Chapter 22 - 22

Receiving feedback from the audience, Kuro felt the completion of the ritual. The moment the ritual came to an end, he immediately began advancing to the next sequence.

With each step forward, his consciousness was consumed by a wave of sensations similar to melting. Consciousness did not break, but it became malleable, like blurred glass through which one could see distorted reality. The separation of consciousness felt like a painful tension, as if his inner world was being torn apart. Gradually, each fragment separated from the whole, creating new awareness independent of Kuro.

This separation was not only mental. The physical changes have not slowed down: his skin became transparent, its surface lost color, as if it did not exist in its former form. The muscles, initially hard and elastic, began to squirm and crawl like immature maggots, retracting and crawling out from under the skin. Every movement was involuntary, unnatural, clenched and twisted.

The puppets continued to watch without changing their expressions, but if other living beings had matured, their consciousness might have simply collapsed, shocked by the sight of such an unnatural process. Observers would not be able to bear what was happening inside Kuro.

At that moment, his mind was pulled into a dark vortex by the shared hatred and fear of those who witnessed the fall of Moria. This feeling of hatred tightened the fragments of his consciousness, forcing them to look for something else that could strengthen the process of reunification. The memories, alien to each other but native in their essence, became a connecting link that glued the fragments together, holding them back from final disintegration.

With every passing moment, his body was returning to its usual shape, but with every change, he felt insecure and tense. The muscles that had stopped writhing had difficulty returning to their normal position. The skin, regaining its hue, retained traces of the changes it had gone through.

When the process ended, exhaling from the pain, Kuro felt his body become whole, but with some kind of unattainable sense of loss. He moved into the fourth sequence, but his body was still gripped by a feeling of phantom pain.

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As soon as my tired mind came together, I just lay there for a while, absorbed in the feeling of pain. This was quite expected — promotion to the 4th sequence is always accompanied by serious physical changes.

The 4th sequence is a qualitative leap that transforms a person into a semi-mythical creature. His physiology is changing, and his life expectancy is significantly increasing. In my case, as a follower of the Fool's path, my lifespan will now be 500 years. However, that doesn't bother me at all.

As a semi-mythical being, I now have the ability to assume an incomplete mythical form. It is a cluster of transparent larvae forming a vortex. However, at this stage, this form is fraught with dangers. Until I reach the angel level or the second sequence, taking on such a form will lead to a deterioration in my psychological stability. In the original, those who risked it suffered from a special form of insanity, and eventually became mindless monsters.

Any mythical form, whether complete or incomplete, is harmful to those who see it, with the exception of angels and beings of higher sequences. The consequences vary depending on the path, but in my case, for ordinary mortals, it can lead either to death or to a rupture of consciousness into small parts, which will lead to insanity.

As a saint, that is, a representative of the 4th sequence, I emit a weak aura. It's not as strong as the aura of the royal essence, but it creates constant pressure, making others feel the difference in status. However, I can completely suppress this aura and look like an ordinary mortal.

Although I cannot take on a mythical form without risking myself, I am able to detach the maggots from my body. They are transparent, thin, and long, with an unusual three-dimensional pattern covering their bodies. Looking at them causes a strange feeling of mysticism.

At the moment, I can extract no more than 50 larvae from my body. Exceeding this limit will lead to symptoms of incurable schizophrenia, which increases the risk of becoming a monster. However, after I digest the potion, the limit will increase to 100.

The functionality of the larvae, despite their potential, is limited. Besides the fact that I can bestow them on my puppets, giving them all my abilities up to and including the 5th sequence, I can also destroy the separated larvae. After destroying the larvae, I turn them into bullets or amulets with special effects. For example, with my current abilities, bullets fired from maggots can slow down opponents as if I were controlling their spiritual threads, or cause mild hallucinations.

The body restores the shortage of larvae over time, but the loss of a large number at a time can only be compensated by absorbing the characteristics. Considering that I'm using sequences alone, I can't afford to risk large batches of larvae.

As for the abilities of otherworldly creatures, the innovation is the ability to hide their status. I can hide my level from discerning eyes, which is not particularly important in the current reality, but it can be useful in certain situations.

All of my old abilities have also been enhanced. Now I can control the puppets at a distance of up to one kilometer, and after digesting the potion, this limit will increase to two kilometers. The number of controlled puppets is now 50, which will double with the completion of the current sequence. I can also capture other people's threads at a distance of up to 100 meters, and this distance will increase to 200 meters over time.

The Flaming jump now has the same range as the control of the puppets. I can also transfer both my own and other people's wounds onto paper figurines. The flame control ability now allows me to control fire in a volume equal to a sphere with a radius of 5 meters, and the control range reaches one kilometer.

The ability to create illusions has increased significantly. I can make the entire Moria Castle invisible, and that's just the beginning. Now I am able to create illusions of giants up to 100 meters tall, although they will not have real strength, but they will look impressive.

An air bullet shot is now more powerful than a shot from naval artillery. With my current amount of spirituality, I can shoot hundreds of such bullets without experiencing the effects of exhaustion.

The ability to transform now allows me to change not only my physiology, but also my gender. I can take on the shape of an animal while keeping my size close to human. When this ability is transferred to a puppet, which is technically a dead creature, it can take on incredibly strange forms.

After reviewing all my abilities, I opened the extended panel.

Status

Current name: Kuro Miyago

Paths: Fool(4 sequence, Bizarre Sorcerer (0%))

Ritual: Be separated from reality for at least three hundred years and advance only after it becomes history and does not belong to the current era.

The goal: To swim to the island of One Piece, before the main character. ( There are 77 days left before the start of canonical events ) Reward: 1 meta point

Additional tasks: 

1. Achieve Divinity for the first time (2nd sequence of any path)Reward: 5 meta points

2. Turning Point (Save Whitebeard and Ace) Reward: 1 meta point

3. There are 5 yonko and 7 Shichibukai at sea (Becoming a Yonko before the canonical events begin) Reward: 2 meta points

The initial bonus for the race:

Abandoning the Ritual (You can opt out of one movement ritual)

Now I have enough abilities to travel in a new world. However, the canonical events are just over two months away, and I understand that I can afford to take my time.

It's much more important to focus on other tasks. The third task remains unattainable for me — I will not have time to assemble enough troops for the status of a yonko. The first task also looks unlikely, since it requires a combination of many factors to complete it. However, I can start preparing the second task now. The most obvious way is to intercept Blackbeard right now, but I decide to postpone that. By waiting for the best moment, I can gather more people for my puppets.

For the second task, I need strong puppets. And the most suitable target at the moment would be Dess Rosa and his team of Doflamingos.

Taking a look at the gloomy atmosphere of the island, I realized once again that my first priority was to get out of this place.