R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 9 (in editing)

R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 9 (in editing)

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The next morning…

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“He just stayed inside without asking for anything?” Gregor frowned after hearing the report from the Shadow Guards he’d set around Micheal’s room. Ostensibly, he set the elite guards there to keep watch, but they were really there to protect the savior that had saved the lives of many innocent Farians. Danger could pop out of anywhere on the Second Layer.

‘Perhaps there are complications from his injuries.’ The Lord Justiciar had thought the human’s injuries would be fully recovered by now, but wounds to the Soul were a delicate thing, after all. There was no way to be certain.

“Hmm…” The powerful Farian traced his fingers across the hilt of an ornamental sword on his hip, an Artifact that had just recently been brought up from the Farian’s First Layer.

The warrior glanced off to his right, his eyes narrowing.

He was currently standing outside a large wooden building, the Farian Council Chamber. The building was shaped like a sizable dome, essentially built as one giant room intended to host the various Farian Tribe Leaders.

It was rare for all the Tribe Leaders to gather together peacefully. Gregor could already hear arguments coming from inside the building as the leaders of the various Farian Tribes debated on their future plans.

The Lord Justiciar sighed.

‘I’ll check on him personally before bringing him over.’ Gregor waved the guard away and began to walk in Micheal’s direction.

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

“Yes!” Micheal smiled, his hands trembling ever so slightly with excitement.

‘It worked!’ He couldn’t hold back a smile as he called up his Status screen.

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— - Status — -

Name: Micheal Care

Points: 41,685

Race: Human

Age: 18

Physique: Heartflame Physique - 3 Star

Soul Quality: 3 Star

Strength - 402

Endurance - 261

Recovery - 136

Soul - 58 -> 61

Abilities - (6/7)

Life Orb Master

Ki Cultivator (Sky Tier - Early)

Grandmaster Sword Mastery (1/5)

Impact Release

Ceaseless Mind -> Eyes of the Deep

Temporal Bubble

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He successfully Synergized Ceaseless Mind with Eyes of the Deep!

It had been a grueling process that took several hours of meditation and focus to accomplish. He had been forced to stay up through evening, night, and now onto late morning before he finished. If his focus and willpower had slipped even one time, the Synergy would’ve failed. There was a reason Synergy fusing Abilities wasn’t a popular method.

‘My Soul stat also went up by 3!’ It was an unexpected increase. Most people that had this Ability saw an increase of 1 or nothing in their Soul stat. Micheal attributed the difference to his 3 Star Soul Quality.

Micheal’s eyes flickered off to the side, glancing at the light drifting into his window. It was late in the morning, but he should still have a little time.

“Ah.” Before he could do anything, Micheal’s stomach abruptly began rumbling, bringing him back to his senses.

“Right. I should eat.” He shook his head with a grin. He had been so caught up with upgrading his Abilities and taking in his new stats, he had ignored his hunger.

He spent the next couple of minutes scarfing down a set of warm pancakes and syrup that he spawned from the food selection of the Shop. He washed them down with ice cold water.

The Farians likely would’ve provided him with food and water if he had asked, but Micheal opted to spawn his own in out of habit. He couldn’t be poisoned if he never gave anyone the opportunity to poison him. Death might not be a problem for him, but being forced unconscious and held in that state was one of the ways to circumvent his Life Orb regeneration.

‘Alright, enough of that. Let’s get down to business.’ Micheal thought as he placed the remnants of his meal, a metal fork, a plate, and a syrup bottle, in his Mid-Tier Spatial Ring.

Micheal held out his right hand and stared at it intensely. He focused his eyes on it, as if trying to zoom in on his own body.

‘They said activating it should be something like this…’ He had never possessed the Eyes of the Deep Ability before, and thus wasn’t entirely certain on how to activate it.

For a couple of seconds, nothing happened.

Then, gradually, Micheal felt a strange, new energy fluttering within him. It wasn’t an energy that possessed raw strength, like his Ki, nor was it an energy that could shred through anything, like his Sword Energy.

Instead, it was a soft, pure feeling energy, cool and relaxing. This energy gathered itself within his eyes, causing them to glow white, ever so faintly.

A split second later…

A stream of information drilled into Micheal’s mind as a blue screen popped up in front of him.

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— - Divine Scan— -

Race: Heartflame Human

Title: -

Traits: -

STR - 25 (C)

END - 16 (D+)

REG - 11 (C+)

SOL - 39 (B)

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

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‘It really appeared, just like the Status screen!’ If there was a similarity between the Deities and Humanity, it would have to be the fact that some of the Deities could create a ‘Divine Scan’ of an object or being.

Like the name implied, it was a magical ability that scanned something and listed the results in a screen that was almost identical to the floating blue screens from humanity’s Shop or Status.

There were some differences. For example, the names of the stats were shortened and the numbers were judged differently. It also didn’t point out his Soul Quality or set aside his Physique. Instead, it called him a ‘Heartflame Human.’

Apart from humans, it was extremely uncommon for one to change their Physique, so this part did make sense. In the vast majority of cases, the Physique of a being was a permanent aspect of one’s genetics.

‘It has the spot for Title and Traits.’ Micheal noted with a nod. Those two spots were empty, unsurprisingly. They could only be filled by a Deity, or someone who gained the ‘Title System’ Attribute of the Deities. Likewise, the Path Notes weren't yet something relevant to him at his level.

‘And… it has my current Growth Ratings.’ Micheal sighed as he looked at the letters listed behind his stat values.

“Tch.”

‘I brought my Soul Quality to 3 Stars, have a 3 Star Physique that’s strongly related to the Soul, and have multiple Soul-boosting Abilities…’ He glared at the screen.

‘Yet my Growth Rating for Soul is only ranked at B?’ He rubbed his forehead with a sigh. It was lower than he had hoped for.

Growth Ratings were exactly what they sounded like. A rating that measured one’s growth potential in one stat or another. Those ratings served to estimate where a being would meet their limit when it came to gaining power.

Humanity only began learning how to judge Growth Ratings several years from now, but that wasn’t a problem for Micheal.

From F- to SSS, the ratings had an expansive range that made accurate measurements. For most beings, these ratings were immutable and predetermined. There were some legendary potions or mythical herbs that could enhance a stat’s Growth Rating, but things like that were extraordinarily difficult to acquire, even for Deities, and not always effective. A potion that could raise a rank from B+ to A might do nothing for someone with rank A+.

Before taking any Abilities from the Shop, the Growth Ratings of more than 99% of humanity averaged F- in every stat except Soul, which occasionally was ranked at F or F+. Humans, in terms of Growth Rating, were the absolute worst. Without the Holy Shop Attribute that humanity gained, it was almost assured that the entire human race would’ve never made it past the First Layer.

Even with the Shop, raising one’s Growth Ratings to a high level was not an easy thing. The various Abilities one could purchase had a large impact, but the most important one was what Ability was chosen as one’s Type. Some Type Abilities modified a human’s Physique while others just granted special powers.

Micheal’s Life Orb Mastery Ability, while technically not a Type still locked him out of Type Abilities and, thus, made him fall into the latter category. This meant he had to grow his Physique, and Growth Ratings, through other means.

In his first life, by the time he died, his Growth Ratings were all ranked between B- and A-, after a decade of hard effort and maximized training. Those Ratings didn’t sound grand, but they were considered above average in Humanity’s Last Army, though nowhere near the very top. 

'If only I had been given more time to train… if I had picked a more optimal growth route...'

He tossed those thoughts as he reviewed his stats.

‘So in the Eyes of the Deities, I have a SOL stat of 39. Hmm…’ He looked at the number. Compared to his first life, it was an extraordinary amount of progress.

Humanity’s Status screen listed stats by comparing them to a base human’s stats. Aka, the average Strength stat of a normal male human was 10, and so on.

The Divine Scan used by the Deities to assess each other obviously wouldn’t use human numbers. Even the letters used to assess Growth Ratings were merely an automatic translation by the Shop. The real letters were foreign, the Shop just picked an equivalent rating system.

Instead, the Divine Scan ranked all stats on an exponential scale of Absolute 100. Any being that reached 100 in a stat was considered an Absolute Being, a Transcendent. The scale itself was also non-linear. The difference between a STR stat of 89 and a STR stat of 90 was enormous compared to the difference of a STR stat of 21 and a STR stat of 22. The higher the number, the more difficult it was to increase.

‘Well, a SOL Growth Rating of B isn't bad. It would've been F+ at best around this time in my first life. My progress is already fantastic.’ Micheal consoled himself with a shrug. He was under a lot of pressure, but that didn’t mean he should set impossible goals. He would take things one step at a time.

Micheal blinked, his focus abruptly shifting as he detected a powerful presence approaching. His newly strengthened senses as a Master let him recognize the Lord Justiciar from around 50 meters away, even through a wall.

‘There was never any record of a Divine Scan of the Lord Justiciar…’ Micheal’s thoughts were tinged with curiosity. The diversity of Farian Bloodlines meant a wide variety of Growth ratings among their kind. However, most of the powerful Farians were killed in the Great War, well before humanity had even learned about the existence of Growth Ratings.

If he wanted to find out how strong the Lord Justiciar was, ‘accidentally’ scanning him with his Ability when he walked in was a perfect cover. There wouldn’t be a better opportunity than now.

‘Just how strong are you..?’ Micheal’s eyes began to glow.

‘Let’s find out.’

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