| Attempting to increase rank to C
| Requirement met: Knowledge of a Law
| Rank Up (C) default cost: 10,000,000 AP
| Stat beyond D+ found!
| D++ stat found. Rank Up price x2 | 10,000,000 → 20,000,000 AP
| Rising Star Racial Title discount: 10% | -2,000,000 AP
| Purchased: Rank Up (C) | -18,000,000 AP
| Remaining AP: 20,901,372
Shen barely took notice of the notifications. He was in a transcendental state. It was similar to what he had experienced when his Path became a True Path but expanded into infinity.
He would already have gone through it just by breaking through to the Ethereal Harmonization realm. However, doing so while ranking up and being simultaneously influenced by the new Laws in his Path, qi, and mana expanded his mind and understanding to a whole new level.
Everything he was became a perfect whole, just like his Path's Image. Every single piece of him fit every other. There was no gap to be filled, no mismatched placement, only a seamless existence of synchronized body, soul, mind, Laws, past, present, future, emotions, thoughts, goals, hopes, expectations, perspective, qi, and even mana.
He had been told qi and mana weren't compatible. It was a lie. If that were the case, he wouldn't be able to rank up while breaking through, at least not without dying. Yet, here he was. Making them interact with the same target without getting in the way of each other was probably only costly or challenging enough not to be worth it.
To make matters worse, Shen suddenly felt the System changing his mind to become incapable of delving into mana's secrets. If it continued, he would never understand that energy more than a random commoner.
His True Boundlessness refused to be limited like that.
Shen felt he couldn't stop the Guardian System, but he had an idea. He would use his cultivation breakthrough to resist it.
Reality was perfecting him to match his Idealized Path. It was just like his Path Idealization but with Laws instead of Concepts. It was much faster, too. So, Shen firmly told himself that being able to study and understand mana was an intrinsic part of himself. It wasn't a lie; he had just never consciously thought about it. If he couldn't comprehend mana well, he would have a much harder time battling mana-wielding enemies.
His Path was malleable enough during the breakthrough that it broadened to take the new focus. Shen was tempted to make himself able to also use mana, but just thinking of it made him feel an inexplicable sense of danger. He had never been so close to the Laws of Reality and decided to heed their warning.
His plan worked. The system was stopped from meddling with his mind, and the changes it had already done were erased as if they never were.
The Guardian System couldn't accept it. It pushed ridiculous amounts of mana into him, and he felt strong willpower pressing—
He was blinded as the world flashed with golden light.
The sound of thunder broke all he had ever been.
Space itself shattered into shards of chaotic glass.
Shen's existence was unmade as collateral damage of the clash between Reality and the Guardian System...
...and he survived for the same reason his soul hadn't been invaded during the tribulation. Until he failed or he completed the tribulation, Reality itself would guarantee his continued existence and impede any interference.
He became nothing for a split instant of confusion, then was back to being body and soul at the exact moment when Reality erased the change the Guardian System had made in his mind. He had traveled back in time. The Guardian System did not try to fight Reality this time around.
Time had rewound, yet outer space was still a fading golden color instead of black. It reminded Shen of the golden lightning that had warned Liya not to interfere.
He was glad she hadn't tested her mirth against the Heavens.
Shen hadn't expected the system to clash with Reality and wondered if there would be consequences. However, in his transcendental state, there was no fear. There was only the surety of being true to his Idealized Path.
Not understanding mana would limit his fighting ability. It would hinder his Path. He would rather die than have it happen.
If the Guardian System or the System Administrator killed him for it later, so be it.
| D++ strength found
| Strength automatically upgraded to C-
| Next Strength Up cost multiplied by 2X
| Strength Up (C) cost: 9,216,000 → 18,432,000 AP
Similar notifications came for agility and resistance.
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Shen couldn't use the system to improve his stats anymore, but he would have to pay the price to rank up each that he wanted to improve. If he didn't, the system would simply stop him.
Achievement: Pathfinder
Walking an unconventional Path.
Reward: +1 favor
Shen was sure the reason for that achievement was that he had turned Boundlessness into True Boundlessness.
He felt the reward was proper. He wasn't treading the beaten path and might need something to counterweigh a potential mistake. The favor would let him purchase it.
He wondered if that was a second-tier favor that could've pushed his max to 2 if he had had a favor in his wallet. He doubted it.
Achievement: Precocious
Reached C-rank within 1 Standard year.
Reward: Free Learning Ability Upgrade (C), only usable at C-rank or higher
That reward also made sense. While the Alliance seemed to care almost exclusively about B-ranks and higher, whoever could quickly reach C-rank was more likely to get to B-rank. Improving their minds would make it even more probable, greatly benefitting the Alliance. It was a wise investment.
It was also perfect for what he was going through—with was certainly no coincidence.
Shen said, "Use free learning ability upgrade to C-tier."
| Reward applied: Learning Ability Upgrade (C)
His mind, which was already expanding, also became better.
Nirvana wasn't enough to define Shen's state any longer.
He transcended, then went beyond.
----------------------------------------
Shen was floating, naked, a few feet above the tranquil sea.
The Guardian System had finished ranking him up quickly enough. It sent him notifications that he didn't waste focus reading. He kept his full attention on what he was experimenting in his breakthrough, which lasted much longer.
And, at last, it ended.
He opened his eyes and saw the world in a different way.
It wasn't a new perspective. For instance, Liya had ensured he could consider the energy, frequency, and magnetism in everything to more easily destroy them. Now, however, he actually saw the underlying qi, mana, and Laws of all creation.
He could identify each set of Laws by its texture. Each felt different from the others, though it wasn't easy to pinpoint exactly how. He recognized Spear, Lightning, Wind, Water, and True Boundlessnes, while Darkness was harder to locate. Within those sets of Laws, he could also spot the specific Laws of his that belonged to his Path.
Almost everything was made of all sets of Laws in different quantities. There was Lightning in the ocean and Spear in the air. The individual Laws he had in his Path, except True Boundlessness, were a little rarer except where there was an abundance of the physical representation of that element. In other words, Stream was more easily found where there was water, Gentle Breeze where there was Wind, and so on.
And more than seeing his Laws, Shen was them.
Shen could feel any Gentle Breeze and everything it touched in the air for almost a dozen miles around him. The same held true for all his Laws. He knew instinctively that this was a Guardian's limit. They didn't become one with their Laws and so could only feel them.
An Ethereal Harmonization cultivator, however, could control them.
Shen wasn't floating with qi but Gentle Breeze. Pure, unadulterated Wind in the form of the Law he had touched.
That's how Yinhu Lanfen had controlled Lightning. If he was Gentle Breeze, how could he not control it like himself? He also marveled at the ability she had displayed. He couldn't turn himself into any of his elements. Ironically, her closeness to Lightning had been her downfall.
It served as a reminder of the dangers of overconfidence. He had gained a lot of power, but Liya had taught him using any tool without understanding it was a recipe for disaster. He would make sure he understood his new capabilities and weaknesses before daring to use that power in new ways in lethal combat.
The spatial ring and spear the drow had given him were long gone, lost in the bottom of the ocean, beyond his senses' reach. He lowered himself to the ocean and made it Stream him deep into it.
Shen no longer needed to breathe. He had gone beyond many of his previous biological limitations. Likewise, his mind had merged with his soul. It made him more vulnerable to soul attacks but impervious to brain damage, and the body was arguably easier to hurt than the soul.
He Streamed ahead as he sought his weapon. The Law of Stream estimated trails for him to follow based on everything he now knew about the movement of Water. He flowed through the ocean as if he had been born to travel it.
There were lifeforms anywhere in the deep. From fish to crabs and all sorts of oceanic lifeforms. Some were aggressive and attacked him. Shen fended them off with his Laws.
Such attacks were nowhere as strong as he could make them with qi but considerably more potent than any of D-rank attack. They carried the power of Laws within them. It gave them depth, potency, and raw power.
Most creatures, big and small, died with a twist of his will. Underwater, he could only use Stream to attack them. While their souls prevented him from controlling the Laws inside them, their innate defense didn't stop the physical attacks or diminish their power. A single molecule of Water powered by the Law of Stream had more weight and damage potential on contact than Shen's strongest D+ attack had ever had.
He didn't need to use any technique. Just pushing Stream against the fish did it. They were crushed into bits with ease.
Shen had no proof but guessed fighting against Laws would involve controlling the space around him with his own Laws. It just made sense. It also made picking the right battlefield critical. A Fire cultivator would be much stronger inside a volcano, while his Stream would be weaker or nonexistent.
Yet, Shen had a way not to have to worry about that.
Shen deployed his aura. The range was only half as much as the natural reach of his Laws, mere six miles. Inside that range, however, he could make any of his Laws stronger, just as he had been able to do to his Concepts. Even if there was little to no Killing Weapon in the Water around him, he could force Killing Weapon to metaphysically exist there and use it however he saw fit.
It was very convenient. Shen guessed that adding qi or mana to a Law attack or ability would make it immune to such manipulations, even with his aura, which explained why C-ranks usually didn't waste time pursuing auras. Guardians, especially, could use mana to create the physical representation of their Laws around them. Cultivators couldn't create matter out of nowhere, at least not at his level, and would be more limited to the Laws inside themselves. It also explained why they usually developed their close-range combat capabilities more than others.
Either way, Shen was glad about not having to over-worry about field advantage.
It took him only minutes to find his spear resting on a coral that should've been destroyed by the pressure in the depths. He, himself, was unhurt only thanks to his C- resistance. So did his spear.
Shen grabbed the weapon and felt his surroundings for anything special. He found nothing but the C-tier coral. Yet, he knew nothing about crafting and had no idea if it was a good material. Even if it were, could he even take it? That planet belonged to the infinity-edgers, didn't it?
The spear felt like part of him, more than ever before. With it in his hands, he felt powerful enough to face the Alliance and win. It showed how dangerous it would be to head into battle without understanding his new self.
It took him longer to locate the ring, but he found it eventually. Such a fetch quest might not look like much, but it gave him a glimpse at the possibilities his Laws created. He had found a ring in the ocean!
He stored the spear in the ring, then Streamed back to the surface, where he found Liya waiting for him.