Chapter404 – Eye of Truth
Where there had once been solid ground— There was now an endless ocean.
From all directions, countless curtains of water cascaded down from the void of the "sky," instantly covering the entire "ground" of the inner world!
In a little while, these streams of water would fill the world! Just then, the ancient tree unleashed its power! In fact, these streams of water weren't invading Axel's inner world, but rather drawn in by the ancient tree!
Accompanied by the frenzied trembling of its branches, the towering curtains of water split into countless tributaries, rushing rapidly towards its branches and trunk. Enraged by this action, the streams of water suddenly unleashed towering waves within Axel's inner world!
The fire spirit, the rock spinal cord, and other spirits residing on the Origin Tree's trunk, watching this scene, trembled with fear, terrified of being caught in the turmoil.
However, the Heavenly Spirit Fruit sapling, at this moment, was quite joyfully frolicking in the waves. Axel could clearly sense that it was radiating an unprecedentedly strong life force, and it was clearly growing rapidly.
Axel couldn't yet perceive any obvious changes in the Origin Tree. However, he saw that all its branches seemed poised to stretch infinitely.
At this moment, in Axel's perception, this ancient tree seemed to have spread its arms, supporting the entire world! No matter how turbulent and raging the surging waves were, they could not truly shake the foundation of this world. Because the entire world was, in fact, built upon the foundation of the Origin Tree!
Axel had a feeling that even if he died, this ancient tree and the world it contained would not perish!
Watching the waves seem to be gradually suppressed by the Origin Tree, Axel's eyes narrowed slightly. He concentrated his mind, then connected with the Origin Tree, and immediately unleashed an astonishing surge of primal force and spiritual power!
The Origin Tree was now his Natal Treasure. Communicating and resonating with it, the power of both would experience a significant amplification!
"Burning Fighting Spirit! Suppress!"
With the blessing of Burning Fighting Spirit, the Origin Tree's aura immediately surged to a new level.
Its branches and leaves trembled, and the raging torrents of water quickly subsided. Occasionally, some struggling waves surged, but they were extremely weak, having almost no effect.
Finally… no more water curtains poured into this world. In a few breaths, the Origin Tree had completely absorbed the ocean-like water within the small world.
Axel opened his eyes. "This…"
At this moment, he was in a barren, deep pit! Looking up, the canyon scenery was still there, but the once-full pool of water had vanished without a trace!
"This… the Origin Tree absorbed all the water?" What benefit would he gain from such a massive act?
He suddenly sensed something and looked inward again. The Origin Tree hadn't changed much; its size and the lushness of its branches and leaves were exactly the same as before.
Axel was somewhat puzzled. After all, the Heavenly Spirit Fruit sapling had shown significant improvement after absorbing only a small amount of water from the pool. The Origin Tree, having absorbed all the water, shouldn't have remained unchanged.
Upon closer inspection, Axel discovered a pale blue "eye" had appeared in the center of the ancient tree's trunk!
No… this wasn't an eye, but a drop of water!
The droplet was embedded in the trunk, shimmering with light, not a solid form, yet it didn't flow out.
"This…" Axel was somewhat surprised and extended his spiritual power to investigate. Upon slight contact, the scene before Axel blurred.
In a vast expanse of sky and earth, a long-haired woman, dressed in white gauze, her entire body engulfed in flames more intense than the sun, was plummeting towards a deep abyss!
The two were clearly tens of thousands of meters apart. But for a fleeting moment, Axel felt his eyes meet the woman's.
He sensed that her gaze was incredibly cold, concealing boundless sorrow.
"I'm sorry..." A voice, seemingly real yet unreal, rang in his ears, jolting Axel awake. Before him, he was back in the world of the ancient tree. Everything that had just happened felt like an illusion.
"What a strange thing..." Axel muttered, then suddenly froze. He had inadvertently seen his current stats:
"Spirit: 32819/33412." His Spirit Power had broken through the 30,000 mark in one go! His Physical Strength and Force Power were still only around 20,000!
“This…” Even the rarest spirit artifacts locked away in the vault of the Instrument King couldn’t have given Axel a breakthrough like this. But the surge in spiritual power wasn’t what shocked him most. It was the droplet.
That tiny, pale-blue drop embedded in the trunk of the Origin Tree… It could store his spiritual power. Completely.
In other words— Axel now possessed over thirty thousand units of active spiritual power, plus an additional reserve stored within that droplet. Nearly seventy thousand in total.
Seventy thousand. He exhaled slowly. “Huff…”
Only now did he begin to feel it—the imbalance. His mind was too fast.
Whenever he tried to move, his thoughts reached the endpoint before his body even began responding. His consciousness surged ahead like a lightning strike, while his physical form lagged behind like a rusted machine.
Originally, his three core attributes—Spirit, Physique, and Force—had grown in harmony. This accident had shattered that balance.
His foundation was stronger than before, yes. But power out of proportion was never a good thing.
Axel frowned. Still… the gains didn’t end there. When he had touched that droplet, he hadn’t only seen the falling woman.
He had seen something else. A line of information had surfaced clearly in his consciousness.
Third-Tier Awakening Skill: Eye of Truth.
Axel’s pupils contracted. “Through extremely powerful spiritual strength, the user may form a ‘virtual eye.’ This eye can perceive an opponent’s Force flow, aura intensity, and structural weaknesses—including flaws within their awakening skills.”
“Additionally, mental energy may be expended to partially convert mental influence into reality.”
Silence filled the barren pit. Axel stood there for a long moment. He had gained an awakening skill. Out of nowhere.
The Rock Spinal Cord and the Fire Spirit had granted him traits—affinities, enhancements—but never awakening skills. The Saint Sea Twig had only evolved an existing ability. But this…
This had directly given him a brand-new awakening skill. If the major clans discovered a spring capable of bestowing awakening skills— They would burn continents for it.
Axel steadied his breathing. The first function was straightforward.
Seeing through Force flow. Detecting aura strength. Identifying weaknesses.
His mind stirred. A faint teardrop-shaped mark appeared on his forehead, glowing softly like a translucent third eye.
He looked toward the canyon. Every mutated beast in sight was shrouded in faint mist. Different colors. Different densities. The thickness of the mist clearly reflected the intensity of their Force. Red points appeared across their bodies—eyes, throats, abdomens, joints. Critical weaknesses. Structural vulnerabilities.
“Interesting…” He dismissed the virtual eye.
Now the second function. Convert mental influence into reality. Abstract. But Axel understood it immediately.
The weight. The cold. The despair. That pool hadn’t simply shown him illusions.
It had manifested them. Even now, he could feel lingering frost in his bones. The land at the bottom of the pit remained frozen solid.
That wasn’t ordinary hallucination. That was mental influence becoming physical consequence. Valerie’s illusions could never reach that level.
Axel’s thoughts shifted. If paired with a direct mental attack skill—something like Easton’s Thought Breaking Knife—
Then the Eye of Truth could turn psychological assault into actual damage. He swallowed slowly. Unfortunately, he didn’t possess such an awakening skill. “…So. Another non-offensive ability.”
He almost laughed. Was he cursed? Every awakening skill he obtained leaned toward support, control, or utility.
He was still young. No matter how calm and rational he tried to be, there was still a fire burning in his chest. He had seen awakeners like Terrence and Yara—pure offense. Overwhelming force. Crushing dominance. He envied that.