Chapter 419: Overachiever

Chapter 419: Overachiever

Priam screamed as he yanked what was left of his hand back. Despite what some might think, his relationship with pain was perfectly ordinary: he derived no joy from it. Even with the near-instantaneous destruction of his nerves, blocking the beam of a gigajoule laser was like plunging a finger into fire, or gripping the glowing coil inside an oven. The agony was absolute, if brief.

Only the sublime willpower honed through months of harrowing ordeals kept him from collapsing in tears. The knowledge that his body could regrow lost limbs helped too.

“I can’t decide whether I should be more horrified by the savagery of this training… or by the hoplites’ weapon,” Osiris muttered as Priam landed on the hoplite war platform. “Where there used to be a building, there’s now a pool of lava. The worst part is I didn’t even see it happen…”

“More of a puddle,” Priam corrected as he touched down. “And your eyes aren’t tuned to catch that kind of light. The laser fires in ultraviolet—like the rays of the sun that tan my skin. You need to hit the first threshold of perception before you can see them.”

“I’ve got over five hundred points in that attribute, thank you very much,” the teenager shot back. “Still, all I saw was a flash and heard thunder. Like lightning, but straight, and impossibly brief.”

“Oh? I’m surprised you even caught that. Well, you’re not wrong: the laser doesn’t fire continuously, just in a pulse. Nanoseconds long.” Priam paused, noticing Osiris’s blank look. “That’s ten million times shorter than a blink. The weapon dumps all its energy in that instant, vaporizing matter and birthing plasma at the point of impact. Like a lightning strike, but tighter, and made of light rather than electricity.”

Balancing on tiptoe to see past the railing, Osiris leaned over the edge of the platform. “If this thing could fire continuously and with perfect precision… even a Tier 6 wouldn’t be safe.”

Priam shrugged. Plenty of Concepts could bend—or outright break—the laws of physics. A beam that strong was only deadly if it could land a killing shot without the victim’s instincts warning them. As for continuous fire… Through Pyro, Priam could feel the war platform bleeding off the heat it had stored from the blast. Like a cannon, the weapon needed time to cool before it could fire again.

“Well?” Hyshana asked.

“Nothing. My hand vanished too quickly, so my cells didn’t have time to adapt,” Priam said, extending his cauterized stump toward Osiris, who began treating it. “Can you dial it down again?”

“We were already at less than one percent output; just a few megajoules. If I lower it again, we’ll be talking kilojoules.”

“That’s fine. I don’t need an ideal prerequisite, just a level.”

Ten minutes later, Priam hovered halfway between the ground and the platform. Less than fifty meters away loomed the Aelbe barrier, behind which a few hunters were flashing obscene gestures. The Champion beckoned them forward. When none dared cross, he burst out laughing.

“Got balls only when there’s a wall between us, huh?” he jeered. The Tier 2s couldn’t hear him, but when their faces flushed, Priam knew they’d read his lips. “Anytime you like,” he called to Hyshana.

Without further warning, a blinding flash lanced from the war platform. Racing at the fastest velocity nature allowed, photons smashed into Priam’s outstretched hand. His skin was stripped away in an instant; his muscles vaporized a heartbeat later. The beam struck bone as white as winter snow, and for a moment it faltered against the Juggernaut’s frame. What should have been instant obliteration dragged on. [Solar Resistance] refused to sit idle. Moreover, the light found it hard to sear Priam’s flesh as it was enhanced by [Pyro Champion Physique].

Still, the beam didn’t tire. Unlike a megajoule laser, the kilojoule variant could fire continuously. And so, the ambient temperature skyrocketed. Thunder cracked the air, making Priam’s ears ring. Shutting his eyes to preserve his vision, he kept his hand in the laser beam while Micro drowned out the agony screaming from his nerves.

Cracks laced the surface of his bone. A war raged: Priam’s towering vitality against the ruinous light. His regeneration scrambled to patch fractures, knit scorched muscle, restore seared tendons. Perhaps futile, like bailing out a ship with a hole in its hull, but not wasted. 

The Juggernaut’s body was adapting.

At the microscopic scale, of the millions of cells dying every second, a handful lived longer than the rest. Evolution was a blind engine, capable of brilliance or monstrosity alike, but Priam’s first racial Talent stacked the deck, steering mutation toward only the favorable.

Through his sphere of perception, Priam noticed the shift. His bones shimmered, morphing from white to mirror-bright. Instead of absorbing photons, they bounced them away like polished steel. His muscles took a different path, becoming translucent and letting the light pass through. With nothing to interfere, there was no reason his body should suffer. Only his skin remained unchanged, except for a deeper bronze tan.

Amid all those changes, the level-up was confirmed.

Lvl Up: [Solar Resistance] lvl 40
CONST +2
VIT +1

Priam withdrew what was left of his hand from the beam, raised his right thumb toward the war platform, and drifted aside to check his notifications.

[Solar Resistance - Rare] has reached level 40, its maximum level as a rare skill.
Prerequisites met:

• Survived a Tribulation wyvern’s Breath.

• Bathed in the corona of a star.

• [Homo Elysian Obsession].

• [Life is Hard; I’m harder].

• Endured the Tyrant’s Nova.

• Tanked a Tier 4’s Light Concept.

• Survived a sun wyrm’s Breath.

• Survived a gamma-ray burst.

• Withstood a megajoule laser.

• Possess a physique naturally resistant to light.

Ten prerequisites? Damn. Almost feels like a waste of effort…

The System required five ideal prerequisites. Not six. Certainly not ten. Whether It couldn’t handle more, or just cared about quality over quantity, didn’t matter. Priam had to choose.

“Let’s see what deserves a place in my Story…”

• Survived a Tribulation wyvern’s Breath.

The origin of so much. Its heart still beats in my chest. That one stays.

• Bathed in the corona of a star.

Stars are my thing, and Pyro should grow in that direction. Let’s keep it.

•  ̶[̶H̶o̶m̶o̶ ̶E̶l̶y̶s̶i̶a̶n̶ ̶O̶b̶s̶e̶s̶s̶i̶o̶n̶]̶.̶

There are more interesting picks.

•  ̶[̶L̶i̶f̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶H̶a̶r̶d̶;̶ ̶I̶’̶m̶ ̶h̶a̶r̶d̶e̶r̶]̶.̶

Same.

• Endured the Tyrant’s Nova.

 One day, he’ll become a problem. I shall be ready.

•  ̶T̶a̶n̶k̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶T̶i̶e̶r̶ ̶4̶’̶s̶ ̶L̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶C̶o̶n̶c̶e̶p̶t̶.̶

Arnold scares me as much as Vertex, but Bastard? Ancient history. Good riddance.

•  ̶S̶u̶r̶v̶i̶v̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶u̶n̶ ̶w̶y̶r̶m̶’̶s̶ ̶B̶r̶e̶a̶t̶h̶.̶

A bit of dragons, a bit of star… I’ve got that covered already.

• Survived a gamma-ray burst.

That one’s badass. Who tanks that before High Tier? Me. And it might bridge with [Radiation Resistance] later.

•  ̶W̶i̶t̶h̶s̶t̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶e̶g̶a̶j̶o̶u̶l̶e̶ ̶l̶a̶s̶e̶r̶.̶

If it had been terajoules, maybe. 

• Possess a physique naturally resistant to light.

The root of it all. That’s five. Easy.

Ideal Upgrade unlocked:
[Light Body - Epic] - Among beings who can touch light, only true light elementals brush true immunity. Still, you’re not far behind. Ideal upgrade potential. Potential Cost: 320

“What am I, some fitgirl to unlock this kind of skill? Nah, I’ll go with [Optics Physique]. [Photon Resistance] sounds cooler, but it’d be false advertising, since half the electromagnetic spectrum doesn’t fall under this skill. Oh, later.”

You have selected the skill [Optics Physique - Epic].
POT -320

[Optics Physique - Epic] - If fire gave birth to civilization, then light gave birth to life. It reveals the world to our eyes, warms most habitable worlds, and fuels the growth of countless plants.
What it grants, it can also take away. Global warming, annihilating lasers, gamma-ray bursts—the destructive potential of light is terrible.
This skill protects your most delicate tissues by rendering them translucent and fortifies the bones by turning them into mirror-like reflectors. Your DNA resists ultraviolet assault. Synergy with [Radiation Resistance]: your cells’ architecture continues to evolve, adapting to harness light itself as a source of energy.
Light travels swiftly, but not instantly. If some Administrator were to teleport one of his clones to Proxima Centauri a, the nearest star to the sun (4.24 light-years away), he would see Earth not as it is, but as it was four years ago… You were sleeping during a quantum physics lecture. Honestly, you should thank the System for pulling you out of your boring-ass life.
CONST +4
VIT +5

Priam didn’t need Thaal to tell him his current life suited him far better than the old one. According to Prometheus, most humans still dreamed of going back. Not him.

Searching his mind for nostalgia and finding none, Priam zeroed in on the important part of the description.

“A synergy between two Resistances, now that’s good news! And they’re rewriting my cells at the core… Could I evolve my race itself just by walking the Holy Road of Resistances? Carve out a Zenith race without ever playing geneticist?”

Before his dreams of grandeur could carry him away, the System struck again.

New Title!

[Overachiever - Gold] - Certain patterns resonate with aether. In response, reality shifts. Sounds, images, karmic debts, astral bodies orbit, or mythical stories: magical patterns abound, and only a handful are studied by Aetherists.
The System engraves some upon the strata of your soul, etched as runes. Usage and comprehension beget experience, which begets assimilation in turn—a process measured in levels. Through integration of aetheric patterns, your body, mind, and soul are transformed, increasing your attributes. When a rune is fully assimilated, the System migrates it onto a deeper layer of your soul, one capable of hosting more complex patterns. Of reshaping you on a deeper level.
However, what happens when a skill becomes more than its rune? When your deeds with it grow into a Story able to resonate with aether? Then we speak of a high upgrade.
Among the mighty, some whisper about a stage beyond even that. An extraordinary status, bestowed only on those who have assimilated a skill into body, mind, soul, and Story. An ideal skill.
The System demands five ideal prerequisites, five feats so great they leave marks in the aether. You met ten. Either you devoted your life to this pursuit, or your days are the stuff of legend. Either way, hold your head high: there are fewer than a hundred Tier 0s in the entire universe who bear this Title. Only four others earned it through a resistance.
CHAR +10%
META (Chance) +20%

Most people struggle to scrape together five prerequisites even with help. Three millennia-old clans couldn’t streamline more than two each. Now Priam finally understood the real difficulty: a prerequisite wasn’t just a task. It was a feat so exceptional it impressed the aether itself. Hence, a collective couldn’t mass-produce ideal skill bearers. It wasn’t a tough exam; it was a competitive one.

“Which makes obtaining an ideal resistance even harder…”

By their very nature, resistances were notoriously difficult to level. The Hoplite army, a quarter million strong, didn’t have a single holder of an ideal resistance to its name.

“And here I am with ten prerequisites… wonder if I could sell a few? ‘Just find yourself a gamma-ray burst, stand in its path, and survive. Good luck with that.’ Buyer’s gonna be disappointed…”

As Priam considered which fools he might swindle, the System flared one last time.

Achievement - Legendary: Fifty Titles. Fifty fragments of Myths you have unearthed and woven into your own. The aether begins to remember you.
Story-wise, your foundation is now solid enough to step into the mid-Tiers.

Message for Wandering Islands & Humanity:

…

“Fuck. Dropping that here would be like kicking an Aelbe wasp’s nest. On the other hand, it’d be stupid to waste a chance to grind [Ciphered Record]…”

At legendary rank, progress crawled to a maddening crawl. Most people took centuries to level such skills. Priam didn’t have that time. He hesitated for half a heartbeat, then grabbed his Hearthstone.

Message for Sector Hope & Humanity:

Priam Azura becomes a Collector.

The Seven Concepts congratulate you.
Potential + 5000. Merit Tree refund Token.

“Better,” Priam smiled, feeling the gaze of an entire galaxy turn toward him. “Right, just keep feeding my resistance!”

“Priam? Are you here to take another crack at Clock’s final version, or just to flex your Achievement?”

The Champion turned, grinning at Béchar. For the supervisor of the Colosseum to come so quickly, he must have been bored to death on this barren moon.

“Just flexing.”

“You know it’s borderline rude to spam a quadrillion people’s notifications, right? Only the arrogant and the insane broadcast theirs in this Sector.”

“I check both boxes,” Priam said with a grin, nodding toward the portal behind him. “Sorry, no time for small talk. I’ve got a few Tier 4s to teach humility.”

Lvl Up: [Ciphered Record] lvl 16
MEM +6
META (Affinity) +6
META (Authority) +15

The shapeshifter arched a brow. “I hope you’ve got a plan. And a will.”

“I’ve got nukes, [Space Resistance], Log-a-rhythm, and a fat purse. If that’s not enough, I’ll leave you my boxers.”

“No thanks.”

“Shame. They’re worth more than this moon.”

“But less than my dignity. And I’m sure Jasmine will want to keep them.”

“You know what, let’s stop this conversation here,” Priam grimaced. “Anyway, I’ll deal with Clock—and the rest of the Colosseum—as soon as I’ve wrapped up my current mess. See you!”

With that, he vaulted back through the still-open portal to Elysium. 

The crack sealed behind him. Béchar lingered a moment, then opened his interface to run a quick search.

“Priam Azura, brand face of 2 Die 4. Premium boxers for Ascendant gentlemen… starting price at—” The shapeshifter nearly choked when he read the numbers.

“Not more expensive than a moon, Priam. More expensive than a planet. On second thought, that will business isn’t that shameful…”

*

Status: 

PHYSICAL:
Strength 1 259
Constitution 2 313 (+9)
Agility 1 659
Vitality 2 147 (+13)
Perception 988 

MENTAL:
Vivacity (D) 666
Dexterity 988
Memory 1 229 (+10)
Willpower 1 310
Charisma 1 117 (+53) 

META:
Meta-affinity (O) 1 466 (+7)
Meta-focus 902
Meta-endurance 1 692
Meta-perception 929
Meta-chance 1 621 (+141)
Meta-authority 1044 (+26) 

Potential: 42 736 (+4 683)
Tier 0

[Tribulation]: Five Tribulations pending.

Next thresholds: 12 attributes > 1 200 / 3 attributes > 1 800 / 1 attribute > 2 400