Chapter 337: Luke’s Origin Skill Finally Reaches SSR+ Rank!

During his earlier travels, Luke had heard enough about the difficulties currently facing the Sunborn Kingdom, while the decision to send one hundred B-Rank warriors into such a dangerous ruin already showed how desperate they were to obtain something useful. B-Rank combatants weren’t people a kingdom could casually replace, especially after suffering losses like the ones they had just experienced.

Demerak studied Luke for another moment before simply nodding.

"Very well. I understand."

He didn’t repeat the proposal or attempt to pressure Luke, because regardless of how useful such a marriage could be, he was still a king and had no intention of lowering himself by begging someone to marry his daughter.

Lucan quietly released some of the tension he had been holding, believing the matter had ended before Estelle could become more involved, but Luke spoke again before anyone could move on.

"However, Estelle is already my friend, so she is welcome to visit Blackstone whenever she wishes, and I would also be interested in expanding cooperation between Blackstone and the Sunborn Kingdom, especially through trade."

That suggestion would have sounded absurd if it came from an ordinary baron, because Blackstone was merely a barony while Demerak controlled an entire kingdom, yet the king didn’t dismiss Luke’s words.

Roderan had already informed him of something far more important than Luke’s noble title.

According to the warriors who had witnessed the battles within Heaven’s Crucible, Luke was already capable of producing attacks that reached the level of Peak B-Rank.

Even if some of those reports had been exaggerated, Luke’s status as the Hero of Light, his connections with several powerful races, and the strength he had displayed were already enough to make cooperation worthwhile. If outside forces believed Luke and the Sunborn Kingdom had formed a meaningful alliance, his name alone could discourage some of those currently considering taking advantage of their weakened state.

Demerak smiled. "The Sunborn Kingdom would gladly welcome greater cooperation with Blackstone, Sir Luke, and I believe there are several areas where both territories could benefit from one another."

Lucan remained somewhat confused by how naturally his father was treating a baron as an equal negotiating partner, but he kept that confusion to himself, understanding that Demerak clearly knew something about Luke that he hadn’t yet been told.

Estelle, on the other hand, immediately brightened after hearing Luke’s words.

’If I can visit Blackstone whenever I want, then this isn’t over yet.’

The rejected proposal no longer seemed nearly as devastating, because she still had plenty of time to make Luke fall in love with her naturally.

Luke happened to look toward her at that moment and gave her a small smile, which only strengthened that thought.

"Then I’ll leave the details for another time, King Demerak. I should go and rest as well."

"Of course, Sir Luke. We can discuss trade during the royal dinner or sometime afterward."

Luke stood and left the reception room while Demerak, Lucan, and Estelle watched him disappear through the doorway, and the moment the door closed behind him, the silence inside the room ended as the three members of the Sunborn royal family began discussing everything that had just happened.

***

"Finally, some free time."

Luke muttered with satisfaction as he walked through the palace corridors toward Selene’s room, while servants and royal guards occasionally passed him along the polished stone hallway.

After everything that had happened since entering the Twilight Ruins, he finally had enough time to properly process the events of the last few hours.

His thoughts naturally returned to what had happened immediately after he destroyed the small artificial world.

***

BOOOOOOOOM!

The small world continued collapsing around him as mountains shattered, seas surged violently, and fractured pieces of the artificial sky disappeared into spreading cracks, yet before any of that destruction could reach Luke, an overwhelming spatial force pulled him away.

By the time his surroundings became clear again, he had already returned to Heaven’s Crucible.

"Peiro?"

Luke looked around in confusion before realizing who had brought him back.

Peiro stood nearby while the ancient arena around them had already begun showing signs of collapse, yet instead of appearing worried, the blue spirit wore a relieved smile.

"Thank you, young Titan. Because of what you accomplished inside that trial, I am finally free."

Luke looked toward the damaged Heaven’s Crucible before understanding what Peiro meant.

The ancient arena had also functioned as a prison, while Peiro had remained here as its guardian, waiting for challengers and ensuring that the existence imprisoned within could not freely escape. Now that the Origin Titan’s remaining Fragments had been removed from the trial world, there was no longer anything left for the prison to contain.

Peiro raised one hand and revealed two shining crystals resting above his palm.

"These belong to you."

The first was the **Adaptation Origin Fragment**, whose primary emerald color continuously shifted through cyan, turquoise, violet, and faint traces of gold whenever Luke viewed it from a different angle, causing the crystal to appear as though it were constantly changing even while remaining perfectly still.

Beside it floated the **Distance Origin Fragment**, an almost transparent crystal with a pale blue center and silver-white edges, while the deeper Luke looked into it, the farther away its center seemed to become, creating the strange impression that an impossible distance existed inside something small enough to fit within his hand.

Luke accepted both fragments.

"Thanks, Peiro, and not just for these. You saved me back there."

Only after saying those words did Luke notice something strange.

The backlash from **Cosmic Severinity Eclipse Punch** was gone.

His body no longer carried the pain that should have followed such an insane combination of abilities, while the exhaustion caused by draining so much strength and energy had also disappeared.

Luke looked toward Peiro.

The ancient spirit merely smiled, making it obvious that restoring him had been Peiro’s own way of thanking him.

Luke returned the gesture with a small nod before looking down at the two Origin Fragments.

Then both crystals vanished from his hands.

Peiro assumed Luke had absorbed them directly into his body, but the truth was different.

[Second Origin Fragment detected: Adaptation.]

[Third Origin Fragment detected: Distance.]

[SSS+ Rank Origin Skill evolution initiated.]

[Estimated completion time: 1 hour.]

Luke smiled after reading the notifications.

Peiro watched him for a moment before saying, "If fate allows it, perhaps we will meet again someday, young Titan. For now, you should return to your companions before this place completely collapses."

Luke nodded, and soon afterward Peiro sent him out of Heaven’s Crucible.

Once Luke disappeared, Peiro remained alone within the weakening arena and released a long sigh as he examined his own condition.

His freedom had returned, yet his current strength remained only around the Demigod level, far below what he had possessed at his peak.

"It seems recovering my strength will take some time."

With those words, Peiro disappeared from Heaven’s Crucible.

The ancient arena immediately began compressing inward once its final guardian had left, with its vast internal space folding upon itself until a small black hole appeared where the structure had existed.

The black hole consumed the remaining traces of Heaven’s Crucible, erasing the presence of the Eternal-Rank artifact so thoroughly that anyone arriving later would find no evidence that something of such value had ever existed there.

Then the black hole disappeared as well.

Far away, Peiro stopped.

He slowly turned his attention toward the distant dimension where Heaven’s Crucible had just vanished, because the way the black hole had erased everything wasn’t natural.

A trace of seriousness appeared on his face.

"Their power has already reached this place."

Peiro remained there for only another moment before disappearing completely from that dimension.

***

Current time...

Luke continued walking through the palace hallway when a familiar notification suddenly appeared before him.

[Evolution complete.]

[Congratulations, Luke.]

[Your SSS+ Rank Origin Skill has evolved into an SSR+ Rank Origin Skill.]

[Two new Titan Legacies have been acquired.]

Luke immediately came out of his thoughts, and after reading the notification once more to make sure he hadn’t misunderstood anything, excitement spread across his face.

"Finally."

He kept his voice low because several maids and palace guards were passing through the corridor, and he had no desire to make them wonder why the Hero of Light was suddenly celebrating by himself.

His attention immediately returned to the System screen as he prepared to inspect the two new Titan Legacies.

Nexus Titan had already been absurdly powerful despite being only SSS+, especially after Titan Harmony allowed his different Titan abilities and Armaments to function as one unified system, so Luke was naturally curious about what kind of abilities an SSR and SSR+ evolution could possibly give him.

’If Nexus Titan was already that broken, then these two should be even more ridiculous.’

With that thought, Luke eagerly opened the first Titan Legacy.