Chapter 202 - A Heartfelt Fight

Bang!

At the very instant the claw made out of swords had touched the pillars, due to the great amount of power imbued in the claw, the pillars' defense was more or less akin to paper as their pillar shape had been destroyed. What remained after the collision between claw and pillar were only remnants of energy that could be attributed to the 'strong' pillars from before.

Then again, the power imbued in the claw was more than enough to create a shockwave as it collided with the pillars, destroying the pillars in its surroundings through the shockwave it has formed. Surprisingly, the number of pillars destroyed by the shockwave was more than the number of pillars destroyed by the claw directly colliding with them.

Nonetheless, after looking at the destruction caused by the claw, it was evident that Aurus had successfully passed the second stage, even exceeding quite a bit at that. After the claw he had conjured had dissipated into thin air, Aurus deactivated both of the status boosting skills he had activated beforehand while he told Theresa to remove the small screen that showed his Attack stat.

Whoosh!

Not long after doing those things, the remaining pillars, which haven't been destroyed by either the claw or the shockwave from the claw, gradually dissipated into thin air as the area of the stone room had reverted to its original area when Aurus had first appeared in this room.

As he looked at what was happening, Aurus could not help but say in awe, "I'm surprised how the inheritance can clean things like that up in a matter of an instant."

"I'm more surprised at how powerful you truly are, Aurus," a voice said not long after Aurus, slightly startling Aurus as it took a while for him to recognize who was talking. Realizing who it was, Aurus said, "You startled me there, Inhee."

"Anyways, how many pillars did I destroy?" After calming himself down from the slight startle, Aurus went ahead and asked Inhee this question with an aura of intense curiosity radiating from him. In response to this question, Inhee took a deep breath before saying, "You've destroyed about 5 times as many pillars when compared to the minimum number needed to destroy."

"In other words…?" From what Inhee was saying, Aurus was now sure that he had exceeded the minimum number of pillars needed to be destroyed. But what he wanted to know was the exact number of pillars he had destroyed, which Inhee fortunately answered not long after, satiating his curiosity.

"…49,704 pillars. You've destroyed 49,704 pillars," Inhee said before muttering to itself, "What a monster. An Inanimate that has enough combat power to even rival Animates…for every being that was like that, an era of change would surely follow."

"Would a new era arise due to this Inanimate right here?" Inhee could not help but ask itself this question, letting out a sigh as it decided that there was no point thinking about the future since it could not even look into the future.

After pondering over those things, Inhee went ahead and asked the elated Aurus, "Since you've exceeded the minimum requirement for clearing this second stage, you can choose a reward that exceeds your current power slightly. What will you choose?"

Hearing this question, Aurus, who was surprised and elated that he had destroyed that many pillars, snapped back to the situation at hand as he pondered over what reward he was going to get. Surprisingly, it did not take long for Aurus to choose a reward this time as well, saying, "An All-seeing Comprehension Leaf would probably be the reward I ask for again, to be honest. I just want to max out my comprehension speed."

"Seriously?" Inhee could not help but ask Aurus. It then added, "I could give you access to as much All-seeing Comprehension Leaves as you want to max out your comprehension speed, but you still have enough merit to ask for another reward, you know."

It then asked, "Are you sure you only need Comprehension Leaves? Don't you need skills? Experience points? Things like that?"

"Experience points…" After hearing that he could obtain experience points as a reward from what seemed to be an impromptu trial, Aurus quickly made his choice, telling Inhee, "Then…I want access to as much All-seeing Comprehension Leaves as I want. As for the remaining merit I have, please convert all of it to experience points I can use."

"Finally," Inhee said before letting out a sigh. It then said, "Give me a few moments to prepare the rewards for you. For now, you can take a break."

"Alright," Aurus said in response before recalling the sensation he felt while he had his Attack stat amplified by a factor of 72. At the instant he had activated [Dark Universal Blade], there was a faint feeling inside his body that he was going to implode due to the power, but that's all. Only a faint feeling. At the moment, he was wondering how he, who had activated all of his status boosting buffs back when he was doing a fusion attack with Fenrir and Charisa, had come out unscathed after that.

With that in mind, he then went ahead and asked Theresa this question, to which Theresa replied with a light smile, "The answer to that is simple, Master. Although Master's limit is 100 times the normal stats, for Charisa and Fenrir, who have both reached X-grade, their limit is 500 times the normal stats. In other words, after your amplification multiplier went over your limit, due to what you three were doing, the excess stats went towards Charisa and Fenrir."

Aurus repeated this answer in his mind a few times to process the answer, eventually understanding what Theresa was trying to say. He then asked Theresa, "In other words, if I don't do a fusion attack with Fenrir and Charisa while I activate all of my status boosting buffs, I would inevitably die."

"Best case scenario, a constant decrease of HP. Worst case scenario, instant death," Theresa replied to Aurus's question in a slightly comforting tone. In response to Theresa's words, Aurus let out a sigh of relief. After indirectly knowing that evolving to X-grade increases the limit of amplification by a factor of 5, Aurus felt the increased need to evolve to X-grade as soon as possible.

"I'm back." Coincidentally, after Aurus found out about those things, Inhee was finally finished preparing the rewards as three All-seeing Comprehension Leaves appeared in front of Aurus's field of vision not long after. After that, Inhee went ahead and said, "After absorbing one Comprehension Leaf out of the three in front of you, another Comprehension Leaf would appear in its place. As for the experience points you asked for…"

Ding!

A few seconds later, a notification sound resounded in Aurus's mind as Theresa told Aurus, "Master, you have obtained 80,000,000 experience points."

"80,000,000 experience points…" Aurus repeated Theresa's words, a chuckle resounding from him not long after as he said, "I see, I see. I don't have to resort to the back-up plans, then."

After that, Aurus went ahead and extended a tendril of FP towards one of the All-seeing Comprehension Leaves in front of him and dissolved it. As he retracted this tendril back, an All-seeing Comprehension Leaves appeared in the place of the Comprehension Leaf he had just absorbed, making him wonder how it worked.

Whoosh!

Of course, after absorbing an All-seeing Comprehension Leaf, Aurus's field of vision had transformed, allowing Aurus to see everything and anything with a single glance. Unfortunately, compared to before, this sensation had only lasted for less than a second before Aurus's field of vision reverted to the sight of the three Comprehension Leaves and the walls of the large stone room.

Ding!

Surprisingly, just as Theresa was telling him about the effects of the Comprehension Leaf he had just absorbed, a notification sound had resounded before Theresa started talking, prompting Aurus to think that there was something different in this absorption.

"Congratulations, Master! You have absorbed an All-seeing Comprehension Leaf! Unfortunately, since you've absorbed a Comprehension Leaf of the same grade before, the effects of the leaf have been reduced, only increasing your comprehension speed by 5 times. Fortunately for Master, you have reached the limit for comprehension speed, which is 40 times the normal comprehension speed!" Theresa said.

"Not only that, but since Master has reached the limit for comprehension speed, you have also obtained the active Species skill [Instant Comprehension]! In exchange for Master's stats, Master can instantly max out a skill to its maximum level!" Theresa added, with the last few lines attracting Aurus's attention.

"A skill that would allow me to max out a skill in exchange for my stats? That's a first," Aurus muttered to himself, pondering on how useful this skill to him was. Surprisingly, it did not take long for Aurus to realize that this skill was not beneficial to him since as an Inanimate, the only way he would be able to obtain stats is through levels and evolution.

Of course, with that in mind, he thought about another being as well, who might benefit from this skill even more than him, prompting him to ask Theresa, "Can I transfer [Instant Comprehension] to Argentum?"

Indeed, Argentum was the one in his mind when he thought about [Instant Comprehension]. Since Argentum was aiming to become a Super Animate, after reaching the Animate level, he would have a ton of ways to increase his stats without relying on the Tempering and Ascending skill, allowing him to use the skill without any problem. 

Unfortunately for Aurus, it seemed that he was barred from transferring the skill as Theresa said, "I'm sorry, Master. I cannot transfer [Instant Comprehension] to your second body…"

Just as Aurus thought that that was indeed the case, after hearing Theresa's next few words, his aura of slight melancholy had transformed into that of elation.

"…since Argentum has already obtained it through [Reward Sharing]!"

"Good to know, good to know," Aurus said before chuckling. Not long after that, he then looked up at the ceiling of the stone room and shouted, "Inhee, I've already maxed out my comprehension speed. Surprisingly, it only took me a single leaf to max it out. You can take it away now."

"Alright." Hearing Aurus shouting for its name, Inhee soon responded and removed the Comprehension Leaves that were hovering in front of him. Not long after, Inhee then said, "I'll let you have a 10-minute break for now. I'm sure you've used up quite a bit of energy in that skill."

In response to this, Aurus radiated an aura of affirmation before going ahead and recuperating his energy.

…

In a place far away from the Area 52 inheritance, both Inhee and the Supreme Ruler of the Void looked at the attack Aurus had unleashed through the orb. In an instant, their mouths had turned agape as they could not believe that such a small looking Inanimate packed that much power within it.

"I told you, that Inanimate may have a low existence level, but the power it has is more than enough for it to be worthy of the title," Inhee said to the Supreme Ruler of the Void beside her. She then added, "Don't you think it's cool for a being under the Supreme Ruler of the Void to be an Inanimate that has the power of an Animate? Wouldn't that give you immense bragging rights?"

In response to this, the Supreme Ruler of the Void was silent, looking at the aftermath of the attack of the Inanimate. He also listened to Inhee's words in silence, pondering over something while he looked at the Inanimate in the orb. Eventually, he opened his mouth, letting out a sigh as he said, "You really can't judge a book by its cover."

"It seems I've become fickle-minded after living in a secluded place for over 50,000 years," the Supreme Ruler of the Void said before laughing with a hint of mockery in it. Unsurprisingly, this hint of mockery was directed at himself. He then added, "An Inanimate that has the power of an Animate. I wonder how far such a being can go in the grand scheme of power?"

"I'm incredibly curious as well, to be honest," Inhee said in response to the Supreme Ruler of the Void's words. "When monstrous Inanimates like these are born, they tend to bring a change in the balance of the world, ushering in a new era of power."

She then looked at the Supreme Ruler of the Void's face and said, "Do you think this Inanimate can do so?"

"There's only one way to find out, to be honest." As the Supreme Ruler of the Void responded, a slight smile was plastered on his face, giving Inhee a bad feeling. It did not take long for the bad feeling to manifest as the Supreme Ruler of the Void asked her, "Can you let me take charge of the third stage this time? You can take the energy I used up for the third stage as payment."

"Well…" Inhee pondered over the question for a while, eventually nodding her head as she responded, "Alright then. The energy you have is quite pure anyway. Then again, all of your energy would go towards the creation of Area 68 in the Valerion continent."

She then went ahead and stood up from her chair, allowing the Supreme Ruler of the Void to sit in front of the orb where Inhee was manipulating the inheritance. The Supreme Ruler of the Void then went ahead and gestured with his hands, sending multiple strands of his own energy towards the inheritance as he said, "Could you go and talk to the Inanimate before the third stage starts. It might become shocked after finding out that the one it was talking to has abruptly changed."

"I can do that," Inhee responded to him, only to follow up with a question, "Anyways, what are you trying to do?"

"As I've said, there's only one way to find out if that Inanimate can bring a change in the world," the Supreme Ruler of the Void responded to Inhee's question with a grin.

"I just have to fight with it."