Several hours slipped by before Kael finally came to a stop.
He slowly let out a breath as he wiped the thin layer of sweat from his forehead.
Thankfully...
He had decided to test everything first.
Otherwise, if he had gone into battle relying solely on the skill descriptions, he would have found himself in quite a troublesome situation.
Descriptions could explain what an ability did, but they could never reveal every hidden detail behind it.
Take Void Echoes for example.
The ability functioned exactly as described. Upon activation, Kael was able to create seven perfect echoes of himself, each capable of acting completely independently without requiring him to constantly control their every movement. They could fight, scout, cultivate, or carry out separate tasks while remaining mentally connected to him.
At first glance, it was an unbelievably powerful ability.
Unfortunately, reality wasn’t quite that generous.
The clones lacked two of the greatest pillars supporting Kael’s strength.
His Infinite Reward Multiplier Talent.
And more importantly...
The Primordial Genesis Sutra.
The absence of the talent wasn’t much of an issue. After all, the Multiplier mainly affected rewards rather than direct combat strength.
The Primordial Genesis Sutra, however, was an entirely different story.
That cultivation technique was the very foundation of Kael’s power.
The Earth Energy it produced continuously strengthened every aspect of his body while amplifying nearly every ability he possessed. Without it, his overall combat capability dropped dramatically.
If Kael judged himself using nothing but his raw attributes, he estimated that he could probably contend with the strongest A-Rank Hunters, perhaps even barely step into the threshold of the weakest S-Rank Hunters.
That alone sounded impressive.
The problem was...
Nobody fought using raw attributes alone.
Every S-Rank Hunter possessed terrifying abilities, unique talents, years of combat experience and countless hidden cards. Once all those factors were included, pure statistics became only one piece of the equation.
The Primordial Genesis Sutra was what allowed Kael to bridge that gap.
Without it...
His echoes were noticeably weaker than his true body.
The System wasn’t lying when it stated that each echo possessed eighty percent of his strength.
It simply calculated that strength based on his attributes.
Not everything that truly made Kael... Kael.
Still, Void Echoes had exceeded his expectations in several other areas.
Each clone possessed its own independent mana reserve.
Although summoning all seven required an absurd amount of mana upfront, once they had been created, maintaining them consumed almost nothing. Through the mental link connecting them, Kael only needed to issue commands while the echoes handled everything else themselves.
Even more surprising was another discovery.
While they couldn’t inherit his Primordial Genesis Sutra cultivation...
They could cultivate it themselves.
Naturally, their two-hour lifespan prevented them from making any significant progress. Even cultivating continuously from beginning to end yielded only a tiny amount of results.
Yet when an echo disappeared...
Every bit of that cultivation progress returned to Kael alongside its memories.
It wasn’t much.
But seven echoes cultivating simultaneously every day would undoubtedly accumulate into something considerable over time.
Kael wouldn’t even need to personally meditate to continue making progress.
Just that discovery alone made the skill far more valuable than he had initially imagined.
Compared to Void Echoes, the remaining abilities behaved almost exactly as described.
Most of them had a few minor quirks that only became apparent through practical use, but nothing significant enough to become a real problem.
Except...
Concept Erasure.
Kael’s expression couldn’t help but twitch as he recalled the experience.
Calling the ability mana-intensive would be an insult to the phrase.
It didn’t consume mana.
It devoured it.
Before today, Kael had always believed that Interference possessed one of the highest mana costs among his abilities.
Now...
Interference looked almost economical.
The moment Concept Erasure activated, thousands of mana points vanished instantly.
And that was merely the activation cost.
The actual consumption depended entirely on the concept being erased, the size of the affected area, the number of targets caught within it, and perhaps most importantly, the strength of those targets.
The more powerful the beings relying on that concept...
The greater the mana consumption became.
To properly understand its limits, Kael had borrowed several ordinary Shadow Legion soldiers from Varek for testing.
The results had left even Varek speechless.
Kael had erased the concept of shadow within a limited area surrounding the soldiers.
The effect was immediate.
Since the Shadow Legion existed entirely because of shadows, the moment that concept disappeared, their bodies began collapsing before his eyes. Their forms distorted violently as catastrophic Void damage erupted throughout their existence.
Within seconds...
They ceased to exist completely.
Not destroyed.
Erased.
There wasn’t even a fragment of shadow remaining behind.
Normally, whenever one of Varek’s soldiers fell, he could simply recollect the remaining shadows before reconstructing them.
This time, however, there was nothing left to reconstruct.
Even Varek, who had wandered the vast cosmos for countless years and witnessed civilizations rise and fall, had stared silently at the empty space where his soldiers had once stood.
The astonishment on the former Quasi-Transcendent’s face spoke louder than any words.
That alone was enough to prove just how terrifying Concept Erasure truly was.
Unfortunately...
Its price was equally terrifying.
The instant the ability ended, Kael’s mana reserves crashed to such an extent that he nearly collapsed on the spot.
For the next several minutes, he could do nothing except repeatedly drink mana recovery potions while waiting for his reserves to recover.
The experience served as a harsh reminder.
Concept Erasure was not an ability meant to be thrown around casually.
It was a trump card.
A skill reserved for situations where victory absolutely depended on it.
Using it recklessly would likely cripple him before his opponent ever had the chance.
Fortunately, the remaining abilities proved far less demanding.
While Void Severance, Null Bloom, Shadow Between Steps, Aura of Destruction and Sovereign’s Decree all required considerable mana, none of them came remotely close to the monstrous appetite displayed by Concept Erasure. With his current reserves, Kael could comfortably incorporate them into battle without worrying about exhausting himself after a single use.
After spending hours experimenting with every ability, testing different outputs, adjusting mana consumption and exploring countless possible applications, Kael finally reached a satisfying conclusion.
He could now say with confidence that every new skill he had acquired had fully integrated into his arsenal.