A few hours later—
Zael sat quietly beside the window of a long-distance transport bus heading back toward his city.
The atmosphere inside was far calmer than the chaos of the camp.
Soft conversations.
The low hum of the engine.
The occasional sound of rain tapping lightly against the windows.
Peaceful.
Strangely peaceful.
Auralis and Aurelia had already taken another transport route back toward their own city while Lily had separated earlier as well.
Though before leaving—
Aurelia had stopped beside him briefly.
Her silver eyes remained unusually serious as she spoke quietly enough that only he could hear.
"Reduce your shine a little."
Zael had frowned slightly.
"…What?"
"Be more lowkey," she continued calmly. "And don't show off too much."
Then before Zael could ask further—
She simply walked away.
Cryptic as always.
Zael leaned his head lightly against the bus window afterward while staring at the passing scenery outside.
The lights of distant cities blurred softly beneath the night sky as his thoughts slowly drifted elsewhere.
Back.
Far back.
To the beginning.
He remembered the day he first transmigrated into this world.
At this point, it honestly felt almost unreal.
Like an old dream slowly fading with time.
Back then—
He had been terrified.
Confused.
Completely lost in a world vastly different from the ordinary life he once knew.
A world of monsters.
Awakeners.
Levels.
Dungeons.
Power.
In his previous life, he had been painfully ordinary.
No talent.
No family.
No one truly relying on him.
Or even noticing him most of the time.
An orphan drifting through life quietly.
Yet now—
Everything had changed.
So much that sometimes even he struggled to process it fully.
He had power now.
Ridiculous power.
Power strong enough that geniuses like Cassian and Zuko viewed him as a rival.
Strong enough that even terrifying monsters like the Blood Thunder Dragon fell beneath him.
And beyond strength—
He had people now.
A brother.
Even if Kael was constantly surrounded by danger and mystery, Zael still cared about him deeply.
It was strange sometimes.
In his previous life, he never experienced having family.
Yet now the thought of something happening to Kael genuinely bothered him.
Then there were Lily, Auralis, Aurelia…
A faint smile appeared on Zael's face unconsciously.
Somehow, without realizing it, he had made real friends.
People he trusted.
People who trusted him.
People who saw him not merely as useful—
But as Zael.
Even Zuko and Cassian strangely fit into that growing circle now.
The thought felt oddly warm.
Outside the window, the rain slowly intensified.
Zael quietly closed his eyes afterward.
Two weeks.
Only two weeks before everything changed again.
The Gods and Demon Battlefield.
War between worlds.
Unknown enemies.
Unknown futures.
A normal person should probably feel afraid.
Yet strangely—
Zael didn't.
No.
That wasn't entirely true.
He was afraid.
But alongside the fear—
There was anticipation too.
Because deep down—
He understood something now.
This world no longer felt unfamiliar anymore.
It had become his home.
The rain continued pouring quietly outside the moving bus while faint city lights flashed past the windows one after another.
Zael leaned slightly against his seat before reopening his status panel.
This time—
The information displayed was far more terrifying than before.
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Zael Nightshade — Status Panel
Class: Child of Dao (First Awakening Peak)
Level: 90 (EXP: 9000000 / 9000000) (Locked)
Tier: Second Tier (Peak)
EXP Pool: 48,739,552,880
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Attributes
Strength: 5000
Agility: 5000
Endurance: 5000
Intelligence: 5000
Free Points: 0
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Talents
1. Supreme Blessing (Mythical)
Allows enhancement and evolution of skills, equipment, and abilities.
• Upgrade success rate: 100%
• Enhancement scaling: ×2 – ×10 per upgrade
• No degradation or failure penalty
Trait:
Primordial Blessing
An ancient will that transcends all limits.
Randomly enhances: comprehension, physique, talent (non-innate), skills, or equipment
Minimum ×100,000 amplification (no upper limit)
Permanent effects
Limit: Once every 10 levels
Note: Can break through world limits
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2. Ascendant Echo (Mythical)
The user may create autonomous echoes of themselves.
Description:
Creates one or more clones identical to the user in body, appearance, and base attributes. Clones possess independent thought capacity and can act autonomously within defined command parameters.
Effects:
• Clones share the user's physical statistics
• Capable of complex actions and combat
• Can relay sensory information back to the user
• Duration dependent on mana supply and mental stability
• Destruction of a clone causes no backlash
Limitations:
• High mana consumption
• Number of active clones limited by user's mental processing capacity
• Clones cannot use talents independently unless authorized
Trait:
Sovereign Echo:
The user may create autonomous echoes of themselves.
Each echo possesses:
– Independent movement and perception
– Shared awareness with the main body
– Adaptive durability based on the user's attributes
– Partial replication of active skills
Current limit (1/1)
3. Adaptive Evolution (Transcendent)
• Resistance gain per hit: +5%
• Resistance converts into immunity at 100% threshold
• Excess resistance reflects 20% damage back to source
• Cross-adaptation unlocked: resistance to one type partially applies to similar types
• Permanent retention: no decay, no reset, no overwrite
• Overload State: when multiple resistances exceed 100%, user gains temporary invulnerability (duration scales with excess)
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4. Authority of Infinite Growth (Unknown)
Accelerates all growth.
• EXP gain: ×10000
• Excess EXP stored automatically
• Stored EXP immune to loss
Trait:
EXP to Stat Conversion
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5. Storm Dragon Core (Legendary) (Acquired)
Infuses the body with draconic lightning essence.
• Thunder skill damage: ×3.5
• Lightning penetration: ignores 40% resistance
• Passive: +25% movement speed during combat
• 10% chance to trigger chain lightning (300% damage)
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6. Void Sovereign (Mythical)
Absolute control over spatial/void energy.
• Void skill damage: ×4
• Cooldown reduction: -35%
• Ignores 50% spatial resistance
• Passive: immunity to spatial distortion effects
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7. Abyssal Authority (Mythical)
Dominion over abyssal power.
• Abyss skill amplification: ×5
• Damage dealt to abyss entities: ×3
• Incoming abyss damage reduced by 70%
• Passive suppression: enemies below 50% stats within 20m suffer -30% output.
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8. Abyssal Consumption (Transdescent)
Originally: Allows consumption of external energy to restore stamina and mana.
Effect:
Allows the user to devour all forms of energy—including elemental, environmental, and biological sources—and convert them into pure Origin energy.
• Conversion Efficiency: 100%
• No overload threshold
• Excess energy stored temporarily within the body or redirected to the EXP pool
• Can target ambient energy fields or active attacks.
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9. Sovereign Instinct (Mythical)
Originally: Enhances combat awareness and reaction speed.
Effect:
Grants predictive combat awareness and instinctive response.
• Automatically analyzes enemy movement, intent, and energy flow
• Predicts immediate attack patterns within a short window
• Enhances reaction speed beyond physical limits
• Passive suppression effect on weaker entities.
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10. Origin Beast Sovereignty (???)
Description:
Grants absolute dominion over beast-type entities and their evolutionary pathways.
Effects:
• Allows taming of beasts regardless of rank or resistance as long as the level gap is not more than ten.
• Converts tamed beasts into Origin-linked entities
• Enhances beast bloodlines to higher classifications
• Forces accelerated evolution beyond natural limits
• Growth rate increased exponentially through shared Origin energy
• Enables partial or full synchronization between user and beast
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Skills
Blade Domain
Establishes a combat zone.
• All attacks gain +40% precision
• Enemy evasion reduced by 25%
Void Step
Instant displacement (up to 15m)
Cooldown: 1.5s
Resonance Strike
Stacks vibrational energy.
• +20% damage per hit (max 5 stacks)
• Final detonation: ×2 total damage
Night Sever
Void-infused slash
• 2,800% damage
• Ignores 35% defense
Cooldown: 4s
Phantom Split
Creates 2 afterimages
• Each deals 60% of original damage
Duration: 6s
Abyss Rend
Abyss-infused cleave
• 3,500% damage
• Additional +5% damage per 1% enemy resistance
Cooldown: 5s
Void Collapse
Crushes space at target point
• 4,200% damage
• 1.5s immobilization
Cooldown: 12s
Echo Drive
Triggers stored echoes instantly
• Converts all stacks into burst
• Multiplier: ×1.5 per 5 stacks
Cooldown: 25s
Predator Sync
Full integration with Predator's Domain
• Reaction speed: +60%
• Target tracking: absolute within range
Duration: 20s
Cooldown: 40s
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Zael stared silently at the massive EXP pool for several moments.
Forty-eight billion.
Even he found the number absurd.
And somehow—
The terrifying part was that this still wasn't his limit.
His gaze slowly drifted downward afterward.
Toward the three blessing chances he had activated earlier.
Then—
The refined system notification slowly appeared once more.
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[Congratulations.]
[Primordial Blessing has been successfully applied to…]