Chapter 461: Pluto Infiltration [8]: The Bottleneck To Level 7
Six Divine Paths.
Forget the impossibility of a single individual awakening in so many paths, even if it's possible, any human, no matter how talented, would see it as a curse.
Dual Awakeners lag behind the mainstream awakeners. Triple Awakeners have it worse.
Six would be a nightmare. No matter how much effort you put in, the overwhelming burden of six paths would turn the progress from the fastest of sprints into the slowest of crawls.
Theoretically, even the best self-practice could only push a six-path awakener to around 20% progress speed of a normal awakener, whereas it's 50% for the triple awakener and 75% for a dual awakener.
Even if it's a celestial grade talent, it'd have taken a significant toll.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, Varian had a system. It did bring misfortunes to his life. It also amplified any disaster he'd face.
But in turn, it also made things easy.
How easy?
'Status'
[Body Path Level 6: 4000/4000 (Limit)
Space Path Level 6: 4000/4000 (Limit)
Lightning Path Level 6: 4000/4000 (Limit)
Morpher Path L6: 4000/4000 (Limit)
Telepath Path L6: 4000/4000 (Limit)
Telekinetic Path L6: 4000/4000 (Limit)]
Originally, Varian was far from these numbers. Even with his training partners, he hit a limit and his progress halted.
Then came the war of Uranus planetoids and the subsequent conflicts. Varian easily fought off many opponents. His progress not only resumed but also skyrocketed.
But since then, it hit a 'limit'.
As Varian glanced at the status screen, the abyssals in the distance were screaming into their alpha orbs.
"Commander! Dreamer has six divine paths!"
"I am sending you the video!"
"..."
"..."
"We'll stall him! Request reinforcements immediately! His Majesty could surely his secret. We shall prosper!"
The room was filled with their excited voices, revealing their fervor patriotism.
And once the messages were sent, they watched Varian with wary eyes and made no moves.
In their opinion, unless necessary, this specimen should be kept alive.
The circumstances were also in their favor. According to what they were told before being dispatched here, the battles would end quickly.
That quickly meant any minute now.
Varian didn't bother them and mentally tapped on the 'limit' on the screen and zoomed in on the lightning path.
[Lightning Path: 4000/4000
Limit Reached.
Breakthrough to level 7 needs the breaking of seven bottlenecks.
Currently broken bottlenecks: 0/6]
From one of System's rare pep talks, these bottlenecks were apparently common.
A typical genius of the solar system would take around seven years to reach level 7.
If it was a really top genius, they'd take six years.
Of course, with each bottleneck broken, you'd grow significantly stronger.
During the solar banquet, Varian saw a lot of these peak level 6s that attended to receive the guidance of the princes to break the bottleneck.
Charles, Xavier, Marcus, and others were all called top 10—but only of the current year.
The seniors that stayed at level 6 for a couple of years were obviously stronger than these third-year cadets who just reached peak level 6, perhaps except Charles.
Charles apparently 'hit' the bottleneck far faster than anyone else and was set to reach level 7 in three years at most.
According to the system's classification, Charles had already broken through a few bottlenecks and was at 3/6 back then. He might have progressed further now.
That's why Charles was significantly more powerful than the rest despite everyone being peak level 6.
He still lost to everyone ganging on him. But if he was say, a 4/6 limit breaker, he'd have had a solid chance of reaching a stalemate. If he broke 5/6 limits, he'd have definitely won.
So, after Valos, Varian wanted to rest for a few days before focusing on the bottlenecks.
But Enigma happened and here he was, finally acting on the bottlenecks.
"Don't try communicating. No one's coming to help you." Varian channeled all the aura derivates and announced.
"Huh?" The abyssals finally noticed something was wrong.
None of them got a single reply. They could discount it as their bosses being busy fighting.
But—
"The surveillance!" The alpha orbs in the hall that were supposed to be glowing red gave off no light at all.
The twenty-nine abyssals glanced at Varian again and realized that it must be the ghost ship's doing.
"Gulp." A few of them turned back and saw the 'entrance' to the building was blocked by the ghost ship.
He blocked out all communication and they couldn't get out easily. It's obvious why.
He didn't want a word of his six divine paths spread.
That meant—
Boom!
Boom!
The abyssals suddenly felt a stinging pain in their heads as if someone was prickling their brain, a few even saw an illusion of their emperor and were caught off guard.
Following that, a lightning hammer condensed above a few abyssals.
Varian kicked the ground and jumped into the air, grabbing the hammer.
Then, using his telekinetic power, he pushed himself towards a group of three abyssals.
Boom!
The air trembled violently and like a meteor about to crash into a planet, Varian was about to crash into the abyssals.
The abyssals forcibly restrained the pain in their minds and hurried to create shields. In no time, they were each covered by a thick lightning barrier.
At the same time, they condensed lightning bolts, ready to strike him at a closer distance.
Mid-flight, Varian sensed the power of the barrier and chuckled inwardly.
Despite their heavy injuries, these level 7 abyssals were able to exert strength far beyond a normal peak level 6.
'How strong are these shields?' Varian asked.
[Most are around 4/6, a few are 3/6 and fewer are at 5/6]
'Eh. I can't beat them with one power. But what if I add more?'
As his telekinetic power kept pushing Varian to higher speeds, Varian was just above an abyssal in the blink of an eye.
Zaaap!
The super-charged lightning bolts from all abyssals reached him in an instant. Varian twisted his body very lightly, but due to the high speed, he crossed a significant distance and avoided most of the attacks.
"Arghh" Varian coughed out blood as multiple areas in his body now had cavities caused by the attacks.
But Varian's momentum was only slightly diminished. So, with that high momentum, he raised his hammer.
A surge of lightning mana rose from his body and temporarily improved his stats.
Then, Varian used his space powers and compressed the space around the lightning barrier of his target abyssal.
Zaaap!
The barrier shook violently but remained intact. However, his attack wasn't futile as the barrier considerably dimmed.
Then, Varian's left arm condensed into a very long vine and slapped at the barrier.
Paaaa!
His arm-vine was quickly burnt, but the barrier weakened even further.
"Stop him!"
The abyssals yelled and were about to attack him again.
But stacking the momentum from his telekinetic powers, Varian raised his lightning hammer and with all his Enhanced path strength, smashed the barrier around the abyssals.
Kacha!
Zaap!
The moment Varian's connected with the barrier, the abyssals' attacks connected with Varian.