Seven years. It took seven years for Zion to reach the True Transcendent stage and kill the serpent.
"Whatever. It was a joke anyway." He grumbled as he kicked the head of the serpent.
[You didn’t even go through body transformation.]
"Okay, to be fair, it would be easier to break through to the Mystic stage if I underwent the body transformation at the same time. I don’t want to be at the inept mystic stage either, I want to break through to the true stage from the get-go."
"Go ahead and rub it in. Tell everyone else while you’re at it. I’m sure they’ll have a blast."
"Do you even know what that means?"
[Dude, I literally downloaded your brain, of course I know what that means.]
[Oh, so now I’m a creep, huh? I see how it is.]
"Okay, that was wrong of me, I’m sorry,"
[Losing power. Temporarily shutting down.] Tessa said in a robotic voice.
"Okay, really? Don’t do that! Come back! I’m sorry."
[Systems unavailable.]
"Looks like you’re fairing just fine without me," Lilith said, popping up out of nowhere
"Oh! Jeez! Don’t do that. You’ll give someone a heart attack."
"You seem to be doing okay."
"Yeah, cause I’m just that guy. Anyway, what’s up? Here to check up on me or something?"
Lilith nodded. "I am. I was monitoring your progress the entire time, and now that you’re getting ready to face the, what did you call it? Necro-Dragon? Anyway, I came here to see you do it in person."
Zion shook his head and took a seat on the hard, cold ground. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but I’m not at the Mystic stage yet. And I don’t plan on facing the Necro-Dragon for at least a few weeks."
She shrugged. "That’s okay, I can wait. I have nothing better to do anyway. Are you planning on breaking through right now?" She asked curiously.
"Yeah." Zion furrowed his brow, wondering why she was suddenly interested in him.
He shrugged. "Knock yourself out."
And so, Zion began to undergo Body Transformation while he would simultaneously absorb an absurd amount of mana so he could break through right to the peak of the mystic stage.
Was it stupid? Yes. Did he care? No, no, he didn’t.
Just like before, he followed his energy flow, understanding the paths it took in his body. Since he would be undergoing body transformation, his entire body would be the focus this time, so he was going to be in a lot of pain. But he was ready for it, or as ready as he could be.
First were his bones. They were filled with mana so pure that even the smallest bone breaking was as painful as getting mauled by a bear. But he endured until every bone in his body was transformed into its new self.
Then it was his internal organs. He copied the process just as he had done before. It was more painful because he had more mana, but he still came through.
Finally, it was time for his external organs. The feeling of his skin coming off was not something he was used to, nor would his eyeballs popping, which made him see absolute nothingness for the first time. It wasn’t pitch black, nor was it dark. It was just nothing.
But eventually, they grew back, and he could see again.
Then, his body burst with a massive surge of energy. He was wrapped in negative mana that purified the second it came in contact with his own mana. His body shed, molted, and became stronger.
The area shook, and the negative mana became dense around him. His body absorbed it at such a rapid pace that he couldn’t contain it all, so his body forcefully started breaking through to the mystic stage.
Seeing it was one thing, but experiencing it was another.
’So this is what mother was feeling.’ Zion thought to himself as his body sucked mana like a baby sucking on its mother tit.
He could feel when his body slowed down its absorption, so he forced it to absorb more than it did previously.
But that wasn’t all, the mana that entered his dantian was forcefully turned into holy power, which strengthened him even more.
Then he felt it, his body breaking through to the Mystic stage.
The area exploded with mana, shooting a beam into the sky that put any surviving monsters on high alert.
However, he didn’t stop there.
After absorbing some more, he broke through to the proficient stage, and a while later, he broke through to the peak stage.
Finally, after three hours, Zion had become the most powerful human in the world’s history.
His body started glowing golden, shooting a golden beam into the sky, and his skin cracked off. He entered his apostle form temporarily, and his ancient relics emerged, then combined with one another. He had reached his full potential as a divine apostle and was as strong as he could possibly be before obtaining the next level of power, which would be that of a demigod.
Finally, Zion decided to attempt one final thing. A theory he had been working on for a while now. He wanted to see if he could open his chakras and allow for energy to flow there. He didn’t know what energy he would use, but for now, he just wanted to check if they existed, which they did, and so, he opened them after a while of trying.
While all of this was going on. Lilith’s mouth hung open in shock. Not because of his strength, but because of his mana and holy power.
Once Zion opened his eyes, he was immediately shaken by Lilith, who demanded answers.
"What was that? How did you do that?!" She demanded, shaking him violently
"H-H-How d-did I d-do wh-what? S-Stop shaking m-me!"
"Your power! You can only wield one power at a time. You have mana and holy power. That’s impossible!"
"Oh, that? I just created another vessel to contain the energy." He shrugged as if that were a normal answer.
Lilith did not like that answer. "Explain, now!"
So he did. He told her everything, his mana method, his cores, dantians, and so on.
She was flabbergasted as no one in history had done something like what he did.
"Never in my 50 million years of existence had anyone do what you’ve done, Zion. Not one. You truly are something special. No wonder my master has taken an interest in you."
"DAMN! You’re FIFTY MILLION years old? Fucking grandma. No, great-great-great-great-grandma. Still would smash though."
"Excuse me?" Lilith’s eyes glowed a violent purple as her bloodlust engulfed Zion.
"Ahhk! Wait! I’m sorry! I was just shocked! I didn’t mean it! You’re still hot!" Even as a Mystic, he stood no chance against her.