Chapter 730 - Breakthrough Step
What exactly was the Sun God’s magic mirror like? As it was formerly God Equipment, would it have many miraculous uses? Actually, that wouldn’t be meaningful at all to me.
To me, it was only one piece of the puzzle. All I needed from it was its Concept as a top-level light-type resource.
The main components of my planned Holy Light sword Dawn in my design were one foundational resource and two additional resources to help support its main abilities. The quality of the final resources I used in constructing my sword would directly affect the sword’s final power level.
Back when I was locked in bitter battle in the Chaos Abyss against the Devil Lords, I had forcefully started creating my Holy Light sword. The foundational resource I chose for it was actually two items: Karolan’s spear from before he had ascended to become the God of Holy Light and Estrada’s battle hammer filled with the inheritance of Holy Knights.
Karolan’s spear was a holy weapon containing the history of the arrival of Holy Light. It represented the source of Holy Light itself. It had the highest-level religious meaning possible. Thus, Karolan’s spear would help my Holy Light sword Dawn to become the highest-level weapon of Holy Light.
Estrada’s hammer contained thousands of years of inheritance regarding the path of protection that humans took to protect others as Holy Knights. As a foundational resource, that would give Dawn the quality of being unyielding, and transform into durability and strength, two of the most important qualities for any weapon. Additionally, Estrada’s hammer was also one of the most compatible resources with Holy Light possible.
The foundational resource didn’t have to be just one item. Most Myth-ranked weapons’ foundational resources would be rare treasures or special items. There was no specific requirement for the resource in the design to begin with. The design only asked that the resource be compatible and high-level enough.
As for the two supporting resources, I needed a resource with the power of spreading light in order to send Holy Light out as far as possible, utilizing the cleansing ability of pure Holy Light in a large area of effect, just as if my Dawn sword was a lighthouse. The other resource I required would need the power of gathering light in order to condense high-purity Holy Light for greater attack power, just as if my Dawn sword was a laser beam.
Originally, I had thought that I would need two different light-related items in order to complete my design. However, Sun God Aloyo had truly given me a great gift here.
The very Concept of the sun itself was about spreading light to begin with. Meanwhile, a mirror would be just like a magician of light. According to the mirror’s designed shape and angles, a mirror could either gather or spread light as well.
Since Sun God Aloyo’s magic mirror possessed both the properties of gathering and spreading light, then I could simultaneously fulfill both requirements with just this one item.
I summoned my Dawn magic sword in midair. Aloyo’s magic mirror transformed into a silver liquid that entered within Dawn.
I sat down underneath Dawn to meditate as I sculpted my sword.
Holy Light poured out from Dawn. It was like I was bathing in Holy Light.
Achieving SemiGod rank, now also known as Level 4, wouldn’t be as simple as just sculpting one’s personal Myth-ranked weapon.
Sculpting a Myth-ranked weapon was only a technique. Powerful traits and combat strength would be added in passing. The true goal was to use the Myth-ranked weapon as an extension of one’s own physical body, making up for the natural weaknesses of humans, elves, and other humanoid species.
A human body was just like a cup. As the human became more powerful, the process would be like filling the cup with water. By the time that the human reached Myth rank, the cup representing their body’s ability to hold power would now be full. The limitation of being human would limit their development potential. In that case, it would seem like the human would have to switch to using an improved vessel in order to gain more power. This would be the equivalent of changing your entire species and physical body, which would require starting over from the very beginning again.
In that case, the actual correct answer was to open up a small hole in the cup, allowing some water to pour out into a backup vessel. This was the foundational theory behind how Myth-ranked weapons could help people break through to the next power level.
Although this sounded quite simple, accomplishing it would be extremely difficult.
This would be the equivalent of making up for your natural weaknesses.
This new Myth-ranked weapon would absolutely become a very part of you. Only then would this new powerup not be wasted. You couldn’t afford to take too small of a step with this. Otherwise, it would be meaningless if it didn’t do anything.
Creating a Myth-ranked weapon would be the equivalent of creating a new and fully functional organ of the human body, allowing you to break past the original limits of the human body.
SemiGod? Level 4? If you could reach this step, you would no longer be considered a mortal. You would have surpassed mortal limits already, hence such a name describing the power level. You would no longer die of natural causes.
That was right, any Level 4 individual’s lifespan would be massively increased even if they made no special preparations regarding how to increase their lifespan. As long as the Level 4 individual wasn’t the idiotic type, they typically wouldn’t have to worry about lifespan anymore.
However, just strengthening the Myth-ranked weapon to develop a new path wouldn’t be enough. During this process, your own physical body would also need to evolve and change in order to get accustomed to this new “organ” in your body. You would need to undergo simultaneous evolution of your physical body and Myth-ranked weapon in order to reach the next level.
It could be said that this was the most important as well as most difficult step of all. How you did here would directly affect your future development potential.
There were some who would intentionally stay at Myth rank for several hundred years, all so that they could do as best as possible on the final step. Usually, they either still hadn’t gathered enough top-level resources, or there was still a problem with their design, so they didn’t want to force themselves to level up, which would actually cause them to lose more than they would gain by limiting their maximum potential.
There were some who might spend only a few years in Myth rank before breaking past the Three Heavy Doors with some genius Concept that transformed into reality, finally achieving miraculous things.
There were some who might spend several centuries working hard before finally making that final breakthrough, thus allowing their future potential to be limitless.
There were some who had lost the ability to reach the peak from the very start due to physical deficiencies or taking the wrong path. The most pitiful of all would be the example of the tremendous gap between Myth-ranked undead and the Undead Emperors. It was impossible for the undead to pass the final Heavy Door of Myth rank due to having an incomplete soul. Yet, the Undead Emperors who did so had indeed achieved the impossible, so of course they would have far surpassed the regular Myth-ranked undead.
However, the great majority of Level 4 individuals had barely managed to pass through the final Heavy Door. They would already be more than satisfied that they had managed to achieve Level 4 in the first place. It would be considered far too extravagant to desire even more on top of that.
Every single Myth-ranked weapon would be different. Every single individual’s path to Level 4 would also be different. In that case, it was only natural that their future paths and potential would also be different.
Before reaching Level 4, you could learn from your predecessors’ experience and even imitate them.
The path after reaching Level 4 was as wide as the entire world. Nobody would be able to guide you. You would no longer be restrained by past experience. Nothing had limits anymore. How much more you could power up would entirely depend on yourself.
Holy Light created a cycle between myself and Dawn. A mysterious change was currently happening.
I felt like my back was really itchy. Suddenly, my golden wings sprouted from my back, without my ordering them to do so. They had automatically appeared without me transforming into my War Angel form.
“Damn it! Am I going to turn into a birdman?”
I was really astonished at this, but thankfully, my System gave me a message that helped to calm me down.
Apparently, from the very start, the so-called War Angel and Original Sin Demon form transformations were only a part of my physical body’s bloodline. It was just like how an angel bloodline would naturally have wings as part of the physical body.
However, my Arbiter Bloodline was far too powerful. An overly weak physical body would be unable to handle it. My System had thus helped to separate my Arbiter Bloodline from my body, instead turning it into a temporary transformation ability that I could make use of.
But now that I had entered Level 4, my physical body would finally be strong enough, so it was time to return my Arbiter Bloodline to my physical body.
“I’m not going to transform into a birdman, am I…?”
However, I still suspected that I might permanently turn into a birdman. That would be quite difficult for me to accept.
[Do you really hate my personal creation, the angels, so much? Rest assured, it’s just like how a tiger won’t show its claws for no reason. You’ll be able to hide your angel traits. It’s just that you’ll now have an angel’s strength as an additional buff to your normal stats, and that your physical appearance will change slightly.]
I heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing that I wouldn’t become a birdman. That helped me to get rid of my reluctance and allow this transformation to continue naturally occurring.
As Holy Light constantly shone upon me, my originally hidden Arbiter Bloodline power was fully activated. It felt like something warm was flowing inside my entire body, filling me with never-ending strength. Yet, I was currently unable to move.
My Arbiter Bloodline was now returning to my physical body, giving me far more than just the ability to transform into angel or demon. A tremendous amount of the power of Order was concretely transforming my physical body.
Angels were the Goddess of Order’s favorite and most spoiled species. Power of Order far surpassing what a Seraphim would possess was cleansing and making my body pure.
I could see that my arm was thickening at a visible rate. It also seemed as if the stones beneath my feet were shrinking. This abnormal phenomenon could have only one explanation: my physical body was growing up.
[Actually, you would have reached adulthood at this time even without eating all those Dusk Fruits.]
Only now did I discover that this was apparently a present that my System had prepared for me beforehand. However, I wouldn’t have been able to receive this present until I managed to reach Level 4.
Having the most foundational power of Order enter my physical body meant that my physical body’s foundational quality had been massively improved. This would give me the best potential possible for my future development.
However, I wasn’t worrying about this right now.
“Am I going to be even taller than that Seraphim who was more than four meters tall…?”
I started shaking in worry when I thought about how high-level angels’ true bodies were actually even more ridiculously large than giants’ bodies. I definitely didn’t want to have to be like Little Red, needing to use transformation magic all the time while being around humans.
[Stop worrying over nonsense. Rest assured, at the very least I have a better sense of beauty than Cynthia does.]
I suddenly recalled Gaar, that strangely shaped Chaos Main God who was actually Cynthia’s backup physical body. Considering how Gaar was nothing more than an amalgamation of half-dead demons and corpses, a lump of rotting flesh… Having a better sense of beauty than Cynthia did was truly a low standard to compare by.
Judging by how my Holy Light sword Dawn was currently completing itself in midair, when I woke up again, my breakthrough to Level 4 would be complete as well.