Path to Transcendence

Chapter 658: Calm Before Ruin

He decided that he deserved a break, and so he settled down and enjoyed some food. The blanket had some other nice surprises for him. It must have been enchanted with maximum comfort because it felt like the most luxurious and plush pad, despite being quite thin. It also had a fascinating barrier that protected him from the heat.

But he didn’t sense anything deployed from it, which was weird.

Still, with all of its benefits, this was quickly becoming one of his favorite items. At first, he wanted an axe or a weapon, but this was way better. He could always make his own weapons, which was what he’d been doing for a while anyway.

While he munched on some food, he started to go through the rest of his rewards. One specifically was something he knew would be helpful.

Congratulations. You have been rewarded with an Additional Skill Slot.

Current Skill Slots: 12 -> 13

His lips stretched over his face, barely able to contain his joy. He didn’t like that he’d been forced to go through this trial, but the rewards were damn nice. He now had a lot more freedom to select skills and combine them.

Speaking of skills, he read the final notification with a little hesitation.

Congratulations, you have completed your skill evolution trial. Evolution of [Sage of Savagery] will now commence…

Notice: Anomalies detected…

Skill Optimization Token detected…

He looked down at his hands, where the token had suddenly appeared. It was shimmering brightly and was quite hot to the touch. He watched as it melted down, turning into little particles of white light. This light then dove into his chest, and he felt an enormous bloom of energy ripple through his soul.

His soul, where the skill orb resided, began to shift. It was like his entire soul space was moving alongside it. The pressure radiating from his skill was heavy and even more oppressive. It was like Cain bullying him with kinetic energy all over again.

It took a while, surprisingly long time, but eventually the pressures eased, and what was left was a sparkling golden orb, shining brilliantly in the darkness of his soul space.

Congratulations, you have evolved [Sage of Savagery] -> [Calm Before Ruin] (Legendary)

The sudden influx of information and power staggered him. It was unlike any skill acquisition he had ever experienced. And the name of the skill itself was unexpected.

[Calm Before Ruin]... An interesting name to be sure.

Though I wondered what the reason could be for the unique name. It had taken a slightly different naming theme than his other skills.

What was the calm before the ruin? That being said, what better way to satisfy his curiosity than to test the skill itself? And without wasting any more time, he carefully activated the skill.

In an instant, his mind jerked, and he found himself surrounded by darkness. Typically, this would have alarmed him, but he was experiencing this surreal, almost unnatural calmness. It was like he was floating within the void without a care in the world, as if all of his issues were unimportant and meaningless.

But inside his soul was like a war raging within him. As if pure destruction was sitting in his chest, waiting to be unleashed on the world.

He took one deep breath, and everything exploded with vibrancy. Parts of the warmth in his chest leaked into the void, but were swallowed by the endless darkness. Almost like he was throwing all of his troubles and worries into the void.

It was strangely liberating and enjoyable. All of the shackles of regret or anxiety ebbed away, until it was just the void and the contrasting ruin in his chest warming him. He could stay like this forever and not have an issue with it.

He could simply just…

He felt a slight flare of life mana flashing in the darkness, and it was only thanks to that he tore himself out of the void with sheer willpower, gasping for breath when he returned to reality. Noticing that the sun had moved along the sky, indicating that he’d been in that void for way longer than it felt.

That was terrifying.

He slowly gathered himself and only then noticed that Drasil was poking his cheek aggressively from his shoulder. He glanced over at his familiar and gently picked him up. “I’m good, I’m good. I was just trying out my new skill.”

Drasil let out a worried whistle.

“I know, I didn’t expect something like that either.”

That was worrisome. The skill was different from [Sage of Savagery]. Not only was it more potent, but apparently, there were some effects he needed to get used to. He remembered how [Sage of Savagery] had affected his emotions and influenced his mind with extreme usage, but over time, he’d gotten really good at balancing it.

He suspected this skill would require the same thing.

Taking a deep breath, he looked at Drasil. “I’m going to try it again. If I get lost in there again, do that same thing you used to do before, okay?”

Drasil looked a bit hesitant.

“Please, I need to get used to it now rather than later.”

Eventually, Drasil nodded seriously and climbed onto his shoulder once again, already placing his tiny hands on the side of his face.

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“Okay, I’m going in again,” he said.

This time around, he was a lot more careful. He used the minimal amount of energy to activate [Calm Before Ruin]. Unlike the last time, he didn’t get pulled into the void. Instead, he felt it behaved similarly to [Sage of Savagery]. His focus narrowed, and he could feel his mind expand.

The main difference was the lack of savagery coming from the skill, or rather, the void. He’d gotten used to controlling the wild nature of the skill, but now, instead of savagery, there was a coldness and apathy that was both unfamiliar and unsettling.

To combat this, he started to warm his soul with happy thoughts and good memories. He didn’t let the ruinous energy in his chest leak out; instead, he leaned on Drasil and their connection to help. Drasil seemed to understand what he was doing and sent over emotions of love and reassurance. This seemed to balance the skill decently well, and the coldness was pushed away without relying on the destruction.

Interestingly, this seemed to strengthen the skill. His mind was honed to a razor, and he immediately created several constructs over his palm. He attempted his most difficult techniques, and to his immense pleasure, he felt himself manage them with an ease that hadn’t been there before.

His focus started to narrow even further as he played with his constructs, until there was nothing but him and the collection of mana. It was only when Drasil sent out a burst of mana that he pulled back.

He opened his eyes and smiled at Drasil, rubbing his belly lovingly. “Thanks, buddy.”

Drasil cooed and hugged his face.

Julius laughed and enjoyed the feeling of love and intimacy flowing through their connection.

It would seem that this skill was way more potent than the previous one. Which made sense considering it was a certified legendary skill, but with that power came some dangers. He would need to navigate and explore these dangers when he had more time. Until then, he needed to be careful.

Only after he activated the skill a couple more times and got more accustomed to it did he check out his status.

Name: Julius Von Hyperius

Tier: 4

Skills:

[Calm Before Ruin lvl 1] (Legendary)[Armaments of the Arcane lvl 29] (Epic)[Phoenix Renewal lvl 30] (Epic)[Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin lvl 29] (Epic+)[Inexorable Aura of Ruin lvl 28] (Epic)[Absolute Spatial Perception lvl 21] (Epic)[Void Step lvl 20] (Epic+)[Void Strike lvl 18] (Epic+)[Spirit Fortification lvl 27] (Epic)[Field of the Shattered Will lvl 16] (Epic+)[Phoenix’s Mark lvl 1] (Epic+)
Current Skill Slots: 11/13

Seed of Authority: Seed of Phoenix’s Ruin

Concepts:

[Concept of Sharpness][Pure Severance][Concept of Will][Inexorable Resolve][Concept of Phoenix][Ashen Rebirth][Concept of Force][Resonating Burst][Concept of Space][Chaotic Space]
Feats:

[Feat of Enduring Resolve lvl 1]
Soul Bound Items:

Fledgling Phoenix’s Lunch Box (Growth Type)Ruinous Crown (Growth Type)Lightweave NecklaceUmbral Loom NecklaceBlanket of Gluttonous Renewal (Growth Type)
It was quite gratifying to see a legendary skill in his status after all this time. He grinned and wondered what would happen with [Phoenix Renewal]. It had already reached level 30, and the only reason it hadn’t begun its evolution was that he had [Sage of Savagery] evolving.

He pulled up the notification from before, and to his great pleasure, it didn’t have the same error prompt as before.

[Phoenix Renewal] has reached the threshold. Would you like to evolve the skill?

Appraising requirements…

Relevant skill level... satisfied.

Comprehension of skill… satisfied

Related Concept… satisfied.

Relevant Seed of Authority… perfect.

Latent potential of Seed of Authority… satisfied.

Congratulations. Requirements for skill evolution have been met.

Skill evolution test generating…

He noticed right away the difference in this notification. Unlike [Sage of Savagery], his Seed of Authority was perfect for it. Which only made sense considering the similar names.

Skill Evolution Test…

Requirements:

Have half of your body destroyed in a single attackHave your head completely destroyedHeal five fatal injuries in a single dayDie
He stared at the notification with a blank expression and eventually shrugged. To be honest, they didnʼt sound that hard. He could see why Freya wasnʼt concerned. Just as he was taking it all in, he was greeted with a new one.

Notice: Several requirements for Skill Evolution have already been satisfied multiple times. Skill Evolution Test will be generated to reflect such accomplishments.

Skill Evolution Test…

Requirements:

Heal five fatal injuries in a single day (0/5)
That was a bit astonishing to see. He hadn’t been expecting something like this. Perhaps Freya had similar requirements for her own phoenix healing skill and knew what to expect, knowing what he’d experienced.

He suspected that the modified trial for [Sage of Savagery] was a bit different than usual skill evolution tests. He also wondered if that token he’d used would have been better for this skill, or if it was better for his focus skill.

He had a feeling that the token had aligned the skill to his Seed of Authority more than it would have done naturally. That made him curious what kind of skill he would have gotten without the token. Would it have been weaker? Or perhaps just not as optimal for his particular Seed of Authority.

That was something he could figure out later. For now, he had a skill he needed to evolve, and he had a good idea of how he could satisfy those requirements quickly.

***

He kicked the sand with a disappointed mutter while he let his destroyed torso heal; the flesh knitted back together swiftly.

Okay, so hurting himself either didn’t qualify as an actual injury, since it was self-inflicted. Or, the injury wasn’t bad enough to be considered fatal. The latter theory seemed a bit worrisome since almost his entire chest had been blown up in small bloody chunks. If that wasn’t fatal, he didn’t want to know what the skill actually considered fatal.

But before he went and tried to keep killing himself, he probably should have checked on other solutions and had someone else damage him. Perhaps he could get Cassandra to rip him in half and see what results he got. He didn’t seem to have a time restriction on the test; he just needed to heal five fatal injuries in one day. Once he figured out the specifics and what was considered “fatal”, he would be able to complete the task easily.

For the time being, he looked over at the horizon. He’d been missing for a while at this point and should probably go and check in with the sect. He wondered if they had even noticed that he’d gone missing.