Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

Rain didn't know how that creature came to be, but he could only assume that they had a lot of spares in order to test the enemies that got in their way… Rain soon confirmed that when another golem appeared, but this one was two times bigger than the previous one.

"A body made with the interior of a first dragon and parts of the world perhaps… a world entirely made of diamond? Or perhaps a species that had their bodies covered in diamond?" Rain thought.

The monster soon charged again, but Rain wasn't interested in blocking another attack of that level… his forearms were still hurting a lot, after all. Instead, Rain grabbed the fists of the monster with his bare hands… the charge pushed him backward, but soon he stopped, and then the fists of the monster began to crack.

"That is impossible… how can you have an easier time with a stronger opponent?"

Rain smirked… the machine god could tell that Rain's aura changed, but he didn't know that the entire nature of his attacks changed, and he activated some special skills as well… from the Gratitude path.

Level 15: Grateful Aura - Radiating a grateful aura, practitioners positively influence their surroundings. Allies experience increased resistance to environmental debuffs and decrease the effects of Greed effects by ten percent per level.

Level 20: Serene Gratitude - Achieving serene gratitude, practitioners find inner peace and tranquility. This skill reduces stress and anxiety, enhancing focus and emotional balance. Decreases the power of physical attacks related to greed by one hundred points per level.

It was only obvious that a monster that was using the power of the sins would have the power of greed with a body like that… the creature tried to jump away after freeing itself, but Rain teleported behind the monster and hit the back with a palm strike…

The monster spiraled in the air uncontrollably while the diamond on its body was falling apart… eventually, the monster was smashed on the closest wall and became a smashed pile of blood and flesh.

The skill Light Speed received 80.000 experience points.

The skill Teleport received 80.000 experience points.

The skill Limit Breaker received 80.000 experience points.

…

"Who is next?" Rain asked. "Are you not entertained yet? I know that you need some preparation to use your full power, but come on… do you need that much makeup?"

"We had assumed that the power of the new earthlings would be similar to that other being, but it seems that our guess was wrong since you and the new ones aren't descendants of our dragons. However, this is only a small miscalculation."

"Yeah, yeah," Rain shrugged. "Like a real bad guy, you just have to keep saying: it is all going according to the plan. All the time, and that will be enough."

Rain was trying really hard to bait the machine god… the reason for that is that such a being would have all the information that they needed. Rain didn't know how he could kill it, but he knew how he could steal most of its information. The real question was: could Rain absorb all that information and not fry his brain in the process?

"Arel said you were a curious being, I assumed that she needed to clean her memory a bit after dealing with prisoners for so long, but I can finally see what she meant by that… a completely irrational creature that doesn't know their place, that is what you truly are."

"Aw, you don't have to praise me so much like that," Rain said while smiling and scratching the back of his head.

Things went silent for a while… but soon, the atmosphere began to change; it looked like Rain finally got on the nerves of the machine god, or perhaps he got in one of his circuits.

"Crushing you with the aspect of space would be easy, but that wouldn't benefit us in any way. We will use you to increase our knowledge and experience, and we will use that knowledge to deal with your friends in the most efficient way possible."

In the next moment, Rain felt his body turning weird… it felt like he was becoming slimy, and his guard felt off. At the same time, the surroundings began to slowly change while being all turvy… when Rain recovered, he blinked several times since the surroundings changed completely… he was on another planet with a red sky and a red terrain.

However, the most important thing was the fact that he couldn't feel his mana, and thanks to that, he couldn't see his status screen either.

"... Is he bending space to the point that mana can't work here?" Rain thought while looking around. "What do you think, Elisabetha?"

The ominous sword was still on Rain's back, but he couldn't hear Elisabetha's voice anymore. Since he was in a place where mana couldn't be used, that made sense. Before long, another diamond golem appeared, and in that situation… a single attack would turn Rain into smithereens.

The diamond golem charged and then smashed Rain with its hard body…or so was the plan anyway. Rain stopped the charge with a palm strike and then launched another and made the beast explode.

"As if I would let you guys seal my strength again," Rain said.

Rain's aura changed, and the machine god could tell that he was using space magic somehow… actually, Rain wasn't; he had just equipped the space manipulator path, and that had been enough to fight the effects of that zone… Rain thought that he would have to burn his mana inside his body as well, but it seemed that using space magic so often helped.

"It seems that this plan of yours won't work unless you show your true power," Rain declared.

"You have her to prove yourself to be worthy of seeing any of us show our power,"

In the next moment, countless giant silhouettes appeared in the distance and began to approach…