MIGHT AS WELL BE OP

Chapter 1210: Elevated Platform

As Anthony stepped through the portal, he dipped his hand into his pocket and took out the wooden talisman, using it immediately. Although he had planned not to use it, he always kept it in his pocket rather than storing it in his System Inventory or Space Ring.

Anthony felt as though he was surrounded by pure Darkness, Void, and Nothingness. That was all his blue eyes could perceive as he looked around the place where he floated. The next moment, a colossal pillar of blinding incandescent light tore through the Void, crashing into his body with bathing force.

Anthony didn’t feel anything touch him; it was as though the physical light wasn’t even there. The next moment, Anthony felt a faint humming sensation as his body gradually began to float upward.

Anthony felt something tear through his body. His skin squirmed as though every inch of his physique was being reconstructed and rewritten from the inside out, yet he felt no pain whatsoever despite the bizarre sensation.

[Ding]

[System back online]

Anthony heard the familiar chime of the System ring within his ears. He had long since closed his eyes, allowing whatever mysterious force was rewriting his body to continue its work uninterrupted.

[The Host is undergoing physical alterations]

What seemed to be a few hours passed before Anthony felt the strange changes within his body come to an end. He didn’t open his eyes immediately. Instead, he carefully tried to get a sense of his body, wanting to know whether he had grown stronger. However, to his surprise, that hadn’t happened. He seemed… exactly the same.

[The Host has been bestowed with the knowledge of languages used upon the Upper Galaxy]

As the System chimed once more, Anthony felt a surging amount of knowledge flood his mind. With his ridiculous intelligence, Anthony comprehended everything in less than a second. His brain had been filled with five entirely different languages, each seemingly native to various regions and civilizations within the Upper Galaxy he was about to enter.

[The Host’s Mana Core has begun physical alteration]

The System chimed once more. This time, Anthony felt genuine pain as the Mana Core within his body trembled violently while the golden pillar of light permeated every part of his body before pouring directly into it. The energy contained within his Mana Core, Mana, was being converted in real time into an entirely different form of energy.

Anthony felt his Mana vanish. He instinctively tried calling upon it, but it no longer responded. His Mana Core, which had once been filled to the brim with immense Mana, now felt strangely lacking as every trace of Mana within it was converted into the minuscule amount of an unfamiliar Energy he now possessed.

Although he felt immense pain throughout the process, Anthony didn’t scream. He merely gritted his teeth and silently endured every second of it without making a sound.

Soon, the entire process seemed to be complete as Anthony had now experienced both a physical transformation and an energy conversion.

[As the Host has stepped into Ascension, the System will also ascend alongside its Host. The System will now shut down for a few hours in order to evolve]

The System chimed one final time before its presence vanished completely as it entered its own evolution, just as it had stated.

The next moment, Anthony felt his body shoot upward in a blur as though the golden pillar of light had suddenly gained an immense suction force. Anthony felt… perfect. He felt accomplished, as though he had crossed a monumental threshold, while the brilliant light swallowed him whole.

The next moment, it all seemed to vanish as though the colossal pillar of light had never existed in the first place. Anthony felt sudden solid ground beneath his feet. His eyes slowly fluttered open as he took in his first sight of the Upper Galaxy. Anthony’s gaze shifted downward. He appeared to be standing upon an enormous rune circle carved into an elevated stone platform.

‘Is this a spawn point?’ Anthony thought to himself, as it appeared that this elevated platform existed solely for those arriving through Ascension.

The next thing Anthony felt was the gravity. It was immense, pressing down upon every part of his body with terrifying force. Yet he stood tall without the slightest difficulty, as though he hadn’t even noticed it.

‘It seems that the physical alteration from earlier was meant to adapt my body to the immense gravity of the Upper Galaxy,’ Anthony concluded inwardly.

If those Planetary Level beings back in the Acarnis Galaxy were to step foot here, Anthony was certain they would be crushed to death instantly, regardless of how powerful their physical bodies were. In the end, everyone truly needed the ‘baptism’ of Ascension.

Anthony looked around. He was surrounded by an endless expanse of towering mountains with barely a single tree in sight. The wind gently caressed his skin as though welcoming him to the Upper Galaxy while his hair swayed softly behind him.

‘What is the name of this Energy?’ Anthony thought to himself as he remained standing upon the large rune circle.

He could sense a potent Energy filling the atmosphere, waiting to be manipulated by those capable of wielding it. Anthony instinctively reached out toward it. The unfamiliar Energy immediately answered his call, coiling around his palm for a few brief seconds before dispersing back into the surrounding air.

Anthony immediately attempted to use his Authority of Information, but the moment he did, he received absolutely nothing in return. It was as though his Authority of Information itself was telling him just how weak he currently was.

‘I should get going. I’m at my weakest right now. It seems even both Authority of Information and Authority of Severance aren’t going to be of much use at my current level and in my current state,’ Anthony thought to himself as he prepared to jump down from the elevated platform.

Before Anthony could even take a single step forward, four distinct presences descended from above, each locking him firmly in place. Anthony’s head snapped upward, and from there, his sky blue eyes saw four unknown beings from four entirely different races slowly descending through the sky.

Anthony didn’t bother trying to guess what races they belonged to. He knew he would never recognize them, so there was no point wasting time making assumptions. They certainly weren’t Dragons, Phoenix, Elves, and Vampires, or any of the races he was already familiar with.

Anthony’s senses screamed in warning, his entire body instinctively reacting with chills simply from being within their presence. Anthony couldn’t even remember the last time he had felt such chilling pressure merely from someone’s presence. No… had he ever even experienced something like this before?

Well… perhaps when Klaus had taught them during their first Weapons Training class back at Omni Peak Academy. That particular pressure was the only thing that even came remotely close to what Anthony was currently experiencing.

Anthony didn’t need anyone to tell him. If he made the slightest wrong move, and these four individuals chose not to hold back, they would attack him without the slightest shred of hesitation.