— So ti later —
rely a few seconds had passed, yet Cassius had already t his demise over 1,000 tis! This rate of death was even faster than it had been with the Ice Senators or in the Boundless Gorge!
He thought he had beco numb to death long ago, and in a way, he had. But when it ca to these types of extrely fast, back-to-back deaths, he couldn't help but feel that sa indescribable anguish he'd experienced in the Boundless Gorge.
Eventually, when it beca too much for him, he paused the Simulation, freezing everything in place. Then, with a shaky hand, he erased the 72nd Demon King's virtual projection, leaving only himself in the dreary water world.
— After a few minutes to collect himself —
Cassius managed to regain his bearings just enough to calmly set himself down on the lake's surface. In a lotus position he sat, his thoughts trying to organize themselves properly enough to begin practicing his Techniques.
'I think I've had enough of the battle part of the Simulation for now,' he thought, his brows gradually unfurrowing. 'And though I may have severely underestimated Andromalius this ti around, I'll be back to challenge him again. And next ti, I won't be anywhere near as helpless against him as I am now.'
That much, he vowed to himself.
The 72nd Demon King—the first hurdle Cassius had to pass in order to freely begin exploring HELL—he would best him in battle. Not just for his own personal endeavor, but also because beating him and the Demon Kings to follow would be his key to proving himself worthy of Yggdrasil.
The Tournant—he had to win it. And unless he beca far stronger than he was now, that dream of his would forever remain just that—a dream—a far-fetched pipe dream.
Cassius knew very well that the 72nd Demon King wasn't anything more than a small fry in the grand sche of things. Simply put, he was inconsequential. And yet, Cassius—who was so overwhelmingly defeated by Andromalius—was worth even less than that.
This had to change.
"For now," he said, closing his eyes and focusing his mind's eye. "I'll finish rging and extracting the Essence from all 27 Layers of my Fundantal Body Refinent Arts."
The S Technique Manual and each of its three segnts had beco ever easier for him to comprehend after all his improvents. As such, over the past nine days, he had been able to easily practice each of the three segnts to their 9th Layers. However, upon achieving the peak of the 9th Layers, Cassius felt there to be sothing beyond them.
To reach whatever that sothing was, he followed his instincts and started rging his comprehensions of each Segnt. Attack, Movent, and Defense—each was steadily and equally extracted and rged.
— 3 Hours Later —
Verging upon the precipice of sothing, Cassius tugged on the strings guiding him. Then, three differently colored balls of light shot out of his body and flowed toward one another above his head. They quickly collided and coalesced, creating a spectacle that lit up a good section of the still lake. Blue, red, and green mixed, and from them erged a bright purple ball that emitted a level of power far exceeding that of each of the individual balls.
The purple ball rose a few ters above Cassius before suddenly dropping down and entering inside him through his head. A radiant purple light exploded outward with his ditating body as the source.
A few System Notifications then made themselves known.
*Ding~!*
[Congratulations, you lucky ducky, you!]
[Acquired the SS Rank 'Fundantal' Physique!]
[As the first Physique obtained by the Host—and naturally at that—this mont should be celebrated!]
[How about 1,000 years in the Endless Torture Chamber I had specially prepared for you after your prolonged edging period in the Nightmarescape!? Do you wish to accept this gracious gift of I, the Almighty System—]
"No," Cassius instantly denied.
He then ignored the follow-up grumbles of the Idle Evolution System, instead feeling out the incredible strength now coursing through every inch of his body. It far outweighed the gains provided by the nearly obsolete Fundantal Body Refinent Arts from before.
It also seed that Physiques—similar to Bloodlines—had progression gauges.
[SS 'Fundantal' Physique – Progression → 0.01%]
"I guess that to increase the progression rate, I just have to…"
Cassius was hoping to receive a keen answer from his begrudged System by acting dumb. And just as expected:
[To progress any Physiques, you simply need to locate and devour high-rank herbs and/or dicines found throughout the higher Floors of the Ascension Tower. Eat one and convey your intent as to which Physique you wish to advance—or however you wish to allocate the dicinal essence—and it shall happen accordingly.]
[By the way, the dicine/herb's type doesn't matter. Cultivating Physiques is already considered to be defying the Will of Heaven, so none of the specifics make a difference. At least not when you have I, the All-Powerful System, on your side!]
[dicines and herbs also have a ranking system that will determine how much essence is contained within them. For example, a genuine Tear of Yggdrasil is of the Mythic Rank, considered to be second to only a few extraordinarily rare and priceless Cosmic Ranked herbs.]
[Oh, and also, I know what you did there. Humph!]
[૮꒰ ˶• ⤙ •˶꒱ა]
"Ahh," Cassius said, completely ignoring the last little comnt. "Thanks for the info. I guess this just created another reason for to ascend up the Floors of the different Ascension Towers."
Your journey continues at My Virtual Library Empire
[You… Stop selectively choosing which parts of what I say you decide to listen to!]
"Well, anyway," said Cassius, opening his eyes and standing up. "I suppose I'll just practice my 'Teleport' and 'Void Port' Skills until my ti here is up."
Following through with that intent, he provoked the Space Elent before both teleporting himself and conjuring portals left and right. No matter how ridiculous this made him look, this was the most efficient way to train these two Skills.
Even if aesthetics must be damned, efficiency trumped all!
This was the essence of Idling!
Just like that, ti marched forward…
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