Chapter 439: Enlightenment

Back on Seth’s end...

It was as though his mind had finally snapped back into clarity, his connection with the other attribute stars stabilizing in an instant, growing even stronger than ever.

But alas, the feeling lasted only a bereft moment before he was instantly expelled from his soul space.

The feeling of being whole again returned to him — not whole in the sense that he had regained his powers, but he had merely regained control of his body again.

The feeling of connection with his other attributes became elusive again the moment his mind returned to the physical realm.

A dull ache pulsed at the back of his head the moment all six of his senses were restored...

The moment his eyelids peeled open, his blurry sight returned slowly, the system interface flickering brilliantly into view, a row of text unraveling before him; his vision regained focus as he read through the list of notifications.

Ignoring the ones that had been announced directly into his mind, he scrolled straight for the new ones...

[Congratulations, Seth Duskreaver! You have awakened a bound stat: Will!]

[Congratulations! You have been tempered and have evolved the attribute... Your will now contains a spark!]

A huge smile spread across his lips the moment he read the two prompts, and his fist clenched in triumph.

Finally... He had broken the restriction of will, bypassing the biological limitation on his connection to the force and bonding with it directly; he could now command will straight from his soul, no longer needing the essence stem as a bridge.

Seth quickly pulled out his stat sheet...

[Name: Seth Duskreaver]

[Race: Human (Si??)]

[Attributes:]

Strength: ???

Speed: ???

Defense: ???

Stamina: ???

Health: ???

Intelligence: 699/???

Will: 1998

Essence Unit:???

Spirit: ???

...

At a glance, Seth could spot a few changes; the first that caught his attention was that the silver tag on his racial status seemed to have returned, partially.

And then there was his severely diminished intelligence stat, which had taken a great hit... and finally his will, restored to full status.

Not only that, now that his effectiveness was through the roof, Seth felt an intricate sensation the moment he tried mobilizing the force; it was like he could exert a certain level of influence on reality that he couldn’t have managed before.

He could probably fly if he wanted to, his willborne abilities gaining a new edge he had never imagined, as his affinity to both time and space, rooted in his will, had intensified along with the effectiveness of will.

Seth closed his eyes, a smile gracing his lips, and he could finally feel the connection with the origin gate!

His path to ascension wasn’t cut off; he had managed to regain some modicum of control, and would be able to steer his direction from here on out.

He glanced down at his hands, his attention drawn to the plain emerald ring on his finger, his thumb brushing its dull surface.

And finally he could access this treasure trove!

But he still restrained himself from doing so... before that, he had to inform the others that he was back, though somehow he had a feeling that they wouldn’t be within reach; still, he had to try.

As much as there were a thousand things he wanted to get done at the moment, he couldn’t just leave his friends and the president to worry ceaselessly about his well-being.

’Sigh... I need to find a doctor first and inform them of my return...’ he thought as he rose from the bed...

Feeling something creak and shatter beneath him, it was only at this moment that he realized the room was a wreck...

Seth couldn’t stop smiling as he stared at the wreckage of his own doing; this was a good sign, and unlike the tidiness he had woken up to from his coma, this was a much more pleasing sight.

It also signalled that he had gained some form of strength, and not strength gained from stats, but the raw power of his own base body.

Though he couldn’t say he had regained his peak strength, and could only judge it as at least half of it.

He should now have the physical prowess to rival a peak-stage awakened, though one had to recall that in his peak state he had double that strength.

That amniotic fluid really was something special; just by feeding off it and tempering his body, he had been able to get to this stage of raw power.

It was no wonder the dragons were so physically strong, able to exert enough strength in their wings to keep themselves afloat.

The nurturing effects of the elixir were no joke indeed!

One could say that by the time he regained his stats, the efficient translation of these attributes’ essence would interact with his strengthened body differently, probably giving him about four times the strength he had before.

His pulse quickened at the thought; just as he strived for, he had once again surpassed a limit he had hit.

"Maybe losing control once in a while is a challenge of its own..." Seth muttered, a grin tugging at his mouth.

He could finally see things from a different perspective: he had always sought challenges bigger than himself, so losing control every now and then should be worthy of one.

An opponent he would have to overcome, if you will...

He straightened, shoulders squaring, his mind consolidating on the feeling of satisfaction; he might not be out of the pit yet, but at least he could finally see the sky.

With that, he walked out of the wreckage of a room, his abrupt presence leaving the nurses passing by in the hallway stunned.

No one had noticed the commotion he had caused, and that was normal, after all; this wasn’t just any facility but one crafted to cater to evolvers.

Each room was reinforced enough to diffuse force and keep the entire building from collapsing, just in case, when dealing with a powerful evolver.

No one understood that this would have been useless if Seth had regained his full powers...

"What are you waiting for?" Seth remarked.

His words brought the nurses back to their senses, and they scampered to follow protocol and contact the doctor, who would then contact the president and others as instructed.