Chapter 44: Checking the Rewards

As Philip and company were flying towards the giant Runestone in their relative north, Philip began to talk to Emily regarding the rewards he received from the Lightning Tribulation.

"First of all, what's up with those lightning strikes?"

「 They were lightning that came from Charles' 「 Lightning Concept 」, that ranged from the 6 colors of the spectrum, the white, black, and gold, as well as the invisible one. 」

"No yeah, I know Emily, but what are they?"

「 Well... It shouldn't be the right time for you to know this, but... 」

"But??"

「 Well, nevermind. 」

Philip decided to keep quiet because he observed that Emily became more mysterious.

「 Those lightnings are the 『 10 Abyssal Lightning 』. 」

"Abyssal Lightning??" Philip frowned when Emily mentioned this, not that he knew what this means.

「 Yes, they are the lightnings that shaped almost everything that existed ever since before the Big Bang, during the creation of the Infinite Globe. 」

"Then, if they are important, why the heck were they here? And a Lightning Tribulation in fact?"

「 That was because of Charles. Ten years ago, he accidentally unlocked his ability of 「 Lightning Concept 」. Lightning Concept gives the power over all kinds and types of lightning, that includes the 10 Abyssal Lightning. 」

"Does that also include divine lightning like the ones that are thrown by Zeus?"

「 Yes. You could also say that Zeus and Thor will kneel down in front of the individual that has the Lightning Concept. 」

"I see..." Philip then looked behind him towards Charles, who is a few meters away to his right. Chares noticed Philip's gaze and he tilted his head in confusion.

Philip then looked forward once again.

"Then, why a tribulation?"

「 I don't know... It was probably fate... It's a pure coincidence that you received a tribulation after you defeated the Essence Dragon. 」

"Pure coincidence? I don't think that's the case."

「 Do you think there is someone playing the strings behind the scenes? 」

"I don't know, yeah, you could say that."

「 I see... 」

Even though Emily may seem calm while talking to Philip, she was sweating bullets right now if she had a physical body. She knew that fate had a hand in all of this, everything! But she can't tell that to Philip, Omega is fate, and he has the Omega. That could only mean that Philip was being controlled or played with against his own will. Philip didn't chose this, fate chose him.

Emily knew about this from all the information and clues that she obtained from the 「 Omega System 」, as well as the help of the system itself. Philip didn't know this because his knowledge is lacking, it will be about time before he will know the truth.

"So, about my rewards. Let's start with the abilities... 「 Sword Intent 」?"

「 With Sword Intent, you can infuse your sword with intent and you could cut through most materials. 」

"I can already do that though?"

「 Well, congratulations! 」

"Is there a difference?"

「 Of course there is. You skill in swordsmanship is extremely high and you can cut through almost anything with your mastery of sword. But in order to do that, you need total concentration, perfect muscle control, and a few more condition, right? 」

"You're correct."

「 But with Sword Intent, you don't need to do any of that. Just infuse your sword with intent and swing anywhere, and there you go! Complete clean cut. 」

Philip became speechless. If he didn't need to do all the conditions to cut almost anything, then he would level up more as a swordsman and he could do more. Then, he realized something.

"But, I could cleanly cut objects from afar though? As far as I know, Sword Intent is only effective if it can touch the target?"

Emily sighed.

「 This is where 「 Sword Domain 」 comes in. Sword Domain lets you to release the intent on your sword as a sword wave. 」

"Hm, okay?"

「 You sound disappointed. 」

"That's it?"

「 Hey! At least show some interest! 」

"Ehem, okay... There should be more than that!" Philip asked Emily in a sarcastic way.

「 What is wrong with you?! Anyways... Sword Domain lets you hold swords without holding them. 」

This time, Philip was genuinely surprised. He already knew what that meant but asked Emily for confirmation.

"Y-you don't mean..."

「 Yes, you could hold swords without holding them. You can hold 3 or more swords in your right hand and on your left hand. 」

This meant that Philip could "hold" more swords in his hand. Well, not "in" his hand. He could manipulate swords into his arm and let it hover there. If he wanted to strike, he just need to thrust his hand forward and the sworda will go in for a stab. It was like controlling dozens of flying swords in one. There was only one downside to this ability, the user needed physical swords for the Sword Domain to work.

"I see, I see now!" Philip smiled with this ability as he dreamt of controlling swords telepathically.

"Then, how about 『 Sword Realm 』?"

「 Sword Realm?? You didn't receive any ability like that. 」

"Huh? What do you mean?? I received that when I deflected the greem lightning!"

「 What?? Haha, don't joke! You didn't receive any rewards after the green lightning! As far as I can remember, you became unconscious at that time and missed two lightning strikes while you're asleep. But I gotta say, I was worried about you not making any reaction at all. 」

"W-what?? I'm not joking! Take a look at my status right now! Check if it's there!"

「 Alright, alright. 」

After a few seconds of Emily checking Philip's status, she found nothing.

「 Nope, there's no Sword Realm. 」

"What?? I could have swore that I received such thing."

「 Alright, stop with your hallucinations and move on to your next abilities. 」

Emily said with an understanding tone, like a mother understanding her child that he had an imaginary friend. But, little did Philip know, Unknown hid that particular ability as it was deemed dangerous for him right now. It was also supported by the third voice of the system.

Philip forgot about the existence of the third voice and the time he saw Unknown in the time stopped world. This was because during the final trial of the Sword Realm, he survived the stab of the sun-sized sword, but he needed to overcome the stab of the universe-sized sword and a thousand cuts on every cell, atom, particle, and quarks existing within his body. He succeeded in that trial, but to the cost of his memories about the trial, the third voice of the system, and the meeting with Unknown.

「 There is Big Bang and Big Crunch. 」

Philip almost spat out blood as soon as he heard this two particular abilities that he became wobbly during the flight. Erica and the others looked at Philip weirdly.

「 First of all, the Big Bang! 」

"N-no! I already know what it is!"

「 You can use this to... 」

Emily still continued despite Philip stopping her.

"No! No! Stop!"

「 ...create another Big Bang and reset the universe or create a universe!! 」

"Nooooooo!!!!"

The reason Philip was screaming at Emily to stop is because the absurdity of the ability itself. The name implies as it is! He could throw this Big Bang into anyone's face and let another universe be created on his face! The effects would be disastrous because of the explosion of the singularity alone. What else could the other extinct and dangerous particles do to the target like the anti-matter. Philip could claim that this can be his most powerful trump card yet.

「 Then, next is Big Crunch!!! 」

Philip opened his eyes wide and screamed, "NOOOOOO!!"

「 You can use this to... 」

"STOOOOP!!"

Erica and the others did not bat an eye out as they could clearly see Philip trembling as they were flying. Nonetheless, they ignored it.

「 ...pull the universe to yourself and crunch it literally!! 」

Philip finally spat blood and red liquid began to rain down as it was swept by wind. The others didn't notice the red liquid as it was swept by the wind as they were travelling faster than sound.

"Why did I get these two particular abilities?!!"

「 I'm not pretty sure... But I think you need this later! 」

"Hm?"

「 Oh nothing! Teehee! 」

"You really love teasing me, huh?"

「 Of course! I really really love you hehe! 」

"I see... Fufuhaha."

「 Wait... W-wha!! No! I meant that I really love to tease you!! 」

"Too late to correct yourself! Fufu!"

「 Wha!!! Noooooooo!! 」

This time, it was Emily that was screaming at Philip.

A few minutes of teasing later, Philip went back on topic.

"Do I have any other abilities left?"

「 T-there's no more... Ehem... You currently have one variable that you received and a total of six item, three of those are the swords. 」

"Then let's start with the items first, exempt the swords."

「 The first item you received is the exclusive item for the variable of Matter, the Tesseract. 」

Philip nodded, his mind was refreshed now after teasing Emily for a bit.

「 In the presence of the Tesseract, all matter and objects will turn into whatever you want or command. 」

"I see, that's pretty overpowered. Is there a limit?"

「 There was, but since you received the variable of Power, you can manipulate all matter in the 10 dimensions, even is the Tesseract is in the 4th dimension. 」

"Let's go with the variable of power anymore."

「 You are not bound by the rules of limited power anymore. This means that you can obtain infinite number of powers and you won't be overloaded because of that. If there is a power that you can't handle that you possess, the variable of power will correct that for you and make you able to handle that kind of power, but only for that span of use of power. 」

"Ah, I see..." Philip felt shivers when he learned about the variable of Power, no wonder he received this variable after a while and during the extremely powerful golden lightning tribulation.

"What about the other items?"

「 There is the Orb of Universe and Dimension Crystal. They are just catalyst and proof that you are not bound by the rules of the universe and dimensions anymore. It's like a badge that lets you be recognized if you're a 3-star general or a sheriff. 」

"What do you mean by that??"

「 Look at you thighs. 」

Philip looked down on his thigh, "Oh god! What are those? Why are they there of all places?!"

Philip first noticed the Dimension Crystal on his left thigh. The crystal was shaped diamond, like the shards, and the diamond had a decoration inside it as if space debris was flowing inside of it. There were two irregularly shaped planets on the lower left of the crystal, quadrant 4. There was also what looks like a river that was flowing in one straight direction from quadrant 1, 2 and 3 of the crystal. The river is colored light blue with sparks and glitters flowing along. The background of the crystal is dark blue, almost black, signifying the color of space.

What strange about this Dimension Crystal is the fact that there are vein-looking things growing out of it and into Philip's thigh itself. The veins are coming out of the quadrant 1 ofthe crystal, quadrant 2, and quadrant 3, with the vein in quadrant 3 branched off into two while it disappeared into his thigh. The veins were also shaking as if it was thumping like how small intenstines look. Fortunately, the veins were dyed in white, the same as the ivory armor, and it camouflaged the bulging veins across his left thigh. Ivory spikes also seemed to cover parts of the veins, but not the crystal itself.

On his right thigh, is the Orb of Universe. The orb is only a circle, like a coin, plastered onto his right thigh and is colored yellow orange. The circumference of the circle had yellow spikes that flowed to the right giving the illusion that it was spinning. In the middle of the orb, there was an eye of a cyclone that also gives the illusion that the orb itself was a massive typhoon.

"So these things are like badges? That's it?"

「 That's it. Without them, you wouldn't be able to go to the Infinite Abyss. 」

"And why would I want to go there??"

「 You'll know eventually. 」

Philip didn't spoke further as he is aware that Emily will not tell any more than that.

"Finally, let's talk about the swords."

This time, Philip and Emily's voice became serious, not because of the same reason, but with different reasons. Philip's reason is because, well, they're swords! Emily's reason is that these swords are extremely important according to fate.

====================================

「 Ylium Sword 」

「 The sword that releases a galactic amount of force from anything it touches. 」

「 Power: Force Application 」

「 Mode 1: Powered Mode - the mode where the sword will apply force to anything it touches. The sword lights up into a dirty yellow color. 」

「 Mode 2: Depowered mode - the mode where the sword will become a branch of stick. The sword will dim into a dark color. 」

「 Secondary Item 1: Ylium Core - the source of the massive amounts of force contained within the Ylium. Located at the center core of the sword. 」

「 Secondary Item 2: Ylium Star - ??? 」

「 Secondary Item 3: Ylium Flare - ??? 」

「 Special Scabbard: Graphene Scabbard 」

「 Weakness: Graphene, ??? 」

===

「 Willium Sword 」

「 The sword that will decay anything it touches. 」

「 Power: Millenium Decay 」

「 Mode 1: Melee Mode - the mode where the sword will decay anything it touches in 1,000 years per second. The tip of the sword is flat and shaped rectangular with an extended guard that have square Willium Batteries on its edge. The color of the sword is pitch black except for the guard and hilt. 」

「 Mode 2: Range Mode - the mode where the sword will decay anything it points at in 100 years per second. The tip of the sword is pointed with an extended guard that have a diamond Willium Batteries in its edge. The color of the sword is pitch black except for the guard and hilt. 」

「 Secondary Item 1: Willium Battery (Square) - limits the decay power in melee mode. 」

「 Secondary Item 2: Willium Battery (Diamond) - limits the decay power in ranged mode. 」

「 Special Scabbard: ??? 」

「 Weakness: Philippium and Death 」

===

「 Kurtnium Sword 」

「 The sword that distorts the space around the user. The sword will have a total of 4 large space rings/orbits, 2 medium space rings/orbits, and 4 small space rings/orbits around the sword while hovering. The shape of the sword is very thin, almost like a metal rod. 」

「 Power: Space Manipulation 」

「 Mode 1: Distort - distorts the space around the user and become unable to be hit or be seen. User unaffected. The sword will only have 4 large space rings and 2 small space rings around the sword. 」

「 Mode 2: Bend - bends the space towards where the sword has been thrust. The sword will only have 1 large space ring, 2 medium space rings, and 4 small space rings around the sword. 」

「 Mode 3: Fall - creates wells of gravity around the location of space rings. 」

「 Mode 4: Tremble - violently shakes the space around the user. The scale of the shaking will scale on the amount of space rings shattered. 」

「 Secondary Item 1: Kurtnium Needle - drones of the sword. 」

「 Secondary Item 2: ??? - ??? 」

「 Special Scabbard: Graviton Scabbard 」

「 Weakness: Graviton 」

====================================

There was a moment of silence after Emily described everything that Philip needs to know about these special swords. Philip took the time to digest everything.

"These are some overpowered swords if I saw one."

「 They are, but they aren't. 」

"There goes your mysteriousness again."

「 Teehee! 」

Around this time, Philip and the gang are about to arive next to the giant Runestone. Before Philip could ask Emily about the important looking swords, they were interrupted when Smith changed his course and flew towards north west.

Charles tried to catch Smith and make him come back, but Erica then followed them. John also didn't have a choice but to follow them.

Philip was stunned by their behavior.

"Shouldn't they just follow me?"

「 I don't know if you saw it, but Smith was glowing. 」

"Glowing? Emily, where are we?"

「 Europe. 」

Upon hearing that, Philip felt a thump in his chest. He knew why Smith behaved like that. He then decided to follow the rest.