Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Another Massive Power-Up

Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Another Massive Power-UpDamian looked at the three swords floating before him, a wide grin spreading across his face.

Just like with [Recna, the Spear of Torment], the swords refused to let his hand get close to them.

They released threatening auras, especially [Darmung, The Devastation Bringer], which unleashed a speck of sword aura when Damian tried to touch it.

The aura left a large, deep cut on his arm, which, of course, healed within seconds.

Just as he had done with the Spear of Torment, Damian dripped a few drops of his blood onto the three swords, waiting nervously and wondering if the weapons would accept him as their master.

If they didn't, all his efforts would be wasted.

This was the only downside of owning ultimate-grade weapons; they had minds of their own.

It wasn't the wielder who chose the sword; the sword chose its master.

Without acceptance, they were nothing more than fancy display pieces.

After a few tense seconds, the same thing happened with the swords.

The blood Damian had dripped on them was absorbed, and they released faint waves of aura before becoming submissive to him.

Damian grabbed the handle of [Darmung, The Devastation Bringer] with both hands and lifted the sword, studying it with a strange expression.

The sword was about six feet tall from the tip of the blade to the handle.

Its thick, single-edged blade shone with an indigo hue, reflecting light, while the dark blue handle contrasted beautifully.

"You are one beautiful sword—except for your dangerous aura," Damian said.

He attempted to place the sword in his inventory, but it resisted, transforming instead into a small, green bracelet that wrapped around his upper arm.

Nodding, Damian then turned to the twin swords that came as a set: [Mercy, the Sword of Salvation], and [Judgment, the Sword of Punishment].

He held one in each hand.

The swords looked identical except for their blades.

The Sword of Salvation's blade was pure white with a black handle, while the Sword of Punishment's blade was jet black with an equally dark handle.

Both swords bore a symbol of wings on one side and intricate patterns etched into the other.

Like Darmung, the twin swords also transformed into accessories.

This time, however, they became two rings that wrapped around the fingers of Damian's left hand.

Finally, he picked up the Spear of Torment and summoned the rewards he had gained from the system for completing the trials.

[Elemental Shard] x 5

[Fire Essence Stone] x 1

[Wood Essence Stone] x 1

[Water Essence Stone] x 1

[Earth Essence Stone] x 1

The five Elemental Shards were about the size of basketballs.

They were multicolored, as though all the colors of the spectrum had been mixed together, and they had no specific shape, resembling random rocks one might find anywhere.

-----

[Item: Elemental Shard]

[The rarest elemental stone found within the tower. It forms through the convergence of all elemental energies in a neutral environment, containing the essence of nature in a highly condensed crystal form.]

-----

The four Elemental Essence Stones, on the other hand, were formed by their respective essences condensing over long periods.

Damian raised his hand toward all the items and activated his unique innate ability.

[Extraction: Unique Innate Ability activated]

A vortex made of pure energy materialized, pulling the Elemental Shards and Essence Stones into it before disappearing into his hand.

Within Damian, an astronomical amount of energy surged into his energy stream: Qi, mana, fire essence, wood essence, water essence, earth essence, wind essence, ice essence, and lightning essence all flooded his body. 

[You have absorbed all Elemental Shards] x 5

[You have absorbed Fire Essence Stone] x 1

[You have absorbed Wood Essence Stone] x 1

[You have absorbed Water Essence Stone] x 1

[You have absorbed Earth Essence Stone] x 1

The energies of opposing and compatible natures began to clash, going erratic and haywire. Damian's body started to break apart.


[Warning: You have absorbed multiple energies of opposing and compatible natures in very large quantities.]

[As a result, The energies are unstable and are imploding your body from within.]

[Your energy circuits are being fried]

[Your energy stream is becoming unstable and flooding without control]

Damian sat cross-legged as the energies inside him began to tear his body apart.

Cracks appeared all over him, similar to how cracks appear on glass before it breaks.

However, blood didn't emerge from the cracks.

Instead, all the energies inside him began to leak through them.

Even with his extremely high vitality, he couldn't heal himself.

It was as if his self-healing abilities had been suddenly turned off, and the insurmountable pain began to take hold.

It was unlike anything he had ever endured before.

Even with his trait [Pain Tolerance], he couldn't handle the pain; it was simply too much.

[Your talent [Boundless Refinement] is taking effect]

[Your constitution [Unyielding Warrior's Physique] is taking effect]

[Your pain tolerance trait is being strengthened]

[Your body is adapting to the rapid flesh destruction]

[Your body is adapting to the rapid energy collision]

[Your body is adapting to the rapid energy implosion]

[Your body is strengthening]

[Your vitality is strengthening]

Damian's mind continuously ran through everything, observing the reactions inside him: his flesh's response to the introduction of large quantities of energy, the introduction of new kinds of energy, the interactions between the energies, and everything else happening inside him.

He closed his eyes, focusing through the pain, and finally took hold of the energy he already possessed.

Damian began to control all the Mana, Fire Essence, Water Essence, Earth Essence, and Wood Essence he had absorbed from the elemental shards and essence stones, isolating them from all the Wind Essence, Lightning Essence, Ice Essence, and Qi to prevent them from reacting with each other.

He then poured them into their respective cores.

[Your Mana increased: +35]

[Your Fire Essence increased: +70]

[Your Wood Essence increased: +70]

[Your Water Essence increased: +70]

[Your Earth Essence increased: +70]

[Due to the effect of the talent [Boundless Refinement] and constitution [Unyielding Warrior's Physique]]

[Your energy circulation has improved]

[Your energy circuits have been strengthened and improved]

[Your energy stream is being strengthened and expanded]

As soon as Damian removed the five energies from the unstable energy stream and poured them into the cores, the breakdown his body was experiencing slowed down significantly.

After that, a sigh escaped his mouth as he focused his attention back on the remaining energies, the newly obtained ones, while ignoring the Qi as he had another plan for it.

[Your talent [World Tree's Blessing] is taking effect.]

[You have gained complete affinity with the energy known as Wind Essence.]

[You have gained complete affinity with the energy known as Lightning Essence.]

[You have gained complete affinity with the energy known as Ice Essence.]

[Your Constitution [The Unyielding Warrior's Physique] is taking effect.]

He then gained control over the three essences and began circulating them towards the place where his other essence cores were located.

[Your talent [Limitless Harmony] is taking effect]

[Wind Essence, Lightning Essence, and Ice Essence have gained harmony with the other energy inside you.]

Using the [Wind Essence], he began to condense it, forming a new, more white, less gray-colored [Wind Essence Core] between the [Fire Essence Core] and [Water Essence Core].

[You have formed the Wind Essence Core]

[Due to the creation of the Wind Essence Core and the Wind Essence coursing through your body, your constitution has been altered.]

[You have awakened the Constitution: Relentless Tempest Sovereign Physique]

[Your Wind Essence increased: +20]

[Your Vitality increased: +22]

[Your Stamina increased: +15]

[Your Agility increased: +15]

[Your Perception Increased: +30]

He continued the same process with the remaining two elemental essences and used the [Ice Essence] to form the dark blue [Ice Essence Core] between the [Wind Essence Core] and [Water Essence Core].

[You have formed the Ice Essence Core]

[Due to the creation of the Ice Essence Core and the Ice Essence coursing through your body, your constitution has been altered.]

[You have awakened the Constitution: Indomitable Ice King Physique.]

[Your Ice Essence increased: +20]

[Your Vitality increased: +35]

[Your Strength increased: +15]

[Your Stamina increased: +15]

[Your Perception Increased: +15]

He did the same with the Lightning Essence, controlling it and forming a red-colored [Lightning Essence Core] between the [Wind Essence Core] and [Ice Essence Core].

[You have formed the Lightning Essence Core]

[Due to the creation of the Lightning Essence Core and the Lightning Essence coursing through your body, your constitution has been altered.]

[You have awakened the Constitution: Unstoppable Lightning Warrior Physique.]

[Your Lightning Essence increased: +20]

[Your Vitality increased: +30]

[Your Stamina increased: +15]

[Your Agility increased: +25]

[Your Perception Increased: +15]

Finally, all the essences inside rapidly stabilized, and his body began to rapidly heal from being broken apart. Slowly, the cracks over his body closed up.

Then he focused his attention on the last remaining energy, [Qi].

The reason he hadn't done anything with it earlier was that he didn't know what to do with it.

Qi can only be used for Qi cultivation, and only through cultivation can one increase their Qi reservoir.

Right now, what Damian lacked was Qi.

His other energy reserves were growing rapidly, but he couldn't increase the Qi reserves.

Cultivation takes a lot of time, and Damian thought of an idea.

If the other energies could be used to create respective energy cores that could store energy, why couldn't the same be done with [Qi]?

After all, it was just another type of energy.

But such a concept wasn't even mentioned in the [Codex of Qi] he had been granted when he obtained his class.

It was something that had never been recorded.

The Codex of Qi contained all the information recorded related to Qi and Qi cultivation and how it was used until now.

"Let's see if it works," Damian said.

He focused on the Qi and began to circulate it toward the place where his other energy cores resided.

He began to condense it.

Just as he thought, the Qi wasn't condensing; it was simply joining together but not forming a core. 

A minutes passed, and nothing seemed to be changing.

[your talent [Limitless Harmony] is taking effect]

Then suddenly, as if something intervened, the Qi that had been refusing to condense began to condense.

Soon, another core, similar in color to the [Mana Core], formed.

This one was called the [Qi Core].

[Your Qi increased: +25]

...

The woman with long dark hair, accented with streaks of red and known as the System Administrator, appeared in the castle where a single woman sat on the throne in the empty throne room.

"He got the [Recna], [Mercy], [Judgment], and [Darmung]... Isn't it too soon to give him those weapons? You know how powerful they are, right?" The System Administrator looked at the woman on the throne.

"Trust me, it's never too soon. Besides, I wanted to give him the stronger ones, but they might be too difficult for him to control right now."

"Even the ones we gave him are equally strong, but their consciousness has been severely weakened, so it won't be a problem for him to manage them," the woman on the throne shrugged.

"And besides, I know you'd nag me and wouldn't let me give him more weapons."

"That's because he's supposed to earn them from the system as rewards for his efforts. I can't just hand them over. The system rules are there for a reason," the Administrator explained, rolling her eyes.

Only she knew how many times she'd had to explain the same things to this woman, and she couldn't criticize her too much because she was the current head of the household.

"I placed them in a way that he'd get them as random rewards from the roulette. I didn't rig the system either. I guess his luck is improving again, considering he keeps getting the strongest weapons from the roulette," the Administrator said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

"Anyway, I came here to tell you that he's about to enter the first tower realm, and to remind you not to do anything rash," the Administrator said, concern evident in her eyes.

"Ugh… How many times do I have to repeat myself? I promise I won't do anything unless, of course, something endangers him," the woman on the throne said, rolling her eyes.

"…Okay then," the Administrator sighed, knowing she wouldn't get anything more reassuring than that.

She decided to take what she could get before disappearing from the spot.