With that out of the way, they headed into the expanse of the Rot-Trunk Copses, fighting their way through legions of the undead and against all manner of corrupted beasts.

Their levels slowly rose as they found tougher battles, and higher level foes. After about three days of non-stop fighting, Jonathan had gained three levels, which was quite good for such a weak section of Mire. They were trying to find somewhere safe to hide out and level a bit before entering Tartarus again, because anyone who knew their entry point into that realm could simply lay a trap for their return.

Jonathan continued to practice with his skills, and found an unintended synergy between his blessing and training. He could use the precognitive power of the third eye to train in multiple different timelines at once. It strained his brain, but with two thresholds in Intelligence, he was more than able to do so. As a result, all of his Pathway skills had progressed by a tier. He checked his status sheet under the shade of a massive tree trunk, smiling at the strides that he had made.

Jonathan Harlowe

Tier 3

Void Human(Exalted)

Divinity Aspect: Void Hegemon

Elemental Mastery: 13%

Elemental Juggernaut: Tier 3 Legendary

Active Blessings: The Third Eye of Exal’drin

Level 234

(84 free points)

Strength

2114

Dexterity

1864

Constitution

1788

Resilience

1836

Intelligence

1754

Wisdom

1412

Divinity

20

Health: 40230/40230

Stamina: 47565/47565

Mana: 39465/39465

* Titles

True Unbound Spirit: Unique

First Circle Breaker: Unique

Nascent God: Transcendent

Supreme Initiate: Ancient

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Prodigy of Fusion: Mythical

Lesser Xenocide: Legendary

Greater Giantslayer: Legendary

Iron Will: Epic

Leader of Men: Epic

Refined Form: Epic

Avenger: Epic

Lineage Hunter: Rare

Righteous Killer: Rare

* Skills

Maw of the Void: Ancient

Ephemeral Trifecta: Mythical

Greater Smite: Mythical

Void’s Grasp: Mythical

Void Piercer: Mythical

Runic Overcharge: Mythical

Mantle of the Void: Legendary

Rune Savant: Legendary

Void Drill: Legendary

Channeled Basic Truesight: Legendary

Sense the Weave: Legendary

Fists of the Maelstrom: Legendary

Minor Enlightenment: Legendary

Void Slipstream: Epic

Warrior’s Trance: Epic

Battle Focus: Rare

Impact: Rare

Focused Scry: Rare

Runes of Power: Rare

Redirect: Uncommon

* Pathway Skills

Energy Manipulation(Advanced): Journeyman 7

Blunt Weapon Mastery(Advanced): Journeyman 6

Runecrafting Expertise(Advanced): Journeyman 3

* Martial Path

Flowing Maelstrom: Journeyman 7

* Quests

The Strongest: ???

Hellbreaker: Impossible

Pathway of the Titans: Heroic

He was slowly but surely ascending the Tier, and growing ever closer to Expert rank with his Pathway skills. After seeing how powerful that had made Theodore, he was eager to gain one for himself.

Jonathan closed the sheet and sighed. Although he was moving quickly, he was not moving quickly enough. They had still to find a safe place to hide while leaving for Tartarus, and without that realm, the density of high level monsters was simply too low to support any sort of leveling spree. Even the few levels that he had eked out from his time here had come from an indiscriminate slaughter of lower level monsters, which was hardly efficient, given that there were almost none left in the area now. When a wave of purple energy came sweeping through an area, most monsters with a modicum of sense departed and never returned.

Now though, they were a good distance into the Copses, and there was no noticeable increase in the levels of the monsters. The vast majority of them weren’t even Tier 3, hovering around the peak of Tier 2. Those that were Tier 3 were too weak to amount to much in the grand scheme of things.

The further they went, the more frantic Hushar grew, in his search for power. Every day that they wasted was another day that his brother and his allies were languishing in Slothari’s dungeon, or perhaps they were already dead. As more people joined the faction in the Ash Heaps, it became harder and harder to track a few lives. In either case, he would need strength, for a rescue, or for revenge.

The man sat beneath a tree, glowering as he trained his elemental control. Even when in the trance of an activity that should have brought peace, he was affected by the rage that he felt towards Slothari. However, nobody had ever said that life in the Hells was fair, and rather than bemoan his bad luck, he instead worked to reclaim what he had lost.

Edgar meanwhile was far more cheerful, mainly because he had made another breakthrough in his elemental mastery. He was getting closer and closer to forming a True Affinity. At this rate, he might even get there before fighting Slothari. However, he kept his outward cheer down, so as to not upset Hushar.

“How goes it with training?” Jonathan asked, as he walked towards Edgar.

“Well enough. My elemental mastery is edging closer and closer towards 20 percent, now that my body is tough enough to handle it. Once I get there, reaching the state of True Affinity will be quite easy. Still, it would be even easier if I had access to Tartarus. The monsters here are hardly the best of opponents at their level of strength.”

“What about the further layers of Mire? We could always go there.”

“They are too far away, even for people like us. With all of the monsters and terrain in the way, it would take a week or more to get there, time that could be spent training. I think it is time that we risk returning to Tartarus.”

“You know what?” Jonathan conceded. “You might be right. It has been too long, and so far, there has been no sign of anyone tailing us. It should be safe enough.”

“You should go wake up Hushar then,” Edgar suggested.

Jonathan looked over at the man, his face twisted with rage, even in meditation. “You know what, why don’t you wake him up? You should tell him the good news.”

Edgar gave Jonathan a baleful stare, and crossed his arms.