Chapter 290: Steps Toward Divinity

"By the way, do you have any idea what affinity I should choose when using the Heartroot Elixir I borrowed from Kael?" Thalion asked after checking on the item in his spatial ring. So far, their conversation had been going well, and he was genuinely curious to hear the thoughts of the Voice of the System—or rather, the imprisoned dragon god.

"Hmm. Interesting question," the dragon god mused aloud, sinking deeper into the soft cushions of his chair.

"In general, it could be any affinity. When adding new affinities to something, there are a few common theories on how to proceed. One approach is to choose an affinity you have massive access to. It doesn’t help much if you pick an affinity that matches well with your form, but then lack the materials to actually grow it.

Another widely accepted theory is to select an affinity that synergizes well with your current one. For example, fire and water usually don’t mix well. Even if you have plenty of materials available, combining those could be counterproductive.

In your case, I’d go with a third option: choose what you feel will be best and ignore the other two theories. Also, there’s no need to rush. The elixir won’t give you an immediate power-up. It would’ve had a massive impact on a Sanguine Thron, but on a Sanguis Impera it will simply add a new affinity without changing how it consumes energy. That means the Sanguis Impera would be able to feed on something other than blood to grow stronger. Pretty cool, actually."

"Thanks for the input," Thalion said. He had already been thinking about affinities and which might pair well with the Sanguis Impera, but it wasn’t an easy decision. He had to consider what affinities would also benefit his other forms. For the Crippled Eclipsari and the Tidecaller Serpent, he had no clear idea which affinities would be best. Ice might work well for the Tidecaller Serpent, but for the Crippled Eclipsari? Maybe earth?

Luckily, those forms were already quite strong, and he was planning to focus on fear effects next for the Eclipsari. The Tidecaller Serpent would also get a major upgrade once he used the massive crystal. So for now, there wasn’t an urgent need to add extra affinities.

On second thought, some mental abilities might pair well with the Tidecaller Serpent. The blue translucent flames already affected the mind, so adding mental-based skills like Ankhet did sounded promising.

For Eagly and his human form, the situation was different. Storm affinity was cool, but not enough in Thalion’s eyes. He wanted to add another affinity that would make that form even more dangerous. Maybe Light? Light was fast and would match well with wind and lightning, but it might interfere with his passive skill that made him harder to detect. If he ended up glowing like a giant lightbulb, that would be counterproductive.

For the Sanguis Impera, the most logical choice would probably be Fire. He already had a fire skill, and if the Sanguis Impera could channel its bloodline flames, it would become far more powerful than with any other affinity. The only problem? If Eagly ever became a dragon, he might also need the fire affinity. After all, how could he use a proper dragon’s breath without it?

All in all, Thalion didn’t really have a concrete plan for which affinities to add. Then again, he had a literal god in front of him, so why not ask?

"What affinity do you think would fit best? I’ve got a few ideas, but I’m not really sure they’re good in the long run."

"It’s hard to say what’s good long-term," the dragon god replied thoughtfully. "But considering your bloodline, I’d say fire is always a solid option. Light or life could also work well. I think those three are your best choices. But you still have time, so don’t rush it. Whether you add a new affinity now or in three months won’t make much of a difference.

What is important is that you have a clear idea of where you want your forms to go in the future. Otherwise, your evolution, or worse, your divine clase, might guide you down a path you won’t like."

By the end, the dragon god looked genuinely serious. Thalion understood the concern, but he wasn’t keen on waiting too long either. He would need every power-up he could get to survive in this new world, where he would be facing powerful, well-trained E-grades.

Still, the affinities the dragon god suggested made sense. Light might be an odd choice for his human form, but maybe it was because plants needed light to grow? Life made sense too. It fit well with both blood and plant-based powers. How he would nurture the life affinity was a question for another time, though.

For now, fire still felt like the strongest and most promising option.

"Do you have any idea how many Chosen will appear on New Earth and what the event quests will be like? Oh, and how big will New Earth be?" Thalion asked. Getting information about the upcoming trials was extremely important, especially since he would have to participate in all of them. The last part, about the planet’s size, was also crucial. Maybe it was so massive that the chances of running into a chosen were relatively slim?

"How many Chosen, hmm… Let’s take a look," the dragon god grumbled before continuing.
"There should be at least ten Chosen on New Earth. The event quests vary, but the first one is usually a kind of treasure hunt mixed with slaughter or survival elements. For example, there might be extra rewards for killing other treasure hunters, in addition to whatever treasure they drop, but it can take many forms. The second and third events often change, and the third one is usually created by the spirits of long-dead gods, which makes it pretty chaotic. In the last two eras, the second event was an arena trial, but that’s not guaranteed. It changes a lot."

"The more important thing is this: you must pay with your lifetime to enter. Normally between ten and five hunderd years. The event quests include time manipulation, meaning those who participate will gain a significant power advantage over those who don’t. The higher the cost, the better the rewards, but also the fiercer the competition."

You’re somewhat lucky. These events are only for those in the newly integrated universe. Later events won’t be so kind; you may have to compete against people who’ve been nurtured by their gods from day one," the dragon god explained in a serious tone.

Thalion was shocked. He had to sacrifice years of his life just to enter? The system wasn’t playing around when it came to creating elites. If every event cost five hundred years, he might not even be able to attend. No wonder it was difficult to place high. Who would give up five hundred years just to "chill" in an event?

"Do I even have enough lifetime to attend all the events? And will they be held on New Earth?" Thalion asked. These event quests only raised more questions.

"You’ve gained the remaining lifespans of the Anqueens when they sacraficed themselves and passed their power and dreams to you. I think you have around 1,700 years left. You’ll have to pass a small test on New Earth to get a token. When the event begins, everyone with a token will be teleported to a world created specifically for the system event, very much like this tutorial."

"As for how many will be there? Likely a few millions, but I can’t say how many will come from New Earth. When the entry cost is high, fewer will participate, and the system pulls competitors from more planets. If the cost is low and even weaker individuals dare to enter, it may only involve a few planets. It varies a lot. Still, I’d say the minimum number of competitors is around two million."

"Don’t get your hopes up if the cost is low. The competition will still be brutal. And if the cost is the full five hundred years? Expect complete carnage."

"How much you pay to enter also determines the leaderboard rewards. So, if you need to pay five hundred years, the top reward will be something extremely rare. Something even gods can’t provide for their Chosen."

"Great," Thalion thought after the dragon god finished. This just kept getting better and better. He really hoped he wouldn’t have to pay five hundred years to participate. No wonder it was so hard to place in the top thousand when you were competing with at least two million others.

"On another note. Is there a level cap?" Thalion asked. He doubted he could win against a high E-grade in direct combat if they were an elite.

"No, not directly. It all depends on your progress during the tutorial. There is a level cap for those who enter newly integrated space via incursions and similar events, but how fast they level up afterward is up to them. You don’t need to worry about S-Grades or gods swooping in and fighting over planets. It’ll take a long time before gods can get involved, which is exactly why so many factions are interested in newly integrated areas."

"At least that sounded kind of nice," Thalion thought. But he couldn’t help wondering: had the elite really postponed their evolutions until now? How fast could they level up on New Earth, or in the system events? He would be participating without gaining any levels at all. That felt like he was missing out on a massive advantage.

Then again, he had a bigger goal: to break the seal on his soul. For that, he needed to obtain a divine class. Thalion really didn’t like where this was going. Everything pointed to the first years on New Earth being drenched in blood.

From that point on, not much else happened. They talked about casual things, and Thalion soon sat down to begin repairing his soul. He even put the massage chair back into his spatial ring. It was just too comfy to focus properly.

His soul had healed quite a bit, but many of the spirit veins hadn’t repaired themselves. That was something he had to do manually. Luckily, he was already skilled enough to manage it. It seemed like the soul didn’t have to be perfect to channel full power. Thalion still didn’t fully understand how his soul and body worked together. The energy flowed through his veins, but whenever his soul was damaged, he began to lose control.

For now, he didn’t think too deeply about the details. The lesson was simple: keep your soul and body healthy, or nothing would function properly.

When he was finished, Thalion asked a few more questions about the gods, but the dragon god didn’t want to share anything and only said it would be better for him to find out on his own.

"Thanks for all the help and see you in a week," Thalion said, before exiting the system shop.

Throughout the entire time, he hadn’t even tried to drink the golden liquid once.




<author note>

So that wraps it up for this week.

I think it was suggested that space or time affinity would be great to add to the Sanguis Impera before.
The thing is, time and space in this story are very high concepts, and you’d need very rare treasures or singularities for body tempering, which Thalion won’t have access to for quite a while.

With that knowledge now, what affinity do you think would work best for the Sanguis Impera and his other forms?
Not everything is set in stone yet, so it might actually impact the story if someone has a genius idea.

For next week: Thalion has a new skill to test, and there are still plenty of undead around and a very angry mother elf too.

If you think the pressure eases now that Ankhet is dead, you’re wrong.
Until now, Thalion has been dealing with average enemies by multiversal standards, with the termites being the only exception.
He’ll need to power up big time if he wants to stand a chance and there might be whispers in the air that New Earth will be such a bloody affair that early evolution might be the only way to survive.

Have a great weekend. See you next monday.

Cheers

<author note>