With this in mind, Syd decided to focus on advancing his unlocking progress, gaining a new ability, and increasing the level of his abilities. He would then use the black stone to see if the vision of his death had changed.
He looked up at the sky and noticed that night had fallen. With the time now being evening, Syd temporarily set aside improving his abilities and turned his attention to unlocking new abilities.
Unlocking Progress: 74%
He glanced at the energy points he had accumulated recently and added them all to the unlocking progress.
The progress bar blurred for a moment and then changed.
Unlocking Progress: 78%
No prompt sounds accompanied this change, causing Syd to twitch his mouth in slight frustration.
"It seems that 75% doesn't grant a new ability…"
A bit disappointed, he decided not to dwell on it.
Since 75% didn't bring a new ability, there was a good chance that 80% would. With the progress at 78%, he was not far from 80%.
In fact, if it weren't for the slow accumulation of energy points due to this alien journey, he might have already unlocked a new ability by now.
As time passed and the sun rose again, brilliant sunlight bathed the world.
Syd absorbed the sunlight continuously. Once his internal light energy was fully replenished, he activated it and began to speak.
[Divine Word Experience +1]
[Light Divine Power Experience +1]
[Divine Body Experience +1]
A series of experience notifications appeared.
[Divine Essence Experience +1]
Occasionally, he also absorbed divine power, which enhanced his divine essence.
In no time, the four abilities were advancing towards level 5.
As the sun climbed higher in the sky, and it was around ten in the morning, one of Syd's abilities reached level 5 at an astonishing pace, well ahead of schedule.
With the floating flight ability having already reached level 5, this was his second level 5 ability!
[Divine Word Experience +1]
As the final prompt sound rang out, the data for Divine Word changed, and Syd felt a shift within himself.
Ability: Divine Word (Max/Max) Level 5
"Divine Word is at level 5?"
The voice, now even more enigmatic and resonant with a special rhythm, echoed around him.
As soon as he spoke, Syd was surprised by the change in his voice.
It was now akin to the voice of a true deity.
Since he could only hear himself, he was less affected by the change.
He wondered how others would react to hearing Divine Word at level 5.
After a brief moment of curiosity, he refocused on the crucial aspect of Divine Word.
The blessing or curse power contained in divine speech!
Thinking of this, Syd immediately took out the Cosmic Cube.
With a flash of blue light, he vanished from the alley and reappeared in a dense, primitive forest.
The damp smell of plants and soil filled his nostrils.
Syd floated, searching for a target.
Before long, the target he sought appeared.
A furry black bear sniffed the air and cautiously peered out.
Upon seeing Syd, its black eyes lit up.
However, noticing that this figure was floating in the air and was something it had never encountered before, the bear hesitated.
The threat of the unknown caused it to instinctively retreat, ready to abandon its approach.
After all, there were better prey, and there was no need to confront something so mysterious and incomprehensible.
Unfortunately, as it tried to retreat, Syd had no intention of letting it go.
In the next moment, he spoke.
"May the vision generated by light be removed from you."
As the words left his mouth, Syd focused intently on the bear, eager to see its reaction.
He had long wanted to test the ability to remove vision.
After all, everyone knew that sight was entirely dependent on light.
He had previously failed due to insufficient control over light. But now, with Divine Word, how would it work?
The mysterious and rhythmic divine words echoed through the area.
The statement seemed like a truth, a fundamental answer in the world.
As the bear continued to back away, its vision gradually faded, plunging into darkness.
"Roar!"
The bear had never experienced anything like this and panicked, roaring and running wildly.
Watching its reaction, Syd knew the curse had worked.
Additionally, with his sensitivity to light, he noticed something else.
The bear's eyes, though physically intact, could no longer receive light.
It was as if its eyes were inherently incapable of processing light, as though it had never been connected to light—like a fundamental truth.
Moreover, his divine intuition told him this condition would persist, a permanent effect!
"Is this the curse of the gods?"
Syd found it a bit frightening.
If he could curse someone with just a word, wouldn't they be doomed for life?
It only confirmed his belief that gods were indeed unreasonable, domineering, and indifferent to the existence of others.
Of course, this didn't mean he could achieve anything with Divine Word alone.
He could feel that using the curse on the bear had drained a bit of his light energy.
Clearly, to activate Divine Word required consuming light energy and divine power.
However, Syd also discovered that this consumption occurred only when speaking; once the effect was in place, there was no need to maintain divine power.
He wasn't surprised by this—it was expected.
What surprised him was that the light energy consumption was minimal, almost negligible!
If he hadn't been so focused, he might not have even noticed it!
Next, he tested the ability on another large and small animal and found the energy consumption to be similar.
Instantly, he realized something.
Even if he cursed a person now, the light energy consumption would likely be similar!
Under Divine Word, there was no significant difference in the energy consumption for cursing or blessing ordinary beings.
Syd speculated that unless the person was exceptionally special, had extraordinary powers, or the curse or blessing was extreme, the energy consumption wouldn't vary much.
It was evident that under divine speech, ordinary beings were essentially the same with little distinction.
After testing the curse, Syd's attention shifted to blessings.
A thought occurred to him.
"Do I now have the ability to bestow powers on others?"
Syd had a feeling that if he blessed someone, within the range of light abilities, such as granting optical invisibility, the person might gain that ability!
Of course, since he hadn't tested it yet, he wasn't sure if it was truly the case.
(End of Chapter)