‘Crownless King is definitely at Grade 1 100% progress.’
‘Empathic Transcendence should be 98–98% if not 100% progress.’
The problem came after.
Without Akashic Record to guide him, he would need to find evolution pathways himself.
It wasn’t hard.
But it could take anywhere from 6 months to 3 years of meditation.
There was an upside to this though.
Akashic Record normally showed the best 2–4 evolution pathways.
However, it didn’t show the other dozens since they were dangerous, or ‘bugged’ evolution pathways that could harm users.
‘With my current abilities, I don’t need to worry about using a dangerous Trait as long as it has a good ability.’
‘So in my case, not having Akashic Record is better.’
Neo decided to use Empathic Transcendence at all moments from now on.
He could use it on day-to-day talk too. It would consume energy when used for long durations, but energy wasn’t a concern for him when he wasn’t fighting.
“Sigh, you are right. If Kevin stole all my research, he definitely wouldn’t return them just because I asked. There is a chance we will need to fight,” Yaleth said, regaining his composure. “But…”
“But?”
“I don’t think it’s possible to defeat him. Not within the next several thousand years even though you are a Heavenbreaker.”
“….how strong is that guy?”
“Stage-6.”
Neo stared at Yaleth with a deadpan stare.
Stage-6?
That wouldn’t even be a fight.
Right now, Neo could defeat peak Stage-3 Gods.
But he would lose to the weakest Stage-4 God.
After all, the higher rank you were, the greater was the gap between each rank and sub-rank.
Not to mention that after every three major ranks, the exponential growth in power would increase sharply again.
Covering the gap between peak Stage-3 and weakest Stage-4 was impossible in a fight.
And this was the weakest Stage-4.
But Kevin was Stage-6?
Neo almost wanted to groan when suddenly a thought came to him.
“Are you sure Kevin stole your research?”
“What do you mean?”
“If Kevin was Stage-6, he could’ve taken the report by brute force whenever he wanted. Why did he wait until you were defeated?”
“That….”
Yaleth frowned.
Neo’s words made sense.
“There is another thing I don’t understand,” Neo said. “How did those Outer Gods that attacked Earth know about your weapons? I doubt you announced your research.
“You must’ve kept it hidden. There is no way they should’ve been able to find anything about it,” Neo pointed out.
“I don’t know. This was something I noticed myself, but I never found out who leaked the information,” Yaleth replied.
It couldn’t have been his angels.
Angels could never betray their Gods or else the powers of Gods inside them would punish them.
“Even if your Angels didn’t betray you, they might know something about it. We should ask them.”
“That won’t be possible.”
“Why?”
“So, uh…” Yaleth frowned, thinking hard about how to explain things in a way that made sense. “Your brother ‘killed’ me completely.
“I was able to revive thanks to my life-saving treasure, but his ability was so strong that I was left in a half-dead, half-alive condition.
“That meant…”
His words trailed off and Neo realized what he wanted to say.
“Since the God was ‘dead’, his bonds with Angels broke, and they became Fallen Angels?”
“Yes, and the life of a Fallen Angel is pretty hard. They don’t have a God for protection, and they can’t grow stronger, which makes them easy targets to be bullied.
“My Angels – like most – would’ve tried to sell my research and treasures to gain favor of other Gods and…”
A bitter smile appeared on Yaleth’s face.
“I’m 99% sure that child, Velkaria, killed them before they ‘betrayed’ me. She was always an oddball and oddly loyal even for an Angel.”
Now that there was a possibility that Kevin didn’t steal their research and the hologram was left behind by someone else to trick Yaleth in case he returned, everything started to make sense.
There was no way Velkaria would betray Yaleth.
Neo massaged his brows. With all other Angels dead except Velkaria, she was their only lead.
But that Velkaria was with Henry, and Neo wanted to avoid meeting any family or friends.
“Let’s focus on getting stronger for now, and search for who stole the research after that.”
Neo had grown as a person after the ordeals of Tartarus.
He understood he needed strength if he wanted to complete his goals.
If he rushed after his goal without making sure he was strong… he would lose someone again.
‘Not again.’
‘I’ll never lose anyone anymore.’
He was about to start meditation and his breakthrough when suddenly Yaleth stopped him.
“Don’t make a breakthrough.”
“Huh?”
“Look, I have zero idea how you are still safe, but that won’t be the case anymore. When a Heavenbreaker of your rank makes a breakthrough, it sends out massive ripples in the tapestry of fate.
“Everyone would recognize that a new Heavenbreaker has appeared.
“And with the war at its climax, both sides will want you. It will just create chaos. There is no way they would pass the chance of snatching the strongest weapon known in existence – a Heavenbreaker.”
“There is a war going on?”
“There is, but that’s not the point here,” Yaleth said. “Come with me. We need to buy a powerful Fate Ward for you before you make a breakthrough.
“The Fate Ward will hide your Fate threads.”
Yaleth and Neo moved to another location.
On the way, Yaleth explained about Wards to Neo.
Wards created a domain inside which a certain element could not work properly.
These were created to fight against Chronomancers, Spatiamancers, and Fateweavers.
While it was impossible to turn back time of the entire universe, a Stage-6 Chrono God could turn back time of an entire army or a planet by limiting the range of their ability in return for increased power.
Similarly, Stage-6 Spatial Gods could teleport bombs into the middle of an enemy army or planet.
Fate Gods were worse. They could, quite literally, affect the ‘luck’.
Getting a million heads in a million coin toss? Easy.
Winning lottery for the 123,141,643,242nd time? As simple as breathing.
If their enemy was ever walking down a road on a sunny day? Suddenly a fragment of a Stage-7 meteor is falling on their planet, which killed them and their friends!
Fate could manipulate ‘probability’.
It allowed the Fate Gods to control ‘coincidences’.
Wards were created to stop these headaches.