Sweat ran down Thalion's face as he struck down the last elf in the pillar. Only two days remained before the tutorial ended, and he needed to begin the process soon. Most of the survivors had either gone hunting or switched to different bases, unwilling to suffer the oppressive aura of the Fear Pillar. Even for Thalion, standing this close made it difficult not to shiver. The aura pressed against him like a suffocating fog, seeping into his bones.

Still, his will never wavered. He would use this pillar to grant the crippled Eclipsari a massive power boost, perhaps even trigger another grand transformation, like what had once happened with the Umbral Predator.

He had already spoken with Lucan, who demanded to know what he had been plotting in recent days. The aura had begun to spread as far as the smithy, and Lucan had suggested adding darkness crystals to the pillar to ease its fusion with the elemental. Thalion had agreed, and now waited, letting the pillar adapt to the crystals. The treasury of Ankhet's palace had provided him with more than enough resources, though the alchemists and smiths had been furious to lose their precious crystals.

Shrinking such a massive structure as the pillar would diminish its raw strength, but even weakened, it should be very potent.

Thalion shifted his focus to the crippled Eclipsari and sat cross-legged before it. The darkness elemental, though likely unaware of his plan, would at least sense something coming. Their connection was nothing like his bond with the Sanguis Impera. The darkness elemental was different and would only real use its power when a good feast was close.

A bit like Kung Fu Panda, he thought. Useless until food was involved, but once roused, it had the moves.

Hours passed. The weight of the pillar's aura pressed down mercilessly, eating away at his endurance. He prayed that merging it with the elemental would grant him immunity, otherwise this form was doomed. Back when his armor had carried the fear function, it had never hindered him, even while it terrified his enemies.

No. He couldn't allow doubt to settle. Not here. Not now. He had chosen his path, and he would see it through.

Time stretched like molten tar, each hour dragging on with the crushing presence of the pillar. His thoughts drifted back to his first party, to the very beginning of the tutorial. How terrified they had been of that single plant. How Lucas had clung to that tree. If they had stayed together, maybe Lukas would have actually learned to talk with plants.

But they hadn't.

The memory of the orc still burned. The way it had hunted them, how it had relished their fear. They had all deserved better. At least the orc got what it deserved in the end. Foolish of it to show its face before him. Kargul had told him most orcs were like that, killers by nature, wolves who preyed only on the weak.

He only hoped New Earth would not mirror this nightmare. The odds didn't look promising. The most frustrating part was knowing that everyone tied to special quests would surge ahead, while he remained unable to gain levels. Body-tempering remained an option, but with his many forms, he risked falling behind even there.

He had thought he was fast in this tutorial, fast enough to stand among the strong. But compared to the true geniuses in other tutorials, his progress wasn't good enough.

He had to become stronger. If not, someone would seize his position, and when that happened, the weaker ones in his city would suffer.

He remembered the little girl who had joined just before his fight with Kael. What was happening with her now? He hoped that she was growing strong and that quickly. Kael and the others were likely scheming and plotting ways to undermine him. They were the vengeful kind, of that he had no doubt. On New Earth, they would surely spill every secret they knew to their patron gods or chosen champions.

That thought brought another. Would the gods themselves hold grudges? Would they send hunters after him for what he had done during the tutorial?

His mind drifted to Kael and the spoils of that battle. He had stolen much, including the entire spatial ring, but one item stood apart. The relic of Kael's god. It could allow the Sanguis Impera to consume another affinity.

Fire. Yes, fire would be his choice. He could always make it burn. With the skill that enhanced his bloodline in his human form, the flames could become even more devastating. With Eagle, he could still pivot toward light, or perhaps ice? With his human strengthened by the bloodline, it had to be fire.

He had yet to even test his new armor and sword. And then there was the matter of the Blooded Templar. Why did his equipment bear that name instead of reflecting his class, the Sanguine Archon?

Strange. But then again, now that he knew the true origin of the system, perhaps it was no surprise.

The origin of the system was a tricky subject. Too bad he couldn't tell the others. He would have liked to reach godhood together, even if that was nothing but a dream. In the end, such thoughts were just dreams. On New Earth, he would be lucky if everyone simply survived, especially once the system events began.

Yep. Life would be difficult.

He forced himself to keep moving. Even if he couldn't gain more levels right now, he could still grow stronger. There was no way he would ever allow Kael to reach his level of power. No, that man should remain weaker, so weak that Thalion could swat him aside with a lazy backhand.

Would Kael still have the support of his god and chosen on New Earth? If so, perhaps Kael could close the rift. That still didn't change the fact that the chosen was the real threat. And yet, Thalion found it deeply irritating, to imagine Kael catching up again.

With a sigh, Thalion rose and placed the Fear Pillar into his spatial ring. The oppressive aura vanished instantly. Funny how absurdly overpowered those rings were. He would miss them.

Descending into Lucan's smithy, Thalion positioned the pillar inside the formation. The smith himself was nowhere to be found, likely gone like so many others in these last days. Thalion couldn't blame him. The screams of dying elves and orcs trapped in the pillar had probably driven him away. Maybe Thalion should have warned him first.

Powerful wind crystals fueled the formation, similar to those he had once used to shrink the massive blue crystal. Even reduced in size, the Fear Pillar still needed to be compressed until it was no larger than his thumb for the fusion to work.

Speaking of the fusion. It would be one hell of a journey. To merge it with the darkness elemental, Thalion would need to push the shrunken pillar into his own chest and press it directly into the elemental's core. Contrary to what most would believe, he found out that the core wasn't solid. It had a hard shell, yes, but inside it was liquid darkness, surrounded by a swirling layer of shadow.

To breach it, Thalion would need to use the black tendrils of the Devourer Tentacle to pierce a hole and push the Fear Pillar through. The elemental might resist, which would make the process even more excruciating. Nobody looked forward to shoving their own hand deep into their chest, after all. Bloodline buffs and enhanced skills wouldn't make it any easier.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

This was going to be one hell of an undertaking. Before his bloodline's evolution, he might have felt confident. Now… not so much.

Thalion refocused and activated the formation. It roared to life with a low hum that shook the chamber. The pillar resisted immediately, swollen with power, making even the first steps difficult. This would take time. For safety, Thalion left the room and settled on the stairs, closing his eyes to meditate. He had to prepare himself mentally. Once the pillar was inside his chest, the fear effect would be a tidal wave crashing over his mind. He was not looking forward to that part.

The chamber's rumbling grew louder and louder as Thalion sank deeper into meditation. His conviction hardened with every passing second, matching the rising roar of the formation. He didn't notice the noise, only the path ahead, until a massive boom jolted him from his focus.

The formation was complete.

Thalion didn't know how much time had passed, but when he entered the chamber, the pillar was reduced to the size of a small pencil. The formation, on the other hand, was a ruin. Four crystals had collapsed outright, while the rest were cracked and fractured, glowing with the dull, brittle light of exhaustion. Dark smoke curled from the wreckage. It would never function again.

The pillar's aura was weaker now, no longer oppressive to the surroundings, but that didn't mean it had lost its bite. If anything, it felt like a blade sharpened to a finer edge, distilled into something purer and more lethal.

Thalion picked up the tiny crystal-like pillar and slipped it into his spatial ring. Lucan's smithy had served its purpose. He sent out messages to announce his work was done and decided to finish the last part in his basement, where no one could see him or feel the aura.

A smile crept onto his face when he saw people flooding back into the city through the portal as word spread. Thalion dashed back into his tower, descending into the basement at blinding speed. The walls blurred past like streaks of rain on glass.

"Hey Thalion, since you're finished now. Could we have a little talk? Kaldrek and I have finally decided how we want to proceed on New Earth."

Maike's message arrived just as he entered the ritual chamber. Normally, he would have welcomed the discussion, but the fusion was far more urgent. He wouldn't delay it any longer. He would simply trust their judgment.

Maike and Kaldrek had organized the city well enough. Thalion's role was to be the storm that kept predators away from their gates.

Thalion summoned a black tendril from the Abyssal Devourer. With his bloodline, that was extremely difficult, but at the same time, it would likely fuel the process, hopefully making the fusion far more powerful and effective.

It took him half an hour to form a needle-thin tendril, which he finally positioned directly in front of his chest where the elemental was hidden. With one hand, he grasped the tiny Fear Pillar, and after taking a deep breath, he drove the tendril forward as fast as possible.

The pain was unbearable. His own flesh resisted so fiercely that the tendril almost stopped the moment it touched his skin, moving forward only like a nail being forced through stone. The agony was so intense that even Thalion couldn't hold back a pained grunt, though he somehow managed to stay standing. He couldn't control the tendril with precision, so he had to move his entire body to guide it toward the elemental's core.

The darkness elemental, of course, noticed the threat and immediately tried to resist. Its power surged like a cornered animal baring its fangs, but Thalion fought back, commanding his shadows to push against its will. Black flames burned all around him as he micromanaged every detail, his mind pulled in a thousand directions.

On top of the pain and the struggle, there was the aura of the Fear Pillar itself. It pressed against his mind like icy hands gripping his skull. The elemental began to panic, thrashing in fear. Thalion tried to calm it, but with no real connection, it was useless.

The panicking elemental lashed out, shredding Thalion's body from within. The attacks tore at him like blades scraping along raw nerves and every wound also hurt the elemental, since they were linked. Thalion couldn't even blame it, if he had been the elemental, and a black tendril carrying an evil aura came for him, he would have fought just as desperately.

Through the pain, Thalion missed the core twice. Each failure only made it worse, the tearing inside his body and the pressure on his mind almost too much to bear. And that was with the pillar not even inside him yet.

Finally, he forced a tiny opening into the elemental's core. He shoved his entire hand and the crystal into his own chest.

He screamed. The sound was raw and broken as the agony tore through him. The tiny Fear Pillar, now more like a shard of pure black crystal wrapped in a sinister aura, slid into his body and pierced the elemental's core.

From there, his mind went blank. There was only pain and power like a storm of fire and ice in his veins, until everything went dark. Cold fear burst through his bloodstream like frozen lightning, and the elemental writhed in its own torment. This was only the beginning.

The entire elemental was reforged as the crystalline Fear Pillar embedded itself into its core. Thalion didn't witness the process. He blacked out from sheer overload and fell forward, hitting the ground face-first. From his fading perspective, the stone floor rushed toward him like a hammer blow, before darkness swallowed his vision.

When he opened his eyes again, he felt… fine. Better than fine. Panic flared for a moment, and he leapt to his feet, expecting something to have gone horribly wrong. Breathing hard, he turned inward, scanning himself.

He almost rubbed his eye in disbelief. Everything was in perfect order. No, better than perfect. Around the elemental's now-sleeping core swirled liquid darkness, proof of how much stronger it had become.

The last time he had fused with the elemental, his veins and body had been reinforced, allowing energy to flow faster. But now… it felt as if his entire body had been reforged.

Quickly, Thalion pulled a mirror from his spatial ring. His left arm was still gone. He couldn't feel it at all, but visually little had changed. The only difference was the faint darkness rising from his skin, like smoke curling from dying embers.

To be sure, he released his aura. The change was immediate. The elemental awoke, and their auras were now one. Dense, crushing, exactly like the aura of the Fear Pillar, only far more condensed. If it had not been his own, the pressure would have broken his mind. But it felt natural, woven into him.

Like armor forged from his very soul.

In hindsight, why should his own aura hurt him?

The forced transmutation was a complete success. He hadn't lost another limb or eye. He would definitely need to test it, but that could wait.

Maike wanted him at the meeting. And after that, he wanted to empower Eagly and the Tidecaller Serpent as much as possible before the using the One Form.

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