CHAPTER 6: | ASCENDING TO THE NEXT TIER
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Jagged mountains, like titanic pillars clawed towards the heavens, pierced the murky depths in every direction.
Their spires, sharp as broken teeth, dissolved into the unseen ceiling far above.
To the west, a desolate, sprawling wasteland stretched out, devoid of any hint of greenery.
It was a vast desert, a canyon of death, an expansive, intricate maze of silent stone.
I closed my eyes, a grim smile forming in my mind.
This was it.
This place, a labyrinth of shadows and treacherous terrain, was perfect.
A place where I could grow, where I could play dirty, where I could hide, and where I could kill.
Hours passed as I trudged deeper into the oppressive expanse, the shifting, unstable terrain a natural weapon.
I could use its crumbling slopes and hidden crevices to conceal my presence, to launch lightning-fast ambushes, or to flee whenever overwhelming odds presented themselves.
It was utterly black down here, the faintest glimmer of mana crystals above the true ceiling unable to penetrate this abyssal gloom.
Only the sporadic, violent explosions of what seemed like roaring flames, erupting from unseen fissures, offered fleeting glimpses of light in the crushing darkness.
Then, the oppressive silence was brutally shattered.
Guttural roars, deep and resonant, ripped through the water, sending tremors of primal terror echoing across the horizon.
A brutal brawl had erupted in the depths, right where I was.
These were no newborns, as the beast all around me, their strength alone far surpassed anything I could currently display.
The very currents around me churned and bucked with the raw force of their movements.
Carnage.
That was the only word to describe it.
The water, once murky but clear enough, was now bleached with crimson, a thick, coppery scent of blood, almost metallic, assaulting my senses even from this distance.
Just looking at their monstrous bodies, each tens of meters long, confirmed them as a significant threat.
My own form, a mere six meters, felt humbly small, a tad bit smaller than theirs.
I pondered whether I should engage, waiting until all of them were exhausted, but I quickly shook my head.
Fighting them directly now would yield me nothing but a hard-fought, likely damaging, victory.
No, not yet.
So, I pressed deeper into the abyss, my form dissolving, as I completely assimilated into the omnipresent shadows.
I became one with the crushing darkness.
Time bled onward.
More colossal figures began to gather in the darkness, drawn by the scent of blood and the promise of battle.
I watched, hidden within a narrow crevice, as a Stage 1 Whark coiled itself, like a coiled spring, a top predator surveying its domain.
Its eyes, dull at first, flickered.
It had noticed my gaze, it was a ripple in the shadows as it looked everywhere.
Then, in the next second they locked onto mine, sharp and unsettlingly intelligent, pinning me to my hiding spot.
Sweat, cold and clammy, formed like a bucket on my back as its piercing grey eyes held mine for but a fleeting, terrifying moment.
Then, with an almost imperceptible shift, its focus snapped back to the intensifying brawl that had erupted in the open clearing below.
It was a natural coliseum, surrounded by towering rock walls, a perfect arena for this brutal spectacle.
Blood exploded from the water in violent bursts, each rupture intensifying the frenzied battle with sickening regularity.
Raw desperation contorted the dueling whark's eyes.
Their bites became a frenzy, and the brawl shifted from a mere fight to a blood-crazed maelstrom.
Their thrashing grew more violent, their massive tails slapping with concussive force against each other's faces.
As they aimed to rip at each other's gills, as it was a shared, primal understanding of their kin's most vulnerable point.
From my vantage point, hunkered low, crouching deep in a narrow crevice, I remained poised, ready to strike at any moment.
I watched the chaotic ballet of death unfolding below, my heart as calm as the sea.
As the tide of the brawl turned.
The wharks encased in obsidian armor, distinctively stronger, began to coalesce, turning on a single, frenzied whark.
They ganged up, their dark forms moving with predatory synchronicity sorrounding a single whark.
This specific whark's body wasn't covered in anything special like the obsidian scales of its tormentors, but what made it stand above everyone else was its sheer savagery and its teeth, a maw that seemed capable of ripping any metal apart.
Like the incarnation of a demon itself, its maw tore through an obsidian-encased whark, ripping its armor and flesh apart in a single, gruesome bite.
The armored beast went limp, utterly dead.
I was stunned, a flicker of awe and dread rippling through me.
How could it rip through obsidian as if it were mere parchment?
Then I saw it, a faint, ethereal blue hue covering its body like an aura, a subtle glow that pulsed with raw power.
This confirmed it.
This bastard was far from normal.
It wasn't an ordinary demon beast.
It was one that had begun to develop true sentience, a terrifying leap in evolution, all thanks to the formation of a Monster Core within its being.
What was a Mana Core, and why did those who possessed one begin to develop their sentience?
What was so special about it?
Well, it was special because only those demon beasts who had reached Tier 5 at Stage Zero could typically form a core upon evolution.
Or, in extremely rare cases, a small majority of those who evolved at Tier 4 could possess a Monster Core.
A Lord-Class demon beast was a 4-star variant, while a normal demon beast that evolved at Tier 4 was a 3-star variant.
So, the question was, How rare was it for those 3-star variants to form a core?
The answer was simple, since only one in a hundred could form a core.
It was a matter of sheer, brutal luck for them to acquire one.
And that was precisely one of the reasons I was determined to evolve only at Tier 10.
That way, I would acquire an Emperor Core and a Semi-Emperor Title at Stage 1, ensuring I would be recognized as the true emperor of my race at Stage 3.
The stakes were clear, the path laid out.
Licking my lips, a ravenous hunger was visible in my eyes.
No, it wasn't a simple hunger for sustenance, but a gnawing, insatiable hunger for power.
I waited, a coiled spring of anticipation, for both sides to be utterly exhausted.
It was reckless, yes, but this was a godsend, a pristine opportunity for me to obtain a core without having to fight a Lord-Class demon beast head-on.
So I waited for the chaos to ebb, for their strength to finally break.
Like a patient, unseen predator, my eyes dilated, and my smile widened, a grim, predatory curve.
The number of obsidian-encased wharks had now been halved, leaving only two of them, battered and bleeding.
Even if they somehow survived this gruesome ordeal, it would only be a matter of time before death claimed them.
Gaping holes, raw and red, covered their bodies.
Exhaustion was clearly etched on their forms as they stood in a bloody standstill against the frenzied demon, both sides at their limit.
'Now, it's time for me to put you to rest,'
I murmured internally, my voice a cold whisper in my mind.
Then, my form dissolved into a blur.
I dashed toward the heart of the battlefield with predatory zeal, like a phantom of motion.
In the next second, my maw was already interlocked with the savage demon's gills.
I clamped down, dragging it across the churning currents, using its own momentum against it.
Then, with a furious surge of power, I reeled my body and twisted, leveraging my full weight to yank it toward the jagged spike I had noted earlier.
With a final, explosive twist, I slammed its writhing form against the razor-sharp rock.
CRASH!
The rising ground sediments billowed into a murky fog.
A faint, sickening red streak painted the fog, proof of the blood that sprayed from its grievous wounds.
The spike's tip, now coated in gore, entered my own mouth, inches away from decapitating me.
Blood exploded from its wounds and into my mouth, a hot, metallic blood rushed, and I smiled.
The two remaining Obsidian wharks, startled by my sudden, ghostly appearance, flickered in and out of existence.
As they sensed that it was still alive, now that it become an easy target, they plunged in with renewed, desperate spirit.
Seconds passed and to my utter horror, the sound of flesh tearing apart ripped through the swirling fog.
A cloud of crimson erupted within the haze.
I bit my lips, a cold dread seizing me.
'It can't be...'
Was all I could mutter inside my head.
I swallowed hard, the lump in my throat almost choking me.
My perception intensified, fueled by the terrifying dread of it still being alive.
Then I saw it.
A shadow, the very manifestation of my fear, emerged from the haze.
Its gaze was soul-piercing, its murderous intent suffocating me.
I saw it, the wound where the spike should have been.
It was still there, but… how?
How could it live from such a serious wound?
Just how could it still fight, even after having its insides impaled.
It knew it would die, yet in its final, desperate act, it opened its maw and let out a bone-chilling howl, a sound that resonated with primal fury.
Its maw, like the gaping maw of a gigantic sandworm, gleamed with terrifying dread.
Then, like a shadow, it dissolved, as it vanished from my sight.
A moment later, blood exploded as my gills were torn apart in a swift, agonizing bite.
Like a whipped dog, pain followed, a searing, blinding agony, and I clamped my mouth shut, struggling against the shock.
'Damnit!'
Was all I could curse.
I knew it then, that I was utterly fucked.
Truly fucked.
My calculations had failed to account for this, I had never imagined it would remain alive even after that injury.
My eyes frantically scanned the perimeter as shadows, no, afterimages, of it flickered in and out around me.
Then I saw it, its tail, a blur of overwhelming force, slammed into my head, sending me crashing violently into the ground below.
Crash!
The sickening sound of bones snapping resonated through the water, and a geyser of blood gushed from my mouth like a ruptured fountain.
I coughed violently, the pressure in my chest immense.
Before I could even begin to recover, like a whirlwind of death, it reappeared inches above me, its tail a blur was inches away from my face, before slamming into my head with crushing force.
CRASH!
Another wave of agonizing pain flared across my nerves.
My flesh contorted grotesquely from the impact, and my scales exploded from the concussive force of its attack, scattering like shattered glass.
But it wasn't over.
My vision blurred, flickering into darkness, my consciousness slipping away for a desperate, fleeting moment.
Even then, through the haze of agony, I heard it.
CRACK!
A bone-deep shudder ran through my entire being.
Tears, hot and stinging, welled in my eyes as I clawed at the water, gasping for breath, but there was no air, only the crushing, relentless pressure of the deep.
Cough!
Cough!
This creature… it was impossibly strong.
Its mana-infused form was a suffocating weight, an overwhelming force I couldn't possibly bear.
Its intent was chillingly clear.
This savage demon wasn't keen on simply defeating m, it was toying with me.
It knew it would die soon, and it wanted to inflict as much damage as possible before its end.
Its tail swiftly slammed again and again, each brutal impact pressing me deeper and deeper into the unyielding ground.
I gazed up, seeing its tail already winding back for another devastating blow, and a chilling realization formed in the back of my mind.
So I smiled.
A wide, defiant, utterly mad smile.
'This… this was it. The chasm between us…'
The crushing, undeniable difference between our variants, our tiers, our very stages of evolution.
I had thought those Obsidian wharks might wear it down, might at least leave it half disabled…
But perhaps I had expected far too much from those utterly pathetic creatures.
'It was one of my carelessness that led me to this predicament…'
I muttered internally, the smile not leaving my face.
I couldn't help but recall my own words, that one fatal miscalculation was all it would take for me to be discovered by the Heavenly Dao.
I chuckled, a raw, ragged sound.
While it was interesting to be beaten black and blue, to feel the edge of defeat sometimes, still it was utterly tasteless to simply endure it.
My smile widened further, a glint of fierce determination in my blurring eyes.
I summoned the hologram with renewed, desperate energy, and shouted inside my mind.
'ASCEND! FUCKING ASCEND!'
The Dimensional Record acknowledged my desperate desire, its ethereal script shifting to present me with crucial options.
The game was on.
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[You have ascended to the next tier.]
[You may choose.]
• [Fuse all of your skills into one.]
• [Ascend one of your skills a tier.]
• [Obtain a new skill.]
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A low, guttural chuckle rumbled in my chest, a sound of grim satisfaction at the revelation laid bare before me.
This was my trump card.
My imaginary finger, trembling from the agonizing pain that coursed through my body, pushed past the weakness.
With a surge of defiant will, I tapped one of the options, confirming my choice.
My eyes turned cold, a predatory glint returning, as I muttered low internally.
'You're dead now.'
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[Your skills.]
• Bronze Stomach
• Enhanced Teeth
• Scaled Hide
• Blood-forged Resilience
• Elastic Tendons
• Hardened Bones
• Keen Predator's Eyes
• Stone-Bound Muscles
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[Have successfully fused into a unique skill.]
[...]
[Due to an unknown force interfering your skill nature has shifted.]
[You have gained.]
• Grotesque Physique [Unique]
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Grotesque Physique [Unique]
A Grotesque Physique, warped by an unknown force from the Whark's biology, lets you absorb external abilities (skills not native to your race). These skills permanently lose their growth path, becoming fixed internal components. They're categorized by Ascension, reflecting their integration as adaptable physical components. Compatible skills fuse into layered bodily alterations. This living physique constantly redefines your body with each absorption and fusion.
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