A short while later, Levi returned to his apartment completely shaken to his core... He went out of the house excited and returned silent.
To possess this kind of power without the ability to wield it properly made Levi wonder if it was a blessing or a curse. If the Ancestral Trees were really helping him or spilling his damnation? He didn’t know, but to have an available switch that could either burn the world or consume it had put an immense test on his nature.
It was like the Ancestral Trees were telling him: You want to wield our powers? Go ahead, feel free to use them to your heart’s content.
"Don’t overthink it," Ash’Kral said calmly, "As long as you use the skins in a mutual or opposite environment, their potency will be under your control. Most importantly, just their presence alone in your body, whether activated or not, will help you immensely in your cultivation and using their abilities."
"He is right, there is no need for you to activate either form... just use them passively until you split your soul," the Titan added, "You can then switch between forms at a limited capacity while still maintaining control as the main soul."
"Will I even be able to maintain control?" Levi doubted.
He didn’t even realize it before finding himself losing control while using the Sun Form... it was a natural switch, not something that could be detected and stopped... As for the Void Form? He used it for barely ten seconds before he chickened out, worrying that he might bring an end to his planet.
"What did you expect from Divine Powers? The skins might be related to Oblivar and Radian Bloodlines; however, since the Origin Seeds bestow them, they made sure to give you the highest possible grade... Divine Grade." Ash’Kral smirked, "Just like any other race... there are differences in ranking within those two Ancient races depending on the purity of their bloodlines."
Hearing this, everything made sense to Levi... why the stripes design was different from the one he was awakened with... why such mutations were so freaking overpowered, he was scared of himself.
He asked for the Trees’ support right before his evolutions, which made them give the best of the best in terms of skin mutations... no resonance, no familiarity, nothing... just a promise.
That’s why, although Levi obtained such powerful mutations, the Trees’ resonance access was still at 0%!
They still didn’t like him as much as the Nine Senses seed... they made a deal with him, and unless he delivered his end of the bargain, he wouldn’t be alive to tell the tale. Why bother wasting time building trust in him?
"Check the Void’s ultimate ability..." Ash’Kral changed the subject, not wanting Levi to dwell on the duo forms anymore, "It should be related to soul since neither mutations nor Sun’s seed ultimate is related to it."
Hearing this, Levi broke from his daze and raised a brow in surprise while checking its details, "You’re right..."
// False Sun : forms a sphere of pure nothingness above the user. Souls drawn in dissolve into the singularity at its center and feed it to the owner’s soul. The False Sun can expand, consuming more life and amplifying its metaphysical presence.
<Within the void, all souls merge. All becomes nothing, and I am the sum of nothing>...//
"Of course, I am right, Void Laws have more powers related to the soul and spirituality than the Sun Laws," Ash’Kral said.
"Since the Seeds want to help me succeed in the Soul-Split Theory, one of them is bound to create an ultimate related to soul’s enhancement." Levi nodded in understanding.
"False Sun... this is a decent spiritual void-based ability that creates a pulling force based on how powerful your spiritual prowess... the more powerful it is compared to your targeted enemy, the easier you will be able to snatch his soul from his body and allow the singularity to consume it," Ash’Kral shared.
"Sounds brutal." Levi knitted his eyebrows.
"It is..." the Titan said, "To have your soul pulled out intact, it means cracking the enemy’s consciousness barrier just enough to allow it to pass through... trust me, you wouldn’t wish this pain on anyone."
"Wish it or not, brat, you’d better drop your bullshit merciful persona and commit to reinforcing your soul regardless of what it takes," Ash’Kral warned with a deep frown, "Trust me, you don’t want to make the Three Ancestral Trees wait for long."
"Don’t worry, when it comes to Nightcrawlers invading my planet... I have no mercy for them," Levi said indifferently.
"You better," Ash’Kral said, "Your soul has been decently enhanced from the evolutions... maybe it is now as strong as a newly evolved Solarbound... but still, it needs more work to allow a decent three-way split... otherwise, the other two Trees won’t be satisfied with their weak soul portion, and might rebel against you."
"So, the more, the merrier?"
"Yes... This will also help you split it less painfully during the evolution."
"Say less."
Levi immediately made up his decision to turn into a Soul Harvester when pain was mentioned... he was barely surviving normal evolutions, now, he needed to split his soul during the evolution? Just the thought of it kept making him want to tap out.
Abruptly, their discussion was interrupted by a notification:
-Your attendance is requested in the High Council.-
"Back already?" Levi frowned, "This doesn’t sound good."
"I already told you, they will drop the ball," Ash’Kral said calmly, "You should start preparing to sneak inside the Ancient site... with your current Radian skin mutation, you can survive the divine pillar temporarily."
"Let’s see first what they have to say."
"What do you think? They will give you some excuse of them trying their best... I am telling you, governments are one of the most unreliable organizations in the universe."
Ten minutes later...
"Rejoice! Thanks to Hicham and Feng Ling’s efforts, your team has been approved to join the Exploration Mission."
High Chancellor Valemont announced with a beaming smile as he stood in front of Levi and the rest of his teammates.
’You were saying?’ Levi snickered mockingly... although he also believed that the government was going to fail epically, he never said it out loud, just in case.
Lo and behold, a miracle had occurred... Ash’Kral was silenced and proven wrong by Heliodor’s government.
"You guys actually pulled it off? How?" Arthur, as straightforward as always, asked what was on everyone’s minds with a doubtful tone.
"It’s all thanks to Hicham’s and Feng Ling’s immense efforts." The High Chancellor smiled, "It was hard, but they managed to convince the Conference to make an exception for us."
Levi and the others glanced at Hicham and Feng Ling, who were standing behind the High Chancellor... seeing that none of them had any intention of telling them the details, Levi changed the subject to what truly mattered.
The Ancient Distorted Site.
"Did you get any extra details for us about the site or the mission?" he asked.
"Yes... your mission will be to find the Sun Amulet of Pharaoh Azhukar... the last Pharaoh of the Ashora Empire." The High Chancellor’s tone turned solemn, "The empire was believed to worship a World Ender classified beast called the Dawn Phoenix many eons ago... however, the Dawn Phoenix has caused their damnation... they were believed to have been cursed by a plague called Ashfall under its creation... a sickness that set the blood of its victims on fire, leaving only blackened husks... it spread faster than fire itself, consuming nobles, priests, and peasants alike, until the empire."
"Why did that happen?" Shia frowned, "I know that not everyone can just decide to worship a World Ender beast and be fine... a bloodline connection is a must. This means the Dawn Phoenix might be worshiped, but it also acted as their guardian, not bringing their ruination."
Levi nodded in agreement, having done some research on such beasts and their related bloodlines after what happened with Sandwitch.
That’s when he found that it was a widely accepted custom for Highborn Lineages to have a relationship with World Ender beasts sharing their bloodline.
They were believed to have the same Ancestor; however, the beasts inherited a damaged Shadowlife seed while the Trueborns inherited the flawless one.
Beasts remained unintelligent, but turned powerful; meanwhile, the Trueborn awakened their intelligence.
Though this was just a rumor, just like anything happening during their period.
Most of those houses had gone extinct during that period of time, which many referred to as the Erased Era ... it was a name given by the network for a piece of history that seemed to be deleted completely.
No books, no historian, nothing spoke about its details... which was extremely difficult considering that the dimensional network might have been available at the time.
Levi, being as curious as ever, asked both Ash’Kral and the Titan about it... Alas, the only answers he received were: figure it out on your own, and I don’t recall.
"They didn’t tell us, or they also don’t know about the empire’s true history..." Hicham shared softly, "All we know is that the Sun Amulet is requested personally by the Radian supervising the dimensional sector our planet resides in... so, it is very important to the Solar Aegis Sanctuary Headquarters, and to all mankind."