Chapter 79: Balancing (2)

Leon gasped, dropping to one knee as the SSS+ evolution fundamentally rewrote his DNA. His muscles tore and rebuilt themselves in a fraction of a second, his bones condensing into a material that defied human classification. He breathed in, and he could feel the ambient void-mana of the Gravesite Plain rushing into his lungs, instantly converting into pure, golden life-force.

He didn’t stop. He turned his attention to his active skills.

He poured his remaining Evolution points into his primary arsenal. He forced Arcane Requiem up the scale, pushing it from Gold, through Platinum, Diamond, and settling it at Mythril. He pushed Abyssal Stride and Dimensional Severance from Diamond to Divine.

And then, he looked at Sovereign’s Eclipse. It was already Transcendent.

"Push it," Leon commanded, utilizing Infinite Growth.

Ding!

[Skill Evolved: Sovereign’s Eclipse has bypassed Transcendent Grade!]

[New Grade Established: Primordial]

[Description: The absolute darkness is no longer a localized dome; it is a temporary, self-contained pocket dimension entirely under the user’s control. Within the Primordial Eclipse, the user dictates the fundamental laws of gravity and spatial orientation.]

Leon let out a breathless laugh, slowly standing back up. He felt like a walking god. He opened his stat allocation screen. He had 170 unallocated points from his massive level jump.

His current attributes sat heavily skewed toward his magical output and survivability: STR 145, AGI 150, CON 165, INT 195.

"Balance can be a key to absolute dominance, I shouldn’t overlook it, since I have reached this height of power" Leon reasoned. He needed his physical strikes to match the catastrophic output of his magic. He immediately dumped 85 points directly into Strength, pushing it to an absurd 230. He dumped the remaining 85 points into Agility, skyrocketing his speed to 235.

The physical toll of the sudden stat injection was agonizing, his muscle fibers audibly snapping and re-knitting with terrifying density. But the SSS+ Aura of the Undying turned the agony into a fleeting, distant memory before he even hit the ground.

"Panel," Leon ordered, standing tall in the dead ash.

[Status]

Name: Leon Wes

Role: Support

Level: 98

Rank: Adept

Title: The Vanguard of Humanity (Mythic)

Title: Lord of All Dragons (Mythic)

Title: Conqueror of the Abyss (Legendary)

[Attributes]

STR: 230

AGI: 235

CON: 165

INT: 195

Stat Points: 0

[Role Talent]

Aura of the Undying (SSS+)

[Active Skills]

Arcane Requiem (Lvl. 98, Gold), Verlimon’s Judgment (Lvl. 98, Platinum), Abyssal Stride (Lvl. 98, Diamond), Aegis of the Void (Lvl. 98, Diamond), Dimensional Severance (Lvl. 98, Diamond), Sovereign’s Eclipse (Lvl. 98, Primordial)

[Acquired Talents]: Hellfire Howl (A), Sovereign’s Edict (A), Entropy Core (A), Grave-Crusher (A), Indestructible Core (A), Obsidian Carapace (B), Gorgon’s Decree (B), Domain of the Dead (B), Phantom Shift (A), Aegis of the Tempest (A), Reaper’s Resonance (A), Quillcore Projectile (D)

[Inventory & Equipment]: Blade of the Dragon God (Mythic), The Sovereign’s Mantle (Platinum), Pendant of the Undying Ember (Artifact), Band of Deflection, Band of the Chronos Lord (Mythic), Flawless Sapphire Dragon Scale, Aether-Lightning Core, Spatial Disruptor Core, Abyssal Blueprint (Mythic), Void-Lord Core, Hollow Core, 2 Tears of the Ash, Phalanx Shield Core, Crown of the First Era, Millions of Eternal Coins

[Bonded Beast]

Name: Auris, the Glacial Sovereign

Rank: Adept

Level: 98 (Synced with Player)

Talents: Absolute Zero Breath (S), Glacial Aegis (A), Void-Piercer Wings (A)

Leon stared at the numbers, and the longer he looked, the colder he felt. Level 19 to 20 cost 18,000 EXP. Level 57 to 58 cost 350,000. By the time a player reached Level 98, a single level would demand well over two million EXP, a number that grew far faster than any ordinary player could ever keep up with.

It was a power curve, a growth pattern where the EXP needed equals a constant times the level raised to a fixed exponent, so each level costs noticeably more than the last but grows more slowly than an exponential curve would.

Meaning every level made the climb steeper, and Eternal Heaven had never been designed to let a hundred million people succeed. It was designed to cull them, one impossible requirement at a time, until only the few who could bend the rules remained.

A normal player, grinding day and night with a fair talent and an honest sword, would burn out long before the numbers ever showed them mercy. Without a broken talent, there was simply no way through. Leon’s fingers curled slowly into a fist as he thought of his ten SSS-Rank talents. Without them, he would never have reached this level in such a short time, or worse, he might never have reached it at all, no matter how much time he had.

Leon dismissed the interface,

"Auris," Leon called out, walking toward the massive Glacial Sovereign. "We’ve cleared the boss cycle, but the Abyssal Fracture hasn’t ejected us. That means the realm goes deeper. Let’s find the edge of this dimension."

The dragon roared in agreement, lowering his massive, sapphire-plated shoulder. Leon vaulted effortlessly onto the beast’s back, his 235 Agility making the movement look like a localized teleportation.

Auris spread his massive Void-Piercer Wings and launched them into the dark, swirling sky.

They left the Gravesite Plain behind, flying deeper into the heart of the Battlefield Realm. The landscape below them shifted drastically. The dead, ashen earth gave way to an impossibly flat, endless expanse of polished black stone that reflected the purple sky like a dark mirror. There were no mountains here, no floating ruins, and no roaming hordes of void beasts. It was a realm of absolute, eerie perfection.

They flew for twenty minutes, traversing hundreds of miles of empty, reflective stone, before Leon’s newly upgraded perception picked up an anomaly on the horizon.

"Bring us down, Auris. Slowly," Leon commanded, his dual-colored eyes narrowing.

In the exact center of the infinite black mirror, there was a structure. It wasn’t a fortress or a temple. It was a massive, circular ring, completely flush with the ground, spanning roughly two hundred yards in diameter. The outer edge of the ring was etched with glowing, ancient runic script that pulsed with a calm, steady silver light.

And seated directly in the center of the ring, resting upon a simple block of unhewn stone, was a figure.

It was a knight, forged entirely of pale, weathered stone. It wore heavy, intricate plate armor that looked as though it belonged in a museum of forgotten gods. A massive, unadorned stone greatsword rested across its knees. The knight was perfectly still, devoid of any discernible mana signature or life-force.

As Auris landed softly near the edge of the silver ring, the system interface suddenly violently exploded into Leon’s vision. It wasn’t the standard blue text. The panels were a blinding, iridescent gold.

Ding!

[Lucky Fate has activated!]

[Unprecedented Find! You have stumbled upon a hidden dimensional anchor within the Battlefield Realm.]

Leon slid off Auris’s back, his boots touching the polished black stone. He kept his hand near the hilt of the Blade of the Dragon God, walking slowly toward the edge of the glowing silver runic circle.

The moment his boot crossed the threshold of the silver light, the runes flared. The pale stone knight in the center of the ring did not move, but a massive, holographic interface materialized above its head.

Ding!

[Guardian Duel Stage Activated]

[Entity: The Silent Aegis (Dimensional Guardian)]

[Level: (2.5X Opponent) = 245]

Leon stopped dead in his tracks.

Level 245.

His mind instantly ran the calculations. The system hadn’t generated a boss a few levels above him. It had generated an entity exactly 2.5 times his current level of 98. In Eternal Heaven, a level gap of twenty was considered suicidal. A level gap of nearly one hundred and fifty was impossible to bridge. A Level 245 entity could likely shatter the Gravesite Plain Titan with a single finger.

But as Leon braced for absolute destruction, the system prompt continued to scroll, presenting a set of rules that completely defied the standard elimination mechanics of the world.

[Challenge Parameters:]

[Defeat the guardian under specific conditions to claim them as your personal Dimensional Guardian.]

[Rule 1: This is a Hit-Count Match. Raw damage numbers, lethal execution strikes, and health-bar depletion are disabled.]

[Rule 2: Time Limit: 7 Minutes. The combatant with the highest number of registered, unblocked physical/magical strikes at the end of the timer will be declared the winner.]

[Rule 3: Absolute Safety Protocol. No HP or MP loss will be sustained by either party. Lethal damage is nullified. There is no death on this stage; only contact.]

[Rule 4: If you lose, you forfeit nothing and may leave freely. If you win, you claim the Silent Aegis.]

Leon stared at the glowing gold text, reading it twice to ensure he wasn’t misinterpreting the data.

No health bars. No damage scaling. No death.

It was a pure test of speed, evasion, and technique against a being whose base attributes were likely in the thousands. A Level 245 entity would move faster than sound and react faster than thought. But they weren’t allowed to instantly vaporize him. They were bound by the rules of a tag match.

"A hit-count match for seven minutes," Leon murmured, a slow, exhilarating grin spreading across his face. The golden and icy blue light in his heterochromia flared with blinding intensity. "A test of absolute speed against an insurmountable wall."

He looked at his massive greatsword, realizing that heavy, slow execution strikes were useless here. He looked at the Band of the Chronos Lord on his finger, realizing the 0.5-second time-stop was going to be the most valuable tool in his arsenal. He possessed Phantom Shift to phase through the knight’s retaliations, Abyssal Stride to teleport, and an Agility stat of 235.

The pale stone knight in the center of the ring slowly stood up. The movement was entirely soundless. The knight didn’t roar. It simply raised its massive stone greatsword, assuming a flawless, mathematically perfect guard stance.

Leon stepped fully into the ring, dismissing the Blade of the Dragon God and picking up the two lightweight, ethereal void-daggers that lay at the edge of the area to maximize his strike speed.

"Seven minutes," Leon said, his heart pounding with the thrill of a fight where he had absolutely nothing to lose and a god-tier guardian to gain. He lowered his stance, coiling his muscles like a loaded spring. "Let’s see just how fast Level 245 really is."