Novel Full Chapter 940: Another Undead
Chapter 940: Another Undead
Though levelling up more than seven times after ascending was unexpected, it was very welcomed nevertheless.
The peak of Rank 3 was level 75. One needed to be at level 76 at the very least to be considered a Rank 4 supernatural.
Thanks to Lily’s previous accumulation, she was now at the very edge of advancing to the middle ranks of Rank 4. Perhaps her current strength might even be able to match late stage Rank 4 superpowers.
With Lily’s successful advancement, Michael now had three Rank 4 undead.
Just a week ago he had been worrying about this, yet a few days later he was acquiring them consecutively. What made him even happier was that they were not weak either.
The undead Drakeblood at level 90, thanks to its bloodline, should probably be stronger than most at the same level. Perhaps against other Rank 4 beings at that level it would be relatively dominant.
Then there was the Rank 4 demonic supernatural. Michael had once been a High Human himself, so he knew what that meant. This undead should also be relatively strong for its level.
Together with Lily, Michael felt that as long as he did not cross paths with a demigod or some half-step demigod nonsense, and the numbers remained manageable, he now had the capability to stand against Rank 4 superpowers.
One should not think three was too few.
There were many races in the universe that probably only had three at the peak of their entire realm.
"However, putting everything aside, Lily’s advancement has proven to be far too expensive. It’s hard to say if this is a gain or a loss compared to evolving her directly."
Thanks to her actions back at the Elven realm, Michael was now in massive debt that even the academy was unwilling to touch despite how highly they rated him.
Thanks to the treasures Lily stole, not only did she advance to Rank 4 in less than three months, she advanced further into the rank as well. However this would probably have been the same case if he had evolved her directly.
"No, my thinking is a bit shallow. Though Lily’s race did not change, thanks to those treasures she devoured her foundation has only deepened further. Saying she’s half-step epic grade is not an exaggeration.
If I were to evolve her now I fear she’d jump straight to the peak of Rank 4, and if she were just a little stronger, advancing to Rank 5 immediately would not be impossible.
Also at epic grade she would probably still be stronger than her peers. Short term this doesn’t look like a benefit, but long term it’s quite advantageous."
There was also the matter of shortened cultivation time. The stronger one was, the harder it was to progress. Perhaps through normal cultivation Lily would have advanced to Rank 4 in at least a decade, and another decade to reach her current level, but thanks to those treasures it was shortened to less than three months.
Looking at it from this angle, it depended entirely on the thinker as to whether the debt had its pros or only cons.
Though Michael had gone deep into the Everlong Forest, the scale of Lily’s advancement could not be contained by distance alone.
Many could not see the lightning itself, but depending on their proximity, the sound from the lightning strikes traveled far.
Then there were the flashes.
The final round especially had been visible as a distant brightening beyond the horizon, a pulse of white that lasted long enough to be unmistakable.
Many had seen it, causing various emotions to well up. However the majority were relieved when the oppressive weight that had been pressing down from the sky began to lift, the stormy clouds losing their density and starting to drift apart.
One by one, the people watching let out breaths they had not fully realized they were holding.
The storm, as most of them understood it, had passed.
Michael did not know what was happening outside his immediate circle. But as the one closest to Lily who had felt the intensity firsthand, he knew this matter could not be concealed.
Before, he might have been a little worried. But thanks to his Rank 4 undead he felt considerably bolder. In the end, what could anyone do to him?
Times like this, when he had thoughts like this, Michael felt the Land of Origin was cultivating a tyrant out of his other identity.
Amid everything, what Michael had not really expected was that Lily’s tribulation had awakened certain figures deeper within the Everlong Forest, drawing their attention toward his location.
After seeing the stormy clouds fade, whether man or monster, everyone in the surrounding regions reached the same conclusion.
It was over.
People went back inside. Monsters that had gone still and cautious during the disturbance began to settle down.
Then the clouds returned.
The coverage spread quickly across the sky, and within moments the oppressive weight that had just finished lifting was back, pressing down from above with a density that was, if anything, slightly more pronounced than what had come before.
The reactions below were considerably less calm this time.
Back at Michael’s location, he and his two Rank 4 undead had already moved back outside the clearing’s perimeter. Lily had been placed back into the Damaged Coffin of the Forgotten to stabilize her advancement.
The ruined ground at the center, fractured and compressed from Lily’s tribulation, now held a different figure.
It was Beginning.
Beginning stood at the center of the clearing, massive even in a smaller state.
Michael had made the decision to strike while the iron was hot. Beginning had been sitting at the edge of his own threshold as well, and there was no practical reason to delay when the conditions were already in place and the clearing had already been prepared.
Michael’s expression was composed, but his eyes were attentive. He felt Beginning’s ascension was going to be different from Lily’s.
As expected, Beginning’s ascension was indeed different from Lily’s.
The first strike made that clear immediately. What descended as an opening round looked closer to Lily’s third. The ground beneath Beginning’s feet cracked from the impact alone before the lightning had even fully landed.
Beginning did not open his mouth like Lily to swallow it.
He simply stood there and took it.
By the second round Michael had already noted the difference in approach. By the third it was fully apparent. Beginning’s method was not consumption or deflection or any form of avoidance. It was endurance, using the damage taken to fuel what came after. Each strike landed against him, tore through him, and damaged him, but Beginning grew from the damage rather than despite it. His body absorbed the injuries the way soil absorbed rain, pulling the destruction inward and converting it into strength.
The fourth round made Michael feel a chill run down his spine.
He and his two Rank 4 undead retreated further without hesitation.
Michael watched from the new distance and thought about what he understood of Beginning.
Among all his undead, Beginning was singular in one specific way. His constitution held more lifeforce than even living creatures at comparable levels, which was deeply ironic for an undead creature. Michael linked this feature to Beginning’s Law of Rebirth.
Sometimes Michael felt less like he had a powerful undead and more like he had a powerful medicinal vessel of concentrated lifeforce. If someone could devour Beginning, or even a meaningful portion of what he carried, the lifeforce density alone would probably be enough to push past a cultivation bottleneck that had been sitting immovable for years. Perhaps longer.
As his mind wandered to distract himself from the anxiety building in his chest, most of his attention remained fixed on Beginning.
As the rounds continued, Beginning grew. Not just in size, though that happened too, but in strength. Thanks to his Law of Rebirth, Beginning used the injuries sustained from each round to grow stronger for the next. The tribulation was, in the most direct sense, fueling the very thing it was trying to break.
By the fifth round Beginning was meaningfully stronger than he had been at the start of the tribulation.
By the seventh, a change occurred.
Beginning had taken the accumulated strength of everything the tribulation had given him and used it to forcefully push himself across the threshold. He crossed into Rank 4 before the tribulation had finished with him, forcing the transition through sheer accumulated force rather than waiting for the natural completion of the process.
The sky responded immediately.
Whatever calculation the heavens used to determine the intensity of the remaining rounds, the answer it produced after Beginning’s forced crossing was different from what it had been producing before.
The eighth round descended with a violence that made Michael’s jaw tighten. The ground where Beginning stood did not just crack. A wide section of the already ruined clearing dropped several meters as the impact transferred downward through the earth.
Beginning took it without moving from his position.
The ninth round formed almost immediately after.
Michael watched the sky above the clearing grow heavier and descend with a final strike, completely enveloping Beginning, who had forcefully pushed himself to level 85.