Chapter 590: Body Evolution

Julius found himself buried underneath a pile of ash. It wasn’t as unpleasant as he thought it would be, either. Sure, the ash was getting into crevices it had no right to enter, but for some reason, it was quite warm and comforting. Sort of like a cozy blanket on a cold winter morning. He was tempted to stay inside the pile of ash for a little bit, but some ash got up his nose, and he sneezed, blowing a cloud of ash into the air.

Then he began to crawl his way out of the ash, brushing himself off as he did. Thankfully, the ash fell away quite easily. It wasn’t sticking to his body as he feared.

He shook his head, freeing any ash that was still in his hair, and looked around his surroundings. He spotted Freya, Cain, and Doren all looking down at his very naked body. Freya reacted before he did, and she already had a cloak ready for him, draping it over his shoulders the second he stood up.

“How do you feel?” She asked gently.

He shrugged. “Pretty good. I feel like…”

He paused before it was only then that he realized that he felt very different. His entire body felt uncomfortably light. It was like he had suddenly dropped half of his weight. But looking down at himself, he knew that he looked exactly the same. In fact, he would say that he had put on a few pounds. His frame had significantly filled out.

He had always been around average height, but with his advancement, he must have grown a couple of inches. He wasn’t anywhere near the heights of Derek or Edgar, but he was taller than Lily for sure now. His shoulders were broader, and he noticed that his skin looked different as well.

It was the same pale tone, but there was a weird glow to his skin that definitely hadn’t been there before. He tried to take a mirror from his storage ring, but he realized that he wasn’t able to find his ring anywhere. A brief flash of panic raced through him.

Did he lose it during his advancement? Perhaps it was during his fight.

He cursed to himself.

However, Freya must have seen him searching, and he noticed her handing over something. “I made sure to remove it before you began your advancement.”

He let out a sigh of relief and thanked her profusely for her foresight. Thank god he had her around during his advancement.

“How long was I out for?” He asked, taking a step forward, but stumbled slightly. He wasn't used to his new body's center of balance.

“Around a day or so,” she answered.

He nodded. That wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. He had been nervous that his advancement would take days if not weeks.

“Did anything happen while I was out?”

“The capital was attacked immediately after your assassination attempt. Several large explosions detonated all across the capital, causing mass hysteria. I believe that a few foreign dignitaries and several other important individuals were attacked as well,” Freya noted.

“So I wasn’t alone?”

“No, but I suspect you were a primary target, considering that you were one of the first people attacked.”

“Do you know who did it?” Julius already had a feeling, but he wanted to see if Freya found out something.

“Actually, that is a little more difficult to figure out than you would think,” she stated, seeing his expression.

“So it’s not the Conclave or House Greyson?” He asked with a tilted head. Those had been his two main suspects. After all, who else would have wanted to kill him?

“Oh no, they are the most likely suspects, but with your newfound fame, there would be plenty of other people who would love to see you dead. Killing a top talent from the Empire would favor most countries on the continent,” Cain said with a grin.

Julius nodded in understanding. He could see where they were coming from. He still believed that the Conclave or House Greyson was behind it, though. After all, he remembered hearing from someone that Casey Vale was already suspected of working with the Conclave.

Actually, he hadn’t told them about her yet. To be fair, he hadn’t been in the best condition to relay that information. But now that he was feeling better, he quickly explained what had happened and what had led to his attack.

“That’s concerning,” Freya noted with a frown.

“Which part?” Julius asked with a chuckle.

She rolled her eyes. “The fact that she was able to damage your soul to that extent while still being in Tier 3. Soul magic was already an exceptionally difficult art to master, but it requires an even greater degree of mastery and strength to damage a soul like yours. Not to mention that you have already undergone your second soul evolution. I thought that the Tier 5 woman had been the one who hurt you.”

“Oh yeah. What happened to her, by the way?”

“She used an incredibly powerful item to get away,” Freya said with an irritated expression.

“It’s alright. I can take care of her later myself,” he said with mock arrogance. Holding up his fist with a grin. He could feel just how much more power his body contained. The advancement to Tier 4 had been every bit as amazing as he had been told.

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His body felt incredible, and that feeling would only continue to grow as he acclimated to it. He already could tell that his body was as strong as his usual enhancement without any additional mana or aura being pushed through it.

Freya whacked him across the head. “Don’t get cocky. Remember, you almost died not even a day ago. If we hadn’t found you so quickly, you would have been dismembered by that woman.”

“Yeah, but now I feel so much stronger,” he said with a laugh.

“Strong enough to spar?” Cain suddenly asked with an excited glint in his eyes.

“Yeah, probably strong enough to bend you in half,” Julius shot back.

“Oh ho! I think a little lesson is needed,” Cain said dangerously.

Julius’s smile twitched when he heard Cain sounding a little too serious.

Thankfully, Freya intervened and slapped her husband on the shoulder with enough force that Cain staggered back. He was glad, too, because from the looks of it, Cain was already preparing to drag him off to the nearest training hall.

“Okay, enough joking. How do you feel, Julius? Anything off or feel weird?” She asked him while inspecting his body.

He inspected himself once more. “No, nothing wrong. I feel like there is a small disconnect between me and my body, but I assume that is normal until I adapt to its strength.”

“It is. Don’t worry about that. It will come with time and practice. What about your mind? Does it feel stronger?”

He shook his head. “Not really. Why? Should I?” He didn’t feel any smarter or more intelligent, if that was what she was asking.

“No, but we will have to test it later on. You should be able to handle a lot more techniques with a higher degree of control now,” she explained.

He liked hearing that. He had been pretty limited by his lack of mental capacity to handle his more extreme techniques. For example, his void skills required a lot of effort to put together. On top of his other affinities, it became a lot to organize and manage during a fight. Sometimes it meant he had to forgo certain skills or techniques he felt weren’t necessary.

His perception skill alone required a lot of focus to use properly. Hopefully, he would now be able to multitask a little better and not have to worry about small things like how many constructs he had already created and whether one more would overload his mental capacity.

Doren suddenly placed himself between Julius and Freya. A crazed grin was on the man’s face. Julius could tell that he was dying to ask questions. He didn’t know how he felt about Doren admitting that he had been hoping that something like this would happen. He reminded himself that Doren was a researcher, and a powerful one at that.

He also reminded himself that he had to be grateful that the man had been there in the first place to help heal his soul. Despite Doren’s excitement, it was clear that Julius’s soul wouldn’t have been able to heal without the man's aid. Or at least not properly. Julius might have been able to stitch it together given enough time and energy, but it would not have been as clean or as simple as it had been.

“So what kind of body did you get?” Doren asked enthusiastically, holding some kind of device in both hands as he practically undressed Julius with his eyes alone.

“What kind of body?” Julius asked confusedly.

“You haven’t read your notifications yet?” Doren asked with a confused frown.

He shook his head, and only then did he realize that he indeed had some notifications waiting for him.

Congratulations, Body Evolution has been completed. You have successfully obtained the Ruinous Phoenix Body.

Ruinous Phoenix Body:

The Body of the Ruinous Phoenix is a rare and special physique born from both destruction and rebirth. Those who awaken it gain a body that embodies the fury and persistence of a true phoenix—one that does not merely rise from ashes, but flourishes in them.

Unlike ordinary phoenix-type bodies that focus on life and renewal, this body walks a far more extreme path: .

Those who obtain this body will begin to cultivate an unrefined and imperfect Ruinous Phoenix Core. An extraordinary core that generates Ruinflame — a terrifying flame that does not merely burn, but destroys concepts, vitality, regeneration, formations, spells, and even divine protections are . Anything touched by Ruinflame will burn before being consumed by the core.

Influenced by their body’s history and obsession with self-inflicted harm and other injuries, the bearer’s body constantly exists in a state of destruction and reconstruction. Relying on their advanced healing to keep up with the powerful body’s requirements.

Damage and backlash are converted into a marginal amount of permanent physique refinement. Being injured, shattered, or dismembered strengthens the Ruinous Phoenix Body instead of weakening it—

Warning: The Ruinous Phoenix Body consumes lifespan, the soul, and karmic weight each time it performs a true ruin-rebirth.

Julius didn’t know if he should be jumping up and down in celebration or disturbed that he had gotten this body because of how many limbs he had exploded over the past year or so. Although he knew what his friend’s answers would be.

“What? Is it pretty good?” Doren asked with a grin.

Julius didn’t even have to fake his disgust. He simply needed to reread the part where the description basically called him a masochist and let those feelings bleed through.

“It’s not bad, per se,” he said to Doren.

“Oh? Really? Are you sure you are reading it correctly?” Doren sounded skeptical.

“Yes, I can read, thank you very much,” Julius said with a roll of his eyes.

“Well, what is it called?”

“You don’t have to answer him, Julius. He has already gathered a lot of information. He watched the entire process completely unimpeded,” Freya noted with a dark glare at Doren.

“Hey! I healed him. I feel like I deserve that much.”

“Which is why I didn’t have any issues with you watching.”

Doren didn’t have anything to say to that, and his shoulders deflated. “It’s okay. The favor I’m getting from you two is already worth it,” the man muttered.

“What’s the favor?” Julius asked curiously. He knew that Doren wouldn’t ask for something he couldn’t do on his own, which wasn’t a lot. So the favor had to be kind of impressive.

“We have to clear a Tier 6 rift for him. Apparently, he can’t enter and needs us to clear it and get something from inside,” Freya explained.

“He can’t get inside?”

“Nope," Doren said almost proudly.

Julius was already putting together what that meant. It was pretty much confirmation that Doren was a Tier 7, just as he had suspected. Otherwise, why couldn’t he enter a Tier 6 rift? That led to his other question. What kind of item was inside that had Doren personally asking Freya and Cain to get it for him?

It must have been pretty valuable.

“You guys don’t have to do that for me,” Julius said with a sad smile.

“We did it because we decided to.” Cain’s voice was firm.

“We also needed something to do. It’s been a while since the two of us have entered a rift. About time we start working our way to Tier 7,” Freya said with a soft and gentle grin. “It will be a perfect time as well.”

“Why’s that?” Julius asked.

“Because you are going to leave the Empire for a little while,” Cain said with a solemn expression. His face was stern, but Julius could see slight signs of doubt when he saw Cain’s brows furrow.

“Pardon?”