- Ascension

"What's going on?" Edge was surprised at the erratic movement of the black flames as if they were trying to burn Zex.

Alzeius intently watched with a hint of worry. "Was it too early?"

Slightly hearing the demon lord's words, Edge turned his eyes to observe his expression.

'What are you hiding, this time?' Edge thought to himself.

Zex was surprised at how the black flames were acting. However, his gut feeling was telling him not to worry.

The black flames were intensely burning his body and his Anima like they were fuel. Just like normal fire, it doubled in size, heat and strength, every 30 seconds, inducing increasing levels of pain.

Despite all this, Zex was not sensing any danger. It was as if he was a billet that was being forged into a weapon.

After around 10 minutes of enduring otherworldly amounts of pain, just when his flesh was about to be completely charred, he began exhaling black smoke and his blackened body began to crack.

The erratic black flames regained their calm teardrop shape enveloping Zex's body as the black layer of skin covering him was breaking apart and turning to ash.

Slowly, Zex's body was getting revealed.

Even at the first glance, he no longer resembled Drago nor how he looked back when he was a demon.

His body has achieved a higher form, optimal to his soul.

When Zex opened his eyes, a burst of energy pulsated outward, shocking Alzeius and Edge with its regality.

Alzeius frowned as he noticed a crack in the isolation barrier that Zex set up beforehand.

"Control your energy!" Alzeius said sternly.

At those words, Zex hurriedly retracted his energy and condensed it in his body.

Inspecting the changes, he was now around 6 feet and 5 inches in height compared to Drago who was 7 feet. His muscles were fairly toned and compact, unlike the previous bulky build. There were black markings on his body that resembles tattoos. His pupils were like the darkness of the void. Then there was the frightening energy that was contained in his body.

Overall, his form was that of a human but anyone who would look at him would not think so.

The result of his transformation was far superior to what he envisioned when designing his blueprints.

He took a look at his character sheet and was blown away at what was shown.

Name: Zex

Level: 300

Race: [Low Purity Dragon Descendant - Ascended Human]

Age: 22

Class: [Lord of Evil]

Subclass: [Dragon Warrior - LVL 8]

[Dragon Tamer - LVL 8]

[Dragon Mystic - LVL 8]

(Expand/Collapse v)

Experience Points Available: 94,639,056.

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Faction: Alzeius

Active Skills: [Omni-drain], [Portal Generation], [Mana Bullets] (Expand/Collapse v)

Passive Skills: [Draconian Might], [Draconian Overlord], [Draconian Knowledge] (Expand/Collapse v)

Buffs: [None]

Debuffs: [None]

Primary Attributes:

(2,894 unspent)

Strength - 3,188

Vitality - 3,268

Constitution - 3,168

Resistance - 3,148

Agility - 3,288

Dexterity - 3,308

Intelligence - 6,168

Wisdom - 6168

Spirit - 3,404

Charisma - 800

Luck - 650

Secondary Attributes:

Health - 52,288/52,288

Anima - 143,740/143,740

Concentration - 6,296/6,296

Resonance - 1/1

...

'Ascended Human?' Zex was surprised at the choice of words. He has never heard or read about this before. What shocked him the most was his base stats being locked in at 1,000 aside from his Charisma and Luck that were locked in at 100 instead. Aside from that, most of his Secondary attribute multipliers doubled and his Mana and Stamina were also joined together as Anima.

This was an illogical jump of power that he could not wrap his head around until he looked over and saw his master smiling.

"I-I do not understand what happened." Zex said with an innocent expression.

Alzeius smiled in return as he began walking over to Zex.

"You have finally stepped into our realm." Alzeius said proudly as he grasped Zex's shoulder. "I never thought you would achieve it today, though."

Zex was shocked. "What do you mean?"

Alzeius removed his hand and his expression turned serious.

"For now, I will tell you this. Those black flames of yours do not belong to this world. What happened today confirmed this." Alzeius paused and looked straight into Zex's eyes before he continued. "The reconfiguration of your body was originally not enough for you to ascend but those black flames intervened as if it wanted you to grow stronger as quickly as possible. Even I or other ascended could not do that."

"What are ascended?" Zex asked, not even noticing that he was speaking so casually to his master.

Alzeius chuckled. "I shall explain to you in time. For now, I believe you should rest. When you have finished with your business here, come visit me in my castle." He said after turning around to leave.

"Y-Yes master!" Zex hurriedly kneeled.

"Oh! And another thing. Soul contracts don't work between ascended. I am your master no longer." Alzeius looked over his shoulder and smiled before disappearing into thin air.

Zex was still kneeling when he heard those words.

When he checked his character sheet one more time, he realized that the [Soul Contract-Alzeius] passive was gone.

Every time he met his master... Alzeius, the mystery around him was becoming greater and greater.

Turning his gaze over to Edge who was utterly confused about a lot of things, he decided to break the news to Troy, Shea, and Dhana.

It was about time for them to make their choice.