Under the divine beams of light and the radiance of "Sunshine," the dark energy on the black tendrils quickly diminished. Meanwhile, the tendrils continued to close in on him.
Syd noticed that in the realm of death, he was not able to evade or escape from the black tendrils despite his attempts to use illusions. It was as if the tendrils had locked onto his location; no matter how he tried to evade, they always found him. Moreover, a special form of confinement was applied to him, significantly slowing his spatial transfers and flight speed.
This scene felt eerily familiar; similar tactics were used by the Celestial Judgment Arbiter, Arisam...
Ultimately, with the divine beams, "Sunshine," Chaos Magic, and various defensive abilities like the Reflective Shield, the energy on the black tendrils was reduced by forty-five percent before the tendrils finally reached him.
Seeing himself being enveloped by the black tendrils and ultimately disappearing into them, becoming a puppet of the Old One, Syd furrowed his brow.
"There's still such a large gap?"
Even with level 5 divine abilities in Divine Words, Celestial Body, Levitation, Divinity, and Divine Light Power, he had only managed to eliminate forty-five percent of the energy on the black tendrils. There was still a significant gap before he could truly harm the Old One.
"Perhaps upgrading 'Sunshine' to level 5 will change the situation?" Syd thought, feeling a bit uncertain.
After all, abilities like Divinity and Divine Light Power were ultimately supportive, not highly offensive.
At that moment, the Old One's voice in the death realm carried a faint sarcasm.
"I told you that you would become my puppet. You attempt to resist—it's a futile struggle, truly foolish..."
Syd frowned.
Before he could hear more, the scene before him suddenly shifted, and he was back in reality.
The death realm ended...
With a sigh, Syd put away the Power Stone and the black stone.
Next, he turned his attention back to "Sunshine." Given that the upgrade speed for "Sunshine" was much slower compared to other abilities, Syd focused on the unlocking progress.
The unlocking progress had reached 80%...
Last time, at 75%, no new ability had been awakened. This time, with 80%, it was highly likely that a new ability would appear!
With this in mind, Syd ceased all actions and began absorbing sunlight.
It was a bright morning, with ample sunlight.
Soon, a series of prompts sounded in his ears.
[Light Energy +1]
[Light Energy +1]...
As the sun moved to its zenith and began to set, the time reached evening. Syd focused on the energy points.
[Energy Points: 11019]
The next moment, he poured all these energy points into unlocking progress.
Quickly, the unlocking progress changed from a blur to a distinct appearance.
(Unlocking Progress 80%)
Seeing the 80% unlocking progress, Syd's eyes revealed anticipation.
In the next second, the prompt appeared.
[Ability: Divine Power (Unlocked)]
[Ability: Divine Power (0/100) Level 1]
"What is this?"
Seeing the words "Divine Power," Syd was momentarily stunned, his eyes showing surprise.
Before he could react, a mysterious warm energy appeared within him.
Suddenly, Syd sensed a change in his divinity and light energy.
The divine power, light energy, and mysterious warm energy began to converge and merge.
In an instant, Syd perceived a brilliant light within him, revealing a radiant twelve-faced crystal.
"This is Divine Power?"
Syd's eyes showed a puzzled expression.
He could feel that all his light energy and most of his divinity had gathered into this dazzling Divine Power.
However, aside from the appearance of this new object, there seemed to be no major changes in his overall state.
Uncertain, Syd carefully sensed the new ability.
After a few minutes, he tried using the Divine Power to absorb surrounding faith energy.
To his surprise, the negative forces in the faith energy, which had not been purified by the Mind Stone, were completely transformed into divine light power or light energy by this Divine Power!
"What is this?"
Syd's surprise was palpable.
Faith energy could be converted into light energy?
This meant...
"Besides sunlight, I now have another source of energy?"
Most importantly, the speed of unlocking progress and the rate of upgrading abilities would experience a qualitative improvement!
Syd's eyes shone with astonishment.
What a surprise; this was a true revelation.
He had not expected that the newly awakened ability would have such an effect.
This Divine Power was on par with "Sunshine" and Chaos Magic!
In fact, it could be considered an Omega-level ability?
However, compared to "Sunshine" and Chaos Magic, this ability seemed more oriented towards support and growth.
Of course, Syd was not entirely sure about this.
Whether mimicking the Great Serpent or the Scarlet Witch, the core always involved an Omega-level ability, and logically, the God of Light, Balder, should have one as well.
While this Divine Power ability was comparable to an Omega-level ability, Syd's intuition suggested that it might not be the full picture.
"I'm at 80% unlocking progress now; only 20% remains to reach 100%. I will find out eventually."
Syd thought.
With that, he focused on the Divine Power.
Were there any other abilities with this Divine Power?
Syd was curious.
He began another round of experimentation.
After a few minutes, with the appearance of red light from Chaos Magic on his hands, he experienced an unexpected result.
Syd felt that the energy of Chaos Magic seemed to have increased by one or two percent?
"Is this an illusion?"
He was a bit doubtful.
This was just a level 1 Divine Power, yet it seemed to enhance the Chaos Magic by one or two percent?
With this realization, Syd grew even more uncertain.
To be cautious, he tested other abilities as well.
To his surprise, all abilities, including "Sunshine," had seen an approximate two percent increase!
It seemed the Divine Power functioned like an amplifier, enhancing his abilities' potency.
"This Divine Power is so strong?"
The range of Divine Words, originally eighty kilometers, had increased to over ninety kilometers!
The speed of levitation had successfully exceeded twenty times the speed of sound!
Even a level 1 ability had such effects; what if the Divine Power reached level 5?
He could hardly imagine.
Simultaneously, Syd was eager to upgrade the Divine Power ability.
For now, he set aside the improvement of "Sunshine" and focused on how to upgrade the Divine Power's level.
Not long after, Syd found the answer.
(End of Chapter)