A Discussion About Potential

Hey bros!

Here it is, the chap.

Not much to say here, enjoy!

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/CREAK!!/

'Dae and Petter stood at the edge of the silent training arena, their eyes fixed on the sight before them.'

'The Maids did the same, their eyes bustling with hidden emotions as their expressions remained still.'

'The moment his fist hit the boulder and the sound of impact echoed through the arena, for a moment, everything seemed to freeze.'

'But as the rock slid across the rails with incredible momentum and speed, they woke up from their momentary stupor, witnessing this bizarre sight with varying expressions.'

'The measuring needle on the side of the stone kept sliding as it moved, their eyes flickering in disbelief as they followed it, unable to comprehend the sheer force behind Philip's punch.'

'Shock and Expectation, followed by Curiosity and Desire... Though that came mostly from Petter...'

'300… 500… Stop.'

'After traveling for over 35 meters, the measuring rock stopped at around the 600 mark, leaving Petter so shocked the poor guy stood motionless, his eyes almost popping off.'

(Image)

"Hum…"

'Meanwhile, Philip shook his hand a little.'

I tried to act cool and hit it with a side slap, now my wrist hurts a little…

'He opened and closed his hand a few times and before he knew it, the pain vanished.'

"How much is that?" Philip asked as he turned around

610?...

"..."

"..."

'Dae and Petter exchanged bewildered glances, their jaws dropping in disbelief.'

'Dae was very shocked, but he quickly snapped out of it as he once again turned to Petter, pushing him to the side as he went to interact with the pedestal behind him.'

'He had no interest in waking him up now, he would leave that to later.'

'The pedestal looked like a translucent screen attached to an onyx-black stone pillar, there wasn't anything special on the pedestal itself apart from some engravings on the edges and base that gave it a modern sleek look while also keeping its mystical design.'

'The moment he touched it, many foreign runes started to appear around his hands and atop the screen, but without being overwhelmed, he quickly arranged them in the way he desired, forming long strings that came and went as he played around.'

'And he eventually said:'

"612 Imperial Units…"

'I still can't believe it…'

'I was expecting him to grow somewhat, but I was ready to proceed as long as he achieved part of the objectives I gave him before.'

'He told me he had grown a bit… He was messing with me.'

But Dae wasn't angry.

Albeit, he didn't allow himself to smile yet.

"Good work, it seems my worries were unfounded, if you can do this much, then there isn't much to worry." Dae said as he turned from the pedestal, turning to look at Philip

'Philip shrugged a little, saying:'

"Honestly speaking, I was more surprised at how low your scores went."

"After everything you showed me before I left, I expected you guys to be hitting quite high as well…"

Or at least for me to hit as low as them, but it's so far apart…

I didn't want to be arrogant and say they wouldn't be able to keep up with my growth but Dae holds too much knowledge for me to properly try to assess.

All of the training methods I have... He likely has better ones.

The potions I took... He can likely make them as well if not better ones.

Magic to aid training, secret areas to go and explore...

They are definitely much stronger than before, but not in the way I expected them to be.

Perhaps that's to be expected too, as statistical growth is the least important amidst everything one can attain.

"This is because I didn't increase our Stats that much." Dae replied as he walked past Petter, who was still looking at the rock in shock

"Eh?! Wait..."

'It didn't take him long to awaken and go after him, approaching Philip as well.'

"... As you said, our scores weren't really that satisfactory."

"But I assure you that in these past 5 months, we changed greatly."

"We drank many Elixirs, acquired Skills, Abilities, Titles, and more."

I can't say that we grew beyond what I planned though... We're perfectly where I wanted.

But that isn't good either, to be within expectations means our enemies would be as well... They could be even stronger.

Like Philip...

"The reason we punched so low is because we kept our Stats beneath 99, to do the same thing I did to you before you left."

"Hum? You mean the Golden Body operation?" Philip asked as he remembered the past

Good memories... From a simpler time.

'He nodded.'

"Petter over here is preparing for it, once we unlock the dormant energies he grew, his Stats will explode."

"As for me, I was forced to take one for the team and break through these limitations first."

"So my Stats are considerably higher than his, but still not overwhelming like yours."

I kept it all within 200 for the sake of keeping up with the other heroes but not overshadowing them too much.

"Why? I don't think it would be difficult for you to grow that much." Philip pointed out as he crossed his arms

"And indeed it isn't, but once again, you give up some things pursuing a dream." Dae said as he closed his eyes momentarily

Some inconveniences would arise if I were to let myself run wild, and even right now, I'm thinking about what to do with this guy...

How will those people react to him? What will they want to do...?

What a headache.

"Though… As we'll learn later, I'll have the time to do what I wasn't able to during these five months."

'Philip thought for a moment, but he smiled.'

'He turned to the rock, asking:'

"These Imperial Units… They aren't scaling right?"

'Dae shook his head with a small smile.'

"Ha… They're not that complicated."

'The reason why Philip was able to hit so high despite not putting much effort was due to the fundamental difference between their Stats.'

'Which may come as being obvious to most, but what most forget is that Stat growth isn't linear.'

'The difference between 1 to 10 is not the same as 11 to 20.'

'If Petter's strength is around 99, allowing him to hit around 60, then Dae's might be around 100 to 199, allowing him to hit 180.'

'There would likely be a point when their Strength Stat equals its value in Imperial Units, but that would only happen once, the tilting point so to say.'

'In Dae's case, his Stats might even be higher, as Philip noticed that Dae wasn't employing his full power, not because he was holding himself, but because he couldn't.'

'Just like his strength was higher than theirs, his toughness was also higher, allowing him to hit the stone without much thought, they couldn't say the same.'

'Dae might've held back in worry of hurting himself too much, which is a shame.'

'In any case, these Imperial Units were linear, so they couldn't keep up with the Hero's Stat growth, but they were likely built like that for the sake of convenience.'

'The difference between 0 to 100 Imperial Units is the same as 100 to 200, simple as that.'

'Either way, it was simple to make use of it, Philip just had to keep punching the rock until he figured out what his strength was equivalent to.'

'There wasn't that much more to it.'

/Crunk!/

'With the rock returning to its initial position, Philip was ready to make it reach 1000…'

"Wait a minute!" Petter exclaimed as he pointed at Philip

"Aren't we going a tad too fast? No extra explanations, no discussions?!"

""...""

'Dae and Philip looked at each other before Dae looked at the Maids.'

'Noticing their gaze, they all bowed and left the room, leaving their clothes on the ground.'

"I actually forgot they were here…" Petter said with some surprise as he turned his gaze to them

"Sigh... That is why I prohibited you from speaking with others, sometimes, you speak too much."

"#!! Huh?! Weren't you two the ones that were discussing private things in their presence?!"

"How much so exactly? Everything we talked about has likely already been on the mind of many for a very long time, confirming it now won't make a dent in what's to come."

"Besides, we are past the point of keeping such things a secret… But not what we're about to talk about right now." Dae said as he tapped his foot on the ground

/Flare!/

'When he did so, a wall of translucent magic flashed around them before vanishing.'

'There was no special effect, no extra sounds, no fluctuations, displaying Dae's control over Magic.'

'Philip, however, could very much feel the presence of the barrier surrounding them.'

"Done, took me a while to do this."

"Is it safe to do such things in here?" Philip asked as he looked around

If we hide this much in plain sight, won't those people hiding in the dark frown and get upset?

It could even insite their curiosity... And that could be even more dangerous.

"As safe as we can afford."

'He turned to the rock, pointing at it as he said, "Anyway, why don't you try again?" before turning to Philip.'

"Albeit Petter is dying to know what you did out there, it would be best to at least finish what you started, we aren't in a rush either way, so do as you like."

'Petter seemed a bit annoyed, but he crossed his arms and waited.'

"Hum…"

'Philip turned to the stone, deciding what he would do first.'

'This time, he got into a better, more stable stance before punching forward!'

/BAM!/

'With a sudden surge of power, Philip's fist collided with the boulder. The impact resonated through the training arena, slightly shaking the ground beneath their feet.'

/CLANG!/

/CREAK!/

'Like before, the rock was sent back and in the blink of an eye, it covered 20 meters, half of the entire distance.'

'200! 300! 500!'

'It wasn't stopping!'

'However, the final 5 meters were where things truly began as each meter corresponded to 100 Imperial Units…'

'Even so, the rock moved…'

(The reason I use meter is for convenience, sorry for not being fantastical...)

/CLONG!/

'With a long bell sound, the rock stopped, beneath it laid a number…'

'1000.'

'On the other side of the rock, Philip's fist smoked slightly as he got out of his stance.'

"I like this, it's rather fun."

"It even has a rewarding bell sound, will it release fireworks if I get the maximum points again?" Philip asked with a smile as he watched the rock slowly come back

"... Looks like there's quite a bit to talk about…" Petter said in a low tone as he scratched the back of his head

Philip is too damn strong.

Man… And I thought my hard work had led me anywhere… No wonder he called them kids, they might as well be from his perspective.

Oh well, as long as we never raise this issue…

"Petter, weren't you the one that wanted to fight with him?" Dae said with a small smile

"..."

'Petter's expression turned hollow, while Philip smiled awkwardly.'

…

/A minute later.../

'After witnessing what Philip did, Dae went to the side to grab a small, circular floating table together with a set of 3 chairs for them to talk instead of standing up all the time.'

"Are you really sure the Grand General wouldn't be able to do what I just did?" Philip asked as he watched the rock go back to its previous place

"He would definitely be able to do so, albeit definitely not as easy as you…"

His strength is likely in the thousands of Imperial Units... Perhaps he has already risen beyond ten thousand.

He would've shown some reactions by now, Philip is still somewhat relaxed.

"Still, that doesn't make you stronger than him, so don't get too far in your delusions."

It's already quite impressive for Philip to be this strong, but the Great General wouldn't have that name if he was incapable.

"An Archmage will likely not be able to do even a third of what you just did, but would you say they're weak?"

"Fair point, I was just joking either way."

I'm not arrogant enough to assume I'm stronger than the Grand General.

I only wanted to fool around a bit...

Though I can't say I'm not interested in comparing ourselves…

"Anyway, since we're waiting, how about I start sharing my journey with you all?"

"About time!" Petter said with a smile as he sat on one of the chairs

'He had been studying the leaderboard on the Pedestal, listening to their conversation from afar.'

'Dae on the other hand was standing up next to Philip, staring at the rock with a pensive gaze.'

'But after listening to Petter, he rolled his eyes, doing the same as he sat next to Philip.'

"So, I guess I'll just go straight to after I left the Palace…" Philip said as he sat down as well

'And like that, he started sharing his journey…'

…

/About an hour later…/

"... And that was how I arrived at the City of Freedom." Philip said as he took out a bottle of water from his inventory to satiate his thirst

'Atop the table, many snacks could be seen, all taken from within Philip's inventory as he talked.'

'Despite the topics he was sharing being greatly distressing, the atmosphere was rather nice, the peace and silence of the training hall, all for themselves.'

'Dae and Petter didn't say much after he finished talking, waiting for him to continue.'

"So, after arriving through the teleportation room... ?... Sigh…"

There she goes...

'Not long after he had a mouthful of water, Carnatita appeared behind him, grabbing his bottle of water before drinking it all.'

"!"

'Dae also noticed that being extremely confused as he followed the floating bottle in the air, seeing its contents being emptied out as they simply vanished from existence.'

'Most of his surprise came from the fact he couldn't tell what was going on at all.'

"I'll… We'll reach that part eventually…" Philip said with an awkward smile as he used telekineses to grab an extra chair, holding Carnatita's hand and pulling her gently from the air to sit at the table with them

'Albeit for the other two, this action was very odd...'

/Slap!/

'While he said that, Petter slapped the table in anger and frustration.'

"Shit!... You're telling me that while I was being bled out daily with these annoying Heroes and this motherfucker over here, you first met a pretty Elven princess and flirted with her..."

"I didn't, it was mostly simple work..."

How come any of my words were interpreted as me flirting with her?

"You then met a mysterious underworld, pretty girl..."

"No, that was business talk between me and the Rings, and don't call her a pretty girl, she is a member of the Rings, the higher-ups of their organization, she wouldn't be happy to hear you calling her a 'pretty girl'..."

Perhaps she would, I don't know her enough anyway.

"If that wasn't enough, you played around a Magical Academy full of hot chicks in your own words?!"

"Underaged pretty chicks, that was what I said… Don't distort my words." Philip added as his expression grew dark

Noble ladies are pretty, some were hot but I'll never give them bullets to use against me...

"Damn!... Progress?"

"No!"

"That's sad!"

"You were in the middle of a Magical Academy and you tell me you had no game? Even if they were young there was bound to have at least one…"

"Stop with your nonsense, if you want to say that to me I can the same to you, there are 100 Heroes, where is your game, hum?"

"..."

'Dae preferred to not interfere in their conversation.'

"I was busy… Training…"

"So was I! And while you worried about such useless things I did what I went there to do." Philip said as he turned to Dae

'Seeing this as his cue to change the flow of the conversation to something more productive, Dae asked:'

"So… From what I understood, everything went perfectly so far."

"The Elven princess was rescued, her guard was healed, and you met with the Rings, attaining a new identity..."

"Not only did you find the girl, but you went beyond and brought her with you after talking with her strange master..."

"You also got three Origin Orbs, and somehow a request from the Principal as well?"

"Pretty much… Here, say hi to him." Philip added as he took out a small watch from his pants, putting it on the table, or tried to...

"Is that… The Elder Mimic you talked about?"

/Transform…/

'Laplabe's form slowly changed as he became a mass of shadows, moving from Philip's hands to his head, becoming a hat.'

"Did you seriously wake me up for this?" Laplabe complained as he "gazed" at the two people in front of him

"..."

'This Mimic… It's… More than dangerous.' Dae thought silently

'This is almost a Class 10 Monster if not already one.'

"That looked pretty cool, but why do I feel a chill in my stomach?" Petter said as he saw Laplabe transform

Did I eat something bad at the party?

"That's because your body knows the thing in front of you could devour it whole in a second, and not because you ate an ultra-spicy meatball." Dae said as he patted Petter's shoulder

"Huh?..."

H-How did he know?...

"..."

'Dae's eyes flashed momentarily as he looked at the hat, only to close them with a dry laugh.'

"This is a Level 90+ Elder Mimic… Don't play around it…" He whispered to Petter so he would wake up

"???"

'Petter's expression froze as he heard what Dae said.'

"Don't worry about that, I have a great distaste for flesh in general, just don't get near me when I'm hungry and we should be fine for the most part." Laplabe joked, finding Petter's expressions funny

"..."

That doesn't make me feel any better!

"Cough… Anyway, it's a pleasure." Dae said formally as he looked at Laplabe

"Pleasure..." Petter added from the side

"But let's go back to the matter at hand… You said you met with the Principal?"

"His specter, yes, if not for that, I would've likely been captured by the defensive mechanisms of the office… On that note, you owe me one."

"I… Sigh, I do owe you one for that."

Specter huh... So the Principal is indeed dead, or at the very least, he assumed he would be or that he would at the very least not be back.

We never found his body, we expected him to have gone on a journey, but nothing was confirmed.

With this, it's set in stone.

"I never expected the defensive mechanisms to be so thorough, I thought that, by going through the back entrance, the systems wouldn't activate… I was wrong."

'Being humble, Dae looked at the ground, saying "I should've imagined that the Academy Spirit would be so strict, you have my apologies, we can talk about this later." as Philip shook his hands in the air.'

'Dae being humble like this felt all too odd, but it went to show this crazy dude still had some Humanity within his skin if he was able to apologize like this.'

"You said something about a request… What is that about?" Petter asked as he grabbed a potato chip

"Well… It was two things to be precise."

"The first one was to find his body and bury it somewhere… While the other one… I already kind of accomplished it."

Laplabe is being oddly silent about this... Wait... Did he really just go back to sleep?!

I know that we trained a lot in this past month or so after he saw his own Status, but was he really that tired?

It is in a Mimic's nature to be lazy...

'As he thought that, Philip took out a book from his golden inventory item.'

"Here… Do you know where this place is?" He asked as he opened the book

'This wasn't any book, this was one of the records of the secret arts and history of the Principal's Family, containing unique and forgotten spells and secrets...'

'It also detailed the area where their family's ancestral grounds were located, a place far away...'

Over the last few months, as MT acquired a lot of information, I had it cross reference many locations with the descriptions and images of this book, but I failed to find a matching one, only giving me some possibilities, but the chances were slim.

"Hum… Let me take a look." Dae said as he checked the book

/Flip... Flip... Flip.../

'As he quickly read through the pages, he inspected each image with a sharp gaze.'

"... Very tall white mountains… Not particularly cold... Crystalline waterfalls… The shape of the area too…"

'His eyes sharpened.'

"There aren't such tall mountains in this Continent apart from the Never-Ending Mountain range… Which can't be this place due to some of its characteristics, unless it's a secluded Valey within."

"The other possibility I can think of is the Extreme Northern Mountains beyond the Elven Forests… But getting there is impossible."

"I see… I was told it was indeed far away, so I never expected it to be easy."

Searching the Never Ending mountain range would take forever, even with the methods the Principal left behind to track his body.

While getting to the Northern Forests would equally take forever navigating around the continent isn't as simple as it sounds.

"That's not all… I do have one more candidate."

"Beyond the seas, the Wild Northern Continent."

"That is the only place that would have such an extreme environment like depicted in these images and texts."

"But from what I'm reading here… It says the Principal's family hailed from this area 400 years ago around the time when Parad Academy was built."

"But the thing is, the Northern Continent hasn't been populated by Humans for… Since forever."

"I've never heard of people coming from there either…"

"I literally have no idea what to say of this situation, but if it's truly from there, then we may have the opportunity to find out…"

"But not anytime soon." Dae said with a smile as he gave the book back to Philip

"Hum… With this, apart from what I already said, this was everything I did in the Academy, nothing else."

"I entered and left as fast as I could."

"You already surpassed my expectations just with that."

Philip's growth in the Academy follows what I had in mind.

He contacted the Rings, got inside the City, and became a worker there.

He trained, got a teacher, became stronger, and got everything he needed to get before leaving, all of that within a month.

And the funny thing is how they still don't know who stole everything because the Academy Spirit will do its best to protect Philip under the orders of the past Principal.

Albeit by now, the votes for the position of headmaster should be almost finished.

Once they're done, if the new Principal asks for everything it knows about the day he got everything... It'll likely share it, and by then, Philip needs to be strong enough to resist the backlash.

There is only one thing I don't quite know…

"Philip, where are the Origin Orbs?" Dae asked suddenly

"With me..."

"Can we see them?" Petter asked excitedly

"Uh... Things… Happened."

"What do you mean?..."

His expression is a bit weird.

"You know, those were pretty important…" Dae said with a frown as he started to notice something wasn't right

"Well… My System was… Pretty messy."

"It got so messy that at one point it just… Fixed itself… But at the cost of those things."

"It what?... Don't tell me… Did it absorb the Orbs?"

"Yes… Hum? You seem aware of it?"

"Somewhat… It was within the realms of possibilities…" Dae said as he face palmed

"Then, would you be aware why everything…"

I want to ask him about the Judicator, about some of the censored things in my Status, what it means to have the attention of the "world" itself, and so on.

I don't expect everything to be explained, but one at the very least.

"It's complicated… Very much so."

"You see, this is all due to your Unique Skill, it doesn't comply with the… Arg... This isn't the time to discuss such things."

"Continue with your story for now, tell me what you did in the City of Freedom."

"Just one thing then... Do you know what the Judicator is?"

"!!!"

'Dae's expression grew incomprehensibly dark.'

"No." He said plainly as he looked at Philip

"Pfft, come on! Even I was curious..." Petter complained on the side

"..."

'Philip, however, said nothing.'

'Because he could easily tell that Dae, was lying.'

'Though he could no tell why, he could infer some reasons...'

[All Titles:

... Judicator's Gaze]

'As the gaze of the Judicator was ever constant.'

'Letting out a sigh, Philip continued with his story.'

…

/A few more minutes later…/

"... And that was when I arrived at the forgotten Dwarven city."

"Wow… Now that's a pretty neat adventure." Petter said with a nod as he looked at Philip

"Anyway, hasn't it been quite some time, how long is that party going to last?"

'Dae stared at Laplabe who had now returned to his clock appearance, saying:'

"At most another hour, the King doesn't have all day."

"The first party lasted an hour and the second party will at most last two, after that, it'll be the afterparty event."

"We should be seeing some people flocking here soon though, since I'm not the only one aware of this place, each and every single of the top 10 was shown this place before the party."

"So let's enjoy the peace while we still can, is that what you're trying to say?" Petter asked with a small smile

"Pretty much."

"Then… Guess this is my call." Philip said as he got up from his seat, moving to the rock

"How do we raise the level of this thing?"

'The moment he said that the number on the ground flashed, and from 0 to 1000, they became 1000 to 20000.'

'1500, 2000, 3000, 5000, 10000, 12500, 15000, 20000.'

"That's a pretty steep increase… Fine."

I'll hit it hard now, even if I hit less than 20K, I can always try again, harder.

'Philip breathed in and out, concentrating.'

'This time, he needed to be focused.'

...

'Meanwhile...'

"Do you think he'll hit the 20K?"

"Difficult to say, if he does hit it, then it would mean his pure physical strength surpasses what the Grand General posses, and albeit that isn't impossible to achieve, it does feel a bit exaggerated."

Still, I can tell Philip let out many details from his story to make things flow smoother, there are things, big details he left behind.

But solely with the resources he got from the Academy, that should be enough for him to hit 1000.

Beyond that... Would require a few extra preparations.

I really wonder just what sorts of things he's hiding.

"I bet... that he'll go past 10 thousand." Petter said as he scratched his chin

"A bet?"

"Why not?"

"What's at stake?"

"Hum... I haven't really thought of anything..."

"We can leave that for later then, as long as it's not exaggerated."

"Deal!"

"Then... I'll bet he'll reach 11 thousand."

"Let's see!"

...

"HUPP!"

/BOOOOOOOM!/

'His fist clashed with the boulder, sending it back once more!'

/CREAK!/

'1500… 2000… 3000… 5000… 10000!'

/Stop…/

"Oh? Only halfway through?" Philip mumbled to himself as he took a step back

So I need to put around twice the power to reach 20000?

Hum… That's a bit hard… But it's been a while since I really tried my all, so I may end up surprising myself.

"How about it? Pretty good no?" Philip asked as he looked at Dae

"... Unless you're planning to kill a Transcendent… Then yes, that's pretty good."

"That was around... 10370, haha! I win!" Petter exclaimed loudly with a small jump in the back

"... What... Was that about?"

"Forget it, let him be happy for once..."

'As they talked, Petter came back with a smile.'

"Speaking of that, it's not the first time I've heard that term, what even is a Transcendent?" Petter asked as he scratched the back of his head

"... It's the term given to those that have achieved in taking the next step, Transcendence…"

"Everyone knows that! I want to know the details."

"... It's not something we need to discuss right now…"

"Hum… Truly speaking, I was quite interested in it as well." Philip said as he turned to look at Dae

"You? You may be strong and all, but it's not necessary for us to concern ourselves with Trancendents…"

"Not quite… In fact, why don't I continue my story?" He said as he went back to his seat

"So, where was I?…"

"I arrived at the entrance to the Capital City of the Great Gourge…"

'With those words, Philip shared his experiences exploring the ancient ruins and his confrontation with Latur, followed by his encounter with the Goddess Lavinda, her scripture, the fragments, the… Incense pot, and more.'

'He didn't feel the need to hide such things, after all, he wasn't actively sharing his Status information.'

'And his overall strength would be evaluated today, so it was best to share some of those things first and then to end up saying/showing something improper later on to a large crowd.'

'He still held many secrets, as he didn't share exactly what Skills he awakened over time, what he trained, how he trained, and so on, but he did give them sums of it all so they could follow the narrative with a clearer idea of what was going on.'

'One thing was certain though, if they knew of everything he acquired and did, then even Dae might've frozen in shock.'

…

"... In the end, I went back to the surface, constructing a portal between the surface and the underground so the scientists could study everything in peace."

I still have no idea what to do with the City of the Great Gorge, it's an incredible place to start exploring the underground but it doesn't seem like we'll have the time to do so anytime soon.

"I did a few more things over the course of the next month, but those are mostly repetitions of everything I did in the previous 3, not really worth sharing right now."

"Once the time came, I left with Viera and Tredis, arriving at the party, and that was how I meet with Petter."

"The rest is history."

"So? What do you think about it?"

"..."

"..."

"I take back what I said before, I quite liked my previous training…" Petter joked as he laughed drily

Fighting a Lich seems funny but the process of getting burned inside a reactor doesn't sound pleasant to me.

Nor the mental stress of being pursued by forces he can't even tell in the dark.

"You… I just can't… Even begin to comprehend… Sigh."

'Dae was frustrated.'

"I even think you overdid it… Despite the fact I told you to do as you wished..."

"And so I did, I only did what I was told, in fact, I have quite a few complaints…"

'Dae raised his hand, prompting Philip to stop.'

"Yeah, I already figured it out… You have a lot of complaints about my information, that isn't anything new to me."

'His expression grew nostalgic...'

"To think Latur was being sealed in the city… It makes sense… Too much sense, so much so I feel dumb now for not predicting this."

And even then, Philip slew it together with the help of a God...

A true heroic tale, if the Noble Princesses were to hear of this they would literally swarm him.

Especially the Dwarves... Philip has a lot of leeways to negotiate with them now...

With what he did together with the Scientist that finished his work many years ahead of the predicted time, we could pull the Dwarves to our side without any resistance.

Everything is starting to fall into place, what exactly happened to Lavinda and her disappearance at the start...

"You were aware of it too?"

"I feel left out…" Petter added as he ate the last French fry

'But not one paid attention to his words.'

"Latur was a powerful necromancer that was supposed to appear after the destruction of the City of Freedom, causing quite the uphill in the Northern side of the Mountain range before being slain by a group of Heroes, not without some resistance as he killed many in his wake."

"When I heard how you met with Latur, I was a bit worried, but everything went well in the end."

Albeit... It seems Latur was far from his potential capabilities.

Whatever limitations he was working under severely limited his abilities to fight, and the aid of a God greatly boosted his own effectiveness against him.

Not that it decreases his accomplishments by any means...

Whatever rewards he received at the end of his Quest have surely deeply impacted him, which leads to my next worry...

"Well, Philip is that strong I guess, we're past worrying at this point." Petter said as he looked at the ceiling

"I'm not talking about his powers, that's not what I'm worried about… Sigh."

"Let me ask you a question."

"If there are so many powerful people all around, didn't it ever cross through your head why the Continent isn't constantly being bombarded by their own conflicts?"

"DemiGods made an agreement to reduce their aggression, while the Gods themselves are sealed in another plane."

"But what about the people in the Middle?"

"That's a nice question… Isn't the King and the Grand General Trancendents too?" Petter asked as he thought about it

"They are, but we never saw them fight did we?"

'Petter shook his head.'

"Well, that isn't without a damn cause."

"Just like how Philip told us, there is a terrific cost to killing a Transcendent."

"Due to the way how their powers work and the way one achieves it, the moment they die, a portion of what constitutes them will seek a new host."

"Upon death, they contaminate their surroundings and their enemies with their own powers."

"They're like walking diseases to other Trancendents."

"Because of this, Trancendents hate fighting each other, and oftentimes, they may even threaten each other with killing themselves, as it's very effective…"

"At most, if two meet, they'll fight a little and turn around as if nothing happened, just like two cats on the street."

"When Philip slew Latur, his powers tried to infect him and fuse with him, but they were repealed by the Golden Body…"

"In fact, that was the very reason why I even had him go through the procedure in the first place, and why you'll pass through it too."

"With the Golden Body, you won't have to care about such consequences… Partially at least."

One of the many preparations for the future, the Golden Body is a simple but effective counter to Trancendents.

Though, for them to be effective, you first need to be able to fight one toe to toe.

And that is an entire issue in itself.

"Sometimes Transcendents will try to absorb each other's powers, or even seal them, but for that, considerable knowledge about their enemies must be known to them and the difference in their abilities must be substantial respectively."

"That's quite informative, but it doesn't answer the question." Petter said as he searched for another snack to eat

"... A Transcendent can be many things."

"In simple terms, it's a process of change."

"Most commonly, it involves the development of something within them into "Strings" that will then be woven to shape their 'Codex'."

"When a Transcendent dies, their Codex shatters, and these Strings will seek a nearby Codex or strong enough Vessel to attach themselves to, otherwise, they'll dissipate and return to Nature, which is usually not a pleasant process."

"If someone achieves enlightenment, they can jump straight through the entire process of State increase and reach this stage, but their case is unique and special."

"I can count such unique cases with one hand, most will just reach the peak of their respective crafts before transforming into something higher."

"In most cases, what tends to be simpler to transform is none other than their Unique Skills and Traits, the very things they're born with, talents engraved in their Souls."

"Look, I'll not go much further than this, Trancendents are weird, and asking me to explain what they are will only make my head hurt more than it already is."

"Transcendents aren't exactly divided into stages, but at some point, there is another significant change and you "eventually" become a Demi-God."

"And don't even get me started on Orders, those are another shitty matter altogether, but if it makes you happy, that's when you'll start to see Order bearing users."

"Even for people who follow a certain Divinity, they usually grow by the strength and weight of their beliefs, until they can start to affect the world through it or become channels for their patrons to manifest."

"It is a form of Spiritual and Mental training that can go many ways."

"In the end, there are simply too many ways of attaining power, as Transcendence doesn't equate power."

"600 years ago, a single Orc wizard below the rank of Archmage managed to figure out a Spell Theory that allowed him to near-infinitely expand the size of Magic Circles."

"Thus allowing him to create a Spell Circle that covered an entire mountain, which was later used to ambush and kill the Tauros Demigod at the time, despite their extreme difference in power."

"As you might expect, everyone got super pissed at this and they charged to kill all Orcs, only to not find out the truth about the Circle theory that is now lost in time."

"This caused an entire civilization to collapse and it's one of the reasons why we have tribal Orcs and Civilized Orcs, albeit in a fundamental way, they aren't that connected…"

"The only reason why Orcs weren't exterminated was that some of the DemiGods pressured the others, perhaps by taking pity on them or through another reason, giving some distant Orc tribes the boon of life as they weren't related to what these Orcs did."

"While some simple Transcendents of the past defied everything in the mortal world, such as the Fisherman who pulled up a Divine Aspect from the sealed Heavens, slaying it in the mortal plane, laughing loudly as he said he caught a big fish."

"There are all kinds of unique existence, and having a simple understanding of what your enemy is will do for us, as when our time comes to become stronger, we may each develop our own paths..."

"In fact, that time may never come, because we may never go through a substantial change and only grow at our own pace."

"..."

'Philip was in deep thought.'

I did hear about that fairy tale, but I don't remember those details…

"Anyway, your story gave me quite the insight into some things, and also a sense of urgency."

"If Lavinda was allowed to communicate with you… If she chose you to do so… The girl you rescued from the chamber… Then things start to align."

'As Dae said that, Carnataita moved close to him by walking in between them, standing next to Dae as she heard his words.'

"The day the Skies break is soon, that means the conclusion of the Pact is fast approaching and some of the Gods are already exerting their influence below."

"Lavinda was known as a gentle God, helping mortals in need, but she vanished not long after the 'children that live under the stone', the Dwarves' were mostly annihilated."

"I never expected Latur and Lavinda to have such connections, and from your words, we can finally draw a clear picture of her circumstances…"

"Either way, from what you described, that would signify that Carnatita is not only an Oracle and the prophesized Child of Stone, but that is literally and figuratively Lavinda's own kin and…"

/Poke…/

'The moment he said that Carnatita poked Dae's face, making him flinch.'

/Clears throat…/

"As I was saying, that would make her…"

/Poke…/

"!"

"Is everything okay?" Petter asked, concerned

'He saw nothing around Dae, why was he so ticklish?'

"Cough, my apologies, it must've been the wind…"

"I was saying, that would make Carnatita…"

/Poke…/

"GODDAMMIT!!" He exclaimed as he lost his composure, slapping the air without a target in sight

'Because of this, his hands passed through Carnatita's chest, making her back down as she put her hands across it, blushing as she raised her right hand.'

"KYAA!" She exclaimed dramatically as she slapped Dae in the face

/SLAP!/

"?!?!"

/FWOOOSH!/

'Like a bullet, Dae was sent straight to the rock, slamming against it…'

'He stood there, unconscious...'

"D-Dae!! OH NO!!!" Petter exclaimed as he rushed after him

"..."

'Nice slap.' Philip thought as he looked at Carnatita who had now floated behind him, looking at Dae with a ferocious expression

But was it necessary...? Better not say anything.

'There was still a lot to discuss, their meeting had just begun.'

…

.

.

.

Notes

I know it would've been simpler to just have Dae and Petter react to each event Philip had in order, but if we did that, we would stay here for 2 more chapters if not 3, and the entirety of the text would be...

Philip says he did something.

Petter: Gasp

Dae: Silent Gasp...

Repeat.

It would get a bit boring, so I cut some of it out, and had them talk about some things in order, and in the next chapter we'll conclude this while also introducing new Heroes and starting their own reactions to Philip's powers.

Anyway, what else would you like Philip to discuss with Dae and Petter? What kind of reactions you would like to see from them next?

There is still a lot to cover before the next big Arc.

As you can see, I'm not that talkative this time, I'm a bit tired honestly.

Peace!