Breach

After the figures in white lite took turns explaining things, Jody closed his eyes. He took a brief moment to process this information, filing it away in his mental workspace and storing it in a new cabinet for later contemplation. It seems he was the chosen one, born to be the most dazzling star of a generation. The Fallen One was a top constitution but not the best.

However, the Infinite One was in the top five for sure, although the exact ranks of the top five mysterious constitutions were unknown. Jody thought this was quite cumbersome, but someone must be the Infinite One, right? It might as well be him.

This meant not even those who possessed one of the top five unique constitutions would have a better starting point than himself. Such thoughts made Jody rather excited. This really was a peerless destiny, but Jody had to stifle his excitement. After this was done, he opened his eyes, instantly growing excited again.

"So then, there are actually a total of thirteen guardians and artifacts on the platform of destiny?" Jody was surprised.

This information wasn't even recorded throughout the thousands of years of research available in the libraries back at home.

Right after he finished speaking, the two figures of light slowly faded into nothing, revealing two items releasing white glows behind them. One was an ancient treasure sword, seemingly made of the sharpest steel under the sun. The incomparably sharp aura surrounding it was unmistakable. Next to the sword was a small bracelet. On the bracelet were three pyramids, separated by hieroglyphic writing. It possessed a strange aura, as if it existed in another space altogether.

Behind these two holy artifacts were three items that possessed a scarlet-golden glow.

Jody's eyes lit up as he rushed forward, immediately bypassing the sword and bracelet, releasing milky white light, and stepping right past to look at the three items surrounded by scarlet-gold light being emitted by the runic diagrams drawn on the artifacts.

On the left side, Jody noticed a peculiar T-shaped amulet. The central loop was adorned with finely etched hieroglyphics and inlaid with lapis lazuli. Its wings, which curved away at rigid angles, seemed to be made of several pieces of obsidian stacked upon each other. He wondered if this ancient object could offer some insight into a higher plane of consciousness or provide a greater understanding of the world around him. Whatever its purpose, it certainly looked to be very old.

At the center of the room, there lay a massive tome as black as night and old beyond measure. It was a divine grimoire, its pages illuminated with law runes that Jody didn't understand. He couldn't help but feel it was taller than himself and gave off an eerie and alluring aura as if beckoning him to come closer. The book's cover featured an awe-inspiring symbol of a sky dragon devouring its own tail. Despite its size, the tome's presence seemed to fill every inch of the space.

As Jody stared at the ornate half-crown, his heart raced. He knew he'd seen this before in his previous realm, yet it was as if time had stopped when his eyes met with the winged cobra crown. The royal blue cloth with its golden stripes seemed to be waving in the still air, a reminder of a past life. This wasn't just any ordinary item - this was a nemes headdress crown worn by ancient pharaohs of Egypt—Jody couldn't help but feel conflicted waves of nostalgia and fear.

Could this world have some connection to his own world after all? But this nemes crown was far more dazzling than the ones back on Earth. The headdress gave Jody a feeling as if it was calling his name. He was dazed momentarily before returning to the giant ancient tome in the center.

"An ouroboros…" Jody's eyes sparkled as he stared at the symbol on the front cover of the ancient tome for a moment more. The wolf boy had been pretty adamant about Jody selecting this grimoire as his artifact of fate.

Jody was not a fool, and he had some reservations.

He righteously suspected why that wolf boy would want him to choose a grimoire so badly. The most logical reason should be the difference between fusion and synchronization. However, could Jody subdue that unruly combat soul and force a submission? This was the only way to complete the fusion.

Doubtless, the soul flame of the wolf boy was unwilling. Then, there was still the sword and the dragon.

Jody had an innate confidence in the strength of his soul. However, he didn't actually want to assimilate the other's soul by force. When Jody remembered those emerald flames, he felt a foreign sense of gratitude he couldn't understand. After taking some time to consider, Jody followed the method recorded in 'Sage Art Volume I: The Host Awakened,' sinking his spiritual perception deep into the tome before him.

Suddenly, the world around him seemed to melt away as it was swiftly replaced. He was now standing on a small platform with that same ouroboros symbol on top of it. Standing before him was a human-shaped, scarlet-gold, fiery figure of light floating there with his hands folded. Then Jody heard the mysterious voice of the fates speaking once again.

[A question, Fallen One.]

[The other artifacts are far more compatible with you.]

[You only cannot imagine the power you will obtain through them.]

[Nor can we divine it.]

[We also cannot divine the source of light above your shoulder.]

[Why is it that you have chosen this Divine Grimoire, Fallen One?]

"The voices in my head told me that I should! As for the light…mn, it should be one of the several voices in my head," replied Jody without a hint of shame or hesitation.

What did he have to hide from fate?

He figured it was the power of twilight that allowed him to converse with the fates, as he knew they were speaking in an ancient language, yet he comprehended them perfectly. These 'others' the fates spoke of were surely the other two scarlet-golden artifacts. There was a moment of silence before Jody felt that melodic voice in his soul once more. This feeling was a bit wonderful and made him feel like dancing.

[You have not yet chosen a holy artifact, Fallen One. Please select one first.]

"Smelly. Don't need," Jody shook his head, not wanting any of the second string items. Only the Divine Artifacts could enter his eyes!

[Would you like to fuse a holy artifact into your divine artifact instead?]

[Doing so will result in the creation of a godly artifact.]

Jody's eyes suddenly sparkled. He had no idea there was such a thing as godly artifacts. Only the godly artifacts could enter his eyes! However, right at that moment, another voice swam into his consciousness.

'The True Pharaoh of Twilight and the True Pharaoh of Fate are watching you!'

'You were worthy of holy artifacts of fate but decided that your destiny was above them. The twilight proxy can assimilate a holy artifact into a secret labor. Doing so will reward you with 200 twilight stars!' 

Jody noted that the Twilight proxy had chosen to speak directly into his consciousness instead of using the prompts.

'Doing so is highly recommended by the True Pharaoh of Twilight but would greatly offend the True Pharaoh of Fate. Would you like to assimilate?'

[Yes/No?]

Well, maybe it just couldn't resist a prompt or two.

"Mn. In that case, I choose the holy sword! Assimilate, assimilate," Jody didn't feel the need to consider anything else after hearing he could net 200 twilight stars and another secret labor.

The human-shaped, scarlet-gold, fiery figure of light clapped its hands, and the holy sword glowed.

However, at that moment, the twilight imp also started to glow.

The glowing white treasure sword behind Jody turned into a beam of white light that shot in front of him directly into the twilight imp, which immediately suffused a holy white light. The human-shaped, scarlet-gold, fiery figure of light seemed to be incapable of understanding that its actions had been foiled. A scarlet-gold ray of twilight then shot out of the twilight imp and into the grimoire. The runes on the grimoire instantly tripled as its aura became more godly. Jody suddenly realized the proxy and the figure of light in front of him were somehow the same type of creature.

'The figure of light must originate from the True Pharaoh of Fate. So the True Pharaoh of Twilight's twilight proxy could also make the grimoire into a godly artifact!' Jody wondered what it all meant.

At the same time, a flood of information flooded Jody's mind.

'Rewarding secret celestial class labor—Fallen Hero's Infinity Sword. 390 twilight stars remaining.'

"Who names this stuff?" Jody was stunned as he perceived his new labor and its abilities.

Until he returned to his body, he would be incapable of truly perceiving the changes. All he could be certain of at this moment was that this labor, which had essentially been gained by stealing from the god of fate, was far more powerful than the labor he received for stealing from the god of death. This made Jody uncomfortable, so he decided to become a Saint in the future. His mother had once told him that every single Saint Warrior added to the power of the True Pharaoh of Fate merely by formulating to stronger levels.

This was possible thanks to the power of destiny.

Jody didn't understand what the power of destiny was, but he didn't mind benefiting someone he had just taken advantage of later. This was his way of making amends with the True Pharaoh of Fate, though he had no idea if this would be sufficient. Likely, only if Jody raised his saint formula to the peak would it serve as an apology.

[You have breached the protocol set by the god of fate.]

[We must still submit to our destiny.]

[To establish compatibility with a fate artifact, you must awaken a combat soul.]

[We will tell you nothing about the functions of this artifact. This is your punishment.]

[We will provide no assistance in the establishment of the link. This is your punishment.]

[If you are unsuccessful, we will immediately eject you from this zone. There will be no second attempts. This is your punishment.]

[You will never be able to obtain an artifact of fate if you fail the first time.]

[Do you still wish to continue?]