MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

Since the skill itself had the word ‘Arcane’ attached to it, the young man was not surprised that the skill would show how it was related to the Arcane concept in some way.

However, not once did he expect that the skill would show this relation by having an apparition of Arcane appear behind Ataraxia, which left him at a slight loss for words.

“…Well, it’s called [Descent of the Arcane Supreme], after all,” muttered Valyr to himself after giving it a bit of thought, his gaze still affixed towards his other self.

“It makes a lot of sense for the personification of the Arcane concept to make an appearance in a skill like that… even if it seems kind of overboard in a way.”

“…Then again, having the Arcane concept behind him does make him look more like an Emissary of the Arcane.”

After voicing out his thoughts towards Arcane’s sudden appearance, the young man returned his focus back to the task at hand, noting down the various effects that were currently coursing throughout Ataraxia’s body.

Unsurprisingly, the most obvious among them was none other than the status buff the skill gave the latter, which not only pushed his strongest stats past the 10,000 mark, but also intensified his aura to a great degree.

Having expected the sudden amplification of Ataraxia’s aura the moment the skill was activated, Valyr raised his eyebrow in interest once he noticed that the former’s aura was slowly getting stronger the more time passed.

Recalling that the skill would improve the effects of the status buff with every minute that passes, the young man soon became curious if the improvement to Ataraxia’s aura reflected the improvement to the skill’s status buff.

‘It’s possible that the skill’s working as intended,’ thought Valyr as he watched his other self cast a handful of basic spells. ‘In that case, the aura surrounding him is acting like a precursor of what’s to come.’

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

With him merely testing the effects of his newly obtained skill, it went without saying that Ataraxia only made use of the most basic spells he had in his arsenal to test the skill’s effects.

Though, with the buff to both his stats and his magic casting abilities, even the simplest energy bolt transformed into a weapon of mass destruction under his control, giving off the feeling of a highly volatile bomb merely waiting to make contact.

Experimenting with a couple of his other spells after that, the young man eventually restrained himself from testing the skill with other spells, understanding that mishandling even one of them would transform his guild’s territory into ruins.

With that in mind, Ataraxia tested the only effect he had yet to test from the skill, willing the concept he had chosen for the skill to manifest into something more tangible.

“[Intent of the Great Arcanist]!”

Whoosh!

Feeling the Intent start to take effect the moment he willed its existence, the young man faintly nodded to himself as he intently watched what kind of change it would undergo under the skill’s effect.

Of course, it went without saying that Valyr had focused most of his attention towards the matter as well, seeing as it was the only effect that he and Ataraxia had yet to confirm.

Swoosh!

Sensing the energy making up the Intent become stronger all of a sudden, Ataraxia’s eyes widened in surprise at first, only for his expression to then turn sour soon after.

‘It only went up a grade,’ said the young man through their connection, letting out a faint sigh soon after.

‘That confirms it. This skill is only best used as a last reso—?!’

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Just as he thought that his Intent had finished improving under the effects of the skill, the energy making up the Intent soon went through another transformation, only for it to then go through another not long after.

Within a matter of seconds, the energy making up the Intent strengthened multiple times in a row, eventually reaching a level where it could match the output of Intents that matched the fantasy-like Legend Grade.

Though, just as he thought the Intent had finished enhancing…

Bang!

As if the Intent had finally broken through a bottleneck, the energy making up the Intent greatly surged all of a sudden, transforming the quantitative changes it had just gone through into something more qualitative.

‘Force…’ Feeling the massive transformation Ataraxia’s concept underwent at that moment, Valyr’s expression turned into that of shock.

Though, as realization began to set in, that expression quickly turned into that of excitement.

After all, as long as Ataraxia upgraded one of his concepts to the Force level, his other self would technically have the ability to wield a Concept.

While still being at Rank 5 at that!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

With their hypothesis on the skill’s effects finally confirmed, Ataraxia went ahead and spent the remaining duration he still had with the skill to do a bunch of random things, testing out certain skills under its effects.

Among the skills he tested was his [Fleeting Arcane Scripture], which unsurprisingly made the building they were in quake under the strong winds and sonic booms he generated.

“Oh…” Just as the thought of testing the other skills he gained from Aeramis popped up in his mind, the young man felt that his time with the skill had finally run out, prompting him to stand in place as he gave his other self a slightly wry smile.

“It’s time.”

Swoosh!

At the very instant those words left his mouth, Ataraxia immediately felt as if he had been dragged to the deepest pits of hell beyond his own volition, with the strength previously coursing throughout his body dissipating in a matter of seconds.

However, just as he thought that the skill would stop after bringing him back to his usual level of strength, the skill instead went one step further, siphoning more strength out of his body before stopping at the final point where death was certain.

Adding on the fact that he couldn’t regenerate neither HP nor MP, as well as the fact that his body was paralyzed thanks to the skill’s debuffs, the young man felt completely helpless at that very moment.

In his mind, if someone with malicious intent towards him were to find him in that state, he was certain that he would be gone from the waking world at that very moment.

Fortunately, he could afford to die in Greater Beyond. After all, his current body was just a vessel made to carry his subconscious.

“Ugh…” After the worst three minutes of the skill’s aftereffects had passed, Ataraxia gradually stood up as he looked at Valyr with an aggrieved expression.

“That… I don’t want to go through that again,” said the young man, shuddering as he thought back to how helpless he felt.

“I could tell,” said Valyr in return, only to then shudder as well.

Although he did not experience the downsides of the skill firsthand, he was still able to get a good idea of what it was like thanks to their senses being shared through [Soul Entanglement].

With that, he swore to himself that he’d only have his other self use the skill if one of the two conditions he had in mind were met.

The first condition was more in line with what he had in mind for it, wherein the skill would only be used when they were up against a foe they couldn’t match up to even after going all-out.

As for the second condition, it was undoubtedly harsher…

Since it would only be met if death was the only other option they had.