Julius awoke to an empty void. It was actually kind of familiar to the void he was sent to when he met Jasper for the first time. However, unlike that void, this void seemed much more comfortable.

It felt like the comfort of his own home. As if everything in this space was his and his alone.

The last thing he remembered was burning alive. He laughed loudly at that. It was ironic that after all the attempts to burn himself, all it took was someone else doing it to finish him off. What were the chances?

He took a look at the afterlife. Or what he was assuming was the afterlife. It’s the only thing that really made sense in his mind. The last moments he had were of him fighting for his life, and now suddenly he was here with no idea how or why.

As he looked around, he spotted several glowing orbs of light. They were light stars painted onto the canvas of the void. If he hadn’t just died, he would have been much more appreciative of the view.

Eh, why shouldn’t I enjoy them? Even if I am dead, it would be a shame not to appreciate this moment, he scolded himself.

So he took it all in while trying to accept his circumstances. It kind of hurt his pride that he died in the way he did. He didn’t like to brag about his skills, but in reality, he was very proud of his strength. He truly believed that if he died it would be to a Tier 4 or Tier 5 at the very least.

Dying to a Tier 3’s last-ditch effort felt kinda… lame.

He wanted to scream out in the void to vent his frustrations. He had so much to finish. So much that he wanted to accomplish. We want to explore the world he wanted to explore. And now… he couldn’t.

That was the real shame. He no longer had the opportunity. He already had a second chance, but he doubted a third one would show up out of the blue.

Life was fickle. Life was like a flame, flickering away, never knowing when the last day would be your last. For him, that day had come much sooner than he had been hoping. He had hoped he would have had more time to complete his goals.

Death had come unannounced and taken him away. Now he was off to another life potentially and this time he didn’t think he would be able to keep his memories. He hadn’t really believed in reincarnation before, but now that he knew that magic existed, he wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it was true.

He sighed bitterly. This was just the natural cycle. The cycle of life and death. It was a concept that existed before me and will be here long after I am gone, he thought solemnly to himself.

It was at that moment that something happened. It was like something was reaching out to him. A deep-seated connection rose within him and grasped out into the void. He didn’t know what it was looking for.

But instead of rapping his brain for an answer trying to figure it out, he just sat back and observed.

He eventually noticed that the connection within him reached out to one of the lights in the void. This particular one was crimson red with a swirling vortex of black and white at the center.

The moment his focus turned to this light, it was like someone grabbed him and moved him in front of it. The light wasn’t that big up close, it was probably only the size of his fist. Much smaller than he had been predicting.

He couldn’t help his curiosity and reached out to poke the glowing orb of light with his finger. The moment he touched it he felt his entire mind connect with the contents of the orb. He knew what it was the second it occurred.

It was something he was very familiar with and that had saved his life many times. It was his [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] skill.

He didn’t really understand what was going on. Did that mean all of his skills were represented by the orbs? There were many more lights than he had skills. So that didn’t really make any sense.

However, something else happened when he touched the orb. The connection within him that had reached out to the orb found what it was looking for. It was within the skill and he felt the connection within him grab ahold of it. Then he felt it start to try feeding on it, like a starving beast.

What is going on?

Suddenly, he felt something unlock from inside of him. More accurately, he felt something get unlocked all around him. He finally had a guess where he was.

He believed that this was his soul space.

No wonder why this place felt so familiar and comfortable. It was literally everything that was him. It was the living representation of his soul.

And the unlocking was him getting something he had been trying to get for a long time.

Notice: Detecting resonance…

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Evaluating options…

Previous acquisition of a Concept of Fire detected.

Requirement of Life Concept or Death Concept not met…

Unable to evolve Fire Concept.

Evaluating alternative options…

Notice: Fragment detected.

Notice: Would you like to forcibly consume the Fragment of Phoenix?

Consumption of Fragment in process…

Julius felt his entire soul burn up. It was like setting himself on fire again, but this time instead of pain he felt a flood of euphoria when it happened. It was like he was being washed over in a fire of vitality. And that starving beast had its long awaited meal.

Fragment Consumption successful…

Appraising requirements…

Fire Affinity requirement… satisfied.

Life/Death Affinity… satisfied.

Prior Experience of Death requirement… satisfied.

Prior Experience of Rebirth requirement… satisfied.

Concept requirement… alternative accepted.

Power rushed over him. His soul felt like it was getting hosed down with a torrent of fire and life mana.

Congratulations. You have evolved your Concept of Fire: Blazing Ember into the Concept of Phoenix: Ashen Rebirth.

Julius let out a laugh into the void. What kind of requirements were these?

Not only did someone have to have a fire and life affinity, but they also needed to experience death and rebirth. How unlikely was that? No wonder the Phoenix Concept was so difficult to acquire. Who could say that they have died and also been reborn?

After he finished laughing he let out a sigh. It wasn’t like this Concept would do him much good anyway. Perhaps, if he had it before he got burnt to a crisp, he would have survived that suicide blast, but of course, fate had to give it to him after he died.

Or maybe not… Why would I get a notification after I died? That makes zero sense, if I were dead, then I would just be… dead.

A spark of hope lit up inside of him. It was possible that he wasn’t dead yet. Though, that begged the question of why he was here. Was his body still alive and he was just unconscious? If so then how much time did he have left?

Now that there was a chance that he could still live, he got off of his ass and started to move. The first thing he did was connect to his Concept of Phoenix. If he was going to survive this he was going to need some help from his new Concept.

The instant he connected with his Phoenix Concept, he felt a surge of power unlike any other of his Concepts. It was somehow both violent and calming at the same time. However, it was the quality that took him by surprise.

It made his Concept of Sharpness seem like his old Fire Concept in comparison. Normally that would annoy him, knowing that one of his Concepts could be better, but this time he was excited.

This was exactly what he needed. If he was going to survive this he was going to need a lot of help from his Concept.

He began to envision his Concept of Phoenix empowering him and his soul. It was actually surprisingly easy to do. It was like the Concept already knew where it wanted to go. Immediately he felt something. Something far off in the distance void.

He instinctually knew that this was his body in the real world. The problem was how was he going to get back.

He started to feed his Concept down this line connecting to his body along with [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal]. It was clear that his body was still there, but it was barely hanging onto a thread. He knew that he must not have a lot of mana left, but he was hoping his new Concept would help with that.

And help it did. However, it still wasn’t enough. He needed something more, something more powerful.

It was at that moment that Julius felt the connection between him and Drasil once again explode. A soft verdant light dangling among the stars came forth and gave Julius the energy he extra needed. The line thickened as more of Drasil’s essence was fed into it.

However, that wasn’t all Julius had in the tank. He didn’t even realize what he was doing until he looked back on it later. He started to feed his life essence into the skill, temporarily empowering it to heights beyond normal. Alongside his new Concept and Drasil’s assistance he was able to supercharge his body with the skill.

He gave it his all. He used his Inexorble Will to push himself far beyond his limits. He had a chance and he would be damned if he was going to waste it. His soul space was literally shaking from how hard he was pushing it.

Finally, he was able to push that fat boulder across the line, and all of a sudden the dark void with the smattering of stars was replaced with blinding white light.

***

Pain. That was the first thing he felt when he woke up. Just pain.

It shouldn’t be new or surprising at this point, but still, he felt like this was becoming too much of a normal occurrence.

He took stock of his condition real quick. He couldn’t see, the flames must have burned out his eyes. However, he still had [Spatial Perception] to his immense relief. Using that skill he inspected his body.

What he found wasn’t good. It left him speechless for a good while, the shock distracting him from the pain. He didn’t know how he was still alive.

He didn’t have any limbs left. He barely had a chest and head either. He was basically a burnt chicken nugget underneath a pile of ash.

Fortunately, he was still alive so that was all that mattered and so he let out a sigh of relief that came out as a wheezing cough. His healing skill was still in overdrive, but the soul boost was no longer there. That meant he was healing pretty slowly. He barely had any mana left, whatever he naturally regenerated was immediately sent to his body.

Thank god for his new Concept. The Phoenix Concept helped lower the cost of mana and made the skill much more effective as well. That was probably the only reason why he was still alive.

However, there was nothing else he could do at the moment. He could only lay there, buried underneath a mound of ash slowly healing himself. Yet, while the pain was still present the immense relief he felt at the moment was more prominent. He wanted to laugh, but his vocal cords were still a mess.

He hadn’t died, which meant he would still have a chance to accomplish his goals. His time in this world wasn’t done yet.

His musings were distracted by a notification.

[Sage of Savagery lvl 4 -> lvl 6]

[Soul Tempering lvl 1 -> lvl 5]

[Empowerment of Will lvl 16 -> lvl 17]

[Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal lvl 19 -> lvl 20]

Oh, that’s just wonderful. Of course, I get rewarded for almost dying again, he sarcastically joked to himself

This world was a cruel one. It rewarded pain, suffering, death, and overcoming one’s limits. It incentivized conflict and was barbaric at its core.

However, with that being said, Julius couldn’t help but love it.