Within one of the stone rooms of the Area 52 Inheritance, Aurus was listening to the disembodied voice of the inheritance as it announced Aurus" rewards after clearing the first trial.
"I hope I get to keep the skill I grinded," Aurus could not help but think to himself. Of course, who would have no thoughts of keeping a skill they grinded so hard for? And so, Aurus listened to the first statement of the disembodied voice, changing the anxious and hopeful aura around him into that of happiness and excitement.
"Due to the extent of the skill"s level of expounding being unforeseen, the inheritance has hastily made a decision to reward the inheritor with the skill it has expounded upon without reverting it back to its original level..." the disembodied voice stated.
"Let"s goooooo!!!" Aurus screamed in an ecstatic manner as energy seemed to fill his body, prompting him to fly around for a bit before hearing the disembodied voice once more. Hearing the disembodied voice speak again, Aurus stopped flying and waited for the voice to say its words, only to be shocked by the next statement.
"...As well as allowing the skill to mutate to a higher grade. Not only that, the experience required to level the skill has eternally been halved until it reaches the peak grade it could possibly reach," the disembodied voice talked once more.
It took Aurus half a minute to come back to his senses from the intense shock he got from the voice"s statement. The first few words that came out of his mouth were, "E-eternally h-h-halved...?"
"Did the inheritance just say the experience needed to level the skill I grinded is...eternally halved?" He could not help but repeat the question to himself as he opened up the skill"s details.
Ding!
________
[Ninth Purity Heavenbinding Essence Transformation] (Level 1/40)
Grade: S (Transcendent)
When one peers beyond the spirit, one eventually finds out the existence of essence, the intangible yet tangible energy that makes us, us. If one strengthens their spirit, then one strengthens their connection to the body, making the body exert more power. Therefore, if one strengthens their essence, which makes up the spirit, one strengthens the foundations of the spirit, which increases the limit as to how much power the body can exert depending on one specific value of the spirit.
With the essence of the user of the skill being incredibly pure and calm, the user can use the power from the Ninth Heaven to bind and purify the essence into a more condensed and cleansed form that would allow a small smidget of the user"s spirit to control a great amount of external power.
Thanks to heavenly methods, the needed time to connect with and comprehend the Ninth Heaven"s energy has been halved.
> Increases the efficacy of soul-based techniques by 150%
> Increases the base stats of the user by 120%
> Experience needed to level the skill up has been halved
________
Seeing the words on the description screen of the skill, Aurus" shock was gradually replaced with sheer happiness as he flew erratically once more with glee. "Hahahaha! I"m going to easily obtain a Divine level skill before reaching the peak of Inanimate!"
To a normal being, may it be Animate or Inanimate, a peak Mortal skill is enough to make them believe that the user is a G.o.d in a mortal"s body. Once the user uses a Transcendent skill, it"s enough to instill fear and wors.h.i.+p into those who see it. As for Divine level skills...
The sheer power and range of such a skill would basically make them vegetables from the immense shock, horror, fear and reverence they felt from the skill alone...before they get wiped into ashes, of course.
Just as he was about to fly a bit more, an immense pressure seemed to pull him down towards the ground as the disembodied voice resounded once more throughout the room.
"Inheritor, you have 10 minutes to prepare before the second trial, the Trial of Logic."
"Please prepare extremely well as it is easy to fail this trial from the first move alone."
Hearing these words of caution from the inheritance, Aurus could not help but subconsciously change his aura as he muttered in a serious tone, "Well then. The inheritance has already given me a hint from those words of caution alone."
"I wonder if the hypothesis I make would turn out correct before the trial starts."
x.x.xX Continent, Greater Tempest Cliff.
Roarrrr!!!
A harsh and loud growl could be heard coming from the beast that stood in front of the two people before it. Since the beast was around 5 meters tall, from height alone, it would seem that the two people would be at a disadvantage.
But that was not the case.
"Your Highness, we finally found a Grand Tempest Tiger that would be suitable for testing the limits of the blade. Would Your Highness want me to bind the beast in place?" One of the two people, a man in a black robe with black-rimmed gla.s.ses, asked.
As for the other one, he unsheathed the blade by his side, revealing the beautifully crafted blade that glistened under the rays of the sun, revealing the green runes that emitted intense Wind energy. Licking his lips with a grin on his face, he extended his left hand to place it in front of the other person and say, "Keep an eye out for me for now. Once you see me in grave danger, that"s the time to move."
"Alright, Your Highness." The black robed man bowed towards the other man before levitating a few tens of meters above the ground, allowing him to look out for the other man without worry.
Of course, if one did not know them by now, these two are Dane and Vanadir.
Roarrrrrr!!!
The beast could not help but roar once again as it noticed that the two people in front of it did not seem to fear it at all. It seemed like...to them, it was not even something unbeatable?
Coming to this conclusion, the beast became filled with rage as a red wind started to circle around its body, giving off a pressure that was equivalent to a small-scale typhoon.
But for Vanadir, who was going to fight against the beast, this pressure was useless for he...
...was a Windwalker.
Whoos.h.!.+
With a large clump of Wind energy particles coalescing towards Vanadir"s feet, Vanadir was able to dash through the red wind, even dodging the red wind that was aimed for him along the way. This resulted in him unscathed while the beast became shocked from Vanadir"s prowess in front of it.
Before it could make its next move towards Vanadir, Vanadir started to move left and right multiple times as he turned into a blur in the beast"s vision before...disappearing from the beast"s sight completely.
Surprised, the beast started looking at all directions before hearing a whistle from up above its own head. Without hesitation, the beast looked up, revealing a gradually descending Vanadir with a grin on its face, holding Magnus Tempestria with two hands, aiming to stab the beast in one go.
"Hehe. I knew you were going to look up," Vanadir muttered to himself. In an instant, the blade started to glow a bright green as a great amount of Wind energy particles started to circle around the blade before turning into two claws that resembled that of a Wind Dragon.
"[Wind Dragon"s Four Forms]..."
As he was midway into casting his spell, his speed of descent accelerated by a great margin as a few meters was crossed in a matter of an instant, reducing the gap between the tip of the blade and the beast"s head to a few decimeters.
"[Wind Dragon"s Fury]!"
Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+
At the instant the tip of the blade pierced through the epidermal layer of the beast"s skin, the two claws made out of Wind energy particles clawed into the skull of the beast, allowing the blade to go in further as the beast"s brain was turned into mush along the way.
Thud!
With no brain controlling the beast"s body, the beast"s body turned limp as it fell to the ground with a thud as Vanadir maneuvered his body to land a few meters away from the beast"s body, allowing him to look at his kill with a confident smile on his face.
"Woo! That feels exhilirating!" Vanadir could not help but scream with joy as he looked at the blade he held with his right hand. He could not help but close his eyes and remember the sensation he felt from easily killing a beast of that level.
While remembering the sensation, a few motes of green light manifested from the beast"s body before heading towards Vanadir"s body, being absorbed in an instant as the aura surrounding him gradually intensified in power.
It took a few minutes for Vanadir to open his eyes before looking up to Dane, who was still floating in the air, with a serious expression and say, "Let"s go onto the next beast. I feel like something will happen on this adventure."
"If that"s what the Highness wishes," Dane replied with slight indifference as he maintained a distance of a few meters behind Vanadir while still floating at a height of tens of meters.
Before the two of them could start walking towards another beast, Dane instantly felt a malicious presence within a hundred meters around both of them, prompting him to shout out, "Your Highness, watch ou—"
But his shout was cut short.
s.h.i.+nnggg!
In an instant, the sound of a blade cutting something was heard near Vanadir, making Dane"s eyes dilate as he gradually turned his head to look towards Vanadir"s direction...only to sigh with relief not long after.
With a single glance, Dane was able to see that two blades collided with one another in a perpendicular manner, with one blade trembling quite a bit. This blade was Magnus Tempestria, Vanadir"s blade.
Maintaining his composure after the shock that was the blade aimed to end his life, Vanadir looked at the man covered in black who wielded the blade colliding against his. "It seems an a.s.sa.s.sin has been caught. A Rank 5 Void a.s.sa.s.sin at that."
Not long after, the a.s.sa.s.sin slightly chuckled at Vanadir"s words as it replied with a hoa.r.s.e tone. "It seems I have failed my mission."
Whoos.h.!.+
In an instant, the weight behind the a.s.sa.s.sin"s blade was gone, making Vanadir lean a bit as he regained his balance not long after, making sure to grip onto his blade tightly.
Looking around for a bit, Vanadir let out a sigh afterwards before tensing up once more as he heard the hoa.r.s.e voice of the a.s.sa.s.sin resound from afar.
"Mark my words Ninth Prince, before the tournament for the throne, you will undoubtedly die."
"This is a fact. And I..."
"...Will make it happen."