[The 6th-step awakening has been released.]

[Power: Illusory Emission]

[Illusory Emission]

[Description: The ancient dragon Kalatus set up an eight-step process to help the contractor adjust to the Dragon Body quickly. This is the sixth step. The elements of your Dragon Heart and mana stream you can use through the connection combine to temporarily project onto reality what is in your mind.]

[*Barrier Building

Anything is possible in an Illusory World. However, it’s also a dangerous place that others can easily interfere with. This option prevents the destruction of your Illusory World and strengthens your mentality. You can then influence external reality and create your own perfect reality in Ideas while your mana stream moves.]

[*Illusory Activation

The effect of reality in Ideas will help your thoughts take form in the physical world. The quality of the Illusory Barrier depends on your magic power and imagination. The better you can project your mind, the stronger your will in the outer world will be.]

When Yeon-woo opened his eyes again, he felt scales covering most of his face and body. They were no longer dark blue but a shiny black color. The red color that occasionally glittered on the surface added a touch of eeriness. Most blades would probably bounce off of him now.

His larger and sturdier Dragon Heart sent magic power and oxygen throughout his body, and his more agile body contained massive potential, like a volcano about to erupt. However, what made his heart beat faster was the shed skin that lay on the ground. ‘I succeeded…in shedding.’

Yeon-woo had never attempted anything past the fifth step of the awakening and only focused on improving his abilities because the level of difficulty starting with the sixth step grew exponentially.

‘If everything up to the fifth step is centered on training and awakening as a Dragon Human, from the sixth step onwards, I will begin creating a new body and upgrading my soul to become a true member of the Draconic species.’ In other words, the steps below the sixth step were just preparatory ones to help him get started as a member of the Draconic species. Once you reached the sixth step, things would drastically change until you reached the seventh step to reform your body and soul before attempting polymorphing.

He had to molt or go through metamorphosis first to raise his soul to the level of a transcendent being. He eliminated all the waste from his body, rearranged his bones, and even completely changed the structure of his genes. For a Dragon Human, the process of shedding meant removing your last human traits.

From the moment that humans were born, it was nearly impossible for them to become dragons, which were beings equal to gods and demons. They could borrow the strength and powers of the Draconic species, but becoming one was something else altogether because it meant changing species. It was different from simply exuviating or transcending.

The last one who attempted this process had been the last king of the dragons, Kalatus. Thanks to his research on Hochma, the collection of knowledge that the dragons possessed, he managed to create an eight-step system. This legacy was so powerful that Jeong-woo had almost instantly climbed to the highest position in the Tower.

Thanks to the new discoveries he’d gained from his exchange with Grand Demon Duke Agares, Yeon-woo’s growth system found new possibilities, helping him create a path that no one in the Tower, or even the universe, had ever heard of: the Demonic Divine Draconic Body.

The Demonic, Divine, and Draconic Factors found an excellent balance, transforming into a new trait that allowed Yeon-woo to possess a new body that neither Kalatus or Jeong-woo would have ever imagined. It was a near-perfect body that even gods and demons drooled over. He ran the risk of losing the potential of his body in his soul, but he no longer worried about that after gaining the Throne of Death.

Swish! He felt the pressure sealed inside him releasing easily with a deep holiness and powerful energy.

[You have met the conditions.]

[The sealed power ‘Death King Manifestation’ has been unlocked.]

[The sealed power ‘Opening Hell’s Door’ has been unlocked.]

…

[Most of the seals have been unlocked.]

[Your current condition is ‘Precarious King of the Underworld’.]

[You have now met most of the basic conditions for sitting on the throne. However, there are still groups that question your legitimacy. Prove that only you are the true owner of the throne to the heavenly world.]

[Continue gaining victories in battle and build up karma in death and fighting.]

[You can now write your very own legend.]

Yeon-woo realized that his divine power had been completely released. He had grown new wings for himself. He still had a long way to go to catch up to the legends of Hades, who had lived an unimaginable life, but now he could make an attempt.

At his current level, he was roughly on par with Typhon’s incarnation. Yeon-woo easily stood over the ordinary divine beings of each society, and in fact, he believed that he could fight most of the highest divine beings, as well. He was confident that if he returned to Tartarus right now, he could easily deal with most of the Titans and Giants.

It was the same situation for the kings of the Demonic Sea. He felt assured that he could defeat Nessie if they fought again, and he thought he could even fight the Vampiric Lord too. He now had the dignity of a divine being. ‘If I can get through the seventh step, polymorph, from here…’ His eyes flashed.

He was right on the verge of exuviating, and he felt like just a little more effort would make it happen. If he could become an Elder Dragon, which was a true Draconic species, and even transcended, it would be a piece of cake to deal with the highest divine beings. Since he would be able to use his powers more freely, he might even stand a chance against Allforone.

The reason why Yeon-woo managed to grow so fast was the book in his hand: the original revelations. Urrrng. The original copy of the Emerald Tablet contained deep and vast knowledge. Although he was far from being the wisest person, studying alchemy and magic had given him a depth of knowledge about the Tower. He also frequently had discussions with Brahm and Boo, as well as opened Hochma to study the knowledge of the dragons.

However, the revelations contained so much knowledge that it made everything he knew seem like nothing. As the Crawling Chaos said, it was more than just a book of information, it was a record of the universe, from beginning to end, including events that had yet to occur, just like the Bible.

Every word he read seemed to awaken something in his head. His soul began to remember the mysteries of the beginning of the universe that it had forgotten after reincarnation, creating the conditions for him to find more Ideas. This was the peak the Heavenly Demon had spoken of when they first met. Whoosh.

‘The Emerald Tablet is only a single page in this thick book with thousands of pages. The Crawling Chaos was right.’ He had said the Emerald Tablet was only a tiny piece of information that could be easily discarded. But that tiny piece had shaken up both the lower world and the heavenly world.

Yeon-woo was curious what the revelations were exactly. He couldn’t imagine who might have written them, and in fact, he was even fearful that such a being could exist. Still, he didn’t stop reading. Simply looking at it already led to so much growth, what would happen if he actually understood it?

He grew more certain as he continued to read that the secret of darkness and the path to it were in the book. However, considering that it had taken him nearly a year just to understand one page of the revelations, he needed an unbelievable amount of time to examine the rest of the contents.

He had managed to achieve the sixth step of the awakening by the fourth page, and he already felt as though he’d taken up too much time. He needed to hurry. He didn’t even have time to check how much time he had left. ‘Hm?’

Just when he was about to get back to the revelations, the feeling of danger made him look up. However, all he could see were books lying scattered on the ground. Shanon, who should have been talking up a storm, Hanryeong, who should have been reading quietly, Rebecca, Boo, and even the Vampiric Lord were all gone.

* * *

Although he felt it was strange that his familiars had disappeared, he focused on the books again. He could look for his familiars anytime, but he didn’t know if he’d ever get another chance to read the revelations again. Only the sound of pages turning filled the silence.

Eight pages.

Nine pages.

By the time he was on the tenth page, the Stone of Sin had become complete. Superbia swallowed Gula, and his Dragon Heart had grown three times its previous size. The potential of the sixth step of the Dragon Body awakening had fully bloomed, and the holiness of the Throne of Death had grown more stable. He was at the peak of the seventh step, and he could feel something cracking inside him. His ripe soul had grown and was starting to break the chains binding it.

Exuviation! He had finally taken the first step towards transcendence. Like a chick hatching out of an egg, his soul was preparing to escape the limits of his body.

Crack. The larger the crack was, the more painful it felt. He felt like his body was shattering into pieces. However, his soul felt exhilarated at escaping its uncomfortable cage. Yeon-woo was feeling two extremes of emotions at the same time. However, even as he endured this, he didn’t take his eyes off the revelations. He had just passed the final point and the last piece of the shell was left when he heard a strange voice.

『I have been watching you for a while. You are definitely quite different from all the children of the past.』 It was a familiar voice.

‘Allforone!’

『From Luciel to Faust, Bathory, Ismenios, Nayu…all their obsessions are blooming in you. With the initiation of that child Cha Jeong-woo… I truly cannot understand. Exuviation, transcendence…they can only bring disaster. Why are you all so obsessed with this nonsense?』

The final shell that had seemed so easy to break didn’t budge, as though it were being held in place and something was blocking him from hatching fully.

『I know what it is you want. I feel sorry for that child, Cha Jeong-woo, but it will only end the same way as it did last time.』

Yeon-woo roared in the unbreakable egg, but the sound didn’t reach Allforone at all.

『I will stop both of you this time as well.』

A figure of light took up his blurred line of sight. He didn’t know how it happened, but Allforone had entered his consciousness not only to stop his exuviation but also to return him to the level of a mortal. The Summer Queen and the other dragons, the Vampiric Lord who’d lived for thousands of years, Faust who had chased after darkness, and even the Martial King who led the One-horned tribe into their golden age had all despaired, unable to get past this moment.

Yeon-woo was now facing the same crossroads. Would he permanently give up exuviation and finish his revenge as the strongest of the mortals, or… ‘Climb over Allforone to finish exuviation.’

He’d already made his decision. ‘I will fight.’ Yeon-woo freed all his strength to withstand the force that was trying to push him down: his level, powers, and even his divine authority!

[The Throne of Death has been released.]

Rumble! A mighty explosion of energy cracked his consciousness, shaking the library. Shelves broke apart, books spilling to the ground as pages fluttered in the air.

[6th-step awakening]

[All have been powers released.]

Yeon-woo spread his Sky Wings open with his completed Demonic Divine Draconic Body and clashed with Allforone, who had finished manifesting.

『Keekeekeek! I thought you were ripe enough, but you’ve done even more.』 Above their heads, a figure that looked like a clump of black shadows sat on some fallen shelves, observing them. The figure was faceless but an opening that looked like a mouth full of sharp teeth smiled widely. It was the manifestation of the Demonism.