Chapter 113: First Epoch

Valerian looked down on his changed arms and activated [Dragon Eyes], and his status unfolded in front of him.

│─────── STATUS ─────── │

│ Name : Valerian von Astrea

│ Age : 16

│ Race : Primordial Celestial Dragon [God Seed: Ignited]

│ ─────── ORIGIN ─────── │

│ Bloodline : Primordial Celestial Dragon [Partial Awakening]

│ Physique : Infinite Cosmos Physique [Infant Stage – First Epoch]

│ Core : Cosmic Singularity [New]

│ ────── ATTRIBUTES ────── │

│ Vitality : ???

│ Strength : SS-

│ Agility : SS-

│ Dexterity : SS-

│ Intelligence : S

│ Divine Mana : S

│ Charm : SSS+

│ ─────── AFFINITIES ─────── │

│ [Synchronized Constellation]

│ ‧ Space

│ ‧ Cosmic Fire

│ ‧ Void Lightning

│ ‧ Event Horizon

│ ‧ Absolute Zero

│ ‧ Genesis Spark

│ ‧ Starlight (Nexus)

│ ─────── TITLES ─────── │

│ Last Celestial

│ Child of Mana

│ Primordial Progenitor

│ Candidate for Godhood

│ Spark of True Divinity [New]

│ ─────── SKILLS ─────── │

│ [Physique Abilities]

│ World Creation (Nascent) [New]

│ [Racial Skills]

│ Dragon Eyes (Stage 2)

│ Dragon Tongue

│ Polymorph (Partial)

│ Dragon Fear

│ Primordial Scales (Partial)

│ Dragon Breath (Locked)

│ [Unique Skill]

│ Law Breaker

│ ─────── BOND ─────── │

│ Bound Entity: Valerie

Valerian scanned every line carefully, not wanting to miss even a single word that appeared on his new status.

The first thing that caught his attention was that behind his [God Seed] now stood [Ignited]. That was probably the reason his mana changed in nature and his body felt more divine in a way.

Then, as he looked down, he saw something that he didn’t expect. His bloodline, which had been [Unawakened] previously, had changed to [Partial Awakening]. But thinking about it in hindsight, it made sense.

The only reason his bloodline was restricted in the first place was most likely because his body was too weak and too young to even partially hold it. But now that his physique had changed and left the normal [Infant Stage], he could draw some of the power from it.

Then there was the physique itself. It had changed from just [Infant Stage] to [Infant Stage – First Epoch]. Valerian knew what he had done to get there, but he still didn’t know what exactly [First Epoch] meant, so he focused on his physique and a window popped up.

[Physique: Infinite Cosmos Physique (Infant Stage – First Epoch)]:

A physical vessel engineered to shatter mortal limitations, possessing no internal boundaries. Death is merely a temporary state; so long as a single spark of energy remains in the vicinity, the flesh violently reconstructs itself from annihilation. It is an unyielding shell built to house a God.

Having crossed into the [First Epoch], the vessel’s scattered energies have ignited into a synchronized cosmos around a living singularity. It no longer stores mana; it generates an inexhaustible tide of divine mana directly from the burning stars within.

Yet, it remains an infant. The core burns with the power of a nascent god, but the conduits are still tethered to mortal limits. Pouring the full weight of this inner universe into the physical frame would tear the vessel apart. The flesh must harden further to endure the gravity of its own expansion.

’Like I thought.’

This blue golden mana that he had seen flow from the stars around him into his body was indeed, as the system calls it, "Divine mana." Feeling the stream coming from the stars, Valerian marveled at the potency of this divine mana.

It was even stronger than his previously pure and powerful mana, but the downside of it was that he lost his mana pool completely.

Normally, the place where his massive mana pool was had now become nothing, but his body felt stronger than ever even if there was no mana stored in his body.

And the culprits behind this were the stars around him. Instead of holding a large reservoir of mana, he now had a generator that would supply him with an infinite amount of this divine mana.

But that didn’t mean that he could just release an infinite amount of mana into the world right now. His body could only handle a flow of this divine mana that was equal to an S rank.

Even if he couldn’t release everything at once, with the quality of his divine mana, he could easily outmatch S ranks and even SS- ranks in a contest of mana.

And the other upside was that he probably wouldn’t ever run out of mana. The only scenario where he could theoretically run short on it would be when he uses his Domain, since the mana drain of it could probably outrun his current mana generation.

But at least he could hold it for longer than he could before, and other than that, there was little he had to worry about regarding running dry.

The other upside was that through the advance in his physique and the higher mana quality, his physical stats had also increased, now standing comfortably at SS- while his vitality was still a mystery.

His affinities were just as he had expected. He turned his gaze to the constellation of the six bright, differently colored stars and the bright silver lines connecting them.

His physique was now fully synchronized with them, and when he gains more in the future, he can just add them to the already existing constellations by building the necessary lines with [Starlight].

There was also a new title that he didn’t expect.

[Title: Spark of True Divinity]:

Awarded to a mortal vessel that has successfully ignited the embers of godhood. The boundaries of mortality no longer fully apply; all personal energy is passively transformed to divine quality, and the soul commands a faint, terrifying authority that forces lower lifeforms and standard elemental laws to yield.

The universe has taken notice. The spark has caught fire.

While the last line was ominous, Valerian just shrugged the title away. On a normal day, this would have taken his attention, but after what happened today and the other changes he underwent, this new title seemed a little bland.

But the next thing was more than interesting: his physique had awakened an ability, [World Creation]. Valerian’s eyes glowed with the light of the miniature galaxy as he looked at the ability.

[Physique Ability: World Creation (Nascent)]:

The divine right to forge reality. Upon reaching full godhood, this authority permits the genesis of a complete universe, governing everything from the birth of galaxies to the evolution of sentient life.

In its nascent state, this power is restricted to the bearer’s soul space.

’Again this whole god thing...’

The right to forge and create an entire universe, there was little that was more godly than this ability. But right now, it was restricted to his own soul space, unable to affect reality.

’Haaa... so much had changed, and even my racial skills have changed.’

His [Dragon Eyes] had evolved to [Stage 2], but what that exactly meant, Valerian had no idea, as no matter how much he tried to focus on it, he wasn’t able to bring up a description of the ability.

As for his other racial skills, [Polymorph] had changed from restricted to partial, but other than that, there was no change in his status.

When Valerian looked at the racial skills for a second, he remembered that even though his [Primordial Scales] had been partially unlocked since the first time he used [Dragon Eyes] on himself, he had never actually tried to use them.

Wanting to see how they would look, Valerian focused on the ability and almost instantly felt a layer of hard scales cover his body.

When he opened his eyes, he found that his arms were now fully enveloped by a layer of incredibly hard, black scales. When he focused hard enough, he could see little silver lines running through them and a subtle purple light burning between the individual scales.

His fingers ended in sharp nail-like claws, they were beyond even the nails a vampire had from their racial abilities.

’Neat.’

Dismissing the ability, the scales disappeared beneath his skin, and his healthy pale skin appeared again.

With a deep breath, Valerian turned to Valerie for a moment before leaving his soul space and returning to his body in the outside world as a changed being.