Seriousness the likes the world has never seen before consumed Samuel’s entire being. Death? No, thank you! There was zero chance of him messing around in a situation that would lead to his death. The lack of techniques was a problem for Samuel, however. As of now, he only had Dimensional Tear, Withering Beam, Spirit Gun, and Reality Shift, oh, and Malataincacha Protection, of course. These techniques were enough when he was invincible with both superior cultivation stages and greater talent, but not now, especially not against some unknown puppet used by a god.

‘Gowla’

If he didn’t have something, then he would have to work hard to obtain it. Although he assumed the Malatinacacha Protection technique to be very powerful, he had yet to use it, making it unreliable, as well as the fact that it was a defensive technique, which is not a priority in killing an assailant.

‘I don’t have a lot of time to craft a new power. If he chooses to remain passive, I might have ten hours; if not, then I have a few minutes. Uncertainty is the key to mediocrity; that’s what I always say. I can’t risk it; there is only one thing left to do. System techniques.

[Current balance: 10,000]

[Techniques]

[Cultivation techniques]

[Attack techniques]

[Movement techniques]

[Defense techniques]

[Other techniques]

…

[Attack techniques]

[Note: all techniques are priced at 10,000 points.]

[Fall From Grace]

[Mortal’s Ascent]

[Earthly Tremble]

[Heavenly Tremble]

[Cumulative Destruction (incomplete)]

[Greatest Theft (very incomplete)]

Going barely by name, Samuel started to look through the different powers. He knew he could only buy one of them, and he was not going to mess it up.

[Cumulative Destruction: Whatever you inflict with this technique will continue to suffer ever-increasing damage as long as it has a sufficient amount of qi powering it. The technique is incomplete, which means the effect can be removed by beings way stronger than you or certain powers.]

[Buy the full technique to resolve this flaw: 100,000 points required.]

This sounded absolutely ridiculous. Ever-increasing damage? Hell yeah. In any normal situation, Samuel would have bought it without a second thought, but not now. Not only was he in serious mode, but the glaringly obvious statement in the technique that said "removed by beings stronger than you", instantly discouraged him. The Harbinger of Reality practices the path of faith and deities, making the technique redundant for the current situation.

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[Greatest Theft (very incomplete): Steal the power, energy, techniques, and thoughts of your target, granted your mind surpasses theirs in complexity and power. The technique is very incomplete, which means you are limited to these four aspects, while the complete version limits you in no way, allowing you to steal even people’s existence. The completion of the technique can be split into nine levels:

1. 10,000 points required.

2. 100,000 points required.

3...

9. 1 trillion points required.]

‘Incredible, yet I still encounter the same problem of him having the support or even being the incarnation of a god. Not the one, but I will definitely buy it as soon as humanly possible.’

[Heavenly tremble: Shake the very fabric of the realm you inhabit through a devastating distortion of the law of balance. Its lethality is reliant on your cultivation stage and comprehension of chaos and balance.]

‘No. And I assume the Earthly Tremble will be similar but weaker, meaning I don’t need to consider it. Leaving only two techniques. This needs to work, damn it.’

[Fall From Grace: peer into the abyss of madness to harness its limitless and volatile power to alter your body, temporarily gaining a demonized form. Depending on the level of madness you embrace, the strength of your new body will vary from a two-time increase to a 200-time increase.]

[Important note: If your current mind accepts an amplification of more than ten times, you will lose your sense of self, turning you into a true demon.]

[Mortal’s Ascent: Use the emotions and thoughts that creatures have towards you to improve your powers. This is a primitive version derived from the deities’ faith system.]

[Important note: Every thought and emotion will force itself into your mind, affecting you to a certain extent. If you are not careful, it will be easy to lose sense of who you are and corrupt you into a raving madman or a deity, depending on the situation.]

‘Mortal’s Ascent is perfect. Dangerous, but perfect for my situation. What could be a better way of defeating a cultist than with the same power they use? I would like to purchase Mortal’s Ascent, please.’

Ding!

[The system is obligated to inform you that if you were to lose yourself to madness, you would be totally eliminated. Every last trace of your being will be erased from REDACTED. Keep this in mind!]

[Congratulations on obtaining Mortal’s Ascent. Distributing technique now]

The feeling of connecting to a network of sorts consumed Samuel’s entire mind. He felt excitement, he felt fear, he felt anger, he felt hope, and he felt guilt. Thoughts of betting on him, meeting him, recruiting him, killing him, enslaving him, and finally locking him away for the rest of eternity to ensure he doesn’t hurt the Shattered Realm, all tried to take control of his sense of self. The sensation he was experiencing was indescribable. It was like he became a part of all the people who were thinking about him, yet also like they became a source of power for him. Samuel could feel his power rising rapidly without even needing to activate the technique. This all happened instinctively, at maybe 2-3% of what it could achieve. Samuel, whose thoughts were starting to easily overpower those of others, felt that if he were to succeed in pushing this power to its limits with the influx of faith he currently has, then he would reach the level of power he possessed at the True Cultivation stage before the reset.

Instead of losing himself in overconfidence, however, Samuel worked as hard as he possibly could to control and master the technique. Just because he received it from the system doesn’t mean he gets full comprehension and understanding of it instantly. Using every possible second he could to refine this new surge of power that continued to grow stronger and stronger, without him even willing it. Samuel was starting to get slightly nervous. There simply was not enough time for him to adapt fully. The nerves disappeared once a specific thought echoed throughout his mind: He is the final obstacle standing between us and the Holiest; he needs to die a spectacular death to herald its coming! Putrid Death Spray should do the work, don’t you think? I agree. Me too. Me three.

The thoughts of multiple people stemming from the same source peaked his interest more than the content of it. ‘Not only is he being manipulated by a deity, but he also has multiple personalities. What a guy! What is even more interesting is the fact that all of his thoughts are equal to more power for me, and every different persona he has counts as a different thought, essentially providing me with countless times more faith than a normal person. This is considering he is also just thinking about me; there is no faith involved, and it's already this potent. That has to be the reason why deities target these types of vulnerable people the most.’

With no time to lose and knowing that the Harbinger of Reality was about to attack, Samuel left the comfort of the time sphere, ready to save a whole bunch of people. Definitely not to save himself and complete the quest. Nope, he was just thinking about others. Such selflessness is never seen in anyone else. The savior no one knows they need, yet who saves them regardless. That is who Samuel is.