia was committing everything he said to memory, Aeramis showed no hesitation in continuing where he left off. ”The reason why it’s been given that name is because an Intent of that level signifies that your understanding of a concept is enough for it to become a bona fide Force.”

”However, due to your lacking class rank, the world limits your ability to fully tap into that level of understanding.”

”Now, I’m certain you might be wondering... how rare is it for someone to comprehend a Legend Grade Intent?”

As those words left his mouth, the man gave Ataraxia a faint smile. ”To that, I ask you... how many people do you know that have comprehended Intent Seeds before even ascending to Rank 3?”

”...I see.” By the time Aeramis was done with his explanation, all of the doubts and confusions Ataraxia had towards what he had achieved disappeared without a trace.

Though, taking the place of those doubts were questions related to the concept of Legend Grade Intents themselves.

”If I were to ascend to Rank 5 right now, would the Legend Grade Intent automatically transform into a Force?” he asked, genuinely curious. ”After all, you said that an Intent of that grade had already reached a level of understanding to become an actual Force.”

”Honestly, I’m quite uncertain,” responded the man, giving Ataraxia a slightly wry smile. ”According to the couple of people I’ve come across that have comprehended Legend Grade Intents themselves, they needed to deepen their comprehensions on the concept a bit more before the world did their thing.”

”Gotcha.” Ataraxia faintly nodded in understanding. ”How about Forces? Do Forces that approach the level of Concepts exist?”

”As far as I know, they don’t.” Aeramis shook his head, already getting the feeling the young man would ask him a question like that from the very start. ”After all, the entire ascension process from Rank 5 to Rank 6 involves transforming your comprehended Force into a Concept.”

”...Then again, there’s nothing proving that a Force like that isn’t impossible to achieve.”

”Good to hear.”

Faintly smiling at the reply Aeramis gave him, Ataraxia decided to unleash his Intent of Tranquil Winds one more time, curious as to how much of a difference there was between a 1st Grade Intent and a Legend Grade Intent.

’...Around a 120% boost to my offensive power,’ thought the young man after doing a bit of testing, faintly nodding in understanding.

’Though the improvement isn’t as drastic as the difference between an Intent and a Force of the same grade, it’ll definitely help out in speeding up my improvement in strength once I ascend to Rank 5.’

”Seeing as you’ve gone above and beyond on all the pedestals you’ve chosen, then I suppose it goes without saying that you’ve reached the limit of the fifth trial,” said the man after noticing that Ataraxia was done testing his Legend Grade Intent.

”With that being said, let us move onto the most awaited part of my inheritance.”

”The rewards.”