Chapter 365: Pioneer of a New Path

Chapter 365: Chapter 365: Pioneer of a New Path

Chapter 365 – Pioneer of a New Path

Time was still stopped.

The Primal Queen had already recovered from her surprise, now watching Cassius’s new body take shape with sharp, analytical eyes.

She lifted her head once more, and once more felt the staggering presence of the Eye of the World.

’The second time,’ she thought, narrowing her flaming eyes. ’This is the second time the Eye of the World has acted in front of me.’

And the first time had been because of the very ancestor of the annoying, insolent boy before her.

That was long ago. Hundreds of years ago, when her friend Amate Desdemona had decided to slaughter the red dragons to create her Skill and Characteristic.

The Primal Queen remembered that day as if it were yesterday. She remembered sitting across from that cursing, foul-mouthed woman, covered in scars, asking her why she needed to commit genocide against the red dragons.

She truly hadn’t understood, because Amate Desdemona was already extremely strong. She hadn’t needed to. And the answer, to this day, was etched into her mind like an unhealed scar.

’Oh? It’s not for me. I want to give it to my descendant or rather to him,’ Amate had answered, with her trademark cocky grin. ’As the best bloody Desdemona, I need to give him something worthy of me, don’t you think? And you know, Scarlet, I’m the 333rd. I’m the Last Original Ancestor. The next one will be his final, last Return. His Last Birth.’

The Primal Queen of Fire had known her friend was deeply afraid, even though she never said it. Afraid of what would happen to her if she followed through with what she was planning.

Which made sense, since exterminating an entire race was never going to go unnoticed. There were gods who’d loved the red dragons. There had even been Dragon Gods.

What Amate had done, for this insolent little bastard, had ended up killing her.

Her one and only friend. The only human who could manipulate fire as well as she could. The only one who could put up with her volatile temper and aggressive nature.

Her friend, who should have stood beside her for eternity, had died. Died for the Last Born.

’That’s why I never liked you. I still don’t like you. And I never will.’ The Primal Queen narrowed her flaming eyes coldly, feeling the urge to destroy something.

She lifted her head, still sensing the Eye of the World’s presence, and snapped,

"Get the fuck out. You’ve done your job. Your presence is starting to piss me off," she growled.

There was a sharp silence, then a voice, heard only by the Primal Queen, echoed inside her mind.

{Firstborn of Hell, Spirit of Madness and Hatred — Scarlet Red — no need for such anger. I’ve seen the Cursed Villain. I’ve seen his possible path. And oh, it’s indeed glorious. Glorious...}

Then the voice dropped into a cold, dreadful, mocking whisper.

{...if he survives against THEM, the ones who took what rightfully belongs to him, that is.}

Then everything settled, the presence vanishing just in time before the Primal Queen, Scarlet Red, could tear the sky apart again.

"Who cares whether he survives or not?" Scarlet hissed, watching Cassius’s body reconstruct itself from blood and plasma. "My love, my respect, my loyalty, all of it belonged to Amate. None of it extends to her family, or her descendants."

At her words, time finally resumed its course. But what had happened during that frozen moment wasn’t forgotten, and Scarlet’s mood soured worse than ever.

"I will destroy you all."

...

Cassius had never felt anything like this before. His body was reshaping into something else entirely, something that could carry the concept he’d just created.

His heart was no longer the heart he’d once had. Now it was the very Core of Sun, pumping blood and plasma through his veins in its place.

Slowly and steadily, he regained his original shape and appearance. White hair, dazzling and immaculate, grew long from his scalp.

His arms, legs, and everything else followed, his skin still as pale as before, but now carrying an undercurrent of electrical energy zipping in and out of it.

Across his back, a tattoo was beautifully inscribed — crimson and gold, touched with white: a sun, spread across his whole broad back.

After a few minutes, Cassius Desdemona was fully reconstructed.

He opened his eyes deliberately, revealing the same crimson eyes tinted with pink as before. But his pupils were different now.

Where they’d once been ordinary pupils, they were now shaped like suns, flashing occasionally with plasma of different colors. It was mesmerizing.

Cassius didn’t move at first. He stayed lying there, feeling the changes settle inside him.

His essence was no longer ordinary essence. Now his body ran on Sun Essence.

Beyond that, Cassius’s fire skills had evolved in a strange way, transforming into plasma.

In other words, his affinities were now plasma and blood. Even without checking his profile, he knew his plasma could take on the traits of the fires he’d folded into his core’s creation.

It could be destructive, cold, healing, even poisonous. There was likely more, but its range was still limited by his current Concept level.

’My power... has grown a lot.’

To get a clearer picture, Cassius finally summoned his profile.

[Name: Cassius Desdemona]

[Titles: Last Born, Seraph of the Damned, Cursed Villain, Beloved Adopted Son of Goddesses.]

[Blessings: Absolute Fate (True Blessing); Unwanted Slumber.]

[Characteristics: Left Dragon’s Eye, Adonis’s Eyes.]

[STR: 301; AGL: 301; CONS: 301; PER: 301; CHA: Impossible to Quantify; Sun Essence: 200.]

[Aspect: Legacy – Blood Path.]

[Skills: Crimson Chains, Red Lotus.]

[Ultimate Skills: Serpent’s Feast, Unnamed.]

[Unique Concept: Sun

Level: Rising Sun

Sun Core: 2%

Three Truths: Burn – Nourish – Illuminate]

Cassius studied his current status with rapt attention. First, every one of his stats had pushed past the 300 limit, now sitting at 301.

He didn’t think anyone had ever achieved that. Even in the game, Emrys had never broken past the cap.

And even though it was just one point, the difference felt staggering. Cassius finally understood why he felt so powerful.

However, his Essence had dropped from 300 to 200 once it transformed into Sun Essence. He wasn’t surprised, Sun Essence was richer and far more potent.

It simply meant 200 Sun Essence equaled 300 ordinary Essence. In a way, he’d lost nothing, only traded down for a bigger ceiling.

Now he needed to build it back up to 300 as soon as possible.

Then there was the fact that he’d lost Bloodflame, and essentially any other fire ability he might have had, or gained.

Only the skills based purely on blood remained; everything else had been devoured by his Concept: Sun.

Cassius looked over his Three Truths and got a rough sense of how his power now worked.

He could either Burn, Nourish, or Illuminate at his current level, Rising Sun. Whichever he chose, his plasma would take on the matching attribute.

His Concept would naturally level up over time, and the final stage, ideally, would be...

’The embodiment of the sun itself,’ Cassius thought, a small smile crossing his face.

Finally, he’d created something of his own. Something he could truly call his, because this Concept had been built from his own self.

And by completing this creation, he’d also completed his Cursed Quest.

DING!

[Congratulations, you have succeeded in your Quest!]

[What can we say? You continue to surprise us, day by day, Last Born.

Fabulous.]

[Rewards: Sun Stone (x3); 15,000,000 VP; Freeze Ticket.]

And it wasn’t over yet.

[NEW ACHIEVEMENT! A Potential New Path!]

[You have used your True Bloodline in the creation of the Concept of Sun. If you complete your Concept, Last Born, and reach the Final Stage, the Sun Path will be added to the Original Pool of the Desdemona Bloodline, alongside Blood and Shadow.

Fabulous, you are brushing against the secrets of Paths and Origin Pools.

You are walking the Path of a Pioneer, of a Paragon.]

[Rewards: Sun Core Growth (+10%); Title: Pioneer of a Path.]

’Wow,’ Cassius thought in a daze, feeling his core’s strength surge, not having expected this outcome from any of this.

All he’d wanted was to better anchor the core to himself by working his bloodline into it. Instead, he’d created an entirely new Path within the Desdemona bloodline.

Which meant Origin Pool affinities were created by beings doing exactly what he’d just done, and passed down through bloodlines from there.

And he was the first to walk the Sun Path in the Desdemona family.

Cassius felt a quiet swell of pride. For the first time, he felt like he was giving something back to the family, even a small portion of everything they’d given him.

It was a good start.

He closed his eyes for a moment before finally standing, looking towards the Primal Queen, who’d watched him in silence the entire time.

Cassius had grown taller, his hair now longer. He wondered briefly whether he should cut it or leave it as it was.

For now, he tied it back using his plasma — a neutral, transparent strand of it — securing his hair in place.

He then wove more of that same plasma into a pair of pants, covering himself below the waist, leaving his chest bare, his magnificent sun tattoo on full display.

Once he was done, Cassius finally turned his attention to the Primal Queen, whose expression had shifted, now carrying a small, sly smile.

Cassius could already sense something annoying was about to happen.

"I won the bet," he said, his sun-shaped eyes sizzling with plasma. "So, as agreed, you’ll become my contracted spirit."

The Primal Queen looked him up and down, then down and up again, before shaking her head with a grin.

"Well, no. I refuse."

—End of Chapter 365—