Julius awoke to an empty void. It was actually kind of familiar to the void he was sent to when he t Jasper for the first ti. However, unlike that void, this void seed much more comfortable.
It felt like the comfort of his own ho. As if everything in this space was his and his alone.
The last thing he rembered was burning alive. He laughed loudly at that. It was ironic that after all the attempts to burn himself, all it took was soone else doing it to finish him off. What were the chances?
He took a look at the afterlife. Or what he was assuming was the afterlife. It's the only thing that really made sense in his mind. The last monts he had were of him fighting for his life, and now suddenly he was here with no idea how or why.
As he looked around, he spotted several glowing orbs of light. They were light stars painted onto the canvas of the void. If he hadn't just died, he would have been much more appreciative of the view.
Eh, why shouldn't I enjoy them? Even if I am dead, it would be a sha not to appreciate this mont, he scolded himself.
So he took it all in while trying to accept his circumstances. It kind of hurt his pride that he died in the way he did. He didn't like to brag about his skills, but in reality, he was very proud of his strength. He truly believed that if he died it would be to a Tier 4 or Tier 5 at the very least.
Dying to a Tier 3's last-ditch effort felt kinda… la.
He wanted to scream out in the void to vent his frustrations. He had so much to finish. So much that he wanted to accomplish. We want to explore the world he wanted to explore. And now… he couldn't.
That was the real sha. He no longer had the opportunity. He already had a second chance, but he doubted a third one would show up out of the blue.
Life was fickle. Life was like a fla, flickering away, never knowing when the last day would be your last. For him, that day had co much sooner than he had been hoping. He had hoped he would have had more ti to complete his goals.
Death had co unannounced and taken him away. Now he was off to another life potentially and this ti he didn't think he would be able to keep his mories. He hadn't really believed in reincarnation before, but now that he knew that magic existed, he wouldn't be surprised to learn that it was true.
He sighed bitterly. This was just the natural cycle. The cycle of life and death. It was a concept that existed before and will be here long after I am gone, he thought solemnly to himself.
It was at that mont that sothing happened. It was like sothing was reaching out to him. A deep-seated connection rose within him and grasped out into the void. He didn't know what it was looking for.
But instead of rapping his brain for an answer trying to figure it out, he just sat back and observed.
He eventually noticed that the connection within him reached out to one of the lights in the void. This particular one was crimson red with a swirling vortex of black and white at the center.
The mont his focus turned to this light, it was like soone grabbed him and moved him in front of it. The light wasn't that big up close, it was probably only the size of his fist. Much smaller than he had been predicting.
He couldn't help his curiosity and reached out to poke the glowing orb of light with his finger. The mont he touched it he felt his entire mind connect with the contents of the orb. He knew what it was the second it occurred.
It was sothing he was very familiar with and that had saved his life many tis. It was his [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] skill.
He didn't really understand what was going on. Did that an all of his skills were represented by the orbs? There were many more lights than he had skills. So that didn't really make any sense.
However, sothing else happened when he touched the orb. The connection within him that had reached out to the orb found what it was looking for. It was within the skill and he felt the connection within him grab ahold of it. Then he felt it start to try feeding on it, like a starving beast.
What is going on?
Suddenly, he felt sothing unlock from inside of him. More accurately, he felt sothing get unlocked all around him. He finally had a guess where he was.
He believed that this was his soul space.
No wonder why this place felt so familiar and comfortable. It was literally everything that was him. It was the living representation of his soul.
And the unlocking was him getting sothing he had been trying to get for a long ti.
Notice: Detecting resonance…
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Evaluating options…
Previous acquisition of a Concept of Fire detected.
Requirent of Life Concept or Death Concept not t…
Unable to evolve Fire Concept.
Evaluating alternative options…
Notice: Fragnt detected.
Notice: Would you like to forcibly consu the Fragnt of Phoenix?
Consumption of Fragnt in process…
Julius felt his entire soul burn up. It was like setting himself on fire again, but this ti instead of pain he felt a flood of euphoria when it happened. It was like he was being washed over in a fire of vitality. And that starving beast had its long awaited al.
Fragnt Consumption successful…
Appraising requirents…
Fire Affinity requirent… satisfied.
Life/Death Affinity… satisfied.
Prior Experience of Death requirent… satisfied.
Prior Experience of Rebirth requirent… satisfied.
Concept requirent… alternative accepted.
Power rushed over him. His soul felt like it was getting hosed down with a torrent of fire and life mana.
Congratulations. You have evolved your Concept of Fire: Blazing Ember into the Concept of Phoenix: Ashen Rebirth.
Julius let out a laugh into the void. What kind of requirents were these?
Not only did soone have to have a fire and life affinity, but they also needed to experience death and rebirth. How unlikely was that? No wonder the Phoenix Concept was so difficult to acquire. Who could say that they have died and also been reborn?
After he finished laughing he let out a sigh. It wasn't like this Concept would do him much good anyway. Perhaps, if he had it before he got burnt to a crisp, he would have survived that suicide blast, but of course, fate had to give it to him after he died.
Or maybe not… Why would I get a notification after I died? That makes zero sense, if I were dead, then I would just be… dead.
A spark of hope lit up inside of him. It was possible that he wasn't dead yet. Though, that begged the question of why he was here. Was his body still alive and he was just unconscious? If so then how much ti did he have left?
Now that there was a chance that he could still live, he got off of his ass and started to move. The first thing he did was connect to his Concept of Phoenix. If he was going to survive this he was going to need so help from his new Concept.
The instant he connected with his Phoenix Concept, he felt a surge of power unlike any other of his Concepts. It was sohow both violent and calming at the sa ti. However, it was the quality that took him by surprise.
It made his Concept of Sharpness seem like his old Fire Concept in comparison. Normally that would annoy him, knowing that one of his Concepts could be better, but this ti he was excited.
This was exactly what he needed. If he was going to survive this he was going to need a lot of help from his Concept.
He began to envision his Concept of Phoenix empowering him and his soul. It was actually surprisingly easy to do. It was like the Concept already knew where it wanted to go. Imdiately he felt sothing. Sothing far off in the distance void.
He instinctually knew that this was his body in the real world. The problem was how was he going to get back.
He started to feed his Concept down this line connecting to his body along with [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal]. It was clear that his body was still there, but it was barely hanging onto a thread. He knew that he must not have a lot of mana left, but he was hoping his new Concept would help with that.
And help it did. However, it still wasn't enough. He needed sothing more, sothing more powerful.
It was at that mont that Julius felt the connection between him and Drasil once again explode. A soft verdant light dangling among the stars ca forth and gave Julius the extra energy he needed. The line thickened as more of Drasil's essence was fed into it.
However, that wasn't all Julius had in the tank. He didn't even realize what he was doing until he looked back on it later. He started to feed his life essence into the skill, temporarily empowering it to heights beyond normal. Alongside his new Concept and Drasil's assistance, he was able to supercharge his body with the skill.
He gave it his all. He used his Inexorble Will to push himself far beyond his limits. He had a chance and he would be damned if he was going to waste it. His soul space was literally shaking from how hard he was pushing it.
Finally, he was able to push that fat boulder across the line, and all of a sudden the dark void with the smattering of stars was replaced with blinding white light.
***
Pain. That was the first thing he felt when he woke up. Just pain.
It shouldn't be new or surprising at this point, but still, he felt like this was becoming too much of a normal occurrence.
He took stock of his condition real quick. He couldn't see, the flas must have burned out his eyes. However, he still had [Spatial Perception] to his imnse relief. Using that skill he inspected his body.
What he found wasn't good. It left him speechless for a good while, the shock distracting him from the pain. He didn't know how he was still alive.
He didn't have any limbs left. He barely had a chest and head either. He was basically a burnt chicken nugget underneath a pile of ash.
Fortunately, he was still alive so that was all that mattered and so he let out a sigh of relief that ca out as a wheezing cough. His healing skill was still in overdrive, but the soul boost was no longer there. That ant he was healing pretty slowly. He barely had any mana left, whatever he naturally regenerated was imdiately sent to his body.
Thank god for his new Concept. The Phoenix Concept helped lower the cost of mana and made the skill much more effective as well. That was probably the only reason why he was still alive.
However, there was nothing else he could do at the mont. He could only lay there, buried underneath a mound of ash slowly healing himself. Yet, while the pain was still present the imnse relief he felt at the mont was more prominent. He wanted to laugh, but his vocal cords were still a ss.
He hadn't died, which ant he would still have a chance to accomplish his goals. His ti in this world wasn't done yet.
His musings were distracted by a notification.
[Sage of Savagery lvl 4 -> lvl 6]
[Soul Tempering lvl 1 -> lvl 5]
[Empowernt of Will lvl 16 -> lvl 17]
[Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal lvl 19 -> lvl 20]
Oh, that's just wonderful. Of course, I get rewarded for almost dying again, he sarcastically joked to himself
This world was a cruel one. It rewarded pain, suffering, death, and overcoming one's limits. It incentivized conflict and was barbaric at its core.
However, with that being said, Julius couldn't help but love it.
User Comments
0 comments from readers