[Oliver's PoV]
[SYSTEM UPDATE DETECTED]
[King-Level Unlocked]
[You have reached King-Level.]
| Status Page
| User: Oliver [Nameless]
| Level: 8 [King]
| Experience: [Blocked]
| Credits: 31.230.890
[Your Energy Stat has evolved.]
[Mana unlocked.]
| Stats
| Strength: 27 [Bishop]
| Agility: 31 [Queen]
| Constitution: 25 [Bishop]
| Mana: 31 [King]
| Myth: 5 [Demi-Sovereign]
The numbers meant nothing on their own, but Oliver could feel what they represented.
The moment the System finished its update, the world shifted.
His body thrummed with power, every muscle alive with new strength, every nerve vibrating with more than just Energy.
He drew a breath, and his lungs filled not just with air, but with something new.
He felt it in his blood, in his bones, in the empty space between atoms.
Mana.
It was subtle at first. It wasn’t like Energy. Energy was inside him. It was the pulse of the living.
But Mana was something else.
He could sense it in the air, in the shattered stone beneath his feet, in the Tower itself. It wasn’t alive, but it connected everything that was. It was the invisible fabric that wove universes together.
[You begin to feel Mana.]
[Energy and Mana. Similar, but not the same.]
[One composes the body of all living beings. The other exists in every corner of the universe.]
[One is the source of life for Sovereigns. The other is a poison even to gods.]
Whatever Ares had done to him or the new Myth point might affect, it had changed something fundamental. Rewired his senses, expanded his perception beyond what a mortal was meant to endure.
He could sense the Energy coursing inside his body, the familiar rhythm that fueled his strength, his movement, his flame.
However, Mana wasn’t confined to him like Energy was. It moved in patterns too intricate for the human mind to follow, a living current that connected all things.
His gaze shifted to Khan.
The mercenary stood surrounded by Mana. The blue ribbons wrapped around his arms shimmered with it. They weren’t mere decoration.
'They are bridges, conduits. He’s drawing Mana from the world itself.' In that moment, Oliver understood.
Not through logic. Not through study.
It came to him as naturally as breathing.
[Left Eye of Learning: Active]
[Oceanus’ Rage - 0.01%]
[Knowledge about Mana is too low.]
[Reducing the level of Oceanus’ Rage.]
[Oceanus’ Rage reduced to: Icicles Dart.]
[Icicles Dart - 1.00%]
[Icicles Dart is stable.]
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The notifications kept flashing as he watched Khan’s movements. However, the more he learned, the more the pain in his eyes began to intensify.
His left eye burned as if someone had poured molten metal into it. He staggered, clutching his face.
Through the agony, he could see how it all worked. Yet there was no time left to study.
Oliver had seen enough. He understood just enough. And that was all he needed.
'Maybe it won’t be as strong as his,' he thought. 'But it’ll be enough.'
He tightened his grip on the tendrils in his hands. The creature thrashed, trying to pull away, but Oliver held firm.
Each time Oliver pulled, the False Sovereign staggered forward. The other tendrils lashed out wildly, sweeping through the air like blades, shattering the last standing pillars, and tearing into the ground.
The entire hall shook with the force of its rage.
“You think a spark makes you my equal?!” the Sovereign screamed, its voice a distorted roar that reverberated through the ruins. “You think divinity can be handed out like scraps?! You are nothing! NOTHING!”
Its fury was palpable, its Energy flaring so violently that the very air seemed to warp around it. The golden glow of its eyes burned hotter and more unstable, and the black ooze coating its body rippled with chaotic pulses of power.
The Sovereign’s attacks grew faster and erratic.
But none of it touched him.
Oliver moved with precision, every step fluid, every motion deliberate. He sidestepped one tendril, ducked beneath another.
Finally, he was there. Face to face with the monster.
He released the tendrils, letting them fall limp to the ground.
The Sovereign’s golden eyes widened, confusion flickering through the fury.
Oliver didn’t speak. He didn’t need to.
He turned his gaze toward Khan, who still stood at a distance. Oliver mimicked his stance, raising one hand and extending two fingers forward, shaping them into a pistol.
It was an imitation at best. He didn’t have Khan’s mastery. He didn’t have his conduits or his knowledge. But he had something else, the System.
'Let’s see if this works,' he thought, focusing every ounce of concentration on the image in his mind.
The System responded instantly.
[Icicles Dart]
Just like every other time he’d used his techniques, Oliver didn’t need to move, didn’t need to chant. He only had to think.
The System did the rest.
Mana surged toward him. It didn’t flow through his veins like Energy; it circled him, bending reality as it gathered, compressing, condensing.
Then it began to change.
The Mana didn’t merge with his body; it was expelled from it, forced outward through his pores.
The air around his right hand dropped in temperature so fast that the moisture in the air crystallized. Frost spread across his arms, crawling up his wrist like living veins of ice.
The Sovereign’s golden eyes narrowed.
Oliver’s breath fogged in front of him as the cold deepened. Tiny droplets of water condensed in the air, freezing instantly into shards that hovered near his palm.
Three perfect icicles emerged, each one sharp as a blade, each one orbiting his wrist. They spun in place, suspended by thin, glowing threads of Mana that connected them to him.
The Sovereign’s expression shifted. The smugness vanished, replaced by caution.
He understood what was coming.
“Die!” the False Sovereign roared, his voice cracking like thunder.
Dozens of the creature’s tendrils lashed out at once. They tore through the ground, the walls, the air. Each one a weapon, each one aiming to crush him, impale him, destroy him.
Yet, Oliver didn’t worry.
He moved.
His body twisted, weaved, and sidestepped. The tendrils struck where he had been a fraction of a millisecond before, shattering the stone floor, pulverizing everything in their path.
One tried to grab him; he slipped past it. Another came from above; he ducked low. A third aimed to crush him; he slid beneath it.
Oliver didn’t stop. He stayed close. Always close.
He gradually began to reduce his Energy, hiding every trace of it.
After more and more strikes, the dust and debris made it nearly impossible to see him, even if he was just a few steps away.
When Oliver finally could no longer see his opponent, the tentacles stopped attacking.
Yet, he raised his hand. Aiming at the same place the False Sovereign was moments before.
A faint smile pulled at his lips.
“When you come at the king,” Oliver said quietly, “you best not miss.”
He fired.
The icicles shot forward in a burst of blue light, cutting through the air like railgun rounds. The speed and power of the shot caused the air to expand, pushing the dust away.
Before the Sovereign could react, the first struck its leg.
Blood poured from the wound, splattering across the floor. The Sovereign staggered, its tendrils flailing wildly, trying to block the next strike.
The second shot struck his chest, while the third was intercepted by one of the tentacles.
Its chest erupted in a burst of frost, freezing the black ooze that coated the creature’s body. The Sovereign stumbled backward, its movements jerky and uncoordinated.
It tried to raise its sword, but its arm wouldn’t respond.
Oliver didn’t give it a chance.
[Icicles Dart]
[Icicles Dart]
[Icicles Dart]
The [Icicle Dart] might have been weaker than Khan’s magic, but it didn’t need any time to recharge.
Oliver, along with the [System], could keep spamming more and more icicles without stopping.
Nine more darts formed instantly, spinning around his wrist before launching forward in quick succession.
The Sovereign barely had time to react.
The darts struck one after another, each one driving deeper, freezing more of the creature’s body. The black ooze solidified into jagged crystal, locking the Sovereign in place.
It tried to move, but failed.
The golden light in its eyes dimmed.
The False Sovereign fell.
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