Congratulations!, your core has undergone manifestation, your core: mountain stronghold of the titan has been created. Core: mountain stronghold of the titan through inspiration has advanced to bronze rank! Congratulations!, willpower of the titan and authority of the titan have fused into passive ability: Ashe. Congratulations!: aura of the titan has fused with the mantle: rune of the draconic slaying titan to become: runic robe of the draconic slaying titan. Core: mountain stronghold of the titan has evolved the skills of the titan into Greed of the titan becomes: greed of Esu Titan’s dance of Ijakadi becomes: dance of Sango Wrath of the titan becomes: wrath of Oya Realm of the titan becomes: realm of Olorun Step of the titan becomes: step of Ogun Voice of the titan becomes: voice of Eledumare Ferocity of the beast becomes: ferocity of oshosi Note: all skills are automatically upgraded to the rare (R) tier All skills have been reduced to the base level of 100 as they have evolved from system skills to personal skills and are stronger than system skills’

Ashe: the titan has progressed once again on the path of overwhelming power; no longer does he need to borrow authority and willpower from reality. Instead, whatever authority and willpower he gains will be transformed into Ashe, the personal amalgamation of both aspects of the titan. The titan now has complete control over reality when battling any enemy his rank and below, while also having limited strength against those above his rank.

You have slain 5 bronze ranked wyverns, all essence has been absorbed into your core,

Name: Moyosore

Path: crushing blade

Body: Draconic Titan(+90% defense against mental attacks)

Race: Human

Level: 160 (200) (Expert bronze rank)- 5% to silver

Legendary core user: mountain stronghold of the titan

Title: bane of the hive, draconic slayer

Skills:

Greed of Esu (R)-100 Dance of Sango (R)-100 Wrath of Oya (R)-100 Realm of Olorun (R)-100 Step of Ogun (R)-100 Voice of Eledumare (R)-100 Ferocity of Oshosi (R)-100

attributes:

STR: 3050 END: 3612 ASHE: 3200 CNS: 3200 DEX: 2900 INT: 2105

Even as Moyo went through the lists of notifications, he couldn’t help but smile appreciatively at the large difference in power he had achieved during his short time with the masters, a difference he was sure he wouldn’t have achieved had he stayed on his planet, being a large fish in a small pond. However, one notification bothered him, he opened his HUD and stared at it again,

Notice: spatial storage space has been influenced by primordial shard of technology to become Vault of the titan.

Vault of the titan: due to a spark of the divine, your spatial storage space is now an actual vault, access to the vault has been restricted to only the titan and those who trust him in entirety. Also, the vault now holds a physical spot in the chambers of the titan in his domain and kingdom of Bastion.

He wasn’t sure how to react to that, and when he showed the masters, they immediately shut him down and expressly told him not to open his vault at a whim or in front of anyone outside of this current group. He had naturally asked why,

“Vaults and physical storage spaces are in the realms of diamond rankers and masters, nothing a mere bronze ranker like you should have any business with,” Ajax said,

And he had dropped the issue wisely, but still, he wondered about the issue as he sat in his room in the cigar, the ship heading towards a destination unknown. A knock on the door had him dismissing his HUD and telling whomever it was to come in. Ashira poked her head into the room, her three-colored eyes shining as she entered,

“Hi, you busy?” she asked,

“Not at all, need something?” he said,

“Not really, everyone’s off doing one thing or the other. Masters Killian and Ajax are discussing the red jaw, Ulsa is in training with master Urush and I figured I could come see if you were busy too”

Moyo could see the shyness and somewhat loneliness of Ashira, despite her overwhelming prowess on the battlefield, she looked much like a younger sister. He nodded in understanding,

“Just going through my HUD, lots of changes,” he said,

“Tell me about it, a bronze ranker with an inspiration and a spatial vault?” she started,

“If you belonged to any of the great houses, the main family would had snagged you up and placed you under the tutelage of their strongest masters or ruler”

Moyo raised an eyebrow at her words,

“You seem to know an awful lot about how the great houses work, I’m guessing house Kairos is a big deal?” he asked,

She blushed and averted his gaze,

“The second strongest house behind house Dracon obviously, and only because of the function they serve in regulating dungeons”

“Oh, wow, the great houses, what are their names?” he asked again,

“Dracon, Kairos, Garuda, Nebula, Irios, Wolftide, Tidebreaker, Crestsun, Thousand blades, and Ironash” she listed immediately,

“I’m guessing you listed them according to their power scaling?” he said as she nodded,

“Most times, the houses are sworn to an accord, only one ruler may be awake at any given time and a maximum of two masters at a time, this is to regulate the powers that be from taking advantage of each other” she explained,

“Seems fair, that means the red jaw and the other master aren’t the only masters of house Dracon?”

Ashira stared at him,

“You know not to say their names,”

“First thing my master drilled into me, names have powers and could draw their attention,” Moyo said,

“True, but when you said your master, who were you referring to?” she asked,

Moyo gave her a level-headed stare,

“Would you tell me about your history with house Kairos if I told you?”

She nodded in understanding, he couldn’t go spilling his secrets to a person he just met now could he?.

“Seems fair I guess, excuse my curious nature,” she said,

Moyo waved it away,

“We all have our secrets that must remain secrets, as long as they don’t put friends and allies at risk,” he said,

“True, and true on the account of the red jaw and the other master not being the only masters of house Dracon, from what I gather, house Dracon has three other masters, making a total of five, but they are also all asleep, plus only one ruler is awake,” Ashira said,

“When you mean asleep, what do you mean?” he asked,

“Like literally asleep, the rulers and to some extent really strong masters take a lot of aether to function. Not that there’s a scarcity of aether, but each galaxy and world have a specific quota of aether they are given for a period of time” she said,

“For example, if a world gets 100 aether, rulers use as much as 50-60 of it, masters use 20 to 10 and experts and below use a mere 5 to as low as 1” she finished,

“Meaning two rulers will completely absorb the amount of aether in a galaxy, wow,” Moyo said,

“They could survive on their internally generated aether, but rulers would not put themselves at a disadvantage doing that, rival houses could invade their territory if they get news of that, so they’d rather keep only one ruler awake with two masters and the best experts with an army of fodder advocates and below to acts as meat shields during a war,” Ashira said, her face scrunching up like she tasted something bitter,

Moyo understood her sentiment and it was one he agreed with, the archailect treated the weak as nothing but disposable pieces in battle, and even he, with all his bronze ranked expert strength was still a disposable piece,

“You don’t seem to agree with that method,” he remarked,

“No, it was one of the reasons I got…revoked from house Kairos.” She said,

Moyo noticed she chose her words carefully and he was beginning to think she might not had committed a crime so much as left due to conflicting interests, but he let her continue,

“I grew up in the archailect, I saw how the weak were treated and how the strong behaved like slaves to those stronger than them, it was nauseating, to say the least,” she said,

“The one rule I learned from the archailect was the rule of get stronger or die,” Moyo said,

“but it doesn’t have to be that way!, every year billions and billions of advocates are sent to their deaths in wars on planets ruled over by experts who fight for precious resources at the behest of their masters. Thousands of experts die in battles between factions belonging to masters with nothing to show for it and their ascensions down the drain” Ashira said, her eyes wide,

“We are fighting the abyss at the frontlines and fighting ourselves back here, it’s a recipe for disaster!” she said,

“The frontlines, what’s it like?” Moyo asked,

“haven’t been there, mostly criminals and murderers convicted by the brigade are sent there, also rulers who grow tired of the ceaseless politics of the archailect. They go to the frontlines to battle against the abyss, gain more planets and galaxies for the archailect and see if they can advance their paths” she explained,

“Sounds like a fun place,” Moyo said lightheartedly,

Ashira snorted,

“For every thousand experts sent to the frontlines, less than 100 make it back during the rotational shifts, for every 100 masters, 20 make it back and for every 10 rulers, less than 5 make it back,” she said,

“Oh, wow” he simply said as she nodded,

“Indeed, however, let’s face the issue on ground, house Dracon,” she said,

Moyo wanted to reply when a beep sounded in the room and a large holographic screen came alive, the face of master Killian on it,

“Moyo, Ashira, come to the bridge, we have things to discuss,” he said,

“What was it about house Dracon?’ he asked,

“Later, let’s see what the masters want,” she said as she stood,

Together they both walked to the bridge where everyone was gathered, master Urush and Ulsa sat next to each other, Ulsa waving a bit to them with her tail swishing behind her. They sat next to each other, master Killian nodding to them,

“Now that we are all gathered, first order of business, master Urush, and Ulsa will disembark when we meet up with the ship house Garuda sends at a point given to us,” he said,

Moyo glanced at them,

“you’re leaving?” he asked,

“Indeed, young titan blade, in as much as we would love to stay, we must complete our preparations for the tournament, but we will meet again at the tournament proper,” master Urush said,

Ulsa nodded,

“I look forward to allying with you in the tournament,” she said,

“As I am” Moyo replied,

“Second order of business, house Dracon, I’d let Ajax handle that seeing as he has had the most interaction with them,” master Killian said,

Moyo wasn’t aware his master knew the Draconians so intimately, Ajax stretched as he stood,

“That’s right, I’m your foremost expert on all things slithering, crawling, flying, sharp-toothed, fire-breathing creatures” he started as master Killian sighed,

“First things first, we’re all in deep trouble, well not we, I can handle myself pretty fine, don’t know about you all”

“Ajax” master Killian growled,

“Fine, fine, sigh, no flare for the dramatic these days,” Ajax said as Moyo rolled his eyes,

“They have lost a hatchling, not just any hatchling, but a hatchling of the red jaw. This is not just a slight against the red jaw herself but a slight against their ruler and grandfather of the red jaw known as the scorching claw, and believe me, you don’t want to meet that guy, if you think the red jaw is crazy, papa dragon makes her look like a saint” he said,

“Indeed, house Dracon is filled with murderous beasts, irrespective of who killed the child, houses thousand blades and Garuda would face increased attacks on their territories by house Dracon,” master Urush said,

“Another reason why we need master Urush here to get back to his house with haste, coordinated efforts would need to be made to protect all our investments,” master Killian said,

“that’s all good and shiny, but the main issue for our experts is Kenuran red jaw, trained by papa dragon himself and mother red jaw, he’s a perfectly honed killing machine” Ajax continued,

“Then why was Vasanz such a weakling?” Moyo asked,

It made no sense when he thought of it, Vasanz was also a child of Anala red jaw, shouldn’t he also had been trained,

“See, the thing with dragons is, your fate has been decided from birth, Vasanz was born with a weak connection to intent, plus as he grew, the rumors were he didn’t pick things as fast as his brother Kenuran, took triple the effort. Papa dragon discarded him like trash but mother red jaw managed to put him under a master for tutelage” Ajax said,

Moyo nodded, Vasanz was the rejected child,

“Anyways, Kenuran is participating in the tournament, and it doesn’t take a genius to know he’d be gunning for you all, in his twisted self-righteous way of avenging his brother’s death,” Ajax said,

That got Moyo thinking, a quiet chill running down his spine. He didn’t want to face that demon-given flesh again, not when he wasn’t as strong as him yet. The look on his face must had been apparent as Ajax grinned,

“Never fear young ones!, I and the other masters, well, mostly me seeing as I was the brain of the idea” Ajax started as master Urush just rolled his eyes and master Killian gave him a deadpanned look,

“We came up with the idea of a string of level 200-400 dungeon runs for the next two weeks,” he said,

Ashira sputtered, Ulsa’s eyes went wide and Moyo grinned, it had been so long he went through a dungeon higher than him. Ashira spoke first,

“250?, I’m merely silver, and Moyo’s 160!, it’ll be hell!” she said,

“I’m 210, isn’t that too much?” ulsa said,

“You have master Urush with you, you’ll be fine, Ashira and Moyo though, eh, well, you should be fine,” Ajax said shrugging,

“Should?” Moyo asked,

“Yes, we’re dumping the both of you on a planet and would only come back to pick you up when you've gotten to silver and gold respectively,” Killian said,

“And if we need food or water or healing?” Ashira sked,

“Lots of creatures on the planets we’re going to hit, probably time to widen your tastes with a variety of animals, you both are bronze and silver ranked experts, you barely need to drink water or eat anyways, your body is half aether at this point. Plus, any injuries you get should be able to heal just fine when you clear the dungeon” Ajax said,

“Any other questions?” Killian said,

They all shook their heads,

“Good, seeing as we’re arriving at the rendezvous point with house Garuda, it’s time to say goodbye for now to masters Urush and Ulsa,” Killian said,

Moyo stood up bowing to master Urush,

“It’s been an honor master Urush,” he said,

“Likewise, hadn’t seen this much action in decades!, I look forward to your participation in the tournament” master Urush said,

He turned to Ulsa, a smile on his lips,

“Ascend faster Ulsa frozen tiger, it would be a shame to get to gold faster than you could,” he said,

Ulsa looked taken back, then she grinned, her full setoff canine teeth on display,

“You also Moyo titan blade, would hate to beat you a second time,” she said as master Urush laughed and patted her back,

“Moyo, it’s time to hand over the shard to master Urush,” Killian said,

Master Urush had contacted house Garuda, the blazing empress had decided on buying the shard from Ashira for a whooping sum of two tier 2 planets respectively, one million diamond coins, and an honorary member of house Garuda.

Moyo had been floored by the amount mentioned, it was enough to buy clan titan blade a million times over. Although these payments were to be given after the tournament to prevent malicious eyes from going after them.

Moyo nodded and focused on the air in front of him as a large silver door appeared in front of him, engraved on it was an image of a large man holding a katana, looking oddly like Moyo.

It opened with a grating sound, the two halves of the door opening outwards to show a large room lined with rows and rows of shelves, each holding something of his. From the meat of slain animals he kept for food, to rows of coins he had to the primordial shard that floated towards him. Dominion, his blade sat on a table fitted with a blade holder, a golden structure that gleamed,

“Talk about style,” Ashira said as Moyo only nodded,

The shard passed through the doors and once again the room was filled with the pure power of aether that suffused the room, but this time master Urush snatched it from the air and threw it into a pouch he had on him,

“None of that,” he said with a chuckle,

Moyo closed the vault and dismissed it, the silver door disappearing just as fast as it had appeared. With the shard now in the hands of master Urush, they concluded their goodbyes, watching as a dark ship shaped almost like a bird appeared in front of them, a man marching out of it in deep space, arms folded behind him. He had a mostly avian look, with a beak for mouth and talons for toes, and gave off the strength of an expert, only insanely higher than Moyo’s.

Master Urush stepped out of the ship along with Ulsa as the man saluted, then led them into the ship before it powered up and disappeared in a streak of light,

“Well, aren’t you glad the blazing princess didn’t show up?” master Killian asked, a smirk on his face as Ajax winced,

“who’s the blazing princess?” Moyo asked innocently,

“Ask that question ever again and I dump you in a tier 300 dungeon,” Ajax said as Killian chuckled,

Moyo wisely kept shut…