Anger!

Seth collapsed on his bed, exhausted. Looking around, he felt like there were even more elements around him than before. His increase in magic talent wasn't the only thing he gained from the elemental water. This must be why Augie was able to see some of the elements around him already. It probably only increased existing elemental affinities though, as Augie couldn't see all types of elements.

Feeling ecstatic over the increase in growth speed, Seth was reminded of the Talent Upgrade Technique. Seth deliberated for a few moments before ultimately being overtaken by his greed and prospects of infinite growth. Seth left his room, he wanted to go to a more private place to test his technique. He ran out of the castle, causing confusion in the guards' ranks as a strong wind blew over them as he passed.

Seth sprinted back to the woods he had found Soren in previously. He wandered through the forest, getting farther and farther away from the castle. Searching through the trees, he decided he had found a good spot to stay. Seth sat down and began the technique. He felt his magic deep within him start to boil up. It coursed through his body and slowly sucked away his vitality and strength. Seth could feel his body getting actively weaker at an insane rate. His strength was being sapped away much faster than he had expected it would.

---

Body Strength [98,280]

Vitality [14,664]

--

Intelligence Growth [7,505]

Body Strength Growth [7,505]

Vitality Growth [7,505]

Soul Strength Growth [7,505]

Magic Growth [11,005]

Magic Regeneration Growth [11,005]

---

His growth speeds had increased by only five points. He felt weak, his base physical stats had decreased by 500 points per one point of growth. The basic version of this technique was really trash. There was almost no point in even using it at all. It would just weaken your overall strength by a huge margin for almost nothing. It would take 5000 days for it to just break even, that's over thirteen years! There is no way that Seth has the time or patience for that, he needs to get revenge as fast as possible.

Seth sighed and relaxed his body, his strength was already great enough to not be too affected by the decrease in stats. He still felt uncomfortable though, as he felt much weaker than usual. A decrease in strength is much more pronounced than an increase. Seth ran back to the castle, noticeably slower than when he had left. He didn't bother trying to copy what his magic had done as even if he had perfected the technique, it would still be way too slow to be useful to him.

This time, there was less wind than before, but the knights were still bewildered about what god they had angered. They were wrong in their assumption that the wind was created by a god, but they didn't know just how right they were. The gods were starting to brew up a storm for their own royal family. A storm of great proportions, the greatest one this continent had seen in hundreds of thousands of years.

...

In heaven, there was a huge meeting taking place. A large group of regal incarnations sat around a table. They were all made of magical elements, there were bodies of fire, lightning, and stone, and there were hundreds of them. No two were made of the same element, and they were all gods. These gods were gathering together for one reason, Seth. Although they would be unable to harm Seth until his protection runs out or he leaves the world, they still wanted to at least form a plan and keep him from growing too fast.

"We need to send out as many Ascended strength servants as possible once we can attack." An incarnation made of stormy clouds slammed a fist on the table.

"Yes. I can provide thirty troops for the attack." An incarnation of pink mist looked right at the stormy god with a smug look on her face.

"Mary, we all know that you have the largest army, don't go trying to pressure us to use up all our forces!" A water incarnation looked at Mary with anger.

"It's fine. We can just use the same proportion as Mary did. She does have over one thousand Ascended troops though. Most of us only need to send a few then." An incarnation seemingly made of blood cackled as he shot a shit-eating grin over to Mary.

"That sounds very reasonable."

"I agree."

"+1"

"+1"

"+1"

..

The gods decided to send around 500 Ascended servants in total. All the while having their mortal forces scour the continent for treasures. Seth needed to be weak when he fought their army, after all.

...

Seth sat on his bed looking at his stats. It would take him over three days to regain his stats, that was way too long. Seth then noticed something new, his status now said High Mortal instead of Mortal. Wondering what the difference was to before, he realized that all of his stats were over 10,000 now. His magic Regeneration stat had broken the 10000 limit and was now 10038. Seeing his stats and new realm, he was completely satisfied with the day, even if the technique had proven worthless.

Judging from the stat differences for each realm, they were probably every ten times the one before. That means that Peak Mortals most likely had over 100000 on all their stats. His enemies had a Peak Mortal on their side, at least. And who knows what the peak of Peak Mortal was, it could be anything. There was no way the difference between a Mortal and an Ascended being was a mere ten times the power. Same with divinity and Ascended beings, if the difference were only ten times the stats, the gods would be overrun by now. There had to be something more for there to be a true difference in levels of existence.

Something rustled outside Seth's door, waking him from his thoughts. He got out of bed slowly, trying to make the least sound possible. He sneakily made his way to his door and pressed his ear against it, listening for any signs of danger. There were none, there was only the sound of voices, speaking of the young master's birthday. Gossip of his coming of age. The maids were talking about Augie's sixth birthday, when he would finally be old enough to attend the Royal Academy. He heard one maid, in particular, that was boasting about being part of the group that follows the royal family on their trip to the capital city.

Hearing this, Seth was excited. He would be going to the city! He had never been out of the castle's grounds and hadn't really seen the outside world. His brother was even having a birthday party, and he would go to school. All this sounded exciting to Seth, who had just been living a boring life for the past week. He wasn't all too scared about his family being attacked as he still had the Ultra Protection still on. He also wanted to go to the Royal Academy with his brother though, he would be able to actually learn how to fight and he might even be able to befriend another genius like himself.

The Academy was a great prospect for Seth, he would be able to meet other talented people or even masters. Something so prestigious as the school called the Royal Academy wouldn't hire weak people, would it? No, they would hire the strongest nights and mages, Peak Mortals and the like. Only through hiring the strongest people would they train the strongest students. It was just common sense! Seth had also heard of children skipping grades and being accepted into school early from Earth. Surely there would be a system very much alike in this world as well.

Being reminded of Earth, Seth felt rage boiling in his chest. He would kill every single goddamn god residing in space. After that, he would go ahead and kill whoever had prompted them to attack him. Whoever it was, even if it was the system itself, he would find a way to destroy it! He would kill anybody in his way, for putting him through all that torture and all that pain. He would destroy anything that even played a part in his past life, and he would make sure to make it painful.

Ding

---

the system advises Seth not to think such thoughts.

--

as you have met the conditions, (Locked): ********** has been created and granted.

you are unable to use it as it is locked.

---

Seth stared at the system screen in shock. He hadn't expected anything to come of his anger-filled thoughts. Apparently, the system didn't take kindly to his blasphemous thoughts of destroying it. The words of the system gave Seth a feeling of the purest fear, they shook him too his very core. Seth just stayed, crouching next to his door, until the pop-ups faded away. Too scared to connect back to his train of thought, afraid of what the system might do if he did. Seth shakily stood up, his body took advantage of his mental weakness and took over. Seth smiled cutely, patted his cheeks, and sat down on his bed contentedly.

Seth sat and played with his toys for a few minutes with a childish smile on his small face. Without warning, he suddenly jumped to his feet and crushed the toy train in his hand. Seth's soul had broken free from his body's control, cold air billowed from his body. His killing intent affecting his surroundings. He was angry now, this wasn't the first time, and it wouldn't be the last.

Seth grabbed a wood block, in his rage, he infused it with as many fire and water elements as possible. He poured all his magic into it and felt it heat up and expand in his hands. Under the pressure of the elements and the huge amount of magic power, the cube exploded in a huge cloud of burning steam. The steam expanded super fast and blew his room's walls out. Seth's clothes had long disappeared and his skin was red, it looked like it had been boiled.

Cracks appeared on the roof above Seth, they slowly expanded and it started creaking. Seth had no idea what was on the upper floors of the castle, they had yet to have been explored by him and Augie. Although Seth had a map of the floors above, they provided no information for him as the elements in the upper floors were completely controlled by someone else. He knew that the map he had received from the elements was false, he had just accepted it and moved on.

The steam had yet to dissipate and there were screams from the maids and knights around the area. Seth could feel his senses becoming sharper and his control over his body growing through the pain of being burned. It seemed that his body had been holding out on him, he felt as if he had been reborn. His body was becoming more in tune with his wishes and actions. There wasn't as much resistance or defiance coming from his body, he had quelled it, at least for a little while.

Seth heard a loud crack from above, the roof had started crumbling. The roof fell down on him in pieces, rocks falling from above. Seth didn't care. He just wanted to be in control, for once in his life. He wanted to at least own himself, at least. Seth lay on his dusty bed, covered in the broken pieces of the floor above. He heard a loud snap and looked up, only to see the steam, which seemed like it would never disperse.

Something small, but heavy landed on Seth. He felt like he was being crushed under its weight. He grasped it in his hands, it was a ring, and it was ice cold, even in the burning steam. Seth couldn't move it, he could only bear the weight as he lay and listened to the shouting voices of the inhabitants of the castle. Suddenly, Seth heard a whisper, then utter silence. The weight was lifted, the steam was gone, everything was reverted back to how it was minutes ago. Seth couldn't tell what the whisper was, but it resounded deep in the depths of his soul, it scared him.