Living Life As A Game: Through And Through 167 Exciting Times Before The Rest Arrive

Elizabeth's run slowly whittled down to a mid jogging pace any regular person could sustain as she made landfall. From far away, she could see that absolutely no one was present; something very odd for Miami Beach during the summertime. However, as she recalled the fleet of army forces that appeared a couple dozen kilometers of the coast, she attributed the ruined summer day to her little race. 'Oh whelp~' She thought, as she walked over the sand and over to the hotel closest to her.

True to her antisocial self, Elizabeth took the path of least resistance and pa.s.sed over the fenced side areas that barred civilians from walking right past the hotels and into the beach. She couldn't be bothered to explain why she was the only person out on the beach for miles, so she avoided pa.s.sing by a hotel and directly walked back into the streets to find her way back to Atid's Dojo.

With her phone, it was beyond easy to find the place. But for the well being of people out in public, Elizabeth refrained from sprinting into a supersonic dash. Still, the idea of waiting for traffic bugged her a bit, so she took inspiration from Jhan and took to the rooftops of the smaller buildings after she pa.s.sed by the area for hotels.

Then, with a method she had learned from her father's scroll, the [Forsaken Baptism Continuum], Elizabeth added an extra layer of security to her method of travel as she warped the s.p.a.ce around her body to somewhat blend into the environment. Of course, because this was her first time attempting the method, the results weren't very good. But it was better than nothing…

[Skills

Name: Mortal Mystic Art: Spatial-Temporal Change

Level 1 (0/10)

Description: Incorporates the essence of s.p.a.cetime into one's form and strategy.

Current Effect: All physical stats increase by 1.56% and 1.56% less s.p.a.cetime Magic is consumed for performing Martial Arts or Spells. Due to the user vastly surpa.s.sing the Mortal Stage, most of the skill's effects are negated (Total Applied: ~0%; Total Achieved: 1.56%)

Name: Spatial Shift

Stage 0

Description: The user gains the ability to change the s.p.a.ce around them. Limited only to the s.p.a.ce which comes into contact with the user and the effective area of the user's Direct Manifestation Innate Skill, the further away the s.p.a.ce the user tries to manipulate is, the lesser the effect.

Current Effect: Slightly bends the s.p.a.ce that is in direct contact with the user.]

"Mhmm..." Starting from scratch with a Mortal level Mystic Art, Elizabeth's experience using Spatial Shift skyrocketed. Yet the same could not be said for the Mystic Art itself. Because Elizabeth had yet to actually fuse s.p.a.ce and Time energies, it would be a while before she managed to cultivate the Mystic Art as even with her Affinities prepared and Paradoxical Dantian in effect, the fusion of energies was a monumental task for any cultivator; never mind the fact that she was trying to fuse two origin-type energies.

In no time at all, Elizabeth could see her familiar dojo in the distance. After a couple more hops between rooftops, she found a convenient alleyway she could use to "discreetly" descend to ground level. Canceling her Spatial Shift's ability that looked dozens of times less broken than when she first activated it a couple minutes prior, Elizabeth openly walked over to the dojo and greeted the members that crossed her path.

While most of the Martial Pract.i.tioners of the dojo had left for the Wushi Tournament, Atid had left one of the weaker Peak Phase Mortal Stage pract.i.tioners in charge of the dojo in his stead. Along with teaching the other Mortal Stage pract.i.tioners, the dojo was open to civilians and those that wanted to cultivate their newfound spiritual powers.

Thus, after making her way over to the elevator and reaching the residential area, Elizabeth walked over to her room. After closing the door behind her, Elizabeth's eyes squinted as a sign of her becoming serious. Upon fixing a nice little spot to meditate in, she resolved to understand the problems in her soul.

It took but a moment for Elizabeth to return to her Soul Land with her consciousness creating an avatar. She still had a couple minutes left to herself in privacy, so without rushing things, she approached one of the two soul anomalies she caught earlier. Walking over to the manifestation of her Time Affinity, Elizabeth stuck her hand in the cyan flames and pulled out the seal she had used to contain one of the two anomalies.

Miraculously, her seal seemed to vaporize the moment it left the comfort of the cyan flames as the small and inconspicuous speck-sized soul anomaly gently floated back over to the representation of her Time Affinity. 'Mhmm… strange, it doesn't do anything but trigger my emotions and rest in my Time Affinity. It allows itself to be sealed in my soul so long as it's within the boundaries of my Time Affinity, but the moment I take it out, it becomes impossible to constrain? It definitely doesn't seem like a parasite. Maybe, commensalism?'

Unable to do much of anything to the cyan soul anomaly after conducting various tests, Elizabeth resealed it and left it in her Time Affinity. She moved over to the other anomaly in her Death Affinity and tested its properties as well. "What the f.u.c.k are these things?!" She couldn't help but curse, as the black anomaly gave her more trouble than the cyan light. The black anomaly was much more aggressive in its behavior after being pulled out of her Death Affinity.

Wreaking havoc in her Soul Land and even casting illusions to escape Elizabeth grasps, the black anomaly would do just about anything and everything in its power to defend its territory; her Death Affinity which seemed to feed and power it…

Annoyed, Elizabeth left her Soul Land. "I'm supposed to be the f.u.c.king G.o.d of my Soul Land, yet two specks of light take up s.p.a.ce there and live in defiance of my will! f.u.c.k!" She had a wealth of knowledge for treating soul ailments as well as the aspect of souls, yet these two lights existed in a plane of knowledge not yet accessible to her.

Elizabeth continued grumbling for a couple seconds, before smiling cruelly as she recalled the methods of [Seraph's True Nature.] 'Heh… [Soul Variation] is a soul skill I can practice with the current level of my soul. Surely, I'll be able to make some sort of progress in understanding what those f.u.c.king anomalies if I use that technique… But first, it's time to see my precious armaments evolve!'

It would take a while to cultivate any technique, never mind a soul technique that should be inaccessible for those below the Spirit Realm. Thus, Elizabeth opted to evolve her weapons before sinking back into her quest for peerless strength. She materialized her precious Inferioria Blade as it had been her most used weapon to date. Upon confirming the evolution process to commence, Elizabeth watched in wonder as her small tanto blade was covered in a paradoxical light that didn't blind her or brighten up the room, yet made it so she could only see the silhouette of her blade.

[Status

Name: Megadia Blood Armament

Grade: A

Speed: +35

Strength: +30

Description: The Secondary State of the Inferioria Blood Armament. Well on its way to being fully nurtured, only a few requirements have yet to be fulfilled before this Armament can gain its Tertiary Stage.

Principle Effect: Speed increases by 25% at a cost of 500,000 units of Inner Strength per minute.

Secondary Effect: Blade length can be increased up to triple its original size. Only usable on this Blood Armament's Secondary State or higher.

Special Effect: Can evolve or devolve between Stages through its Master's will.]

"..." Staring at the startling transformation that had occurred to her blade, Elizabeth couldn't find an appropriate response in her system. Sitting on her hand, the puny tanto blade of the past was no longer in sight. In its stead, a pristine saber with a meter-long curved blade took up her sight. This bladed weapon was nothing like the tanto as it was veritably larger, it also possessed a loop guard and knuclebow.

The weight of the "Megadia" blade though nonexistent to the limit Elizabeth could support, felt much nicer to hold in her hands, than the weightless feeling of its Inferioria counterpart. It was also nice to have a rica.s.so on the saber as she could now double hand her cold arm or hold part of the blade for whatever reason she might need in the future.

Elizabeth stood up if only for a moment before she began practicing a set of moves from her Time Blade Basic's Mystic Art. It would take a while to perfectly transition her combat prowess from the usual tanto blade style she had been cultivating into a saber style, but with Yrre around, the process wouldn't take more than a day; give or take.

When Elizabeth finished a.s.sessing her new blade, she devolved it back to its Primary Stage, Inferioria, and put it away in preparation to evolve her pistols. She had high hopes after seeing her blade become that much more powerful after evolving, so without further ado, a pair of near identical pistols appeared on both her hands. She initialized their evolution process and watched with an expectant look in her eyes as the guns were coated in white as her blade had in mere moments prior…