While the ordeal with my mind was easily handled, my body took a bit longer to recover. Greenish veins ran up and down my body from the points where the energy of the infinity stones entered it.
My status revealed that it had little negative effect aside from a muscle-weakening debilitation. The other notification that showed up, however, gave so pause.
Prolonged exposure to the Ti stone increased your Ti Affinity (Angel) and upgraded it from Low to Mid.
Congratulations: You've acquired Ti Energy Resistance Adept.
I blinked. "Uh…Yao. You might want to hear this."
In the hour or two that we rested in preparation for the second round, Yao and I talked in private, and she concurred that my adaptability was off the charts, even for Nephilims.
Apparently, my brother would've taken at least a day to recover from the stunt I had just pulled, and I was already on my feet, all but the last of the green vein gone as my body seemingly absorbed and strengthened my affinity to Ti.
"It could be the system thing Shin hitched onto my soul," I guessed, but Yao shook her head.
"Shin would've already had more of your soul if he was lending you that kind of substantive power. It's more likely an innate ability that has not quite crystalized like your mixed energy. Perhaps it's another reason why he wants you so badly."
"Possibly," I muttered as I again rembered that Shin was a cheap mother fucker.
"This new information contextualizes everything we know about you and Shin. This unknown ability of yours might be your saving grace."
I couldn't agree more. The second round of the ti dilation went as smoothly as the first. Jean stood to the side while Kaecilius and Mordo maintained a powerful Mandala Shield that apparently kept the energy escaping in, and by the end of the session, my numbers had gone up again, and I was ready to use Unite.
Angel Energy: 67
Devil Energy: 79
Endurance: 80
Vitality: 84
Congratulations, Ti Affinity (Angel) has reached High.
Everybody gave a wide berth as I hefted Rebellion high. I winked at Jean. "Don't panic," I warned as I stabbed myself in the chest and was subsequently consud in a pillar of multicolored light.
A scream ripped from Jean's throat and mine as my cosmic burn expanded and grew, covering most of my body. Pain resistance mapped onto it, dulling the pain substantially. Cosmic energy seeped into the skill, altering it forever as my mind grew clearer than it had in weeks. Then ca fire resistance. The skill warped and expanded, mixing with the elent in the cosmic energy that burned and rged deeply with my robust fire affinity.
Earth Resistance caused a less profound change, reinforcing my body considerably, as did Arcane, Lightning, Blood, Affliction, Dark, Cold, and Kinetic. Space, Ti, ntal, and Wind caused a more distinctive change, enhancing my abilities and body in ways I could not fully articulate.
I lost all sense of ti as the Unification was underway, and it ended just as suddenly as it had begun. When I ca to, I found myself floating mid-air, rapidly falling to the ground. I barely registered the pain as I landed.
When I stretched to my full height, I noticed that Yao and the other sorcerers were slightly below my eye level.
'Agamotto, have rcy,' I heard Kaecilius say. 'He's huge.'
'The wounds are completely healed,' Mordo said.
Yao remained quiet while Jean rushed over to and punched in the chest, before wrapping in a fierce hug. She felt feather-light.
"Thank goodness you're okay…You conveniently left out the part where Unify required you to literarily impale yourself." She didn't untangle from until I called out her na, and when she did, she seed fixed on my eyes. I could tell sothing about was drastically different.
"What's wrong?"
I already knew I was a fair bit bulker. I hoped nothing had gone wrong during the process.
"It's your eyes," she said slowly. "They're purple."
"What now!"
I summoned Rebellion, which had fallen to the ground soti during my Unification, and looked at my reflection. I was stunned by the face that stared back at .
I looked exactly like Dante but estimated I was about 15-20 pounds heavier and a few inches taller. My eyes were purple like Jean had said, vibrating like they barely held back a storm, struggling to rise to the surface.
"That'll take so getting used to," I said.
"At least now you can claim to be clairvoyant without rousing suspicion."
I chuckled, turning Rebellion to the side to catch more light. Now that I looked hard, I noticed that my hair had also gained a faint shade of purple.
However, the biggest difference in my physique was my baby-smooth skin. My Cosmic Burn was healed entirely, I felt stronger and healthier than ever.
And my status reflected it. The difference was night and day.
HP: 1840/1840
SP:1800/1800
AE: 1370/1370
DE:1400/1400
Strength: 58 60
Dexterity: 61 60
Endurance: 80 100
Vitality: 84 100
Angelic Energy: 67 70
Demonic Energy: 70 70
My mouth fell open as an unhinged laugh slipped out. I goggled at what I was reading. Jean looked at concerned, but she fell to the background as I crunched the ntal numbers. I was at least twice as strong in every major category. I was in the strength class where I could flip cars easily, and my top speed put at over 300 miles per hour before any skill boost.
I was officially broken, and I'd not checked for my new skill.
My jaw dropped when I eventually got to it.
(Transcendent)Cosmic Prothean Body (Basic)
Forged from the amalgam of 15 unique defensive skills and the Cosmic Fire of the Phoenix, it synergizes well with Dante's innate adaptability to grant an ever-evolving skill that provides robust defensive and offensive advantages. It also grants several powerful subskills.
Current stat bonuses:
60 Strength
60 Dexterity
100 Endurance
100 Vitality
70 Angelic Energy
70 Demonic Energy
From The Ashes: Remake your body once a day using the latent cosmic energy still flowing through your veins. Refills all resources and greatly enhances effects of the subskill: What doesn't kill .
What Doesn't Kill : All resistance skills have been rolled into What Doesn't Kill , which grants a flat 35% boost on all resistances. Increased exposure to harmful magical elents helps grow the Cosmic Prothean Body, working towards the next evolution of the skill.
What Doesn't Kill dramatically reduces the strain required to acquire new stats in exchange for slower skill growth of Cosmic Prothean body.
Prothean Vitality: Grants a passive regeneration comnsurate to your vitality stat. Generate 1/8th of your health pool every hour.
Nether Fire: Your fire affinity has dramatically improved and altered by Cosmic energy and the Phoenix's influence. Your fire burns twice as hot as before, lasts twice as long, and gains a pronounced corrosive property. Your Fire affinity has been upgraded to Peak, the highest ever recorded for mortals. You're also completely immune to fire attacks.
Astral Link: Your middling ntal talent has been greatly strengthened by contact with the Cosmic fire of the Phoenix. Your Mind affinity has reached High tier.
Windborn: Your resistance skill synergized greatly with your affinity, bolstering it slightly. Your affinity has reached Very High.
Ti-Sage: Your resistance skill synergized greatly with your affinity, bolstering it slightly. Your Ti affinity has reached Very high. All skills that draw on the concept of ti are doubly as effective. (includes Evasion)
Dinsional Consciousness: Your resistance skill synergized greatly with your Dinsional affinity, strengthening it. Your affinity has reached High. You're more attuned to the spaces between dinsions.
"Hot. Fucking. Damn," I let out a victorious laugh.
"Are you okay?" Jean asked.
"Never been better."
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