Chương 128: Chapter 125: So, who is stronger now?

"And did you get what you wanted?" Jack asked eagerly after seeing that Josh returned from the system shop.

"Oh, yes, I did! I'm a Sage Hunter now," Josh replied proudly.

"What? A Sage Hunter? One of the strongest fighters in the glorious grasshopper armies?" Jack exclaimed in surprise.

"Hey, how do you even know that?" Josh asked, confused and slightly suspicious. Why hadn't Jack mentioned this earlier? Was he hoping I'd go for the weaker Warrior form? Josh wondered.

"Well, I didn't want you to feel bad if you couldn't gather enough credits," Jack said with a wide smile.

"Now go use the item—I want to see what your beast form looks like!" Josh took out the crystal entwined with a small root and cracked it open. Power surged through his body as countless system messages appeared, asking if he wanted to accept the new path and several other choices. He confirmed them all. Moments later, his body was consumed by a burning energy, and he felt profound changes. Even his human form seemed altered.

Looking down, he noticed his left arm now sported the elbow blade described in the system's explanation, but that seemed to be the only visible change on the outside. Internally, though, he felt his bones growing denser and stronger. His senses sharpened to an overwhelming degree—he could now detect even the slightest movements within his field of vision. This is what a mythic class feels like, he thought in awe. Absolutely incredible.

For the first time, he felt like the one truly in charge, while Jack still struggled to control his mass of tentacles.

"Transform! I want to see your beast form!" Jack said, nearly jumping in excitement. Josh, brimming with pride, triggered the transformation. He stood before Jack in all his Sage Hunter glory.

"Whoa! That's amazing! See? Totally worth being bait for all those powerful beasts!" Jack cheered, throwing his hands in the air. Then, he noticed something strange—Josh's three pupils started to roll wildly, and the sage hunter, one of the apex predators of the multiverse and a pinnacle grasshopper variant at F-grade, collapsed to his knees.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Jack asked, now worried.

"It's these eyes! I see everything! It's too much! And I can't close them—I don't have eyelids!" Josh exclaimed, panic rising.

"Ah, that's normal. Let me tell you—I still mix up my tentacles half the time," Jack said confidently.

"You just need practice." Jack watched as his friend, now in his impressive beast form, sat on the ground, futilely trying to shield his eyes with his long claws.

"Man, I didn't expect this," Josh muttered.

"Did you know the system voice said our forms are equally strong? It's up to us who ends up stronger in the end."

"Wait, you've got a mythic class too?" Jack exclaimed, surprised.

"And don't get your hopes up—I'm the super squid! Nothing's stronger than me."

"You're just lucky!" Josh retorted.

"You grab stuff with your tentacles, and most of your telekinetic skills cover such a wide area it's impossible to miss!" Josh refused to accept that a giant squid could be better than him. He was a noble grasshopper now, and he wouldn't bow to a squid. Taking advantage of Josh's disorientation, Jack bolted toward a nearby group of beasts, eager to gain the lead in kills.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Josh yelled, but he still couldn't stand. The overwhelming influx of sensory data was too much to handle.

"Oh, look at this Stegadon—practically defeated itself!" Jack teased from a distance.

"When I get this body under control, I'll show you who's better!" Josh shouted angrily.

"Sure, sure. Oh mighty grasshopper, I'm so terrified," Jack laughed, firing a telekinetic wall at a cow-like beast with razor-sharp teeth charging toward him. <-- Thalion was down in his cellar, body-tempering as an umbral predator. This had been his primary focus for the past few days since returning from the termites. He had many things to improve, but one of the most pressing issues was his attack power.

While he had enough regeneration to fight at full strength for days, he couldn't deliver a single, decisive blow powerful enough to crack the defenses of the termite queen or her guards. This meant he had to improve his weapon and hone his skills further. For his weapon, he already had plans. He had learned about better runes that could conduct his power and skills far more effectively than the ones he currently used. Additionally, he planned to craft these runes using liquid crystal.

Once the sword was finished, he intended to hammer the blood affinity into the crystal runes to retain the effect he currently enjoyed. He particularly liked the red slash it produced, finding it far more satisfying than the blue one. Furthermore, he wanted to create a more powerful crystal. In fact, he had already discussed this with Lucan, and they were both eager to experiment with combining crystals using Thalion's technique to see how many could be fused before the whole thing exploded.

Improving his skills, however, was going to be more challenging and time-consuming. It was best to get his physical preparations completed while nurturing the collected blood and tending to the garden. Thinking about it, Thalion realized he had an overwhelming number of tasks to juggle. Fusing eagly's skills and creating the storm crystal were also high on his to-do list. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

There had been one council meeting recently, and the decision was made to enslave all murderers using slave cuffs and, of course, confiscate their credits. The slave cuffs would also be used for those who misbehaved. However, Thalion recognized the danger of giving guards too much authority, so he entrusted the oversight of this system to the small family he had saved from the spiders and scorpions. They were grateful and happy to assist.

It was also a good excuse to give the nice family some extra resources without anyone complaining. Another important development was that Thalion no longer needed to purchase defensive arrays for the time being, allowing him to focus entirely on his personal growth. As for his purchases in the system shop, his priorities were clear. First, he wanted more buds of shadeheart's blessing. The first tree had already grown to a height of three meters.

In its vicinity, all light disappeared, creating the exact environment needed to birth an Elemental of Darkness. This success made him eager to purchase more of these expensive trees. Second, he needed more blood crystals. He had created a blood pool in one of his cellar halls, which was filled with spatial distortions. A single blood crystal had empowered the pool, raising the quality of the blood to new heights and transforming the other crystals within it into crimson-red blood crystals.

Around the pool, Thalion had placed multiple enchanted circles to draw even more mana into the blood. He had already amassed an astonishing quantity of blood—enough to fill ten Olympic-sized swimming pools. More red crystals would amplify this power further, making them a worthy investment. The final item he desperately needed was a gravity formation for body-tempering. He believed its effects would mirror those of the golden mountain, if he understood it correctly.

He planned to install the gravity array in his cellar, filling the remaining space with trees and red crystals. Both items were exorbitantly expensive, but as a wealthy man, he didn't need to worry about credits. This would be the only system shop visit where he indulged entirely for himself. Next week, he would focus on fortifying the walls and acquiring new skyships. As for theories on entering the fourth stage—that was another problem for the following week.

For now, it was time to speak with the voice of the system.

"Greetings. What wares do you desire?" the voice of the system asked in its usual businesslike tone. For Thalion, it was always a pleasure to return to this place. Standing on the black water while golden light shone down from above always brought him a sense of peace.

"I need a gravity array, and I want to spend the rest of my credits on buds of shadeheart's blessing and blood crystals," Thalion stated.

"For what purpose do you need the gravity array? As a trap, for body-tempering, an elevator, or simply for fun?" the voice asked, this time with an amused tone.

"Mostly for body-tempering, but now that you mention it... maybe a bit for fun," Thalion replied, momentarily confused. A short while later, he had spent all 3. 9 million credits and exited the system shop with a wave. He now possessed ten Shadeheart trees, one gravity array, and six blood crystals. Upon returning, Thalion threw the blood crystals into the blood pool, alongside an additional twenty wind crystals, each standing a meter tall. He wondered if the vampires on the higher levels had similar methods.

The blood hummed with power, and the sanguine thorn awoke with desire, clearly liking what was happening in the pool. Then, he tended to his garden and planted the buds, trying to maintain an even distance between the trees. It took him the better part of the day to draw runes in the earth using the blood of the sanguine thorn. These runes were meant to guide the newly birthed elementals to a single location so they could unite and grow in power more quickly—if the plan worked as he hoped.

The trees needed to grow first anyway. Thalion placed the gravity array in another of his halls. Now, only one hall remained empty. One hall contained the blood pool, another was his garden, the next housed the gravity array, and in the last stood the pillar of fear, where nine small crystals were currently embedded, slowly transforming into "Crystals of Fear"—if that was the correct term.

Time was short, as he planned to speak with Lucan in the morning, so he decided it was time to get rid of the termite corpses in his spatial ring. This time, he opted for the old-fashioned way and not the tendrils, which turned everything into darkness. Devouring something through darkness yielded barely any experience or stats, though it was excellent for body-tempering. Since he had enough plants with high affinity for darkness prepared, eating the termites the traditional way would yield better results.

He also hoped to finally reach level 50, as the battle with the termites had brought him tantalizingly close to leveling up in all forms. Thalion pulled out the first ten termite corpses and began eating. He regretted not using the tentacles of darkness to consume them immediately; the shells were tough, forcing him to rely on Abyssal Bite from time to time to pierce the thick carapace.

It was an infuriating process, and the shell splinters stuck between his teeth eroded only because of his darkness rising from him. At least it was worth it. After consuming the second big termite in this manner, he received his first notification: You have gained 2 toughness It wasn't much, but he had plenty more termites to go. Since the gains applied to all his forms, it would prove more than worthwhile. He pressed on, eating through the entire night and into the early morning.

Consuming beasts this way didn't fill him as much as using the tentacles, but Thalion didn't mind. He could eat continuously without stopping. Over the hours, he consumed almost all the termite corpses, gaining a total of 38 additional toughness. The experience gain was enough to finally push him to level 50. Unfortunately, he didn't acquire any new skills—a disappointing outcome, to say the least. A new mythic skill was exactly what he needed, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Thalion distributed his free points between wisdom as a human and agility as an umbral predator, prioritizing speed over the other stats. Feeling energized, he shot up the stairs using Mistform and made his way to Lucan's smithy. It was time to blow some crystals up. Lucan was already waiting for him, a big smile on his face.

"Let's do it," Thalion said with a wide grin.

"I say it's possible to combine eight before they explode," Lucan replied, grinning back.

"My sword already has eight crystals combined, so I'll aim for twelve," Thalion laughed, enjoying the smith's incredulous expression. Before he could add the new crystal to his sword, there was much work to do. First, he removed the crystal currently embedded in the blade. Then, he destroyed the runes on the sword and began carving new ones into the metal. These runes would be infused with liquid crystals.

The entire process would take time and require sacrificing a significant amount of his own blood for optimal results—a sacrifice Thalion was more than willing to make. Thanks to the modified amulet, the sanguine thorn, and his connection to the other plane he had stolen from the outsider, his recovery would be swift. He considered using the blood crystals from his pool for the sword but decided against it. They were far too valuable, as he needed them to enhance the countless liters of blood he had already amassed.

In truth, he wanted to shock the sanguine thorn by absorbing all the blood at once. Perhaps this much blood would finally push the thorn to its limits. For now, it was back to smithing. Lucan had already prepared some of the crystals, shrinking them down in size using his formation. The power of these crystals far exceeded Thalion's expectations—they must have been meters wide before being reduced. This also meant they would require far more blood to alter their affinity.

It was best to start the process immediately.