Chapter Twenty Four, Questions! Visions of Gods!

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  Slowly, he shimmered out of existence, venturing down the newly revealed passage. His body swayed from side to side, though of course that wasn't visible to any on looker.

  He was completely invisible, and completely untouchable.

  With his newly classified skill, his devouring had become passive, denying any existence from reaching his skin. His slime physique allowed for that consumption from any area, and it was what truly allowed the massive evolution in his old [Stalker] skill.

  "[This is what happens when you experience severe mana deprivation, and soul exhaustion...]" Ana spoke into his mind as he traveled down the Dungeon stairway.

  "[Such an intense manipulation of time and space with such a low amount of energy at your disposal is an incredible feat.]" He could hear the undertone of praise, and it induced a small smirk.

  "How long?..." He questioned.

  It was an eerie feeling. Something he had never felt before.

  Since awakening, he had yet to feel tired, perhaps thanks to the continuous boost of level, and infinite increase of Vitality. But now, it felt as if his very soul wanted to sleep.

  "[Well, mana deprivation can last anywhere from a few days to a week and some change... Soul exhaustion on the other hand could go on for months, perhaps even years... But thankfully you can consume mana and souls like it's a normal thing. Your mana should be recovered by the end of the floor and your soul by the end of the Dungeon.]" She replied.

  Jora nodded, his foot stepping down, missing the right placement.

  He slowly fell forward, face first towards the stairs.

  "[Good lord-]" Ana reeled.

  But, the floor rippled, Jora falling through it like he was but a drop of water in a puddle.

  At the bottom of the stairwell, Jora emerged from the floor, the momentum pushing him up into a standing position, and he only continued his steps.

  Skill [Warp Gate] has leveled up!

  Jora strode down the hall.

  This floor of the Dungeon differed from the first. From his obscured memories, it seemed like a real Dungeon. Like the underbelly of a castle. Walls lined with torches, carved walls, moss, and a real floor.

  Not a rocky cave system, but a structured system of hallways and open rooms. They seemed to replace the tunnels and clearings of the previous floors.

  Every so often, he would warp space, flash stepping through it, tempering both of the abilities.

  It didn't take long for him to reach an opponent, longer than when he entered the first floor, but that was because he was far less eager to progress.

  Entering the Dungeon room, he observed the hulking bear. The same as the first floor, just the peak of D-rank and bulkier.

  He twisted his neck, his head slinking around as he stretched. He checked his level listlessly.

  ”98 percent there…” Consuming the first floor boss still didn’t push him into the next level, but he would soon reach it.

  Ana spoke words in his mind, but they were inconsequential. He would start his miniature feast.

  His goal was to push himself to his next milestone, entering B-rank and obtaining whatever came with it.

  ”[Focus].”

  And that’s exactly what he did.

  He tapped into time, sensing the essence of it within himself. He sped up his existence, boosting his speed by many times.

  In a blink, a new skill had been created, and the bear was completely consumed.

  He traveled through the Dungeon floor, warping through space and accelerating himself.

  He consumed countless Fire Bears, his experience raising by the smallest increments.

  He tested his powers, tapping into the time of others and slowing them.

  More skills were formed.

  He tapped into the world, controlling space and intensifying gravity.

  More skills were unlocked.

  He tapped into the world, lightening gravity’s hold on space.

  More skills.

  He tapped into spatial and temporal energies, melding with his intangibility. Instantly, [Intangibility] increased by multiple levels, unlocking a new mode.

  Truly, he had become untouchable through that front.

  With time and space on his side, he could decelerate any incoming force, and space around his skin warped, like he had unfolded space around himself, creating far more distance to himself than met the eye.

  He even went as far as to let up his invisibility, testing his advances. He was able to intensify gravity in that spatial unfold, making it a whole lot harder to reach him.

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  Even if his spatiotemporal warping was breached, he still couldn’t be reached thanks to his gluttony.

  He was finding more and more ways to become stupidly powerful.

  His third battle letting up his invisibility was underway. He resided within a larger Dungeon room, 8 bears swarming his location.

  His arms were outspread, beckoning all the enemies towards him.

  The majority came rushing, 3 of the rushers being low C-rank.

  One more C-rank didn’t approach, charging up fire within its mouth, that was the first time he had seen that.

  He wanted that ability specifically.

  He noted its positioning, the bears reaching him with their paws drowned in fire.

  They swiped down, aiming to pummel him.

  No results.

  Each swipe seemed to miss by just a few inches, and even those that came straight down from above, slid around his body as if he was protected by a shield.

  “Lovely!” He let out a small laugh, his arms still outstretched.

  Rather quickly, he faded from sight. Through all of his advances, and his rising Sensitivity, he was able to control himself far easier.

  His skills didn’t require any chants, bc of how in tune with himself he had become, though external magics still required chants, if he was using the mana of the world.

  Having become untraceable, the bears showed mass confusion, but that had no effect on him.

  Truthfully, he only hid away from sight to prevent the Dungeon from observing all of his abilities.

  In a blink, all of the bears disappeared, consumed by ripples in space.

  Jora’s body expanded beneath the concealment, consuming each of them.

  ”[Uwah! I feel it coming!]” Ana exclaimed within.

  And finally he felt satiated.

  Light flashed in his eyes, his mind finding itself in a different space.

  Visions filled his sight. Pressure, fear, and destruction emerging from deep within.

  Before his eyes stood a massive figure.

  A titan of a man. His skin was grey, his eyes were a pale blue, and his hair was white. He wore ancient tribal clothes, and there were pitch black rings lining his skin.

  There was so much pressure…

  A god.

  He boomed with tranquil wrath, his presence so domineering that the galaxies beneath him quaked.

  They exploded, destruction spreading out into space, essence being absorbed into his body.

  He moved on, sundering more realms.

  His sight changed, darkness filled space, traveling through like a virus.

  The dark ate everything it crossed, assimilating the universe for itself.

  There was nothing to describe, besides for the intense…

  Intense, fear.

  And then his vision swapped once more.

  The titanous figure reappeared, his unchanging expression remaining... unchanged.

  He watched over a massive spatial formation, a cluster of an infinite amount of worlds, stars, and celestial phenomena. He sat atop a throne, his eyes lazily closing.

  His focus honed in on the titans face, observing the happenings within his body. Tumultuous amounts of energy tossed and turned within his brain. He dreamed up power, too undisturbed to train in the outside world. His dreams created new things, power, that integrated into his body when he awoke.

  Then, his vision changed once more. Instinctively, he felt this was the final sight.

  He was observing the darkness once more, but it slowly transformed, becoming a young figure.

  Eerily, it looked like him?

  Though, this young man had long white hair, cascading down his back.

  He was face to face with another figure, a man, a human man. He focused back on the man who looked like him once more, and he could instinctively tell that he was no real human.

  The two figures exchanged words, and he took the moment to examine the human male. He had black scruffy hair, like Jora himself, and deep red eyes.

  There was a stern expression on his face, almost anger, but less of that...

  Maybe, pride?

  The pale man, darkness incarnate, reached his hand out towards the human, a devilish smile on his face. The human reluctantly reached into his body, digging into his stomach as if his skin was nothing more than water.

  He pulled out an orb of light.

  One that was dense with power... And he handed it to the nonhuman.

  Mischievously, Darkness accepted the offering, and everything flashed pure white.

  Jora slid his face on the ground, accidentally wiping his remnant drool on the stone floor.

  "[Jora.]" Ana sounded in his mind, reverberating throughout. She sounded rather serious.

  "Ungh?..." He felt a little groggy, but at this point he was used to it.

  He pushed himself to his feet, shaking the disorientation from his mind.

  "[I have suspicions...]" She followed up.

  "What?" He answered.

  "[Those visions... For certain existences, Talents are what form the soul... the truly enigmatic souls, are Talents personified. For the average, a Talent is an accessory used to grow a soul. I am thinking that you, are literally an amalgamation of Talents. Those visions are detailing your creation... They have to be! That darkness, that is literally your [Gluttony]. That must be where that Talent originates, from that man. Your [Wrath], that Titan of an entity... This [Slothful], from him as well. [Pride], from the human... From that sight, it was as if the darkness bartered with the human for that power, and that power, that condensation of soul power, that was [Pride]...]" Ana rambled.

  "[The acquisition of the first Talent is always a permanent memory... That darkness from your first memory, most definitely the memory of you awakening your [Gluttony]... Or maybe, your creation? You have no memory of awakening [Wrath], but that's also the moment you awakened your consciousness, so maybe that disturbed it... But then you awaken [Slothful] and [Pride], and you open up two more memories? Memories of your Talent maybe? So maybe that wasn't your birth here in this world, but the creation of that portion of your soul... Gluttony!]" Ana spoke countless words, talking to both herself, and Jora.

  He stood in the center of the room, the exact same spot in which he had consumed the eight bears.

  "Right..." He murmured.

  Lots of speculated information to sort through, many theories sprouting from Ana's mouth.

  "[Do you know what this means!]" Ana shouted.

  Jora raised a brow.

  "[I don't either! But maybe the World will have more answers... Those figures can only be described as gods... So much power pulsing through them, even only in memory... We could truly feel it here! Just through their recollections!... Yara may know them...]"

  Jora inhaled, a smile forming.

  "You just asked me if I knew what it meant, when you didn't have an answer yourself?" He laughed.

  He stepped forward, shaking his head.

  "[It doesn't matter! This only means more questions! More things to uncover! We've stumbled upon a real mystery! Hurry up, level up some more so you can unlock the rest of your Talents! We need to know! We need to get strong enough to have an audience with the World! The gods as well! They may know who those entities are!]" Ana exclaimed.

  Jora only continued to smile, trotting forward.

  They still had a Dungeon to traverse.

  They would talk about the matter while he progressed.

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