Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 940: Limited Time

Asher appeared in his room as he had teleported there directly. Just as Arianna had said, there was nothing more to see at the event, so he simply left. He had already had fun with the commoners, and it was the most enjoyable time he had experienced in a while. As for his friends, he practically saw them every day, so there was no need to wait for them or remain until they were done.

As he appeared, he immediately collapsed onto his bed, a smile forming on his lips as his mind replayed everything that had happened. His soul ascension, his body’s strengthening, and Virelass’ evolution.

‘Physical attributes enough to match a Dust Voidstar Life Ranker,’ Asher mused to himself as excitement coursed through him, but he knew he couldn’t remain excited for long.

As stated earlier, while his physical prowess and Astra energy reserves had stepped into the Voidstar Life Rank, he wasn’t truly there yet, as he still lacked in every other aspect. So, he needed to train and close those gaps as quickly as possible, or he would be one-shotted by any genuine Dust Voidstar Life Ranker.

Besides, since he could sense the intense determination burning within Arianna until the very moment she left, he knew she was going to throw herself into some absurd training regimen. Although he, Asher, possessed the title that proclaimed him the most talented being to ever grace this planet, Asher wasn’t delusional. He hadn’t reached this point simply because he was talented. Talent had never granted power by itself; it merely granted the path towards attaining it.

Meaning, if he slacked off for even a single moment, people like Arianna would eventually overtake him.

But it wasn’t an issue for him. Hard work had never been something he struggled with. He had been working hard these past two years.

‘Hand-to-hand combat training, elemental control training, Song Of Virelass training…’ Asher began listing everything he needed to improve. ‘My swordsmanship is also about to step into another stage. I just have to push a little harder. My combat efficiency and experience have also increased after my battles with Acker, Isaac, Arianna, Lior, a few other students, and also Xal’Thar,’ Asher thought to himself.

Although Asher had overpowered everyone except Arianna, he had always made it a point to learn whatever he could from each of those students whenever there was something worth learning. So yes, he had learned a great deal from them.

‘Need to look into my footwork technique, and also upgrade my Formless Body Technique,’ Asher’s thoughts continued.

While there were countless things to do, he never complained or anything of the sort. Besides, he genuinely loved training. But… he loved battles even more, because battles revealed the fruits that were borne from hours of constant training.

Normally, the lazy Asher would have waited until he returned to Star Academy or the Zarethorne Empire before beginning his true training. But there was no time for that. Although there was no prophecy or ominous warning claiming that he and the others would be attacked the moment they left the Thalvorn Empire, he still needed to remain extremely cautious.

It was precisely the reason why he wanted to train and fully become capable of taking on a Dust Voidstar Life Ranker before their journey back to the Zarethorne Empire began. If a battle occurred, then whatever combat prowess he had displayed before now would become utterly useless, as the people involved in that confrontation would most likely be Crownstar Life Rankers at the very least, with Voidstar Life Rankers serving as the minimum standard.

But there wasn’t enough time. Even with his extraordinary talent, it still required a certain amount of time to improve himself across every aspect… meaning… he might have to temporarily ignore areas such as hand-to-hand combat and instead focus all of his efforts on his swordsmanship, Song Of Virelass, and the Formless Body Technique.

Besides, he knew that if he paired his Accelerated Thought Process ability with his training, both his training speed and efficiency would increase dramatically, greatly shortening the amount of time required for all of it.

‘If only I knew how much time I had left,’ Asher thought to himself with a sigh.

He didn’t know whether he had two days, a week, or even longer. Although he could already guess that Cindralis and the other principals of the various academies from the different Empires would probably give the students some time to enjoy themselves after the conclusion of the Inter-Empire Tournament.

But Asher also knew that such a thing might never happen, as many people would undoubtedly prefer to leave on the very same day and at the exact same time. That way, even if an attack came, whoever was orchestrating it would either be forced to attack one group or divide their forces into four separate teams. That was far better than allowing each Empire to depart one after another, only to risk being singled out and eliminated one by one.

Besides, there was another issue occupying his thoughts at the moment.

It was the issue of a trump card.

A trump card was a powerful strategy, ability, technique, or source of power, essentially anything capable of granting its wielder a decisive advantage in battle. More importantly, it usually remained hidden from the enemy so they couldn’t formulate plans against it beforehand.

But now… Star Form was out in the open… could it still be considered a trump card?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Maybe not because people already knew it existed.

Maybe because people still didn’t know the true extent of the power it granted after activation.

Of course, at the moment, it granted enough power to injure a Dust Voidstar Life Ranker if they were caught off guard, but that wasn’t a permanent limit.

Asher himself was already physically stronger than before, meaning the boost gained from the Star Form would naturally become stronger as well, since he himself served as the foundation upon which the skill was built.

Asher wasn’t sure he had enough time to push his Star Form to the next level within his extremely limited training window.

‘Create a new trump card?’ Asher thought to himself in silence as he couldn’t help but imagine something even more preposterous than Star Form itself, but nothing came to mind.

All in all, Star Form was still a trump card, as it could continue evolving alongside him, but that would have to wait until later rather than now due to his current level of control over Star Energy. Although his control over Star Energy had improved during his battle with Arianna, it still wasn’t sufficient to allow him to upgrade Star Form at this very moment.

He stared at the ceiling deep in thought, but after a while, he sighed. At the end of the day, they were called ideas because they couldn’t simply be forced into existence. He would do everything that he could for now, and if inspiration eventually came to him, then he would act upon it immediately.

‘I wonder if, during my body’s and soul’s reconstruction, my talent also increased,’ Asher thought to himself.

It was a genuine possibility. After all, there was nothing stating that he had already reached the absolute pinnacle of talent that a Human, or even any living being, could possibly possess. Being the most talented being to ever grace Crymora didn’t necessarily mean he had reached the ultimate ceiling of talent itself.

Asher couldn’t help but imagine the terrifying synergy between an even greater level of talent and his Accelerated Thought Process.

‘Hey… System, did my talent increase as my body and soul were reforged?’ he asked the System, genuinely curious.

[The System should add ‘The Sinvaira Of Greed’ as a new title]

The System replied as though it simply couldn’t comprehend the shameless Human who had somehow become its Host.