Savage Awakening 526. Last Minute Breakthroughs

“That so?” said Zane. That got a grin out of him.

“Mhm.” She gave him a worried look. “I’m serious, Zane.”

“I know. It’s just now I’m wondering what he can do.”

Now she was giving him her ‘oh, Zane…’ look.

“So do we know anything, then?” he said. “Powers-wise.”

“Nothing for sure, but…” She showed him a little binder she’d compiled on the subject. “I’ve made some educated guesses.”

She said at a minimum it meant a big physique boost, similar to what Prime Blood had done for Zane. But she was also pretty sure, based on her research on ancient dragon lore, that it’d massively increase the potential of Haxorax’s inner universe. 

“Explain.” 

“Just for context, there’s a few things that determine how strong an Empyrean is,” she said.

She held up a finger.

“One is their Law. How many Tier 7 Concepts they’ve got is just one part of it. There’s also how much Creation or Destruction they have.”

Zane nodded. “Makes sense.”

“I’d guess Haxorax has at least three shards of Creation right now,” she told him. “Maybe more… though that figure can go up to 1,024 shards, depending on just how ancient they are.”

He blinked. “Really.” 

Maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised with how powerscaling worked at the highest levels.

He wondered how much Destruction the Barbarian Sage had.

“Mhm! 1,024 shards means full Creation,” she explained. “But it’s unlikely Haxorax has had time to absorb much. That’s one of the two big determinants of Empyrean power. The other one’s the size of their Inner Universe. That’s ranked in tiers.”

“Tiers…” he muttered, brow furrowing. 

“It’s not widely known,” she said. “There are only at most a few dozen Empyreans in each Great Faction. That’s a tiny fraction of the Galaxy as a whole, and most of them are only at the first Tier.”

She hesitated. “It’s not really important for this fight. But with the kinds of heavyweights you’ll be fighting, it’s worth knowing.”

She showed him an ink diagram from an ancient tome she’d found called the Encyclopaedia Dracospira. Apparently, Empyrean universes were graded from T0 to T4. Leveling up as an Empyrean meant feeding essence into that universe. Every 25 levels, it went up a universe tier. The universe would expand by a factor of 10 each time.

The last tier, T4, only occurred at half-step Overgod. That was Level 799+.

“So if you’re fighting up a tier, you’re pretty much done for,” Zane concluded.

“Mhm. The power gradients start to look like cliffs at the highest levels. The universe Haxorax awakened means he can max out at Tier 4. That means he’s got the potential to fully max out Empyrean. …and he might be the only one in Dragonspire right now who can do that.”

“That’s just potential, though.”

She closed her notebook. “Right. You won’t have to deal with it right now. I really doubt he’ll have time to even get to T1 by the time of the fight. But that’s what the Rites have done to him.”

“Still good to know,” he said thoughtfully.

“You don’t need me to tell you just how serious taking on an Empyrean is, especially an Empyrean like that.” She considered him. “I know you took down those Founders, Zane. Just…be careful, alright?”

“You’ve told me already,” he said, a bit amused. “You’re worried about me.” 

“It’s just…you’re always so confident going into a fight. It’s just hard to tell if…” Reina hesitated, gave him an earnest look. “Zane, it’s my job to arm you with knowledge, any knowledge I can find. But… there just isn’t that much. I just don’t want you going in there and getting surprised, that’s all.”

Reina had always had the most faith in him of anyone—but fighting up one-and-a-half tiers against a generational talent…he did get it.  

“I know that dragon’s a threat,” he reassured her. “And I’m pretty sure he’ll have some strengths I can’t match. But I’ve felt an Empyrean universe before. I’ve seen them up close, Reina.”

He held her gaze so she could see the confidence he felt. “I’ve got strengths he can’t match too. I’m on the verge of a few breakthroughs there. It’s just that I’ve got the tools now to make those strengths decisive.”

She blinked. “You mean the prizes you won from the Ruins?”

“That’s right.” 

Zane was feeling pretty confident right now, even by his standards. He felt strong. Maybe it was the afterglow of the fight with the Founders—it was hard to say exactly.

He didn’t feel it was overconfidence, though.

He just had the feeling, despite all he’d heard, that this fight was still his to lose.

Now that he thought a little more about it, it was definitely because of that avalanche. 

The avalanche of powers that had started in the Ruins, which he felt had already begun. There were just too many strengths of his, in Law and body, that were poised to break through. That would continue with these next few power-ups—an avalanche that he planned on riding to the very top.

He simply didn’t believe that Haxorax, even with his new dragon might, could match that.

He supposed they’d see pretty soon. 

He had one last Leveling session with Reina the night before he left—Leveling for her, at least, since he was capped out. Afterward, he told her just what breakthroughs he planned on making in the Azure Flame. He left her feeling heartened.

***

Now, sitting cross-legged in his estate in Stormhaven, he took out a block of Sunsteel.

He’d been munching on it pretty much the entire time he’d been back. That and Dreamsteel had been most of his diet, it felt like.

It’d brought his Destruction up to the mid-90s in percentage. He started munching in earnest now.

He started working it with Red Giant heat, melting it in the forge of his physique.

Day turned to night. It was hard to tell on Stormhaven. The skies darkened slightly, but that was all. Maybe you could glimpse the vague pinpricks of stars behind that cloudy veil.

They brightened again with the sunrise. Like that, a day passed.

Still, Zane sat there, eyes closed, working more and more Sunsteel into his muscles, his bones. Slowly integrating more strands of that Destruction into his essence and Law too…

Three days went by.

The percentage kept ticking up. Until—

Fifth Shard of Destruction Integrated!

H. Red Giant [Uncommon (D) -> Rare (D)]

He breathed out. Steam poured from his grinning mouth.

Buff evolved!

Armor’s Bane II [Common (D)]

Grants the user 100 -> 150% more damage against all armors, natural or man-made, including armors of Creation. Stacks on top of all other boosts.

He summoned a stream of Red Giant, just a flicker of it over his finger, and was pleased to see another thick strand of Destruction join the others.

Armor’s Bane, especially, was a welcome addition. That natural armor buff had to apply to scales. With all that Creation Haxorax supposedly had, he likely had some tough scales too.

Zane needed something like this if he meant to break through that. He flexed his fist, satisfied.

A Shard was a Shard, and it still felt like a great boost. But now that he knew there were over a thousand of them to be had… it definitely made him dream bigger. It lit up a new ambition in him.

1,024 was the number to max out Empyrean. 

One step at a time, he told himself.

Speaking of which, taking in Sunsteel didn’t just help with his Destruction. It added material to his physique too.

A physique that was so close to maxing out he could feel it; his muscles felt like they were just brimming with potential energy—steel waiting to be tempered. 

He took out that blood-colored stone.

Foundation Stone (Common [D])

He cut his palm with the tip of his Axe. He had to do it three times since his skin regenerated so fast. It was a good issue to have. 

On the third try, he managed to get a few droplets out. They splashed onto the stone, which began to hum in the Astral Plane, brightening fast.

He closed his fist around it. He felt it dissolve.

Then he felt its energies coursing through him. He felt it settling again, deep within, at a single point. He wasn’t sure where precisely—somewhere just below the heart, although he was pretty sure it wasn’t a fully physical thing. He felt part of that stone settle in his spirit too.

Wherever it was, it took a day to fully integrate.

Then he was certain it belonged to him. It was like one final key had been turned in his Asura Titan’s Body.

It unlocked the latent energies of his physique.

All the steel he’d loaded in began to burn. He felt all those pleasantly excruciating sensations again—that full-body tempering, like that feeling after an intense workout amplified a thousandfold. The feeling of excruciating growth. He felt like he was exerting himself at maximum effort, muscles straining tight, though all he was doing was sitting cross-legged. Sweat slicked his skin.

He groaned.

This time, his muscles took the bulk of the tempering. His skin got a great deal of it too, then his bones.

Curiously, he felt a shroud of steel essence go over his soul, too.

Hours later, it was done.

Skill evolved!

Asura Titan’s Body, Third Form (Rare [D]) -> Asura Titan’s Body, Fourth Form (Mythic+ [D])

He stood, feeling raw.

He was simply made of higher-grade steels right now than he’d been just hours before—steels on the verge of Origin.

That affected everything: strength, speed, muscle fiber density, even…

Maybe it had been a borderline thing before, at the Third Titan form. But now he was certain he’d broken the Empyrean threshold.

This was a physique ready to go toe-to-toe with Haxorax.

But that wasn’t all he’d gained.

Skill evolved!

Hide of the Ancients (Rare [D]) -> First Rhino’s Hide of the Ancients (Mythic+ [D])

Grants the Rhino a body as tough as the Ancestor Rhinos.

Physical Toughness +100% -> 125%. Essence Resistance +125%. Law Resistance +125%.

Law Resistance effects apply to Universe pressure as well.

That was worthy of a double take.

Hide of the Ancients had been one of the most noticeable buffs Zane had gotten lately. His rate of bone-breaking had gone down substantially, as had his wound rate. He still took serious damage, but that came with the territory in the kinds of fights he got himself into. He was no longer shattering half his ribs most fights.

He was quite pleased to see Hide get an upgrade.

That first line didn’t seem revolutionary, though he’d take a 25% physical boost. It was the other aspects that really caught his eye.

Skills usually had a physical, essence, and Law portion. Taking a great deal less physical damage was pretty important, but it didn’t stop him from getting blasted in the fight with the Founders. It was the essence and the Law parts that did the bulk of the damage.

If his physique gained resistances to essence and Law damage too, his overall toughness just tripled.

It was well-timed. He had a feeling if he was fighting Empyreans, he’d be taking at least triple the damage soon enough.

That last line, about the Universe pressure, also quite appealed to him.

There was a part of him, deep down, that couldn’t stand being suppressed. It felt like fighting through quicksand; for one, it just wasn’t as enjoyable. But there was something deeper to it, too.

Maybe it was a pride thing. He wasn’t sure. 

Suppression came with the territory of fighting up. If you were fighting Empyreans, you just had to wade through all these Universes.

Only now he could fight without that weight vest on.

The real prize this physique rank-up granted him was still that Foundation Stone in his core. It lay there empty, just waiting to be filled with a Concept.

He wouldn’t have time to get it done before this fight. And anyway, the Sage had advised him to hold off until he grasped that final Red Giant Concept.

Still… a bit of a shame, he felt. 

That was his breakthroughs done.

He figured he’d tinker some more with those peak Divine Profound Skills he’d found in the Ruins and call it a day.