“You think you can leave? It seems you don’t understand the state that your body is in right now.”
Her words sounded ominous, leaving Damien tilting his head in confusion. Tang Lingzi sighed and rubbed her forehead.
“Alright, if it’s just for a little while, I think you can handle it. Come, follow me.”
Without another word, she wrapped Damien in her mana and rapidly arrived at the edge of the floating island. Only then did she stop.
“This is the exit to the island. You wanted to leave, didn’t you? Go ahead.”
Damien stared at her suspiciously. Her previous words combined with the way she forced him into confinement for the past month really hinted at something suspicious, but he had no way of finding out what that was if he didn’t do as she said.
So, he carefully left the protection of Tang Lingzi’s mana and walked outside the boundary of the floating island.
BOOOOOOOOM!
A thick golden bolt of lightning appeared out of thin air and struck Damien square in the chest. The pure white clouds in the surroundings rapidly changed into a murky greyish-black color, and the ambient mana of the world created a vortex surrounding his body.
As things were going, another natural disaster would occur because Damien was simply standing outside the island barrier. And only after seeing this did Damien realize what Tang Lingzi was saying.
‘Is this because of my incomplete comprehension?’ Damien wondered as he signaled Tang Lingzi to let him back inside the island.
Once she opened the barrier, he immediately teleported inside. And as if it never existed in the first place, the forming disaster dispersed.
“Do you see what I’m talking about now?” Tang Lingzi mocked haughtily.
Damien nodded sheepishly. If he knew from the start how troublesome his presence had become, he wouldn’t have complained.
“But…why is it like that?” He asked. Even if he had his own conjectures, Tang Lingzi most likely knew the whole truth. It was easier to ask her than to ponder on it for ages, and he didn’t have much time at the moment.
Tang Lingzi sighed. “Somehow, you’ve integrated yourself with the world far more than even a 4th class would b able to. Naturally, this is due to your abilities as a Star Master.
“In normal cases, this wouldn’t mean anything. Even if you’ve integrated yourself with the world, you’d only be able to use some more of its power when fighting on its surface. But your case is different.”
Tang Lingzi paused and took a deep breath before continuing.
“I don’t think you understand the significance of your achievement at all. To put it into perspective, I’ve never heard of a 3rd class who was able to grasp and even utilize even a small portion of Law power.
“Anyway, the fact that you’ve done so exponentially increases your synchronization with the world. Now, even stepping into that world normally would mean having the world embody you. Your lightning, your flames, and that terrifying power that hides in your body, all of it starts to pervade the world as the new Law.
“But even if you’ve grasped a portion of Laws, you aren’t able to control it because of your lacking strength and qualifications. If you try to use Law power outside the Cloud Plane, you’d immediately die from the backlash, though I can’t say whether or not your illogical healing skill can fix that damage or not.
“Essentially, what you need to do now is consolidate and compress. Fully comprehend the small insight you’ve gained and suppress it so that it obeys you. Only then will you be able to walk through the world normally.”
Damien earnestly listened to her speech. As he expected, she took what he already guessed and expanded upon it. From the start, he realized that this incident had to do with his power as a Star Master.
Because he felt like he could control the world’s force at will unlike before. His authority as the Star Master increased by a dozen fold. Or rather…
‘I’ve been thinking of the title Star Master all wrong.’
He finally realized it. His thoughts were so constrained inside the realm of common sense that he didn’t even think to expand upon his capabilities as a Star Master.
But that was wrong. His power, his qualifications, they didn’t matter at all. As his title suggested, he was the Master of this world.
On the Cloud Plane, he was akin to a god.
The small island rumbled as if an earthquake was taking place, a formless essence invaded Tang Lingzi’s barrier and rushed into Damien’s body, inadvertently causing it to float into the air.
Seeing the changes, Damien realized he was on the right path. If he continued like this…
‘The second I was able to give commands to a being like Yun without a hint of trouble, I was able to utilize everything the Cloud Plane has to offer. That is what it means for a world to be contractually bound to a Celestial. The only reason I’ve been limited in my utilization is because of the constraints I subconsciously imposed on myself while thinking realistically.’
It was quite the ironic situation. The reason why he was unable to draw out the World Force with ease was because he constantly stopped himself from getting conceited.
In a circumstance like this one, the only way to realize his full potential was to let his arrogance out in full bloom.
And it wasn’t like Damien didn’t have any arrogance. He was a man who talked to Demigods as if they were normal old fogeys. If that wasn’t a blatant display of arrogance, nothing was.
But since Damien had met so many enemies who fell because of their arrogance, he always kept his in check. Especially when it came to his power level, since even he could see how rapidly he improved compared to the rest.
The ones he usually compared himself to, those like Long Chen and Xue Feng, they were definitely heaven-sent geniuses that were rarely seen.
But it was an unfair comparison from the start…
For them.
It had to be said that these geniuses trained diligently from a young age. Those like Long Chen usually hit 1st class before the age of 10. Due to the difficulty in leveling and the need to face life-or-death situations to do so properly, their progress would inevitably stall in the 3rd class range and increase at a slower rate.
This was why they were still at 3rd class over a decade after they hit 1st class. In fact, since they were infinitely close to reaching 4th class already, they were considered as one in ten thousand geniuses.
But what about Damien?
First class? He only achieved that in the dungeon. Compared to the 15 or more years that those geniuses spent to reach their level, Damien had only spent a little over 5.
With this kind of speed, how could he not be arrogant?
And even if he was arrogant, he wholly deserved to be.
Damien’s eyes opened with a flash. A heavy pressure descended on the floating island, causing cracks to spread wildly. From the looks of it, the island would collapse soon.
World Force descended from the Heavens in droves, covering Damien’s body and allowing him to bask in the essence of Laws and Natural Forces. It wouldn’t take long for him to gain control over his power.
Looking at his figure floating in the air, Tang Lingzi’s expression was truly a sight to see. Her mind was in utter chaos as a single thought took control over her.
‘Is this kid…receiving a Baptism?!’