The Invincible Full-Moon System Chapter 1829: Almost a God (1)

Roughly five percent of the Absolute Effect Manual's energy had been taken in by Rex so far.

His Invincible Spleen continued to build its power at a steady pace, though he chose to direct his thoughts elsewhere.

In his meditative states, distractions kept pulling him away. Nivellen’s cautionary words lingered in his thoughts, about additional Lunirich Gods plotting the near-fatal interferences. About Kaiser stirring once more in the shadows, aiming to ambush him unexpectedly.

It filled him with concern.

He recalled the magical ambush by Morgana within the Tomb of Heroes.

Without his evolution into a Blank, that strike would have severed his head.

Given Kaiser's support behind it, his soul could have suffered harm, leading to true death. He wouldn't have returned to his body in the Mortal Realm. This thought stirred deep unease within him.

Rex tightened his fists until the bones showed pale. His intent to kill locked onto the Gods overhead.

Getting surprised is expected on the road to strength.

Yet facing it a second time marked him as foolish, unfit for the might he commands.

At the heart of the subterranean room he had carved, Rex settled down, seized a Blood Moon Crystal, and shut his eyes. He let his form loosen up—to draw in the sacred threads from the crystal more swiftly.

Facing the Lunirich Gods, he spotted a major flaw that demanded fixing.

He lacked the ability to detect their approach.

Even with his razor-sharp perceptions and otherworldly instinct for threats, those senses fell short against the Lunirich Gods’ assaults. It wasn't due to malfunction or some external block, but rather a different issue altogether.

If suppression were involved, the System would have alerted him.

No force evades the System’s detection.

It dawned on Rex then that he might not perceive the elevated energy level they wielded. That explained his failure to sense their arrivals. Even during their direct encounter in their domain, his awareness had dulled.

Indeed, he could detect their immense moonlight energy.

However, he suspected that moonlight energy stemmed from their superior core power.

It served as the medium for Lunirich Gods to interact with mortal planes, not their true essence.

"Boosting my divinity ought to solve it."

Currently, Rex’s divinity stood at the Three-star Demigod level.

He lacked knowledge of divinity tiers. Curiosity burned, but he refused to buy the details from the System. Though not directly God-linked, he figured the intel would cost a fortune. And indeed, it demanded 500 million gold.

Certainly, Rex could hunt voidal beasts to amass that sum.

But his return home loomed near.

Thinking of the Spirit Conversion technique, he likely needed gold to transfer his Spirit Realm gains to the Mortal Realm. Saving several hundred million gold seemed wise, in case expenses ran higher than planned.

Swish...

<Congratulations, the user’s divinity has reached the Four-star Demigod rank!>

<Divinity Progression (Four-star Demigod): 0 / 125,000>

Fifty thousand divine strands propelled him to the Four-star Demigod stage.

Each Blood Moon Crystal yielded four thousand divine strands, and with his prior two thousand, he had consumed twelve already. Plenty of crystals remained, though.

Ninety came from his Sky City efforts, including three superior ones.

Thus, seventy-five standard crystals and three enhanced ones awaited.

Rex pressed on.

Time blurred as he absorbed one crystal after another without pause.

Elevating divinity differed vastly from rank advancements. A breakthrough resembled the gradual shift from rough stone to gleaming diamond—tougher, refined, yet rooted in the same material.

But this current feeling was utterly distinct.

It resembled transforming stone into living marrow. As though the stone, after endless ages, warmed up and began to pulse. Flesh forming over rigid mineral. Blood surging through channels meant for stillness.

His mortal elements dissolved, then reformed into an alien, exalted state.

And this rush outshone even the thrill of a rank leap.

Swoosh—!

A surge of power erupted from Rex’s frame, akin to clashing continental slabs.

The surroundings quaked fiercely.

Without Rex’s prior safeguards, everything nearby would have crumbled.

<Congratulations, the user’s divinity has reached the Five-star Demigod rank!>

<Divinity Progression (Five-star Demigod): 0 / 500,000>

Rex’s flesh gleamed like red-tinted crystal. His gaze blazed with piercing radiance, revealing his inner essence. The divine strands within raced wildly through his being, lifting him into the air.

Yet awareness of this escaped him still.

He exhausted the regular Blood Moon Crystals and reached for a larger one.

Overwhelmed as he felt, halting the intake proved impossible.

For those treading the power path, craving strength comes instinctively. Rex shared this trait. But now, the pull intensified beyond his typical urges. His entire form burned hotly.

Only drawing in more divine strands eased that blazing torment.

Before long, the excess shifted into agony.

It seared every nerve, blackening his tissues and fluids.

Rex jerked from the torment, sharp enough to jolt even him.

<Warning!>

<Warning: the user’s divinity is increasing too quickly!>

<Be advised, it’s recommended to increase divinity at a gradual pace. Going too fast would cause the user’s body to implode!>

The alert messages flashed before Rex, who clenched his jaw.

He glanced at his divinity gauge, nearing the five-hundred thousand threshold. A touch further might launch him to the next level. Yet the suffering didn't build steadily—it surged to excruciating heights in moments.

Gazing at his hand, Rex noted the premium Blood Moon Crystal nearly spent.

Just a little longer to drain it fully.

But that risked self-destruction, far grimmer than a Lunirich God’s covert strike.

After all this, recklessness couldn't claim him here.

A savage grin twisted his features as convulsions gripped his body.

Gradually, relentlessly, despite the divine strands tearing at his core, he shifted to his monstrous shape. His frame expanded. Bones extended with moist, cracking snaps. His mouth reshaped into a fierce muzzle. Muscles ripped and reformed, piling denser layers, each strand binding firm to craft a vaster, more savage form.

Kaboom—!

Pain never daunted Rex. Rather, it served as his deadly ally. His beastly state thrived on agony. It held the gift to channel pain into raw fury. Through it, his physique intensified ceaselessly.

Despite the escalating torment, Rex persisted.

In his grasp, the Blood Moon Crystal, once straining his hold, shrank to pebble size. Its glow flickered weakly, like a fading pulse. And at his depths, Rex sensed the mounting strain, the fissures widening. The limit neared.

With every tick, he ascended further.

Each power wave from his body slammed the chamber's walls.

Cracks spiderwebbed the stone face, and falling fragments liquefied into blood before spattering the soil. A mere brush of his aura melted rock to crimson. An impulse rose sharply in Rex’s gullet.

Growl—!

As if driven mad, his talons clawed wildly over his body.

At his core, he knew the divine strands had elevated him to a higher existence.

Rebirth awaited now.

Rex slashed his talons over his red, glassy hide—fragile casing too tight for the turmoil inside. Each gash fractured it, spilling brilliant light from the breaks. He clawed fiercer, deeper. Until cracks turned to explosions, flooding the chamber in scarlet brilliance.

Meanwhile, miles distant, Linthia burrowed through the soil.

Her vision stayed alert, senses stretched wide to locate Rex.

Though the group urged her to await his return, idleness gnawed at her.

Dorn’s alert carried urgency, and she yearned to relay it to Rex promptly.

"Where is he...?" She whispered, scanning sharply side to side. "They said he’s somewhere near."

Suddenly, Linthia halted.

A abrupt change in the atmosphere hit her, then she spotted it clearly. Moments before, the flows opposed her path, resisting her advance. Now, those flows veered leftward, pulled irresistibly toward an invisible force.

Linthia was partially surfaced.

Her figure rose from a dark fluid pool that swirled like oil, marking her ability.

But that dark fluid, along with the surrounding soil's hue, flushed red abruptly.

As if an underground glow pierced upward.

"Rex...?" She peered toward the air's pull.

And in a blur beyond her sight, a radiant red pillar ripped from the heavens, slamming into the earth.

For an instant, Linthia watched the terrain buckle, then burst open. Surface layers peeled back, exposing scarred bedrock. As comprehension dawned, the blast hit her like a mallet.

BOOM—!

"Kyaargh—!"

A cry burst from Linthia as the blast wave flung her backward.

She clawed for her energy, seeking the known flow inside, but grasped emptiness. The wave had stripped the air's essence, rendering it barren and unyielding. Her power faltered, unable to manifest.

Then the full force engulfed her.

Linthia became tumbling wreckage in the ensuing, agonizing moments.

The earth battered her repeatedly. She bounced over a dozen times before a head blow ended her tally. Shoulder. Hip. Ribs. Reality spun in a haze of rock and alternating skies.

She spun, flipped, rag-dolled over the torn landscape.

Her chest compressed, breath fled, stifling every try to inhale fully.

When motion ceased at last, a beat passed before she sensed her stillness.

Another to recall breathing.

The initial breath carried iron and grit, yet it sustained her.

"Rex must’ve broken through again..." Linthia rose shakily to her feet. Though details escaped her, she knew this chaos stemmed from Rex. And his power had surged tremendously once more. "His growth remains monstrous, unending. Just how mighty is he now?"

Water's rush echoed in her ears.

Her nostrils filled with blood's tang.

Briefly, she feared it came from her wounds, but no.

Linthia’s eyes flew wide, breath catching anew.

A few paces ahead lay the edge of something beyond comprehension. That spot had been level ground before, yet now a vast blood ocean stretched out.