Chapter 555: Another Challenge of Will [Bonus]

Chapter 555: Another Challenge of Will [Bonus]



Sylas couldn't use Treasures, and he wasn't even sure if he could have a second Profession. His Dual Class Constitution didn't come with such an allowance, and he already had three Legendary Paths which technically counted as three separate Professions already.

Though it would help Cassarae quite a bit if he became a Blacksmith of some sort, it wouldn't add to his strength much. Well, it certainly would to some extent, but it just wasn't the most efficient use of his time, not while these Scorned Wraps were still around.

The reason he was so interested in this was because of the scorpion statue that still rested in his Madness Key.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

He had been studying off and on these last few days, but he hadn't made any progress at all.

Although he had already forcefully memorized all the Runes, he didn't understand them the way he should.

By now, if he had the resources Ragnar had had, he could definitely already start inscribing the Runes onto his body. But he still hadn't figured out what those resources were, nor did he understand how Ragnar had figured them out either.

The main issue was that he didn't understand the Runes.

Rune Enlightenment should have already allowed him a vague understanding of any Rune he laid eyes on, let alone the fact his Rune Soul was three tiers above that.

But he still felt stonewalled.

Now, he had found a breakthrough in an unexpected place.

'The most complicated part of the statue is... the entire statue. Studying just one Rune isn't enough because it works on a Rune Mesh System. Every part links into another and they rely on one another. It's hard even to figure out which Runes I should inscribe first, and which ones I should leave for the future.

'And because I don't understand them, manifesting them mid-battle would take up far too much stamina, not to mention take too much time.

'There's almost certainly systematic guidance or a method that Ragnar picked up somewhere, or else it's impossible for him to have made any progress at all.

It wasn't just false pride. Every time he ran into a wall like this related to Runes, he felt as though someone was looking over his shoulder, sneering.

He could feel their arrogance, he could feel their casual disregard, he could feel... that they were the exact same sort of person he was.

And that was the last sort of person he wanted to lose to.

Sylas unleashed a roar and blood spurted out from his nose. The same would have happened to his eyes, but the burning intent coming from the statue turned the crimson into a foggy mess that evaporated into the air.

Deep within Sylas, his dormant Will churned and a tangible intent covered his eyes in a sheen of green.

All of a sudden, as though he had put on a pair of sunglasses, the sun before him wasn't nearly so blazing.

He made a final push, shrinking the burning flame down from 2,000 Foundations to 1,000, and then from 1,000 to 500.

The smaller the net grew, and the closer he came to finding the core Runes, the more difficult it grew. But reaching 1,000 had been a tall mountain to climb, and now that he was approaching 100, that burning intent was only growing fiercer and fiercer.

It felt like his Will and that of an unknown existence were continuously clashing. And deep inside, he comprehended something.

These flames, this spark, this tangible Will that was clashing against his own... this was the Spark, this was the special spurt of energy that differentiated Rune Soul, Rune Essence, and Rune Spark even further beyond.

He shattered through a barrier, and he knew in that moment he had reached Rune Essence. At the same exact moment, the blazing intent shrunk down to just 100 Foundations.

BOOM!

An explosion sounded off in Sylas' mind, and the statue before him shattered into countless pieces. The destruction almost sent him flying backward.

But he was so focused on the crystal hidden within it that he didn't even notice the lacerations that cut into him from all sides.