Chapter 334: Maximum Potential

"YOU!" Suddenly, the Sorcerer roared in pure fury. "You’re that pathetic Inborn Celestial! HAHAHAHA!"

He began laughing insanely and maniacally, as if he had completely lost his mind.

Priam narrowed his eyes, sensing the golden rune on the enemy’s forehead pulsing with a living rhythm.

Within two seconds, the arm that had been destroyed seemed to rewind time, reconstructing itself out of thin air. More than that: all of his previous wounds simply disappeared without leaving the slightest trace.

From a distance, the Beasts and Dandara watched everything in absolute shock. It was unbelievable to witness such an instantaneous and absurd regeneration.

The creature stopped laughing, holding Priam’s icy gaze.

"Incredible, isn’t it? This is the power you should have... But now, you’ll only be able to covet it in your next life!"

"Is this the ability of a Celestial? Interesting," Priam murmured with complete indifference, not waiting for an answer.

"HAHAHA! Indeed! You are an Inborn Celestial, someone who was already born at the Supreme level, but you have to earn this power to awaken it. I, on the other hand, am an Acquired Celestial, someone who built this strength with my own hands. The difference between us is an abyss!"

Priam merely snorted. Internally, however, he was excited. After all, he had just found an opponent who possessed crucial knowledge that he himself didn’t have.

"Great. Let’s test this incredible ’strength’ of yours..."

*CRASH!*

Priam scoffed and slammed his two fists together, causing Ananke to resonate like thunder. All of his Ether flowed into the weapon without hesitation.

In the next instant, Priam merged with the winds and shot forward like a beam of light.

The Sorcerer snorted, but a shiver of imminent danger ran down his spine.

A fatal threat emanated from that Inborn Celestial — something that shouldn’t have been possible, since he still hadn’t fully awakened his power. He, on the other hand, being an Initial Acquired Celestial, already possessed a fraction of that invincible power.

Without hesitation, the Sorcerer counterattacked, delivering a brutal strike with his black saber.

**BOOM!**

Dandara clenched her fists tightly, feeling her heart pounding in her chest.

The Sorcerer’s figure was sent flying like a projectile. The raw force transmitted by Priam’s punch caused him visceral pain, making his internal organs twist so violently that he nearly vomited blood.

The invader rose from the ground, shocked.

He was using the maximum capacity of his suppression and the enhancement granted by the world’s laws — a potential that made him as terrifying as a Physical Sage focused on physical attributes, with the advantage of delivering even more devastating blows than any other class.

He hadn’t even used a refined technique. And yet... Priam had simply relied on brute strength and overwhelmingly surpassed him.

’FUCK!!’

The Sorcerer roared in blind fury. As he raised his black saber, he unleashed every last drop of his power, even making his Creation Essence flow into the blade.

"World-Devouring Slash!"

With a thunderous movement, he unleashed an arc of absolute destruction.

"FALL BACK!" Dandara roared, reacting quickly.

She released her pure aura in all directions, forcibly pushing the Beasts away.

**RUMBLE!!**

After experiencing his opponent’s strength, the Sorcerer abandoned all carelessness. His Corrupt Abilities erupted, raising his aura all the way to the heavens.

"Calamity Surge!" the Sorcerer roared, attacking again.

Priam simply responded by unleashing a continuous barrage of strikes with Ananke. His speed was supreme, and the impact of his fists was so brutal that it made space itself tremble.

The ground cracked without end; the surrounding forest collapsed into ruins, and gigantic fissures opened up across the earth.

The Beasts fled into the distance, their faces pale with terror.

This was a duel between two Sages! The clash of their forces looked like the apocalypse itself.

Even kilometers away, simply staying on one’s feet was a battle. The ground was violently undulating, leaving everyone dizzy. With every collision of forces, a storm of dust and earth was hurled into the skies, forcing the spectators to retreat farther and farther, only managing to stabilize themselves dozens of kilometers from the epicenter.

Smoke obscured everyone’s vision. It was no longer possible to see the combatants; all they could do was feel the uncontrolled energy colliding relentlessly.

"HAHAHAHAAH!"

At the epicenter of the chaos, a maniacal laugh rang out.

The Sorcerer was drenched in blood, all four limbs grotesquely fractured and twisted. However, in the blink of an eye, his entire body structure regenerated completely.

’Pry, this isn’t the power of nature acting normally. It’s as if... the planet’s own energy is being forcibly ripped away to reconstruct his body.’

Mirra’s voice echoed in Priam’s mind. As a specialist in that type of power, she could sense and diagnose the phenomenon.

Priam snorted. His own body was also regenerating rapidly, but nothing that could compare to that bizarre restoration.

In that brutal duel, neither of them had managed to gain a decisive advantage. Relying solely on his Elemental Physique and Ananke while burning Ether, the battle had stagnated in a tense deadlock.

He could use a Power Rune — which would undoubtedly increase his combat power to the point where he could overpower his opponent — but he had a feeling that even that wouldn’t be enough to take the Sorcerer’s life.

That healing factor was completely abnormal. Priam wondered whether, even if he destroyed the enemy’s entire body in one go, it would still regenerate. The answer was probably yes.

On the other hand, activating Celestial Battle Armor and unleashing one hundred percent of his true strength was completely out of the question.

The reason? That ability belonged to the category known in that world as Chaotic Magic Art.

Just as had happened when Priam created his Elemental Physique, the first time he activated a new technique of that caliber in that world, it would cause the world’s laws to converge upon him in a furious tribulation meant to eliminate him.

Why hadn’t he faced that trial before to solve the problem once and for all?

Because Priam had other plans. A tribulation was an immense danger, but it also represented a unique opportunity.

Since he didn’t know whether he’d have another chance like this in the future, he had preferred to wait for the ideal moment. Now, however, he was beginning to regret that choice slightly. Perhaps they had been too greedy.

’How do you kill a Celestial? There has to be some practical method...’ Priam wondered, watching the figure advance toward him in an uncontrolled frenzy.

*CLANG! CRASH!*

The violent double clash sent both combatants flying backward.

Fortunately for Priam, that Sorcerer used corruption in his attacks. This allowed Priam to absorb the battle’s residual energy and keep his Ether reserves permanently at their peak.

He was incapable of being defeated there, but he couldn’t win either.

This situation was completely new to Priam.

Suddenly, a line of reasoning snapped into his mind.

’Wait... My class is Celestial, but I ascended to it through the intervention of the System...’

His eyes lit up with a new understanding.

’I knew practically nothing about this world and its energies back then; I simply followed the knowledge I had acquired. I didn’t even know the Celestial class existed. I was only trying to properly condense a Jade Core. In other words, the System and the Nexus Seed shaped this transition. That’s why, just like almost everything about me, my power shouldn’t be identical to that of the ordinary Celestials in this world. It might possibly be something completely different.’ (Chapter 7)

At the exact second this conclusion formed in his mind...

[01: Special Mission Acquired!]

[Activate the maximum potential of your Celestial Core. Absorb the opponent’s Celestial Mark.]

Priam’s eyes gleamed as he stared at the notification in the green window.

He let out a muffled sigh. This System could at least be a little more direct sometimes, couldn’t it?

However, he understood the logic. The System had never acted as a guide, directly directing his steps. If he hadn’t reasoned things out on his own and reached the correct conclusion, he would never have triggered the condition to receive this mission.