I hover down to the ground as the artificial sky turns dark, and the pillars of stone mold back into the floor. A bright Rank Up notification glows in my mind's eye, waiting to be accepted, while my Soul Sword feels the presence of three items drawing me closer to them. One feeling is far more compelling, so I fly down to hover above Redgrave's still-bright yellow glowing sword, which gives off the heat of a True Core even when its wielder is dead. A new system panel hovers between my blade and the glowing one on the ground as I descend. When I press [YES] and the two artifacts touch, the yellow blade on the floor glows bright white, turning to silky yellow liquid before my eyes, then siphoning into the tip of my own sword. I expected a dramatic light show and process like when the weapon was crafted, but it all happens extremely fast. The blade in my grasp gives off the feeling that it is still hungry, and a food source like that hardly quelled its appetite. My Sword feels stronger already, but the ease with which it consumed another living weapon, and the fact that it is still sitting at [Lv. 0], makes me realize I've yet to comprehend the potential of the new weapon in my grasp. I nod and sit down on the empty floor, letting go of my soul sword, and it rotates around me in a dormant state without me having to exert any effort whatsoever. Ember sits down in an identical position about 100 meters away, and I speak up, feeling over 18 million pairs of eyes still watching in shock after the massacre they just witnessed. "As I said before, this is just the start of today's fight. The opponent I just defeated is likely to be my easiest win. I'm not going to be able to do this without your help. You can hear me, see my actions, even peer into my system notifications, and feel everything I'm feeling. I'm going to take a moment to rest and rank up; the only thing I ask of you is to spread the word. Whether it's for entertainment while watching the show, or you feel obligated to save this world together, tell a family member, send a transmission to a friend outside of the 8 Great Regions or Dark Continent. We'll need every link we can get." Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Then, I press [YES] to rank up. Instantly, a familiar white light washes over me. Mana and divine energy cycle through my body, creating a warm and satisfying sensation all over. It takes a few minutes, just as Ember said it would. My calm resting state is broken by the sound of notifications in my mind. [+10,000 Mental Strength] [New Buff!] [Divine Elemental's Astral Form] Once I open my eyes again, all of my fatigue is gone, and even the two divine energy wounds on my chest have almost completely healed. I take a deep breath in and out while standing to my feet and opening my status to see a brand new buff. My eyes shift over to Ember and I see he's received a new buff as well. [Divine Dragon's Astral Form] My eyebrows raise as my voice echoes through the empty room. "What's an Astral form...? It looks like we both received one..." He replies while staring up at the silver demonic statue. "It's far rarer than a Greater Energy Form. I believe you met one while we were inside that purple construct. Rarely does more than one entity per planet receive a form . I've had one before... This room will be too confined to show off its full power, but it will certainly help us during these trials if we run into a problem. It will be very straining to use this while we're yellow cores, it won't be worth the fatigue and strain to even test it out..." [Objective: Block The Incoming Strike.] As this text fades, eight of the nine silver blades disappear, but one remains. The Demon's head doesn't move, but I can feel its three silver glowing eyes staring deep within me. Then, the kilometer-long arm holding the single massive silver blade comes swinging down toward us.