Cosmic Peak

Suddenly, Aren felt something in his mind for a brief moment, but he ignored it since he was in the middle of the fight. The doppelganger only lost one gear, and if Aren loses his focus, he might get injured, which would worsen this situation, so he focused on the battle.

*BOOM...*

*Crackkk....*

*Swoooooooosh...Swooshhhhhh...*

In the next three minutes, Aren slowly but surely destroyed the remaining gears one by one except for the hammer. That [Hexshira] shield was annoying since it was tough. But against constant attacks from Aren's gears, he also destroyed it at the end.

Both hammers were clashing against each other since Aren used his hammer to block his counterpart's hammer, and now, without the rings, shield, and chain whip, the doppelganger was of no threat to Aren.

In the next seven seconds, Aren dropped his doppelganger's Health to 0 and defeated him as it turned into white motes and disappeared.

He then looked at the thing that appeared in the middle of the fight.

[An exceptional innate talent called <Higher Mind Instincts> has been successfully recognized in you.]

'Higher Mind Instincts? Is it related to that overdrive mind mode I enter during fights?' Aren thought as he raised his eyebrows in surprise.

A second later, the test conclusion voices also appeared, and the scenery changed as he appeared in the dark space.

-----

[You have passed the 2nd test within 8 minutes and 29 seconds.]

[Congratulations on achieving A-grade results. You can choose one of three rewards from the options.]

[A-grade reward options]

-1st: A random Innate Articule gear chest (Rare or higher rank, up to Legendary.)

-2nd: A random Armalist skill and one talent point.

-3rd: Armalist Skill selection chest (five skills options, you can choose one.)

-----

Aren didn't think much and chose the 2nd option.

[Congratulations, you have gotten an Armalist Skill, <Sacrificial Doom> and one talent point.]

A sting of pain shot in Aren's head as a slight frown appeared on his face. The knowledge of the new path skill <Sacrificial Doom> flooded into his mind.

-----

<Sacrificial Doom>

-Cost: 100-??? depending on the gear and the permanent loss of that gear.

-Effect: Invoke the full potential of the gear and cause a hyper blast by tapping into the potential to release a pure destructive pulse attack. This pulse attack is more effective on barriers, weapons, items, etc., and can decrease their durability significantly or destroy them or render them useless for a certain period of time.

-----

"Interesting. It looks like I'll have to craft spare gears in my Emporio Zone," Aren muttered as he got an idea.

'However, will I be able to manipulate the 15th gear despite 14 gears stored in my Armalist Drive?' Aren wondered before he decided that he would try it later. He still had three gear slots left, and he could get more soon once he upgrades his Armalist Drive after leveling up.

[Prepare to receive the accumulated path exp.]

Suddenly, Aren heard a voice before a flood of mysterious force entered inside him, into his Armalist drive and soul.

[Congratulations! You have leveled up in your path, from 10 to 11.]

[You have gained one talent point.]

<-Aren->

[Path- Emporio Armalist]

-Level: 11 [378,614/900,000 Exp]

-Armalist Force: [2000/2000] (0.5 per second)

-Talent points: 2

-Skills: <Hyper Charge>, <Gear Enchantment>, <Gear Upgrade+>, <Breakdown>, <Sacrificial Doom>

-Articule Gears: [Destructo], [Vyrmend], [Weimbus], [Slinger], [Hexshira], [Lech], [Pyrin], [Miren], [Reikin], [Georno], [Fein]--Slots: 14 ( 3 left ).

-Innate Gears: [Astral-X Eyes].

-Emporio Celestial Physique

< Talents >

--> Armalist Drive+6: (core of the path, merged with the soul.)

--> Armalist Cloak+.

--> Emporio Zone.

--> Emporio Portal.

In his path tree, Aren saw three grey bubbles. One of them was for Armalist Drive +7, another was for Armalist Cloak +1, and the third one was of Emporio Heart Innate gear manifestation, which has been there for a long time, but Aren didn't activate it since he felt it was useless in early stages.

However, now that he got an additional talent point from the reward, he decided to add his two talent points into Armalist Drive +7 and Emporio Heart.

But before he could do that, the scenery changed in front of him as he arrived back at the Inn's room since the path trial was over.

He added 1 talent into the Armalist Drive +7 as he felt a burst of mysterious energy flowing in his Armalist Drive and upgrading it.

[Armalist Force capacity increased by 1000. Increase recovery of your Amarlist force to 0.7 per second. Your gear manipulation speed increases to 800 meters per second at max speed. Five points added to soul stat.]

Aren suddenly felt light-headed but very refreshed as his soul got a boost along with his Armalist drive. Well, both of them were connected, and this feeling of them getting stronger was extremely comforting, unlike when his body gets strong.

'Well, I didn't get any gear slots, but I think it's good. Since I start to feel mental stress once I manipulate 11 gears simultaneously,' Aren thought before he added the last talent point into the Emporio Heart.

Right after Aren added the point with his thought, the grey bubble lit to become golden-blue with glittering ethereal sparks.

A flood of Armalist force left his Armalist Drive as they started circulating in his entire body and brain.

Aren started to feel dizzy because of this. However, he focused and observed as he saw that the Amarlist force went into every nook and cranny of his body, to the depth of his foundation at a cellular level where even he could not observe anything.

This process lasted for five minutes before Aren saw a pulsing prism cube forming in his soul. The soul looked like a white mass that resembled a humanoid but had no facial features and smoky body parts.

The prism cube pulsing with luminescent blue and golden light clearly appeared at the heart part of his soul.

"Ouch...," Aren suddenly started feeling a series of sharp pains in his chest. He took a deep breath as he endured the pain, focused his senses, and after a few seconds, he observed that luminescent blue and golden patterns were being inscribed on his heart.

He felt as if he had gained a new organ, as if he could activate something just by thinking about it.

As he thought of activating this new power, Aren saw blue and golden energy sparks oozing out from him and lifting him before a throne was created.

Aren looked at the throne and was impressed, "That's one cool throne, damn."

The throne was like a majestic king's throne with exquisite lapis blue and golden design. It was one meter wide and two meters tall.. The seat and splat of the throne were also very comfortable and soft.