Crucible Aeternum: Ascending through Skill Trees

Divine Blade of Retribution

Divine Lance of Radiance

Divine Fist of Fury

Divine Blade of Beauty

Divine Blade of Finality

In the vastness of the world, how high were the chances of five specific people being connected to one another? It was not very high, that much was certain. But whether by coincidence or by fate, five Divines had at least some form of connection with each other.

Galeon wondered who the Divine Blade of Beauty was. Verena, it was a name he had never heard of before. He was certain that it was a coincidence that she came to the Eastern Region at around the same time he was commissioned by the Governor of Melchior. But for Shine to think that they knew each other, there must be something that he was missing.

Regardless, it was not much of a concern to him. The business of other Divines was not his. As long as they did not bother him, he would not bother them. And finally understanding that the observers keeping watch of him were only following the Saintess' orders, he decided to let the matter go.

Even he had heard of the Saintess. Although he did not believe that she had a truly clairvoyant ability, he knew it was not an impossibility. Becoming the Saintess of the Lux Holy Land was not a simple feat. In fact, before the current Saintess, they were without a true leader for so many years. It was only about a hundred years ago that the current Saintess rose to the position. This meant that she must definitely have a unique quality to her that qualified for the position.

After a brief moment of silence, Galeon's clones began dispersing into light. Shine turned around to watch him continue walking toward the giant worm's corpse. He was now just a few steps away looking lonesome even despite his grand victory. She did not know what he wanted to do with the corpse, but it was not her problem. He was the one who did most of the work to kill it anyway. Instead, she called out to him one last time.

"Finality, the Saintess extends an official invitation to you. She asks you to visit the Holy Land and meet with her. We'll await your response."

Without waiting for his reply, Shine turned around to leave. She had to reorganise her subordinates and deal with the aftermath of the beast tide. She also had to report to the Saintess about everything that has happened. There was still a lot of work left for her to do, but she could only sigh and get on with it.

Galeon only nodded absentmindedly as he noted it down in the back of his mind. His gaze remained locked onto something that only he could perceive. Since the moment he attacked the giant worm to finally kill it, he had been seeing a silhouette of a person. It was this silhouette who had appeared in front of him to stop him from taking the Sixth Step which would have killed him.

It had saved him at that time, but he did not know what it was which made him suspicious of it. And now again, it appeared over the corpse of the giant worm, pointing at it while staring at him. Galeon did not know what it was telling him, but he knew it must be something important. And as he finally stood in front of the corpse, his Prisma Core began pulsing rapidly as though in excitement.

Galeon looked at the strange silhouette and it nodded to him before vanishing. He did not know what it wanted to tell him, but he at least understood that the giant worm's corpse was the key. He placed his hand on it and witnessed a shocking scene.

Liquid crystal began flooding out of him outside of his control. The Prisma Core was moving with a great amount of enthusiasm bordering on mania as it seeped into the body of the worm. Galeon realised that there would be unwanted attention on him if the worm was suddenly devoured so he instead released his liquid light to cover the worm's corpse. He would make it look as though he burned it to ash.

It took a while for the Prisma Core to find what it was looking for as it burrowed deep into the length of the giant worm. And god, was it long. As far as he could tell, the body of the worm that they could see in Vaulkeen's End was just one fourth of the whole body. The only reason it died was because Galeon's attack effectively cut off its lifeforce entirely.

But finally, after a long while, the Prisma Core finally found its prize and began devouring it with relish. Galeon felt the great changes before the Vernal Bloom could even alert him. The Prisma Core on his chest began fluctuating, shrinking in one moment and then growing larger in the next over and over.

More than that, he could feel himself bursting with so much energy that he almost failed to control it. It has been a week since he first awakened his Prisma Core. By now, he was already used to controlling the large amounts of energy it was giving him, but not this time. This time, he felt so incredibly bloated that he had to force himself to syphon the excess energy into all his other abilities.

White flames blazed all around him. His wings and body began vibrating at high frequencies. He was even injuring himself with Vibration just so that he could pour more energy into Retroactive Physique to heal him. Because if he did not do it, he feared that he might really just explode. It trumped even his fear of True Damage. And that was when the Vernal Bloom came with answers.

[Your Prisma Core has devoured a unique type of Prisma Core with undefined qualities and complexities.]

[Symbiotic Devour has gained undefined qualities.]

[Symbiotic Devour has been sufficiently defined.]

[The Vernal Bloom has extrapolated more complexities.]

[Decide the trajectory of your growth.]

[Symbiotic Devour: You have grown with a Prisma Core merged to you. Learn and understand that it is an extension of yourself. Your body is its vessel and its nature is your armament.]

[Branch A | Doppelganger: Prisma is you. You are Prisma. Whether in one body or two or many, you are a force to be reckoned with.]

[Branch B | Metamorph: Prisma is you. You are Prisma. Regardless of your form, your power is without limits.]

[Undefined qualities have influenced the complexities of Symbiotic Devour.]

[The Vernal Bloom has managed to extrapolate complexities that cannot be categorised under any Stratum.]

[Additional unique complexities are now available for selection.]

[Branch C | Shaper: Undefined.]

[Warning: Selecting unique complexities is not advised. Unique complexities often involve undefined qualities and chaotic complexities that cannot be defined.]

Undefined... this word was starting to hurt Galeon's eyes. Almost every other line in this series of notifications had this word. Honestly, he was shocked. This was the second time that he was presented a skill tree with three branches. But unlike the case with Bringer of Light, this one seemed far more daunting.

It was a tough choice... because absolutely none of the three choices looked any good at all. Doppelganger was perhaps the most useless one of the bunch for him. He could literally do the same with Bringer of Light and Sublimation, so why would he need another?

Metamorph, he did not even want to entertain the damn thing. Regardless of his form? Did he even want to change his form? Yes, wings were convenient, but would he want to become a bird or an insect just because they have wings? Hell no! He liked his human form a lot, thank you very much.

And then there was the elephant in the room. A unique complexity that did not even belong to any Stratum. The Vernal Bloom's warning could not have been any clearer. By choosing this, he might just be effectively cutting off his future potential. And after all this time having chosen future potential over immediate rewards, would he really fail now?

The answer... surprisingly did not come to him.

He actually hesitated this time. There was something within him that wanted to try out his luck. It was only a chance anyway. He just had to take the gamble, bet away his future potential and see if it pays off. But more importantly, when he saw the name 'Shaper', something about it resonated with him.

Shaper... a being who shapes. Was this not what he aspired to become? Did he not want to shape his own destiny? To be free of the ultimacy of Finality and cross the gap into a new Origin? Was this not what he needed to strive for Eternity?

Galeon blinked and he saw the silhouette appear in front of him again. It seemed to be watching him intently as though intrigued by the choice he would make. He could practically feel its anticipation. It was so palpable that he could feel it spreading through his own chest. But there was no need for suspense. He knew that he had already made a decision.

[Symbiotic Devour has evolved into Shaper.]

[Shaper is being defined.]