[Ding! Congratulations! Your SSS-rank talent: Order of Ice, has evolved into the Supreme Art: Cryonic Order!]

"Hahaha, interesting." Ulric chuckled, staring at the notification as he sifted through the sea of insights and core utilities of his new art.

One thought circled repeatedly in his mind once he finished. It just kept getting better and better.

Previously, his ice talent was suited for intricate attacks, healing minor surface wounds, and held great potential for mass destruction.

But now... Ulric inhaled sharply, the smile on his face widening. He could do so much more.

And as if to prove it, he crouched down, picking up a rock from the ground before flicking it playfully between his fingers. He sank into a trance as his thoughts spiraled wildly.

Time. A powerful concept that most believed stitched together the fabric of reality — a concept that encapsulated everything. He had even heard records that the only reason some beings achieved immortality was because they shattered and escaped the bounds of time with unimaginable power.

Maybe extremely strong beings could influence it to some extent. But to the weak like him, living or dead, they remained helpless beneath its unforgiving grasp.

Like this rock, he mused, letting it rest in the middle of his palm.

Right now, it was sturdy and hard. But a few hundred years from now, it would crumble to dust and be blown away by the breeze, leaving nothing behind.

To a certain extent, it was almost similar to living beings. Nothing strange, just the natural order of life. Not long ago, he too had been trapped within that cycle.

But now... maybe he could influence the essence of time, change it... or even stop it!

Ulric exhaled. A giddy chuckle escaped his lips as he utilized his newly gained ability — Cryonic Preservation.

Waving his hand, a layer of ethereal purple ice emerged, wrapping around the rock in his palm and sealing it in a mystical state.

If all the knowledge brought by his new art was to be believed, he could seal beings in this state with his cryonic ice. Preventing wounds from worsening, corpses from decaying. Anything frozen by him could enter a state of suspended existence.

This could protect artifacts from the passage of time and, even more wondrously, if he gained the means to harvest souls, it would prevent them from dispersing once collected.

Just going through these abilities, his breath hitched slightly. If strong beings learned of them, he wouldn’t be exaggerating by saying they would wage war just to obtain them.

They were simply too wonderful. What was even crazier was that this wasn’t what made his blood boil with exhilaration — it was the second awakened ability, one he was certain was now among his strongest moves.

To test it, he waved off the ice energy from the cryonic preservation around the pebble. Before flicking it into the sky a few meters up, he let out a slow breath.

"Absolute Stillness."

Instantly after the words escaped his lips, the falling pebble suddenly froze. Its descent cut short as it hovered mystically in the air.

Seeing the change, Ulric grew even more excited as he understood what was happening.

His cryonic energy had grown so potent that it permeated the surroundings, stretching to cover a radius of around ten meters and forming a domain of sorts, an ability only high-rank experts could wield.

Within this domain, even motion itself began to collapse. It could dull sounds, slow energy, make attacks lose momentum... even space could appear frozen.

Ulric nodded, going through the list. As his breath grew heavy, he could only imagine how useful this ability would prove in future battles against stronger opponents. Especially those far faster than him. This would act as their natural bane.

As for weaker opponents unlucky enough to step inside the radius, they could easily become trapped in suspended animation while fully conscious, leaving them completely helpless before him.

To an untrained eye, some would even think of it as time stop. That was just how terrifying it was.

Waving his hand once more, he pulled back the ice energy, breaking Absolute Stillness and letting the rock fall to the ground.

It was just as he had expected. With such terrifying power, the energy it consumed was equally monstrous, even with his vast reserves.

But that didn’t worry him much. He could work around it in the future. Especially once he refined his Limitless Force Refinement. Then he would become... unstoppable.

But that was for the future. Snapping out of his daze, he paced restlessly until he slowly calmed down, before plopping back to the ground. Letting out an icy breath.

He was still not done. One last talent left to bloom before he could finally cement his power as a D-rank being.

With all that in mind, he breathed.

"Fire."

***

Far to the side, Mistress Aria slowly rose to her feet as a ball of white energy laced with green strands hovered over her palm.

Her eyes remained glued to it as she stared almost in disbelief.

"Strong... and thick. Too strong," she exhaled. Her light energy had grown far beyond her imagination, almost tripling from before.

With this, she could do much more than heal surface-level wounds. Her light energy could now seep deeper into the body and mend serious injuries. Perhaps even reform broken bones.

She had a feeling that if an E or F-rank being came to her at the brink of death, she could easily heal them. Even if not completely, enough to ensure a great recovery.

Blinking rapidly, her pupils constricted violently as she continued staring at the ball of energy. It was just too amazing!

Given that most healers established bonds and gained resources through their craft, this would allow her growth to be far faster than before. With each benefit she processed, her excitement grew until she couldn’t contain it anymore. Tears spilled freely from her eyes as she looked toward the distant dark-robed figure.

Perhaps this wasn’t much of a deal to him as he had done it so casually. But this was life-changing for her, and she would remain forever grateful for this gift.

Just as she was considering ways to repay him, the tears in her eyes dried up as she froze. Watching a stream of fire energy surge out of the youth’s frame and shoot into the sky, causing her lips to twitch faintly.

"Of course he has a fifth talent. Why wouldn’t he?" she mumbled, taking a step back as she felt the scorching intensity of the flames.

At the side, a few figures broke out into boisterous laughter as they dropped to the ground in meditation.

"Hahaha... finally it’s my turn!" One elder muttered, feeling the fire energy in him stirring in response to the phenomenon.

"Thanks for the gift, Lord... I promise I won’t waste it!"

"You’re damn right! Joining the Greyson residence was one of the best decisions of my life."

"Once my strength grows, I’ll be able to guard the clan even better."

"Hmm, I can’t take this great gift for granted. Once my art successfully advances, I shall pledge my life to the lord. It’s the least I can do."

Given how hard it became to grow stronger as one advanced through the ranks, the elders were far more excited than the crowd below.

Still, as a sea of energy exploded outward from the crowd, more murmurs swept through.

"Holy shit... my fire talent is growing stronger... how is this possible?"

"Hmm, maybe it’s because it’s a shitty E-rank talent. Maybe the heavens and the young lord have finally smiled upon you?"

"Huh? You dare look down on me when you have the same talent as me?"

"Look, my lightning saber has evolved by a whole tier! Please let me lick your feet, young lord... it’s the only way I can truly express my gratitude!"

"Get away, you creepy pervert. I am the only one worthy of licking the lord’s feet!"

As the murmurs from the crowd grew more intense,

A maiden draped in a simple robe with silvery hair flowing all the way to her waist stepped back into the city gates before disappearing into the crowd. A thoughtful expression covered her face.

With her S-rank Imperial Frost talent, Lyra had been able to absorb far more ice energy than the rest, and the results were... unexpected. Even for her.

She could feel her talent had improved significantly, almost close enough to evolve to SS-rank. Her body had been refined by the ice energy too. She mused, her face lighting up in excitement.

A mischievous twinkle flashed across her eyes as she glanced at a golden-armored figure in the crowd. Maybe she was strong enough to defeat her now, like Amber had.

Sensing the gaze and seeing the smug look on her face, Aelira’s expression dropped. Her face scrunched up as she clenched her grip on her massive hammer.

She too had gained a few insights from watching Ulric advance. But compared to Lyra and the rest with S-rank talents, the benefits couldn’t even come close.

Now sensing her gaze, she could already guess what Lyra was thinking. Frustration welled up on her face as she mumbled beneath her breath.

"Y-you..."

Once one of the strongest clan leaders in Tempest, now used as a measure of growth.

Ignoring the subtle rivalry, Tara rushed forward, letting the extreme heat wash over her, eager to reap as many benefits as the rest.

Feeling Lyra and the rest greedily absorbing his breakthrough energy, Ulric chuckled slightly. Perhaps to them it was a lot. But to him, it was barely a thousandth of what was drilling into his own body.

When it all settled and a notification flickered before him, he was just about to rise. Before he suddenly stopped.

His breakthrough was complete, but he could feel it.

Something was missing.