“What is that?” Aurie muttered to herself as she observed the strands in Izroth’s grasp.
Needless to say, Aurie was shocked by Izroth’s brazen behavior. Destroying the tombstone of a peak legendary realm figure, even if they were weakened, was a dangerous move. However, it seemed that he was not doing so out of spite or hatred towards the Death Emperor. Instead, Izroth appeared to be in a state of even deeper concentration as compared to before—as if he had a sudden realization and immediately acted upon it.
Nevertheless, it was a risky thing to do with the Death Emperor’s temper. But, to Aurie’s surprise, the Death Emperor contained his boiling rage. However, she understood that the Death Emperor had no other choice but to trust Izroth.
The tombstone had already been damaged beyond repair and was no longer capable of absorbing or sustaining any death energy. This was made clear by the loss of its deep black coloring.
Of course, what caught Aurie’s attention the most was the strands Izroth pulled from the tombstone. For some reason, those strands felt incredibly familiar to her, yet also very distant. It was a strange feeling that she could not instantly comprehend; however, she could tell that those strands were not simple with a glance.
“Brat, if I go down, don’t think I won’t take you and that woman with me.” The Death Emperor scowled solemnly.
“If you keep talking, my mistakes will be on your hands. Oh, and you’ll die, of course.” Izroth replied without hesitation as he maintained his concentration.
“You-!” The Death Emperor wanted nothing more than to kill Izroth a hundred times over. The tombstone was not just some random magic item, but a great treasure formed naturally from the world itself! This was the type of object that was coveted by all beings in the legendary realm, and the painstaking effort it took the Death Emperor to secure it was monumental. Not to mention, the price he paid for doing so was immense.
Restoring an item like the tombstone was already challenging enough in a damaged state. But, not even the Death Emperor was confident in repairing it after it was utterly ruined. Now, it was unexpectedly destroyed by some arrogant human!
However, there was no choice for the Death Emperor but to comply with Izroth’s demands. It was too late to regret, and all he could do was hope that Izroth knew what he was doing.
Meanwhile, Izroth continued to pull the strands out from the tombstone. There were dozens of them; however, that was only how it appeared on the surface. No matter how closely one looked, they would never notice it with their n.a.k.e.d eye. But, with his Energy Vision Sense, Izroth could just barely make out thousands upon thousands of nearly microscopic threads of flames. He was not holding a mere dozen strands, but rather several thousand!
‘At times, the answers we seek stand both before us and under the surface of where our gaze wanders. Strands are truly the beginning of all sources of energy, but I’ve been approaching it in the wrong way—everyone has been approaching them the wrong way.’
Back during his fight against Dolos outside the Minor Realm, Izroth improved his Enhanced Instantaneous Movement skill. As a result, he ended up discovering the existence of Primed abilities. But, Izroth realized that Primed skills were not the end of a skill’s evolution process—rather, it was the true starting line!
After understanding this aspect, Izroth’s thoughts immediately transitioned to one place in particular—the Divine Realm.
Earlier, Izroth was curious as to if it was possible to reach the Divine Realm in RML or if it was even meant for players ever to cross that line into divinity. If it were possible for players to reach that level, would something like S-ranked skills or Primed abilities be enough to compete? The answer was no. So then, what would they use to combat monsters or other entities in the Divine Realm? What separated Plane Ascenders or individuals in the legendary realm from those in the divine realm? One word—power. But, where did this power come from, and why was there such a huge gap?
For this answer, Izroth received an important hint from Aurie when she spoke of the requirements needed to reach the divine realm. To be specific, the second and third requirements of comprehending a Law of the World to a certain level and completing the development of one’s Source.
At the time, Aurie brushed over them due to the fact that it was practically impossible to become a Plane Ascender without having accomplished those two feats; however, these two things sparked Izroth’s sudden revelation. What did Domains and Sources both have in common at their core? They were a gift from the world itself and naturally manifested in an individual.
Even the infant Source Izroth obtained in the Chaotic Dogma Realm was a product of the world. But, strangely enough, magic and skills were not natural products of the world!
The strands used in magic and skills were creations of the beings below the firmament. However, where did they come from?
To answer this question, Izroth turned to his experience in the Seven Realms.
Heavenly Laws—this was the name of the cultivation techniques used in the Seven Realms, and they were separated into different categories depending on their power. But, below Heavenly Laws were techniques known as Spiritual Arts.
Spiritual Arts were used by all cultivators under a certain realm who had yet to step onto the true path of a cultivator. In simple terms, Spiritual Arts were an extremely weakened imitation of a Heavenly Law—a poor copy of the authentic cultivation technique.
If Izroth were to apply this same logic to the skills in RML, then what players and even NPCs under the divine realm used were merely poor imitations of the real thing. This was what truly separated those in the Divine Realm from those under the firmament!
Upon this realization, Izroth received a wave of alerts from the system.
〈System Alert: You have discovered a truth from the «Book of Beginnings». Your world fame has increased by +100.〉
〈System Alert: You feel a tremendous power flow throughout your body!〉
〈System Alert: Your current level is too low! The skill «???» has been locked!〉
〈System Alert: Your current mastery too low! The trait «???» has been locked!〉
〈System Alert: Your current Source is insufficient! The trait «???» has been locked!〉
However, Izroth paid the alerts no attention; he channeled his mana directly into the strands and began to intertwine them with one another. With the help of his Flickering Steps, Izroth used the tip of his fingers to lightly weave the threads around freely with peerless accuracy. There were thousands of them within a single strand and the time on his Flickering Steps was limited, so there was no room for error in his actions.
Izroth moved several threads around at the same time. Then, after getting a brief feel for it, he started to manipulate tens of them simultaneously!
‘I won’t make it. Then…’
Izroth cleared his mind as he drowned out everything but the strands in his hands. Now, he was manipulating not tens but hundreds of threads at the same time!
“Amazing…” Aurie uttered unconsciously as she watched Izroth. While she could not see the threads within the strands in the same way that he could, Aurie was able to “feel” it in a sense. The way the energy around those strands constantly shifted was a work of art.
Izroth continued in this state for the next ten minutes straight as the white color on the tombstone turned gray, then purple, then a deep shade of black.
A few moments later, Izroth shoved his hands back towards the tombstone along with the bundle of strands in his hands—as if he were stuffing everything back inside its original container.
The instant he did so, the death energy around the tombstone erupted in vast quantities. All the death energy that had leaked out over the course of centuries was being sucked into the tombstone at an astonishing rate!
The Death Emperor was dumbfounded. This human not only managed to fix his tombstone, but it was in even better shape than when he first received it! How was this possible?!
Meanwhile, Izroth released a deep breath as he reopened his closed-off senses. Just as he did so, a new series of alerts sounded in his ears.
‘Hm? This is…’
Izroth read over all the alerts he received while he cut himself off from his surroundings. He was shocked to see that he actually unlocked a hidden truth from the Book of Beginnings!
Unfortunately, it seemed that he was not strong enough to tap into its benefits as of yet. But, what truly caught him off guard was the set of alerts he most recently received.
〈System Alert: The God of Craft is impressed by your deep understanding of craftsmanship!〉
〈System Alert: The God of Craft is reaching out to you!〉
〈System Alert: Do you wish to receive the God of Craft’s blessing?〉
