Chapter 378: Bloodlust

As Aurus pondered over what he should do next, he eventually decided to focus his attention on another skill that hadn't reached the level of power he was aiming for. With that in mind, he scanned through the various skills he had in his arsenal through his system, noticing that there were quite a few that he had to put a bit of effort on.

Though, it did not take long for him to focus his attention once more on the skills he had obtained after evolving to X-grade Inanimate. At first, he thought that it would be a good idea for him to focus his attention on the skill [Flux Knight] since it more or less meant that he would be able to create an army as strong as him. But in the end, after reading through the descriptions of his non-maxed skills, he eventually settled on the only skill he could level up that was related to him being a Spiriveritas.

"Identify [The Thirteenth Spiriveritas: Epiphany of the Tempest]."

Ding!

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[The Thirteenth Spiriveritas: Epiphany of the Tempest] (Lv. 1/99)

Ever since the Spiritas has existed, there are those who yearn to achieve greater power while still being able to stay as an Inanimate. Fortunately, one of those Spiritii had achieved the impossible, forging a new path of evolution that would allow one to achieve Divinity without having to ascend to higher existence levels. Although the limitation was that one would have to be a Spiritas in order to be eligible, it was still greater than having no choice. Of course, to differentiate from the normal Spiritas, this Spiritas had named himself as the first Spiriveritas.

One of the unique features of a Spiriveritas was to comprehend a type of law that was weak at first, but at the very peak would not lose out to the laws of those that were at the level of Divinity. This type of law was called an Epiphany, with each Spiriveritas comprehending their own Epiphany. As the Thirteenth Spiriveritas, who has great command over the element of Wind, the heavens have decided to give him the Epiphany of the Tempest.

> Increases the user's stats by 2% per level of the Epiphany comprehended (max of 200%)

> Increases the stats of companions and servants by 1% per level of the Epiphany comprehended (max of 100%)

> Increases the damage dealt by the user's skills and spells by 2% per level of the Epiphany comprehended (max of 200%)

> Increases the user's attack speed by 2% per level of the Epiphany comprehended (max of 200%)

> Increases the user's movement speed by 5% per level of the Epiphany comprehended (max of 500%) 

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"This…" After reading through the description of the skill, Aurus was left at a loss for words, thinking how about powerful he would become if he could raise the level of his Epiphany to the maximum it could go, which was Level 99. With this in mind, he now understood how the Spiriveritas would be able to reach the existence level of Divinity. In short, a Spiriveritas like him would be able to reach the existence level of Divinity once his Epiphany was maxed.

"If that's the case, then what level of Epiphany has Erudis reached?" Aurus muttered to himself as he pondered over it, thinking about the fact that Erudis was the first Spiriveritas to exist in the world of Erudinia. After that, he thought about the level of Epiphany the other Spiriveritae have reached, only to place those thoughts at the back of his head as he made up his mind to focus most of his time on upgrading his Epiphany.

With that, he soon closed his sense of vision and attuned his body to the Wind energy particles in the area, just like how he would attune his body in the past whenever he wanted to increase his affinity with the Wind element. At first, there was quite a lot of reaction from the surroundings, with large amounts of Wind energy particles entering his body as his understanding of his Epiphany drastically increased.

Though, within just a few minutes after he started comprehending his Epiphany, this rate had reduced to a snail's pace, making him wonder as to whether or not his comprehension speed after absorbing the All-seeing Comprehension Leaf had any effects on comprehending his Epiphany or not.

In fact, his comprehension speed was definitely doing its job as he comprehended his Epiphany. If it were any other being trying to comprehend an Epiphany, rather than progressing at a snail's pace, their progress would be akin to a drop of water gradually forming on the tip of a stalactite, with the goal of creating an ocean.

Eventually, after about an hour or so of trying to comprehend his Epiphany in silence, he decided to stop, seeing as to how he had only progressed by a small amount after the large jump in progress at the beginning. With this in mind, he could not help but wonder to himself, 'Is it because there isn't a lot of Wind energy particles in this area?'

Pondering over this, Aurus eventually that it might be the case, recalling how Tempest Cliff was a region for beginners in ISE. With that, he went ahead and opened up the map of the continent through the system, setting a marker on one of the places on the continent that was more condensed with Wind energy particles.

After that, he left the large stone room he had been in for the past two weeks, gradually making his way to the alliance's main hall within a couple of teleports. Surprisingly, just as he had appeared at the main hall, a dark cyan silhouette appeared in front of him as he asked, "Oh, if it isn't Aurus! Where are you heading off to?"

Noticing the silhouette in front of him, Aurus was about to respond to his question just as a wave of energy washed over his body all of a sudden. After that, it was as if something had awakened inside of him. To him, it felt like it was something primal, as if this feeling had been inside him before he could even remember.

Nevertheless, he made sure to not show this change on the outside as he replied to the silhouette, "Oh, you know. I'm just heading to another region to absorb more Wind energy particles. How about you, Horell? What are you doing here?"

Horell, who was the one who appeared in front of Aurus, awkwardly chuckled as he replied, "Oh, you know. Since I'm the leader of the alliance, I have to patrol every once in a while. Anyways, how long are you planning to stay outside?"

"Probably for quite some time," Aurus replied, feeling the thing that had awakened inside him become more restless. As he looked at Horell, he felt like he would eventually lose control over this thing and let it take over his body. With that in mind, he hastily moved out of the way before bidding farewell to Horell.

"See you later, Horell."

Whoosh!

"See you…later?" As Horell responded to Aurus's farewell, he could not help but notice the peculiar aura surrounding Aurus at the very moment he was about to teleport. Eventually, he decided to just shrug it off and think of it as it being part of the skill Aurus was improving.

…

Whoosh!

By the time Aurus had arrived at the location he had marked on his system, the sun was already at its peak. Nevertheless, the heat of the sun couldn't be felt as strong gusts of wind blew over the area once in a while, making one feel colder than they normally would feel.

Sensing the density of Wind energy particles in this area, Aurus could not help but mutter to himself, "As expected of a high-level region in Infinite Stick Evolution. The Divine Wind Valley is truly one of the best places to improve Wind-related skills if one were to talk about the continent of Arveridia…if it was called that anyway."

Coincidentally, the Divine Wind Valley is also the place where Helios's Heaven's Gust Inheritance could be found. Though, Aurus came here not to undergo through inheritances, but to improve his comprehension over the Epiphany that had been given to him by the heavens.

With that in mind, he then went ahead and teleported to an area that was more secluded than most, eventually ending up in a slightly dense forest located near the edge of one side of the valley. Sitting cross-legged on top of one of the sturdier trees in the forest, Aurus closed his sense of vision once more as he attuned his body to the Wind energy particles. 

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Fortunately, Aurus's hypothesis was correct, sensing that his progress in comprehending his Epiphany had improved compared to the rate it was previously progressing. A large amount of Wind energy particles could be seen circling around his body before being absorbed by his body altogether, as if he was slowly turning into the incarnation of wind.

Well, in actuality, his hypothesis was only correct for a short amount of time as around ten minutes or so later, the amount of Wind energy particles he was pulling in had decreased drastically once more, just like what had happened to him back in the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance. With that in mind, he hastily stopped absorbing more Wind energy particles from the surroundings, instead pondering over what specific conditions he should meet in order to improve his Epiphany very quickly.

"Hmm…since it's called the Epiphany of the Tempest, then that means my comprehension should be related to Wind energy particles, or the element of Wind itself," Aurus muttered as he pondered over what part he was lacking on. Eventually, he decided to give up on pondering over it and continue to absorb more Wind energy particles to progress his Epiphany. In the end, his Epiphany would still improve, albeit at a slower rate.

But just as he was about to close his sense of vision once more, a small creature decided to hop along the tree where Aurus was sitting on. Naturally, Aurus's curiosity got the better of him as he looked at the creature that appeared.

If one took a quick glance, one would notice that it was just a normal docile rabbit. Though, thanks to the overabundance of Wind energy particles in the area, the rabbit's fur had taken on a slight green shine as it moved through the area at slightly quicker speeds. Nevertheless, with Aurus's current strength, he could track the rabbit's movement quite easily.

Of course, that wasn't the reason why he was staring at the rabbit at this moment. That was because, just like how something had awakened inside his body while Horell was talking to him, that same feeling awakened once more as he looked at this rabbit. Before, he wasn't so sure as to what this feeling was while he was with Horell. At most, he could only sense that it was something tied to his life so far, as if it was a primal instinct.

But now, after experiencing this feeling once more, he was now certain of this feeling. Indeed, it was a primal instinct innately imbued inside one's body, an instinct only beings of flesh and blood could have. Although it would normally not make sense for an Inanimate to have something like this, to Aurus, who used to be a human in the past, it made full sense for him to have this. This feeling was none other than…

Bloodlust.

Whoosh!

Without hesitation, Aurus extended his right palm outward as he tracked the small rabbit with his sense of vision, utilizing the effects of his vision-related skill very well. As he did that, an aura rarely seen on Aurus had appeared once more, making him give off the feeling that he was a madman longing for blood.

Eventually, a blade of Wind energy particles manifested in front of Aurus's extended palm as he shot it out towards the small green rabbit. Naturally, with his current strength, the rabbit was killed in one shot as its blood splattered all over the ground.

Seeing this, it was as if that feeling had now fully awakened, causing a great amount of Wind energy particles to surround him before bombarding his body with it, stimulating the progress of his comprehension over his Epiphany to reach outstanding levels. Eventually, it had reached its peak as a notification sound resounded throughout his mind, telling him that he had now reached the second level of Epiphany.

It was at this moment that Aurus realized something else about his Epiphany.

"Sure, the Epiphany of the Tempest is greatly related to the element of Wind. But only now do I realize that there is one more thing to this Epiphany."

"One could say that it's the destruction of all things in its path, one could even say that it's the destruction of all living beings in its path. In any case, it would eventually be summed up into one word."

"…"

"Chaos."