Truth be told, Ash had been in need of so serious optimization for quite so ti.
At one point in his journey, he carried far too many laws, skills, and other abilities, which often led to many of his powers being forgotten or lost over the years.
Everything changed when he created Elysia—she practically pushed him to refine himself into the perfect being he was today.
And while Ash, like every other Unus, might appear to be the pinnacle of perfection to an outsider, he knew deep down that, at this mont, he was far from his ideal state.
This ti, it wasn’t an overload of skills holding him back, but rather a sense of stagnation settling in.
Ash sat cross-legged in the void between universes, with Nia pressed against his left side and Elysia resting against his right.
The three of them remained silent for a mont until Elysia finally spoke, her voice calm but carrying a clear sense of purpose.
"Before you even think about building the next road toward the Sixth Wall," she began, "there are two things you need to handle first."
Ash turned his head slightly to look at her, listening.
Elysia continued, her golden eyes fixed intently.
"First, you need to reach your true optimal state."
As she had ntioned before, his progress had been stagnating for quite so ti.
This was crucial, as it played a significant role in determining the results of his evolutions.
If he wasn’t in his most optimal state before evolving, nothing disastrous would occur, but it would still be a missed opportunity.
The evolution he achieved wouldn’t be nearly as powerful or effective as it could be if he were operating at his absolute peak.
And in this mont, he has four uniquely overpowered essences inside him — the Origin’s Essence, Isness, sothing akin to the First Absence, and that unnad essence that was born from within his own verse, Pantheos.
"That last one is unique to Pantheos. If you want to move forward cleanly, you need to properly integrate and balance them. Otherwise, you’re carrying unnecessary weight."
Nia, who had been quietly listening with her head on Ash’s shoulder, lifted her gaze slightly at the ntion of the essences but didn’t interrupt.
Elysia then glanced at Ash with a more serious expression.
"Second... you need to finally give Primordia the attention she deserves."
This ti, Nia reacted.
She lifted her head, eting Elysia’s gaze with a hint of surprise in her eyes.
"Primordia?" she echoed.
"You’re talking about that sentient weapon of his?"
Elysia gave a small nod.
"She’s been left on her own for far too long... what she needs now is a real body, true evolution, and a proper upgrade."
Being connected to Ash, Primordia evolved alongside him, but she had reached a standstill long before his optimization.
It all started the mont she beca half-sentient, as no other sentient weapon existed anywhere in Pantheos.
That was also part of why she hadn’t changed—there was no system of power or ranks for weapons to keep ascending beyond their current peak.
In the end, it was all Ash’s fault.
He stayed silent for a few monts, letting her words sink in, before a small, genuine smile slowly spread across his face.
His eyes shifted between Nia and Elysia, both watching him intently.
"...You’re right," he said at last. "I’ve been lazy about this for far too long."
Nia studied his expression for a mont before resting her head back against his shoulder with a satisfied hum.
"Good," she said. "Then stop stalling and start already."
Ash chuckled softly. He closed his eyes for a brief mont, his smile deepening as he began to focus his will.
"Alright," he said quietly. "Let’s begin."
----
As Elysia had ntioned, he started with himself, but before reaching those four essences, he felt the need to alter sothing—though it was more of an enhancent than a change.
By this point, not only Ash, but every mber of the Ineffable Pantheon had maxed out their Codex Powers—or more accurately, their Divine Powers.
From the mont they were introduced, these abilities were intended to be utterly broken and overwhelmingly powerful.
And while Pantheos had been steadily expanding, the tiers of Divine Power had only been recalibrated, never increased, with the maximum still fixed at twenty-one for now.
This ant Ash’s mastery over Art and Quantum—his two Divine Powers—were already on par with, if not surpassing, his own strength.
Yet, he wanted to take things even further.
For the longest ti, his quantum powers and his eyes, Oculus Unus, had been one and the sa. Now, his goal was to add sothing just as powerful as Quantum—maybe even stronger.
’Just what could possibly surpass sothing that practically makes invincible?’ he wondered, closing his eyes even more.
Ash expanded his perception, scouring through the endless layers of knowledge that existed within Pantheos and outside.
For the longest ti, Ash could gather all the information he needed from a new realm once Elysia either copied or linked to its core.
But when they ascended beyond the highest known infinity, one of the many perks that ca with it was making Ash, in particular, completely omniscient.
He moved past the structures of Pantheos, beyond the Pri Expanse, and into the deeper, more primordial layers of existence.
Then, he saw them.
Far within the Primordial Expanse, where Existence and Nonexistence t at the boundary of the First Absence, Ash witnessed sothing he had never encountered before.
There were countless threads of varying colors — so radiant gold, others deep void-black, so shifting between shades of crimson, silver, and colors that didn’t belong to any known spectrum — stretched across the Primordial Expanse.
They moved with purpose, tunneling and weaving directly into the thin, neutral bubble that was the First Absence.
Ash’s awareness settled on them.
The instant his mind touched these threads, clarity burst forth.
They weren’t laws, concepts, or even ideas—hell, they weren’t powers in any usual sense at all.
They were Fundantal Permissions.
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