The greatest gift I ever gave myself is becoming my own master.
-Wei An Wei, The Realmbreaker
II-18
Scion of the Celestial Flame (II)
An arrow the size of a tower burst out through a wall of storms, surging forth to reduce the young master to a smear. But Wei had sensed its coming via Dilation Echo—responded in kind. Instead of fleeing away from the attack, he Essenceshifted into a bolt of lightning down arrow’s shaft.
Ten meters.
Thirty. Forty… eighty.
Eighty meters of arrow zipped by Wei and pierced through the turning hurricanes that composed the bulk of this Instance’s dimensionality. The sheer force behind the shot disrupted the wind currents, punched holes in the storm walls, revealing distant mountains kilometers beyond. But even the distance of kilometers meant nothing to the arrow. It sailed out in a blink and shattered the top of a distant edifice, sending stones sailing into the stratosphere.
But through it all, Wei drew closer—closed in on his previously unseen adversary. Through a closing gap left in the tumbling stratocumulus, he saw the visage of his foe—his Omniscience finally granting him a picture of what he faced.
Titanwing Stormbow Lv. 145
The Titanwing Stormbow lived up to the name, resembling an enormous figure clad in bronze armor, a falcon-like helmet, with two hawk-like wings jutting out from their back. Upon further observation, Wei noted that its wings were the source of its arrows as it plucked another bit of pinion free. Sparks danced along the tips of its arrows, and its bow was the color of a blue sky with a string made from a bolt of lightning.
All in all, it was about three hundred meters of Remnant Avatar that could create hurricanes and devastate mountains.
Just your average Marquis-Tier adversary.
What made the Titanwing even more intimidating was how it flowed weightlessly through the air, moving like a feather on the wind despite its immense mass. Unfortunately for it, Wei was far faster than a feather—and far cleverer as well.
“You see him?” his Shell asked.
Yes, Wei replied.
“Then execute the plan.”
The young master did just that. Once more, he Essenceshifted, this time turning to wind. Joining the currents, he merged with the storm walls instead of fighting them, jumping from hurricane to hurricane as he crossed the eight hundred meters of distance above where the Titanwing was aiming its next shot.
Three more Dilation Echoes manifested, but no of them came anywhere near Wei. Instead, they tore through places he used to be—and these arrows exploded into eruptions of electrical energy. Such an attack was anticipated—he felt the Essence within their shafts more than a few times.
An indignant squawk came from the Titanwing as it loaded more shots—it didn’t know where Wei was. But it wouldn’t need to wait long. After it launched another enormous arrow, the young master closed in, was only three hundred meters away. With each flap of the Avatar’s wings, the hurricanes consuming the Instance slowed, the stormwalls thinned.
It was searching for Wei, unable to differentiate him from its Essence, from the hurricanes it created.
And this proved to be its fatal mistake. As the rolling storms thinned and the aerokinetic protections guarding the Titanwing weakened, Wei turned into a bolt of lightning once more, a shot out for his adversary.
Two hundred meters. The Titanwing was faster than Wei—but not by that much. Not when it was surprised. Not quick enough to nock another arrow. Instead, the young master became an arrow unto himself, accelerating across the distance in the span of a second, before Essenceshifting into a drill-shaped construct made of earth.
Metal screamed as Wei impacted—and punctured the titanic avatar’s bronze armor. The Titanwing reeled back, squawking in outrage. But Wei already tasted blood and flesh, was bathed in his adversary’s wounds. The Titanwing bucked and struggled, but Wei didn't wrestle it. Instead, he focused his Essence and spun his body using his telekinetic tethers. He burrowed deeper into the Titanwing. Blood gushing out from the avatar’s neck, and Wei vanished into its body with an eruption of gore.
And there, tearing through its squirming organs, the young master dispelled his Essenceshift and released a Lance of Calamity up toward the Remnant Avatar's head.
The entire top half of the Titanwing's stormbow blew apart. Sinew and flesh petaled out in every direction. The deed complete, Wei felt gravity clutch him as he stood upon a pedestal, formed by organs and the lingering curve of a solitary remaining rib. Before he could fall, he sudden felt the Instance quiver, smear, and conclude.
Essence swirled around the young master’s Eidolon, as Wei released an exhalation of triumph.
Instance completed!
Integrating [Titanwing Stormbow] with Current Class Specialization…
Titanic Stormspear (Legendary) — Specialization focusing on merging the power of a storm within a spear of unrivaled proportions. Allows the user to unleash massive storms while wielding a spear the size of mountains.
>Aspect Advancements Per Level: +12 Strength, +12 Speed, +8 Mind, +10 Awareness, +10 Constitution, +8 Will, +5 Free Points
>Abyssal Invocation (Alteration): [Stormspear] — Your spear is a falling storm, an instrument that might pierce through mountains. You lose access to the [Force,] [Destruction,] [Water,] and [Earth] Essences and gain [Greater Lightning] and [Greater Wind] Essences. The amount of force you can exert on the world is based on your Aspect of Strength. The scope of your influence is determined by your Perception. Your control over the channeled disasters is determined by Will.
>Skill Shard: [Stormtitan] — You grow to be three hundred meters in size and your body becomes that of a rolling storm. You can also travel to any point of darkness within your (Perception).
>Eidolon Form Evolution: [Titan’s Stormspear]
Another considerable evolution. The young master witnessed the transformation that would come to his spear, it was a staggering one at that. For one, it would be over five hundred meters long—something he couldn’t easily summon in an enclosed space, and storms would spill out from it, consuming an entire area.
However, it came at a cost as well. He would lose most of his existing Essences. The existing Essences that allowed him to prevail against the Titanwing itself.
“We can do better,” his Shell said. “You used your mind. You applied your learnings. Let everything fold and flow. Defense to offense. One technique to another. But you still have more left.”
“Yes,” Wei said.
He rejected the evolution. He would come back if there was nothing better, but this was far from done. The Titanwing Instance was the last of his Epic Tier Instances. Two hours. That’s how long he spent. Two hours clearing every single Instance aside from the two Legendary portals he had left.
Most were disappointments. Only the Titanwing was worth nothing after the Shadeshaper, and the young master held out hope that the final to challenges would be just that—challenges. But so far, nothing was worthy of taking as a specialization. If he was not strained, then would his enemies? Would a greater rival?
No.
Further. Greater. More.The Instance collapsed. And Wei found himself outside the portal. On, then, to the last two.
Time to see if I can get his specialization to finally evolve to a Mythical rarity.
***
At the base of the Tower of Possibility, John Doe frowned. Scenes from each of Wei’s battles played upon the golden screen, and the leaders of the local Trespassers watched and studied the young master’s progress.
The boy's performances were remarkable. His focus was inhuman, even for a cultivator. The Fighter had reviewed Wei's engagement when engaging against his father—the Trespasser William Yu. William Yu was no easy opponent. John Doe had sparred with him numerous times and could attest to that.
Even with a crippled Marquis-Tier Class, Wei's odds of success should have been low.
Yet, the boy prevailed.
Somehow, he saw through his father's tactics, enduring the onslaught, found an opening, and struck. Yes, a good deal of that was thanks to the Keter System. But even so, even if William Yu, on some level, intended to throw the fight, it shouldn't have ended the way it did.
John Doe decided it was a bit of a fluke. Too many personal factors on all sides, with some obvious weaknesses revealed in Wei as well. A vulnerable psyche. An inability to think ahead—or take in the larger picture. More room for complexity in his fighting style.
Then came the Shadeshaper fight, and Wei's flaws only grew plainer.
The boy was skilled, as befitting his upbringing. Even when weary or desperate, his technique remained crisp—or close to as crisp as possible. However, he lacked broad-scope thinking, proper strategy. That, and his attacks were sporadic; an overwhelming wave of simple strikes that led nowhere against a more esoteric or seasoned adversary.
John Doe expected the boy to lose then, or to defy the restrictions placed upon him and bring out his System Skills.
Yet neither of those things happened. As Wei's Scorn ran low, he pulled out a final surprise, creating an actually intelligent strategy in the throes of desperation.
He ambushed the Shadeshaper using his own bolt of lightning as a disguise. A single opening, just like the one with William Yu, allowed Wei to secure his victory.
John Doe was beginning to see a pattern: an experience overcome by impossible focus and an iron will.
At least, while the will was iron. Wei hadn’t fractured mentally after facing the Shadeshaper. Probably because he wasn’t drawing on his Willpower for his Skills this time.
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Then the Titanwing changed the Fighter’s assessment altogether. Once more, he expected the Bulwark of Storms created by the Remnant Avatar to be too hard for the young master to navigate, the power of the avatar to be too great.
But it wasn't so. Wei adapted immediately, flowing with the winds, dodging through the arrows and using them to pinpoint the Titanwing rather than struggling to find his bearings or attempt a breakthrough against the hurricanes. Wei had come nowhere near expending all his Scorn that time as well.
Instead, he plotted, he schemed, he forced the Titanwing to react—and then he struck.
He created that one moment, that one opening, and attacks folded, one after another, one into another. Fluid. Hard to predict. Efficiency in motion.
In the end, it was Wei who was too much for the Remnant Avatar to contend with, despite its superior aspects.
"I suppose we can say one good thing came from William Yu," Nils said, chuckling. "The boy is dynamite. I think we're going to have the easiest time in the world teaching him. He learns quickly."
"He learns damn quick," Bishop added. "And despite that stick up his ass, he's more than willing to listen. I told you he was going to get far."
John Doe simply continued staring at the screen, his frown deepening.
The Instance ended, and a bolt of lightning surged above them, darting toward one of the few remaining portals.
“He didn’t accept that evolution either,” Moonscar muttered.
"What's up next?" John Bishop asked.
John Doe looked upon the base, nodded. "The Graviton Brawler."
Bishop winced slightly. "Yeah, he might have some trouble with that, but I think he gets past it. One or two tries at the most."
John Doe shook his head. “It will be an overwhelming foe. His progress will be halted here. He has shown growth. Progress. More than almost anyone else I’ve seen, but his skill has limits. The Brawler is more than he can face. He will need to fight a perfect fight to win. One blow. One good hit. That is all the Brawler needs. And it will not let him escape. Not easily."
Bishop paused and regarded John Doe with a sneer. "How much do you want to bet on that?"
John Doe considered it and then shook his head. "I do not wish to bet on it. I do not wish to bet against him. If nothing else... The boy is surprising."
Bishop snorted. “Pussy.”
***
As Wei entered his penultimate Instance, he expected anything and everything. Disasters to sweep over him. A sudden ambush. The sky to fall. Even his skin to peel off his body like with the Ulton Skinjumper.
Instead, all was calm. All was quiet.
The Instance was set against a backdrop of serene blackness. Asteroids drifted on the far horizon, and a single dim star bathed everything in a fleeting radiance. And the ground he stood one was a massive continent made from pock-marked stone, shaped to a curving bowl.
There, at the heart of this arena, hovering slightly above the ground, was a two-meter-tall figure. Its body was a composing of slab-like rocks colored a dull gray. It had four arms and massive pillar-like legs, but its feet were stubs connected by tethers of force—and a new form of Essence Wei knew as gravity.
What surprised Wei most was the singularity bobbing where its head should have been: A swirling mass of blackness, with an orbit of small stones.
A second surprise followed as the remnant Avatar held a fist high in something of a salute to Wei instead of attacking immediately.
Graviton Brawler Lv. 160
Amused by his adversary's display of chivalry, the young master planted his Eidolon and offered his own salute. “Finally. Some courtesy. I hope you will instruct me well. I will strive to do the same.”
His foe's head rippled, and Wei felt a crushing pull of force wash over him. He tried to stand his ground, but even that was a strain.
Wei blinked rapidly. His Shell murmured. “Beware. This one is far strong—”
And then the Graviton Brawler exploded across the distance. Two hundred meters. Two hundred meters was the separation between it and Wei. A Dilation Echo came. Wei saw it.
It just didn't matter.
The Graviton Brawler was that much faster than him, and that much stronger.
A fist passed through the young master, punching clean through his chest, and doing no damage—for Wei had already turned into air.
Just because it was faster didn’t mean Wei was out of tricks.
But even so, he couldn't escape the pull of its gravity. A field spread out from the Brawler, and the young master was wrenched inward, closer to the brawler. Wei didn’t bother fighting it. Instead, he flowed with his enemy's force before turning into a bolt of lightning—
Only to be surprised as the Brawler caught his bolt. And then squeezed. Wei’s Essenceshift collapsed as he was literally pulled out from the form. The young master found his Broken Crescent clenched by the brawler, their digits growing tighter, gravity building with intensity. Wei’s bones cracked first. Then his Eidolon began to fracture.
A sudden spike of inexorable force pulled Wei forward. A fist blasted forth to greet Wei while the Brawler directed another palm upward to shatter his Eidolon. Wei dismissed his spear, and then intercepted the punch with an elbow.
It was the proper idea—to counter force with force. But he lacked the Strength and Constitution for such an attempt.
The Brawler’s punch shattered Wei’s left elbow like a splintering toothpick. Wei screamed—it felt like the weight of a collapsed star was behind the strike. The armor on his left arm erupted in a blast of fiery destruction against the Graviton Brawler's shell.
And did nothing. It stomped forward. Two more fists snapped forth. And Wei angled his body.
The world vanished. For a second, there was blackness, then sensation suddenly returned to him as he skipped across the surface of the arena, bouncing and twisting as he found parts of his chest piece buried into his torso. Slowing himself with a blast of wind, Wei wheezed as he staggered, struggling not to collapse, trying to get his bearings.
1.5 kilometers.
That’s how far the Brawler sent him sprawling with one good hit.
Source: [142/600] Lumens
No one had ever hit Wei that hard. Not even Harlon Seever.
Pain and numbness warred inside Wei, but he rolled his neck and his focus narrowed. This was what he wanted. The Instances were finally delivering.
A challenge.
A proper fight.
A worthy evolution.
The young master's elbow hung limply by his side, dangling on sinew and blood. Source hissed out from his many wounds. But he was alive. And the battle-thrill was upon him.
“We cannot make another mistake,” his Shell growled. “One more. One more blow. And you fall.”
I won’t.
Wei took a step forward.
And so did the Brawler. But with its step came an explosion of gravity—a surge of force so great that the horizon behind it was cleaved in half from leagues and more. And suddenly, it was ten meters from Wei, fists reared back, a tidal wave of force coming down on him, and a crushing gravity well drawing him toward the Brawler a riptide.
He was going nowhere without the Graviton Brawler's permission, and it moved through the well freely, quickly, his fated death approaching with its fists.
"Do not turn," his Shell growled. "Do not react. Face and overcome. Adapt and break through."
Wei gritted his teeth and Essenceshifted once more.
He turned into water, using his telekinesis to pull himself along the Brawler’s arms. The monster wanted him close? Fine. He would get close. He spilled into the Graviton Brawler's form, filling the uneven gaps that made up its body, and suddenly the crushing gravity diminished. A meter within its reach, it was like the gravity field they predicted vanished altogether.
This explained how they could move so easily. The field was projected outward from the Brawler. Even so, it was still impossibly strong.
If it touched Wei only once... If it struck him only once...
It won’t, Wei snarled to himself.
He reformed behind its back, his first attack a feint. He knew it was faster than him. Expected the spinning fist. Wei turned back to water again—let the blow split him down the middle as he flowed along its arm, materializing just under its exposed armpit. He saw a swirl of Essence within—stole the moment; drove the point of his weapon up, splitting clean through the gap. He created a Lance of Calamity right there—but Essenceshifted into water once more as he poured across its body—barely avoiding a chopping hand that would have seen to his decapitation.
The Lance exploded. Chunks flew out from the Brawler. A grumble of force crashed down on the arena, and fissures spread across the continent.
Suddenly, the gravity well collapsed inward. It was like a mountain of force coming down right again against Wei’s body. Once more, he was torn out from his Essenceshifted form, but he clung close to the Brawler, sliding along its back, between its legs, turning into water again and sinking into its cracks.
He became a gnat within its armor, and rather than being able to brawl him properly, it wasted time plucking at him using its power of gravity. But Wei never stayed in one place, and never acted passive. Constant teased approaches on the Brawler’s open wound, and it shifted to violent twists, its overwhelming offense repressed by a necessity for defense.
"Good," Wei’s Shell encouraged. “It wishes to fight you in the pocket. It wishes to control your distance, so take that choice away from it. Be close. Be closer than it can even attack.”
A sudden burst of force rippled out from the Graviton Brawler head, and Wei tumbled out from his body but spread himself into a blanket of wind to reduce how far he was thrown. Ultimately, it didn’t matter as the Brawler came rushing forth, fists raised to deliver a single, solid punch.
One that it would never manage.
Wei attacked first: unleashing two strikes that hid once more. First came a bolt of lightning from the tip of his spear. Next, he swiped, and called an eruption of pointed stones to rise below the Brawler’s lower left arm—trying to protect its wound. The bolt was caught. The stones were shattered. The Brawler was storming closer. But it didn’t predict the needle-thin jet of water shooting out from the destroyed rocks, slipping under the now exposed armpit and stabbing in like a lashing snake.
The attack tore into the Brawler’s Essence core. The Brawler spasmed and instead of unleashing a city-breaking straight, threw a sloppy haymaker that Wei rolled under. But still he didn’t attack. Instead, he turned to wind, passed through his foe, and as he reached the other side, he bounced his spear against the ground, redirected it with a burst of wind, and punched into the Brawler’s Essence for core for a third time.
And then, Wei channeled the full power of his Essences.
Lightning, stone, water, and wind burst out from the Brawler’s body, blowing apart its limbs and shattering its material shell. The Graviton Brawler toppled before Wei, and the young master stood over his felled foe, breathing heavily. His left arm useless, but he lost one limb and paid his foe back six times over.
“Well fought. Well fought indeed.” Wei grimaced.
“You should have never let it hit you,” his Shell said. No other encouragement came. And none was deserved.
Perfection was not a reward, but a natural state. This was the way Wei needed to be.
Instance completed!
Integrating [Graviton Brawler] with Current Class Specialization…
Graviton Spearman (Mythical) — Specialization unlocked by sealing the power of a black hole into unrivaled martial prowess. Grants the user to manipulate gravity itself in conjunction with attacks from their spear.
>Aspect Advancements Per Level: +20 Strength, +18 Speed, +5 Mind, +20 Awareness, +20 Constitution, +5 Will, +10 Free Points
>Abyssal Invocation (Evolution): [Heart of Singularity] — You are force and mass itself. The world moves when you allow it. The world will break if you desire it. You gain access to the [Greater Force,] [Destruction,] [Lightning,] [Water,] [Earth,] [Wind], and [Greater Gravity] Essences and can direct them as if strikes from your body. The amount of force you can exert on the world is based on your Aspect of Strength. The scope of your influence is determined by your Perception. Your control over the channeled disasters is determined by Will. Become the Heart of Singularity and still the universe.
>Skill Shards: [Mind Over Mass] — You can expend your Scorn to increase your mass and density.
[Gravity Well] - You project a well of gravity out from your body. Allows you to manipulate forces and masses of all entities based on your (Strength) with the field’s distance governed by [Perception].
>Eidolon Form Evolution: [Shard of the Abyss]
The Graviton Brawler’s head vanished. And in its place, Wei saw a visage of a new Eidolon. It looked like a slab of pale stone holding a singularity within its core. The pressure it emanated was incredible. Inexorable. Absurd.
But there was just one thing about it.
“We’re not done,” his Shell said. “You can do more. Do better. Finish this. And then decide.”
Wei rejected the specialization evolution once more.