Inside the Soul Space, Eva immediately fell silent as her consciousness became completely focused on the task Ash had entrusted to her.
Unlike Ash, who often preferred throwing himself directly into impossible situations and figuring things out afterward, Eva approached problems very differently.
The moment he granted her authority over all of his abilities, the first thing she did was lock away every temptation to begin synthesizing immediately because doing so would have been reckless, and reckless decisions were something she actively avoided whenever possible.
After all, Synthesis was not a harmless process.
If a synthesis succeeded, the abilities involved would evolve into something greater.
If it failed, however, the abilities used as materials could be permanently lost.
Under normal circumstances, Ash would never approve something so absurd.
The only reason he was allowing it now was because they had already been pushed into a corner.
Even then, Eva had no intention of blindly gambling away abilities that Ash had spent so long obtaining.
They had both spent more than 7000 years inside the Soul Space, and Ash had not gained those abilities by doing nothing. They were too valuable to carelessly throw away on a desperate gamble.
As a result, before attempting even a single synthesis, she immediately began doing what she did best.
Calculation.
The enormous library of abilities contained within Ash’s soul immediately unfolded before her like an endless book.
Every skill.
Every bloodline ability.
Every passive ability.
Every Rune effect.
Every evolutionary trait.
Streams of information rapidly filled her vision as though an endless ocean of data had suddenly come alive, revealing countless possibilities that continuously branched into even more possibilities as her computational abilities began operating at full capacity.
And then the simulations began.
Countless experimental versions of Ash’s abilities appeared before her as she recreated them entirely through calculations and computational processing before beginning to test different combinations.
Of course, the process was not 100% accurate because every simulation was ultimately based upon calculations rather than actual ability itself.
But it was still infinitely safer than blindly risking abilities that Ash had spent thousands of years obtaining.
And in their current situation she had no choice but to explore every possibility available to her.
What initially began as hundreds and thousands of simulations quickly reached an absurd scale as millions of combinations were generated and tested almost instantly.
Soon, those millions became billions.
And billions became trillions.
The accelerated flow of time inside the Soul Space allowed Eva to continuously push her computational abilities further and further.
Inside those simulations, abilities continuously collided with one another.
Abilities merged.
Abilities evolved.
Abilities collapsed.
Abilities destroyed one another.
Many failed immediately due to incompatibility, while others successfully produced stable results that would have been considered extraordinary under normal circumstances.
Some generated powerful offensive abilities capable of dramatically increasing Ash’s destructive power, while others produced defensive abilities, regenerative abilities, detection abilities, support abilities, and even several unique abilities that would have been considered priceless treasures by most people.
Yet every one of them was discarded.
Because Ash did not need more attack power.
He did not need more defense.
He did not need more regeneration.
The problem standing before them was not defeating Kane.
The problem was not surviving Kane either.
The problem was escaping.
As a result, every synthesis that failed to contribute toward that objective was immediately categorized as useless regardless of how powerful the resulting ability appeared.
Causing countless otherwise promising pathways to be discarded one after another as Eva continued searching for a solution hidden somewhere within the endless sea of possibilities.
...
...
{Simulation #4,883,117,224 Failed.}
{Cause: Insufficient compatibility.}
...
...
...
{Simulation #8,114,993,551 Failed.}
{Cause: Result incapable of solving current situation.}
...
...
{Simulation #12,447,882,019 Failed.}
{Cause: Ability focused on offensive enhancement.}
{Discarding Result.}
...
...
This won’t do, there is nothing showing up that could help Ash currently....
Her mind remained calm even in this tense situation. With her evolution into a System, she had also started to change little by little, gradually gaining some of the characteristics possessed by true System Spirits.
And perhaps the most important characteristic of all was the ability to remain calm regardless of the situation.
That was why new ideas never stopped appearing in her mind.
If these basic abilities are not showing any path, then what if I used their more powerful versions? What if I Synthesize all of them and then try simulating with all those synthesized abilities..??
The moment that thought appeared, Eva immediately acted upon it without wasting any more time.
{Analyzing successful pathways.}
{Filtering results.}
{Discarding low-potential outcomes.}
The endless ocean of simulations before her immediately began shrinking as countless abilities that had previously survived the initial selection process were removed from consideration, leaving behind only those that possessed extraordinary compatibility, growth potential, or conceptual value.
Soon, only the most promising results remained before her.
{Beginning synthesis process.}
After all, if current abilities were incapable of producing a solution, then perhaps the solution did not exist among the current abilities themselves.
Perhaps it required the abilities that would be formed after the synthesis itself.
...
...
{Beginning Bloodline Ability Synthesis...}
...
[Eternal Rebirth] x [Immortal Flame] x [Hellfire Manipulation] x [Ash Regeneration] x [Corruption Purge] x [Life Drain] = [Flames of Samsara]
...
[Draconic Sovereignty] x [Blood Sovereignty] x [Titan Physique] x [Dragon Fear] x [Fear Dominion] = [Dread Monarch]
...
[Purity Aura] x [Corruption Purge] = [Sacred Soul]
...
...
{Beginning Passive and Active Ability Synthesis...}
...
[Immortal Spark] x [Reality Blindspot] x [Eternal Youth] x [Absolute Concealment] = [Forgotten Immortal]
...
[Titan’s Strength] x [Titan’s Vitality] x [Undying Endurance] x [Boundless Stamina] = [Indomitable Titan]
...
[Predatory Senses] x [Omnidirectional Vision] x [Insight] = [World Awareness]
...
[Hyper Intuition] x [Parallel Thinking] x [Hive Mind] x [Consciousness Link] = [Akashic Mind]
...
[Flexible Skeleton] x [Immortal Bones] = [Eternal Skeleton]
...
[Great Metabolism] x [Muscle Memory] = [Apex Learner]
...
[Soul Library] x [Soul Vault] = [Akashic Archive]
...
[Blood Manipulation] x [Fire Manipulation] x [Ice Manipulation] x [Darkness Manipulation] x [Shadow Manipulation] x [Light Manipulation] x [Aether Manipulation] x [Water Manipulation] x [Earth Manipulation] x [Space Manipulation] x [Lightning Manipulation] = [Universal Element Control]
...
[Shapeshifting] x [Bone Manipulation] x [Weight Manipulation] x [Body Control] x [Size Manipulation] = [Morph]
...
[Clairvoyance] x [Night Vision] x [Life Vision] x [Death Vision] x [Soul Sight] x [Weakness Detection] x [Destruction Beam] x [Gaze of Dominance] x [Eye of Omniscience] = [Eye of True Omniscience]
...
[Air Walking] x [Flight] x [Transcendent Step] = [Divine Traversal]
...
[Omni Thought] x [Telepathy] x [Telekinesis] x [Illusion] x [Dream Manipulation] x [Memory Absorption] x [Memory Manipulation] x [Mind Control] = [Mind Sovereign]
...
[Hibernation] x [False Death] = [Death Slumber]
...
[Energy Devour] x [Blood Absorption] = [Predation]
...
[Blood Clone] x [Blood Rebirth] x [Blood Magic] x [Blood Memory] x [Blood Heal] x [Blood Domination] x [Blood Assimilation] x [Blood Authority] = [Sanguine Emperor]
...
...
{Ability Synthesis Complete.}
Eva instantly began another round of simulation run, this time using the newly created abilities.
Time passed at an astonishing rate, and almost 10 seconds had already passed in the outside world while Ash remained busy fighting Kane and searching for another solution at the same time.
No... no... no, this is not working either. Why can’t I find something useful? Why are all the simulated results so useless?
Countless calculations continued flowing through her mind as one possibility after another was tested and discarded.
Everything is proceeding perfectly. I am certain I am not making any mistakes. I have tried everything, but nothing is working.
The only thing she had not succeeded in doing was synthesizing the passive abilities of the Runes.
No matter what method she used or how many simulations she ran, they simply refused to be Simulated.
Thus, She tried to directly Synthesize them without Stimulating them.
But the result that she got was....
[Insufficient Authority.]
She did not have the authority to fuse the abilities of the Runes.
Other than that, she had already explored almost every possibility that could exist for the synthesis process, yet nothing worked even after introducing the newly synthesized abilities into the calculations.
Wait.... if the problem is not with my calculations, nor with the abilities themselves, then what if the problem is with the Synthesis ability itself...?
The moment that thought appeared, Eva froze for a fraction of a second.
Then another absurd idea surfaced within her mind.
Although it should be impossible, Ash is a Limit Breaker. There might still be a possibility....
As soon as that thought formed, she acted on it without hesitation.
[Synthesis] x [Assimilation]
[Error!!!!!!]
[Synthesis] x [Assimilation]
[Error!!!!!!]
[Synthesis] x [Assimilation]
[Error!!!!!!]
[Synthesis] x [Assimilation]
[Error!!!!!!]
[Error!!!!!!]
[Error!!!!!!]
[Error!!!!!!]
[Error!!!!!!]
The process did not even begin before being rejected.
There was no failure because there was no synthesis.
The attempt itself was denied.
[Synthesis] x [Assimilation]
[Error!!!!!!]
[Synthesis] x [Assimilation]
[Error!!!!!!]
[Error!!!!!!]
[Error!!!!!!]
What began as a simple trial quickly reached the state of absolute madness.
Eva was more similar to Ash than she often realized. Once she fixed her attention on something, giving up was not an option.
Hundreds of attempts became thousands.
Thousands became hundreds of thousands.
Hundreds of thousands became millions.
Millions became billions.
Then billions became trillions.
Even after countless rejections, she continued forcing the process to repeat over and over again as though trying to break through an invisible wall.
Again.
And again.
And again.
The same impossible synthesis continued repeating without end.
And then, after who knew how many attempts...
[The effects of ’Limit Breaker’ are responding to the endless determination and Will to break the limits placed upon the skills.]
[Effects of ’Limit Breaker’ applied.]
[Limits of the skill ’Synthesis’ has been breached.]
...
...
For the first time, the familiar error failed to appear.
Eva’s eyes widened slightly.
[Synthesis] x [Assimilation] = [Evolution]
...
A brand new ability called [Evolution] was born just like that.
****
A/N: One Chapter today.