Aiden turned his head in a particular direction before looking back towards Bluefire and Orloff. He said that by the looks of things, the Overgod of Life wouldn't finish condensing her Overgod body for at least another four to five hundred years.
He didn't say much else, but the two Overgods clearly understood what he was asking them. As it stood, now that Bluefire had condensed his Overgod body, they had two options on how to proceed. First, they could choose to focus on helping Orloff condense his Overgod body, a procedure that would likely take less than two hundred years thanks to not only the experience they gained whilst forming Bluefire's, but also the man in question's drastic rise in power.
Or they could go with option number two and make a move on their enemies now. Although they were clearly at a disadvantage if they were to do it that way, they would be able to at least slow their enemy's progress substantially, and although there would definitely be an element of danger, they were confident in returning with their lives.
Ace didn't hold all the information, but he was smart enough to piece the general outline together. Before Orloff or his grandfather could respond, he interjected, asking them to give him ten years. By then, although he wouldn't be a match for the Overgods of the four Edicts or even Phueus, he should be able to hold his own against the others.
Hearing his words, Bluefire was the first to respond with an outright rejection. As talented and powerful as he was, the battle of Overgods wasn't one he was qualified to take part in, not yet, especially as he was at the very top of their hit list. As long as he appeared, there was a very good chance that all the other Overgods would do everything in their power to kill him, even if it meant sacrificing the life of one or two of them.
Ace didn't say anything, but the look in his eyes said it all – he had already made his mind up, and there was nothing his grandfather or anyone else could say to make him change it.
Understanding that, Aiden nodded his head and said he'd give him ten years, but if he couldn't increase his Willpower to 100 units in these ten years, he could forget about going.
One hundred units of Willpower was the minimum for an Overgod, and even though they lacked a true physical body like Phueus or even a pseudo-true body – similar to the ones created by the four Overgod bodies using the faith they'd accumulated over the last billions of years since their awakening – the three remaining Overgod spirits still not only had 100 units of Willpower at their disposal, they were still also able to use Overgod Divine Power, which was 100 times more powerful than the Sovereign power of a Chief Sovereign.
Even if Ace could increase his Willpower to 100 units, it would still take him going all out to even reluctantly hold his own against one of the three ordinary Overgod Spirits.
A frown appeared on Ace's face as he heard that. It had to be understood that to achieve the target his master had proposed, Ace's base level of Willpower would have to reach 50 units. Although he was only four units away, having already reached 46, he knew how hard it would be to accumulate those last four – forget ten years, he might not be able to do it in 100 years.
Back during his early days as a student of the Yin-Yang pavilion, his master's wife, Arianna, explained to him that everyone had a limit for their comprehension. The higher one's level, the higher that limit was, but that limit still existed.
Between his status as a reincarnate, a direct descendant of the Gol Clan with the conqueror gene, and his heavenly blessing for creating the Mandate of True Yang, Ace's limit of comprehension was far higher than others at his level. Even so, his limit was still very real, and he knew that he would reach his limit when he got to fifty units of Willpower.
What made it worse was that the closer one was to reaching their limit, the harder it would become to further their comprehension. Between his talent and the faith he had access to to bolster his perception, his reaching the limits of his comprehension was basically already a foregone conclusion, but to do so in ten years… it was borderline impossible even for him.
Even so, Ace merely nodded his head before turning to return to his Pure Yang Dimension with Amira and the others following behind.
As soon as they left, Bluefire turned to Aiden with a frown on his face and asked why he agreed to Ace's request.
Aiden explained that the chances for Ace to accomplish his target this time were unlikely.
Bluefire was just about to open his mouth to argue back, and it didn't take a genius to understand what he wanted to say, but before he could, Orloff, who had been silently observing until now, spoke up for the first time.
He also knew what Bluefire wanted to say; he wanted to remind them how Ace was used to doing the impossible and creating miracles, but Orloff simply reminded him that until Ace reached a level where he could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Heavens, there would always be a limit to his talent.
As an Overgod himself, especially one who had condensed his Overgod body and was able to tap into the power of faith directly, Bluefire was capable of seeing what they could see and more. Still, as his grandfather, who had seen him grown up since Ace was just a teen, the mark Ace had left in his heart had clouded his judgement – in his eyes, although he was more powerful than his grandson right now, Ace would undoubtedly reach his level and even surpass it eventually. In his eyes, there was nothing Ace couldn't accomplish when he set his mind to it.
Still, he understood how right Orloff was. Ultimately, with things having already reached this point, he could only sigh and let things run their due course.
Aiden didn't say anything else, but still, as right as Orloff was, he still wouldn't bet against Ace, creating another miracle. If he was honest, the reason he stated the stipulation of 100 units of Willpower to Ace wasn't to outright prevent him from coming; it was more to make sure that, at the very least, if he did come, he had the power to protect himself.
Back in the Pure Yang dimension, Ace closed his eyes and took a deep breath to clear his mind of all unwanted distractions.
As it stood, in terms of comprehension, his comprehension of the Mandate of True Yang had reached the pinnacle. As for his comprehension of the Concepts of Light and Fire, he had comprehended four of each; unless he became a Sovereign, he couldn't improve there either. That meant that if he wanted to improve, he could only do so by furthering his comprehension of the Concept of True Yang.
Part of his heavenly blessing included his being able to comprehend four Concepts for each of his affinities as a High God, whereas others could only comprehend three, meaning he could comprehend two more Pure Yang Concepts.
For the next ten years, Ace pushed himself to his very limits every day. But this time, instead of suppressing his power to that of a saint, he went all out against his friends and family in chaotic space.
As it stood, individually, none of them, not even Linley or Amira, was a match for Ace, but when using the [Constellation Battle Tactics]. They were able to reach a level where they could not only fight Ace but also suppress him. Still, it was exactly what he needed.
With Amira, Linley, and the other Sovereigns using the battle formation to increase their power, Ace was constantly pushed to his limits, which in turn allowed him to surpass his former limitations, slowly but constantly growing stronger and stronger.
After three years, Ace comprehended his third True Yang Concept, granting him another two more units of Willpower, bringing his total up to 48 and 96 whilst using his Divine Ability.
Four years after that, Ace brought his comprehension of his fourth and final True Yang Concept to 99%. With just one more step, he would be able to accomplish his goal, and with three years to go, it genuinely looked like he was on track to create yet another miracle. Unfortunately, that final bottleneck proved to be too tight pass this time.
On the long-awaited day, Aiden, Orloff, and Bluefire appeared in chaotic space where Ace was being steadily suppressed by Amira, Linley, and Arianna.
It was clear that he was infinitely close to achieving his goal; unfortunately, infinitely close wasn't good enough, not this time.
As Ace's battle slowly came to a stop, none of the three Overgods said anything. Still, Ace understood their intentions. With a helpless sigh, he said he understood.
If he was being honest, he knew his attempt to take part in this battle was selfish on his part. This whole confrontation between the Overgods was taking place mainly because of him. Without him, although there likely would've been several confrontations between his master and the other four Edict-based Overgods, they wouldn't be anywhere near as determined to kill him. Plus, it would've been even easier to convince the Overgod Spirits of the other elements to choose those on his side to partner with.
Still, he was fed up! He hadn't chosen to be reincarnated into this universe, but now that he had, how could he allow himself to just be killed because a few overpowered beings saw his potential as a threat? Even so, if he was being honest with himself, if he thought his death would allow his loved ones to live out the rest of their lives in peace, he would gladly hand himself over. Unfortunately, that was no longer possible.
Forget for a moment how his friends and family would miss him if he were to die, even if he did die, simply because the direct descendants of his Gol clan were born outside of Heaven's jurisdiction, the Overgods would stop at nothing to eradicate them, and more than that, if he was to allow himself to be killed, as his soulmate, Amira would subsequently die as well, and that was something that he would never allow to happen.
For all those reasons, his only remaining choice was to surpass all of them. If he wanted to protect his loved ones, he had to rise to a level where he could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the heavens themself. Only then would he be able to truly protect everyone he wanted to protect.
He knew he was a long way away from reaching that stage, but that small, selfish and impulsive part of him wanted to go with his master and the others to the battle of the Overgods and show them that he wasn't one to be underestimated. He wanted to use his glaive to tell them that he may not be an Overgod yet, but they would have to think twice before making a move on him or his loved ones.
Unfortunately, he had failed this time – he would have to sit this battle out!
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