The Heavenly Martial Empress Returns: An OP Xianxia Returnee LitRPG

Chapter 53: Surpassing Previous Limits

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When I woke up the next morning, my System Scarf finally seemed to react to what I had done yesterday. I kept trying to refine and absorb the Void Essence within me. While Kirby slept over my belly as usual, he freely let me use some of the Void Essence.

It still hurt, but I was able to sleep well by simply depriving myself of most of my senses. Nonetheless, once I woke up, a wave of pain came to me, but I was mostly used to it at this point. I sighed in relief and stopped cultivating it to see the notification in front of me.

[Because of constantly controlling the Essence of the Void itself, you’ve learned the Magic Skill: [Channel Void (S): Lv1]!]

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[Channel Void (S): Lv1]

[Skill EXP]: [0/50.000]

Channel the Essence of the Void that many can’t even comprehend. Let the eternal emptiness and darkness take over your body and manipulate it like many cannot.

Slowly, make it yours. Become one with the Void, one step at a time.

Grants the ability to manipulate Void Essence, transform it, absorb it, and refine it over time. Despite the high Ranking of the Skill, it can only be used properly after a large amount of proficiency has been accumulated.

Level Bonus (1): Increases Void Essence Manipulation, Absorption, and Refinement Proficiency by +35%.

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[You have equipped this Skill inside of your remaining Magic Skill Slot: 13/13]

It was a perfect Skill for my needs. With this, the refinement and usage of the Void Essence were becoming much better. I immediately felt it the moment I equipped the Skill. It felt like I had comprehended the Void Dao by another 3 percent out of nowhere.

If I keep leveling this Skill, it might become easier to understand and refine this energy. Although the description itself is quite eerie, it is as if the System itself is afraid of this power.

The Element of Void…

Huh, well, there was also another thing that popped up.

Ding!

[Due to your great and proficient usage of a foreign energy similar to a combination of the elements of Darkness and Shadows, you learned the [Umbral Essence Manipulation (A): Lv1] Skill!]

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[Umbral Essence Manipulation (A): Lv1]

[Skill EXP]: [0/15.000]

A Magic Skill learned by discovering a new source of energy and power derived from the Element of Darkness.

By absorbing Darkness and Shadows and utilizing Mana, Umbral Essence can be created, manipulated, shaped, and transformed into a myriad of powerful, both protective and deadly, shapes. It can absorb the energies of those it touches, disrupt their magic creation, weaken them, and curse them in a myriad of ways.

Level Bonus (1): Increases Umbral Essence Manipulation Proficiency, Generation Speed, Power, and Effects by +30%.

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This was Umbral Essence, the counterpart of Photon Essence. I had only created it recently, thanks to having absorbed the powers of the God of Deep Darkness. Before, I had to utilize my Black Heaven Physique to manipulate something similar to it.

But now, without the need to transform, I can easily manipulate and create it. And this Skill makes its usage and manipulation even easier for me. I can already tell that this System Scarf is all about facilitating the processes of most things.

The only drawback is the Skill Slots which won’t let me use everything I want.

I can’t equip this skill, unfortunately. But that’s about to change now. I suppose it is about time I get rid of most of the max-level skills.

I’ve been leveling them as I cultivated them before, so most of the equipped skills were max level.

How did I do that? Simply by constantly using them, this System is incredibly easy to abuse, merely conjuring a Skill a million times, and it reaches the max level!

However, I believe not many mortals can do it as I do. Yes, I suppose they cannot completely abuse it.

The only exception were stranger Skills that require specific conditions to level up, different from just constant usage.

Such Skills barely leveled up much, so they weren’t all max level.

Nonetheless, let’s begin with that.

I can combine just any Skill together as long as I have Credits to use, right? So let’s see.

[Classless Skills (12/13)]

[Premium Player Privilege (SSS): Lv10] [Kicking Strike (D): Lv10] [First Aid (D): Lv10] [Mirage Veil (A): Lv10] [Cooking (D): Lv10] [Basic Swordsmanship (C): Lv10] [Family Bond (D): Lv10] [Emperor’s Conquest (S): Lv4] [Basic Martial Arts (C): Lv10] [Crescent Moon’s Shadow Dagger Style (S): Lv10] [Commander (C): Lv8] [Seducing Aura (C): Lv10]

[Magic Skills (13/13)]

[Partial Spatial Manipulation (B): Lv10] [Mana Manipulation (C): Lv10] [Healing Golden Light (B): Lv10] [Photon Essence Manipulation (A): Lv10] [Cursed Flames (B): Lv10] [Partial Time Flow Manipulation (A): Lv10] [Blazing Iron Weaponry Creation (S): Lv4] [Cosmic Star Magic (S): Lv10] [Triple Elemental Magic: Fire, Ice, Lightning (A): Lv10] [Divine Brilliant Light Magic (S): Lv10] [Divine Light Spirit Summon (S): Lv10] [Windstorm (B): Lv10] [Channel Void (S): Lv1]

Now there are a lot of Level 10 Skills. However, I am worried about something else. Should I combine the ones that help me the most? Such as Mana Manipulation, Partial Spatial Manipulation, Photon Essence Manipulation, and Partial Time Flow. I feel like, much like Channel Void, they should remain as they are for the moment.

“System, is it possible to upgrade a Skill once it reaches Max Level?”

[Calling System Administrator…]

[“A-Ah, hello. Clide here… again.”]

“Oh, Clide! What a surprise. So? Did you hear the question?”

[“Yes I did… And yes, you can. You can combine Skills thanks to your Privilege. But it can only be done using special items called Skill Fusion Stones. The same goes for Skill Evolution. You require Skill Evolution Materials of varying qualities and quantities. Sometimes scrolls, monster materials, and such.”]

“How interesting… I suppose not everything is just handled so easily.” I wondered. “Is there no other way to upgrade them, though?”

[“Yes, thanks to the Privilege, you can skip the whole process and use Credits!”]

“Excellent, let’s do that then. I have way too many Credits anyway.”

[“V-Very well, I shall evolve the Skills you wanted…”]

Clide was being very serviceable today, it seemed. I was left rather happy about that, and he did everything for me. How nice of him.

Ding!

[You have exchanged 5.000.000 Credits!]

[The [Partial Spatial Manipulation (B): Lv10] Skill has evolved into [Lesser Spatial Manipulation (A): Lv1]!]

[You have exchanged 3.000.000 Credits!]

[The [Mana Manipulation (C): Lv10] Skill has evolved into [Proficient Mana Manipulation (B): Lv1]!]

[You have exchanged 10.000.000 Credits!]

[The [Photon Essence Manipulation (A): Lv10] Skill has evolved into [Divine Photon Essence Manipulation (S): Lv1]!]

[You have exchanged 10.000.000 Credits!]

[The [Partial Time Flow Manipulation (A): Lv10] Skill has evolved into [Lesser Time Flow Manipulation (S): Lv1]!]

The moment the Skills evolved; I felt a constant rush of different energies course through my entire body. I smiled, feeling my comprehension of the Space Dao improving greatly. I had only comprehended it halfway through back then, but this one Skill was helping me get farther.

As for Time, I had almost mastered it, but this Skill could help me completely master it. And the best part? This System is mine, and nobody will ever be able to take it away. And it isn’t even parasitizing me, either.

It requires energy to function, which I feed daily with my endless reserves of Ki and its refined states, and it seems to be working even better than normal.

The best part is that it can connect to the Main System absorb data, and even bring administrators to answer any questions I have.

However, one of the evolutions that surprised me the most was Photon Essence Manipulation. At first, I thought of it as nothing more than a small enhancement to an already perfected ability.

But I was wrong; I had yet to perfect any of my abilities.

Despite how far I’ve come, I have realized that most of my abilities can continue to evolve and transform, to become better and even stronger.

At first, I didn’t really like the system that much; I was just playing around with it, but the more it upgrades my strength, the more I realize it has become an important relic of mine, something that’ll help me reach higher realms in the near future.

One of the starting steps was all these evolved skills; once they reached a higher rank, I could clearly feel their enhancements on my body and soul, even if the System Scarf wasn’t connected to any of them.

FLASH!

The Photon Essence had evolved—something I never thought possible, but that was right in front of me. By mixing it with my own Divinity of Light, it became Divine Photon Essence!

And it shone with so much brilliance! So brightly that it illuminated the entire house and ended up waking up both Urbosa and Merkite.

“W-What with the light?” Urbosa groaned.

“Dear, what are you doing…?” Merkite yawned.

“A-Ah! Sorry, sorry!” I quickly deactivated the Ability. “I was just looking at some new Evolved Skills. Remember my Photon Essence? It has been upgraded, something I never thought possible. I thought I had already perfected it over a thousand years ago… Well, I was wrong.”

“So you used the system to evolve it?” Asked Urbosa. “Well, that’s pretty amazing, I think.”

“Why do you need it to be stronger when it was already so strong it could kill gods anyway?” Merkite asked nonchalantly.

“Hahah, well, that logic is almost flawless, if it wasn’t for the knowledge I have about a certain someone…” I sighed. “A being that vastly surpassed all my strength. Despite how strong I might be, there is definitely someone stronger out there, someone who really, really wants me to. And who’s saying there aren’t other beings like that out there? In these countless worlds, dimensions, and realms… I must be prepared for the worst.”

“I think you’re just being a bit paranoid.” Urbosa patted my shoulders.

“Yeah, just come back to bed and cuddle with us,” Merkite said. “Today’s morning is a bit cold.”

The two girls dragged me back to bed, wrapped their legs around mine, and hugged me tightly. I wanted to test my other abilities, but I guess that’ll be for later. It was very early in the morning, so I decided to sleep for an hour or two more.

Hmmm~ They’re so fluffy, though.

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Two hours later, we were already having breakfast together. I did sleep for an hour and a half more before it got too late, and we had to make breakfast. Hekita was asking for her meals, and she was very hungry.

“Hmm? Mommy, what are you doing now?” She asked me as she was eating a big piece of meat.

“Oh, this?” I asked.

As everyone ate, I was practicing my new Skills. Most of them worked the same, but better. But the one that changed the most was my Photon Essence. Before, it could do a lot of things, from becoming any shape I wanted to paralyzing, cutting, and piercing.

It could blind too with ease. And it could materialize and become a solid object. It could also be used to heal, restoring the wounds of those wounded and helping them recover stamina as well.

It wasn’t just light either; it could become solid and also liquid at will, and it even could transform into lightning or completely ethereal.

However, after gaining the “Divine” suffix, it could do more things as well.

Before, it could pierce, slash, and electrocute, but now it can hack and smash. The solidification it possessed has become incredibly stronger now.

Hekita asked what I was doing because she saw me create a huge hammer made entirely out of gold, which was actually Divine Photon Essence.

It had become different—no longer just light itself, but it resembled metal as if it had become mercury, but gold-colored.

Yet I could freely switch it around between its components.

“Let’s see…”

I summoned a giant Martial Beast, flew into the skies, and hit it with the hammer I created.

BAAAM!

The Martial Beast exploded into pieces.

“Oh, I see, it is really strong.”

This was a Martial Beast of the Venerable Realm, yet I was able to smash it with a single strike.

Before, it required from five to ten hits using Photonic Energy alone and nothing else.

Some might pity the beast, but I was going to hunt it anyway to eat it, so this was a good showcase of power.

“Woow… Mommy’s so strong! The strongest ever!” Hekita clapped. “Are we eating that?”

“Yep! Let me cook it for everyone.” I smiled, kissing Hekita on her forehead because she was too cute.

There were more things I wanted to try out, but first, I cooked this big beast and ate a feast with the entire tribe. I might as well give it to everyone so their cultivation increases.

Although I didn’t want to at first, I’ve already begun to warm up to the idea of becoming their leader.

Seeing how lawless the entire tower is, I might as well just make a new sect—no, a new Heavenly Court.

And take matters into my own hands.

…

But first, my date with Peperina!

Without a doubt, I’ll prioritize my date with the cute rabbit girl, of course.

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