While Aurus was savoring the stronger effects of his Flux after upgrading it to Rank 5…
Within the Tempest Cliff, there existed a place that boasted such dense and pure Wind energy that one would definitely be minced to shreds once one stepped a single foot into it. This place is also known by multiple Animates as the core of the Tempest Cliff.
Currently, this Wind energy scattered throughout this core was being absorbed by a wolf that seemed to be made out of rock yet wasn"t. Its fur was a shade of gray that could let it blend with other rocks in the surroundings, while its structure gave others a sense of st.u.r.diness that would never falter in any situation.
This wolf was Chonk, who was currently absorbing the power of the core of the Tempest Cliff in order to master his Tempering skill and ascend to a Rank 1 Cla.s.s, his lifelong dream.
Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+
Bit by bit, the torrential and powerful Wind energy particles that made up the core was gradually being broken down into smaller and less powerful Wind energy particles that could be easily absorbed by Chonk"s body. Nonetheless, the purity of the Wind energy was still preserved all throughout this process, allowing Chonk to glean upon the intricacies making up the Wind energy particles.
"Wind is something that exists all throughout our surroundings, even within the depths of water," Chonk muttered to himself as a frown appeared on his face. "I understand this statement to the point where I can say that if I claimed second over the mastery of the essence of Wind, no one would claim first!"
"But why is it that my [Tempest Genesis Rebirth] has not been mastered to completion yet? Why does it seem that I am still lacking that certain thing?"
After discovering the core of the Tempest Cliff over a week ago, he had cultivated near this core, absorbing the pure Wind energy particles coming out of it and allowing his body to be tempered by the same particles he was trying to understand.
Up till now, he was still trying to find what he was missing in the completion of his Tempering skill, only to be blocked at the last step. He had a vague feeling of what it is, but his body seemed to be subconsciously avoiding it.
"Wind…" Still wracking his brain over the matter, Chonk decided to focus on the word that his Tempering skill was based on. "Wind…does it really exist everywhere? Aren"t there times where one cannot feel the wind but one still knows it exists?"
Bang!
Following that train of thought, Chonk finally knew what he was missing. At that instant of enlightenment, his Tempering skill was mastered to 100% as a ray of light from up above started to s.h.i.+ne down upon his body, gradually changing his structure into a stronger and sleeker form of a wolf.
Indeed! He was now ascending to a Rank 1 Cla.s.s!
On the other hand, Aurus was still engrossed in the details of his newly upgraded Flux.
After a while, he closed the screen and let out a long yet contented sigh as he muttered to himself, "Man…Flux is definitely a good thing."
As he muttered this, he could not help but look at the Flux that covered his body, radiating a green light that was more vibrant than before. Not only that, it also gave Aurus a feeling of comfortability under the cover of this Flux. After thinking about how comfortable his Flux was after being upgraded to Rank 5, he could not help but be disappointed that he could not reach the maximum rank available for his Flux.
"Haah…I"ll just upgrade my Flux once I max [Transcendent Vitality Anima Creation]. I hope I have enough SP to max it to Rank 9."
Ding!
"Eh?" All of a sudden, Aurus heard a notification sound resound throughout his mind, confusing him greatly as he did not know what he did in order to gain such a sound.
Deciding that it was too tiring to read words on a screen for now, he commanded the system to read the latest notification that popped up.
"[Flux Vessel] and [Flux Weapon Creation] have leveled up."
"Eh?" Hearing the skills that he wanted to level up be leveled up made Aurus speechless for a bit as he did not know what he did to gain experience in order for those skills to level up.
He thought about it for a bit and hypothesized that having a fully crafted weapon on him allowed his Weapon Creation skill to pa.s.sively gain experience, while using Flux allowed his Flux Storage skill to gain experience…though its level up was delayed for some reason.
Since all he had was time at this moment, when his Weapon Creation skill would level up later along his journey, that alone was enough to prove his hypothesis greatly.
"You know what? I"ve already wasted enough time already experimenting with Flux." Realizing that he has wasted quite a considerable amount of time while travelling towards the Lesser Experience Haven, Aurus could not help but say.
"Time to speed my journey up a bit."
"[Supreme Tempest Burst]!"
Whoos.h.!.+
At that instant, his movement speed, which was already fast for someone at S-grade, was boosted by twofold, allowing him to move at an incredibly fast 9 kilometers per hour! Unfortunately, this buff would only last for a minute before disappearing.
[Supreme Tempest Burst], was the better version of [Tempest Burst] which Aurus was extremely fond of using. Since Aurus evolved his movement skill to X-grade, it was natural that the supplementary skill that came with it evolved into a better version as well.
"[Void Gale Spirit s.h.i.+ft]!"
Fwoos.h.!.+
After muttering another skill"s name out loud, Aurus disappeared in an instant from where he was, only appearing at a place 6 kilometers away from where he previously was a few seconds later. Due to the skill being X-grade, Aurus was able to teleport at most 2 kilometers away from his original place in an instant. But with [Supreme Tempest Burst] still being in effect, this distance was boosted twofold as well, allowing the distance between Aurus and the Lesser Experience Haven to be only around 7 kilometers left!
"f.u.c.k. I forgot to activate [Gale Hover]."
And so, after around 3 more hours or so, with him activating [Gale Hover] and other movement speed boosting skills along the way, Aurus was now at the outskirts of the Lesser Experience Haven. As he entered the place, he could not help but look around and feel that he had come a long way from being a measly C-grade Inanimate.
"How long has it been since I left this place…oh wait. Inanimates don"t have a sense of time…so around 3 months, I guess?"
Continuing to traverse towards the center of the Lesser Experience Haven, with him not suppressing his aura, he unconsciously made the C-grade and B-grade Inanimates that he hovered above through along the way shudder in fear under the power of his aura…if one knew how such beings that had weak souls shudder anyway.
"Who dares to trespa.s.s my domain?" Fortunately, with Aurus not suppressing his aura, he was able to find the being that he was going to hunt as that being roared out loud, its voice being heard throughout the boundaries of the experience haven.
"Summon Weapon."
Whoos.h.!.+
While hovering in place, listening to the words of the being that he wanted to hunt, his Magical weapon named Staff No. 1 appeared in front of his body, radiating an energy that resonated with the aura he radiated out.
Not long after that, he increased the alt.i.tude of his flight to a height of a few kilometers, allowing him to look at the entirety of the Lesser Experience Haven. A few seconds later, he was able to see the being that roared out a while ago.
"Ah, there you are," Aurus softly said. He looked at the being that was a mix between a Sapling and Branch Formosus, yet it was not a Spiritas like him. It seemed like a being that was conflicted at what path it was going to choose after evolving to grade, hence it chose to traverse both, only to fail midway.
"Identify." Then again, Aurus was not in a position to think about other beings" evolution paths as the only goal he had in his second life was to become a G.o.d-tier existence again.
Ding!
________
[Arlithos (Lord of the Lesser Experience Haven)]
Level: 10/10
Species: Branch Formivitalis Naturalii
Existence Level: Inanimate (A)
[HP]: 300/300
[SP]: 75/75
Stats:
[Tenacity]: 55
[Nature]: 43
[Spirit]: 62
________
Looking at the health of the being that he was about to kill, he could not help but have second thoughts as to what skill he was going to use to kill such a weak being like that. At first, he decided that the first form of the [Spirit Sword of Seven h.e.l.ls] would be enough to honor its presence, but now that he got a closer look at its stats, it seemed that it would be honoring the being too much.
Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+
Infusing a small part of his SP into his Spell Core, a crude magic circle was formed at a fast speed thanks to the special effect of Staff No. 1.
"I guess [Spirit Wind Bolt] is enough."
Whoos.h.!.+
Haphazardly aiming it at the being named Arlithos, the energy bolt made out of Wind energy particles charged towards the being at a speed that could be said to be an instant for an Inanimate due to it travelling at a speed 60 times faster than Aurus" movement speed.
Bang!
The being did not even notice an energy bolt aiming for its body due to its sheer speed, only realizing it once the bolt pierced through its body. With its vitality hastily being sapped away at every second, it tried to find the being that shot the energy bolt that would inevitably cease it from evolving any further.
It only took a second for the being to look up as the aura it sensed came from above it, looking at Aurus who nonchalantly looked at it with slight disdain. Letting a soft laugh inwardly, it muttered, "I guess...my journey...ends here."
Not much later, the vitality circulating throughout the being was finally gone, letting the being"s body dissipate off into thin air, only leaving Life and Will points as a remnant of its presence.
Ding!
Aurus looked at the place where the being dissipated for a short bit, only to have his attention be placed onto the notification screen that appeared in front of his field of vision not long after. He then skimmed through the notifications, only to exclaim in surprise, "You can actually get that from killing bosses?!"
"3 Genesis Points have been obtained from killing Arlithos, the Lord of the Lesser Experience Haven."
"1 OS Point has been obtained from killing Arlithos, the Lord of the Lesser Experience Haven."