The bright light in front of Aron's eyes slowly receded, retreating until a patch of greenery filled his vision.

A warm bead rested in his hand, still pulsing faintly.

"Ahhhhhhh…"

Aron dragged out the sound as he kicked the sand in front of him, irritation spilling out with each stomp.

"What the fuck is with me teleporting from place to place without my consent?" he growled, fingers twitching like he was seconds away from tearing his own hair out.

He was about to kick the sand again when something strange caught his attention.

Aron stared at the ground he'd just kicked.

Then he kicked it again.

Not even a second later, the sand snapped back into its original position, as if time itself had rewinded.

He stepped back, eyes widening.

"What the..."

He turned in a slow circle.

Trees towered all around him, lush and vibrant.

He struck one on impulse.

It broke instantly under his strength… only to revert to its pristine state a moment later.

"What kind of place is this?"

He looked up.

There was no sun, no moon, just a bright sky glowing like morning, yet without a source.

Everything looked real, yet felt fake.

The whole world was like an illusion wrapped in reality.

Aron extended his senses.

Two mile in every direction unfolded in his mind.

He was in a forest, and around a mile from him was just a complete desert with not even a patch of greenery.

And the surprising thing was, both in the forest and the desert not a single living thing was registered.

Not a bird, not a worm, not even a bug.

Except…

A faint flicker. Barely there.

Inside a cave somewhere in the forest lay a life force so weak it was nearly nonexistent.

If he hadn't recently come into contact with life force himself, he never would've detected it.

Its source?

A statue.

A stone statue of a fat baby.

A ridiculously overfed baby with round cheeks, wearing a long robe dragging across the ground.

Its two pudgy hands held an open book, and its stone eyes stared into the pages with dramatic seriousness, as if the baby were contemplating the meaning of existence.

(Where the f** did I land this time?)*

Aron wandered the forest for several minutes, still annoyed, kicking random leaves like they offended him personally.

His senses kept sweeping the area.

Still no sign of life anywhere.

The forest, the desert, silent and empty.

Only the fat baby statue had any trace of energy.

After scouting the surroundings and confirming nothing posed immediate danger, Aron decided he would check out the statue later.

But first…

One by one, clones began appearing around him.

Soon, 113 clones surrounded him in a wide circle, all taking seated positions with the original Aron at the center.

Aron with his Yin-Yang Eyes.

Saw the yinyang energy, that was so dense that everything turned black and white in his vision, like the world had been dipped in monochrome ink.

He let out a slow exhale.

Not getting stronger wasn't an option anymore.

He was tired of being tossed between dimensions and worlds like a ping-pong ball.

He shared the modified cultivation technique with his clones.

They immediately began cultivating, drawing in Yin and Yang from the surroundings.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....!"

A roaring whirlwind exploded outward, like a tornado suddenly sprung to life.

Aron's instincts flared as he sprang up.

For a split second he thought something had bypassed his senses.

But then he realized…

It was just his clones cultivating.

His eye twitched. Their cultivation speed was more than a thousand times stronger than before.

He had sensed changes to the technique earlier, but he'd been too occupied to examine them.

Even so… this level was insane.

He relaxed slightly, but stayed alert.

No way was he letting his guard down again, what happened with the Zulcan was a harsh painful reminder of that.

A strange world with time-rewinding trees and desert illusions was not the place for carelessness.

His clones continued drawing Yin and Yang, sucking in the energies like a bottomless wormhole.

Aron finally opened the notifications he'd ignored earlier.

--

[5,000 EXP consumed. Black Devouring Sutra Claimed]

[430,000 EXP consumed. Familiar Space (Supreme) Claimed]

[1,500,000 EXP consumed. Life Force (Supreme) Claimed]

[1,500 EXP consumed. Aptitude (Medium) Claimed]

[100 EXP Consumed. Comprehension (Low) Claimed]

[1,000 EXP Consumed. Fang Fist (High) Claimed]

…

[100× Rebate activated: Black Devouring Sutra → Primordial Chaos Devouring Scripture]

[100× Rebate activated: Familiar Space (Supreme) → Familiar Space (Supreme)]

[100× Rebate activated: Life Force (Supreme) → Life Force (Supreme)]

[100× Rebate activated: Comprehension (Low) → Comprehension (High)]

[100× Rebate activated: Fang Fist (High) → Crimson Fang Fist (Supreme)]

[100× Rebate activated: Aptitude (High) → Aptitude (Supreme)]

[Similar ability detected. Talent Merge Activated: Astral Yin-Yang Chaos Scripture obtained]

--

[Familiar Space (Supreme), choose: Active / Passive / Internal]

[Crimson Fang Fist (Supreme), choose: Active / Passive / Internal]

--

[Host Information]

Name: Aron

Alias: Saint

EXP: (2,251,762 / revoked)

Level: 60

Rank: God (Incomplete)

Lifespan: 113,078 years

Mana: ∞

--

Aron stared at the panel, understanding dawning.

The merged techniques had formed a new monster of a cultivation method, the Astral Yin-Yang Chaos Scripture.

Everything else aligned with what he expected.

His earlier suspicion resurfaced.

Based on the clues from the talents he'd been claiming so far, he believed his talent could copy abilities, but only if the target's mastery surpassed a certain threshold, beyond mortal limits.

It explained why he could absorb only one ability back in Solara, but multiple abilities here.

After the initial surprise of the new technique, the rest felt normal.

What confused him, though, was why none of the Supreme-grade abilities upgraded.

Either Supreme was the peak… or the gap to the next rank was simply to enormous.

He would find out eventually.

--

[Crimson Fang Fist (Supreme) Selected: Active Ability]

[Familiar Space (Supreme) Selected: Passive Ability]

--

A vast, endless realm appeared in his mind, the Familiar Space.

A sanctuary where contracted familiars rested, healing and growing two to three times faster.

He had originally considered setting it as an active ability, but the fear of his Merge talent fusing it with his Infinite Space made him choose otherwise.

His danger sense and sensory abilities hadn't merged, likely due to different categories. That seemed to confirm his theory.

His gaze moved to the Emperor's remaining abilities:

Dragon Sutra (Supreme) – 200,000 EXP

Dragon Body (Supreme) – 2,000,000 EXP

Familiar Space (Supreme) – 430,000 EXP

Life Force (Supreme) – 1,500,000 EXP

Aptitude (Medium) – 1,000 EXP

Comprehension (Low) – 200 EXP

Aron let out a deep sigh.

He thought he wouldn't need to worry about EXP for a while.

But clearly, the stronger he became, the stronger the Ability he came in contact with.

And this was just the human kingdom, not even ranked in the top 10,000 among several races.

His mind drifted to the princess with the sun sword emblem.

He shook his head quickly. One existential crisis at a time.

For now, he'd claim what he could afford.

[200 EXP Consumed. Comprehension (Low) Claimed]

[100× Rebate Activated: Comprehension (Low) → Comprehension (High)]

Ding…

[Calculating…]

[Talent upgrade requirements met…]

[Talent upgrade 1%...]

Aron stared at the notification, stunned speechless.

....

..

.

Lol, would you believe me if I said I was sleeping? That's why this chapter dropped so late. Damn (I feel so refreshed🍃😏).

And don't you dare complain about me not uploading two chapters, this is two chapters combined. I felt splitting it wouldn't be right, so here you go.

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

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