Chapter 1644: The Last Preparations
The day to depart was slowly approaching, and with that, everyone was growing slightly more nervous. The training had been going excellent, everyone's souls were now several times stronger, some ten times, other twenty times bigger, it depended on a person's Soul Talent, as the Fox Woman called it. Apparently not all Souls are born equal, some take longer to grow than others even with her intensive torture... I mean, her training.
Thankfully, with the Elixirs I made with Kate, it was possible for everyone to at least get their Souls to the minimum of SS- Rank, the most talented were able to get to SSS Rank, and the least to SS- Rank, so it was a pretty decent strength. With those stats, they were also able to equip multiple Soul Gear pieces at once, of course, the Shield of Tiamat was included as one Soul Gear, so those that had already filled all their Soul Gear Slots had to drop one item.
But the Shield was definitely worth it. We were already in the very last weekend, three days more before we are forced to get out and move to the Fire Venerable's Inheritance. I've grown stronger, and I haven't stopped training my Abilities, from the {Venerable's Enlightened Senses}, to all my other abilities. I've been continuously cultivating and absorbing Divine Power from eating Divine Monsters and also Demonic Energy from hunting and using Marchosias Weapon Form to absorb their energy as Demonic Energy.
However, even with all that, I don't think I'll have enough Demonic Energy for another Demon King Rank Up, and that's fine too, I've already done more than enough. I've been both practicing and cultivating my Powers of the Sin of Gluttony, which were now over a hundred times stronger than before.
Even in their base form, I was able to utilize them as my greatest trump card to surpass Pandemonium's Body Fragment, his Lung, and eat it. Now that's a hundred times stronger, it should be a decent weapon against him, or so I hope.
The bad thing is that I can't really train it with someone equally powerful, Gluttony is very dangerous and could easily devour someone's soul and body into shreds, so I only test it against Divine Monsters I purposely create to grind more Demonic Energy.
I've figured out many ways to use the Sin's powers, and my Demonic Physique certainly complements that, but even now, I still feel lacking in terms of completely comprehending everything it can do.
Unfortunately, without a proper sparring partner that can take on my full power blows, I am left with the only chance to discover its powers full by fighting Pandemonium. This time, that bastard won't just one-shot me like before.
...I still feel so fucking frustrated and angered he did that. With a single wave of his hand, he easily knocked me out and didn't even let me get closer!
At that point, I had really thought I reached the pinnacle of the world, only to be utterly humbled again.
This time, I've realized I was nothing but a frog in a well, and there are even higher heavens above mine.
I've trained, I've grown stronger, I've cultivated, I've gained new powers...
Pandemonium, you bastard. I am not the same as before!
And I'll show him...
...
Well, for now, my Aura felt strong, especially my Soul Ether. My Azure Ice Essence had grown in quantity a lot, at least ten times what it was originally, my Psyche, as a result, has grown stronger, mixing the power of my Titan-shaped soul with my Dragon Origin.
Surrounding me there were dozens of Soul Treasures extracted from the Ice Dragon Realm, which I was finishing to absorb into my Soul's Psyche, their ethereal bodies turning into more Azure Ice Essence, which I greedily absorbed.
FLASH!
"Phew."
I felt my soul grow larger, like a phantasmal blue flame that exuded an eternal frost, my surroundings instantly froze, transforming into a landscape you would only find in the middle of the Antarctica.
I was currently inside a small Dream Realm, which I had discovered were the best places to cultivate my Soul by absorbing Soul Treasures and Tempering.
And right now, my Soul was finally reaching the final breakthrough I could achieve within this given time.
"My Soul Ether has gotten... denser, it is no longer like air, but more like water?" I wondered, feeling the Soul Ether flow into my hands, moving through a similar physics to water itself. "Interesting..."
I felt the embodiment of my Soul, my Psyche, become twice as large, now resembling a hulking titan, covered on big scales, with multiple arms, three dragon heads, several tails, and enormous muscles. My former Soul Psyche was that of a small human before, but through Skadi's trial, not only was I able to evolve it into an Ice Titan, but I've been fusing it with my Dragon Origin, making it resemble a perfect fusion between the two.
"Well done, Drake. I've upgraded the Divine Ability to its maximum Rank as well! Look, it has grown stronger." The System said.
"Thank you." Ding!
[Your Soul has absorbed a large quantity of Soul Treasures, you've refined them into Azure Ice Essence, which you've absorbed into your Soul!]
[Your Soul has become even larger and stronger. Immense quantities of Azure Ice Essence flow through your Soul endlessly.]
[Your [Soul Ether]: [SSS] has Ranked Up to SSS+ Rank!]
[You've slowly reaching the limits of a Divine Soul! Once you reach SSS+++ Rank of your Soul Ether, and you refine an Ascendancy Law, you will be able to undergo Venerable Soul Evolution.]
"Venerable Soul Evolution, huh? Now that's interesting..."
Ding!
[You have exchanged 200.000.000 Divine Power, your [Eternal Azure Ice Titan's Soul Psyche (SS)] has Ranked Up to SSS Rank!]
[New Abilities have become available within the [Eternal Azure Ice Titan's Soul Psyche (SSS)] Divine Ability!]
[Additionally, based on the Rank of your Soul Ether, all previous Abilities have been further strengthened.]
My Soul felt stronger than ever before!
But I wasn't done yet, not yet.
I wanted to first Upgrade some more Divine Abilities and use those Marbles to combine others.