Kaelen found himself within the inner linings of the spell once more—this space between dream and reality that thousands of stars shimmering against the black backdrop
He fell to the floor and used his hands to slap his cheeks
'You're really telling me that the straight-up creator of life was so...'
He didn't even have the proper words to describe it—why was it so cheerful? why was he so okay with dropping the fact that it was the creator of life and the fact that he was now its inheritor
'Also does that mean that everyone who commited suicide had been called and died in the trials?'
It made sense in a way—the skulls he saw in the life trial made that clear
He groaned into the starless void.
"What the fuck is my life?"
Those words were so antithetical to each other.
After all, there was no being that knew about life, more specifically their own life, than Kaelen—that was something that he had understood mostly within the early trials but mostly during the last one; that was its purpose.
He had gained a bit of a story that was almost insignificant to this world and its story, but it had great implications.
If the first Voidborn had created all life, that would have meant he had also created the gods, which in turn lead to all the events that had happened from the age of the gods—so nothing, none of the Gods or the daemons, would have existed
But again, why was the dude so laid back and not... Godlike?
Well, he wasn't really a god, but still, he was older and more powerful.
Kaelen clicked his tongue
He was now here in Shadow Slave, as the inheritor, as the creator of the world itself—he was going to be walking the path of ascension alongside his favourite characters and also
"I will see Sunny in about 3 days, and I will be on the forgotten shore."
He had not chose 3 days before Sunny wakes for no reason; Jet would arrive at the same time and honestly, it was the most ideal time for him to start and build his life in general
But he would think about that in a while
"My appraisal"
[Aspirant! Your trial is over.
[A soul from beyond the veil challenged the trials of the first breath. He slaughtered those who stood in his way and went further still, challenging himself and succeeding. He stood before the first breath and learned the truth of the world and gained his approval and his power.
'...Well, I did a lot more than that but it's okay, I guess.' Kaelen rolled his eyes before they widened.
'Oh gods this thing is going to read out everything i killed...'
He groaned again.
[You have slain 20 dormant beasts: mud crawlers.]
[You have slain 5 dormant monsters: Rock Shard Scavenger.]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
It went on for such a long time that Kaelen started to ignore it and started to read his runes for his latest memories
'I havent read the Dark Swords runes nor did i read the new memories one.' So he pulled them up
Memory: [Dark Sword]
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Tier: 6
MemoryType: Weapon
Memory Description: [The princess had been forced into a slumber, her body rotting and sprouting, leaving behind her lover, her brother and her people—she rested eternally, drinking the light from the world and killing those who came close.]
'... Well, the tree did seem to absorb light; if not for the burning blood, I think even the fire may have been extinguished.
He pulled up the runes of the next one
Memory: [Life Seal]
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Tier: 7
Memory Type: Armor
'Hoh, that's nice.'
The armor, Swift Sea, was good but it was a tier 2 memory, while this was a tier 7
Memory Description: [People protect their life by protecting their mind, soul and bodies.]
'Nice! It's an armor that had defenses against the main type of attacks—sure, it wont be great as an awakened one, but something is better than nothing!'
He was about to summon the memories but stopped as he continued to listen to the spell
[You have received the power of the first breath!]
[You have gained an absolute understanding of life.]
[You have received an Aspect Legacy.]
[You have made the impossible, possible]
Kaelen sighed
With the understanding of life and his own, he already gauged what his aspect, innate ability, and flaw were—right now he was only paying attention to know how the spell would explain them.
That was how he was able to unlock his aspect legacy, because he already knew his aspect.
[Final Appraisal: Peerless. Your perseverance is inexhaustible.]
'Damn freaking right it is; y'all made me fight a fucking titan.'
He was a bit annoyed but not as much as one might think—if he was completely honest, after fighting the tyrant, every other enemy was weak—and that went for both the terror and the titan.
That could be attested to the fact that he had an entire arsenal and the strength of an awakened after all the elemental essence and literally stealing a tyrant's arms, but still
[Dreamer Kaelen, receive your boon!]
He smiled already knowing what was going to come from here
[You have been bestowed a True Name: Worlds Soul.]
"Hey hey hey, you bestowed nothing upon me—I got that name myself!"
He sounded angry, but he was smiling
The name "world soul" was a representation of two things:
first, he was the only being from his old world; therefore, he carried the soul of that world
Second, the most prominent reason is he inherited the fragments of the First Voidborn's soul upon completing the trials; thus, he was the entirety, the world's soul.
It was clear that both reasons were important, though, because the name was Worlds Soul—not World Soul
"I can't wait for the academy to see 3 people with a true name this year."
[Your aspect is ready to evolve. Evolve Aspect?]
"Duh, of course."
[Divine Aspect Void Sprite is evolving…]
'...Huh so it was divine.'
The aspect Void Sprite had to have been the fact that he was able to assimilate the elements and have the power to face awakened beings of high ranks as a dormant beast—so what would the aspect grow into?
[New Aspect acquired.]
[Aspect Rank: Divine.]
Kaelen nodded knowingly as he continued to listen
[Aspect Name: The Primeval].
He summoned the runes and started to read
Aspect Description: [The first breath had been taken by the Void, taken back into the ever-changing cycle for eternity, but not before he left his memory to be found—you found that memory and thus claimed his unimaginable power—but you don't just possess the power the first breath left behind. - you are now the first breath.]
Innate Ability: [Genesis]
Ability Description: As the First Breath, your existence is the origin of all existence. Your flesh, spirit, and soul are perfectly attuned to the shifting whims of the natural world. Whether submerged in the crushing depths of the abyss or walking through the cleansing pyre of a dying sun, the world recognizes you as its own. You do not struggle against the environment; you become it.
'Neat description'
It made sense in every sense of the way—he was a very experienced person for his age and had learnt how to survive in various situations and elements—it was one of the things that allowed him to survive this long
His aspect was telling about what his abilities were and his innate ability complimented it well
[The First Seal is broken.]
[Awakening dormant powers…]
Kaelen rose his hand to his chest and pressed it against it, taking in this odd feeling.
His body was undergoing an upgrade—and it was not like how his body had taken the essence of those he had killed; this time it was happening to his own body, which was growing in strength, speed, durability and power
He closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath, feeling it flow into his lungs and reach spread throughout his body
His organs were no longer on fire, his veins were no longer air, his blood was no longer water and light and his skin and skeleton was no longer stone
He was human again
As much of a human as the first breath could be considered
He opened his eyes and found himself in a different place—the starfall void was gone, replaced by a beautiful blue sky that had clouds floating here and there
This was his soul sea
But when he lowered his gaze forward, he saw something amazing
His soul sea was not like any of the ones he had ever read about or imagined. - his soul sea looked like paradise
There was an actual sea in one direction, a sea of sparkling blue water that shimmered in the light coming from the sky somewhere above; another side had beautiful plains with grass and hills, another side had volcanoes and large stones and vegetation, and another side had mountains and forests. He could see the tops of the mountains that had ice covering the caps and various other structures.
Kaelen's soul sea was literally paradise
'...Holy shit can i live in here?'
This place was like a miniature world
Above the land, light and yet transparent was was his soul core and orbiting it was his 10 memories
He paid it no attention, though.
He was looking at the scenery like it was the most beautiful thing that had ever existed
The Spell's voice pulled him out of his stupor
[Awakening Aspect Ability…]
He sighed and listened to the spell
[Aspect Ability acquired.]
[Aspect Ability Name: Elemental Manifestation.]
The spell stopped speaking after that, allowing him to analyze his runes and so he did, summoning them instantly after it stopped
Name: Kaelen.
True Name: World's Soul
Rank: Dreamer.
'Oh yeah... an aspirant and dreamer was different.'
Primordial Core: Dormant.
'Thats a nice name—you could just call it a primeval core, though...'
Soul Shards: [878/1000].
That would have been odd, but after a few seconds it made sense—after all, he was able to absorb shards, which meant that he would be using soul essence and not shadow essence like Sunny—obviously.
But that was not what he was worried about
Not at all
What he was worried about was the number 878
He was less than 200 shards away from becoming a monster—no one in existence would have ever killed that many nightmare creatures in their first nightmare or absorbed that many shards
'...But... shouldnt it be higher?'
Divine Aspects often had a unique way in which they received fragments or shards—some were good and some were more of a detriment
Sunny for example, as a shadow he could only get a limited amount of fragments from a kill and only from a kill, making shards useless
So killing a dormant beast would only give him 2 fragments.
Nephis on the other hand had a much, much better way of getting shards—using her flames she would get a tenth of the essence inside a nightmare creature's cores.
So killing an dormant beast with her flames would give her a 100 fragments but that came at the cost of not being able to absorb the shards since there would be no remaining essence to form them
Mordret had a unique was since he was able to form cores extremely fast
So what was his?
Could it be that he was only getting shards by absorbing them like a regular awakened?
No, that was not the case
It was just that all the kills he made during the nightmare did not really count since he did not have his aspect unlocked so he would not receive the benefits of that time
'Thank the spell i decided to absorb the shards.'
If he did not, how low would the count have been?
But it would only get higher and higher from now and soon too since Kaelen had an entire set of dormant and awakened shards in the seafarer's satchel.
More than enough to propel him to monsterhood and then some
But not right now—maybe in the academy
Having reached that understanding, he continued to read the remainder of his runes to see his attributes.
Memories: [Hunters Mark] [Seafarers Satchel] [Swift Sea] [Burning Blood] [Claws of Flame] [Ossified Zephyer] [Golden Glass] [Light Sword] [Dark Sword] [Life Seal]
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Unbound] [Worlds Blessings] [World's Mind] [Flame of Divinity] [Flame of Profanity]
'Huh?'
There were so many new ones now and they all sounded very unique, so he started to read them one by one and analyze them
Unbound remained the same as it had been during the nightmare, which made sense since it was the attribute of his nature that came with being a transmigrator
Formless had been taken away 'sadly.' Kaelen was not to sad about loosing that one in particular since it had basically turned him into a monster even if it gave him power and also he was not sad because his innate ability seemed to cover that attribute's ability with a lot more benefits added
But the others...
[World's Blessings]: The world takes back what belongs to it and more—unmoving and impartial. You will receive more essence, memories and echoes from those you kill yourself
[World's Mind]: Can one affect the mind of the world? No, and so nothing can affect your mind but yourself
[Flames of Divinity]: Your soul is aflame with the light of divinity—for you, growing in strength is a matter of getting closer to your purest form
[Flame ofProfanity]: You may refute it, but the Void is your origin—more than anyone. This, however, has its benefits—your soul is aflame with profanity and as the pinnacle of profanity, corruption cannot claim you
'...'
He had no words despite understanding how powerful they all were
That one [Worlds Blessings] was almost like an Exp buff with an increase of item drops and was definitely welcomed.
[Worlds Mind] was great too; in fact, that was arguably his favorite one. Kaelen knew well about what the most harrowing creatures that Sunny faced were—it was the ones that used mind attacks and now - he seemed to have immunity to that
Then there were the other 2, which he believed came from being the new First Breath
Flames of Divinity had a different explanation than what Sunny and Nephis had, so that was interesting, and from what he could understand, it meant that his abilities would grow more powerful as he did.
Flames of Profanity, though—that one was amazing and actually gave him pause
'What the hell do you mean "you may refute it"—hell no, I don't.'
That attribute gave him immunity from the corruption—sure, it was not a powerful combat or defensive ability, but he'd be an absolute moron if he didn't like it. There was one being in Shadow Slave that had immunity from corruption
Nephis
And the immunity came from her Ascended Ability [Longing]; it took up a whole Aspect Ability slot while his was just an attribute.
He did not refute it—not in the slightest
He moved his eyes away and started to focus on the rest
Aspect: [The Primeval].
Aspect Rank: Divine.
Aspect Abilities: [Elemental Manifestation].
Aspect Ability Description: [The elements reside in your being—you can bring forth the 7 fundemental elements into reality.]
That was amazing
It was not difficult to figure out what the 7 fundementals were, they were the same elements that he had been through in the trials
Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Light, Darkness and curiously enough - Life
It took him a few seconds to figure out how to use his power but it came naturally as if it were always a part of him that was waiting to be beckoned by his minds call
As he focused on the 'Manifestation' he noted that he would need to choose an element to manifest so he chose the element - Fire.
As he did there was suddenly a line of fire that appeared in front of him - the manifestation of flame was as tall as he was and just burned there in front of him, he watched it curiously and then started to focus again
The manifestation moved according to his will - it formed a greatsword like the sword of light or dark, it became a ball or even a small little hoop like that of a basketball hoop
The manifestation was definitely a powerful asset for him and an incredibly powerful one at that but it was simultaneously not an indomitabe ability - sure the fire had the regular ability of fire which was to burn but it was not a solid like steel or rock
There fore it did not have the same cutting strength but if the enemy was thin enough or had fur for example it could simply burn through the flesh or cause the hair to be lit aflame
There was also a subconcious understanding that Kaelen understood - the manifestation would not be snuffed out or swallowed unless he willed it. The manifestation was an extension of himself so unless he was disposed of - the manifestation would remain
But thats not where the power ended
'Thats not all i can do.'
He focused again and watched the flame immediately be replaced by the element of water
The water acted in the same way that the flame did responding to his will but unlike the flame which could not actually cut or stab if he focused and caused the water to take the shape of a spear it had some level of piercing power
Fire was more similar to a gas while water was more similar to a solid
But the ablities of water ranged into more than just burn and sear - if he were to get the manifestation into the lungs of an enemy and drown them on try land, no - instead of going through all that he could ust create a water bubble and wrap it around their heads
Kaelen started to manifest each element that he had conquered
He summoned a large line of rock which had a significantly more direct combat and defensive power as he could form a shield or a sword though a hammer would be better to use
The darkness was a lot more odd and so was the light
Both of them were solid unlike the water which they were more similar too in being fluid
But they had the ability to become completely tangible and take different forms - this allowed him to use them in the same way he would the eath element or the water and fire element
He could also use the light element as a sort of flashbang or the darkness as a blindfold
The air was a lot more diverse with its applications since it was... well it was air
He could use it to create an air pocket for others to breathe under water or to suck the air out of their lungs and suffocate them, he could also make it into a sort of solid he could interact with
Kaelen also noted that he could use the manifestation from a long range of 10 meters away from himself in every direction which would mean that gave him more applications he could make use of
Then he brought the element of life into a manifestaiton
It appeared like a white mist that seemed to be both in a gaseous, liquid and solid phase all at once shifting according to how he wanted it to just like the rest
It did not take him that long to figure out what it was able to do - it gave him the ability of the Lost Life titan as well as the ability to heal - that was to say that this manifestation if used in tandem with a sword will give him the ability to suck a bit of life force from an enemy
It was similar to using a sword that had a bleeding effect - just this one was on steroids
'This is...'
It was fucking awesome, is what it was
His dormant ability was, without a doubt, the most powerful ability and most versatile to have existed.
And that was its power at the current moment, what happens when Kaelen became a monster? no what happens when he becomes a titan?
He would be able to use 7 manifestations at the same time, if he wraps them all around a blade he would be able to use a 7X life steal slash
'Wait hold up... didn't sunnys shadows and nephis flames give them a strength boost!'
He thought excitedly as he made the manifestation appear as a flame again and 'wrapped' it around his body
But there was no strength boost
Rather Kaelen had become flame.
'What the...'
He could not speak in this form but he still had the outline of a human, just a human who was made of fire
'Genesis...'
This was the ability of his innate ability, the ability to become his surroundings—he placed himself in fire and he became fire
He stood there and raised his hand, 'looking' at it
Bringing down the light sword from above, it manifested in his hand and started to swing it around
He was able to augment his memories with a property of the element
'...This is insane.'
Sure a manifestation like fire against the light sword was not a good idea as it would cause the blade to heat and eventually break - but he could also enhance it with the light manifestaion
Also - Life - was not a set element and so it had no negative effect on the weapon
His ability had just gotten more amazing
In this form of flame he was essententially intangible to enemeies unless they used an ability like a devil could or a being of a particularly high rank that could manipulate the Will.
He was about to test his other elemental assimilations and what they could do but the spell had decided to speak again
[All power has a price.]
[You have received a Flaw.]
[Your Flaw is: Memory of the World.]
He pulled up the runes already knowing what it was
Flaw: [Memory of the World]
Flaw description: [You will see the life of any being you kill with your own hands play before your eyes.]
This flaw was as unique as his ability and he would need to kill something in a bit to see how it worked exactly
He waited for the spell to announce him to wake but then remembered something else
[You have received an Aspect Legacy.]
He pulled up the runes as well
Aspect Legacy: [Shards of life]
Aspect Legacy: [Before the void had swallowed the first breath, it left its memories behind and in those memories had understanding—as his inheritor, you will uncover those understandings and make it your own, increasing your power.]
Shards of Life Mastery: [1/7]
First Shard: [Life]
Second Shard: [Unknown]
Third Shard: [Unknown]
Fourth Shard: [Unknown]
Fifth Shard: [Unknown]
Sixth Shard: [Unknown]
Seventh Shard: [Unknown]
'I wonder how to get the other understandings?'
It wouldnt be to difficult since it seems that he already has the memories and just needs to undergo some sort of realization similar to how Nephis needed knowledge and Sunny needed to get more understandings of Shadow Dance
He let out a smile and called
"Can you come out?"
He spoke softly calling out to the being that had helped him in the battle against the titan
It seemed to materialize out of nothing and looked at him. Kaelen analyzed its appearance.
It was about the size of a fully grown Barbary lion but looked nothing like it
6 animal-like legs were on its fully black body, each tipped with horrifically sharp claws. It had 2 tails that ended in something like white arrow tips, just a lot longer. It had 2 forward-pointing horns.
Its body may have been very large but it was almost dog-like
Its facial structure was like that too
It had 2 eyes that had vertical slits instead of regular dog pupils; it had a regular snout and nose but its mouth was anything but—multiple jagged teeth was in there, shining in a bright white—it had a forked black tongue as well
Its mouth leaked the black acidic saliva
Kaelen looked at its fur that seemed to have a small spikes in some areas
Kaelen looked at it for a while as it sat there
...panting
'It's...it's like a dog.'
He reached out his hand and petted its head and suddenly the beast seemed to become a lot more like a dog than before
As if it were given his approval by the head pat it started to whine and push itself against his hand, then it started to lick his hand, and somehow the acid did nothing to him
Kaelen had never owned a dog himself so he was glad
He started to pat it and give it head pats and scritches and watched as it moved around him and jumped.
'...It's adorable.'
He thought to himself
It seemed that the beast would exist here within his soul sea from now on
"Good doggy, good boy...girl? I don't care."
He already knew what this beast was and the details about it as well
It was the first being that the first breath had made.
"A dog really is man's best friend, huh..." He watched as it rolled around in the grass
It was the pure abomination.
But Kaelen needed to think of a name, which he unfortunately was not able to do right now
[Wake up, World's Soul]