Neo stared at the screen flashing before his eyes.
[Please choose one unique skill.]
[1. Infinite: Increase your energy reservoir by the power of 2.]
[2. Primogenitor: Allows modification of the direction of the traits, skills, or even physical and magical attributes, to a certain degree, as they evolve and grow.]
[3. Finality: Allows user to use the power of Ultimate End.]
Neo frowned when he saw the options for his Eternal skill evolution.
“Those are… quite surprising options.”
His body kept dodging the maggots as he focused on understanding the difference between the skills.
He died, but he didn’t pay it any mind and shifted his focus to reading it again when he was revived.
Infinite was the best suited for his current need.
World-Time Spell required a huge amount of energy to activate. Energy he didn’t have.
The Infinite Skill would increase his Divine Energy reservoir by the power of 2 at every rank-up.
This increase would be done after his Divine Energy increased naturally due to his rank-up.
If he had 2 units of total Divine Energy when he was Grade 5 Empyrean Demigod, he would have a total of 3 units of Divine Energy reservoir at Grade 4.
Then the Infinite skill would activate, and his Divine Energy reservoir would become 9 units at Grade 4.
While other demigods would have only 3 units of Divine Energy reservoir at Grade 4 Empyrean, Neo would have 9 units.
It was a huge difference.
At Grade 3 Empyrean, others’ Divine Energy would increase from 3 to 4 units.
Neo’s Divine Energy would go from 9 to 10, the Infinite would activate.
He would have 100 units of Divine Energy at Grade 4 Empyrean Demigod thanks to Infinite skill.
The gap between Neo and others would keep increasing with his each rank up.
‘When I go up from Grade 5 to Grade 4, the Infinite skill would be upgraded too. That means instead of the increase being a power of 2, it could become a power of 3.’
This was while ignoring the fact Neo had another trait, and Infinite would work on it too.
Neo already had a much larger pool of Divine Energy than other demigods.
This skill would strengthen his strong points.
“Insane.”
That was all Neo could say.
The degree of evolution of his trait, going from Eternal to the next level, was devastatingly high.
“It must be because of everything I’m going through.”
The options for evolution were born out of the demigod’s personal experience.
It was obvious Neo, who had gone through hell and worse in the past four decades, would receive powerful unique skills to choose from.
Primogenitor was quite abstract.
It would help him modify the direction of growth of his traits, physical abilities, magic spells.
For example, when his Mind Control reached the peak of Grade 1, he could get [Emotion Control] and [Illusion Crafting] unique skills as the options for rank-up.
But with his [Primogenitor] trait, he could control the direction of growth of his Mind Control trait.
Doing this, he could get different options for unique skill evolution like [Subtle Manipulation] and [Mass Influence].
Or so Neo thought.
The basic information of the Primogenitor unique skill that appeared in his mind was limited.
He would have to use the skill to understand how it worked.
“This sounds like a good skill, but it’s too complicated. Choosing this is a gamble.
“What if the modifications will be minor?”
Neo’s thoughts were cut short when a maggot bit his neck.
He died.
Time continued to move.
[12 hours have passed since your Death.]
[You will be forcefully revived.]
[Error! You do not have stacks left for Immortal.]
[Error! You do not have stacks left for Immortal.]
[Error! You do not have stacks….]
[Error! You do….]
[Error….]
The screen kept flashing.
At midnight, the Immortal skill gained a new stack, and Neo was revived.
“Let me look at the options, would you!?” Neo roared.
He slashed downwards.
The air was torn apart, and the ground cracked for as far as the eyes could see.
His attack, while powerful, did nothing to the maggots.
“Dammit.”
Neo shifted his focus to his unique skill options.
Finality’s description was short.
The skill sounded like a high-level version of Death element mastery.
It sounded too good to be true.
And Neo knew why he was feeling this way.
“Finality definitely has the power to harm the [Angel], but can I use it?”
If his current mastery of Death was equal to a formula one race car, then Finality was a space shuttle.
Both vehicles were fast, but the difference in their speed was incomparable.
Finality would allow him to use a space shuttle immediately.
But…
“I don’t have the fuel to run a space shuttle.”
The vehicle might’ve changed; however, it still needed fuel to run.
Neo’s Divine Energy Purity was far from being able to fuel a space shuttle.
He would need to use considerable time to train and increase his Divine Energy Purity.
By that time, his Death element mastery could naturally reach the level of the Finality unique skill.
The Finality skill still had its boons.
He might not be able to use the skill indefinitely.
He could, however, definitely use it for a few seconds at the least.
If he used the skill to damage the vital parts of the [Angel], he might have a chance at bringing it down.
“There is no way the Angel would let me reach its vital parts easily.”
Neo shook his head bitterly.
Leaving a fatal injury on the Angel was too grand of a goal for someone who was dying to the maggots without being able to put up proper resistance.
After reading the skill descriptions, Neo thought about what he should choose.
Infinite was no different from having an infinite Divine Energy pool.
Primogenitor allowed him to optimize his growth, remove the growth he didn’t want, and keep only the growth he wanted.
With the skill, he could become a unique being.
Finality gave him strong firepower.
It was a simple yet powerful skill.
“I guess I’ll choose this.”
Neo made his decision.
Energy started to spring forth from his Core as he underwent earth-shattering changes.
The barren land beneath him trembled violently.
Fissures spread like cobwebs across the scorched ground.
The air, heavy with tension, shimmered with an ethereal glow, and a low hum resonated in the atmosphere.
He underwent the breakthrough.
The scene of the past few days, where his body broke and regenerated, growing stronger as he fought the maggots, repeated somewhat differently.
Unlike the past, the devastation caused by his aura was simply too vast.
The snow capped peaks were pulverized into dust.
The land began to shatter, and the air crackled with energy.
Neo exhaled putrid breath when the breakthrough finished ended.
He looked at his own body in surprise.
He could feel himself filled with boundless power.
His body felt light and with each step he could cover hundreds of meters, moving at a speed far faster than a normal Grade 5 Empyrean Demigod could.
“Status.”
[ Neo Hargraves ]
[ Rank: Grade 5 Empyrean]
[ Divine Energy Purity: Grade 1 Empyrean ]
[ Stats ]
﹂ Strength: 586
﹂ Speed: 602
﹂ Dexterity: 583
﹂ Constitution: 597
﹂ Luck: 0
[ Affinity ]
﹂ Death, Shadow, Darkness, Void, Water, Time, Holy
[ Magic Spells ]
﹂ Necrotic Touch, Ocean’s Embrace, Essence Breath, Rewind Enchantment, Black Dawn of Despair, Shadow Movement, Shadow Space
[ Incantations ]
﹂ O Death, Be My Hands, Crush My Enemies
﹂ O Death, Become My Blade
﹂ O Shadows, By my will, appear and spy, A fleeting shade beneath the sky.
﹂ O Shadows, From the abyss where terrors dwell, Emerge, Claws of night, fangs of dread, By my hand, thy leash is led.
﹂ O Shadows, Beast of twilight, bound by shade, Guardian of the dark cascade. With fangs of night and eyes that gleam, Arise, Shadowfang, from my dream.
﹂ O Darkness, Mark this soul with night’s despair, Break their courage, leave them bare.
﹂ O Darkness, Steal their breath, make their strength decay.
[ Trait ]
﹂ Bloodline Trait: Monarch of Death
﹂ Fragmented Trait: Mind Invasion
[ Quest ]
﹂ Complete Barbatos’ Training (Part 2), Completed 0/1
﹂ End of the World Questline
His stats were 150~200 higher in every stat than a normal Grade 5 Empyrean Demigod.
It was thanks to his training and him using Darkness to devour his opponents for past four decades.
Thanks to his bad luck, Neo had to devour countless being to gain such huge amount of stats.
He had nearly gone insane multiple times.
But it helped him gain the Concept of True Darkness when he overcame the insanity.
Neo gained the Holy element after completing the fifth trail, which was becoming a Grim Reaper.
As for the Quest of making the Mind Invasion permanent, he completed it thanks to Gaia.
She was able to fuse the fragmented trait into his Seed of Existence permanently.
In exchange for her help, she asked Neo to protect her from assassinations and help her solve other problems too.
It was why he took the mantle of Thanatos.
The reward of the Quest were three Link Locks.
Link Locks allowed him to bind his Traits together.
The stronger trait could pull the weaker trait along and he could level it up more easily.
Currently, he had used one Link Lock to bind {Monarch of Death} and {Mind Invasion}.