Chapter 73: The First Five Stages of Ascendancy

Stormfall – The Stoneward Asylum – High Spire

The hush that settled upon this space as the revelation that Elias had opened all one hundred pools of Lumina was hardly broken by the unexpected swearing by Brother Valerius, whose shocked expression Elias almost found comical, and he wondered if he had revealed too much and had underestimated the weight of having a hundred pools of Lumina opened.

He heard a long, drawn-out sigh from the Commander, and Elias turned to her to see her massaging the bridge of her nose as if she suddenly had a headache.

“This… this complicates matters,” she groaned, “We will have to remake all of our plans, to fit your new…” she seemed to search for the word, “… status. By the way, what level is your potential as an Ascendant Candidate?”

Elias’s eyes went dim a bit as if he was reading his Status Screen, and he replied, “My Ascendant Candidacy level is given as Bronze.” He did not tell her it was mutated, or that the system could not fully determine his rank, and just gave him a Bronze designation.”

The Commander sighed in relief, “God, at least it is not a Platinum designation, else I would be facing the might of all the Guilds, the Royal Houses, and even the Military Heads; however, Bronze is also problematic in its own way,” she frowned, and then shook her head.

“Well, that would not matter for the moment, and you will have no reason to think about your Ascendancy level until you reach the Void Sentinel level and begin to graft the bodies of gods or daemons to your body.”

Elias felt his breath catch inside his throat at the mention of this unknown Stage in the journey of a Siphon. The commander must have caught this as a look of shame and anger briefly passed through her eyes, “There are many secrets about this world that has been kept from you Elias, but from this day forward, all of that secrecy would end,” she nodded to the purple marks on his chest, “You have more than earned the right to know how the world truly works.”

She drew in a breath, “I know you must be tired, but there is still so much for you to do in the next twenty-four hours, and so I will be giving you the next ten hours to relax, and you will be summoned in the eleventh hour.” she paused, “I see that you don’t know the ranks of Siphons greater than the Mist Phantom Stage, so I will tell you of this truth, listen well, for although the names are simple, you must explore them in depth because they all holds important secrets.”

Elias straightened as his emerald eyes became incredibly focused, and the Commander nodded in appreciation. From the blood all over his body, although he was not wearing any physical wounds, she knew that the fact that Elias had unleashed her Fate Strike meant he had faced incredible dangers that would break the minds of many veteran, by all rights, he should be resting, but when the chance came for him to gain knowledge, he fully prepared himself.

“Know this, Elias, although the Stages of Ascension were created by the system, this division of power had always existed. What the Ascendant did on the day the last God and Daemon fell was unprecedented, and the echoes of their actions remain to this day. The first Stage is the Wisp Stage, and as an Ascendant who now knows their Lumina Space, you have undoubtedly seen your Wisp form. It means you have fully completed all the hidden requirements for this stage.”

“There are requirement for each stage?” Elias could not help but blurt out in surprise, and the Commander nodded.

“Yes, they are, and without fulfilling all these hidden requirements, you would not be able to access the full power of this Stage. A normal Siphon would not have a Wisp, and they would only be able to see their Lumina Space until they reach the level of a Mist Phantom. They would never have a second set of consciousness that you would need if you want to reach the higher stages. As you can imagine, they would miss out on many of the benefits of their Ascension, and this would mean that most would never exceed the level of Mist Phantom their entire life.”

Elias bowed his head in thought for a moment, as he knew how important it was for him to see his Lumina Space and the barriers within, so he could open a hundred pools, and it seemed this was just one of the benefits of completing this hidden requirement.

“The Vitality Aborption Technique that we taught you was a necessary tool for you to see your Lumina Space and complete the hidden requirement of the first stage, but you breaking all nine barriers is an achievement that cannot be taken from you,” the Commander continued speaking, and Elias emerged from his mind to fully focus on the Commander.

He knew that it was the Vitality Absorption technique had contributed to his being able to find his Lumina Space, but he did not know it was the chief reason. Elias had mastered several Absorption techniques before now, and he was glad that he had chosen to use the technique given by the Order due to the fact that it was the most efficient.

They had not told him of this distinction, and with Elias’ nature, it was very possible that if he had not seen such a large deluge of Lumina and he was wary of allowing them vanish before he could devour it all, he would have used a lesser Vitality Absoption technique to experiment, and that may have led to him not discovering the unique effect of the technique of the Order until it was too late.

Elias had seen how much the Commander seemed to hate the fact that so many secrets were being hidden from mortals, secrets that were so important that they would change their destinies forever.

It was the right decision he made to unveil some of his achievements to the world; he would be pushed away from the places where real power and information were distributed. Elias wished at the moment that he had the soul of an old powerhouse inside a ring that would tell him all the secrets of the world, or a book that would show him everything that he needed to know, but life was unfair, and he would have to show up to gain anything of substantial value.

“The next stage, as you know, is Fury Forge, and from the breath of Lumina from your body, you are a Level 9 Wisp, and your ascension to this Stage is close at hand. It is a good thing that you are not yet a Fury Forge, else you may have missed out on the hidden requirements for you to completely unlock this stage. After this Stage is the Mist Phantom Stage, the Amber Exile Stage, and the fifth stage that most of the greatest geniuses who are not Ascendant Candidates would reach in their entire life, and that is the Void Sentinel Stage.”

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