Tales of the Endless Empire
Chapter 183: Bodytempering = Pain

Pain. Agony. These were the two things Thalion had felt most intensely over the past days. His power had increased far beyond what he had thought possible. He had pushed himself to the brink, torturing his body in the gravity array like never before while continuously devouring plants with a high affinity for darkness. This effect was only amplified by his skill Abyssal Devourer.

The black tendrils that emerged from his body were perfect for attuning himself to the darkness element. Until now, he hadn't realized just how powerful they truly were. At some point, he had even found it annoying that consuming things with his tendrils didn’t grant him permanent stat increases. But now, his perspective had completely shifted.

He had discovered that he could feed on crystals, and everything he consumed was converted into pure darkness, which he could then use for body tempering. Many factors influenced how efficiently this conversion worked, but the mere implication that he could potentially thrive in a world with high light affinity was absolutely insane. And that wasn’t even the full extent of it—he could still eat beasts the normal way to gain stats. If that wasn’t enough, he could even use his tendrils in battle to dismantle almost any energy construct instantly.

After a day and a half, he had already consumed all the dark-affinity plants available. Then, he switched to consuming small wind crystals. The darkness he gained from just one of these crystals was equivalent to roughly ten enchanted moonflowers.

The skill he had acquired from that tiny fish had also turned out to be a complete game-changer, allowing him to consume so much more than before. The only thing stopping him now was the sheer difficulty of forcing even more darkness into his flesh, muscles, organs, and bones. He wasn’t entirely sure what the issue was. Was his mind simply incapable of handling the strain of further assimilation? It wasn’t that the body tempering had completely stopped working, but it had slowed down drastically.

Even so, his gains were massive. Light now seemed to bend around him, while shadows stretched longer and darker in his presence. His attacks, infused with darkness corroded like acid upon impact, had become even more potent. Additionally, his constant training in the gravity array had pushed the Umbral Predator form to entirely new heights.

Thalion still had three days left until the teleportation to the next stage. He wanted to wait for the system shop to appear so he could have a little chat with the voice before merging with his elemental. The darkness elemental had reached level 78 and was close to evolving.

Its power had grown significantly. It could probably take down one of the weaker E-grade fighters in his base with ease. Right now, it hovered in place, a two-meter-wide black sphere in the chamber where all the runes directed the high-darkness-affinity mana. The two darkness crystals he had prepared were entirely consumed.

Thalion had considered using one of the darkness crystals he bought from the system shop. The same ones he had used to transform the now-shrunken giant wind crystal. However, he didn’t want the elemental to evolve before he did. That was yet another reason he was waiting for the system shop.

He wasn’t sure if merging with the elemental in its current state would be better than merging with an E-grade one. Could the elemental’s race suffer a downgrade if it evolved too early? The logic should be the same as with beasts and humans or at least, that’s what Thalion imagined.

"If it turns out that merging with an E-grade elemental is better, I’ll just stuff that fucker until it hits E-grade," Thalion thought with amusement.

For now, body tempering as the Umbral Predator didn’t seem very productiv. At least, not compared to the advancements he could make in other areas. He didn’t want to slow down his momentum. One of his forms that had experienced a massive power-up was the Tidecaller Serpent. Consuming the blue crystals had elevated it to new heights, despite the fact that Thalion hadn’t even used the form much over the last days. The fact that this kind of improvement was possible seemed fair to him. Otherwise, it would be impossible to be a shapeshifter with multiple strong forms.

Each day, he dedicated an hour to swimming in his newly created aquarium, working on body tempering for the Tidecaller Serpent. Mostly to distract himself from the hardcore tempering he was going through as umbral predator. He had reached a point where he could manipulate water. An ability very similar to his blood manipulation.

The key difference was the control. Water felt slippery in comparison, nowhere near as precise as his mastery over blood. He suspected that Sanguine Thorn had helped him develop such precise control over his own blood, but that same level of understanding didn’t extend to water.

That said, his control over water wasn’t useless. He had reached a level where he could unleash powerful waves at his enemies, and he was certain that with time, his mastery over this element would grow even more.

Furthermore, Thalion could now manipulate water to create currents that sped him up or slowed his enemies down. Something that could prove crucial in future battles. He had even learned to form small rivers that rose into the air, allowing him to swim through them as if he was flying. Unfortunately, this effect was short-lived, as most of the water would eventually disperse. Since he hadn’t yet tested this ability in the open, he was limited to circling above his aquarium until the water thinned out, causing him to fall back in.

Another improvement was his water sense. He hadn’t been able to test it in the ocean, as they had yet to find one, and the river still seemed too risky in his opinion. Traveling there would also take too much time. In the end, these developments were just a small distraction from the hardcore body tempering he was currently undergoing.

However, even a simple act like consuming pearls had yielded significant results. Especially in terms of raw power. His mana now traveled through his body at a much greater speed, and while he hadn’t tested his skills yet, he was confident they were at least twenty percent stronger. Overall, the upgrades to the Tidecaller Serpent were massive.

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Thalion had also ensured he had a steady supply of blue pearls and crystals to sustain the Tidecaller Serpent at all times. He had issued strict orders that all blue pearls and crystals be delivered to him, even going so far as to threaten Jim’s followers and the witches, making it clear that if they wanted to survive the week, they better bring him more pearls from the river. Amalia, in particular, seemed to take this to heart and by the next day, over thirty pearls had been brought to him.

The political situation, however, was deteriorating. Amalia and Jim continued to gain followers each day, and Thalion couldn’t even blame the people for joining them. Receiving a blessing or baptism were rare across the wider multiverse, as Maike had explained to him. It provided overwhelming advantages. During the tutorial, its impact wasn’t as palpable, since larger factions and gods didn’t have as much influence. Sure, they could bless people and issue commands, but it was nothing compared to what would happen after the tutorial ended.

Maike had given him a broad overview of the situation. First, New Earth was far larger than initially assumed. Second, beasts had their own tutorials—many of them separate from humans. If he understood it correctly, that meant the beasts who did share a tutorial with humans gained far greater evolutions and improvements, depending on their performance.

Maike had told him stories of beasts that dominated human tutorials and were even rewarded with bloodlines as a result. The first thing that came to Thalion’s mind were the termites. If anyone fit the description of absolute domination, it was them—especially on the third stage of the tutorial. Maike had reassured him that such cases were extremely rare, but that did little to ease his concerns.

"Hopefully, they spawn on the opposite side of the planet and never encounter each other," he thought grimly.

There were already so many new threats on New Earth. He didn’t need them on top of everything else currently happening. As for what those other threats were… well, even in the best-case scenario—where Ankhet didn’t make it—there would still be the people from the other tutorials. For them, it was much easier to grow stronger, as they weren’t forced into war against each other. They could focus entirely on their own development. Then there were the blessed, who thrived in the tutorials, and the chosen of the gods. Figures who would quickly gather allies and attempt to conquer New Earth in their gods’ names.

That meant Thalion wouldn’t just be arriving on New Earth. He would be stepping into an entirely new tutorial. One likely just as dangerous as the current one.

And that wasn’t even considering the incursions.

The blessed had the ability to create portals to their gods’ worlds, allowing people from their gods faction to enter their world. While there were limits to the number and power level of those who could come through, it was still a massive advantage for the blessed. On top of that, the system was constantly issuing quests to weaker factions without gods. Winning such a quest would allow them to send their strongest warriors either to New Earth or one of the many other integrated worlds.

Then there were the special quests. These could range from treasure hunts to arena fights and all sorts of other challenges. The rewards for winning these quests were often titles or permanent upgrades that gave massive advantages. This was why so many participated. Many of these quests weren’t just limited to the people of New Earth but were open to everyone in the system. Some, of course, had restrictions such as being available only to F- and E-grade participants, or based on age.

On the plus side, Thalion wouldn’t have to worry about C-grade or stronger individuals instantly obliterating him. On the downside, it also meant that reaching the top ranks would be nearly impossible. Even the supreme geniuses of godless factions could be incredibly dangerous, as their elders often funneled all their resources into a single individual. Empowering them to ridiculous heights in the hopes that they would win a title and, perhaps, even gain the chance to ascend to godhood.

To even have a chance at godhood, one needed at least a few empowering titles. Without them, reaching the required stat thresholds was almost impossible.

The only silver lining was that the gods themselves couldn’t directly interfere with these special trials. This meant that those without a blessing or an entire faction backing them at least had a fighting chance.

Another peculiar aspect of these special quests was that participation required a token. These quests existed outside of time, meaning that anyone who didn’t take part would fall far behind the powerhouses of the new world. However, activating a token came at a price. It required payment in lifetime. While this wasn’t necessarily a bad trade for those who managed to win, the consequences of failure were severe. If you didn’t place in the top twenty, the rewards were minimal, and you’d still lose a significant portion of your remaining lifespan. This was a crucial factor, as progression to the next stage would grant longevity. Even Thalion wasn’t entirely sure if he should participate.

There would be many special quests in the future where he could earn a title, and the competition in this newly integrated universe would be fierce. The path to godhood was going to be a long one, regardless of his choices. He had already built a strong support system, which had provided him with an abundance of resources.

But in the new world, things would be different. He wasn’t certain if he could continue to protect the people in his base. The chosen of the gods and the warriors from integrated space would make it incredibly difficult for him to maintain control. Especially if he failed to kill Kael or Sylas. They would never stop hunting him, and in the new world, they would likely have powerful armies at their disposal.

Some gods even used blessed individuals and incursion portals to bring in their chosen after personally training them for several years. Those warriors would be an even greater threat. Not that Thalion didn’t already have enough problems. Amalia and Jim would come after his head sooner or later. Then there was Kael, Sylas, and Kai, who would all try to kill him on sight. Thorwald and that Steven guy were also likely still around.

Okay, Thorwald was clearly missing a few screws, but Thalion had no doubt that the man would come after him if they ever crossed paths again. And then there was an entire category of people he had failed to eliminate. Most notably Garrick and the fire-wielders who had attacked him with those battleships. Oh, and the vampires, but they were already on his hit list, so that was fine in the end.

All these factors drove him to the extreme. War was coming, and the battles ahead would only grow more brutal in the new world.

For the next three days, he would focus solely on improving his stats, consuming every plant his base had to offer. Jim and Amalia would undoubtedly try to use this as a means to gain more influence, but he needed the stat increases more than anything. There were plants for Vitality, Agility, Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Toughness, and Thalion planned to devour them all while pushing his body to its limits in the gravity array.

Carnage was coming.

And he would slaughter every last one of his enemies without mercy. No matter the cost.

Except for one vampire.

He still wanted to experiment with those eyes, after all.