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

Previously on The Invincible Full-Moon System...

Dorn grappled with the mounting pressures of the Spirit Realm's defense against Chaos, as Zorina's Sky Judgment drew scrutiny from Supreme Elders and sparked debates over the devastating attack's toll. Refusing to expose Dominar to other Gatekeepers, he mobilized half his forces to choke rival factions, risking civil war in a desperate bid to ally with the formidable Rex, whose unnatural power and ties to the realm's women offered a slim hope against the encroaching Black Rift. Meanwhile, Rex reunited with his followers at a hideout amid the Haeltara Empire's descent into anarchy, factions vying for the empty throne after Emperor Dominar's capture by the Sky People, while he prepared in secrecy underground.

Rex had taken in merely around five percent of the power contained in the Absolute Effect Manual.

His Invincible Spleen continued to strengthen bit by bit, yet he chose to shift his focus elsewhere.

In the midst of his meditative practice, distractions kept pulling him away. Nivellen’s caution lingered heavily in his thoughts. More Lunirich Gods were involved in the attempts that nearly ended his existence. Kaiser was plotting once more in the shadows, aiming to strike when least expected.

This filled him with concern.

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

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

Given that Kaiser supported the assault, his spirit could have suffered severe harm, leading to true death. He wouldn’t have returned to his initial form in the Mortal Realm. This thought stirred deep unease within him.

Rex gripped his hands tightly until the bones in his fingers paled. His intent to kill locked onto the deities overhead.

Getting surprised is expected on the road to strength.

However, facing it a second time marked him as an idiot. Unfit for the might he commands.

Rex positioned himself in the middle of the subterranean room he had excavated, seized a Blood Moon Crystal, and shut his eyes. He let his frame loosen up—to draw in the sacred threads from the crystal more swiftly.

Facing the Lunirich Gods, he identified a major flaw that demanded attention.

He was unable to detect their approach.

Even with his razor-sharp perceptions and otherworldly instinct for peril, those abilities fell short against the Lunirich Gods’ strikes. It wasn’t due to malfunction or external suppression; it stemmed from another issue altogether.

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

No force can evade the System’s detection.

Only then did Rex understand that he might not perceive the elevated energy level they wielded. That explained his inability to sense their arrival. Even during their direct confrontation in their domain, his awareness had dulled.

Certainly, he could detect their profound moonlight power.

Yet he believed the moonlight power merely resulted from their superior energy.

It served as the medium the Lunirich Gods employed to interact with the mortal world, 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 drove him to learn, but acquiring it via the System seemed unwise. Though not directly linked to the Gods, the details promised high cost. Indeed, it demanded 500 million gold.

Of course, Rex could hunt voidal beasts to amass that sum.

But his return home loomed near.

Thinking of the Spirit Conversion technique, he anticipated needing gold to transfer his gains from the Spirit Realm to the Mortal Realm. Saving several hundred million gold as backup made sense, in case expenses surpassed his estimates.

Swish...

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

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

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

He obtained ninety from his efforts in the Sky City, including three of superior grade.

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

Rex pressed on.

Time blurred as he continued, devouring crystal after crystal without pause.

Elevating divinity differed vastly from rank advancements. A rank leap resembled the gradual hardening of stone into diamond—tougher, refined, yet rooted in the same material.

The current experience, though, was utterly distinct.

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

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

This rush surpassed the thrill of any breakthrough.

Swoosh—!

A surge of force erupted from Rex’s form, akin to clashing continental masses.

The surroundings trembled violently.

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

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

Rex’s flesh gleamed like red-tinted crystal. His gaze radiated intense brilliance, revealing his inner core. Divine strands raced wildly through him, lifting him into the air.

Yet awareness of this escaped him still.

He exhausted the regular Blood Moon Crystals and now grasped a larger one.

Though overwhelmed, an unstoppable drive compelled him to ingest more.

For those pursuing power, craving it becomes second nature. Rex shared this trait. But now, the pull intensified beyond his typical hunger. Heat blazed across his every cell.

Only drawing in additional divine strands could quench this burning.

Before long, the excess shifted into agony.

It seared his nerves, blackened his tissues and fluids.

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

<Warning!>

<Warning: the user’s divinity is rising too rapidly!>

Rex scanned the alerts and clamped his jaw.

He examined his divinity progress, noting it approached five hundred thousand. A touch further might launch him to the next tier. Yet the suffering didn’t build slowly; it surged to intolerable heights in moments.

Rex glanced at his hand, observing the premium Blood Moon Crystal nearly spent.

Just a little longer to complete it.

But that invited the danger of self-destruction, far graver than a covert Lunirich God assault.

After all he endured, recklessness couldn’t claim him here.

A savage grin twisted his features as convulsions wracked his frame.

Gradually, relentlessly, despite the divine strands tearing at his core, he shifted to his feral shape. His physique expanded. Limbs stretched with damp, breaking snaps. His mouth reshaped into a fierce muzzle. Sinews ripped and mended, piling denser and mightier, threads binding to craft a grander, wilder entity.

Kaboom—!

Rex never feared suffering. Rather, agony served as his deadly ally. His beastly state thrived on it. It possessed the gift to transmute pain into raw fury. Through this, his form gained ever greater resilience.

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. Within, Rex sensed the mounting strain, the fissures widening. The limit neared.

He ascended steadily with each moment.

Each power wave from his body battered the chamber’s walls.

Cracks spiderwebbed the stone face, and falling fragments liquefied into blood before splattering the soil. A mere brush of his aura sufficed to melt stone to blood. An impulse rose from his core.

Growl—!

Like a frenzied beast, his talons clawed over his body.

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

Rebirth awaited now.

Rex slashed his talons across his red, glassy hide—fragile casing too confining for the turmoil inside. Each gash fractured the layer, spilling radiant beams from the splits. He clawed fiercer. Ripped wider. Until fractures turned to explosions, flooding the chamber in scarlet radiance.

Meanwhile, miles distant, Linthia navigated beneath the surface.

She maintained vigilance, extending her awareness to locate Rex.

Though companions urged patience until his return, inaction tormented her.

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

"Where is he...?" She whispered, scanning sharply side to side. "They mentioned he’s close by."

Suddenly, Linthia halted.

A abrupt change in the atmosphere caught her, then her vision confirmed it. Moments before, flows opposed her path, resisting her advance. Now, they veered abruptly left, pulled irresistibly toward an invisible force.

Linthia partially surfaced.

Her figure rose from a dark fluid pool undulating like petroleum, marking her ability.

Yet the dark fluid and surrounding soil tones flushed crimson abruptly.

As if subterranean illumination bled upward.

"Rex...?" She gazed toward the air’s pull.

And in a blur beyond her grasp, a heavenly red ray pierced the heavens and hammered the earth.

Briefly, Linthia witnessed the terrain buckle, then burst. Surface layers peeled back, exposing scarred bedrock. As comprehension dawned, the blast slammed her like an anvil.

BOOM—!

"Kyaargh—!"

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

She clawed for her power, reaching for the known flow inside, but encountered emptiness. The wave had stripped the air’s essence, rendering it barren and unresponsive. Her energy faltered, unable to manifest.

Then the full force engulfed her.

Linthia became tumbling wreckage in the ensuing, agonizing moments.

The earth collided with her repeatedly. She bounced over a dozen times before a blow to her skull ended her tally. Shoulder. Side. Bones. Reality blurred between rock and heavens swapping roles.

She spun, flipped, hurtled over the torn landscape.

Weight crushed her torso, robbed her air, strangled every breath attempt.

Upon halting at last, moments passed before she sensed her stillness.

More time to recall inhaling.

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

"Rex must’ve advanced once more..." Linthia rose shakily to her feet. Though details eluded her initially, she recognized Rex’s handiwork. And his surge in strength was immense once again, "His progress remains monstrous, unrelenting. How powerful has he become?"

Water’s rush echoed in her ears.

And blood’s scent assailed her nostrils.

For an instant, she suspected her own wounds, but no.

Linthia’s eyes bulged, breath fleeing anew.

A short distance ahead lay the edge of something beyond comprehension. Earlier, this spot formed a level field, yet now a vast blood ocean confronted her.