Stygon
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Chapter 155
🕑 Added 2025-07-23 16:55:53 +0000 UTCThey chatted for around an hour, and Dei started to learn that there were a good few “Constants” with how one could earn Achievements, one of the most common ways being to interact with Primordial Children in general. Dei had a lot of run ins with The Mother and The Champion, but Ms. Letia fought Titans and interacted with The Champion.
“Past a certain point of strength, The Champion will always find a way to introduce himself, especially if you’re on the anchor world of a universe.”
“Anchor world?” Dei asked.
“Main world. It’s where people always end up if they do universe travel. It’s the place The Champion exists. There’s actually a huge Achievement for finding a non-anchor world in a universe, because they’re almost impossible to reach. Anchor worlds are all partially parallel to one another, with similarities. Non-anchors? As alien as can be, different every time. Of course, they tend to be a bit less eventful as well, and oftentimes more desolate, being guarded by much worse dragons than The Champion. Every iteration you find, The Champion’s a wonderful man.”
‘Probably because he was created by the Sun Primordial, if the Sun-Spawn race is any indication. Perumah said the Sun Primordial had a domain of Good, so it makes sense. But what about the other Dragons?’
“Are the other Dragons evil?”
Ms. Letia tilted her hand in a rocking motion “Eh, so-so. They aren’t bad, but every last one has strong morals that they impose viciously on the population. They’re tyrants that brook no argument, but they aren’t evil. It’s more like their morals just don’t align with typical life, and that frustrates them. They believe they are objective forces of good, and organize all life in their image. The Champion’s a sweety because his ‘rules’ align himself with mortal and varied life. His ‘code’ is essentially ‘protect mortals and let them do their thing,’ which he acts upon with fervor, making him the perfect protector of the anchor worlds. It really was a stroke of luck that the strongest Dragon has such morals, because life in the multiverse would look much different otherwise.”
Dei leaned back in his chair, thinking over her words as he drew comfort from the thought. It was nice to hear of a guardian that would fight for his right to live, despite being an unmatched being of power. This was the second time he had the thought, but he was very glad The Champion was such a benevolent force.
‘If I wasn’t already worshipping Aloran, The Champion would be my next option out of respect. Although…’
“So you told me you know about the quarantine, yes? Why doesn’t The Champion help contain the demon?”
Ms. Letia looked at him, baffled, “Did you never visit the war front?”
“Err… well, no. I grew up underground and had to leave the universe before I got the chance.”
“He does. That’s why the demon isn’t a much bigger issue. When your universe was still open, I visited and helped fight as well, watching as The Champion maintained a perpetual orbital bombardment on the demon-kin armies. It’s… a rather terrifying sight, honestly. I believe there’s even a minor Achievement for witnessing it, though that may have gone away after so many people received it. I saw his beams in the first three or so months, and it’s been centuries since. I can’t imagine such an Achievement staying in reach for an entire planet to easily take.”
He nodded, ‘Fair. Still, I can’t wait to see it in action. He’s really been blasting through demon-kin for hundreds of years, and the war is still desperate? I’m not looking forward to joining the fight… well, I never was, but now I’m even more afraid.’
*
After she’d told him a few stories, his favorite being the first one he asked about where she’d slain a corrupt God she’d been “meaning to get around to” and received exactly one level for it, she decided it was time to go. Dei opened the door and let her waddle out slowly as she bid him farewell and took the elevator down from his apartment. ‘There’s no way that’s how she actually moves. She’s 100% putting on a show of being a weak little old lady.’
Seeing an absence of paparazzi, Dei was struck by a gratefulness that there were never people at his door. Either because his housing situation was protected, or because the population at large hadn’t figured it out with how often he teleported around, he enjoyed the peace.
*
Dei turned his eyes inwards, observing the accelerating process of Cycle of Sealing devouring The Mother’s soul and taking in the few Skill levels it provided.
[Skill Leveled Up: Cycle of Sealing (482) -> (493)]
He was incredibly safe in the city, which lowered how much experience he received, but the past week had been an intensive workout for Wild Chains. It also finally gave him an estimate for how much was within it.
[Cycle of Sealing:
244,913/118,320 Weighted Fragments (The Mother’s soul remnants)
102/118,320 Wrath
274/118,320 Kindness
1,099/118,320 Soul
2,510/118,320 Fortitude
135/118,320 Void]
It held more than double its “recommended” weight in Weighted Fragments, and Dei felt it. The Skill was lethargic and unresponsive, but it wouldn’t be for long. It was shedding approximately forty thousand Weighted Fragments per day. It would be a little over six days until his Skill was back in full commission.
Unless he took the System’s “deal.” When he’d gone to look over his Class selection again, he was hit with another message:
[High levels of unabsorbed Potential detected]
[Consume Potential to advance Class? Y/N]
[Estimated conversion rate: 34.1% Potential conversion]
[Estimated Class advancement: Slaughterer of the Sundered Realm (200) -> (216)]
He could essentially surrender all the Weighted Fragments to gain sixteen levels right off the bat, but it would delete around 65.9% of the Potential.
Checking his Profession as well, he received a similar notification.
[Consume Potential to advance Profession? Y/N]
[Estimated conversion rate: 16.4% Potential conversion]
[Estimated Profession advancement: Herald of Power (100) -> (132)]
They weren’t bad at all, but the very first thing Dei did was to try and observe the effects of raw Potential, which took several hours to truly understand, and he found himself leaning away from giving it all up.
It, predictably, raised the cap for everything. Anything with a “limit” would simply grow higher.
Back when he was making his body grow larger to stop himself from dying to the ball of faith in his chest, he was surprised that there wasn’t a limit to how much he could grow. Looking into the Potential’s effects, he found that this was because the initial bursts of Potential he’d received from Cycle of Sealing had, somehow, been fully concentrated into raising his size limit. There had been a reasonable maximum, but the Potential had changed that.
True, converting the raw Potential into EXP would grant him a large boost, but Dei thought it would be best, long term, to simply let the energy do its thing- to let the Potential course through his body.
Dei’s most powerful Skill, Cycle of Sealing, was the result of something The System didn’t help him with, surpassing its regular boundaries. Perhaps raising his Potential outside the System would result in similar unquantifiable boons.
That in mind, Dei started planning for his exit from The System again. He’d decided he would merge all the Right of the Leviathan fragments he had before he left so that he could get some exact numbers on what they did and their descriptions.
*
[Skill Leveled Up: Call for Help (71) -> (74)]
[Skill Leveled Up: Good Samaritan (157) -> (158)]
[Skill Leveled Up: Meaningful (107) -> (108)]
[Skill Leveled Up: Connection (19) -> (22)]
[Skill Leveled Up: Roving Gate (36) -> (37)]
[Skill Leveled Up: Cycle of Sealing (493) -> (496)]
[Skill Leveled Up: Commune with the Universe (19) -> (25)]
It was approaching time to leave. The Potential was all spent and Dei’s Cycle of Sealing was near-empty, though still carrying all the gifts and equipment he’d paid for. He was also finally able to verify that, yes, Cycle of Sealing was highly toxic to any ensouled being.
‘If it was so simple to create an internal world, Fendrascora wouldn’t have struggled as much as she did with it, and the Leviathan’s wouldn’t have it as a dedicated permission. It took help from the divine in both cases, and Cycle of Sealing isn’t quite divine yet.’
That didn’t mean it would stay that way though. In just four levels, the Skill would cross the threshold from mortal to divine, if he could find a way to level it up.
Dei found out that while it wasn’t impossible for a Skill to go past level five hundred while he was below that mark, it wasn’t easy either. It took something special, something that pushed the Skill’s boundaries into impossibility, for it to reach those heights. That, or for Dei’s body to adjust to the high-energy transformations of anything past level five hundred, which he couldn’t do until he’d reached that himself.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t relevant to the current moment. In the days after his conference, Dei hadn’t slacked off. He continued running around the city helping people wherever he was called, and every single person was absolutely boggled when he showed up. Dei was, after all, a major celebrity.
He even accidentally ended up becoming famous again for reasons unrelated to his Mythical grade, specifically because he just kept appearing where people needed help. There were talks of some people trying to artificially put themselves in trouble to get him to appear, but Call for Help never led him into such situations.
Aside from that, Dei worked on something he knew he’d need after he returned to Earth: multiverse navigation. Hopping from one universe to the next? Easy! Finding the next universe? Ehh…
There were countless ways to go about doing so, from stepping out of the timeline for Time users, or diving into other Realms temporarily, but the one Dei was most interested in was a variant of Space-affinity-based travel, where one could peel back the seams in the fabric of reality and hop to neighboring universes.
Dei’s long-term goal was to meet reality beings. Not just any, but specifically whichever reality being dictated MP. He had no reason for this, but MP was a significant mystery, and Dei had a hunch that finding its source would grant him clarity on certain issues. What was MP? It contained every affinity, but did nothing on its own and couldn’t be interacted with independent of a Skill; he could manipulate affinity mana, but MP seemed to just… not exist when he went looking for it.
It all felt important somehow, and Dei had something in him that scratched away at a part of his mind he couldn’t describe.
So his navigational tool was formed: Commune with the Universe. In the System, all Reality Beings were equidistant from everywhere else, using the System as a medium. Outside the System though, as he’d experienced the few times he’d used the spell on Earth, one could almost see the different entities. Dei intended to travel towards these entities and ask them for directions, as silly as that sounded. To do so, he needed to travel to neighboring universes using Void, but the affinity was specifically good at traveling unmeasurable distances, meaning he was likely to overshoot in the Realm of Reality and miss his target completely.
To remedy this, Dei was taught to look for spatial seams. It wasn’t a metaphor, neither was the “Fabric of reality” or anything, there were actual seams that one could push through if they knew how. Apparently, whatever had created their universe, hadn’t been perfect. There was a lot of theorizing and hullabaloo that Dei didn’t pay attention to, but he did have an interesting theory.
The seams were where the universe had once been stitched to the supreme universe, before being cut off.
The seams were also in the same general area every time, making it easier to find. They were always on the anchor world, and they were always at the poles of the planet. Dei had made a trip through the snow and came to find one of the seams, learning how to spot them using an application of Void. Since there were tiny gaps in the fabric of reality where it’d been stitched back together, Dei should’ve theoretically been able to see them with his own eyes. His Slaughterer path, though, was antithetical to any external mana, and this was not something Perumah could help with, as she had no affinity linked to the fabric.
Dei’s only workaround to this was that if his body was physically standing on the seam, and it went through him, he could at last see what he was working with. Once that was done, Dei spent a day or two trying to widen the crack in the world and enter whichever universe neighbored it.
When he finally succeeded, he found himself in an odd space, surrounded by chatting men and women. World travelers, meeting up in the space between.
[Skill Leveled Up: Roving Gate (37) -> (53)]
He wasn’t surprised to not earn an Achievement for it. It was one universe-travel Achievement per person, and only for your first world hop. Dei’s Achievement, [Void Walker], was on the more powerful side, and completely unrecorded in the list of world-hopping Achievements.
He brought his attention back to his surroundings. Aside from the people, the place was an utterly featureless white, and he would’ve been hard-pressed to travel through the designated paths without bumping into the walls if not for the people standing here. ‘Just something to watch out for when I’m in more wild territory.’
Now with a way to travel short distances- at least on a multiversal level- and the deadline for his message back to Aloran approaching, Dei spent some time picking out a spot, hidden from others. He wanted to do the last of his preparations in the System away from prying eyes, and now he had a way to easily avoid others- to simply move a few universes away and go somewhere obscure.
Gods apparently looked at the world through the eyes of their followers, so as long as he avoided people, he’d be golden.
He finished everything in the nick of time too, and a call from Iten informed him of the cathedral notifying him that they were done with both the requested goods and Aloran’s message, all set to be picked up at his earliest convenience.
*
Some more chatting with the local Gods and a quick verification that everything would fit in Cycle of Sealing later, Dei teleported around the planet to try and shake any tails that might’ve been placed on him. Then, he went to the heart of a large stretch of woods, several universes over, where he’d chosen to handle his System business.
The first thing he decided was to merge Connection and Knowledge. He’d put a stop to the process the first time the Skills interacted, but saw no reason to any longer. The Leviathans were likely the only beings capable of watching him now, and he had no real reason to hide these actions from them.
The Skills needed nothing more than his subconscious agreement to rocket towards each other, hitting one another in a silent explosion as the two comets released ethereal sparks. For this merge there was no fight, and it took barely a second for the two to settle down.
[[Connection] has merged with [Knowledge] to form the Skill: [Resonance]]
[Resonance - Level 22 - Soul Affinity
The harmonizing of insight and interconnection, a gentle echo allows the caster to attune their mind to the unseen frequencies that bind all things. One does not simply know, they feel the shape of truth through the relationships that define it.
Grants access to the Resonance spell]
‘Easy enough,’ he thought, then considered his Class and Profession. Leviathans could only see his Achievements and Skills because they could look over his soul, but the System constructs were held outside of that, by the System itself. There was no way for the Leviathans to see and leak what his Impossible Classes actually did.
True, they would know what he’d chosen because he would get the World that Walks upgrade, but they already knew that, considering the System had asked them for permission.
Shrugging, he finally chose his Class: [Slaughterer of the Sundered Realm].
A gentle kneading upon his soul told him of the first Skill upgrade.
[[Resonance] has upgraded into [Harmonic Sanctuary]]
[Harmonic Sanctuary - Level 22 - Soul Affinity
More than simply a person, the user has become an embodiment of life, a gentle caretaker for those within them. Neither greater nor lesser than the beings that rely on them, The World that Walks allows their soul to become nourishment for others.
Grants access to the Harmonic Sanctuary spell]
When the warmth was gone, though, he frowned as a much more unpleasant sensation took over, and Dei felt as Fortress of Denial was surgically removed from him.
[[Fortress of Denial] has merged with [Realm of Hunger] to form the Skill: [Starved Basion]
[Starved Bastion - Level 112 - Fortitude Affinity
stripped of all comfort, warmth, or sustenance, life ceases to be within its inescapable stone walls. Desolate tendrils pull all into the cold, collapsing maw; curses, possession, parasitic spirits, or corruption, none of it is turned away from the great hunger.
Grants the user an Unyielding Hunger domain.
Digestive speed accelerates with each level.
Variable energy cost, but can potentially feed upon itself once strong enough and enough mana is consumed to create a feedback loop of concepts
Level 100 evolutionary upgrade - Greatly increase your perception of all within your domain]
He noted that this was his first Outer Skill that actually had an affinity, but it wasn’t wildly important. They likely came without them because the affinities had no hands in their creation, but that wasn’t true with this one. The closest it’d ever come was the MP affinity with Meditation way back when he first got it, but that wasn’t a real affinity, it was something else.
Now that he’d chosen a Class, it felt like he was on a timer. What if there were Identify Skills that let people look at what he could do? He moved on to the Profession without delay, choosing it and sensing that something was happening with the Skills given, but not within his soul, so he wasn’t affected.
[[Aura of Chaos] has merged with [Fluctuating Blessings] to form the Skill: [Hellish Divergence]]
[Hellish Divergence - Level 1 - Passive
Hell is not created, it is existence. Where there is life, there will be death; In order, there is chaos; and in pleasure there is pain. To create a living hell for all is to attune yourself to their every pain, breaking them down in the fires of agony. Chaos is all, it is uncontrollable and unfathomable for most, but the eyes above look kindly upon you. While chaos cannot be controlled, it can be guided by the hands of power.
Laces Presence with Holy Chaos, giving rise to miracles and calamities alike]
Last but absolutely not least, Dei grinned as he felt Homeostasis begin changing as well, Sheltered Self folding into it. He was particularly excited about this one because he wanted to try something.
‘I decide the names of these spells subconsciously. This one is going to be… Holyostasis.’
[[Homeostasis] has merged with [Sheltered Self] to form the Skill: [?Holyostasis?]]
‘IT WORKED?!’
The screen flickered, though, and gave back something different.
[[Homeostasis] has merged with [Sheltered Self] to form the Skill: [Divine Balance]]
‘Daww man, I GUESS I subconsciously thought the name would be stupid long term…’
Still, he sighed wistfully.
He glanced over his status screen for a brief instant, just enough to snapshot the Interface in his mind and the final Skill, then quickly fled the System.
[Divine Balance - Level 378 - HP Affinity - Passive
From searing heat to vacuum cold, from temporal dislocation to planar inversion, this spell maintains core biological, mental, and spiritual stability, refusing to allow the self to collapse under the pressure of cosmic extremes.
Maintains the perfect balance of existence, no matter the condition.
Heals 0.3 HP per level every hour
Regenerates 0.3 MP per level every hour
Rejuvenates 0.3 SP per level every hour
Adjust faster with each successive level.
Level 100 evolutionary upgrade - Raise the maximum level of resistance you can develop to a particular imbalance.
Level 200 evolutionary upgrade - Body will naturally stabilize using its Primordial Roots when met with adversity.
Level 300 evolutionary upgrade - Body’s balance is granted minor predictive properties, letting you build a resistance to things you theorize you may face]
[Name: Dei Grrata
Race: Union (Gem Dweller Variant)
Class: Slaughterer of the Sundered Realm (Level 200)
Profession: Herald of Power (Level 100)
Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Giants IV, Cruelty of the Slaughter (II), Dammit, Slaughterer, Untethered, Risky Business, Golden Voice and Silver Tongue, Supreme Inquisitor of (Eternal Refuge), Pioneer, Awake, Dreameater, Lunar Terror, Eclipse of Blood, Observer of Chaos, V̷̨̬͕͔͒͜ë̶̡̡̞̹̲͓́̓́͜͝s̸̢̖̬̞̦̞͈̽͆̂̊̈́̎s̵̺̠̯̩̠̜̔͑̉̓́̿̊e̷̢̼̠͖͓̓͂ͅḻ̶͎̺͇̖͉̱͋̔͑̾͝ ̵̧̘̲̥̟̑ǒ̴̰̺̙̹̪̫̤̓͗͝f̸̪͋̈́̕ ̷̥̦̜̿̎̐̕T̴͖͇͉̺̝̓͌́Ḥ̷̹̗̔̓Ĕ̸̼̻̪̬̻͕̹̀̐̊̚ ̵̡̨͇͖̠͉̑͘Ò̵͖̰̜͕̲̦ͅN̸̮̤̦̱͗̾̊͑E̷̛̩͓͉͎̱̪̊͌̀̈́͗̇, ???Warring Container???
Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII), Mutual Respect, Deal of the Almost-Dunce, Vow of Secrecy
Soul Strength: 681/681
HP: 681/681
MP: 227/227
SP: 454/454
Stats:
Physical: 227
Mental: 117
Spiritual: 560
Magical: 118
Affinities:
Kindness: Mid-Epic: 85%
???: Low-Grand: 91%
Wrath: Mid-Epic: 85%
Soul: Mid-Treasured: 12%
Fortitude: High-Rare: 49%
Void: Low-Rare: 79%
Inner Skills:
Kindness: Call for Help (74), Good Samaritan (158), Meaningful (108)
Wrath: Growing Rage (358)
Soul: Empower Self (27), Harmonic Sanctuary (22)
Fortitude: Solidity (230),
Business: Value Sense
Void: Roving Gate (53)
Mind: Overmind (265)
Health: Divine Balance (378)
Mana: Meditation (274)
Stamina: Disconnect (100)
Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (192), Cycle of Sealing (496) (6813/119,040)
Artificial Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (73), Vigilance (178), In Tune (119), Commune with the Universe (25)
Outer Skills: Starved Bastion (112), Hellish Divergence (1), Entropic Touch (1), Land Between (1)
[Cycle of Sealing:
1,819/119,040 Weighted Fragments (Physical objects)
133/119,040 Wrath
781/119,040 Kindness
1,386/119,040 Soul
2,549/119,040 Fortitude
145/119,040 Void]
He didn’t know how many prying eyes were trying to find him or if any even had, but he didn’t want to spend even one more moment within their reach.
It was time for his return to Earth.
Comments
Burcury Neptune
Ope, thank ya!
Burcury Neptune
You'll know when it happens XD
Ahppy
Guess no reaper upgrade quite yet.
Jason Hardman
TYFTC! Grammar is off in this line The World that Walks takes allows their soul to become nourishment for others. -> World that Walks allows their soul (removed 'takes').
