NOVEL WEB Chapter 282: Awakening Stages and Gods
On a random plot in Keith's spatial dimension, Gerald and the others sat in a circle with a few rabbits getting roasted on the fire that was at the center.
While they watched the rabbits getting cooked, they saw a familiar face walk towards them.
"Fabian right?" Juliet asked as she looked up at him coyly.
"Yes." he replied as he saw Alpha, Beta and Gerald move to the side to make space for him.
Ken silently cut up a little bit of rabbit meat that was cooked and put it into his mouth before he savored the taste.
Fabian on the other hand, sat down with them and then looked at Juliet with a look of slight intrigue.
"Oh~ You're going to make me blush if you keep staring." she said, her voice slightly higher in pitch compared to normal but Fabian shook his head.
"Nah, I was just wondering about something. My master told me that you're one of the only few people who underwent a third awakening."
Juliet looked disappointed for a second, but she hid it almost instantly before she shook her head.
"No I'm not. I did attempt it and fail but I did gain a few things from that."
Gerald, looking interested, leaned slightly forward as he spoke, "Can you tell us about how your abilities changed when you underwent your second and third awakening? Even if the third one failed… like you said, you should have gotten something. Right?"
Juliet nodded, "Yeah. Well…. Let's seee…. On my first awakening, I received the ability to move and manipulate shadows any way I wanted to. I could send my shadow to spy on others and I'll also be able to see and hear about them
When it comes to second awakening…" she said softly and grinned, "My ability evolved. I could steal the awakened abilities of those that I killed and I was able to use them myself although with some limitations. Like, take you for example."
She pointed at Alpha, "You can control metals right? So for instance, if I killed you, I would be able to do the same thing. But, the efficiency at which I can use those abilities will be different each time. I honestly don't know why that happens.
Take my abomination for example. I can use a small bit of flesh, make it bubble and grow before I turn it into whatever I wish. I actually feel less drained and tired when I use this compared to when I use my shadows. And hell, this ability isn't even mine.
And a few hundred years ago, I attempted a third awakening and failed. My current abilities were refined and got better thanks to this, but my body remained the same. It was an incomplete third awakening.
Before, I couldn't give the stolen awakened abilities to others but after the awakening attempt, I could do it with a simple thought. I can give these abilities to shadows and as long as a shadow sticks to a person, the person will be able to use those abilities.
That's how I made Ken. I used Abomination to create his body and then gave him his awakened ability. The same thing with his clones too. Thanks to Abomination, his body is actually close to perfection. If you fight him without using awakened abilities, like a normal person, then there will probably only be a few people who can beat him.
In fact, did you know that Keith actually tried arm wrestling with Ken and lost?"
The trio, Alpha, Beta and Gerald raised their eyebrows at the same time while Fabian busied himself with eating. He wasn't too familiar with Keith, so he didn't care whether he won or lost.
Juliet on the other hand, continued. She snapped her fingers and a few blobs of flesh bubbled up from her hand and fell to the ground before they grew into replicas of Ken.
"All of my boys have different awakened abilities you know? And when they merge…" she said and looked to her side.
The multiple Kens hugged each other and their flesh began to bubble and merge. A big nine foot long human stood in place once the transformation was done, with no proper skin, face or hair.
It was bald and the flesh was out in the open, exposed to the air while it's face only had a set of eyes and a mouth.
"This baby can use the abilities of all my Ken's by itself but this form is slightly unstable. Okay not slightly… it is pretty unstable. It heals slower and if it's hit by something too strong, then it can't recover at all. But well, sometimes the risk is worth it." she said as she patted her creature's ass with a loving expression on her face.
Fabian swallowed the food that was in his mouth and looked at Juliet, "You said that you attempted a third awakening right? Is that the last step? Or can we go even further? What's the difference between second awakening and third awakening? Like the process."
"Whoa whoa calm down handsome, that's way too many questions at the same time."
She then hummed as she grabbed a rabbit leg and tore if off before taking a huge bite. Then, she looked at Fabian as she spoke with her mouth full of meat.
"Okay so… the third awakening isn't the last step. I come from a different continent and from what I've seen, the last and final step is the fifth awakening. Most people on this continent don't even know about a second awakening so expecting them to know about the levels above that is well… unrealistic.
As for the difference between the multiple stages of awakening… let's just say that it's mostly the process. You can use the ritual for fifth awakening to get your first awakening done, but that's basically a waste of resources.
There's a limit to what you can get once you awaken the first time, and all I can say is that the value of resources that you use for a fifth awakening ritual is way higher than your entire life and your awakened ability combined.
Keith uses a second awakening ritual for both first and second awakening but that bitch has the resources to spare. Though, I think he only did it for one person apart from him, his daughter. As for the others…"
She hesitated slightly and looked at Alpha and Beta, "How did you guys get your awakened abilities? Last time I saw you guys, you were in a gang and Keith kinda brought you guys here right? Don't tell me he used the same ritual to awaken you."
Alpha and beta looked at each other and then at Juliet, "He didn't. The god's messenger came here and killed three of our mates. We gave in and promised to work for Keith and then we miraculously got these abilities."
"I see…" Juliet said and nodded to herself, 'Kinda similar to my own ability transfer but maybe there are some differences.'
"Anyways." she muttered and looked at Fabian, "The difference between second and third awakening is the same as first and second but with some extra stuff. In your first awakening, you get your awakened ability.
In your second awakening, you either make your first ability stronger or more versatile. Basically an upgrade that might go in multiple ways. Or, you might awaken a second ability that's completely separate from your first one.
Now, the third awakening onwards, some stuff changed. It's not just about your awakened abilities anymore but also your body. Your body will get tougher, your bones will get denser, muscles stronger and stuff like that. The most important thing is that your lifespan will be increased by a huge margin.
This also happens when you awaken the first and second time, but compared to the third awakening, it's not much. Let's just say… the range of your lifespan getting extended when you succeed in first and second awakening, is around five to twenty years.
But when you go through third awakening, the range of your lifespan increasing is in the triple digits. I told you that my awakening was partial right? Well, my body didn't exactly evolve and nor did my awakened abilities. Though, I did get an extended lifespan. Around eight hundred years to be precise.
Add that to my original lifespan and the addition of first and second awakening… that'll hit 900 years in total. I'm currently more than four hundred years old but well… I stopped counting long ago so don't know what my accurate age is.
Oh yeah, there's one more thing. Even though you didn't ask me about this…" she said as she gave everyone a cheeky grin.
"Did you know that the so-called gods you worshiped, are actually just people who went through third awakening? Well, Mammon is a fourth stage awakened so there's that but let me tell you something funny.
Every person has a limit to the number of awakenings they can go through. There are usually three kinds of limitations. One is physical limitation, which means that there's nothing you can do if you're not born with the potential.
Second is the limitation of resources. If you don't have enough stuff, your awakening will fail like mine did…
Anyways, the third limitation is actually the method that you use for the awakening. Some ritual formations have higher success rate while some are just trash.
Those gods of yours? They have reached the limit of what they can reach in their lives. But they wish to live for a loooong time and now they're kinda greedy. Divine energy is mysterious and can prolong one's lifespan, you know. Those bastards are just using you like livestock and the people of this continent worship them, which I find to be really funny."