Chương 213

A red system prompt blinked rapidly in front of Rudra's face. [Warning: Extreme mental suppression detected!] [You are trapped in the Ocean God's darkest memory.] [Clear Condition: Endure the crushing despair for 1 hour without losing your mind or logging out.] One hour. It felt like his brain was being squeezed in a vice. The grief wasn't his, but it was being force-fed into his head. The system was telling him to just put his head down, endure the mental torture, and wait out the clock.

Rudra gripped the heavy dark metal of his staff. His knuckles turned white.

"I'm not sitting quietly for an hour," Rudra grunted through his teeth and activated his skill. [Manifestation of Will]. He triggered the hidden stat. Rudra's Willpower immediately flared to life. He planted his boot in the mud. He pushed back against the crushing weight of the divine aura. He forced himself to stand up. The fifteen glowing gods in the memory flickered. The divine pressure didn't expect a mortal to stand up against the weight of the gods. The illusion violently shuddered. Rudra didn't stop.

He channeled his Willpower outward, turning his pure stubbornness into a physical force. He gripped Extortion with both hands, pulling it back over his shoulder. With a furious, echoing shout, Rudra swung the staff. His new [Physical Manifestation] skill allowed the staff to strike the ethereal illusion, and his base damage and Willpower combined to form one attack. CRACK. The swing connected with empty water, but the space completely shattered. Giant, spider-web cracks ripped through the deep-sea trench.

The golden gods shattered. The casket shattered. The entire illusion exploded like broken glass. Rudra stumbled forward. He was back in the dark, empty stone room. The heavy stone doors reappeared behind him. He dropped to one knee, breathing heavily. Sweat dripped down his forehead. His head pounded like a drum, but the suffocating despair was totally gone. The system went absolutely crazy. [The Skill [Manifestation of Will] has leveled up!] [You have cleared the Sixth Trial.] The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. [You refused to yield to the Gods' suppression!] [You have exceeded the limits of the modified trial by completely shattering the un-winnable divine illusion!] [As a reward, All Stats +50!] [The Ocean God watches your stubbornness with deep respect.] [Affinity with Asterion has increased by 30.] [Willpower +500.] [You have acquired the Skill [Will's Construct Armor]!] [The Champion's Rite] [Progress: 6 / 15 Temples Cleared] Rudra wiped the sweat off his chin. He let out a long breath and looked at the fading notifications. His mind started connecting the dots. The system explicitly called this "Asterion's darkest memory." The sheer, soul-crushing despair left behind in this room proved it. That meant the Titan Princess, Lyra, wasn't just some random casualty of war. She was someone incredibly dear to the Ocean God.

And Rudra had only triggered this modified memory because the trial detected the Deep Sage class. He thought about the massive quest Asterion had left behind. 113 temples scattered across the entire continent. These trials were feeding him rare recipes, forgotten skill fragments, and even a couple of unique Titan skills.

More importantly, Asterion had given him the Deep Sage class itself—a legendary sage class built entirely on forgotten knowledge, designed to make the user infinitely stronger simply by learning and teaching.

"But why?" Rudra muttered to himself in the quiet, dark room. As a god, Asterion could do anything a Deep Sage could do, but a million times better. There was no practical reason to create a legendary mortal class just to pass on ocean magic. Unless Asterion was physically incapable of doing it himself. The minor gods had used a seal steeped in divine laws. Asterion was a god so if he tried to break a divine seal, Asgard would instantly know. He needed a mortal. A human who wouldn't trigger Asgard's radar.

Asterion created the Deep Sage class specifically to build a mortal capable of slipping past the gods and saving the princess. Still, Rudra frowned. It felt like a piece of the puzzle was missing. If Asterion just needed someone to break a seal, why a Sage class? There had to be a very specific reason why this class was required to open that casket. Rudra shook his head and smiled faintly. He didn't have all the answers yet. But he still had to conquer the rest of Asterion's 113 temples.

The final clue explaining how to break an impossible seal was definitely waiting for him at the end of the road. He pulled up his stat window. An instant +500 to Willpower and +50 to all stats from the modified trial was an astronomical payout. That single boost made him practically immune to standard fear and mind-control debuffs, not that he wasn't already immune but it did increase the damage he dealt with his Willpower related skills. He swiped the stat window away and opened the new skill.

At the current level, the willpower can only cover the hands and chest, forming heavy, ethereal red gauntlets and a breastplate. At the current level, the skill is activated instantly and overlays directly onto the user's equipped gear. The defensive power of the construct is equal to the willpower stat combined with the stamina stat. It completely blocks incoming physical damage up to that threshold and absolutely nullifies all mental debuffs.

An enemy attack infused with a higher willpower stat will bypass this armor. [Will's Construct Armor (Lv. 1)] [Channels Willpower into physical, ethereal armor over the user. - At the current level, the willpower can only cover the hands and chest, forming heavy, ethereal red gauntlets and a breastplate. - At the current level, the skill is activated instantly and overlays directly onto the user's equipped gear. - The defensive power of the construct is equal to the willpower stat combined with the stamina stat. It completely blocks incoming physical damage up to that threshold and absolutely nullifies all mental debuffs. - An enemy attack infused with a higher willpower stat will bypass this armor. - Resource Consumption: 500 Mana per minute. - Skill Cooldown: 10 Minutes.]