Volume 5 – Chapter 8 (in-editing v1)

Volume 5 – Chapter 8

(decided to change the name of the King of Heroes – from Aelon to Eon)

(Let me know if I am missing/forgot anything on Shin's Status screen)

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Several hours later…

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“There it is!” Shin shouted to himself as he began to fall, plunging down towards a floating island more than 1000 meters below him.

‘The Giant’s Axehead.’

Several miles distant loomed an absolutely massive floating island. It was enormous, a giant, hulking lump of stone, but giant in a rather unusual way.

Rather than floating upright, like most floating islands, the Giant’s Axehead was tilted onto its side, barely floating above the Void. The island, and its nearby surroundings, were a famous landmark, the aftermath of a battle between the King of Heroes and an Apex Void Predator from more than 60 years ago.

“Micheal was spot on… wow.” Shin shook his head as he teleported atop the highest peak of the jagged, axehead-shaped floating island, nearly 3 miles (4.8 km) tall. The width of the lopsided island, even at its thickest, was less than a thousand meters. The peak, where Shin currently stood, was around 35 meters in width.

“I don’t see anyone here… we should be all clear.”

The stone was a mix of stark black, and dark gray, covered in jagged scars, outcroppings, and points. It was decidedly unwelcoming and probably dangerous to climb, but neither of those aspects were problems for a teleporter.

‘I wonder what it’s like to see all this freaky knowledge from the future?’ His best friend had turned endlessly grim and serious, ever since the day they were Chosen.

Seeing the future didn’t sound pleasant and, if he was being honest, Shin was glad Micheal was the one with the visions, and not him.

Micheal’s ability to roll with the punches, to never give up, was how they first met, after all, so many years ago.

“Hmm…” The air was colder, and thinner, up here, but his superhuman body adapted unnaturally quickly.

‘It still feels a little strange.’ Shin smiled.

“Status.”

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— - Status — -

Name: Shin Hopefell

Points: 91,776

Race: Human

Physique: 1 Star -> Hearty Physique – 2 Star

Soul Quality: 2 Stars

Age: 18

- Stats -

Strength – 32 -> 204

Endurance – 27 -> 193

Recovery – 26 -> 92

Soul – 25 -> 28

Abilities - (4/7)

Warping Phaser Type

Focused Strength

Anathema Shorn

Expand

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Not only did he gain an enormous number of stats, he also gained 2 new Abilities, both naturally formed when he touched upon the Conceptual Power of Strength and achieved Enlightenment.

He pulled up his new Physique, reading through its description yet again.

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—- Hearty Physique - 2 Stars —-

A Physique slightly imbued with the Conceptual Power of Strength. Greatly enhances one’s physical attributes and development. At a certain fitness level, evolution is possible.

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It was a relatively simple Physique, he learned, but one that was deadly effective when combined with the first of his newest Abilities.

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—- Focused Strength —-

Greatly enhances one’s base physical attributes and physical control, correlated to comprehension of Strength.

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Between his Hearty Physique and Focused Strength, his stats had been ‘greatly enhanced’ two separate times, resulting in compounded growth. The Conceptual Power of Strength had truly lived up to its name, granting immense physical prowess.

The second of his newest Abilities, however, presented Shin with a conundrum.

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—- Anathema Shorn —-

You are shorn, anathema to all energy.

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It was an ominous Ability that came hand-in-hand with the Conceptual Power of Strength.

Ever since he expelled his Ki and touched this new Conceptual Power, his body had transformed into some sort of void. Any type of energy, whether Mana, Ki, or something else, dissipated immediately upon touching his body.

From this point forward, he could never draw upon Ki again, all the progress he made erased as his body evolved its Physique anew.

‘I need to be careful using the Shop.’ There were a multitude of Abilities that required a tangible form of energy, like Ki or Mana, purchasable in the Shop.

The Power of Strength could function as a substitute for Ki for many Abilities, including both his Expand Ability and his Warping Phaser Type Ability, but Micheal had estimated that about 2/3rds of the Shop was useless to him now.

Still, it was a price he was more than willing to have paid.

“This is sick.” Shin smiled as he jumped up into the air, feeling the budding power in his muscles flex. He wobbled as he landed, pushing back his exhaustion. It had been a busy day.

His new Ability, ‘Focused Strength,’ not only enhanced his stats, but it also enhanced how well he could control his body.

It was a strange feeling. Looking back, Shin almost felt like he had lived his entire life trudging through mud instead of air, from his reflexes and reaction speed to his dexterity and grace, or lack thereof.

Everything felt… smoother, for lack of a better word. Shin couldn’t quite describe the difference.

Even with the explosive increase in physical stats he had gained, his new Abilities allowed him to adapt almost perfectly, some innate level of understanding granted when it came to all things physical.

A big part of that was a perk of Humanity’s Status screen - all Abilities or Powers one gained were immediately useable, with information on those Abilities explained, at least to some small degree.

Even if you had no previous knowledge or experience on how to use a certain power, Humanity’s 7 Ability slots allowed one to bypass the initial stages of learning, gaining some immediate level of use.

‘What would it have felt like, if I didn’t have room in my Ability slots?’

It was a question Shin had asked Micheal earlier, one he reflected back on now.

According to Micheal, without the Status screen to ‘clean up’ his newfound powers, he would’ve been forced to struggle through the raw, unknown stages of touching upon the Conceptual Power of Strength.

Micheal estimated that he would need to meditate and train for some number of weeks, possibly months, at a minimum, just to gain basic control over the immense boost to his physical capabilities. At the same time, he would have to un-learn habits ingrained in him by absorbing Ki, while also manually balancing the Power of Strength within his body, until it was focused evenly throughout, to avoid accidentally tearing apart his muscles, tendons, and ligaments.

While mankind’s Ability slots did little to aid in deeper mastery or further development, they were definitely a godsend at the start of gaining any new power.

‘I don’t even want to know what Anathema Shorn would’ve felt like on its own.’

As far as he could tell, nullifying all energy that touched him was a decent Ability to have, and one that he couldn’t remove without giving up the Power of Strength regardless.

These Abilities were well worth the two slots they took up.

Shin let out a laugh before swan diving off the side of the enormous floating island, teleporting as he flipped through the air, and made his way back towards Micheal.

.. .. .. .. .. ..

“Excellent.”

Micheal felt a grim smile worm its way onto his face as he heard the news from Shin.

He was sitting cross-legged atop a cluster of cracked, broken up floating islands, all bunched together and covered in creeping vines.

His perfect memory had let him recognize this area, but only barely. He had travelled along this clump of islands several years from now, in the original timeline, but even then, memories of the landscape from his time on the Third Layer were vague at best, even with his perfect memory.

‘The Giant’s Axehead is impossible to miss once you get close enough.’ It was a famous landmark for good reason, and one of the reasons why he sent Shin to quickly scout ahead.

After the horrible ambush they had survived the previous day, Micheal had mentally prepared himself to face any number of disasters.

Fate, however, had decided otherwise, and fortune was on their side.

Not only had Shin touched upon a rare Conceptual Power and grown explosively, he had also perfectly absorbed the Magic Gems and gained a strong new Physique that synergized with his new Abilities.

And now, with Shin’s return, he finally had confirmation that they were in the right place.

‘I can’t believe we got here so fast.’ They had made unbelievable time, covering an immense distance in a matter of hours thanks to Shin's teleportation.

They had officially arrived on the outskirts of the Atlas Duchy.

The Atlas Duchy was technically the second closest Void Noble territory compared to Micheal’s spawn point, beaten out by the Selvel Earldom located just to the south. Most of the Atlas Duchy’s City-States were situated near the Empty Sea, but the official territory claimed by Duke Armon stretched all the way to the Giant’s Axehead, relatively close to the border of the Outer Ringlands.

“So where do we head from here?” Shin asked as he stepped on one of the many green vines covering the rocky ground.

“Oop-”

Shin immediately began to slip off the uneven vine, but caught himself by smoothly twisting his body and jumping slightly to the side, all in one graceful motion.

Micheal gave Shin a bemused grin and snorted.

‘He’s moves almost like a cat now.’ It was an odd transformation, but one definitely for the better. Anything that would help him survive would always be a boon in Micheal’s eyes.

“There’s a decent sized crevice that’s tucked high up in the north side of the Giant’s Axehead – we’ll head there for the night.” Micheal had slept there, one eventful evening, back in the original timeline.

“Sounds good.” Shin replied, fighting back a yawn.

They had spent the entire day travelling, taking a break only to let Shin absorb his two Miracle Gems.

“We’ll head out in 5.”

Shin nodded back in response before teleporting away, off to scout their immediate surroundings.

Micheal, in the meantime, resumed the meditation he had started after sending Shin off to scout ahead.

‘I can feel it.’ He was absorbing the leftover energy in his Soul at a faster and faster rate.

He wasn’t sure if it had to do with his higher Soul Quality, the increase in his Soul stat, or some other reason, but he wasn’t going to complain.

‘Shin’s not the only one undergoing transformations.’

He could feel it, a tingling on the edge of his senses.

He wasn’t far from obtaining the Body of a Grandmaster.

What he had expected would take multiple weeks might only take a few days.

‘I can rest when I’m dead.’ Micheal forced himself to stay disciplined, eking out as much progress as he could.

It had been an exhausting day, but that was par for the course on the Third Layer.

‘We’ll keep on growing and moving forward.’ Micheal allowed himself a small smile.

‘The future can change…’ He nodded slowly.

‘And I’m here to prove it.’

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