Kyle continued killing Demons absentmindedly as he focused on his mind. The Energy inside his mind was reaching critical levels, and he could feel the wall blocking his way to the next level.
He stopped moving and shoved as much Energy as he could into his mind.
BANG!
He felt like he had broken through a wall, and in the next moment, the headache he had been feeling for a century vanished. At the same time, he felt the Energy in the surroundings become slightly less complex.
As he moved his hands, he felt a slight delay. It was almost like his body was moving just a bit slower than before.
Naturally, his other Aspects of Power had also been improved, but they hadn't been improved as much as his mind. The Wisdom Fire Realm was all about increasing one's mental powers.
It took a while for Kyle to get familiar with his increased speed of thought, but eventually, it became normal again.
"Well, that's the Second Refinement done," Kyle thought. "I'm now a Second Refinement Sage, also called a Minor Sage."
Just as an experiment, he thought about his Imposing Law and his Law of Black Hole again.
A couple of problems, which had stumped him before, didn't seem as difficult to solve anymore. "Sure enough, becoming smarter makes solving problems easier."
Kyle looked at his hammer for a moment. "I'm still nowhere near the creation of my Refined Law. A century just isn't enough time."
"Anyway, my shift is over. I should return."
After teleporting a couple of times, Kyle got back to Fort S-878. His Commander still stood on the same spot and Kyle approached him.
"Report: I have finished my shift. I am uncertain about my kill count," Kyle transmitted.
Commander Meristo looked at Kyle's emblem to check the data on it.
Surprisingly, he didn't say anything for over three seconds, which was an eternity for Sages.
"Black Sin Hammer 37, solidify your Momentum," Commander Meristo ordered.
Kyle closed his eyes and took a deep breath while Commander Meristo dealt with other duties.
Kyle's taught nerves relaxed, and all the battles he had been in washed through his mind.
For an entire minute, Kyle just let his mind drift.
As time passed, he felt his past opponents to be less powerful than they had been just a minute ago.
Naturally, this was due to Kyle's increasing Momentum. He had been in a couple of True Battles. Even though they had all been on the easier side, this had still increased his Momentum by quite a bit.
If there was one thing Humanity didn't lack, it was Momentum. The Momentum of a random New Sage Shield could rival the Momentum of a former Unique Crusher in the Supreme World.
"Momentum solidified," Kyle transmitted.
Commander Meristo looked at Kyle for a moment. He had seen so many people with powerful Momentum that he could judge the power of someone's Momentum just by looking at them.
"I require verification," Commander Meristo said. "Your records state that you have battled eight Early Sage Demons by yourself. The improvement of your Momentum was comparatively minor. This is a contradiction and might hint at a malfunction of the emblem."
"Can you confirm that you have fought these battles? I do not require an oath or a promise. Know that deception will primarily harm you since your future tasks hinge on your current answer. Overinflating your achievements will likely result in death, as your orders will be more difficult to carry out."
"Yes," Kyle transmitted. "These battles have happened. I have won."
Commander Meristo looked at Kyle for a moment, his expression unreadable.
"Accepted," he transmitted. "Your mission is fulfilled. You have killed roughly 1.9 trillion Demons. 1,900 Military Merits have been awarded. Report to Major Sovignor for further instructions. My report has been included in your emblem. You've contributed to Humanity's survival greatly. Dismissed."
Kyle nodded before leaving without a word, as was expected of him.
"Still weird that I have to leave without saying goodbye. Guess it's a cultural thing," Kyle thought as he left the Base.
After a couple of teleportations, Kyle left the vicinity of the frontlines.
As he saw trees, rivers, grass, houses, and animals, he felt strange. For the past hundred years, he had only seen corpses, explosions, and violence. Seeing a normal world felt almost alien to him.
Luckily, Kyle quickly adapted to his change in surroundings. As he reached Forward Base 198, he already felt accustomed to his new surroundings.
He went into the building of the Base's leader and saw his other boss, the Spirit Lord, who had given him his uniform and his emblem, Major Sovignor.
"Black Sin Hammer 37 reporting," Kyle transmitted.
Major Sovignor looked at Kyle's emblem for a moment.
"Commander Meristo praised you highly, which is unusual," Major Sovignor transmitted. "It's even more unusual that he didn't include a reason for your high appraisal. What transpired?"
Major Sovignor knew that Kyle had a secret mission and that he was working on saving all of Humanity, which was why his choice of words was comparatively casual and relaxed.
"I've killed 1.9 trillion Demons, a couple ten thousand New Sage Demons, and some Early Sage Demons," Kyle transmitted.
"You have killed Early Sage Demons?" Major Sovignor asked via voice transmission.
"Yes," Kyle answered.
"On your own?"
"Yes."
"I understand," Major Sovignor transmitted, his voice calm. "That explains the report. Commander Meristo requests your next deployment to be to Fort U-878. I will grant his request at your earliest convenience."
"You have accumulated 2,600 Military Merits in total, and you may exchange these here. Do you already know what you want to exchange?"
"Yes," Kyle answered, "but I don't have enough Military Merits to afford it."
"2,600 Military Merits is a substantial amount, rarely seen amongst Shield Sages," Major Sovignor transmitted. "What has caught your attention that requires so many Military Merits?"
"One cube of every kind of Spacetime Metal," Kyle transmitted.
Major Sovignor remained silent for a while as he made several connections in his mind.
"This request was probably easy to grant in your homeworld," he transmitted. "Please, don't hold this against Humanity."
"I understand," Kyle transmitted. After talking with Major Sovignor for a bit, he had also become more relaxed again. Not being able to talk normally to others for a while had made Kyle a bit taciturn. "I know that this is a difficult request to grant, and I know it's not because you're not willing to help me. I will earn more Military Merits."
Naturally, with a piece of every kind of Spacetime Metal, Kyle could start comprehending the Level Five Law of Spacetime Metal.
Sadly, Spacetime Metals were exceptionally rare in Ayuvar. The reason was the broken Elemental Dimension. The density of Metal Energy couldn't reach levels that allowed for the creation of Spacetime Metals. Every single piece of Spacetime Metal came from excursions into the Abyss, and these pieces were almost exclusively used to forge Sacred Weapons for Spirit Lords.
Of course, Seekers who knew the Level Five Law of Spacetime Metal could also conjure the metals, but conjuring all of these metals in a stable form would take a long time. Even more, due to how the Seekers of this world trained, there were barely any who knew this Law.
In all of Humanity...
There were maybe five who knew this Law, and they were either Heads of important Sects or Ascendants. Asking them to conjure all of these metals would be a waste of their power.
The only two ways to get all of the metals were to smelt down weapons of Spirit Lords or to send more excursions. Neither option was cheap.
"You will save your Military Merits?" Major Sovignor asked via voice transmission.
"Yes," Kyle answered.
"Then, here is your next order: Report to Fort U-878 for your next shift. New information has been added to your emblem. Be sure to check everything carefully."
Kyle nodded and left without saying a word.
Military Merits were also used to buy spare time, but since Kyle was saving all of his Military Merits, he was immediately deployed again.
As Kyle flew to his new Fort, he took a look at his emblem.
A moment later, he realized that there were some messages for him.
Swamp Dragon didn't send one, but the others did.
Star Genesis talked about the Sects and included a boatload of information about Formation Arrays, in case Kyle needed to know more about them.
Manny said that he wouldn't share a lot of information before he knew more about Humanity.
Fiercebreaker said that he felt like he was about to condense an Imposing Law due to the constant battles.
Yet, when Kyle saw Sebastian's message, he had to stop moving.
Sebastian had gone on his first excursion, and as expected...
His Elemental found some answers
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