Chapter Forty, To Consume Everything...

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  He stepped forward, entering the massive clearing before him. Water dripped from the ceiling, and he made direct eye with the creature that stood in the center.

  Another S-rank demon, more powerful than the last. But this one differed in physiology.

  It was a massive monster, organic. A plant behemoth, adorned with long limbs, hardened trunk like vines twisting all over its body. It was quadrupedal, like a beast, unlike the last demonic blurb.

  A Demonized Verdant Jienam...

  Jora stood just a ways away, gazing at the beast. It stared back. His hands were behind his back as he fully observed its visage.

  A colossal deep-born abomination. Layers of dark and sinewy hide. Root-like musculature. Its flesh was petrified wood, fused with rotting organic matter. It was clear as day that it had spent centuries down here, entrapped beneath the earth. A molten amber glowed from its face, and throughout its body seeped the same amber light from fissured opening. Its limbs were grotesquely long, uneven and coiling. Numerous tentacular appendages arose from its back, not even to mention its four main clawed limbs.

  It exuded an ancient pressure.

  Beyond any of the S-ranks he had encountered so far.

  He honestly wanted to battle it...

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  It was far beyond the likes of a, Dungeon Jumping Spider, or a Mystic Orbweaver... The creature charged forward, stomping towards him. It swiped its arms downwards, bombarding him with pure strength, but each hit did nothing.

  The beast would recoil, like it was a human striking metal with nothing but their barehands.

  Jora reminisced.

  It had not felt long, but it had been.

  Removing all of the time he had spent in Aeternum, the years of observation, and the millenniums he spent forging more power, it was strange to think he had perceived less than a month in Yara.

  Less than a day in his birth dungeon. Less than a day out in the wild. A week at most within Flamehold. Less than a day in the Romar forest... Just a couple weeks down here in this labyrinth...

  Even if you included to real amount of time spent since his birth here on Yara, he would be less than thirty one years old. Yet, including that time spent in Aeternum, he was over five thousand years old...

  Granted, he spent five thousand years resting, meditating, enhancing his power within his soul... Formulating new skills to stabilize those that he already had, and to fit in with the Talents he had accumulated.

  The Jienam leaped backwards, shaking the cavern as its large body touched down.

  Jora chuckled.

  He could feel the memories of his first battles. He had never backed down from a fight in any way.

  He fell into thought. He let his body fall into instinctual movements, guided slightly by the inherent will of his soul.

  The Jienam’s face bubbled, spewing magma towards him.

  His eyes blinked, and the magma was burnt into a savory essence before it could even come close.

  His Primal Ignition.

  He thought. His mind spun back around to characters he had long left in the past. Even though he was sure that they were still affected by the things he had done, to this day.

  Arjae Tilmont... Clara Freid... Lucas Lide... Jessica Bruchard... Even Elizabeth Randall, Annaliese Becker, and Troydan Bower.

  Agatha Fent and Alexander Tilmont.

  The few humans he had encountered, but the ones that stood out in his mind... He wouldn't even have known Randall's little trio if not for Zenor's memories... He recalled how the man had instructed them to hide away, telling them to watch his interaction, to see what the real power of an A-rank was like...

  He was sure they hadn't expected to witness the death of one of their city lords...

  He chuckled once more.

  A vine came flying towards him, and he deflected it with a flick, the sharp appendage scraping against his skin, creaking like metal on metal.

  Recovering Agatha Fent and Alexander Tilmont was a mission that was still engrained into his mind, but it had been put on the backburner since awakening right outside of the Romar Forest. At this rate, finding them would be easier than snapping his fingers.

  He would emerge from this dungeon with unrivaled power, he was sure of it. The memories of Anaflandus that he had assimilated, told him of that truth.

  He was finally able to get a grasp on this world.

  An ancient one.

  With deep history.

  Millions of histories. Hundreds of millions of years...

  From fables of world creation, Yara awakening and shaping this world to her imagination... Tales of foreign life invading, causing irreperable damage and conquering Yara herself... Their eventual departure in the end, moving onto greater things, or just fading away, where they had gone, unknown.

  Anaflandus was once a World Dungeon, like she had spoke highly of, and thanks to that, he possessed lots of knowledge on this place now. It may be outdated, but she understood core concepts of this world that could not become outdated...

  What skills were. How they functioned... The power of souls... The methods of ascension into godhood...

  He understood what gods were now. Glorified people, just a title for those that had reached certain thresholds of strength. He himself, had already become a halfgod, but that was a bloodline title.

  Gods were those that had understood the world. Those that had understood the truth of a Law, the truth of a Concept, completely.

  They were those that had turned their manipulation of Law, into real skills.

  Law Skills.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Capable of affecting reality, altering the portion of truth that their Law pertained to.

  He had just touched upon this front.

  He had a mere ten percent understanding of the Law of Fire. With it, there was an imprint on his soul. An ancient runic sigil that had drawn itself there the moment he reached that threshold of knowledge.

  He couldn't understand where it came from, or how it got there, so he could only attribute it to a natural happening.

  Another evolution of the soul.

  The Jienam hopped, slamming into the ground. Countless roots sprouted up from all around, cutting towards Jora.

  He opened his mouth, chomping at air, mimicking the sight of biting down.

  All of the vines were cut in half, bitten clean through, without so much as even touching him.

  His soul was lingering in the surrounding area, and whatever he willed, came to fruition.

  He thought back to the gods he had known of through Ana.

  Althea, the God of Heart... Master of a Conceptual Law... She controlled love, will, internal strength.

  Burjorn, the God of War... Master of a Conceptual Law. He controlled war itself, battle, conquest.

  Inherently, these characters were incredible. With their knowledge, their power, they were completely untouchable. No longer mortals. But higher entities that understood just a fraction of the world in its entirety.

  Not the planet, but the world. Reality. The rules of the universe.

  There existed powerful entities beyond them.

  Greater gods of Yara, lesser still, as all of the gods of Yara were, according to Ana's memory, but powerful compared to where he stood now.

  Gods of other things, not of Conceptual Laws, but Natural ones.

  Gods of Death. A Natural Law.

  Gods of Light. A Natural Law.

  Gods of Space. A Natural Law!

  There even existed Unnatural Laws.

  Gods of Magic.

  Gods of Illusion.

  And even Hybrid Laws.

  Gods of Fertility.

  Gods of Abundance.

  Reality was deep with Law, deep with truth, deep with structure.

  Natural Laws created. They maintained reality, the rules that encompassed it. The backbone. Conceptual Laws sprouted from sentience, born from thought, meaning, and integrated into the web of reality.

  Unnatural Laws were born of similar means, becoming the truth of unnatural things. Magic. Mana. From the knowledge Anaflandus inherited, magic was not a natural phenomena.

  Hybrid Laws were those that intermingled the workings of multiple categories. Conceptual Laws that came to preside over physical existences, perhaps even integrating into the core working of reality.

  Important Laws that had become Natural in a way, things like Death. Sprouted from life that lacked the strength to continue, the energy to live.

  Now, he understood a fair amount about this thing called life. The place in which he was living.

  Cognitive Dominance Imposition had melded well with his Psionic Mastery abilities.

  He felt many questions in his mind, and many things that he comprehended.

  It made him more whole. More aware. Chasing power might have felt right in the beginning, lusting over taste, the deliciousness of others.

  But now it was conflicting.

  The Jienam had drained all of its power, trying to get through to him. Its body heaved up and down, countless limbs flying towards him. Magma tried to reach him. Mana tried to sap the life from his body.

  It all failed.

  Thankfully, he had more to exist for. He enjoyed more than just eating. He understood that well.

  He enjoyed fighting. He enjoyed feeling strong. He enjoyed being better. He enjoyed taste. He enjoyed conversing with Anaflandus. He enjoyed observing his people. He enjoyed being praised. He enjoyed doing what he wanted. He enjoyed difficulty. He enjoyed not backing down. He enjoyed knowing there was more above him. He enjoyed possessing all that he could. He enjoyed being a god. He enjoyed thinking.

  He was finding meaning for himself, now that his mind had evolved to such a point.

  Everything held meaning.

  What would he truly do when he met with Yara? She would speak to him about this battle ahead? Want him to help with it, right? What after? He knew he would succeed. Nothing else was a possibility. Then what? Would he become a god of Yara as well?

  Unlikely.

  He would consume her the same. She would know that. He would induct her into his space, that would be better for her. To safely reside within a hidden interdimensional layer, protected by someone as powerful as he.

  That would give him a whole lot more knowledge. More power. More resources.

  And then what?

  The Jienam slumped over.

  Its life had faded. Sucked away from itself by the intense strain it had put on its soul. It desired him. To it, he was a tasty meal. To him, it was entertainment. He knew if not for his control of Lust, the desire others had to have him for themselves. This beast may not have killed itself trying to eat him. He would have been a hearty meal, if he had been eaten.

  Lots of experience as well.

  But what would he do after that battle? Surely before it, when he discussed with Yara, this would be spoken about. But what did speaking about it mean? He would ask her if she knew the entities that had created him. The gods he had envisioned with each Talent he unlocked. The man. The Eldrids. That woman... Would Yara even know? He already knew from Anaflandus that Yara was just a planet.

  What would she know beyond her own affairs? Sure, some more detail on how reality functioned a little bit. Some Laws. How to govern a world. How to ascend beyond godhood maybe? Where the ancient deities all through history had gone? Dragon Emperor Racidusar. Satan Apollyon... Those characters.

  What more? He would have to find out for himself, right? If Yara did not know the people in his visions, he would have to seek that knowledge...

  In other worlds. Other dimensions... Other places...

  That was fine. He would venture to those places anyway. He still enjoyed growing in strength. He would reach that goal of unfathomable power sooner, exploring the vast world beyond this planet.

  Stars. He would eat them.

  Beyond that was galaxies, right? He would eat those too...

  He wasn't even sure if things existed beyond the universe, but from those visions, it seemed they did.

  He would eat all of that as well...

  He stepped forward, his hands behind his back.

  The Jienam joined his body, absorbed into his soul. He decided to siphon its Attributes, consuming its skills as well. He gifted the knowledge of its anatomy to Ana, who was working within Aeternum.

  One of his hands rippled, transforming into a coiling vine of petrified wood. He flexed his hand, the plant claws extending. Then they retracted, his hand returning to its human form.

  Perhaps... He would evolve infinitely.

  He would ascend.

  Endlessly.

  Until he had consumed everything.

  And he became power itself...

  That sounded like a plan....

  He would take it step by step.

  Maybe, at this rate, he could get it done in a year.

  That would be ideal.

  But yet again, he didn't know what the ceiling of everything was.

  Beyond planets were stars right? Planets orbited these stars, star systems... Beyond that? Hard to describe. Stars existed everywhere, countless, from the observations of existences on this planet. From the memories from both Zenor and Ana. Ana knew a portion of the scale of things. Worlds, stars, other astral phenomena. Black holes? Those things... And then there were galaxies, centered on super massive holes of dark, right? Beyond those, were the infinite galaxies... Many, many, many, groups of galaxies. In which resided an infinite amount of stars and celestial bodies. But the infinite galaxies resided within the universe right? The infinite, unending domain. The massive spatial dimension of all there was.

  But, that was the limit of what the inhabitants of Yara had known. Of what they had observed.

  But his visions spoke of beyond that? It would be interesting to step into that world...

  The universe ran on Laws right? Those Natural Laws, Hybrid Laws, Conceptual... What about beyond the universe? Was it another evolution of power? When he stepped beyond the universe, would he have to evolve to understand something more profound? From skills, to Intrinsic skills, to Skill-trees. Souls and their soul power.... Then the understanding of Laws, and the skill to control them. To imprint will onto reality... To control the universe...

  His brows raised.

  He shook his head.

  Too much thinking.

  He didn't need it.

  It wasn't really necessary.

  He stepped forward.

  He would continue to have fun, and continue to enjoy.

  A calm expression adorned his face. He still had to reach the peak of SSS-rank... Then he would tackle the task of comprehending a Law. The Law of Fire. It was already fortifying his soul. After its comprehension, his soul would be massively strong. Strong enough to tackle another Law. And then subsequently another, and another.

  An avalanche of Laws.

  He planned to understand them all.

  Because he knew he could.

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