1289 Double Breakthrough
After lashing out at Isadora, Varian returned to the captives in a bad mood. He decided not to think much about the incident.
Even though he was pissed off, he ended up seeing himself as responsible for everything. If he was strong enough, none of this would've mattered.
He could've just slaughtered that maid, forced the princes into a truce without worrying about the safety of himself or his race.
'I need to grow stronger.' It was that very belief that brought him a long way from that vulnerable self. It was also something Varian believed with every fiber of his being.
Strength wasn't everything. But without strength, everything else couldn't be guaranteed.
Varian walked to the floating body of Hybrid Mor.
Bathed in the destructive light of Hortus which continuously bombarded him with life energy that kept him from recovering, the Hybrid had little chance of escaping.
So, Varian thought of doing something that should be difficult to accomplish.
'Get ready to heal him,' He conveyed to Hortus and the growing will conveyed a positive response.
Varian took a breath and summoned his sword artifact: Requiem.
It was beyond what the devas intended it to be. Blessed in the powers of life and death, Requiem was the perfect weapon to deal with all the enemies in Sage Avenue.
With a thought, Requiem brimmed with life energy, which normally was seen as an irreplaceable force in healing.
But to Hybrid Mor—a Reaper—who was already struggling with the life energy used by Daphne, it was the worst poison.
With a simple swing, the sword sliced off the giant humanoid's arm.
The will of Hortus shone down and provided the Hybrid with enough death essence—allowing him to quickly regrow his arm.
It'd take at least a few minutes though. Varian raised his sword again and severed all limbs of the Hybrid.
His < Assimilator > devoured the limbs and the slivers acted on the aura—splitting it into space power and death power.
The slivers further broke down the death power into the version of its predecessor: <Adept>.
Since the Hybrid was continuously using up its death power to counter the life force, there wasn't much to gain.
But the insights from the space path were better than Varian expected. The insights of a Hybrid were purer than the normal awakener, perhaps because they do not possess a sense of self.
Closing his eyes, Varian meditated in front of the Hybrid. Sword Requiem, however, kept swinging down every few minutes.
Three hours passed before the monotonous scene broke.
Varian got not one but two surprises.
[Assimilator Rank 5: 10/2500
< An Assimilator's deepest work is assimilating the prey's life essence to strengthen itself and build a body that could possibly reach a range that Paragon Body could not.
You have more than a couple steps further and achieved Assimilation that shouldn't be possible. Congratulations.>
Space Rank 5: 20/2500
< Those who wield the power of space are uninhibited across the cosmos. > ]
Varian's lips curled up and some of the pressure weighing down on him seemed to vanish. There were still four paths he had to advance.
But after witnessing the rank 7 fights, he had no confidence he could reach that range of strength any time soon.
[The ranks from 7 to 9 are essentially a preparation to enter the realm of the divine.
The power of a thousand rank 1s channeled together could defeat a rank 4. But not even the power of ten thousand rank 4s could defeat a rank 7. It isn't the amount of aura but the nature of power.
Even if Hybrid Mor died in the technical sense, if he's thrown into a cemetery, he can recover, depending on the power level of the corpses before their death.
Unless Paragon Body is destroyed by an overwhelming power, it can revive even from a few drops of blood.]
Varian took a breath and nodded. Reaching rank 5 wasn't going to be enough. He had to at least reach the peak of the rank to stand any chance against even the maids.
But for the princes…
Varian shook his head. That'd be a lofty goal. He needed to climb the tree before trekking a mountain.
'Soul, Energy, Matter and Time.'
Neither Hybrird Mor nor Champion Gor could help him in these paths. But Isadora who reached the peak of rank 9 in Soul, Matter, and Gravity paths would be of tremendous help.
Moreover, she had a lot of experience that came from a vast number of battles. At the edge of divine rank, she'd have insights even into other paths—useless for a rank 9 but very useful for a rank 4 or 5.
Since he started Synergy, neither Sia nor Sarah had such a power difference with him. Even the difference between level 7 and level 9 wouldn't compare to the difference between low rank 1 and mid rank 1.
As such, the sheer gap between rank 4 and rank 9 was mind-boggling.
It was just a speculation, but Varian wouldn't surprised if he directly advanced an entire sub-rank through one single session.
Alas, the apparently easiest way turned out to be the hardest.
Varian assured her that there wouldn't be any intimacy and that they'd do only the most basic form of Synergy—despite it reducing the fruits of the session.
"Never mind. I can do it myself." Varian left behind Mor and visited Champion Gor.
The man had gained consciousness but kept up the act. Slowly but surely, he was regaining his power.
As Varian approached him, Gor stealthily gathered his aura, prepared to take him down in one strike.
He hadn't recovered enough to crush Varian. So, an ambush, however, shameful it might be, was the only way for the Champion.
Too bad for him, Varian's soul powers made it impossible for him to fall for such a cheap trick.
As Gor's attention remained on Varian, Sword Requiem blasted out of a space portal and sliced into the man's heart, ripping his heart into two and nearly cleaving his torso.
"Argghhh!"
Varian raised his hand towards the sky and the blessings of Hortus landed on his palm.
With a simple clench of his fingers, the space around Gor folded onto itself and the slave's limbs began to tear apart.
Whatever progress he made was gone in a blink. Worse, he's set even back from his starting point.
"T-The human tribe's chieftain? You dare to attack the Zions!" The slave spoke through bloodied mouth.
"Zions," Varian uttered that word with the same pronunciation as Gor. "You guys gave me a big headache when I read a letter by a petty enemy."
"H-Huh? We don't even know you!" Enduring the pain as his body got twisted and crushed, Champion Gor cried out in indignance.
Varian had zero sympathy for the man's plight.
Due to his Assimilator power, he could sense that Champion Gor had killed many, many souls. If each kill constituted a drop of blood, this man was swimming in an ocean of blood.
Not that he considered himself a saint, far from it. It's just that Varian strongly believed those who kill must be prepared to be killed.
"You don't have to know me," Varian said in a casual tone. "A thousand years later, no one will know Zions."
"What do you mean?" Champion Gor groaned in confusion before his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Those princes, no way…"
"My lord! I have to save my lord!"
Gor wriggled violently, trying to break the bindings, and kept failing.
"You vile creature, unchain me now!"
His condition got worse as he didn't even care about healing himself and attempted a breakout.
"I'll kill you!"
"Kill you!"
"Kill you all…"
