Chapter 178: Ascending to A-Rank!

The sun rose high above the sky, and the stinging light of its rays fell onto the world, making the morning temperature rise well above normal. The warm light fell on the Veridius mansion, where the servants working around the estate wiped their sweat profusely, but kept on working regardless.

Work is important; they could not avoid it even if they felt tired or expected a rest. Even if it rained, even if it was freezing cold, whether it was a peaceful day or a difficult day, their work couldn’t be avoided. They had to do their jobs to earn money to feed their own families.

On the other hand, far away from the busy hallways of the mansion where the servants were passing back and forth, Alen sat in the very center of the empty training ground. He sat cross-legged in a lotus position as he cultivated his mana, steadily inhaling and exhaling nature’s mana while feeling his core.

Above him, through the open ceiling of the training ground, the bright rays of sunlight fell and illuminated his figure as his body sweated profusely in deep concentration.

Just as Alen was constantly absorbing the surrounding mana, he finally felt the invisible wall appear. He immediately flushed in a massive amount of mana, and his core finally cracked.

The quiet surroundings suddenly became turbulent. A massive amount of nature’s mana was attracted toward him as his body naturally started to emit energy. The very air around him warped from the sheer volume of mana flooding inside his system.

The ground below him cracked, forming a heavy spiderweb pattern ranging several meters in every direction. Debris flew away as he slowly stood up. His body still emitted dense mana, and the surrounding energy still rapidly filled his cracked core.

As his eyes snapped open, looking at his figure illuminating with pure mana, he didn’t get the luxury to enjoy this moment.

*BOOOOOOM!*

The mana finally overloaded. Large chunks of the ground blew off, destroying the floor around him and spreading the damage into the distance. The reinforced walls started to show cracks as a large cloud of dust and debris blew up into the sky through the open ceiling.

The whole mansion, even a little distance away, shook violently. Every servant and guard looked at the sudden chaos erupting from the training ground.

As the thick dust cleared, Alen stood there right in the center of the destruction. The flood of mana finally slowed down as it filled the gaps of his cracked core, remaking it anew and much stronger.

[Ding! You have successfully Ascended to the A- rank!]

[Ding! Your mana capacity has been increased tremendously!]

[Ding! Your control over nature’s mana has been increased slightly!]

[Ding! Your overall stats have been increased significantly!]

He looked at his surroundings, noticing the massive destruction caused by his own body.

"Eek—! Do I have to pay for all that? Sigh... It seems I really should have held back the breakthrough..."

After training intensely for the past two days, he had already reached the very edge of his breakthrough. What was left was just to push past that final wall. He had thought of holding it back, but due to the constant leaking of his excess mana, he was afraid of accidentally destroying the bedroom in his sleep. So he decided to do it here in a controlled environment. But since he had just climbed to the A- rank, he hadn’t expected his breakthrough was going to result in this much damage.

He sighed internally, shaking his head as he decided to check his status window in order to properly measure his growth.

"Status Window."

[Ding!]

[Status Window]

[Name: Alen]

[Age: 17]

[Titles: The Outlier, The Elemental Master, Illusion Walker]

[Talent: Unknown]

[Rank: A- (Walker)]

[Elements: Sound, Water, Wind, Darkness, Fire, Earth]

[Physique: Celestial Body (★)]

[Bond: Godless (Second Form) → 15.3%]

[Supreme Ability: Omnipresence]

[ATTRIBUTES]

[STR: 508/1000] [AGI: 511/1000]

[DEF: 510/1000] [INT: 514/1000]

[HP: 20000/20000]

[MP: 20000/20000]

[ABILITIES]

[1. ???? (?)]

[2. Nexus Elemental Art (S-)]

[3. Night Vision (A+)]

[4. Weapon Master (24%)]

[5. Charm (★)]

[SKILLS]

[1. Body Strengthening (Lv. 8)]

[2. Mana Concentration (Lv. 10)]

[3. Phantom Step (A+)]

[4. True One’s Gaze (A+)]

[SHADOW INVENTORY]

> Divine Talisman (S)

> Chaos Shard

> Grimoire of Darkness (A+)

> Spatial rings

After checking his window, a small, proud smile curled onto his lips. He felt satisfied by his rapid growth; his overall stats had increased significantly, but what truly shocked him were his last two attributes. His ’HP’ and ’MP’ had increased to a massive extent, hitting almost double their original values.

’Damn, I didn’t know climbing up the rank has its own hidden benefits... I thought that just climbing the Ascension Realm would make me strong, but it seems I also have to grow stronger naturally...’

Since there were two ranking systems existing in the world, both of them were equally important in their own course.

For the Ranking System of the ’Ascension Realm’, it entirely depended on the Star a person got. As they climbed the floors, they naturally would get Runes and grow stronger depending on their performance. But by following the natural ’Order’ of the ’Universe’, a person could still grow stronger independently. Yes, there might be a power difference, as a Walker might become stronger by boosted strength and special abilities, but even a person who had just grown naturally had a chance to win against them.

In the world’s standard, if an S to S+ rank Awakener attempted to fight with a being standing at the B-rank at an ’Advanced’ to ’Master’ level, the Master would remain higher in raw power. However, the S-rank Awakener would still be more skilled, and their performance in battle through sheer experience would be greater compared to the being who stood as the B-rank Master.

On top of that, when a being reached an S-Rank, they gained slight knowledge about manifesting a Domain—a power which is specialized solely for beings standing in the higher ranks. Not all S-rank or SS-rankers can possibly manifest it, but there were a rare few who were able to do it.

An S-rank individual might just be able to work on manifesting it, but when they climbed to the SS-rank, they would gain partial control over that Domain. In that space, they would be able to use some unique power of the Domain, which could be entirely random for different beings. If that individual ever climbed to the SSS-rank, then their Domain power would skyrocket to the absolute maximum. The unique power, or more appropriately, the ’Authority’ of the Domain would also reach its limit, and they could indirectly be called the ’Emperor’ of their Domain.

But still, who would actually win a match between them would entirely depend on how they fought and what hidden tricks they actually possessed. Since the flow of battle cannot remain constant, ultimately it would entirely depend on the individual’s skill.

Just as he stood there feeling refreshed after achieving the breakthrough, he noticed a sharp gaze on him. He looked at the wall, but the gaze didn’t come from the corner of the building or any hidden place. It came from behind that, all the way from the top of the mansion. He couldn’t see the person, but the intent had already reached him, alerting his senses.

A small smile curved on his lips as he waved his hand casually at the watcher before turning around. He walked toward the nearby weapon rack, pulling out a training spear. He had the sudden thrill to test out his new power right now.

After he held the spear, he coated the entire weapon with pure mana. He targeted a nearby chunk of broken rock from the floor and took a stance, pulling his right leg back. Gripping the spear tightly with both of his hands, with a sudden burst of movement, the spear shot toward the chunk. The mountain of debris blew off cleanly right through the center as the rocks turned into fine dust.

He realized that his overall control over mana had increased quite a bit, as it didn’t take him even a tiny bit of wasted mana to shoot the attack.

He suddenly remembered an idea. He pulled his weapon back and coated the spear with dense mana once again. He controlled the mana to the maximum in order to float the spear in the air, trying to use the telekinesis as he directed it toward the weapon rack.

But just as it moved a little distance away, the mana surrounding it lost its shape and control, and the spear clattered to the ground.

Alen didn’t look disappointed; in contrast, he tried it once more. Failing is an option, but not trying is just an excuse, and he didn’t want to give excuses to himself. Even if he wasn’t able to achieve that move now, he might be able to do it perfectly in the future.

After a few more failed attempts, he finally gave up for now. He picked up the spear in his hand, walked toward the rack, and placed it back himself. He could have just thrown the spear toward the corner, but he didn’t want to cause the other nearby racks to fall down because of the impact.

Just as he placed the spear back, a servant walked into the room, looking at the massive destruction with a thoroughly shocked expression. The man held a simple broom and dustpan in his hands. He walked toward Alen nervously.

"Hello, sir. I was sent here by My Lady after getting a strict order..."

Alen nodded as he dusted off his clothes. Well, it was natural to send the servants to clean up the mess so that the training ground could be repaired.

"My Lady ordered me to hand you this and to tell you these exact words: ’Clean up the mess you created’."

Alen’s eyes widened as he looked up, feeling utterly shocked.

"What the—?! I thought I was a guest here?!"

The servant just shrugged his shoulders. He left the cleaning items in Alen’s hands and quickly walked away from the training ground to do his own work. Standing all alone, looking at the incredibly messy training ground, Alen couldn’t help but swallow hard.

’Sigh... It seems even Walkers have to clean up their own messes. It seems I also have to become that much stronger just to order people around...’