Distributing rewards…
Three balls of white light floated out in front of Reina and Avery and Evan, and faded like presents unwrapping.
In front of Avery—
Eye of the White Fox (Sky [F])
The eye of the White Fox greatly enhances the wielder's powers of perception, separating true from false. It also greatly enhances the wielder’s powers to alter the perceptions of those around them. This treasure can only be given by a willing White Fox.
She nabbed it and squinted at it. The eye squinted back at her.
“Nice,” said Avery.
Reina got what looked like a green pinky sculpted of dark-green vines, pulsing with earthly energies.
Finger of the World Nymph (Sky [F])
Grants a creative touch to all those who imbibe it, greatly enhancing the wielder’s powers of restoration and creation. This treasure can only be given by a willing World Tree Nymph.
She turned it over, examining it from all angles, then nodded satisfied.
For Evan—
Fang of the Raijuu (Sky [F])
Grants a sharp boost to all elemental attacks for those of the Raijuu Bloodline. This Fang merges with either the body or the weapon spirit. This treasure can only be given by a willing Raijuu.
“Ooh!” gasped Evan.
Evan loved it. Though you could probably have given him a cookie and he would have liked it equally as much. Zane noticed Evan was a liker of many things.
Soon Zane’s arrived too. One big ball of white light dropping out of the sky, Landing at his feet, quickly dispelling…
Two silver strips. Shot through with Titan Rhino bloodline, glowing, aura exuding that signature unyielding character. It looked to be the same material roughly as the Titan Rhino Heartstring—but softer, more sinewy, and longer too…
They looked like smaller versions of the parts that had made that elf’s bowstring. Zane had seen in that vision so long ago…
Achilles Tendon of the Titan Rhinoceros (Sky [F])
Grants the Titan Rhinoceros’s explosive physicality to those who imbibe it. This treasure can only be given by a willing Titan Rhinoceros.
They all took some time then to take in their new treasures.
Zane was trying to figure out how Evan would get that Fang in his mouth. It was half the size of Evan's head; high-tier Lightning crackled around it.
As it turned out though, as Reina figured out pretty fast—you could just close your eyes and reach out to it. And it would absorb, merge into you.
He blinked at her.
This was earth-shattering knowledge.
They sat down and started absorbing.
He closed his eyes and saw in the Astral Plane two stark bright outlines—the strips of tendon hovering before him. He reached out to them. And… simply willed them in.
For a second he was dubious it would really work for him. Then he felt them responding; felt the Bloodline in them lighting up, striking a chord with his own... they started shivering down their lengths.
They glowed brighter for an instant. Then vanished.
His heel—around his calf—started burning.
And Zane felt something new merging into his own tendons.
He sat there cross-legged. Just waited patiently as the pain flared up. It was a pleasant kind of pain, a scalding soreness. The pain of healing, an intense growing pain radiating up his leg. Every sharp hot pinprick was another bit of him being remade. Remodeled at the tiniest of levels…
Level up!
Essence Level 319 -> 320
The tendon came with new Bloodline too. A flood of it.
Bloodline increased!
32 -> 33 drops
And a notification popped up.
First Bloodline Bottleneck has been surpassed. The wielder can now upgrade their body past the Mythic Skill cap.
The Levels—the Bloodline—kept flowing in as more of those tendons merged into him…
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Essence Level 319 -> 328
And his Bloodline shot up too—
Bloodline increased!
33 -> 40 drops
So did the rest of his body. Soaking in all that new strength.
Skill evolved!
Behemoth Muscles [Mythic (E) XV -> Mythic+ (E) X]
Skill evolved!
Indomitable Hide [Mythic (E) XV -> Mythic+ (E) X]
Skill evolved!
Colossal Tendons [Mythic (E) XV > Mythic+ (E) X]
The growing-pains feeling spread down his whole body. Flooding his muscles. His skin. Until he was steaming red. Then it faded, leaving him feeling tender, raw. Like fresh steel, emerging from the forge.
He felt… strong. Like he had been tempered many times over. This body could take, and give, much more than a few hours ago.
He opened his eyes. There was one last notification.
Skill evolved!
Colossal Tendons X [Mythic+ (E) X] -> Divine Colossal Tendons III [Mythic+ (E)]
When it had all finished, he felt no difference between his own tendons and the tendons he had been gifted. The auras were the same.
His body had absorbed that brightness. It was peaking down the backs of his legs. That power had been made his own.
Maximum Godbeast threshold reached! Stage II Godbeast Body achieved.
Reach the Ascendant Stage to imbibe more Godbeast body parts.
Zane stood cautiously. He still felt tingly, tender where the merge had taken place. A burning feeling lingered.
Even at rest, his tendons were dense with Stormfire essence. The most essence-dense parts of his body outside of his heart—lit up with it, scorching even at rest…
He tried testing it with a casual stomp.
He felt his tendons flare white-hot. And erupt.
There was a pop. The sound barrier shattering almost as soon as his foot struck the ground. A blast—a crater punched deep into the frozen earth…
He blinked.
His head was skying near the clouds.
He touched down a few seconds later. Dusted himself off.
Hm.
He looked to the distant mounds of ashes, making small frozen hills. Stomped again—then he was plastered in soot and ice. He wiped himself off, looked back.
It was as though he had teleported a thousand feet. Blasted straight through that hill, left a Zane-sized hole right through the center of it.
He charged again, stomped harder this time. And the whole thing exploded on impact.
He stomped around for a bit, testing his new explosiveness, feeling like a charging bull. It was kind of fun.
***
He nabbed Evan to do a little race, as a test. He did not expect to win. Evan was a good bird. But before this latest upgrade, it would have been silly to even consider it.
He burned his Bloodline. Flared all the Stormfire in his tendon, primed it to explode…
“Ready, set, go!” cried Avery.
It turned out that in a straight-line brute charge, if Zane burned his blood and his essence, he could almost keep up with Evan. Which said quite a bit considering how much weight he was lugging along. Each step he made sounded like a meteor crashing.
It was only close in those bull-charges, though. Evan could still make like a bolt of lightning, switch up directions in a blink. Zoom all around him. Zane had to grind to a halt to make himself turn.
Still—this was a huge improvement. He was quite pleased.
He took out his Chains too for some field-testing. Dragged them along with him as he stomped about. He could rush in, smashing and strangling, force close-combat blitzes. Hound his foe relentlessly.
If he came across a bird now, he was pretty certain he could hit back. He wasn’t sure if he could grab hold of them. But there would be a price to pay for bothering him—that was for sure.
He ambled happily back to his friends.
***
They soon finished taking in their treasures too. For Avery, one of her eyes changed color when she used that White Fox eye’s special powers. It went back to normal right after.
“Neat, right?” she said.
She ended up on the cusp of Nascent after absorbing it. She drank a whole vial of elixir, flopped around for a bit, and ended up getting the breakthrough. She achieved peak-Profound grade.
“Awesome!” said Evan. They fist-bumped.
Reina finished absorbing her treasure too. When she tapped the ground, she could summon all sorts of greenery—whole forests would sprout at a touch. When she tapped Zane, he felt a massive surge of healing at the spot. If she had had this earlier it wouldn't have only held off that Frostbite—with Zane’s powers, they would have overpowered it.
It didn't take long before she managed her Nascent breakthrough too.
He felt the fabric of the realm shivering around her as she sat there cross-legged, sweating a little, fragments of Earth- and Wood-Law swirling around her like autumn leaves. Finishing her breakthrough.
Her aura blew out of her, strong, flush with essence. He could tell it was significant just by how it shone in the Astral Plane.
It turned out to be a Heaven-Grade Nascent Soul.
She let out a relieved breath. Smiled a little, satisfied. He was happy for her.
Zane knew Reina felt she had to try to keep up with him. She had quite high standards for herself; she put lots of pressure on herself. He didn’t think it was necessary, but she brushed him off. She had her own pride about it.
Neither she nor Avery quite had enough energy left to manage their Mid-Grade Concepts. But they all felt strong enough—they’d all made good leaps.
***
They moved on to the last floor.
The mood was cautiously optimistic. Now the Monster that had been meddling with their run was gone. They felt they ought to have enough to take out what confronted them.
They were also looking forward to getting out. It didn’t seem so far off now. They couldn't have been in here longer than a week, but it felt a lot longer than that. Evan was really starting to miss seeing the sun.
Reina was already thinking about their plans afterwards. How she would handle her new Faction—what Zane’s offers might look like. She was in as good a mood as she had been in a while. She leaned into him, as they went along, all relaxed.
The final staircase started off in earthy tones. All stone and hard-packed dirt. But soon it started giving way to something soggier, boglike, all purples and blacks. Hissing acids, smelling of sulfur, started pooling on the ground. The walls had an almost flesh-like consistency, Reina thought.
You have entered: Floor 75
The Wyrm-King Moraxes
Reina blinked at the name.
Soon the tunnel opened up, depositing them in a dank cavern.
The floor itself was surprisingly small—just the cavern, it looked like, if the mini-map was anything to go by.
The ground was cracked and barren, mostly, though that same vile acid still pooled here and there. Clouds of sickly green gasses hissed up from vents littering the walls. Lots of bones littered here and there—skulls of dragons, bears, what looked to be humans.
The most distinctive features were the rows of white bonelike pillars arching over their heads. Curving high, following the curves of the ceiling…
Reina was frowning at all of it. The more she saw, the deeper her frown got. Something didn't seem right about this place to her, she murmured.
Zane was on guard too. He tended to trust her instincts.
Then—
Lair lock!
This floor is a special floor: a solitary confinement floor. It contains a singular Monster.
Once the unquestioned king of the Black Wyrms, greatest of the heirs of the true dragons, having ruled for ten millennia, the Wyrm-King Moraxes decided to try for Ascension.
This proved a fatal mistake.
Moraxes, being a great talent, drew a Heavenly Tribulation of matching magnitude. Moraxes was unable to bear the burden. Its remnant, corrupted by Yin powers, remains here as a False Ascendant. Existing on the boundary between Nascent and Ascendant, living and dead…
Clearance condition:
Slay the False Ascendant:
The Remnant of the Wyrm-King