Chapter 486: He Who Eludes Death? I don’t need that
1/3 for last week! Let's catch up!
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Chapter 486: He Who Eludes Death? I don’t need that
The System looked away, not taking pity on the young man tearing his hair out.
Priam felt as though his brain had just been wrung out. Or rather, his soul.
A hand caressed his face, and he tried to focus on that to forget the agony.
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Lvl Up: [Memory Manipulation Resistance] lvl 28VIVA +1DEXT +1MEM +1
Memory slipped away and returned. When Priam finally stopped shaking, he ignored his tensed muscles to read his notifications.
Tier 0 Soul legendary skill limit: 5/7.
He had gained two legendary skill slots. A feat that made his suffering worth it. To his knowledge, only Tier ups could increase this number. He was willing to bet that this was the kind of advantage that would gather momentum with the Tiers. Almost impossible to obtain at Tier 0, but overpowered afterward.
Priam rose from Jasmine’s lap, ready to pursue his plan, smiling despite having just brushed past death.
[Adaptive Golden Meridians - Epic] has reached level 60, its maximum level as an epic skill. Natural evolution to the Legendary Tier requires a connection with a Concept or Supremacy.
Prerequisites met:
̶H̶a̶s ̶b̶u̶r̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶p̶a̶t̶h̶w̶a̶y̶s̶
Has regenerated all of your pathways
̶H̶o̶m̶o̶ ̶E̶l̶y̶s̶i̶a̶n̶ ̶O̶b̶s̶e̶s̶s̶i̶o̶n̶
Possess a second set of meridians
Parent Skill of Ideal quality
Has channeled aether of a higher Tier than yours
Has channeled a thousand times your energy reserves in a second
Possess a Pseudo-Aether Heart.
̶[̶I̶d̶e̶a̶l̶ ̶A̶e̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶M̶a̶n̶i̶p̶u̶l̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶]̶
Of all the prerequisites to cast aside, Priam only hesitated on the last one. He had struggled so hard to unlock the ideal version of [Aether Manipulation] that ignoring it pained him. However, the Juggernaut kept the most important thing in mind: in the end, a resistance was passive. In that sense, retaining passive prerequisites was paramount.
You have gained the ideal skill [Hyper-Radiant Meridians - Legendary].POT -720
[Hyper-Radiant Meridians - Legendary] - Half physical, half spiritual, your pathways transport aether between your body and your soul, watering every rune and every cell. Pseudo-Aether Heart and Ambient Soul Siphon: two sources bathe you in the primordial fluid; this skill will not let you drown.Hyper class Meridians are the privilege of purebloods from certain high and supreme bloodlines, as well as the aether batteries of the Depths. These meridians will take as much energy as a low Tier can give them. Thanks to a Tier 1 aether coating, the Radiant version allows you to accelerate your energy to quickcast your skills.Note: 99% of users in possession of this category of skills are the size of the spider you just fed your boxer to. Normally, it takes at least that volume to obtain Hyper Meridians. Besides, the System classifies this skill as exclusive to colossal beings. Take that as you will.META (Focus) +9META (Endurance) +18
Tier 0 Soul legendary skill limit: 6/7
Turning his attention back to the fire still burning across the lunar sea, Priam commanded the flames to gather in his left hand. [Kinetic Sovereignty] absorbed the heat from the air, converting it into motion energy which he stored. After a few seconds, Priam walked over to a nearby tree and touched its trunk. Under his fingers, the bark felt rough. Dried out by the hot air of the fire he had unleashed to burn a lunar sea.
The young man released the energy in his possession. The wood vanished. Or rather, it exploded, turning into splinters that broke the sound barrier so fast they were invisible to the naked eye. Especially if one was as blind as Priam.
The Juggernaut smiled. His meridians had withstood an attack capable of annihilating a weak Tier 3 without flinching.
“Alright, I’m ready.”
His shadow trembled.
“Don’t you want to wait for [He Who Eludes Death] to be primed?”
“Humanity arrives in fifteen minutes. I’m not going to kill billions of people just to hoard a Merit.”
“You think you're selfish. I think you're not selfish enough.”
Could one ask for a more supportive shadow?
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With a smile on his face and his friend sheltered in his shadow, Priam knelt inside a pit. Beneath him lay no soil, but the raw lunar ground. Pressing both hands against the satellite, the Juggernaut took a deep breath. He was preparing to do something monumentally stupid. To steal, and then redirect, the kinetic energy of a celestial body. According to his add-on, it was the equivalent of six trillion bombs of the type that had leveled Hiroshima. An absurd figure.
He was going to die. In fact, he doubted even a Tier 5 with specialized skills could pull off this stunt.
...I bet Vertex could do it. Arnold too. Dishnu as well, if a moon cast too much shadow on his forest.
Reassured that his plan was within the realm of possibility for his rivals, Priam pulled an iridescent bead from his inner world and swallowed it. A Seed of Experience, the distilled essence of holistic experience from a random System user who had maxed out the associated skill. The Juggernaut selected his kinetic skill.
Lvl Up: [Kinetic Sovereignty] lvl 15, 16, 17…
ERROR. PERC SEALED
The hand of an expert overlaid his own. Centuries of practice, tears, sweat, and blood poured into his mind. No judgment or memories poisoned this lesson. Only the purest concentrate of experience tailored for him and the instinct of a professional. A sixth sense that revealed a truth to Priam: his current skill wouldn’t cut it. He had to go further.
[The Five Ages of Man] - fourth Merit - Cú Chulainn blesses your talent; once per month, you may summon an epiphany at will.
The image of the Celtic hero embodying Knowledge overlapped Priam’s face. When he reopened his eyes, his thoughts were limpid and sharp. Under Cú Chulainn's gaze, [Kinetic Sovereignty] surrendered all its secrets. At that moment, Priam mastered the legendary skill better than if he had maxed it out. He felt capable of overclocking it.
He was certainly going to need it.
[The Five Ages of Man] - sixth Merit - Sigurd blesses your flesh; once per week, you become invulnerable for one minute (CONST ×100, one weak point remains)
An aura of invincibility washed over his body. His ichor took on the color of gold, and his indestructible cells looked down upon the rest of creation. Priam smiled. He felt like diving into the sun to take a bath. While the Merit was active, with the exception of a beauty mark in the palm of his hand—his Achilles’ heel—he felt that his defenses lived up to his archetype. A true, unstoppable juggernaut.
But was he more unstoppable than the Moon?
Only one way to find out.
As his two hearts beat in unison, Priam pressed his hands against the satellite.
[Kinetic Sovereignty].
Across the surface of the Moon, over a thousand runes resonated with the legendary skill. An aether storm arose, byproduct of a titanic ritual capable of converting kinetic energy into primordial fluid. A wild, untamed power, channeled through the meridians of a Tier 0.
Lvl Up: [Kinetic Sovereignty] lvl 18…
ERROR. PERC SEALED
The world held its breath. Superior beings turned their attention to an isolated corner of the universe of the Seven, causing [Ciphered Record] to tremble. A line of the Dreaming Dragon Path was validated. The Juggernaut’s crown hummed. The first words of a Myth were being written.
Priam opened his eyes, as if to command the satellite to freeze.
The Moon obeyed.
A hundredth of a second after the start of the ritual, the Juggernaut’s body exploded in a crimson firework.
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Lvl Up: [Hyper-Radiant Meridians] lvl 2, 3META (Focus) +18META (Endurance) +36
With a Homo Elysian's physical form being tied to their soul, Priam felt himself dying before his add-on saved him.
[Host’s soul is collapsing. Activating "Survivor-3" protocol.]
[Breathless - Gold] - second Merit: Second Breath, Second Wind: restores your body to its most exceptional form possible. ACQUIRED
[Breathless - Gold] - third Merit: Third Breath, life is but a breath; your body harmonizes with your environment. NEW
3 Unused Merit Points.
An intangible wind blew through the shower of guts to piece Priam back together. At that exact moment, the kinetic energy of a moon was blazing through his meridians. The Juggernaut returned it, pushing it in a completely different direction.
Lvl Up: [Hyper-Radiant Meridians] lvl 4…ERROR. META (Endurance) SEALED
His body exploded once more. A Tribulation stole his memories.
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[Host’s soul is collapsing. Activating "Survivor-2" protocol. Genesis Gift used. One genuine Tear of a Tier 5 Phoenix received.]
During the first Reunion, Priam had drunk the thousand-fold diluted tear of the one who would become his mentor. In addition to surviving, he had acquired a bloodline thanks to that watered-down item. In its description, the System had assured him that the original could resurrect someone.
The tear flared under the manifestation of a distant evolution of Pyro. In an explosion of flames, Priam reappeared a second time.
Regaining consciousness, he ignored the purification of his bloodline and the atavism that accompanied it. He also ignored the ruined Moon, which was now plunging toward the Earth.
The Juggernaut grunted as he read his latest notification.
Lvl up: [Kinetic Sovereignty] lvl 19,..., 25PERC +63META (Focus) +63META (Perception) +63
[Tribulation]: Twelve attributes above 1 200 were detected in Tier 0.High Tribulation in progress…
A Tribulation is coming…
… Shit.
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Apollinaire sighed as he looked at humanity’s natural satellite. Up there lay his target. Or rather, his former target. The freelance assassin and poet extraordinaire had decided he wasn’t cut out to face a monster capable of brawling with colossal spiders, swimming through space as if it were a pool, and blowing up spaceships with a thought. If at nearly three hundred years old, Apollinaire was old enough to die, that didn’t mean he had to actively go court Death. An artist knew to wait for an invitation.
His team hadn’t seen eye to eye with him and had moon-landed to attack. A decision made under the influence of at least eight different drugs, and one they were sure to regret once the rush wore off.
As he was grumbling, the camera feed glitched. The assassin tapped the screen before realizing it was actually a window. The Moon had truly stopped moving. Well, not all of it. The core of the satellite had frozen, but not the topsoil added by the System, which continued on its path at one kilometer per second.
It was like a vehicle crashing to a dead stop at full speed while none of the passengers wore seatbelts. A perfect recipe for painting the windshield. And before Apollinaire’s eyes, the lunar debris painted the black canvas of outer space.
The poet watched with morbid fascination as the satellite’s surface dislocated, all of the System’s additions propelled into the vacuum of space. The Moon was stripping off its uncomfortable garments, revealing its silver surface.
Then, overcome by shyness, it fell. Straight toward the spider. Straight toward the Earth.
Priam had invited Death.