Book 19, Metamorphosis – Chapter 54, Disappearing In a Blink of an Eye
The Planar Battlefield. Within a stone room in the cave estate. Linley was seated quietly in the meditative position.
Linley was indeed focusing on his training, desiring to fuse the mysteries of four Laws. His original body and his three major clones were all focused on this; as for his divine fire clone, it remained focused on the Laws of Fire.
Suddenly, Linley opened his eyes.
“How peculiar.” Linley had a hint of a smile on his face, but he didn’t understand. “The souls of my original body and three divine clones have all undergone a soul mutation, so why is it that the souls of my clones aren’t as strong as that of my original body? In addition, as far as the power of my Will goes, the Will of the original body is still the strongest.”
The stronger one’s soul was, the faster one gained insights and trained as well.
After undergoing a soul mutation, one could sense all four elements, and so Linley had his original body and his three divine clone souls focus on all four elements, but clearly, his original body’s speed far surpassed that of the other three clones.
“They underwent the same soul mutation, so why is there a difference?” Linley thought about it but didn’t understand. Shaking his head, he shut his eyes, once more focusing on his training.
What Linley didn’t know was that the reason a soul mutation occurred was that after one suffered a major wound and was sent into a coma, during that period of unconsciousness, the weak soul would rely on absorbing all sorts of nearby elemental essences. When Linley’s original body and three divine clones were in the coma, the three comas were only able to sense the nearby elemental essences of their respective elements, while the original body was simultaneously absorbing all four types of elemental essences.
Thus, the soul of the original body was the first to begin to mutate.
Because the original body’s soul began to mutate, and because it was linked to the other souls of the four divine clones, the original body’s soul caused the other three souls to slowly mutate as well. But the original body was still the primary mover; naturally, it was the strongest after the mutation! The other three souls of the other divine clones were a bit weaker.
It was all one principle.
For example, Sovereigns. The Will of a Sovereign is exceedingly powerful, but Sovereigns generally had divine clones as well. The divine clones of Sovereigns, thanks to the original body, also contained Will, but the Will of the divine clones of Sovereigns was far, far weaker than the Will of the original body of the Sovereign. This was a primary-secondary issue.
The primary body for a Sovereign was their clone which became a Sovereign, with the other ones being secondary.
As for Linley, his original body was the primary body, while the other ones were secondary.
There were nearly three hundred years left before the final battle. Linley’s group of four lived a leisurely life, either training or congregating and chatting.
A century was spent in this leisurely training.
Linley and the others were seated together. Reisgem asked eagerly, “Linley, judging from that happy smile on your face, you must have made some breakthroughs in fusing different Laws, right?”
“I’m a long ways off.” Linley laughed calmly.
“Linley is very modest.” A low sound rumbled out. The speaker was the nearby Reihom.
“He’s begun to learn to hide his strength. Only someone who is too powerful will choose to hide his strength. Hmph. For weaker people like us, we’d prefer to frighten others. A four-clone Soul Mutate. Whew, whew. I am aware that the fusing of different Laws will result in a huge increase in power. Fusing two profound mysteries from two different Laws is comparable to fusing three profound mysteries of the same Law. Fusing three profound mysteries from three different laws is comparable to fusing five profound mysteries of the same Law. Fusing four profound mysteries from four different Laws....is equivalent to fusing seven profound mysteries of the same Law. This is a level more powerful than even Paragons!” Reisgem said with a sigh.
The potential of a four-clone Soul Mutate truly was much higher than even that of Paragons.
“If my Boss isn’t formidable, who is?” Bebe said smugly. He had no idea what ‘humility’ meant.
“The power of fused Laws is great, but so too is the difficulty.” Linley shook his head and laughed. “I know a person. I met him when I was adventuring in the Redbud Continent; Learmonth. He was the one who killed Phusro’s master, ‘Elquin’. Despite Learmonth’s talents, he was only able to make his breakthrough at a dangerous point in the battle against Elquin. He was a Soul Mutate who only had two types of divine clones! It was so hard for him to fuse even just two different types of Laws.”
Bebe just chortled. “Boss, don’t be modest. You were even able to successfully undergo a four-way soul mutation. If you could do that, what can’t you do?”
Linley chuckled, then drank a cup of wine.
“But Boss, your soul is now mutated. Your training speed should increase greatly as well. Are you confident in being able to help your divine fire clone to train faster and more quickly reach the Highgod level?” Bebe asked. “By then, with four types of divine power fused together, your strength will surpass that of when you use Sovereign’s Might.”
Linley’s original body’s soul was now thousands of times more powerful than before his mutation.
The rate at which he comprehended and visualized had also become much faster. If his original body’s soul also focused on analyzing the Laws of Fire, the rate at which his divine fire clone would increase in power would rise dramatically. When the Planar Battlefield concluded, he would reach the level of Highgod.
“No rush.” Linley shook his head and laughed. “For now, I don’t wish to reveal that I am a Soul Mutate, and so I’m not in a hurry to make my divine fire clone reach the Highgod level. Right now, what I need to do is fuse the different Laws; that matters more. My energy is all focused in this direction.” Linley knew very well.
His divine fire clone trained very slowly, true!
But he had spent nearly seven hundred years in the Planar Battlefield. Over these seven centuries, his divine fire clone had nearly mastered a fifth profound mystery. Although it was fairly slow compared to his other divine clones, Linley was in no hurry.
However, Reisgem’s guess was a correct one; in the century after Linley’s soul mutation, Linley had connected the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’ of the Laws of the Earth with the profound ‘Circular Softness’ mysteries of the Laws of Water. But of course, this was just a connection.
As time flowed on, the final battle drew closer and closer.
Within the stone room.
Linley was quietly seated in the meditative position, his four souls simultaneously visualizing and comprehending.
Within his mind, there was an illusory image of the vast, boundless earth. The throbbing pulse of this land was continuously emanating forth, but one line of energy tangled through and wrapped around it, much like the lines of energy the Chief Sovereign of Death had used at the Abyssal Inn. The lines wove throughout the ripples of the Throbbing Pulse of the World, influencing the pulse.
Slowly, the Throbbing Pulse of the World began to mutually influence and be influenced by this endless, circular soft stream of energy. The two connected with each other...
“Boss, Boss!” Suddenly, a voice rang out.
Within the stone room, Linley opened his eyes and saw Bebe. “What is it, Bebe?” Linley laughed.
“Boss, have you been training so much that you’ve gone dumb? Have you forgotten what time it is? This year is the 1000th and final year of the Planar War. I heard from Reisgem that most likely, in a month or two, the last battle will begin. Aren’t we even going to go watch the final battle?” Bebe asked.
“The final battle?”
Linley immediately rose to his feet and laughed. “Of course we are going to go watch! I’ve been training for so long. It is time for a break.”
The ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’ and ‘Circular Softness’ profound mysteries...Linley’s four souls had been training on for three centuries after his soul mutation, but he wasn’t able to completely fuse them. He was still trapped in a bottleneck. No wonder the power of fused Laws was so great; the difficulty was incredibly high as well.
He exited the stone room and arrived in the main hall.
Reisgem and Reihom were already standing there in the main hall. Reisgem laughed cheerily, “Linley, I was worried that you wouldn’t go. I know that you have enough commander badges, but I don’t have enough yet.”
“We’re a squad. If you’re going, how can I not go?” Linley said with a laugh.
“Then let’s go. Head out!” Reisgem and Bebe were in front, while Linley and Reihom followed from behind. The four of them exited this cave estate.
Although three hundred years had gone by, the Planar Battlefield was as cold and desolate as ever. When striding forth from the cave tunnels, that knife-like, icy wind scraped against their faces. It only caused Linley’s vigor to stir, however, as he stared at the desolate wilderness. “This trip to the Planar Battlefield is almost over! The final battle...the last ‘banquet’ to this event!”
This trip to the Planar Battlefield, to Linley, was indeed a truly life-changing journey.
Linley’s group of four headed straight for the Stellar River.
The desolate wilderness. Wild grass grew everywhere.
There was a person lying on the ground. At first glance, one might take him for a corpse left behind by a battle. This person had wild, grass-like hair, and a pair of hungry, man-eating golden eyes. It was Hemmers!
“I only need one commander badge! It’s been two centuries, and I haven’t run into a single person.” Hemmers lay there on the ground, grumbling to himself. “All of them rely on their speed; if they can’t beat me, they flee. Hmph. That Azure Dragon clan punk in particular. I ran into him twice, but he relied on his Gravitational Space.”
Hemmers had a belly full of fire, but no place to vent it.
“The final battle is about to arrive.” Hemmers muttered.
“It seems I’ll have to take part in the final battle in order to acquire a commander badge. After acquiring a final commander badge, I will definitely ask the Sovereign to make me a spear! I can throw it and use it for long range combat, or for close combat. Hmph, given my material attack power, I’ll be able to throw it a great distance. By then, I want to see if those bastards will have any chance of fleeing again!”
Indeed, a material attack strength comparable to Highgod Paragons, when combined with a ranged Sovereign weapon, would make it so that Hemmers would be a threat comparable to Paragons.
“Hmph. Hmph. I hope that Azure Dragon clan kid will participate in the next Planar War. By then, I’ll have a ranged Sovereign weapon. I’ll definitely teach him a lesson.” Hemmers never forgot about that person who had escaped from him twice.
Suddenly...
“Huh?” Lying on the ground, Hemmers raised an eyebrow. “Someone is coming. Roughly ten thousand meters away!”
Hemmers himself was formed from part of the Divine Earth Plane. He was its first golden mountain, which the plane nurtured over countless years. He was born with an innate, supernatural connection to the earth and the ground. When lying there on the ground, he could clearly sense the ground within a certain area, and if there was anyone stepping on the ground.
“Haha.” Hemmers sat up, staring into that direction, his golden eyes gleaming. “Perhaps this will be the last military merit. I won’t have to participate in the final battle after all.”
And then, Hemmers immediately merged into the earth itself. Worldwalking!
On the desolate ground, Linley and the other three were walking shoulder-to-shoulder, chatting and laughing casually. Given the power of this group of four, there was no one they feared here in the Planar Battlefield. Anyone who made trouble for them was courting death.
Linley’s gaze suddenly sharpened, and he laughed calmly. “Someone is coming over. Be careful, everyone.”
“Someone is coming?”
Reisgem, Bebe, and Reihom were startled. They didn’t sense anything. But Linley, after his soul mutation, had an extremely strong control over the universe; as soon as anyone drew near, Linley would easily notice them.
“An expert of the earth, using Worldwalking.” Linley said, spreading out his divine sense.
“Oh, him?” Linley had a hint of laughter on his face.
Hemmers thought that he was being stealthy; generally speaking, a person using Worldwalking would only be detected upon reaching a distance of a hundred meters or so. This was common knowledge, but for Paragons and people like Linley, this wasn’t true. Hemmers’ usage of Worldwalking was detected by Linley from far away.
“Rumble...” Suddenly, a hundred meters away, an enormous figure erupted forth from the earth, bounding forward like lightning towards Linley.
“It is you, you Azure Dragon clan brat!” Hemmers realized who Linley was now. “This Azure Dragon clan brat is able to transform, and also use Gravitational Space. Killing him is rather hard!”
He charged towards them, bounding forward like lightning.
“Eh, he didn’t transform or use his Gravitational Space?” Hemmers was amazed. Having fought several times with Linley, he knew how strong Linley was; why was it that when he charged in front of them, Linley didn’t react at all?
Hemmers, who had been preparing to attack ‘Reihom’, chose to attack Linley instead!
“You yourself are courting death. Don’t blame me.” Hemmers smashed out with his fist, causing a deep, thundering sound as cracks in space appeared.
Reisgem, Bebe, and Reihom just watched and laughed. Linley very casually swept out with a punch, and instantly, 108 rays of earthen yellow light swept out, instantly forming a Gravitational Space that trapped and compressed Hemmers within it. Linley swept out with his space-shattering punch...
Microcosm!
“This...what’s going on?” Hemmers felt as though the surrounding space was compressing powerfully around him, slowing him down significantly and making him feel miserable. He had tasted this technique of Linley’s before, but the power was far, far greater than it was last time!
His fist was extremely slow, completely unable to block Linley’s punch.
“Bang!” The fist rose upwards in an uppercut, connecting with Hemmers’ lower jaw and sending Hemmers flying into the air.