( Max's POV )
Max needed a few days to recover from sorting and understanding the information on page one of the book of the primal god of war.
It wasn't that he did not wish to move onto page two, but somehow just reading page 1 drained his mind and body so thoroughly that he needed a few days to recover enough to continue.
Thankfully, in his isolated and dark cell there was no one to interrupt his recovery as he was able to gather his thoughts in peace.
Hence, now that he was fully recovered he decided to burn a small flame using the Agni-Astra's powers and then proceeded to take out the book from his inventory and turned to page two as he began reading the information recorded on it with bated breaths.
" I've concluded that fighting and defeating a celestial is the best course of action for me to ascend to tier9.
I have a wife and children and perhaps it is the once weak mortal inside me speaking, but I do not wish to detach from them completely.
My understanding of the process of mastering emotions is to become so proficient in controlling them that one can decide at will as to what emotions they want to feel at any given moment.
If one is proficient enough to feel joy instead of pain when losing a limb, they can be considered to have mastered their emotions but it is not a viable option for me.
Instead I am focusing on how to improve as a tier8 warrior and transcend the chasm that divides tier8 from tier9.
Realistically it is impossible, but if one had bottomless stamina, bottomless mana, bottomless vitality and a domain that exerted perfect control over all the basic elements as well as the superior elements then he/ she could potentially become a threat to even celestials.
Just the very thought of such a warrior sends goosebumps down my spine and makes me wonder if the perfect warrior might be such an entity….. "
Max read page two and felt like butterflies were flying in his stomach, the choices that the celestials offered him at promotion were constant regeneration, constant teleportation, subconscious offence, subconscious defence, unstoppable assault and Primal Domain.
Although not exactly bottomless, in theory the techniques he had chosen allowed him to have bottomless stamina and bottomless vitality for a limited period of time whereas his domain was also encompassing of all elements except darkness, void and chaos.
Was this all a coincidence? Or were his choices uptil now by design?
Not able to hold his curiosity, Max turned onto page 3
" It's been 23 years since I last wrote in this journal and I'm extremely happy to say that after countless failures I have finally succeeded in my endeavour of creating a perfect domain.
I call it the ' War God Domain ' and inside that domain I'm invincible against all mana based attacks.
As for divine essence based attacks, they lose somewhere between 70-90% of their potency within my domain, but I still need to neutralise them consciously unlike mana based attacks which are suppressed passively.
This technique is game-changing but the cost of maintaining the domain is still very high for me to sustain it over long periods of time.
Since I don't expect my fight against a celestial to end within an hour or two, I definitely need to figure out a way to make this technique more efficient as well as start working on achieving bottomless stamina, mana and vitality.
Surprisingly, I've been hearing the voice of a particular celestial again and again in my dreams as of late, I think he's called ' Enel ', and the guy apparently wants to help me with achieving my goals if I promise to go after the celestial of his choosing when I decide to ascend.
I haven't yet decided on the offer, but I don't think that trusting rats or snakes is ever a good option.
Who knows? Maybe I'll choose to go after Enel in the end ".
Max read the page and was about to mouth the word ' Enel ' when suddenly Drax shouted in his mind to not do so.
" DON'T BOY! DON'T SAY HIS NAME "
Max pursed his lips and did not say the celestials name as he patiently waited for Drax to explain his reasoning.
" Names have power Max, there is a reason why the writer of this book has not written his own name and refers to himself as the primal god of war.
Don't casually say names of beings that have the ability to peer into your existence from galaxies away ". Drax warned as Max nodded and decided to keep his advice in mind in the future.
Closing the book, Max decided to call it a day as he already had a lot to think about from reading these two pages.
The journey of the primal god of war preparing for his inevitable battle against the celestials was a fascinating read and it made Max wonder if it were how his future was going to be when he eventually reached the pinnacle of Vampire Society.
*********
( Meanwhile Rudra )
Rudra peered into the controlled universe from the comfort of his bed and watched the council of monarchs unfold with great interest.
He chuckled when they voted against him entering the universe as the fools did not even understand his ambitions or goals but he committed those who betrayed him to memory.
He always had a feeling that the unnamed god was upto no particular good and his disciple betraying him was all the more reason for him to cast suspicion over the man's true intentions.
Either way, his goal was always to destroy the universal queen and he was never particularly interested in walking back into the universe and taking his place as a monarch, so the decision of the council did not affect him one bit.
But he did feel his heart warm up at how fiercely Neatwit defended him as it reminded him of the good times back in the guild.
While he did not share much love with the rest of the universe, he did intend to return to the guild one day and be amongst his Elites as a guildmaster, even if it was for only a brief period of time.