CHAPTER 52: | THE MINIATURE WORLD OF THE FIRST SEGMENT | 8
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A searing agony ripped through my body.
Blood erupted from my back, a hot, sticky geyser that splattered against the walls, coating them in a thick, gruesome crimson.
The metallic tang of it stung my nostrils.
Crack. Crackle.
My teeth began to crumble, dropping like tiny pebbles onto the ground, only to be swiftly replaced by new, sharper ones.
Crack!
Then, a sudden, piercing pain flared across my forehead as something cracked and tore free.
Then my horns elongated uncontrollably, a grating, bone-on-bone sensation, until they nearly reached a meter.
Just as abruptly, they stopped.
Simultaneously, my entire body began to grow at an alarming rate.
My bones stretched, a deep, aching strain, and my flesh adjusted, pulling taut, as I shed a layer of my old skin.
Shhhk!
It peeled away, falling like discarded rags to the ground, as my size became a staggering 20 meters, up from 15 meters in height.
I scanned the perimeter, my vision now impossibly sharp.
The new eye that had burst from my forehead seemed to be the source.
It was several times more potent than even the 'Gaze of the Fallen Omniscient' in terms of detection.
I could sense demonic beasts miles away, their faint heat, signature mana and the stir of their malice.
This eye granted me a field of perception for five miles at most, making me akin to a god in that area, especially with my attainment of intent.
No being could approach me unnoticed, nor could they land a blow now.
I could decipher their intent, unravel their attacks, and dismantle them in a single, precise strike.
A dull throb resonated through my body as the sentient tendrils of living armor that formed my skin continued their evolution.
Now, they possessed stronger defenses, capable of blocking attacks up to a 'True Ascension I' skill.
But why would it only block a single 'Ascension I' skill when my own 'Ascension' was rated 'Ascension II'?
The answer lay in the quality of the skill itself.
Five factors decide how strong it truly is.
'False Ascension' skills, while they could be enhanced, would only emerge as weaker skills, 90 percent weaker than a 'True Ascension' skill.
Why?
Because a 'True Ascension' skill could evolve, could tier up without any limitations, unlike a 'False Ascension,' which sacrificed its potential to forcefully reach that level through unorthodox methods, such as fusing skills with a medium.
'True Ascension' skills would emerge when your skills evolved for the tenth time, or when two compatible skills fused without any external aids, purely through your own effort.
And that's the reason why 'True' is stronger than 'False.'
Next there's demonic beast prestige, or noble prestige in terms of demonic beasts and civilized humanoids.
Lord, King, Overlord, Sovereign, Champion, Emperor, all denote the differences in the quality of their skills.
While a Lord might produce a fireball as massive as a meter, an Emperor could produce a thousand-meter fireball with the exact same skill and compress it to a miniature sun.
So, that's understandable, because acquiring the prestige of an Emperor is the hardest and most arduous path of all.
While it's easy to acquire Lord to Sovereign prestige, as you still have the chance to advance, the prestige of Champion and Emperor are only available when you're at Stage 0.
The higher the stage of the world, the harder it will be to advance to the prestige of Emperor.
Then there's the awakening of skills, a process none truly know how to trigger.
Some awaken in desperate moments, some through dedicated research, while others achieve it during intense training.
The awakening of a skill could elevate your power to be truly divine, enhancing its original strength by tens of times or more.
Finally, there's enhancement, something you could gain once your skill is an 'Ascension' skill.
You would only need to gather materials based on a quest, which would appear when you activate your 'Ascension' skill, revealing five difficulties that I can't explain right now.
While it is rare for 'False Ascension' skills to receive enhancements, it's still a probability.
However, it is rare because 'False Ascension' skills can't receive any quests unless they possess special means.
So, overall, you need to account for all of those factors to see if your Ascension skill is truly powerful.
Mine being a False 'Ascension' with none of those advantages, of course it is weak.
But still, with my experience, closing the gap with a 'True Ascension' is nothing but a walk in the park.
How could I counter Celeste's seduction and nearly kill her by a mere gaze when it isn't even possible to damage her that greatly with such a skill?
Well, it was because I've mastered the usage of skills, and with the help of intent, which let me see her weakest point, I breached her magical defense and injured her.
Is it nonsense?
Well, yes, it is.
But haven't I lived for billions of years?
That's my reality, and that will end soon.
"It seems that it's possible to elevate 'Avatar of the Fallen'."
Dragging 'Avatar of the Fallen' along with three more skills that I deemed useful, my lips curved into a smile as I clicked 'yes.'
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[Would you fuse these skills?]
• Avatar of the Fallen + Gaze of the Fallen Omniscient + Demonic Armaments + Adamantine Carapace of the Abyss
[Yes] / [No]
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[You have gained.]
Incarnate of the Fallen [Ascension III]
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Incarnate of the Fallen [Passive | Ascension III | ▪︎]
Alister has become the Incarnate of the Fallen, his true form an abomination. His skin is a sentient armor, interwoven with eyes that grant him absolute, omnipresent awareness, making him impossible to surprise or evade. Though able to appear human, his inherent destructive power effortlessly shatters defenses and ensnares foes, while his wings enable absolute flight mastery. This form provides formidable resistance to all physical and elemental damage and instills paralyzing dread in adversaries. His internal systems are intrinsically resilient to all disruption, but it is not complete.
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Squelch! Skkrack!
A fresh wave of exquisite pain shot through my body as my form rapidly shifted.
Shloop!
My sentient tendrils all stood erect, revealing the pulsating network of blood vessels and the stark white of my bones beneath.
Then, with a grotesque wet sound, all of it stitched together, coalescing into a more humanoid form, like that of any human.
My hands now gained flesh, or perhaps more accurately, microscopic scales seamlessly forming a new skin.
The draconian visage of my previous form vanished.
My horns retracted, and the eyeballs on my forehead closed underneath my skin, drawing inward, returning me to a more human appearance.
The mirror before me shimmered, reflecting a figure of exquisite beauty, a face as beautiful as a goddess.
It was masculine yet feminine at the same time, a slender, almost womanly waist, and skin as white as purified milk.
His black hair cascaded down to his hips, and his piercing crimson gaze glowed with an undeniable allure.
Hmmm.
I creased my chin, gazing down at my 'sword,' its size was still monstrous, and it remained unchanged from my draconian form.
I pondered.
This thing would reach the very end of their wet caves without any effort at all.
Haaaa.
I sighed, a breath escaping my lips.
"Am I truly suffering from success, to be worrying about such a thing?"
Celeste's voice rumbled, a soft groan that pulled me from my thoughts, as she reached a hand towards the desk beside her bed.
"Water..."
Haaaa.
I sighed again.
It seemed I was sighing quite a bit today.
Handing Celeste a glass of water, I settled back into the rocking chair, bare-naked.
Looking at my physique now, sculpted from stone, I let out a low chuckle, bathing in the dim sunlight filtering into the room.
A genuine smile curved onto my lips.
"It seems I've truly missed my handsome face."