Ascension of the Nephilim

Everyone panicked when they heard that Emeros made them eat a De-Leveler poison, and many started to curse and shout at Emeros. But Emeros was busy removing the oil and the wax build-up in his ears as he kept creating another batch of strange concoctions.

"Why?!" Mackerel shouted angrily as he slowly crept closer.

"Does any of you have [Gauge]? Can you look at the state of your decreasing stats and compare it to before? Your stats should be higher." Emeros asked.

"Of course, it would be higher! It's called the Remnant Stat effect! Most of us used it when we were low-level! But we are past level ten now! The laws of Diminishing Empowerment will remain! At our state, we would need monsters equal to Champions to gain any experience!" Chevik shouted as he tried his best to stand up.

"Not really. The Laws of Diminishing Empowerment is because you can only absorb so much life energy or light energy from a monster. But that's why I am using Dark or Death energy. Every single point will be acquired. Even if you kill imps, you'd still gain around 3 or 4 experience points instead of the zero." Emeros continued to make his brew.

"...WHAT?!" Chevik somehow forgot the pain he felt.

"You heard me. Serena has taken the De-Leveler potion twice last week, and she returned to her current level." Emeros explained. Serena also nodded.

"...You mean… Is it possible to do the Stat Revolving De-level trick even up to Captain?!" Chevik asked again.

In the Floating Continents, having the younger or low-level ones take a De-Leveler potion was common practice. Compared to the mortal realms, they have more beasts to harvest, better experience absorbing circles, and overall, they were richer than even the freemen can afford using De-Leveler potions. 

Many would even go through the process twice! But this trick only works when they pass through the first hurdle of level 10. The experience points they receive from monsters diminish because of the laws of Diminishing Empowerment, making the effort up to five times more costly if someone has reached level ten and uses a De-Leveler pill.

"In theory, we can do this anytime. But of course, at Champion, the demand for energy to reach the next level is so high that it makes no sense to do so. But beyond that, is that the Remnant Stat effect can only do so much. For Serena, she won't get any stronger if we use the De-Leveler trick again. We've already maxed the possible strength that a person of her level can attain through Remnant Stat. We would need other means to increase stat points. Hence, these other pills. And to kill more birds with this stone, I'm going to be going on a talk. You guys won't be able to sleep through the pain tonight. And so I made a little something in this pill to help you retain everything I will be talking about." Emeros suddenly drew several pills from the cauldron. It was green and had a strange smell to it.

Vivindel appeared, took the pills, and forcibly administered the pills onto everybody's mouth.

"Ahhh!" Quinn was scared of whatever Emeros was trying to feed them and squirmed. But Vivindel overpowered their weak and exhausted forms.

"Now… Let's go ahead and talk about the theories that you know. I'll talk all night as I continue to create more of these pills." Emeros paused and took one pill.

"Hm… As expected of the monsters here… These pills can truly help clear my Force and Magic Channels." Emeros observed.

"Now… About cultivation. I will teach you all heretical teachings that would send a wild witch hunt against all of you. So this is for you to train in personally. This place is not ready to accept the teachings of Dark Dependents. But basically, cultivation is not about gathering light energy to rise in levels and purge out the death energy. Force is better grown with Light, but magical foundations need Death Energy more. In some cases, people would even change their bodies to have pure Death Energy and assume the forms of Skeletons, and if they are strong enough, Liches. But that has its disadvantages. At your level, you need to know which part of your body is of Light Energy and which is of dark energy…"

Emeros gave his lecture, and even Serena and Vivindel listened as Emeros gave his talks.

This was slightly different from the talks he gave on the ship of Prince Alistair. As Emeros was talking to the Prince and the highest officials, his theories were too advanced for the two, and the two were advised not to listen, given the very advanced nature of the talk.

But now, Emeros returned to the basics and discussed things as simply as he could.

And so, a day passed. A day full of sweat, terrors, pain, tears, and great anger.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Everyone was jolted awake as Emeros used the cauldron like a bell. The group could not sleep until early morning when the pain had subsided, but Emeros suddenly woke them up.

"Uh…" Mackerel felt a great pain in his head.

Chevik was still groggy and confused as he saw the state he was in. Surprisingly, everyone was lying down on a strange bed made of plants.

"Good morning! I went out on a hunt and found some nice Mad Ostrich Eggs. Breakfast is served!"

Anna now had the strength to move and was about to shout angrily at Emeros. She somehow recalled being force-fed several dark ball pills and had to feel great pain. In her incoherent moments, she had thought that she was being rapped.

"What did you…!" 

But then she stopped. There was a strange, vibrant glow around her body. She felt very light.

"What… What's going on?!" Anna exclaimed.

"Better? You had me worried there, Anna. Your reaction to my pill was strange. It turns out you had a strange blockage in your heart. Did you try to assimilate with a pill to create your magical foundation?" Emeros asked.

"...Yes! I was given a Fire Toad's Pearl to improve my compatibility with fire. But that's when I failed. My magical potential has halved since then… And that's why… my family did not support me here and sponsored my elder cousin instead..."

"Well, for one. Whatever that was, it wasn't a purified Fire Toad with all the filth left in your body. But secondly, you are not compatible with fire but with water. Still, the incident forced you to improve your ability to wield 'fire like water.' So I guess it's good. In any case, I restored it and opened up your flow. By my estimates, you should have a magic pool that's three times greater than ol' Chevik here." Emeros laughed.

Anna was startled. But the magic she felt she could wield was several times more than what she could previously wield.

"I won't go to the specifics. But you all check your bodies. I'm sure you're in for a little surprise." Emeros smiled.

True enough, everyone realized that their bodies were now lighter, and though they had dropped several levels, they could not help but sense a strange improvement in their functions.

"My eyes…! It's… seeing clearer!" Mackerel realized that his vision had grown even better.

"Scouts eyes. I decided to help you set that foundation."

"The magic flow in my body! It's faster!" Chevik noticed the energy as well. He could now summon energy twice faster than before!

"You had a lot of build-up of strange fluctuations in your body. Someone has been secretly poisoning you for a while now. Someone you trust. That's why you probably failed and fell to the Vashura class."

Chevik froze.

Emeros could not help but smile as he saw Chevik's expression turn from shock to worship. His final plan to make the class loyal was to make an impression on them. But to do that quickly, he had to assess and find out the sources of problems that each student had and how to improve them. Since their cultivation methods were clumsy compared to what Emeros knew, he was confident that each would have at least one or two problems they struggled with. 

But to heal them, he needed to assess their bodies and would need to feel and use [Guage] at a more closer level. He couldn't do that as it would have been strange if he started groping everyone. And so, he planned to exhaust them and then drug them so that he could later assess them.

And while they could recall that Emeros was doing something invasive to them in their barely conscious states, the rejoicing of sensing the healing made them forget it.

"My arm! It's healed!" One of the Battle Mages realized that his left hand could cause magic to flow.

"I fixed it."

"Hm? No stiffness in my back when the mana flows!" A mage student realized.

"Mana clog issue. Common, but yours was centered on your back."

"My affinity with fire improved!" Another student wielded the fire.

"You just needed the right medicine."

"My chlamydia! It's gone! It doesn't hurt anymore!" Another was turning in the other direction and was touching his privates.

"Wait, what?! That's what that was?!"