Thalion sat down after killing the Hydra scum and began to ditate, strengthening his blood and reflecting on the fight with the Chosen and his future. He really needed a massive upgrade for all his forms if he wanted any chance in the higher stages. Even his human form, with skills empowered by his bloodline, had stood no chance against a Chosen.
Now, he had even lost his armor and sword, both of which had been massive power boosts. No longer could he let his blood explode. A technique that would have been a cheat code when fighting vampires. That was gone. He was still strong against other blood users thanks to the Sanguis Impera, but against a Chosen, that likely wouldn’t be enough.
He hadn’t stood a chance against Kaelir and that had been a relatively good matchup.
To be fair, “bad matchups” didn’t really exist for Thalion, not with his many forms. He was comfortable in every elent, and each form specialized in different areas. Only the crippled Eclipsari and his human form overlapped. Both had high strength, durability, and vitality, though their fighting styles were quite different.
It wasn’t always that way. The Umbral Predator form used to focus purely on physical power, while his human form leaned toward magic and swordsmanship, sothing Thalion wanted to return to.
The crippled Eclipsari was still by far the strongest in terms of pure physical power, but Thalion wanted to push that even further. He wanted the Eclipsari to be unmatched in strength and speed, with skin that couldn’t be penetrated. It might be an ambitious goal, but it was one worth aiming for.
As for his human form, he was a bit less certain. He wanted to keep all his mage spells and even delve deeper into that path, mastering more powerful blood magic. For that, he would need to balance vitality and intelligence — without neglecting agility and strength. He still wanted to fight with a sword… once he rebuilt the Blade of the Blooded Templar. Fire was also a path he needed to embrace, both for his human form and the Sanguis Impera.
For Eagly, the path was clearer. The eagle’s evolution would eventually lead toward sothing far greater, perhaps even a dragon. The next step would likely be a wyvern, according to the book on beast evolution he had read in the Golden Palace. The question was, what race could he reach with a divine class?
Then again, beasts didn’t have classes, so it had to be the race that would beco divine if his human class reached divine rarity. His evolutions were bound to be fascinating, but there was one form he really needed to put more thought into: the Tidecaller Serpent.
Until now, the Tidecaller Serpent was more of a mage, with almost no close-combat capabilities. It had a bite skill, but with his low strength attributes, it was practically useless — more of a desperate last resort to surprise an enemy. The issue was that Thalion had been content with being a powerful water serpent, essentially a floating artillery mage.
But he needed sothing extra.
Maybe a form of rebirth — shedding his skin to evolve into sothing greater? He had no idea how to achieve that, but at least it was a direction to work toward. He also needed more skills for the serpent. It was the only form lacking a true movent ability.
Eagly had Skydive and Tempest Glide.
His human form had Mistform and Telekinetic Dash.
The crippled Eclipsari used its tendrils.
But the Tidecaller Serpent had nothing comparable and it was the form he had spent the least ti in. Maybe taking a dive into the wide oceans of New Earth wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Of course, that was only feasible if the elves and other races didn’t start another war for control of the planet.
But those were struggles for the future. When he finally achieved his divine race, he hopefully would be strong enough to kill even a Chosen.
Thalion would have to stay at E-grade for quiete a while to break the rune on his soul body, so he wouldn’t be sacrificed in a few million years. There was also the question of how long it would take those Chosen to reach D-grade. Most of them had already progressed more than ten levels, and as the trial continued, that gap would only widen.
The distant future didn’t look good and the near one was even worse.
Right now, Thalion had no idea how to defeat a Chosen in battle. And that was likely a requirent for claiming one of the top spots. Maybe he could make it without fighting a Chosen, but the odds seed slim.
So what could he do to reach that level of power?
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The Chosen were E-grade, with extrely high body tempering, excellent equipnt, and elite training. Thalion would need a massive boost in power to even compete for the top treasures.
He guessed that this system event would only get harder from here. At so point, looting and avoiding others wouldn’t be an option. They were already forced to seek safe zones at night and if those beca fewer or smaller, conflict would be unavoidable.
What boggled Thalion the most was that he didn’t have a solution to the problem of being too weak. He couldn’t think of a single risk he could take that would grant him the power he needed. The only option that ca to mind was finding bloodlines for his other forms, but that was basically impossible. And even if he managed it, he would still be too weak.
He was cultivating four bodies, while the Chosen only had to focus on one. Additionally, their bloodlines were far stronger. So even if Thalion found bloodlines for all his other forms, it still wouldn’t be enough to close the gap.
He tried to calm his pounding heart and stop the panic from spreading. He would find a way. Just because he couldn’t see the path now didn’t an it didn’t exist. No... he would continue to push himself.
He still hadn’t reached the limit of body tempering for the crippled Eclipsari or Eagly. Thalion was at a very high point, but not yet at the finish line.
The forms he had done almost no tempering with were the Tidecaller Serpent and his human form. To be fair, the Tidecaller Serpent was essentially tempering by absorbing the crystal, while his human side tempered its blood.
Could body tempering be the solution to getting strong enough to fight a Chosen in the later stages?
Probably not, but it seed like the best way to power up for now.
Thalion imdiately began with his human form, which had suffered the most in this stage. Both his sword and armor were destroyed, and on top of that, all his blood reserves had been lost. He had recovered a little with the blood he had taken afterward, but it was still nowhere near enough.
His vision turned inward as he began sothing he hadn’t done in a long while: purifying his essence blood and empowering it to new heights. Until now, he had mostly left that task to the Sanguis Impera, having had more pressing matters to handle back then.
The thought that all that ti spent building his armor had been wasted stung, but Thalion swore it would only make him stronger in the end. It had been good practice, and he wouldn’t give up smithing, especially after the sword had earned the title Blade of the Blooded Templar.
He could do things with his blood and curse that no one else could replicate, and Thalion would never let another smith handle his blood. What if the smith kept so for themselves, or worse — sold it to the elves so they could prepare a counterasure? No, that would never happen.
Besides, Thalion genuinely enjoyed crafting his own weapons. There was a deep satisfaction in finishing sothing as miraculous as the armor and the Blade of the Blooded Templar — and the joy was even greater knowing how long it had taken to create.
That was why the loss hurt so much.
Thalion wouldn’t have been surprised if Kaelir’s flas had contained special properties that allowed him to lt the armor more easily than normal fire could. For his next set, he would focus on stability and durability rather than offensive empowernt.
At least the armor had protected the amulet.
His golden amulet had been fed with countless souls during this trial, though the gain paled in comparison to the surge of power he had received from the amalgamation of souls in Ankhet’s pillar — the one they had destroyed earlier.
Maybe that could be a way to get stronger, Thalion thought, pausing his cultivation.
The ball of souls had possessed far more power than the single souls the amulet had devoured. If he could sohow recreate such a fusion — arrange the collected souls into one massive sphere of horror — it might grant him the boost he needed to face a Chosen.
But he had no idea how to stitch them together. It had looked less like an arrangent and more like a fusion. To interact with souls, he would also need to sacrifice parts of his own soul body, much like when stealing a bloodline. And he would still need a way to keep the souls bound together.
For now, it didn’t seem feasible. But he would keep it in mind.
His thoughts settled again, and Thalion returned to his blood cultivation. He used his heart to infuse the blood with greater power and accelerate the process. Sitting there in the safezone allowed his mind to relax after the ordeal of this stage.
After strengthening his blood considerably, Thalion switched focus to his soul body. For that, he shifted into the form of the Tidecaller Serpent.
He chose this form specifically to work on his soul, wanting to reinforce the area where the crystal currently rested. He imdiately began creating additional spirit veins to stabilize his soul body. This would make it much harder for the crystal’s energy to twist and deform it. A stronger soul was always a good thing in Thalion’s opinion.
Since absorbing the will of the Outsider, he hadn’t truly developed his soul further. He already had imnse strength from that connection alone, but now he had the ti to build new spirit veins and refine his foundation. He also hoped that a stronger soul would enhance his Crimson Gaze.
He considered it a mistake that he had only used the ability once in his fight against Kaelir. He should have tried harder to force eye contact — perhaps after breaking through Kaelir’s defensive charms, he might have stood a chance.
In the heat of battle, though, it hadn’t seed like a viable strategy — especially since the Chosen had deliberately avoided eting his gaze after the talisman cracked.
The night passed quietly as Thalion worked on his soul, occasionally switching back to blood cultivation. It was peaceful, and the calm helped clear his mind after everything that had happened — the pain, the losses, and the constant pressure.
When the first rays of light touched his head, the new stage began.
Thalion opened his eyes and stood, brushing the dirt from his clothes. He felt fully refreshed and ready for what ca next.
But then he froze.
Before him, the new stage unfolded. A massive wall of water stretching so high into the sky that he couldn’t see its end.
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