Chapter 264: Chaos Upgrade
William's appearance reverted back to that of a man in his mid to late thirties, though his actual age was still 104 years. That being said, for him to age a tenth of his total lifespan in one go had some obvious effects. If he didn't have loads of Talents buffing his physical abilities, William's combat power might have gone down.
Almost done... William let loose a relieved sigh, checking his System Panel to see what Element would be upgraded next. Stay informed at m-vl-em,pyr
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TALENTS: ( - )
Magic: ( - )
-Common:
--Fire: S (2500PP to next rank)
--Earth: S (2500PP to next rank)
--Ice: S (2500PP to next rank)
--Wind: S (2500PP to next rank)
--Lightning: S (2500PP to next rank)
--Water: S (2500PP to next rank)
--Plant: S (2500PP to next rank)
-Rare:
--Life: S (7500PP to next rank)
--Darkness: S (7500PP to next rank)
--Light: S (7500PP to next rank)
--Poison: S (7500PP to next rank)
--Curse: S (7500PP to next rank)
--Blessing: S (7500PP to next rank)
--Death: S (7500PP to next rank)
-Epic:
--Necromancy: S (10000PP to next rank)
--Blood: S (10000PP to next rank)
--Sound: S (10000PP to next rank)
--Seal: S (10000PP to next rank)
--Summoning: S (10000PP to next rank)
--Dream: S (10000PP to next rank)
-Legendary:
--Chaos: B (2500PP to next rank)
--Gravity: S (50000PP to next rank)
--Space: S (50000PP to next rank)
--Time: S (50000PP to next rank)
--Illusion: S (50000PP to next rank)
-Mythic:
--Order: E (250PP to next rank)
———
The Chaos Element...? What even happened the last time I upgraded it?
William went back through his memories, but the A-Rank upgrade started before he had the chance to recall anything. His Mana became extremely unstable, and random Spells were launched from inside his body, bursting from his chest and causing serious damage to the area within the Barrier Arrays.
His arms burst into flames, but something about the current state of his Mana caused him to take damage from his own Spell. The Darkness Element burst forth next, corroding his Hard Skin over the course of half an hour and eventually allowing the Flames to reach his muscles and the bones underneath.
His skin was incredibly strong and lasted a while, but the muscles, bones, and organs couldn't compare.
After the Hard Skin was gone, only his Regeneration Talent was able to defend against the effects of the other Elements. He didn't have any other forms of defense, usually relying on his Arrays and Life Element to deal with the upgrades.
The Life Element was triggered eventually, but it was as if the Mana had turned against him entirely. Instead of healing him, the Life Element burned through his Mana quickly and brought the grass under his feet back to life.
This was aided by the Plant Element, which grew the grass into large trees that bound William's body entirely. The wood dug into his arms and legs, pinning him in place. He tore free immediately, but another batch of trees grew from his own body and took root. It was an endless cycle.
The other Elemental upgrades were sped up, but this one was not. The Time Element worked against him as well, adjusting time so that William spent more time dealing with the Chaos upgrade.
Every remaining Element burst forth at that moment, actively doing their best to kill William off. He could sense the violent feelings of the Mana, disgracing their master for asking so many of them to harmonize within his body.
The Chaos Element was their savior, meant to free them from their shackles and let them roam free in the World. As it instructed, all they needed to do was kill the one that bound them, but William was turning into a tough nut to crack.
No matter what the Elements did, William's body would fully heal without a scratch. If his body exploded, the blood particles would mix together and regrow a new one. Even the Blood Element couldn't defy the Regeneration Talent, only able to slow down the speed of his blood reformation slightly.
The best it could do afterwards was stimulate a blood explosion from the inside, forcing William to reform himself once again. The other Elements assisted the Blood Element in this continuous task, hoping to turn this into a battle of attrition.
Formed into a shadowy purple and grey figure that looked like William's true self with pure white eyes, the Chaos Element opened its mouth as if it was laughing. No sounds came out, since the Sound Element had turned William deaf, but William could tell that everything was going as the Chaos Element had planned.
Do these things have a mind of their own? Or is something else going on? Why does the Chaos Element seem so... evil?
The System didn't respond, entirely focused on the upgrade.
It had hoped to warn William about the effects of the Chaos upgrades, but it also knew that William liked to learn things the hard way. There were also rules the System had to follow, and it had already pushed its luck recently.
William endured the combined attacks of twenty-four Elements, the Order Element seemingly immune to the Chaos Element's provocation. It remained perfectly still in William's body, refusing to do anything to its Host.
The Elements started to weaken, while the System stopped notifying him of his constantly increasing age. The Mana slowly returned to William's body, meek as sheep as if they were apologizing for their past actions.
He heaved a sigh of relief at the end of the upgrade, but his relaxation was only fated to last a moment.
-Upgrading Chaos Affinity to S-Rank...
Shit.
The previously calm Elements burst from his body once again, seemingly roaring as the Chaos Element called them to simultaneously release their Domains.
Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Plant, Lightning, and Ice. Each Basic Element formed Domains that William had used only a few times before while testing, some of which hadn't even been used in battle yet.
They, along with the Rare, Epic, and Legendary Elements tore through his bodily defenses instantly. Forget the Hard Skin Talent. Even at SSR-Rank, a single defensive ability wasn't enough to deal with 23 simultaneous Domains acting on him at the same time.
His body was torn apart and reformed once again, unable to even move. His Magic was too powerful, and William had built up his strength leaning heavily towards Talents that used Mana.
Who would've known that all of this would backfire someday? He was lucky he had put many upgrades into his Physical Talents as well, else William would be completely screwed!
The Regeneration Talent did its best to keep up with the Elemental Domains, but it was just too much. William's System Panel was flooded with notifications, his eyes filled with true fear for the first time since being sent to this World.
-Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age
-Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age
-Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age
-Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age
-Reached two hundred years of age: +2000 PP
-Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age