[Look at the threads of Fate surrounding the tree. You will know what I am talking about.]
The blessing returned to silence after giving him a warning.
Percival approached the tree in haste.
In the hundreds of years he had the blessing of Goddess Artemis, she only spoke to him two times.
Each time, he had managed to avert a great disaster with her warnings.
There is not much time left.
He believed the words of the Goddess of Purity.
After calming his nerves, he focused inwards.
His Fate of Fortune thread had snapped. It reduced his ability to sense the threads of Fate.
'I don't need the Fate of Fortune thread to sense the threads of Fate surrounding the tree.'
'But it's best if I build the Fate of Fortune thread first.'
'This situation is already confusing as is. Getting half-baked information because I did not have the Fate of Fortune thread will only make things difficult for me.'
Golden light began to converge on Percival.
The Fate of Fortune thread, once broken or lost, was nearly impossible to get back.
It was believed that once one lost their Fate of Fortune thread, they had run out of good luck.
Percival was one of the anomalies who could build a new Fate of Fortune thread.
He had to learn it, since his Fate of Fortune threads would snap when his reincarnations died.
The power of Fate converged into Percival.
He tried to condense it into the shape of a thread.
The Fate of Fortune thread was created by converging all the threads of your good luck.
Each person would have countless threads of Fate. Some about their future, some about their past, some about their accidents, some about their success.
Among them, one had to gather all 'good' threads of Fate and condense them into one.
Doing such would create a Fate of Fortune thread that would protect them from disasters and bring them good luck.
It was several times more effective than multiple normal good threads of Fate.
Good luck could be used to bring him fortuitous encounters or avert calamities, just like how Percival used his Fate of Fortune thread to escape the Abyss of Nightmares.
However, this was where the problem appeared.
If one used their 'good' threads to create a Fate of Fortune thread, they would have no good threads left.
Then, once they lose their Fate of Fortune thread, they could never create another, as they had no good threads to use as materials.
Percival was slightly different in this case.
One of his Trait skills, [Fate Vision], allowed him to see the Fate threads of the parallel him.
He did not understand how it worked. Parallel him meant the 'him' in alternate timelines.
Alternate timelines did not exist. Time did not allow it. In other words, the parallel him did not exist.
Nevertheless, his Fate Vision showed him the Fate threads of the parallel hims.
Percival never understood how his Trait could do that. How could he observe something that did not exist?
Percival shook his head. This was no time to waste on useless thoughts.
He looked at the parallel hims.
Some were too strong, and he could not interfere with them. It might bring a backlash.
Among the infinite parallels, he picked a weaker parallel. That parallel him never awakened God Blood and lived a normal life.
Percival gave a sweeping glance at his life. Due to the difference in strength, he could read his entire fate and knew how the life would've played out for the parallel him.
He did not waste his time on sentiments of such a mundane, yet happy life. After all, it was a life where happiness was born out of ignorance.
He took over the 'good' Fate threads of the parallel him and used them to create a new Fate of Fortune thread for himself.
Had those parallel hims been real, Percival might have hesitated. He was essentially robbing them of all manners of good luck.
But they were not real. They did not exist.
He felt no remorse or emotions for taking their fortune.
Hours rolled by, and Percival was successful in creating a Fate of Fortune thread.
"Hmm… this isn't quite as strong as my previous one, but this will do for now."
He stopped focusing inwards and spread his Fate Affinity outwards, toward the giant tree in the distance.
The golden Fate of Fortune thread of his shone like a lighthouse in a stormy sea.
It illuminated the emptiness and revealed countless threads of Fate hiding within.
He did not find anything wrong.
'Maybe I should check inside.'
Percival tried to enter the tree but was met with obstruction.
He controlled his Fate of Fortune thread to look for an opening.
Time was jumbled in the sea of threads. Years had gone by for Percival when, in reality, only a moment had passed.
He finally found a gap. Tiny, but wide enough.
His Fate of Fortune thread squeezed through the gap between the net of countless threads of Fate.
Inside, he saw a whole new world of threads of Fate open up before him.
Fate of Devouring threads were in abundance. They were feasting on each other.
Percival realized this was the world – the Tartarus – he had seen before. This was the world where he met with the Sword Saint Kane and Dragon Clan Leaders.
"So it was a world within the tree."
He continued his search for the 'something.'
Goddess Artemis had told him time was short.
That something there was wrong.
He saw several areas without powerful Fate threads. He steered clear of those areas and continued his search.
After finding nothing for hours, his Fate of Fortune thread floated in the emptiness above.
"Do I need to approach the places with dangerous Fate to see what Goddess Artemis was warning me about?"
He looked at the world of Fate threads below.
Going to those areas was-
His thoughts suddenly stopped.
He took another look at the Fate threads below, and he finally understood what Goddess Artemis' warning had entailed.