Ascension of the Nephilim

Time Haste altered the speed of everything within ten meters from where Kyros stood. As such, the horde of darkness that charged recklessly was pulled as the sudden increase and acceleration made it too late for them to stop.

FIZZLE! FIZZLE! FIZZLE!

The sounds of the Shadow Ghouls passing through the temple barrier purged them all, and some even died as they passed through.

Kyros also stumbled down. He felt a strange weight all over his body as the effects of Time Haste took a toll on his body.

"Show Temple Info." Kyros called out and searched for the important detail in the list of info that appeared.

---

Shade Level: 1 (01:15:10:14 remaining to Level 2)

Temple Level: 3 (268/1000 points to Level 4)

---

Kyros smiled as he was satisfied. Those that immediately died during the rush already gave him over a hundred points. There were still plenty remaining, and all he had to do was kill them. He could feel his body recovering.

Kyros began to crawl and grab one of the dying Shadow Ghouls and began to bite and eat the creature, which sped up his recovery. It was then that Kyros sensed a notification that he didn't read earlier when he activated Time Haste.

[Soul Over Mana skill acquired.]

"Hm? Does this mean I can use my soul to create magic?" Kyros wondered. He never heard of that power.

"As expected! I knew it! You even have the Ancient God's Soul Over ability. You should be able to do the same with force now. Of course, since you can't do Magic or Force because of the seals, it will greatly exhaust you."

"I feel really weak. That took a toll on my soul."

"Normally, people die if they did what you did. But you're soul is so resilient, so I knew this would happen. Still, that speaks a lot of your strength. I mean, people at your level wouldn't even have a Second Source! But your soul broke out that you have over two hundred worth of points! That equals to about eighty points of magic!"

Kyros kept eating the Shadow Ghouls as he talked with Calaminus, and then Kyros felt a surge in his powers.

---

Level up!

Strength- 50-> 55 (Sealed/Cursed)

Magic- 0-> 3 (Sealed/Cursed)

Dexterity- 247-> 253 (Sealed/Cursed)

Vitality- 50-> 55 (Sealed/Cursed)

Intelligence- Bruh...-> Still Bruh, Bruh... ( Sealed)

Soul Force- 0-> 1 (Sealed)

Ancient Source- 100-> 20/103 (Greatly Sealed)

Fallen Source- 100-> 25/108 ( Greatly Sealed)

---

"I leveled up? Right... You said that Fallens level up through consumption. Still... Pitiful increases just like before. It seems I have to train to grow stronger physically."

"This is an interesting development. Most creatures that are aligned to the Light level up through the same method that the gods do. They absorb the Life Energy that is dispersed upon eliminating or killing a creature. Humans, Dwarves, Elves, and many other races do this. As for the Fallen, they level up through devouring the bodies of others and channel the Death Energy in their bodies. Vampires, Skeletons, Orcs, and those aligned to the darkness use these methods. But you can do both!"

"I thought my soul got stronger... But to think that it increased only by one. That means that the soul force stat that we saw was because of the Celestial God Daradiel."

"That's right. Of course, the Gauge skill of mortals won't see that stat. In most cases, mortals would see a combined number of both your Ancient and Fallen Source stat. But now, to think that a single level allowed you to breach and bring out a single point of your third soul!"

"You have to explain to me what this third soul is."

"I don't know. I'm guessing that in order for your Ancient and Fallen sides of your soul to live in harmony together, it needed a third soul to mediate and unite both the Life and Death, the Light and the Dark together."

"But why is it Zero? You mean that my soul that resisted the time travel and withstood the torture of that pillar was my Ancient and Fallen souls?"

"Yes. The more you level up and have a stronger body, the more parts of your soul you can wield. But Honestly, I don't understand how your neutral soul appeared. It should be something so small that it is very hard to sense. It was supposed to only be a bridge that allows you to exists. I don't understand why it finally emerged."

"It's probably you. Something about your soul allowed me to bring it out and strengthen it. We don't know if the Soul Force that you showed me back then, which had 760 points, was of Greater God Daradiel or if it had small parts from mine. But I'm betting that it was all Greater God Daradiel. If a Greater God instilled a remnant of his soul in mine, it would have to be at least 760 points."

"You're right..."

"For now... I eat. Hopefully, I'll level up with all of these monsters here." Kyros began to eat the darkness.

After eating some twenty monsters, Kyros began to rest to allow his soul to combat the Dark Maddening effect. The Temples Holy Healing also began to aid in removing the effects.

Nearly five minutes passed, and Kyros stood up and began to eat again.

"That Greater Soul Meditation technique is such a cheat..." Calaminus muttered as he was amazed at how fast he recovered. Dark Maddening was a curse that was very difficult to cure in the mortal realm. And yet, Kyros could just eat as much as he can without suffering from any permanent damage.

Kyros had killed all of the monsters that crashed in the temple. However, he didn't eat all of the Shadow Ghouls but intentionally left a few and began to pile it up in one spot. Sadly, he didn't level up again.

Kyros checked the temple level again.

---

Shade Level: 1 (01:14:55:14 remaining to Level 2)

Temple Level: 3 (648/1000 points to Level 4)

---

"I can make it!" Kyros smiled.

"I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but you can't activate Time Haste like that again. Those Shadow Ghouls are organized and smart. They won't fall for the same trick."

"I know. That's why I left these things here." Kyros pointed to the pile of dead Shadow Ghouls.

"Darkness usually has a fluid-like state. But luckily, these creatures have a body that gives darkness a pseudo-physical form. If I can wield this to make some form of armor, I should protect myself from their attacks. Having a weapon would also help. Let's try to shape it."

Using the knowledge that Weapon and armor Forgers, Artifact Blacksmiths, and Enchanters, Kyros began to reshape the dark bodies of the dead Ghouls.

"What are you doing? You think you can harden-"

"Good. This looks like a good hard, metal!" Kyros admired his work. He managed to compress a pile of the dead bodies and somehow combined it to make strange dark steel.

"Wha- What?!"

[Dark Artificer job acquired.]

"Dark Artificer? What job is this?" Kyros knew all of the jobs, but this was a strange term that he didn't hear from Calaminus's lessons.

"HOW?!" Calaminus was stunned that it was tearing the hair out of its soul's head.

Kyros ignored Calaminus and opened up his stats to check the description of the Dark Artificer.

---

Dark Artificer Level 1

Harnessing the Soul of a Fallen, the Dark Artificer wields darkness to craft, shape, and create cursed objects. Only the most skilled of mortals can create objects of darkness.

---

"Interesting. My magic points went back to zero, but it looks like this place is recovering it." Kyros observed. He had noticed that his Magic points are now 0/3. But after a few seconds, it went back up to 1.

"That was tough. But if I complete this hammer, I should be able to craft these dark bodies without expending more mana." Kyros made his plot and immediately went to work.

Kyros began to work and reform the last part of the hammer. His MP would be consumed every time he would try to merge or harden the darkness. Soon the hammer formed.

"Now, with this hammer, I can forge a weapon!" Kyros laughed as the memories of all the theoretical theories that Calaminus talked about surfaced.

"Pronto!" Kyros activated the skill. His brain began to move in overdrive, and he was thinking faster.

"When did you find the time to make this an active skill? You programmed your soul to limit your thinking speed?!" Calaminus cursed. He hadn't noticed this before and only realized it now as he was checking on Kyros's soul console and saw the codes.

With great dexterity, Kyros began to work and hammer the darkness. With a hammer that had a dark element, Kyros was now able to tamper the darkness without consuming great amounts of MP. In fact, a single point would now last for five strikes. And so, the interval of how Kyros could make a hammer was growing faster and faster.

[Dark Artificer Level 2 reached!]

[Dark Manipulator skill level increased!]

The amount of MP that Kyros expended lessened and lessened. Kyros paid no attention to his stats as he kept on forging and hammering.

An hour passed, but Kyros had been working for nearly twice that time thanks to his ability, Pronto.

[Dark Artificer Level 3 reached!]

[Dark Manipulator skill level increased!]

[Dark Bestowal- Dark Artificer job skill acquired.]

"Dark Bestowal?! You can't mean?! You can add magic to your weapons?!"

[Absorb skill acquired.]

"Absorb! Amazing! He learned to absorb! The basic ability that allows Dark magic to be feared among the elements! And with Dark Bestowal, he can imbue that power to his weapons!"

Kyros, however, did not bother with Calaminus's exclamations and continued to work.

After two hours since Kyros began, a pair of armguards were finally completed.