Chapter 942: Something About Echoes
While listening to the woman's words, Valyr took in a few deep breaths to calm himself from suddenly being forced to sit on the ground.
Then, following what Sellifer told him, he then proceeded to cross his legs and close his eyes, attuning himself to his surroundings as he allowed his thoughts to continue lingering in his mind.
'Now that I think about it, I didn't take a look at the prerequisite quests needed to ascend my subclass to the next grade yet,' thought Valyr to himself not long after immersing himself in his current state.
With Sellifer not giving him any instructions on what to do next, the young man continued to let his thoughts run rampant, his train of thought continuing where it previously left off.
'Should I take a look at them right now while I still can?' asked the young man to himself, eventually coming to the decision to do so after contemplating for some time.
And so, Valyr commanded the system to bring up the new set of quests needed to ascend his subclass within his mind, somewhat curious as to how much the difficulty of the quests have increased.
Ding!
Growth Quests (Four Paths Azure Warlord):
> Improve one's Intent related to either Shadow Energy or mana to 5th Grade or higher (0/1)
> Improve the quality of one's Azure Energy to the Echo stage (0/1)
> Increase one's Azure Energy reserves to 10,000 (0/1)
> Summon an Azure Primordial Beast that emulates 50% or more of the user's stats through [Four Paths Azure Manifestation] (0/1)
> Master at least four of the nine fundamental forms of combat through [Four Paths Azure War Arts] and [Four Paths Azure Liberation] (1/4)
Rewards: Ascension of the Four Paths Azure Warlord subclass to Epic+ rarity, additional skills and other miscellaneous rewards
'Simpler than I thought.' By the time Valyr was done reading through all of the quests he needed to complete, the young man immediately felt like most of them would eventually be cleared as long as he stayed in the Shadow Plane.
'I'll clear one of the quests after I'm done ascending the quality of my Azure Energy,' inwardly muttered the young man to himself. 'Then, I'll clear the other one once I keep fighting against beasts in the Shadow Plane.'
'It's definitely a big jump from reaching 250 points of Azure Energy, but it's still doable. It's just a matter of time.'
Looking at the quest where he needed to summon an Azure Primordial Beast that needed to emulate a certain percentage of his stats, Valyr brought up the description of [Four Paths Azure Manifestation] in his mind, wanting to refresh himself.
Ding!
Reading through the description of the skill again, the young man soon noticed that his earlier thoughts of the skill being similar to [Intermediate Shamanic Summoning Arts] were actually wrong.
If there was one thing that the two truly had in common, then it was the fact that it gave Valyr the ability to summon beasts that would aid him.
However, as he'd noticed before, [Four Paths Azure Manifestation] did not have something like the Growth Summoning feature [Intermediate Shamanic Summoning Arts] had, which allowed his summons in the latter to grow stronger.
But that did not mean that [Four Paths Azure Manifestation] had no way for him to strengthen the beasts he summoned.
In terms of the skill's approach to strengthening the beasts, then [Four Paths Azure Manifestation] was more in line with [Ephemeral Tools of the First Blacksmith] where infusing more energy would allow the beasts he summoned to have higher stats.
Though, unlike [Ephemeral Tools of the First Blacksmith], strengthening the beasts he summoned through [Four Paths Azure Manifestation] was only possible if he infused a certain amount of Azure Energy to them.
'I guess that's why one of the quests needed me to improve my Azure Energy reserves to 10,000 points,' thought Valyr to himself with a faint nod before moving his attention to the final prerequisite quest.
'Compared to the quest where I just need to raise my comprehension of Intent, I'm not sure whether this one would be simple or not.'
Seeing how he'd already made progress on the final quest, it did not take long for Valyr to recall how he'd obtained the concept of the Unfettered Spear through the system, giving him the ability to temporarily unleash devastating power with the spear.
'If I remember correctly, I had the basic skills for the weapon raised to Rare grade before they were fused,' muttered Valyr to himself inwardly. 'Is that the requirement needed to obtain a new concept?'
'But wait... I also unlocked advancements in the Technology Tree's combat branch before they were fused.'
'Do I also have to do that?'
Pondering more over the topic, a frown eventually appeared on Valyr's face as he tried to wrap his head around it.
Devouring the energy of the Intent of True Mana as if it had experienced thirst, the haze of
Azure Energy glimmered in response to it, causing the power contained within it to reach heights Valyr had never expected to come from such simple energy.
For some time, he continued infusing the energy of the three Intents into it, slowly
transforming the Azure Energy into the form that Sellifer wanted him to achieve.
Every once in a while, he would see parts of the haze faintly pulsate in accordance to the Echo
level, yet what he required was the entire haze pulsating as one.
Slightly frowning at the sight, Valyr then remembered that he also needed to braid the
energies even finer than he did before.
Though, just as he was about to brute force the act of finely braiding the two energies making
up the haze of Azure Energy, the young man soon recalled that he had a skill that more or less
worked on the same concept.
'What if I were to use the concept of the [Truth Weaver Scripture] in braiding the energies...?' asked Valyr to himself at the thought, feeling his curiosity build up as he eventually decided
to try it out on a small bit of the Azure Energy.
The result?
An even finer form of Azure Energy that integrated all three parts perfectly. From the Shadow Energy to the mana to the concepts that empowered the entire thing, the Azure Energy that was formed through the concept of the [Truth Weaver Scripture] glowed a bright blue, its power far eclipsing the Azure Sign infused with three Intents. Seeing how effective implementing the [Truth Weaver Scripture] was in braiding the energies, Valyr went ahead and used its concepts to weave Shadow Energy, mana, and the three Intents together, resulting in a haze that surprisingly had heft to it. Feeling as if the haze of Azure Energy within the realm had somewhat taken on a solidified
form, Valyr felt a hint of confusion as he recalled the characteristics of the Echo level Sellifer
told him.
Though, before he could go over them completely, the haze of Azure Energy glowed with great intensity all of a sudden, making it seem as if the Azure Energy he'd formed had taken
on the form of bright blue pearls rather than a massive beating heart.
Yet, for some reason, the system recognized that as a success.
Ding!
[You have finely intertwined Shadow Energy, mana, and concepts embodying the heart of
those two energies, forming a delicate trinity that is reminiscent of a higher-tiered energy
named Azure Energy.]
[However, unlike the Azure Energy originally recognized by the system, the energy you've
formed seems to have the concept of perfect balance in mind, giving it the ability to reach an even higher tier of quality.]
[With how much focus has been put into this perfect balance, the system notices that it has
also gained the ability to assimilate higher forms of both Shadow Energy and mana, as well as other energies without any issues.]
[The system greatly recognizes your efforts, acknowledging it as a variant of Azure Energy
that's far superior in every aspect.]
[Because of that, the system has classified the energy you've formed as Prime Azure Energy.]
[Due to this action, the skill 'Azure Energy Mark' has transformed to 'Prime Azure Energy
Mark'.]
[The grade of your Prime Azure Energy Mark has been improved to Echo - Prime.]