Chapter 78: Divine Mammoth Might!
The ruins of House Hurst were buzzing with activity.
Joren sat on the lid of a solid gold toilet.
Alar had hauled it over for him and called it a throne. It dug into his backside a little, but the view was excellent.
From up here, he could watch Manester and Kyo nearly come to blows over a crate of Rank Five pills.
Now that was team cohesion.
Everyone looked highly motivated.
Still, compared with those ordinary treasures, Joren cared far more about what he had truly gained from the battle.
Something only he could see.
He closed his eyes and let his awareness sink inward.
That final cut still echoed through his mind.
The feeling was difficult to put into words.
Like piercing a thin veil that had always been there.
Before, every swing depended on strength, speed, and protective force.
Now, the blade did not need to move first.
His will arrived ahead of it.
That intent to command the world and sever all things was what experts called Dominion.
To awaken a Dominion of one’s own was the hallmark of Rank Five.
Joren had done it at Rank Three.
"With this insight alone, I could crush a peak Rank Four without using a single Talent."
A faint smile touched his lips.
Of course, the most obvious reward was still waiting for him.
"System."
A pale blue screen unfolded before his eyes.
[Host: Joren]
[Current Bloodstars: 18130]
More than eighteen thousand.
A fortune.
The two middle stage Rank Five kills had given him ten thousand by themselves. The Fiend transformed death soldiers made up the rest.
Now came the question.
How should he spend it?
Joren scanned the panel until his gaze settled on one blue Talent.
[Primal Might, Blue]
His enemies were growing stronger.
Against Rank Five experts with Dominion and personal fields, brute force alone was starting to fall short.
He had broken through Orson’s defense, but the clean sensation of cleaving straight through him had come largely from [Primordial Bladebody].
Strength was not enough.
He needed strength refined into something purer.
Something absolute.
"System, evolve [Primal Might]."
[Evolving blue Talent Primal Might into a purple Talent requires 10000 Bloodstars.]
[Confirm?]
Ten thousand.
Exactly the reward from two Rank Five kills.
Joren did not hesitate.
"Confirm."
This was not the time to be stingy.
Spending resources to become stronger was a universal law.
Boom!
The moment the Bloodstars vanished, a volcano seemed to erupt inside his body.
The warmth that had once flowed through his muscles turned into molten fire.
Cells reorganized.
Genes leaped forward.
His bones groaned under the pressure as their density climbed at a terrifying rate.
Before, Joren had simply possessed monstrous strength.
Now every cell in his body felt like a miniature reactor.
Half a minute later, the tearing sensation finally began to fade.
Joren drew in a slow breath and looked at the panel again.
The blue entry had disappeared.
In its place shone a new Talent wrapped in purple gold light.
[Talent: Divine Mammoth Might]
[Grade: Purple]
[Description: The savage force within you has awakened into the might of an ancient Divine Mammoth. Its roar shakes down the stars. Its steps trample hell. You are strength given flesh. Nothing in this world can survive one punch. Anything that can will receive a second.]
[Overwhelming Strength: Base strength amplification increased to 1000 percent. Physical density is ten times that of an Awakened Warrior at the same rank.]
[One Force Breaks All: Physical attacks gain the Spellbreaker property. All energy based barriers suffer an additional 1000 percent damage from your attacks.]
Joren drew in a sharp breath.
This was absurd.
Calling it an upgrade barely covered it.
A one thousand percent increase in strength.
A one thousand percent bonus against energy defenses.
Perfect.
This was what it truly meant for one force to break all methods.
Joren closed one hand into a fist, then checked the remaining balance.
[Remaining Bloodstars: 8130]
His Talent had evolved.
Next came cultivation.
He was currently a peak Rank Three Awakened Warrior.
The greatest obstacle between him and Rank Four was his cultivation method.
[Heavenly Overlord Body Art] was only a Rank Three method, and he had already reached its limit.
Its protective force was powerful, but it could neither be projected freely nor given form.
That was the greatest divide between Rank Three and Rank Four.
"Exchange cultivation method."
Joren raised his left wrist and activated the tactical watch.
The internal exchange network of Antares Command opened before him.
He still had not spent the Military Merit from the last Beast Tide. Add the enormous contribution from destroying House Hurst, and the balance beside his name had become a string of digits long enough to blur the eye.
He could barely spend it all if he tried.
Dozens of cultivation manuals appeared across the holographic display.
The first one caught his attention immediately.
[Primordial Astral Force]
The orthodox advancement of [Heavenly Overlord Body Art].
It was also one of the most powerful force focused cultivation methods preserved by the Dominion Military.
[Price: 100000 Military Merit]
An ordinary soldier might never earn that much in an entire lifetime.
Joren’s balance had more zeros than he cared to count.
The merit awarded for killing two Rank Five Fiends alone had been astronomical.
His position as Frontier Marshal also came with discounts and privileges.
"Purchase."
[Purchase successful. Beginning encrypted transfer.]
[Data received.]
A holographic projection unfolded before him.
Complex meridian diagrams, circulation routes for protective force, and dense passages of cultivation theory broke apart into streams of light and entered his mind.
"System, record the cultivation method."
[Rank Four cultivation method Primordial Astral Force detected.]
[Recording...]
[Primordial Astral Force: 0 of 30000, Uninitiated]
[Recording complete.]
"Use all 8130 Bloodstars."
No hesitation.
Learning such a profound method through normal cultivation would have required months of seclusion just to cross the threshold.
Joren had no need for that.
[Bloodstars successfully deducted.]
Boom!
Thunder seemed to explode inside his mind.
Insights into giving protective force physical form flooded his awareness like water breaking through a dam.
The golden protective force coiled within his core began to spin and compress.
At Rank Three, protective force could cling to the body or a weapon, but it could not travel far from its source.
Now that began to change.
Under the system’s forced infusion, the energy underwent a complete transformation.
Denser.
Sharper.
More responsive.
Like gas compressed into liquid, then liquid hardened into solid.
Crack.
Some invisible shackle broke inside him.
Closed channels burst open one after another beneath the surging force.
Joren’s eyes snapped open.
He did not stand.
He simply raised two fingers toward the empty air and drew them lightly across it.
"Go."
Buzz!
A visible crescent of golden light shot from his fingertips.
A blade formed entirely from protective force.
It had left his body, yet remained perfectly condensed.
Instead of fading, it expanded as it crossed the air.
Within moments, it became a golden blade three meters long.
Boom!
A hundred meters away, a thick load bearing wall split cleanly across the middle.
The cut gleamed smooth as a mirror.
Then the entire structure collapsed and threw dust into the sky.
Below, Alar nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Holy shit! Who fired a cannon?"
[Primordial Astral Force: 8130 of 30000]
[Cultivation: Early stage Rank Four]
"Early stage Rank Four."
"Purple Talent, [Divine Mammoth Might]."
"Add [Primordial Bladebody] and [Thunder Dominion]."
Joren closed his fingers around a small blade of golden protective force and crushed it.
Confidence settled into his eyes.
Give him Orson again now.
Three moves.
That was all he would need.