NOVEL NEXT Chapter 84: Domain
[Brainless] is evolving into [Enduring Spirit]...
Synergy detected with your talent [Humanity adapts] and [He Who Eludes Death].
Recalculating…
Title upgraded! [Tenacious Spirit - Silver] Congratulations!
[Tenacious Spirit - Silver] - You had a mission, and your unfailing willpower enabled you to accomplish it. Even in the face of death, you continue to fight. You won’t let your body be a burden any longer.
Never forget: more than your body, your will makes you who you are.
You can begin to manipulate and train your mind. Your mind becomes more resistant to environmental erosion.
WILL +20%
As he finished reading his notification, Priam reflected that his pain had disappeared. Or rather, that it had lessened. His memories had returned - at least partially. My name is... Priam. Yeah, that's my name now.
Priam activated [Aether Perception] to check his condition. Instantly, a wave of relief washed over him. In order to improve his mind, the System had regenerated part of his spirit. At least enough to give him a chance to create his Domain. Priam watched his spirit body for a second, calculating its fading speed. About two minutes. Maybe more once I've deactivated [Aether Perception].
Which he did before consulting his Trees of Merits. He intended to take every advantage he could.
Trees of Merit
Each new Title opens a new Tree of Merit and allows you to upgrade a Tree of Merit once.
Upgrading a Tree of Merit to Tier 9 uses 10 Titles and thus condemns 9 other Trees. Be careful which trees you upgrade...
[Tenacious Spirit - Silver] - Tier 3: Your spirit begins to break free from your bodily limitations. It can now travel for a few moments outside your body.
ACQUIRED.
[Tenacious Spirit - Silver] - Tier 4: Locked. Requires a Gold Title.
6 Unused Merit Points.
Satisfied, Priam felt his mind stabilize further. If he understood the Merit correctly, his Title now allowed him to leave his body. The possibilities were numerous: he could spy on his surroundings, detach himself from his body to increase his concentration or rename himself Casper. From now on, Priam would no longer need to find a wyvern to vaporize his body before setting off on a spiritual journey. Baby steps...
Without wasting any time, Priam tried again to perceive his mist. It seemed even closer to him than before. The increase in willpower enabled him to better manipulate [Moon Mist].
After a few moments, Priam stopped his experiments. Sighing mentally, he faced reality: his mental state was still agitated. He had just come close to death, and the ordeal had been shocking. [He Who Eludes Death] had not yet been triggered to heal his mind.
The best cure for this kind of emotion was time. A resource Priam didn't have. I'll meditate on my feelings later. For now, I might as well postpone the problem. Priam knew not listening to himself could be dangerous, but the situation left him no choice.
[Emotional Discipline]. Priam took ten seconds to observe his emotions calmly. He felt his fear, anger, rage, and then his relief. He had won - at least temporarily. Slowly, his harmful emotions began to dissipate, giving way to his excitement. He couldn't wait to test his new limits. His willpower crushed all negative emotions, and Priam's mind threw itself back into work.
All around him, the cloud of Damocles had closed in. Priam deployed [Moon Mist] again, using his Title and Merits to reconnect fully with his mist. Hesitating for a moment, he also activated his Potential. It wasn't the time to cut corners.
The mist welcomed him back. A feeling of fulfillment emerged in Priam. His different assets were synergizing, strengthening the connection between him and the mist. Despite Damocles' hostility, the cloud seemed almost a friend. It confided in Priam, revealing its secrets and those of the steam.
A notification arrived, but Priam ignored it. The only impulse left in him was to merge with the mist. Create a Domain and ascend. Since the Tutorial, most of his evolutions had been quantitative. Now, at this very moment, a qualitative change was within his grasp. A transformation.
A metamorphosis.
[Focus]. [Meditation]. Both skills, boosted by the treasures he had previously swallowed, increased his concentration to an all-time high.
With each passing moment, the world took on new colors, hitherto invisible to his eyes. The mist became more familiar. His new sensitivity even allowed Priam to see beyond the dome's barrier. Until now, it had always been denied him. To communicate, he'd needed a way through the mist. That was no longer the case - something had changed.
The wyvern attacked again. Indeed enraged, it delivered a second blast to the city below. Priam's emotions remained unaffected by the destruction caused. Right now, all that mattered was the mist. A mist that whispered even in the heart of the attack, where the blast had pushed back the air.
A mist that existed even when there was nothing left. A mist that occupied the void.
Priam's mind trembled as a realization crystallized: the Mist was everywhere. More than just water in different states, the Mist was a concept.
A final barrier gave way in the face of this understanding. A special, intimate bond opened up between Priam and the mist concept. From this bond, an epiphany emerged. Priam began formulating thoughts, ideas that the mist was breathing into him.
Mist is an expression of aether at a given moment. If a higher being saw the world as it really was - an ocean of aether, the fundamental particle at the origin of everything - then this ocean could take on an infinite number of forms. A cloud, a tower, a single living being, a universe and... a mist.
Everyone's way of seeing the world was different. Perceptions, shortcomings, and brain wiring altered how the world looked. To each their colors and tastes. The color red was not perceived in the same way by two different humans - without even mentioning color blindness. Similarly, an ant couldn't distinguish a lake from an ocean. The worldview was a matter of perspective.
Sometimes, the truth was absolute: early men thought the earth was flat and were wrong.
Sometimes the truth was multiple and in everyone's heart.
Priam's heart opened to the world and to the mist. More than just the water molecules of the atmosphere, it opened up to the mist of aether. An infinite fog in every sense of the word. A Mist that shaped Universes and Worlds. A haze that created lives, dreams and concepts. A destructive Mist, symbol of entropy.
For an instant, in a sublime epiphany, Priam saw a tiny fraction of this mist.
A simple soul drifting on a misty current, Priam enjoyed the vision for a moment, transforming his mind and soul in the process. Every aether particle, all interconnected, was transforming the world. The software and hardware of all existence became one. For the first time, a human was contemplating the Truth. Priam's soul smiled, evolving under the impulse of the Mist.
The next moment, as if reluctantly and for safety's sake, his soul disconnected. His will was too weak. A mere human was not meant to gaze into infinity. One day... Priam's heart raced at the thought.
If his deep connection with the Truth of the Mist had been broken, Priam felt that this vision had changed things. Feeling the mist and the Moon again, he smiled as he sensed the changes that had taken place within him. Firstly, he could now feel his soul. He no longer had to slip into [Mirror of the Soul] to see its reflection. His soul, the pure aether sphere at the heart of his mind, was weak. Small. Fragile.
That would change.
In the heart of this sphere, a stream trembled. Its Domain was waiting. Instinctively, Priam knew there was only one thing left to do.
Turning outwards, he perceived Damocles' cloud, the dome barrier and the furious wyvern. Smiling, his Will connected to the stream of mist cradled by his soul. The fruit of his deep connection to the world. A tool capable of manipulating aether. Able to dominate the world. A future Supremacy.
Priam grabbed the misty current and pulled it out of his soul. With a mental command, the misty volute gravitated around his soul. Priam shaped the mist to resemble a cloud. It enveloped his soul, protecting it and hiding it from the world. Tiny aether runes appeared in the mist before disappearing.
Connecting himself once again to the surrounding mist, Priam tried to use his new Supremacy.
His Perception encompassed part of the Damocles cloud. Priam gathered his will and pulled to him.
The Tribulation’s cloud trembled.
Congratulations, you've unlocked a Supremacy - Domain.
Achievement - Silver: You are the second human to unlock the Supremacy - Domain.
In your Domain, you're a god.
The Seven Concepts congratulate you.
Potential +300, Mist Affinity, [Moon Mist] lvl up!
Achievement - Gold: You are the first human to approach a minor Concept.
This Concept will change you as much as you change it.
Tame it.
Shape yourself.
The Seven Concepts congratulate you.
Potential +1000, Mist Harmony!
New entry in the [Glossary].
Esmée raised her eyebrows slightly as she felt her skill activate. With a gesture designed to be perfectly neutral, the Princess reached for her notebook. The artifact was in the form of a grimoire covered in gold and precious stone. However, no connoisseur would have been mistaken. The enchanted ancient wyvern leather protecting it was far more precious than the metals that set it.
An expert would have recovered the leather, discarding the paper after analyzing the writing on it to no avail. This would have been a crime, for a thousand-year-old tree had given its life to create these pages. Pages that now supported Esmée's skills.
One of them, harmless at first glance, was a great help to Esmée. The [Glossary] allowed her to keep an eye on every character in her Story. Knowing that the Princess wrote about everyone she met, she was privy to many secrets. Not the darkest, but many small details often ended up creating a picture representative of reality.
For example, when a noble from house Altaru unlocked a skill from house Priviit, the two houses were not as neutral towards each other as they would have you believe.
Usually, [Glossary] worked like most information-gathering skills. The greater the distance between Esmée and her target, the less information she received. This time, the target was very far away.
Priam Azura obtained a Silver Achievement. Priam Azura obtained a Gold Achievement.
The princess's eyes widened as she looked at the character's name. Priam Azura was the first to arrive in Elysium. Esmée had avoided all contact with the alien and was glad of it. At first, he had been rather wise and harmless - until he captured one of their rivals.
Underestimating the First was stupid. The man seemed weak at first glance, but she knew it was a trap. No weak man could easily survive a fight with Arnold - another monster.
Esmée had gathered information on all her Elysian rivals. The System - and therefore the Concepts - had something planned for them. That was her theory. Why else send the ten strongest newcomers to the most dangerous world in this new Universe?
But danger was synonymous with reward. Esmée was ready to take the risks necessary to change her destiny.
"What's the matter Esmée?"
Esmée looked up at her father and bowed her head respectfully.
"News of my rivals, my King."
"Our rivals," corrected the King. "Any good news? A death, perhaps?"
"I'm afraid not," replied Esmée, shaking her head. "The First has just obtained a new Silver Achievement."
The King sighed. "It's not the first one for nothing. Any further information?"
"No, his divination resistance is too high." Esmée felt her heart speed up before she calmed down. Knowing someone was ruining her plans was painful. The First developed resistance extremely quickly. Esmée was therefore careful to use her divination as rarely as possible. Unfortunately, Priam had to have asked his henchmen to help him increase his resistance. A man willing to do anything to progress. I should learn from him, she thought.
"The fact that your skills are unable to break through his defenses remains a failure on your part, my dear sister."
Esmée turned to Aydan, a smile on her lips. Initially fourth in the order of succession, the new Crown Prince - thanks to her - was somewhat pathetic with his attacks.
"I believe you'll have a chance to show the First your skills very soon, dear brother."
"Indeed," said the King, gesturing to one of the servants. "Our best agents have finally succeeded in the series of quests required to obtain the artifact we've been coveting.”
The servant brought a box before Esmée.
“Esmée, using this artifact, you will open a passage between Elysium and this dome once the Reunion is over. Aydan, you will use your rewards to stay another day in this Reunion. With your guards, you will cross the passage created by Esmée and set up an outpost in Elysée. The rarest resources in this new Universe are there, and we want them. Do not disappoint us, my son."
"Yes, Father."
Esmée remained silent, respecting her role and not making herself more noticeable than necessary. It was easy, considering that women were not usually allowed to speak. Only her position as a princess and her results in the Tutorial permitted her to be more highly regarded than an animal.
That will change, vowed Esmée.
Status: (Average value for a Homo sapiens male before integration: PHY 10 / MEN 10 / META 0)
PHYSICAL:
Strength 173
Constitution 301
Agility 210
Vitality 319
Perception 380
MENTAL:
Vivacity 183
Dexterity 236
Memory 50
Willpower 363 (+28)
Charisma 176
META:
Meta-affinity 188
Meta-focus 111
Meta-endurance 101
Meta-perception 51
Meta-chance 114
Potential: 4359 (+988)
Tier 0
[He Who Eludes Death] charge: PRIMED.