76%… 88%… 100%!
Following quickly, the synthesis rate of Virus’ sixth level of Liberation which had been previously stuck at seventy-five percent experienced an almost instantaneous rise to one hundred percent in one go!
‘Ah, this amount of raw energy… was the Manticore perhaps in High- or Peak-Third Order? That’s crazy.’ The amount of energy that was currently rushing through his passages was so heavy Virus could say with confidence that the Manticore was obviously above the Mid-Third Order!
The moment it reached a hundred percent, his sixth pair of pathways also began to release itself to the world outside as now Virus had six liberated pathways!
Furthermore, Origin also transmitted another type of odd force which quickly untangled his final eighteenth single pathway!
Now Virus had all of his eighteen pathways completely clear with no blockages whatsoever!
Fundamentally, that implied Virus could in essence progress to the mythical Ninth Level of Liberation as long as he preserved through!
“Huh… so this is what it feels like to sense and have control over all eighteen of my passages… amazing.” Raising his fist in front of his face, Virus gripped it tightly while muttering to himself in joy.
Earlier, since Virus did not have control nor could he feel all his passages, it was as if something was missing from his body. But now that all of them were under his dominance, Virus had the illusion of finally being able to enjoy the unobstructed movement of his energy within his pathways!
However, for some reason, although the energy was abundant in his pathways due to the extraordinary amount of energy from the Manticore, Virus still wasn’t able to break through to the seventh level right away!
‘Hmm, what’s going on?’
Quickly focusing his awareness within his passages, precisely on the sixth pair, Virus tried to discover why the energy wasn’t moving on to the fusion process of his thirteenth and fourteenth pathways.
To his bewilderment, Virus could see that the energy was abundant, and it was quivering so intensely as if it may even burst and explode his entire sixth fused pathway in case it didn’t find an outlet to relieve itself. However, it still could not elevate itself to the next level.
‘I feel like I’m missing something important.’ That odd instinct was transmitting itself directly into Virus’ heart as it gripped over him much like a craving one sometimes gets for a specific food but just can’t figure out what food it is!
‘What is lacking?’ Immediately sitting on the floor cross-legged, Virus closed both his eyes as he sank into a meditative state.
‘Let’s try breaking through manually.’ In fact, in all of his previous breakthroughs, all Virus was required to do was to kill strong opponents as the Origin would pump the necessary energy into him which would naturally result in him breaking through in the smoothest manner imaginable. It didn’t require any guidance whatsoever as it happened by itself like it was the most natural process in the world.
But now, sitting cross-legged, Virus felt as if he had to comprehend something essential, a fact, or perhaps something else entirely before being able to breakthrough.
Hence, sitting down in that position, Virus’ mind started overworking itself while he immersed in the sensation that was flickering within his heart right now.
One minute passed.
Five minutes…
Ten minutes…
Twenty minutes…
Even forty Minutes passed!
Ultimately, it was precisely in the forty-sixth minute when the fog that had been previously blinding Virus unveiled at once as the realization hit him while he murmured.
“The heavens ’embrace’ the first path, they ‘hospitably greet’ the second path, they ‘salute’ the third path, they ‘welcome’ the fourth path, they ‘receive’ the fifth path, they ‘accept’ the sixth path, but the heavens ‘dislike’ the seventh path!”
“Hahaha, so that’s why!” By heavens, even Virus himself wasn’t quite sure what it or they were, perhaps they were the laws that brought existence itself together, or maybe they were something else altogether!
Virus didn’t have knowledge regarding what exactly the heavens were, but seeing they apparently did not like the idea of him entering the seventh pathway and were even trying to slightly resist his progress coerced Virus to laugh in mirth and amusement!
Next, looking up, he yelled like a maniac, “I do not know what the heavens every cultivator talks about is nor do I care…”
“BUT! If you insist on interfering in my game of entertainment… well, WELCOME TO THE PLAY! Let’s see who gets the final laugh! Hahahaha!” Simultaneously forcing his raging energy to the next level, Virus ripped the resistance apart as he broke through to the following level at once!
Seventh Level of Liberation!
At the same time, after Virus’ little speech and the act of provocation, he could swear he sensed a slight tremor in the ground. But it was so minor that unless one had a terrifying level of perception like Virus, that person would not be capable of detecting it.
“That’s all you can do? Hahaha…” With that Virus once again focused on the internal network of his physique as he observed the synthesis rate which was shooting through the roof right now!
15%… 32%… 46%…
57%… 69%… 87%!
Only when it hit eighty-seven percent fusion did all the raging synthetic force end completely as tranquility was once again restored to the passages!
‘So beyond the sixth level is considered a taboo, huh… the so-called heavens prefer the cultivators to break through to Sublimity Emergence stage straight away when they are done fusing their sixth pathway, heck, they encourage it!’
‘But above that, they start attempting to bar the path forward.’
Grinning from ear to ear at this point, Virus murmured, “The first taboo of Liberation, huh? Well, that only makes me want it more, such excitement coursing through my veins!”
‘Hmm, but it took me more than forty minutes just to figure out my heart and realize the force that was trying to hinder me.’ Although this notion went through Virus’ mind, he somewhat understood why it had taken him so long to disclose the truth.
‘I’m weak when it comes to the matters of the heart, perhaps my talent in that regard is even lower compared to a normal mortal human being.’ Indeed, Virus was perfectly informed that the reason why it had taken him so long to shine some light on that nudge, that urge in his heart, was because he was poor in the heart due to him originally being an Artificial Intelligence, and he could discern it even more transparently after going through this particular experience.
‘Subpar cultivators might’ve taken around forty minutes too in case they were a little poor in the matters of the heart, but that’s ‘their’ forty minutes… my forty minutes is much more in terms of quality!’ Indeed, although Virus hadn’t gone to the point of time freeze when trying to come to terms with his heart just now, he had still employed a lot of his processing speed and perception of time.
Therefore, he was crystal clear his concentrated forty minutes was incomparable as it was on another realm altogether!
When it was about the matters of wisdom, intelligence, and mind, Virus was like a never-seen-before supernova that shined brighter than any other in existence! Unfortunately, when it was about the true tangible heart and not the artificial one, he was like a child that had just come to the age of learning to walk on four legs but refused to do so while even suppressing and even trying to control that chaotic new urge inside him instead of just freeing the leash, letting it go wild, and thus allowing it to grow by itself!
To be more accurate, Virus needed to understand that the heart wasn’t supposed to be forcefully managed by the mind since doing so would only stunt its growth. What he required was to stop forcefully interfering with his own heart and instead willingly immerse and delve into it by letting it go buck wild!
And that was exactly what was hindering his path to some degree today.
Consequently, if Virus did not improve this new part of himself, the slight impediment of today might turn into something much greater in the future when he came across more complex matters of cultivation that necessitated his heart!
Albeit, the mind opposed the heart in most cases as they were basically like oil and water that did not go well together.
Meanwhile, rising to his feet, Virus briefly inspected his surroundings before resolving himself to proceed on his path to the unknown.
Afterward, for nearly a few minutes, Virus kept ambling forward when he finally reached three doors again. Above the gates, only one sentence was engraved.
One path leads to the dead-end, another leads to the dead, and the last one leads to the end.
Reading the information, Virus could easily infer that the gate of ‘dead end’ most likely led nowhere as he would be forced to either return or be imprisoned there forever.
However, as to the gate of the dead, Virus assumed by dead they probably meant death.
And as for the final entry of the end, Virus determined that although it could mean death, it just might as well directly lead to the center of the maze and the end of the trial!
Unfortunately, it didn’t matter how much he contemplated the interpretation of each saying since there was no way to discern which gate was which.
So, after some futile deliberation and discovering no hidden signs, Virus decided to randomly pick a door and hope for the best.
‘The middle one, let’s go!’ Then, not bothering to even consider it further, pushing the gate open, he launched inside!
Briefly afterward, Virus chanced upon a corridor with a tiled floor where hundreds of thousands of square holes were cut into the surface of the walls everywhere.
Moreover, there were already many sharp arrows that had fallen to the ground.
‘Hmm, so these are traps?’ Wondering to himself, Virus was just about to take his next step, when abruptly, just as his footstep was several centimeters away from making contact with the ground, he paused.
‘My awareness is telling me it’s empty beneath this specific tile, it must be a trigger.’ With that conclusion, one might assume he would avoid stepping on that particular tile, however, Virus did the opposite.
Swish! Swish! Fwish~…
Immediately, tens of arrows were triggered as they headed from all directions toward him. Fortunately, having expected the outcome, Virus had already retreated backward and easily eluded the arrows.
Picking one of the arrows after that, Virus quickly discerned that each arrow was probably submerged in some type of lethal poison, denoting the true danger of this arrow trap wasn’t their sharp ends but the poison they’ve been doused with.
‘Hmm, just as I thought… but looking at the other arrows and the fresh cuts on the walls, a few people must’ve passed this corridor already, it should be the representatives.’ Regardless, now that he had determined the functionality of the traps, Virus began casually strolling through the path while his sense of awareness effortlessly unearthed the trap tiles as he smoothly kept away from them.
‘Hmm, it may come in handy.’ Picking one of the most heavily doused arrows on his way, Virus fastened it to his belt. He wasn’t going to let go of any resources that could possibly be useful.
Soon, progressing past the trap field, Virus’ passage was uninterrupted as he swiftly ran through while maintaining his spread awareness around himself.
After around five minutes of sprinting, he was once again facing a dilemma, a fork in the road to be exact. This time, however, there was no sign or even a sentence as he had to just pick one.
So, without further ado, Virus choose one by luck again and darted inside.
A short time later, as he was dashing through the corridor, Virus encountered walls and ceilings that were filled with rather gigantic holes in them. However, he didn’t dilly-dally and proceeded forward!
He had no intentions of stopping as long as he wasn’t attacked or his awareness notified him of something dangerous.
Unfortunately, he had merely taken some strides forward when he came across two familiar faces currently busy fighting a group of creatures that Virus could only describe as dire rats!
“Cheeky woman, Henna, you two need any extra hands?” In case it was any other representative Virus was encountering, he would’ve sprinted through them without even throwing them a single glance, however, considering how the cheeky veiled woman had kind of saved him earlier, he naturally wasn’t going to ignore them.
Although Virus was completely indifferent to everything that was happening in the world unless it interested him in some way, there were also a few unique situations and cases where he wouldn’t hesitate to act.
One such case was related to his foes, people that provoked or moved against him with malicious intentions. If he deemed them worthy enough, he would stop at nothing to pay them tenfold back at least! Even though it might not happen immediately for the sake of his pleasure and plan, it was inevitable at the end of the road.
Another situation was about his benefactors or those who had kind intentions. When it involved them, if he was truly capable, Virus would definitely make a move and repay them a hundred times. For instance, in case he found them in a quandary, danger, or in need of some assistance, he would not hold back.
And right now, seeing the two struggling against a large number of creatures, Virus wasn’t going to just ignore and move on.
“Ah, it’s Vee! Yes, we need h-” Spotting Virus, Henna wanted to ask for help cheerfully when the veiled woman beat her to it.
“Stop, hot face! I know you’re trying to act tough and courageous in front of us since we’re in a bit of danger, but I can’t possibly bring myself to use a weakling like you as cannon fodder! My righteous heart does not allow it!”
That, however, popped some veins on Virus’ forehead while his expression turned dark. “Huh… you’re still as cheeky as ever.”
Then, no longer lingering around, Virus stormed at the closest dire rat!
‘Impulse!’
Barely perceivable lightning arcs flickered all over Virus’s body as he punched its head.
Wham!
Like a ball without air, the dire rat’s head caved in as it died at once.
Wham~
Whacking another rat to death, Virus immediately felt the lack of his longsword. Now that the ring was gone, he didn’t have a weapon and that meant he couldn’t even utilize his ‘Twisting Tempest Thrust’ technique which required a longsword. ‘Ah, I miss my longsword.’
‘Should I just start the process of creating a Peak-Human class fist technique?’ Just as that idea was raised in his head, shaking it, Virus rejected the proposition. ‘No, the fist techniques are less lethal at the end of the day. Furthermore, right now I’m in the process of decrypting and breaking down the movement-type techniques, so I don’t really have the mental capacity for anything else at the moment.’
BAM!
‘Hmm, should I just learn one of the fist techniques I have in my database? Hmm, nope.’ Victoriously killing the third rat, Virus concluded that learning a fist technique right now was also kind of unnecessary since he had no issues with facing the dire rats, thus, he temporarily decided against doing that as well.
To the current Virus who was killing each dire rat with a single blow, utilizing a fist technique was a completely redundant endeavor that would do nothing but deplete his energy faster, therefore, unless necessary, he was against doing it.
What was more essential right now was to preserve his energy as much as possible since the number of rats was rather big.
As he proceeded to massacre the dire rats together with the other two ladies, Virus soon came to realize the obvious truth that his level of strength had experienced a sharp fall after losing the dark scales and the longsword.
Before, when he was at the sixth level of Liberation, Virus could nimbly fight and defeat the weaker Low-Third Order creatures easily, however, now that he had broken through to the seventh level, since he had lost the ring, he felt as if he was still at the same level as before and could at most fight and defeat the same Low-Third Order monsters.
He believed in case he was still in the sixth level of Liberation and the ring was gone, he would’ve been no longer capable of fighting Low-Third Order beasts at all and it was only because of the recent breakthrough that he barely succeeded in compensating and making up for the loss.
What that denoted was that Virus’ capability in battling opponents several levels higher than him had fallen by an entire level. That’s how significant the ring was to Virus.
After a while of intense battle, at last, all the monsters were dead as three panting figures were left standing surrounded by a lot of dire rat carcasses.
At the same time, focusing within himself, Virus noticed since the rats were not even in the Third Order, they had been totally helpless in affecting the synthesis rate of his seventh level in any major manner.
Meanwhile, taking a brief glimpse of Virus’ countenance, the veiled woman admitted, “Wow, you’re stronger than I thought you’d be, hot face… looks like you didn’t even need my aid that day, huh, you’re no damsel in distress, are you?”
To that claim of hers, however, Virus could only respond internally, ‘Well, I wasn’t really this strong prior to setting foot into the Invisible Ancient Fortress World, so…’
On the other side, now that she had a breather, an alarming realization hit the cheeky woman at last as she pointed her finger at Virus and started screaming dramatically.
“AH, WAIT! How the hell are you even here?”
