Alistair was learning a technique, Origin Light.
This technique would enhance his light-elemental attacks up to twenty times. With such a boost, he was confident that no one in this generation would be able to match him.
Meanwhile, in Aetherion,
Ethan had already reached the 95th level. Now, for the first time, he was feeling the pressure.
He was stunned. This pressure was supposed to be the same for everyone. And only those under level 5 could even attempt the Ascension Tower.
"How the fuck could someone reach this level if even I feel pressure with my absurd attributes?"
No matter.
"Let’s finish this quickly."
He continued climbing the tower. Three hours later, he stood on the 99th level, the highest known floor of the tower.
The pressure here was tremendous.
It felt as if a normal person was carrying two tons of weight on their back.
Unbearable.
Ethan gritted his teeth and held on. After one hour of enduring the intense pressure, he successfully comprehended the final technique.
He thought he’d now be given some reward options, maybe the chance to select a talent or something, considering he had conquered the entire damn tower.
But then, a voice echoed in his mind, an alluring female voice.
"Champion, you may choose to be rewarded now, or you can challenge the 100th level and have a chance to obtain the ultimate reward."
"What the?"
"There’s a 100th level? Why didn’t the receptionist mention this? Or... maybe she didn’t know," Ethan thought.
"Okay, I choose the 100th level."
The moment he confirmed, he was teleported to an unknown space.
This place was unlike the other floors. There was something different, something sacred.
When he arrived, he saw an astonishingly beautiful woman, a mature woman with flowing dark hair dressed in a white gown.
"An angel?" That was Ethan’s first thought.
The woman smiled at him with motherly affection.
"Come here, child. You’ve done well. Sit down."
She said gently, "Let me introduce myself. I am Aetherion, the spirit of Aetherion."
This simple introduction felt like thunder in Ethan’s ears.
The spirit of this realm?
So... this place really was alive.
The woman was surprised by Ethan’s calm expression.
Then she smiled. "You know, you’re surprisingly calm after learning my identity."
Ethan smiled back. "Is there any benefit to panicking? If there is, trust me, I’ll have a panic attack right now."
The woman was speechless for a moment.
Then she chuckled. "Oh, you’re a funny child. Now, let’s get down to business."
Ethan nodded. He liked straightforward people.
Aetherion continued, "I can grant you the ultimate talent. Even I have no control over it. I don’t know its full potential. But to receive it, you’ll need to sign a contract with me."
Ethan didn’t interrupt. His expression was like , carry on.
She explained, "You must become the guardian of Aetherion. When the realm faces external danger, you must intervene."
Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Don’t you have Transcended-rank hunters? Why make a deal with someone like me?"
Aetherion gave a sorrowful smile. "Yes, there are Transcended hunters. But none of them are worthy of bearing the ultimate talent. And the threats we may face, they’re not something even the Transcended can handle."
Ethan asked, "And you believe I can surpass them with that ultimate talent?"
Aetherion nodded.
"Alright then," Ethan said calmly. "Let’s sign it."
The woman was surprised. "You don’t want to know more details?"
"Nope."
Ethan was interested in this ultimate talent.
And if becoming the realm’s guardian meant only protect it when necessay,it was not a problem. As he would gain enough strength to surpass even the Supremes very soon,so that was a deal he could accept.
The woman smiled warmly. "Okay."
She brought out a contract. It looked somewhat similar to the X-level contract he had signed with the Primordial Humans.
Another contract of law?
Both parties signed.
The moment Ethan signed, boom. A deep sound echoed in his ears.
[You have awakened the ultimate talent, "Extraction"]
Ethan looked at Aetherion. "Is this what I think it is?"
She simply smiled, then made Ethan vanish from the tower.
Ethan appeared at the bottom of the tower.
The moment he landed, thousands of people were staring at him eagerly.
But before anyone could react, Ethan vanished.
"Where did he go? Where!? Find him immediately! There are good and bad forces lurking everywhere. Everyone wants to control that boy, and the damn kid just vanished! What kind of motherf**ker ability did he get from the tower? Damn it!"
Ethan reappeared in the forest where he had first arrived.
He smirked.
"You want to control me? Dream on."
Then he sat down and started browsing through the details of the talent he’d received.
[Extraction: You can extract anything from everything. Dead or alive.]
Every broken ability had a simple description.
But Ethan knew very well what this talent meant.
If he merged with his main body, the main body would gain this talent too.
He didn’t even dare to imagine what he could become after that.
Earth,
Ethan was observing the training session when suddenly, Arthur’s voice rang in his mind.
"Ethan. Care to join me for a little chat?"
"Why would Emissary Arthur want to talk to me now?" Ethan wondered.
Then he vanished and reappeared in outer space, or more specifically, on the moon. Arthur was already there, sipping tea.
Ethan greeted him, "It’s nice to meet you again, Mr. Emissary."
Arthur nodded. "Indeed, it’s nice to meet you too. Now sit. Let’s talk business."
He continued, "Ten days from now, there will be an inter-racial battle tournament. I want, or rather we want, you to participate and represent us. The first prize is very rewarding."
"Inter-racial tournament?" Ethan raised an eyebrow. "How many races?"
Arthur replied, "One thousand. The five sovereign races will each send five people from this generation. The other nine hundred ninety-five races will each send one. A battle between one thousand twenty warriors."
"And what’s the first prize?" Ethan asked again.
"An Origin Weapon. A weapon worthy of being the guardian artifact of a top-tier civilization."
Ethan nodded. "Okay. I’ll participate."
Arthur felt releif. Then he said good bye to Ethan and left the place.
Ethan wanted to return home but then his eyes laid on sun.
That huge mass of gas or the source of light was always a mystery for humanity until now.
There was a saying, "Sun is the source of life in Earth."
Ethan vanished from there and appear 1 meter away from the Sun.
He wanted to know if there were any mysterious force in sun or not.
His strength was 20 times than the mass of sun. His body was heat resistant. So Sun was no threat to him.
Though sun was constantly radiating nuclear fusion energe,or the core temperature was 15 million° celcius, it couldn’t even scratch his body.
Ethan then started slowly entering the sun. As he was going furthur into the center, the temperature was rising crazily.
After 4 hours of flying, Ethan suddenly felt something like a barrier around the core of the Sun.
He was surprised, how could there be a barrier here?
The barrier was about 500 km radius, and was placed at the absolute center of the sun.
Ethan got curious. What might this be? Just as he was about to touch the barrier,a system message came up
[You don’t want to touch that barrier. The ender is locked there. Unless you become
More powerful than this universe,don’t mess with that barrier]
Ethan was surprised. What was the ender?
[It is the end of the universe. When the universe won’t be able to hold it’s own against something beyond it’s capability, it would unleash the ender. It was both self destruction and the destruction of the enemy]
Ethan’s eyes wide opened.
"Not even the supremes can defeat a it?"
[Supremes are less than a 1 day old human child infront of it. Even the entire universe can’t hold a candle against it.]
"That powerful? How is it locked then? And why the sun of all places?"
[The ender is the manifestation of the universe’s destructive will. It is not locked,you may say it is not activated. When it will be activated,the universe will die along with everyone and everything inside it. And the enemy isn’t more than 100 times stronger than the universe, he would also die]
"Holy. The sun is containing such a secret. Do the supremes know?"
[No one knows. Only I can talk about this. No one can’t even say it’s name. Or else they would die without a burrial ground.]
"Sigh. Another matter for having tension. When will I ever be able to live a tension free life. Well,then I’ll need to make sure the universe never activate this creature, or I’ll need to be 100 times stronger than the universe it self. "
Ethan teleported from the sun and reached his home.
He wanted to concentrate on the making of the ultimate domain.