Nothing is Impossible

Epharion held up a scaled hand, purple energy coursing through his palms. "You will never live to see the light of day again for ending Denarion's life!"

A cage of purple power appeared around Atlas, but he quickly Hyper Jumped out of the way, escaping the cage of psionic power. The magic turned reflective, becoming a cube made of purple tinted mirrors. If Atlas hadn't reacted as fast as he had, he wasn't sure what would have happened, but he didn't want to find out.

Atlas teleported again, appearing right behind the Epharion, only for the kobold to shoot forward in a burst of speed, seeming to skim on the ground with purple energy racing around his feet. Epharion shot a pulse of psionic energy, creating a terrifying warping sound but Atlas merely shifted forms, allowing the energy to his Defence Form, allowing the pulse to sink into his armor before rebounding back at Epharion.

With a growl, the kobold waved his hand, but the pulse only wobbled in the air, not allowing the kobold's power to influence it more than that. Epharion dove out of the way, letting the pulse shoot past him and hit the wall far away from them, resulting in a sucking sound and an implosion of psionic energy.

The kobold raised both of its hands, causing mana to swarm towards him converting into psionic magic. Atlas wasn't idle changing to Speed Form and bum rushing Epharion, scythe swinging in a deadly arc at the white monster. Epharion was forced to release his magic early, a gout of psionic flame lapping ineffectually at Atlas's Magic Form, which he had shifted into mere milliseconds prior.

Epharion was forced to retreat again as his own flame was shot back towards him. Atlas was a mage's nightmare. He could reflect every spell cast at him, with the only exception being spells that managed to bypass his armor. Something a mage who preyed on people's mental energy almost certainly had. Atlas knew this fight wasn't won yet, so he stayed laser focused, casting three seemingly average fireballs with one distinct differance. They were closer to lightning than fire, because Atlas had added a component of wind elemental magic, causing them to fly swifter and faster than a normal fireball would, though they would also hit with less force. Atlas could change that aspect though.

"Explode." Atlas commanded, and the fireballs crashed into Epharion's hastily erected magical shield. They all exploded with the strength of a C4, but Epharion's shield only flickered. It was obviously made of stronger stuff than that.

Atlas shifted forms, pressing the advantage by rushing at Epharion once more, but this time he was caught by surprise, and a pulse of psionic energy struck him directly in the face, sending him flying backwards and imploding in his face, taking all of his Life Force with it.

Atlas's eyes were damaged more than his regenerating Life Force could heal, so he was forced to rely on his other senses. He strained his hearing and heard the warping sound. He shifted to Defence Form and the pulse once more was absorbed and recreated, sent back towards Epharion. Atlas started gathering mana, not switching forms as he was too afraid of being caught by magic when he wasn't expecting it. Once he had gathered enough mana, he created a spell. 2 parts earth and 2 parts fire. He then made it an area spell and gave it a command. "Attack the Kobold." he felt the magic rip from his fingers, molten rock, otherwise known as lava, rushing forward in a wave.

Atlas didn't know what happened next, but he heard Epharion give a strained yell, and Atlas made an educated guess. Epharion had used his shield again, but it was getting weaker, so he was starting to get worried.

Atlas went to create another spell, but he felt another pulse smash into him, forcing him to change tactics. He Hyper Jumped to the ceiling, creating a platform of solid air to stand on, and shifted to Recovery Form. His Life Force sped up even faster, recovering 25,000 points per second, healing his eyes rapidly until he could see once more.

He ducked out of the way of another pulse of magic, dodging it by the skin of his teeth. He then returned the favor, and a beam of light speared downwards, aiming to kill the white behemoth. Epharion spun to the side, dodging the beam and gathering more magic before clenching its claws, creating a cage around Atlas again. This time however, Atlas had been tricked. Epharion had used the same movements as he had for his pulse attacks, causing Atlas to duck to the side, trying to get out of the way of the attack. Because of this the cube of mirrors clamped down around him, and Atlas felt his mind begin to be attacked.

Atlas was in a small and cold stone room. He held a small sword and had a rickety shield on his other arm. He glanced around, but he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. He didn't even understand how he got in this room in the first place. There was no entrance, no windows, not even any divots in the wall. It was all smooth gray stone.

He couldn't remember why he was here. He could only remember his name. And that he was supposed to be fighting something. After another cursory glance, he noticed something he hadn't the first time. There was a small lever in the middle of the room. Just big enough to pull, but small enough to not be easily noticeable, blending in with the gray surroundings.

Atlas stepped forward hesitantly. He stretched out his foot and pushed the lever with his black dress shoes. He frowned slightly. Why was he wearing dress shoes? It tickled at something within him, but then a grinding sound broke his thoughts.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

He glanced around himself, and noticed a section of the floor slowly falling downwards, becoming a descending staircase.

He took a breath, stepping downwards into the dimly lit stairway.

He continued down the stairway until he found himself in another room, this one far more open. Runes littered the walls and Atlas could scarcely believe how much power was contained here. He looked around in fascination, absorbing his surroundings in awe and wonderment, committing them to memory.

In the middle of the room stood a figure made of glass. The figure looked familiar, but Atlas couldn't place how he knew of it. Simply knowing that he knew of it.

Atlas took a step towards the figure, steps echoing oddly. Atlas glanced at the figure again, and this time he realized what it was. It was a picture of him, though wearing armor and a mantle flowing down his back, emanating calm white light.

Atlas felt something grow inside of him, almost like a heartbeat, but far more ethereal. It took a second for Atlas to place the feeling. It was his core.

Or, to be more specific. It was his Everflame Core. The Core seemed to fight against something, and Atlas suddenly felt as though cobwebs were being brushed out of his fogged up mind, helping him to remember more of what was happening. He flared Divine Sight and Mantle of Sanity.

He felt as though he was pressing up against a powerful barrier, one that refused to let him free. He clenched his teeth and focused on Mantle of Sanity, powering it with his willpower and firm determination to escape what he now knew to be Epharion's mind trap.

Mantle of Sanity. What was its purpose? It had originally been a simple mental resistance skill, but then had transformed into strong will and then a throne of clarity, crown of sanity, before finally becoming a mantle of sanity. If Atlas had to name what he felt when using it, it would have been regal and powerful, scoffing at all the lowlives that attempted to influence its power.

Atlas frowned to himself, and he felt something resonate within him. He had another skill that made him feel the same way. What would happen if he were to combine them?

He attempted to break the force keeping him trapped but to no avail, it was going to take a lot more than he had to escape this place. Going out on a limb, because he had no other option anymore, he went to combine Mantle of Sanity and Absolute Mana Monarchy. Just before he did however, he felt another skill that felt like it would work perfectly with the others. Flawed Utterance. Atlas felt a little skittish about putting a skill with flaws in its name into the mix, but he went with his gut and added it as well. After a brief pause, he combined them.

Combining Skills: Mantle of Sanity (Z), Absolute Mana Monarchy (ZZ), Flawed Utterance (Z). Combine? Y/N

Selecting yes, the skills combined.

Combining…

Because of your title Skill Sage, and your Skill Sage Candidacy, you are able to choose between 6 options instead of leaving it up to luck.

Skill Upgrade options:

1: Fusion: All skills fuse into a stronger skill. How skills normally combine.

2: Evolution: Skills fuse to each other and a higher concept, effectively tiering them up and Fusing them at the same time.

3: Divergence: Skills combine and then separate, creating two slightly weaker skills with a wider variety of effects.

4: Evolutionary Divergence: Skills go through evolution and then divergence, in that order. Rarest effect, as it requires evolution and divergence to happen at the same time, which is rare in nature.

5: Mutation: The skills are fused and then a mutation concept is chosen. Mutation concept is completely random but must be a concept that you are connected to in some way.

6: Simplification: Skills concepts get simpler, but also more powerful after fusion.

Atlas had already planned this beforehand, he chose Evolutionary Divergence. He felt like some of the effects conflicted with each other, so he wanted them to filter away the skills into two separate skills, hopefully getting the best of both worlds. And of course, he chose the stronger of the two divergences.

Combining…

Evolving…

LUCKY BONUS!

Higher Evolution Gained!

Skill Divergence!

LUCKY BONUS!

Skills Tiering up!

Max tier for level reached, ranking up.

Skill(s) Gained: Mana Sovereign (ZZZ), Ruler's Mind (ZZZ).

Atlas eagerly read the effects of his new skills as he felt

Mana Sovereign (ZZZ): Mana is your's to command. Can you handle this power, young Sovereign? What path will you choose?

Feeling a bit peeved, he looked at the other skill, feeling far more excited about what this skill held for him.

Ruler's Mind (ZZZ): Some people have a mind like a steel trap. Not you, your mind commands a legion of adamantium traps. Let's you leverage your mind and allow you to use it to fight against mental attacks personally. All attempts to read or influence your thoughts fail. Illusions aimed specifically at you fail unless Y rank or higher. Mental attacks under or at Z rank are reflected on the attacker, and ZZ-ZZZ rank mental attacks are significantly weakened. About 25-49% weaker. (Depends on tier of the mental attack)

Atlas smiled. This was exactly what he had been hoping for. It was time to get out of this mental prison.