(Warning- Massive information dumps ahead.)
1. Enlightenment- A unique phenomenon, during which an individual who has already reached the peak of his maximum talent forcefully breakthroughs the limits set on him by his physical body.
Your max talent potential on your status window represents, how much strength your body is capable of holding. As we all know that too much of something can be harmful to you, similarly mana more than your holding capacity is dangerous.
Many people all over the world die due to forcefully trying to break through their max potential thus damaging their own body and in extreme cases, it can lead to death too. If you forcefully try to break through by absorbing more and more mana in your body, eventually your body won't be able to stand the pressure and blast like a balloon filled with too much air. (So you will literally become a balloon if you do such a thing, so don't try it at home.)
But in some exceptional cases, when the individual has an extreme need for power or has an indomitable ambition, if their emotions and desire are strong enough that they get noticed by the world itself then, the world itself will help you surpass your limits by making the violent and rampaging mana flow into a slow and warm flow like a warmth of a mother's hand helping her children to get up and go against their fate.
The chances of this happening are extremely few though, there have been no witnesses of enlightenment being achieved by someone in the last two centuries. The last time someone achieved enlightenment in the world was, the current dragon king, he achieved it about two-hundred fifty-nine years ago.
(By the way, this is one of the main reasons why Rio did not let that opportunity of getting limitless potential go away from him. Rio is an anomaly to this world and there's no way the world would have helped him break through his limitations that easily. This could have caused him to be forever slumped at C+ eventually getting expelled from the academy just like Jiang got.)
(Of course, there are some other roundabout ways to increase your max potential, like Fade's system or training your body to the point that it automatically breakthrough, although it's a long and tedious process this is the most genuine out of them all, people like Fade and Link are just gifted children of this world.)
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Inside the giant pillar of golden light.
Oblivious to the whole world, Jin seems to be in a state of trance right now. He could hear several notifications sent by his status window in his mind, but he doesn't have any time to listen or care about them, he seems to be totally focused on using the warm and steady mana currents to enhance his own physique, his body is slowly but surely breaking through the limits which used to be his biggest hindrance.
'I must save Anna, I can't let this be our last moment together, if I wait for the nearby S rank healers to come it would be too late by then and even the three SS rankers are not in the capital right now, I have to protect Anna! I must become strong! If I am strong enough I can stop Anna's death! I just need to be strong!' (Jin)
Jin only had the thoughts of becoming strong enough to save Anna in his mind at this moment, his intense emotions and desire caused a miracle to happen:
[Ding! The host's intense desire for strength has attracted the attention of the world's blessing itself!]
[Ding! The host has been blessed by the mana temporarily!]
[Ding! The host has been blessed by the world temporarily!]
[Ding! The intense flame of ambition and the desire to change a destined death by the host has caused an alteration in fate!]
[Ding! The host has opposed the heavenly luck and caused a commotion in the threads of fate, several predetermined fates have changed!]
[Warning! The heavenly luck is trying to come up with a countermeasure for the host's atrocity… error…. The ????? has been involved! Counter-measures are nullified!]
[Ding! The host has successfully fulfilled the condition for ascension!]
[Ding! Ascending to rank SS-….error…. the heavenly luck has denied the approval…. Error…. ????? Has been involved, proceeding with ascension….]
[Ding! Successfully broke the limits of a mortal… achieved world's favor….]
[Ding! Choosing World authority type….. error….. ????? Has been involved ….. World authority type changed to 'Time'….. Finalizing the ascension….]
[Ding! Congratulations you have been upgraded from Rank S+ to SS-!]
[Ding! You have been granted the Skill 'Space portal'!]
[Ding! You have been granted the attribute of 'Time'!]
[Ding! You have been granted World authority: Time (Level 1)!]
During all these notifications, Jin was in a trance so he was not able to see the strangeness, he only had the thought of saving Anna on his mind.
As the Notifications finally came to end, the weather started to clear and the pillar of light started to dissipate, eventually, everything returned to as it used to be, as if nothing happened in the first place.
As the light faded, Jin woke up from his trance and felt his newfound powers, he immediately stretched his hand toward Anna:
'Please, work, save Anna!' (Jin)
[World Authority: Type Time (Level 1)!]
Suddenly the time around Anna came to a standstill and the bleeding and the diminishing vitality stopped all of a sudden.
'Good, it seemed to have worked now I can carry her to an S rank healer, there's still hope.' (Jin)
Thinking that, Jin immediately jumped into the sky and shot towards the direction of the alliance where you can find an S-rank healer easily. (The academy doesn't have S-rank healers, they only have A-rank ones and below.)
After many twists and turns peace finally returned to the academy.
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(Warning- Massive information dumps ahead.)
2. World Authority and Attribute: Every individual who has successfully achieved SS rank is granted an attribute and a certain amount of authority over that attribute. An attribute is different from an element. Like the mage who has frost element and can use frost magic awakens frost attribute when they become SS rankers, just like Raji.
A mage can use elements by spending mana as the cost, but attributes are different. An attribute represents your authority over that particular attribute like Raji has a frost attribute.
Using attributes does not cost anything, you don't need any mana, mental strength, chant, or magic circle. You just need to will it and you can use the power of that attribute limitlessly and without any cost.
Of course, there are limitations. The limitation is your world authority level. The world authority level represents how much authority you have over the attribute. At level 1 you can only use it at a very small scale like Jin can only use it at Anna at once. But as your mastery over the skill increase your authority level increase, just Like Raji who can create huge mountains of eternal ice just by using her authority alone.
World authority not only represents your attribute it even gives you the power to stand and fly in the air at will without using any mana. Travel underwater, live without oxygen, venture into the void, or become immune to damage below S-rank, all these things are possible with World authority.
The higher your level of world authority the more ridiculous feats you can do.
There's a legend that if someone masters the world authority to the maximum level they can achieve the realm of a god and become capable of altering reality itself. But this is just a legend no one knows how true it is. After all, no one has yet discovered the maximum level of world authority yet.
When two SS-rankers fight it is very likely that the one with more world authority will win but there are other possibilities too. The world is a limitless place anything can happen here.
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As Rio was looking at the fading figure of Jin in the sky he heard an unexpected notification from his status window:
[Ding! You have witnessed the enlightenment from extremely close proximity!]
[Ding! Due to your talent 'Sword Aptitude (X),' you had an epiphany!]
[Congratulations! Your rank has been upgraded from B rank to B+!]
Looking at these notifications Rio was very confused:
'What, when did I have an epiphany, why don't I know about that?' (Rio)
The same thing happened to Link too, because he also has insane talent. He was upgraded from B- to B rank. Other people who also witnessed the enlightenment from close proximity also gained a little bit of enhancement but not so much like Rio and Link.
Link placed his hand on Rio's shoulder and smirked:
"It seems I am actually quite smart, I had an epiphany just by looking at that pillar of light, hehe" (Link)
Rio got irritated by looking at that smug look on Link's face and slapped Link's hand away:
"Keep your hand away, or I will slice it and feed it to pigs…" (Rio)
"Tsk, you are really mean. By the way, it seems the academy is going to close for a few days after all this has happened, how about we visit my father's guild sometime together, you can get an overview of how guilds work..." (Link)
Rio thought a little bit and agreed:
"I will come if I am free…" (Rio)
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Author's Note
I know there are huge info dumps in this chapter but it was very important to explain these few things, they are important to the future development of the story.
Also, the first volume is coming to an end, I think there are only two or three more chapters left before we are done with the first volume. Then we can start with the next one. So, tell me in the comments if you want chapters on any particular topic or character I will add some extra chapters to this volume based on your opinions.
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.