Volume 5 – Chapter 20 (in-editing v8)

Volume 5 – Chapter 20

(the next chapter will be out soonish hopefully! - I'm awful with my deadlines, but they help encourage me to finish writing faster!)

(Edit as of 11/10/2025: Made some changes to Micheal's Growth Rate upgrades/Ki upgrades)

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“Here are your quarters.” A young maid led Micheal and Shin through a long, finely decorated stone hallway, to a pair of dark, wooden doors.

Their meeting with Vesper had stretched on for more then an hour, discussing everything she knew about Jay sol Arget, his methodologies, and the Founding Celebration attack.

Eventually, however, the conversation drew to a close.

Vesper had invited them to stay at one of the guest quarters here in Castle Atlas.

It was a generous offer.

The rooms she’d offered had been Warded by her, personally, using Magic Wards that were specifically designed across the Time Loops to counter the Unseen One’s movements, triggering a loud alarm should the Endwalker breach them.

It was further proof that Vesper had prepared to meet with them ahead of time, proving the existence of the Time Loop.

It was the best option Micheal and Shin had for shelter, far better then staying in a random, un-Warded Inn, so they accepted her offer.

“Thank you.” Micheal nodded at the maid, who in turn nodded back. It cost him nothing to be polite.

As the maid turned and left, Micheal turned to Shin.

“We’ll hunker down here for the night and get up before dawn.” He nodded quietly towards Shin.

“We need to be up early.”

He wasn’t going to waste any time – tomorrow, he would meet with the Knights of the Round Table, and warn Aaron directly. There was so much he needed to inform the Round Table about.

“If anything happens…” He continued.

“I’ll teleport into your room ASAP.” Shin returned his nod.

“Do not engage alone. Strength in numbers.” Micheal held up a fist.

Shin fist bumped back.

“Strength in numbers!”

Shin opened his door first, whistling slightly as he walked into his room.

“Fancy!”

Micheal opened his room’s door and found himself agreeing.

‘The picture of opulent wealth.’

The room reminded him of some old documentaries he had watched on Earth, memories from more than a decade ago rising up thanks to his perfect memory. The show had depicted the rich lives of medieval royalty, the very highest echelon of wealth in that era.

The room was decorated with long, silken tapestries, depicting scenes from the history of House Atlas, and fanciful paintings. One tapestry had a grand battle sketched upon it, war between an opposing Void Noble. Another was a very clear painting of Duke Armon, single-handedly driving off an Apex Void Predator.

At the middle of the southern wall lay a large canopy bed, lined with silken, gold sheets. A fine golden blanket, and soft white pillows lay on the bed. Opposite this bed, on the other end of the room, was a pair of large, brown wood wardrobes.

At the center of the room was a small, circular wooden table, with a set of chairs set around it. A small vase of blue flowers rested at the middle of the table.

There were no windows in this room, the quarters were set entirely in the interior of Castle Atlas.

‘To think, this is just the lesser guest quarters.’ To book them in the more esteemed guest quarters, Vesper would have to ask permission from her father or one of her mothers – and those rooms hadn’t been Warded by her.

These were her personal guest quarters, set in the same wing she lived in.

It was a sign of the sheer, enormous scale of Castle Atlas, that each of the Duke’s sons and daughters had their own personal guest quarters from which to invite guests.

‘Sleep will have to wait.’ As Micheal shut the door behind him, he turned his focus inward.

His Sky Tier Ki and the two calmly resonating Mana Circles in his Soul, subtly empowered his body and Soul. The advanced power let him resist the need to sleep, to some degree. Where a normal, baseline human might need 8 hours of sleep, he only needed a fraction of that amount.

‘Meditation will let me stave off sleep even further. However…’

His goal tonight wasn’t simple meditation.

First, he would remove the ‘Impact Release’ Ability from his Abilities list.

The power didn’t scale that well, as he grew more and more powerful, and there were a selection of other Abilities he was considering replacing it with.

None that he had the Points total for, not yet, but he wanted to keep the option open, should he find himself in urgent need of an Ability and yet no room to buy it.

The revelation that they were being hunted down inside a Time Loop had caused a paradigm shift in his thinking. It was enormously important that he keep his options open, to prepare for any eventuality, now more than ever.

‘Thankfully, it’s easy to remove.’ There was a reason he’d picked this Ability, so early on. One reason was its major utility on the lower Layers, where it scaled far better and had much more of an impact.

The other reason, however, was its ease of removal.

Micheal centered his focus, his mind imagining a visualization of his Status. He zeroed in on his Ability list, where ‘Impact Release’ was listed. Slowly, he concentrated on that Ability, on the act of ‘Release’ that was inherent with ‘Impact Release.’

‘Release.’ Micheal felt the Ability activate, releasing nothing. For a split second, he felt the Ability waver as he continued to activate it, mentally raising an image of himself expelling the Ability from his body.

‘Release!’ As he repeated himself, a strange, draining sensation overcame him. Instinctually, he wanted to flinch back and stop, staving off that bleeding.

Micheal persevered, however, forcing himself to continue releasing the power from his Soul.

Gradually, after several seconds passed, the draining feeling finally stopped.

“Status.” Micheal called up his status screen.

.

— - Status — -

Name: Micheal Care

Points: 236,529

Race: Human

Age: 18

Physique: Heartflame Physique - 3 Star

Soul Quality: 3 Star

Strength - #%3!

Endurance - &#2@

Recovery - 136

Soul – 63 -> 64

Abilities – (7/7) -> (6/7)

Life Orb Master

Ki Cultivator (Sky Tier - Early)

Eternal Mana Circle (2nd Circle)

Grandmaster Sword Mastery (1/5)

Eyes of the Deep

Temporal Bubble

.

He smiled.

The Ability was gone, removed as he ‘released it’ away. Exactly as planned.

‘My Soul stat has increased.’

His Status stats for Strength and Endurance remained glitched, the Titles System still interfering with its scan.

‘Let’s check.’  His eyes glowed as he activated his Eyes of the Deep.

‘Divine Scan.’

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— - Divine Scan— -

Race: Heartflame Human

Title: -

Traits: Glass Cannon

STR:   B-   (Growth Rate: Rare or lower)

END:   D -> D+ (Growth Rate: Uncommon or lower)

REG:    F     (Growth Rate: Rare or lower)

SOUL:   B     (Growth Rate: Rare or higher)

MANA:  C-  (Growth Rate: Rare or lower)

Path Notes: A human that walks a cluttered Path. Traces of the Path of the Sword, the Path of Time, the Path of Rebirth, the Path of the Infinite, the Path of the Eternal, and the Path of Space are present.

.

‘My stats have improved.’ It was slight, but he could feel the difference.

While the stats themselves hadn’t changed overly much, he could feel his body had grown, his repeated use of Grandmaster Sword energy forcing his body to adapt and grow used to the powerful energy.

His body and Soul felt ready.

It was time to obtain the Body of a Grandmaster.

Right now, right here, no more delays.

The feeling of the transformation hovered on the edge of his awareness. It was a subtle thing, like a muscle he had never exercised, but knew existed. It was a feeling that he’d only started to feel over the past week, as his body and Soul adapted to Grandmaster Sword Energy.

Memories rose up, from his first life, as he embraced this feeling.

Where, right before he entered the Seventh Layer, just days before the Humanity’s Last Army met its end, Micheal had crossed that final line, from Mastery into Grandmastery, a journey of a decade of pure effort and will.

‘Bastien’s journal.’

The Sundering Swordmaster, after he finally climbed up the Layers to join Humanity’s Last Army, had shared detailed records of his personal journey to become a World Master, the level of Sword Mastery beyond Grandmaster.

This included all the steps he took as he advanced to and beyond the level of Grandmaster.

‘The higher one’s mastery, the more esoteric and strange Sword Mastery becomes.’ This was a fact true for many Conceptual Powers, as one’s Mastery deepened, transforming their body and Soul, inscribing the Conceptual Power into the very essence of their being.

In the records Bastien shared with Dark Void, the World Master detailed the unique aspects of the Body of a Grandmaster, sharing his personal understanding.

‘The transformation evolves your Sixth Sense.’

That was how Bastien described it.

Micheal shut his eyes as he focused inward, towards his Soul. He isolated his connection with the Conceptual Power of the Sword, a faint layer of Grandmaster Sword Energy appearing in the air around him, covering him in a layer of raw, sharp power like an ultra-deadly coat.

As he concentrated, he felt his mind sharpen, reaching out for that subtle, hard-to-grasp sensation.

His Sixth Sense.

It was an incorporeal concept, ephemeral and incredibly difficult to actually control or direct. Despite that, it was a very definite, very real concept, that Micheal was very familiar with.

He had hewn his own Sixth Sense over a decade of incredibly intense combat and meditation, interacting with so many different energies, threats, environments, that he couldn’t even name them all.

It was a true, Precognitive power, an ability that grew with one’s Soul, though one that was incredibly hard to train. Micheal couldn’t actively control it in any way – it functioned independently, a passive power, a fleeting sensation in the back of his mind.

‘Obtaining the Body of a Grandmaster starts with my mind.’ The most dangerous part of the transformation began at the point in which he directed energy – his mind, considered by some to be the ‘Core’ of a human being.

The process itself was dangerous, any time you introduced something as deadly as Sword Energy into your own flesh it was bound to be dangerous, the brain especially so.

Possessing Life Orbs, however, greatly mitigated that risk.

‘I’ve also experienced this once before.’ In the final days of Humanity’s Last Army, just before entering the Seventh Layer, this was a process Micheal had already undergone in the first timeline.

Grandmaster Sword Energy met flesh and…

It did something strange.

The cloak of Sword Energy remained perfectly stable as it sank into his skin, flowing past his clothes like they didn’t even exist, ignoring them completely. Micheal’s control over the deadly energy was absolute, his ironclad will and many years of practice letting him guide it exactly as he imagined.

The moment it reached past his skin, a lightning-fast transformation took over his body.

It was a massive chain reaction, as the Sword Energy enveloped his entire body, starting from his head, and rapidly descending downward, blades of power sweeping through his flesh, bones, and organs in less than a heartbeat.

As that Sword Energy enveloped him, a rush of air swirled around Micheal as his body began to rapidly absorb latent energy in the air, heavily drawing upon the background of energy present on the Third Layer.

‘Heat.’ His body felt like it was on fire, every cell pulsing as the powerful energy went to work.

Despite lasting only a split second, the transformation was excruciating. His cells were both breaking down and putting themselves back together again, all in a single moment, as his body reforged itself, bonding with the Grandmaster Sword Energy on a Conceptual level.

It was an incredibly delicate process, despite its rapid speed. If Micheal’s grip on his Sword Energy wavered even for an instant, his body would be torn to shreds, ripped apart from the inside out.

As his body transformed, Micheal felt his Soul resonate. The wave of Grandmaster Sword Energy put a heavy strain upon his Soul, to the point where he almost couldn’t stabilize.

‘I really cut this close.’ He had undergone the transformation at close to the earliest possible point he was able to. If not for his Life Orbs, he absolutely would’ve delayed it further.

The second passed, and the transformation was complete.

It was a startlingly quick transformation, the process of obtaining the Body of a Grandmaster. Dark Void researchers speculated that this was due to the transformation acting as a ‘final step’ in a long accumulation of energy and adaptation that began once one’s body first touched upon Sword Energy.

It was both a benefit and a downside simultaneously. The rapid transformation was incredibly dangerous, but its speed, in and of itself, meant a warrior could undergo the process in even the most unwieldy of circumstances.

There were even records of some legendary geniuses undergoing the transformation in the midst of battle itself, as they obtained Enlightenment and advanced to the next stage.  

Micheal’s body felt numb for a few seconds as he adjusted to the changes. Every single cell felt sore, not exactly tired, but rather, delicate, like flesh that has just healed.

The process felt almost exactly like it had in his first life, except this time, he felt more in control. More stable, as if his foundation was more solid, forged in flesh that had yet to grow weary across the strains of a decade’s trials in the 7 Layers.                                      

‘Divine Scan.’ He activated his Eyes of the Deep.

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— - Divine Scan— -

Race: Heartflame Human

Title: -

Traits: Glass Cannon

STR:   B-  -> B+  (Growth Rate: Rare or lower -> Rare or higher)

END:   D+ -> C+ (Growth Rate: Uncommon or lower -> Uncommon or higher)

REG:    F  -> D+    (Growth Rate: Rare or lower)

SOUL:   B  -> B+   (Growth Rate: Rare or higher -> Heroic or lower)

MANA:  C- -> C  (Growth Rate: Rare or lower -> Rare or higher)

Path Notes: A human that walks a cluttered Path. Traces of the Path of the Sword, the Path of Time, the Path of Rebirth, the Path of the Infinite, the Path of the Eternal, and the Path of Space are present.

.

It was a bounty of growth, advancements that had swelled his strength to a new level.

‘My body feels tougher.’ He ran his hand alongside the skin of his arm, feeling a hardness that hadn’t been present before.

‘Once Bastien became a World Master, his skin was said to be tougher than steel.’ The Body of a Grandmaster gave him a preview of that transformation, wherein his skin felt as tough as thick tree bark.

‘I’m stronger.’ It was extremely noticeable. From B- to B+, the upscale in his Strength was hugely apparent. Even his Growth Rates had risen, with Strength, Endurance, and Mana each increasing a minor stage, while his Soul Growth Rate jumped up a major stage from Rare to Heroic, finally breaking one of his Growth Rates into the realm of Heroes.

His body felt explosive, almost twice as strong as he had been just a few moments ago, while his Soul felt more solid, in a way that was hard to explain.

It was an incredibly jarring change.

‘I don’t think I grew this much from the transformation in the first timeline.’ Micheal frowned, before nodding his head.

The increase in stats made sense – his base stats had been much higher than they were currently, back in his first life, when he obtained the Body of a Grandmaster. The stronger you were, the harder it was to increase your stats.

‘I’m almost as strong as Orion.’ The Titled Deity had had A- ranked Strength, though that was without obtaining the Body of a Grandmaster, which Orion could’ve definitely obtained, had he lived on a higher-energy world like the Third Layer.

The transformation had also grown his Ki, the energy purifying and moving from the Early Stage of Sky Tier to the Mid Stage, settling warmly in his veins.

“What’s most important, however…” Micheal muttered as he closed his eyes, concentrating.

In the back of his mind, he felt a subtle sensation – a feeling he had felt once before, yet never mastered or had time to experiment with.

Micheal grasped ahold of that sensation and almost gasped, as he opened his eyes and gazed at a world that had completely transformed.

Everything in his vision, from the bed to the table to the walls to the paintings adorning them, everything was overlaid with a second copy of itself. It was as if the world around him had suddenly doubled, and then placed itself exactly where its counterparts stood. These overlaying bits were transparent, creating a mirror image of everything in his vision.

‘Ugh.’ He grabbed his head as information bled into it, his mind rapidly processing everything he saw.

This was the mythical Realm of Intent.

The evolution of Sixth Sense written in Bastien’s journal, reached only when a Grandmaster has honed his body and Soul enough to unconsciously touch upon the Cognitive Sea.

‘This is overwhelming.’ Even in a state where nothing was moving, Micheal struggled to control the flow of information to his brain.

Slowly, Micheal walked over to his bed, picking up one of the pillows.

A split second before he grabbed it, the mirror image of the pillow abruptly moved, passing through his hand.

Micheal grabbed the pillow and held it in his right hand, the pillow resting exactly where the mirror image had moved.

‘Precognition.’

Micheal felt woozy for a moment, a sense of achievement rushing through him.

In less than a year, he had already reached one of the end points of his first life.

This, more then anything else, was proof that he was making real, tangible progress.

This timeline would not end the same way the first did. He would make sure of that.

Micheal tossed the pillow into the air, watching as the mirror image rushed ahead, falling towards the bed. Just before it hit the bed, the mirror image abruptly lurched forward.

In the same moment, Micheal’s hand lashed out, grabbing the real pillow before it could hit the bed. The real pillow followed the exact same trajectory as its mirror image.

‘It’s real, true Precognition.’

According to Dark Void, the Cognitive Sea existed in the background of all reality, wherein they postulated that it was here, and only here, that the River of Time interacted with the Fabric of Space. The vast collective of researchers had intrinsically proven the existence of the Cognitive Sea, through various experiments that had been well-publicized in Micheal's first life.

All forms of true Precognition drew upon the Cognitive Sea, in one way or another, to allow one to peer into the future.

Slowly, bit by bit, Micheal clamped down upon his Sixth Sense, forcing the vision to fade.

‘It’s hard on my brain.’ He rubbed his head as he forced down a budding headache. His perfect memory made this process slightly easier.

It was like exercising a muscle he had never trained. He would need to practice controlling his Sixth Sense, opening the Realm of Intent intentionally over and over, until he could use it freely and instinctively.

Micheal stood there for a few minutes, his mind racing as he thought about ways to take advantage of his new power. He felt restless, unable to fall asleep as he drew on his Sixth Sense in spurts, wanting to test it against a live subject.

‘I can’t leave, not while Shin is sleeping.’ Not when he knew Jay sol Arget wanted his best friend dead.

And it was just as he had that thought…

That an opportunity presented itself.

A loud knocking on his door sent his adrenaline spiking.

“I hope you don’t mind the late intrusion. A mutual... acquaintance of ours would like to speak.”

‘What?!’ The sheer unexpectedness of this interaction caught Micheal completely off guard, for…

That was a voice Micheal recognized.

“I figured you’d be awake to receive me.”

Lux.

The secret Commander of the Beasts of Providence and former Baron, smiled to himself.

“I'm lucky like that.”  

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