The Absolute: Humanity's Second Chance

And after what seemed like ages, the light slowly died down, and revealed a completely golden Cryz Stone that descended into Damien's hands in majesty.

Like a King descending down the isle. Like the magnificent setting sun, leaving with its golden glazed red glory. It was breathe taking.

"..."

Flint's eyes followed the descending stone blankly. He was complete captivated. But Damien was not. He stretched out his hand, and grabbed the Cryz Stone, covering all it's glory from the naked eyes of the world.

Flint immediately came back to his senses, and could not believe his reaction. 'I... I should really learn to control my emotions.' He thought, shaded pink like a tomato.

Damien ignored him, and checked out the golden Cryz Stones with the character of "Foundation" on its center. Just that word alone caught his interest.

[ Ascendant Foundation (UNIQUE) :- A Unique Ability shattering the very limits of one's Existential Grade as a mortal, and giving them boons and blessing that other Unique creatures such as gods, devils, angels etc enjoy to the fullest. Burning out 10 Billion units of Mana per second, can increase all effects your attacks, abilities, techniques etc by a hundred times ]

"..."

Damien was amazed. This Ability was out of his expectation, but not completely illogical... for now. But with enough Mana, he could literally obtain stupendous effects to his battle prowess.

Already imagining this Ability used on his light speed travel when he wore his Wings of Endless Ash, he could travel a hundred times faster... a hundred times faster than light!!

Most gods could barely achieve that speed even in their wildest dreams. Yet, he was still a mortal.

He then continued and fused more Abilities, using up four more Cryz Stones. The first pair was "Dragon Roar" and "Dragon Might", which birthed the mastered Extra Ability, "Dragonification".

The second pair was then "Rune Mastery" and "Runic Eye", birthing the mastered Extra Ability, "Eye of Runic Affinity".

Then fusing both mastered Extra Abilities, with the cost of one more Cryz Stone due to the mismatching elements, he birthed yet another Unique Ability.

[ Runic Dragonborne (UNIQUE) :- A Unique Ability that manipulates the Universal Law of Transformation and changes one's Physiology into that of a dragonborne. The form can be kept active by burning out one hundred billion Mana units per second. In this form, the Universal Runic Law bends to your will, and all stats (aside from Affinity) are greatly enhanced by fifty times each ]

Yet another amazing Ability. Damien thought to himself. He then turned to look at Flint, who was caught staring straight at him as well.

...!!!

The young man hurriedly averted his eyes, and pretended as if he was busy with his own chore. Damien kept staring at him in silence, and Flint felt like he was carrying the world on his shoulders.

The pressure was too heavy. And the silence was too loud. 'At least say something... please!!' He thought, but Damien ignored him, and went about his own business. 'Thank the gods... wait, I am a god though... Well, whatever.'

Flint then went back to focusing on his ascension, while Damien tested out his new Unique Ability, [Ascendant Foundation].

It was the only Unique Ability so far that was not restricted due to his lower Realm. But thanks to that, the cost was too much. Especially so, thanks to its illegal ascension.

"..."

He activated the Ability with a thought, and felt his power immediately rise. With his limited Mana, this would not last more than a second, so he had to be fast.

And thus, just as his overall being was elevated, and strengthened, he immediately sent a punch through the air. It was a simple action, a simple movement.

Yet it's effects were everything but simple. For, a wrathful gale, as if carrying countless wails of ghost and devils in hell, bloomed atop the mountain and spread out in rage.

"..."

Flint was once again speechless. For a mortal, that punch was completely lethal. By now, he knew that Damien was still an Apprentice, which for days he underwent denial, but recognized was true.

Hence for an Apprentice, to release such terrifying strength was illogical. Especially when he felt like it was almost 10% the might of a demigod. Him. One of the most powerful (self recognized) demigods!!

Yet what they were unaware of, was that, the current one second Damien, was almost on par as the strongest of demigods, anomalies and irregulars aside.

"Not bad." Damien thought, as the effects of his new Ability died down. Luckily, he still had billions of Mana units, hence he felt no weakness whatsoever.

He nodded in satisfaction. But he was not done. Becoming a god would take days even for a monster genius like Flint, so Damien was not worried about time at the moment.

Instead, he then targeted two more Unique Abilities. Respectively, "Runic Dragonborne" and "Runic Encryption" or with "Dragon Heart".

He was inclined to using the latter, since he had plans for "Runic Encryption". He was also looking forward to what monstrous Ability would be born out of this.

And just like that, time went by as both young man underwent their own individual activities. Damien for the most part, was just getting more accustomed to his artifacts.

While Flint focused more on tying to become a genuine god. And thus, both became irrelevant towards time, just as it was to them.

A day went by, then two days, three days, four days, and by the fifth day, progress appeared on Flint's nth attempt at manipulating faith.

"..."

The young man stared intently at the barrel of faith that had not moved an inch for five days. But today, maybe due to his numerous attempts, he finally managed to slightly nudge at the faith swimming within the barrel.

The ever serene sea of golden glitter, suddenly jerked up and caused small waves to spread out. Flint beamed at the discovery, but did his best to tone it down.

It could be an earthquake or something. He thought, and made yet another attempt. And to his joy, the golden sea of glitter grew restless, as if an ocean about to welcome a storm.

'It's not earthquake or something, I made progress!! Progress!!' Flint thought in joy, and kept trying to manipulate the faith with his monstrous will.

He attempted to shape the faith into a droplet, and a portion of it moved at his will. And walla, a droplet was formed. Flint's joy and confidence continously climbed up the roof.

He then attempted to form something else, using a larger reserve of faith, ten percent to be precise. He formed a heart with it, and he succeeded.

Then he formed a miniature version of Damien with thirty percent. A miniature version of the Realm Guardian he fought with fifty percent. A miniature version of Falsar with eight percent.

'Hahaha!! I can do it. I can finally do it!!' He beamed out in more joy and used up all faith to form a spiraling golden sea around him.

"Sir Damien, check this out. I did it, I did it." He said in joy, floating up with the spiraling golden sea of glitter around him, making him seem holy and divine.

"Hm. You outdid my expectations again. Amazing." Damien praised without looking at him, and then added, "Now try and feed every cell within your body with a hint of faith."

"It does not have to be fully saturated, but as long as every cell of your body has a hint of faith, you can truly form a genuine divine body. Those cells will then convert your Mana to Divine power."

"Depending on your Talent, this might take over two years, or just less than a day. Including the blessing of being within a Stage 2 Realm. But I know you'll be down by tomorrow." Damien dumped more knowledge to him.

Flint nodded, then frowned. "I have Infinite Mana though." And laid out a problem he thought would make things tough for him. But Damien easily brushed it off. "Makes no difference. Only potential does."

"So you mean... it's possible to convert Infinite Mana to Infinite Divine Power in just less than a day?" He verified, and Damien corrected. "Not necessarily so. A single unit of Divine power is comparable to Trillions of units of Mana."

"And Infinity is an abstruse term when it comes to Mana. It only applies when one has so much source to the point that no matter what he/she does, they will never run out. No matter what."

Flint paused, and broke it down to how he understood it. "So my Infinite Mana actually has a defined number? And it's only just infinite to me because I cannot count up to it, and use it all?"

"Indeed." Damien nodded, then added. "But if the number is too large, for even gods and devils alike, then it's possible to have Infinite Divine power as well."

"I see..." Flint nodded, and then began on doing as he was told. He was curious how much Mana he had, and whether it was average to gods, or considered monstrous as well.

And thus, time went by. And righy after yet another day, both young man were presented with terrifying results.

Even Damien was speechless.

"..."

"..."