Chương 15: Promotion
Winston spent the rest of the day inside his own room, researching about the tower on the 'Box' that he had found out about. At one point, Amon came to look for him, only to be sent back by Winston who did not wish to be disturbed.
And in the end, it turned out to be the right choice; simply because of the sheer amount of information Winston realized that he had lacked before. Jahad, the king of the tower and the ten great families that ruled under his empire. The top floor of the tower, the 134th floor and a plethora of other information that he had not realized before, he could engage in conversations about them now.
With the newfound knowledge, he was sure he would not appear too much like an odd ball out of the regulars. And as he had found out, such a thing would be crucial for his own survival.
Because he had found out about the existence of similar beings such as himself. Irregulars, as they were called, were beings that come from outside of the tower, opening the gates and stepping inside to climb. They went against the predetermined rules of the tower to rebel against natural order and universal law; climbing the tower even though they had not yet been chosen.
Irregulars bring chaos to the tower; marked by great change and times of decadence to create a whirlpool of destruction and power that pulls in everyone and everything around them and pushing the fate of every being in the tower to usher in a new age; whether it be one of progression or regression could not be said.
There were a variety of examples for the irregulars; the most common being the king of the tower itself and the lower ruling parties, Jahad and the ten great families. They were marked as the first batch of irregulars to enter into the tower and propel the administration of the great structure to a new golden age. After which were the other irregulars: Urek Mazino, the founder of Wolhaiksong and the fourth ranked strongest ranker in the entire tower; also hailed as the record holder for the fastest ascent up the tower- a time of 50 years.
Then there was Enryu the infamous; also known as the red tower. His infamy comes from the time he killed a floor administrator, shooting it down right from the sky like the mortals they rule over; causing chaos to spread over the floor the said guardian held dominion over.
And then, the final irregular, presided as the strongest ranker in the entire tower, Phantaminum, the killer of Jahad's royal guards.
All of them, without exception were part of the strongest beings in the tower. There was no irregular that could be considered weak, not one. Upon seeing such information, Winston's first instinct was relief that no one had found out about his state. And then, after relief, it was understanding. It was quite clear now why he was able to condense shinsu into an attacking force so quickly; it was only expected from an irregular.
Wait... what about the irregulars that entered before me? Winston contemplated. He distinctly recalled Headon, the first floor guardian saying something along the lines of 'not receiving such extensive visits in a long time', meaning there had been some people that had entered the tower before him.
I can't be sure of the time frame they might've entered before me. It might even have been a few years. At this point, they might already be far ahead of me. Winston nodded, feeling exceedingly sure of his guess. But I can't yet eliminate the possibility that they entered right before me. At the very least, I must be prepared for an encounter with an overwhelmingly powerful opponent.
Getting off the chair which he had kept right next to his bed, he stretched his body again.
Time to digest the potion now... Thinking about that, he voiced out the main maxims of a seer.
"A true Seer must possess reverence towards fate." He said. Almost immediately, he felt his spirit body churn and twist and bubble up in anticipation of an unknown event yet to come.
"One must help other seek out and interpret their fates, yet at the same time, constantly maintain fear and respect towards it. A Seer does not become egoistical about his abilities to see through the web of fate, nor can he get too prideful and never believe blindly in one's own interpretation of fate." As he said the words, something deep within him bubbled as if put on a hot stove. He felt his core heating up and cooling down rapidly and felt something deep within him break into its most fundamental forms.
"And finally..." he continued, "Divination is not all-powerful." He declared. And with that, he felt his spirit body undergo rapid change. Something broke down and came together, merging incessantly with his very core being.
Hooooooooo~
He breathed out, then he stopped. The potion which had just come to the precipice of digestion had lacked just a simple push to shove it in the right direction, infinitely close to a complete digestion.
Winston closed his eyes, feeling the almost interminable power stored within. As he stood upon the precipice of an inexorable event to come, he felt himself floating like a will-o-wisp, a paper in the wind.
With a smile, he declared one of the maxims of the Marauder potion, one he had established just a day prior to give himself the push needed.
"One must be fast in thought and bold in action. A true Marauder takes action only when success can be seen." He declared.
And with that, he felt the three potions rapidly digesting and fusing with his being, completely overtaking his spirit. Winston felt as if a weight had been thrown off his shoulders, a burden he carried without his knowledge had been put down.
That feeling's a bit addicting... He chuckled.
Just as he was getting used to the feeling of his potion completely having been digested, he suddenly sensed something.
It was the next potion, comprising the Sequence 8 of the Fool, Error and Door pathways: Clown, Swindler and Trickmaster! Winston's eyes widened in surprise and amazement as he felt the sensation of the potion. It felt like it lied somewhere infinitely far away, yet somehow it surrounded him completely still. It was a surreal sensation.
He felt as if he could summon the potion anytime, should he desire to consume it no matter the time.
A vicious grin couldn't help but make it's way onto Winston's face.
Then, he looked at his right hand which was injured and tapped his thumb and ring finger twice. The hand was covered in a white colour, symbolizing good health.
Nodding to himself, he sat down again and took off the covers on his hand. And from under the covers emerged his hand as good as new; seemingly never having been injured to begin with.
Seeing that, Winston's eyes turned a bit thoughtful.
What is it that's speeding up the healing process?
Peering a bit further using his spirit vision, Winston discovered something strange. The waves of Shinsu, little wisps of power were constantly rushing into his hand, nourishing it from the outside and from the within. Winston understood that the body was a machine that healed constantly. Under the right conditions, any injury could be healed so long as the damage was not permanent. And the Shinsu at the moment, seemed to be supplying his hand with the most optimal condition for healing, along with a constant supply of energy to replace the lost cells.
Interesting! Winston exclaimed, an excited grin on his face.
He took his steel broadsword from the side and overlapped it with a layer of spirituality.
Spirituality had a tendency to leak better from sharp edges and places with less surface area. It was a simple application of the principle by which Corona Discharge happened to electricity. Spirituality spread itself out evenly across a surface once it was applied to it; meaning there is a constant spirituality density at all points that hold similar areas. However, that meant that at the places where the area thins out, the spirituality density increases, allowing it to slide off of itself and leak outside, mimicking the corona discharge phenomenon with electricity.
Concentrating, he overlapped the entire room with a layer of spirituality, shielding it from prying eyes and outside interference. He kept the broadsword back where he grabbed it from and sat cross legged on the bed.
Then, he exhaled.
Winston extended his hands and willed for the Sequence 8 potion to appear before him!
And appear it did!
There was no burst of light, nor any flashy sound, neither was there any sort of special effect that accompanied it. There it was, empty air. And then, suddenly, a transparent vial of an orange coloured liquid appeared in place. Winston quickly caught the vial just as it appeared, lest it fell to the ground and shattered; shattering along with it, his hope to ascend any higher than sequence 9.
As he took it in his hand, he gazed at it intently. It was a orange coloured liquid, yellowing at the top. It constantly bubbled and turned inside the vial, as if it was still in the process of concoction. Winston stared at it for a second, then, with resolute eyes he opened the cap and downed the entire mixture in a single go.
He drank the potion and wiped his mouth with his sleeves. Then, he kept aside the vial and waited. It didn't take long, not even a second, that the ascendance to the next sequence began to stir changes in his body.
Winston felt his entire body rapidly heat up, reaching approximately 45 degrees celsius and then cool down just after to almost 2 degrees. It repeated in a cycle, happening over and over and over and over again all in the span of 2 seconds or less. Then, he suddenly felt his hands, arms, chest and everywhere else that held skin rapidly fire up with blisters and pores, through which a minute amount of blood began to seem out.
Winston breathed, nay, whimpered, not screaming out despite his wanting to. Even though the wall of spirituality had been set up, solely because it was the first time he had done it he decided to not risk the chance of exposing himself and kept quiet.
The pain lasted an eternity, or was it a single instant? Winston's entire soul body was turned inside out and his body suddenly turned incredibly flexible. He felt an unscratchable itch inside his ear, one he didn't dare to try.
And then, suddenly, it all ended. He felt his skin return to normal and body temperature balance out. The itch in his ear was all but gone at this point and he sat back up.
He looked down.
"Ugh! Goddamn!" He cried. The blood all over his body had rendered all of his clothes and the mattress of his bed into a crimson mess. He shook his head and analyzed the changes brought on by his promotion.
First was the Clown, the Sequence 8 of the Fool pathway. First and foremost, the most obvious was the physical enhancement brought about by the potion. Besides the slight physical strength and durability increase that one gets at each promotion, Winston had never felt such a transcendent sense of control over his own body before. He felt as if he had control over each and every muscle fiber inside his body, barring certain internal organs like his heart. Besides that, his sense of 3 dimensional observation and perception had just shot through the roof, making his balance become increasingly stronger.
Winston suddenly jumped off of his bed right from the seating position and landed right on the backrest of the chair he had previously sat on. The chair didn't move an inch, as it nothing had happened to it. Winston stood on top of it's thin backrest and stood on a single toe, adopting the stance of a ballet dancer.
This is refreshing. He thought off handedly.
Along with that, both his Swindler and Clown potion further enhanced his dexterity, reaching inhumane levels. And lastly, he looked towards the table where a stack of empty papers were kept. He jumped off the chair and took one in his hand.
Then, with a rapid movement from his arm, the paper disappeared with a howling sound of the wind.
Whoosh!
Winston looked on, seeing the paper pass right through the door of his bathroom.
I probably shouldn't have done that. He mused but then shrugged his shoulders.
Then, he focused onto the Error pathway Sequence 8: Swindler!
He had gained two things from this potion, the first being Deception! He had gained the ability to be naturally charming in front of others and be more trustworthy, effortlessly being able to shape the conversation to his liking and mislead other people's thoughts! And then, the second thing he had gained was the minor mastery of illusions to trick and deceive his opponents!
He focused on his spirituality and then, a fleeting figure of a man appeared in front of him. It was another Winston! Winston nodded his head with a satisfied smile. Though the illusion was hardly perfect, with it appearing ethereal, seemingly about to disappear at any moment, he felt that it would be extremely useful in combat. In the first place, the illusion ability was not so prominent at this stage. The only reason he was able to create his own image from an illusion was solely due to his spirituality that had been enhanced by all three potions!
And then, dispelling the illusion, he moved on to his final potion. The Sequence 8 of the Door pathway: Trickmaster!
As the name implied, the beyonders of this sequence could utilize a variety of small scale spells, including but not limited to:
Creating Fog, Creating a light burst of wind, Creating light, Freezing the target and so on and so forth.
Converging his spirituality, Winston felt a breeze blow past his face and scatter the papers kept on the table all over the room.
Flutter~ Flutter~
The papers fluttered in the room due to the light gust of wind seemingly coming out of nowhere.
Winston popped his neck.
The last couple of benefits brought on due to promotion were a combined effect of all of them.
Enhanced spirituality, a level which would not be considered natural for any beyonder currently at sequence 8! In fact, the combined exponential increase of the three pathways was so much that Winston felt like he would have had the equivalent spirituality as Klein at sequence 6! It was incredibly absurd!
And then, moving on to his physicals, he felt that he could punch clean through a door. His muscles seemed to be packed with strength and power, ready at a moment's notice. And finally and most importantly, it was his spiritual intuition, which had been enhanced several folds!
The spiritual intuition of a lone clown was enough to have some moments of precognition. Winston truly wondered how absurd his intuition would be at this stage.
Heh. I feel bad for the regulars participating against me...
~~~
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A/N: Throw some stones.
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