Chapter 590
The grace kept pushing, elevating Rattan until he reached the peak of the fifth stage, with even more power left to bestow. However, seeing that this was the limit Rattan could currently withstand, the Abyss’s will shifted its attention to Rattan’s cube. It blessed the remaining grace upon the artifact.
The cube began to swell, rapidly increasing in size until it was the size of a boulder. Its material purified, its internal functions strengthened far beyond anything Rattan could have accomplished in his current state. The cube was soon upgraded, transforming from a mere tool into a genuine artifact.
The Abyss hummed with a weird satisfaction. Even as parts of its very nature had been irrevocably altered, rendered into vast, shimmering icescapes by Lyra’s relentless assault, it found a strange delight in the unfolding drama.
It was a satisfaction born not of harmony, but of transformation and the brutal, intricate dance of power. The freezing touch of Lyra’s law was an intrusion, certainly, a force antithetical to this Abyss layer inherent heat and chaos. Yet, it was also a catalyst.
This inherent capacity for transformation is precisely why the Abyss, despite the immense destruction, doesn’t mind sixth-tier beings battling on its different layers. To a lesser entity, such conflicts would represent catastrophic devastation, an existential threat to their very being. But to the Abyss, it’s something akin to a vigorous pruning or a forced evolution.
Each clash of these cosmic powers doesn’t merely level mountains or freeze lakes; it fundamentally alters the very essence of the layer upon which they fight. The raw energy, the clashing laws, the very reality-bending power unleashed, all seep into the Abyss’s fabric. The result is always a new outlook and nature of its own for that specific layer. A fiery layer might become a tempestuous maelstrom of raw lightning after an elementalist’s battle. A desolate plain could burst forth with pulsating, sentient flora following a clash between nature deities.
The Abyss views these battles not as invasions, but as grand, albeit chaotic, acts of genesis. The casual indifference of sixth-tier beings in their struggles is mirrored by the Abyss’s own detached satisfaction. It’s a forge, a crucible where its own limitless, monstrous potential is constantly reshaped and expanded. Every scar on its surface, every frozen waste or charred crater, is simply a new canvas for the birth of something novel, something uniquely terrifying, ensuring the Abyss remains an ever-changing, endlessly resourceful realm of dark wonder.
Rattan reeled, utterly taken aback by the newfound power surging through him, but even more so by the dramatic transformation of his cube. He watched, mesmerized, as the now boulder-sized cube moved with a will of its own, merging seamlessly with the Abyss Armor Kaelen had worn. The armor’s inherent chaotic will was swiftly and decisively overridden by the cube’s new artifact soul. Its formidable functions were entirely taken over and then fully handed to Rattan, its rightful owner.
A joyous, uncontrollable laughter bubbled up from Rattan’s stomach and heart. He hadn’t even begun to truly leverage Kaelen’s skin, yet it was already bringing him such immense benefits.
Driven by an eagerness to experience the raw power of a fifth-stage being, Rattan didn’t bother with a spell. With a mere flex of his will, his feet left the ground. There was a silent burst of displaced air, and Rattan shot into the sky.