Whoos.h.!.+

As the rays of light started to cover Aurus' body, an influx of information entered his mind as Aurus obtained information on a new skill which was given to him by the inheritance. It only took Aurus a few seconds to digest this surge, the rays of light disappearing not long after.

After that, he decided to land on the spot where the mote of light he absorbed originally resided, knowing fully well that it was just a waste of time for him to move through the room in order to find a good spot. He was not some sort of Animate that did not feel comfortable at one spot, deciding to move to another. Well...he previously was one.

"Well then, let's see what I obtained." As Aurus said this to himself, he brought up of the notification log of the system, allowing him to glean upon the name of the new skill.

Ding!

'Aurus has obtained [Spirit Tempering].'

"Hmm...[Spirit Tempering]. From the name alone, does this have something to do with Soul Power?" Aurus could not help but ask himself this question as he opened up the detailed information of this skill.

It was not wrong for Aurus to come to this conclusion as the word Spirit would always be a.s.sociated with the soul or energy related to soul. Not only that, even though he only had a rough grasp as to what Soul Power could do, he knew very well that this would allow him to grow stronger much quicker.

Ding!

Once the skill detail screen popped up in front of the notification log, Aurus skimmed through the description in an instant, with his aura changing into that of excitement and disappointment.

________

[Spirit Tempering]

Level: 1/3 (0/3)

Grade: C (Mortal)

The spirit, also known as the soul, is the most important of any being as it allows the being to do things unimaginable for those who don't have consciousness. Through tempering the spirit, the vessel's connection with the spirit becomes strengthened, allowing the vessel to emit greater power at the same level of power the spirit emits or even less.

Note that the increase in power only works with the being's original form. Any other form is considered a false vessel by the spirit.

Stat boost: 0.5%

________

"Eh? Do I really have to?" Aurus could not help but ask himself as he read the skill's description multiple times. Seeing that there was no other choice, Aurus could not help but sigh as he dispelled his morphing skill, reverting back to his wooden sculpture appearance.

"Although this appearance does allow me to wear armor, I am still not used to it," Aurus could not help but say as he instantly felt a small surge of power spreading throughout his current form.

"Oh? Is this the boost given by the skill?" Although it was just a minute difference, Aurus had a feeling that this minute difference would allow the current Aurus to triumph over the Aurus who did not revert to his original form.

Ding!

Just as he was trying to get a feel for the surge of power, a notification sounded in his mind, disrupting his flow as his aura turned into that of slight anger.

Composing himself, he then looked at the notification that popped up and was baffled at the sight.

'[Barrier of the Spiritas] has long reached the MAX level. Using the prolonged exposure to skill experience, it has broken through its peak and reached a new level. Thanks to the prolonged exposure to skill experience at its current grade, once it evolves, there's a guaranteed chance that the skill will mutate into Special grade.'

"Eh? Why haven't I seen this notification before?" Aurus was befuddled at the sight as he knew that [Barrier of the Spiritas] was only a C-grade Mortal skill. He decided to open up his notification log all the way, making him dumbfounded and leaving him at a loss for words.

'[Barrier of the Spiritas] has leveled up.'

'[Barrier of the Spiritas] has leveled up.'

'[Barrier of the Spiritas] has reached the MAX level.'

'[Barrier of the Spiritas] has met the necessary requirements and is ready to evolve.'

'[Barrier of the Spiritas] has noticed the user's neglect towards it, deciding to use the system's experience for its own improvement.'

'[Barrier of the Spiritas] has been continuously infusing itself with experience, taking the user's neglect as motivation to become a better skill.'

'[Barrier of the Spiritas] has greatly improved from its previous version, but is saddened by the fact that the user still neglects it. Nonetheless, it continues to infuse itself with experience.'

'[Barrier of the Spiritas] has reached the point where it could improve itself no further, feeling that it has possibly reached its peak. It is still saddened by the fact that it is neglected.'

Reading through the notifications left by the skill, Aurus could not help but feel bad as he neglected the skill. He felt as if the skill was a child that was not being given attention, though that was not really the case.

Nonetheless, he calmed his emotions once more and looked at this from another perspective, coming to the question, "So the Learning module of the system's AI actually allows the skill to mutate to a greater grade once it's evolved?"

With this thought, he tried to remember whether or whether he had OS Point saved from his boss killing spree, remembering that he had around 2 points left as he felt that maxing out the Battle module was not necessary at his current level.

Removing [Barrier of the Spiritas] from the Learning module, he then used the two remaining OS Points to increase the Learning module's level to 3, increasing the amount of skills that could be mutate at once to 2.

He then evolved [Barrier of the Spiritas] afterwards, instantly noticing a great difference in the skill as the name was shown to him.

'Aurus has evolved [Barrier of the Spiritas] to [Unyielding s.h.i.+eld of the Spiritas Magnus (Special)].'

"Well that's a mouthful," Aurus could not help but say.

Of course, this situation did not let Aurus forget what he had to do, which was to boost the grade of [Spirit Tempering] as much as possible. This was also the reason why he removed [Barrier of the Spiritas] from the Learning module, which now had an additional s.p.a.ce for skills.

"Place [Spirit Tempering] into the Learning module."

Ding!

'[Spirit Tempering] has been inserted into the Learning module, allowing the skill to pa.s.sively earn experience as well as improve chances of mutating to a skill of higher grade.'

With this prompt popping up from the system, Aurus then started grinding out the skill's level.

"Huu...haa..."

Through the pores on his wooden skin, he absorbed the energy particles surrounding his body as it rushed towards the spirit located in his mind, gradually being tempered as the spirit gradually became thicker.

Within seconds, multiple notifications sounded from the system, prompting Aurus to inwardly command, "Evolve [Spirit Tempering]!"

Ding!

In an instant, the spirit that had slightly thickened from before, had condensed itself into a smaller size. Nonetheless, the thickness remained, though it seemed that the spirit could still grow stronger unlike before.

'[Spirit Tempering] has been evolved to [Enhanced Spirit Tempering].'

"Well that was fast."

"Let's continue."

Within the Celestial Plane.

As Kurohana looked at the current place where Aurus was and saw what he was doing through the orb, Kurohana could not help but let out a sigh of relief as she muttered to herself, "Well, the thing I did will take effect from days to weeks. For me, that's around hours at the very least, days at most. I can afford to take my time on this one."

"Especially with such a problem in the Celestial Plane." As she said this to herself, the killing intent that was nonexistent around her in the first place, instantly showed itself, slightly dying Kurohana's surroundings a faint red.

Rather than suppressing this intent, Kurohana let it flow throughout naturally as she looked at her slightly red surroundings.

"It seems that my killing intent has acc.u.mulated enough. If my calculations are correct, this would allow the Asuras of my Law of Reincarnation to grow stronger, allowing my attack power to grow stronger as well."

After pondering over it for a bit, Kurohana closed her eyes as strands of multicolored energy started to manifest around her body as she started to chant an incantation.

"With the Celestial Plane as the Origin and my body as the Guide, let my Spirit be split apart yet joined as one as the Spirit treads two paths."

As she chanted this, an intangible golden ball started to hover over her head as it slowly tore itself in the middle, the crack being filled with the strands of multicolored energy along the way.

"The Primordial Decree is the true way, the Transcendent Canons are everlasting, the Immortal Verdicts are all-seeing, and my Law is nothing but a vessel that could engulf all. With this, I decree that a great part of my power shall be planted into a new vessel."

"2nd Grand Divinity Circle. Judiciaris Duplicatem Maximilliei."

"Divine Duplication."

Whoos.h.!.+

At that instant, the intangible golden ball hovering over Kurohana was now split into two. The weird thing was that, one ball was incredibly large when compared to the other ball, that was only the size of a pea.

A few seconds later, the larger ball started to wander off from the smaller ball as the remaining strands of multicolored energy rushed towards the larger ball.

As for the smaller ball, this entered Kurohana's body that had its eyes closed after all this time, which promptly opened an instant later.

Looking at the larger ball with a slightly fatigued face, she then used her fingernail to create a gash on another finger, letting her blood drip on the floor before manipulating the blood that dripped to head towards the larger ball.

Swis.h.!.+ Fwoos.h.!.+

At the instant the blood and the larger ball collided, the larger ball went into a drastic change, elongating itself and morphing itself in various places as it gradually took on the color of flesh. Around ten seconds later, a perfect clone of Kurohana appeared in front of the slightly fatigued Kurohana...without clothes.

The slightly fatigued Kurohana snapped her fingers as the white cube covered the cloned Kurohana in a white dress not long after.

"As you are my clone, to avoid confusion, I shall call you s.h.i.+rohana," Kurohana said as she faced her clone. "With 90% of my full power and my memories, you shall help Nix fend off against the demons that threaten the Celestial Plane."

"That's fine by me, Kurohana," s.h.i.+rohana replied. "Nonetheless, we are still one ent.i.ty, so when your body is in grave danger, I won't hesitate to stop whatever I'm doing to save the remaining part of you."

"I don't mind that at all, although the chances of me being danger is quite slim, seeing that I'm inside our palace."

"Fair enough." s.h.i.+rohana lightly chuckled. She then turned around before saying, "Let's see whether we can kill Hinari and Hodazuka or not."

"We'll definitely see."

Whoos.h.!.+

And just like that, s.h.i.+rohana, the stronger portion of Kurohana, was now gone from the white cube, heading towards the Hall of Greater Divinity as Kurohana was left behind, looking at the orb as she infused Aurus with luck as always.

"I wonder what could happen during my power is split."

"I hope it ain't anything bad."