Arcadia was, funnily enough, not named as such due to some profound reason. Instead, it was a spin on the simple word "arcade."
This was how Hidden Death Valley's geniuses viewed the northern sector of the land. It was an arcade filled with various training games they could use to grow stronger, and of course, they needed to use points to do so.
But Arcadia wasn't just a place to train, it was also a place where one could test the results of their training. Aside from the various facilities that the area presented, the most popular attraction it held was the battle arena.
The battle arena was separated into four brackets: Pawn, Knight, King, and Emperor. Each of these brackets had its own Overlord that held the longest winning streak, a winning streak that was undefeated regardless of which Overlord one was paying attention to.
The brackets were usually separated by Heaven's List ranking, and if one didn't have a Heaven's List ranking that accurately mirrored their strength, they'd have to start from the bottom and win 10 consecutive wins to then challenge the bracket's Overlord.
After defeating an Overlord, one could either take that Overlord's place or advance to the next bracket. Of course, if one's strength was too drastically above those in the same bracket, the former option wasn't available to them.
At that time, a new Overlord would be born after their ascent, holding the spot thereafter.
The battle arena served multiple purposes. Aside from testing one's strength and gaining battle experience, one could also advance their Heaven's List ranking rapidly through the ranked dueling system.
If one wanted a good fight, this was the best place to go for it.
But training always came first.
When Damien and Zara returned from the Emperor Bone Sea, their first and only goal was training. Arcadia became their new home.
Gravity Chambers were best for training endurance and physical defense. Tempering one's body with the sheer force of the atmosphere brought a comprehensive strengthening that many other forms of body strengthening lacked, as they tended to focus on a specific facet of the body instead of overall improvement.
Dungeon Simulators allowed one to gain battle experience against rapid beasts, a completely different type of battle than one against an intelligent lifeform. This trained one's instinct and perception, making them more attuned to their raw strengths which then improved their overall battle capacity.
There were plenty of other general training arenas like these, including areas like the Blackness Cage and Illusive Forest that comprehensively increased mental strength. Aside from the general training areas were also countless affinity-specific training areas that people could use to enhance their law comprehension to another level.
With Damien and Zara being different people with different paths, they naturally didn't have much contact during this training period. Still, neither of them minded much. The improvements they made with their time were far more beneficial, and would help them spend more time leisurely in the long run.
"Lock."
"Collapse."
"Bind."
"Seal."
"Break."
"Collapse."
"Collapse."
"Collapse."
Damien stood stationary in the middle of a vast empty space. His arms hung relaxedly to his sides, but his fists clenched and unclenched constantly as he forcefully used his mana in the harshest way possible.
Small pockets of space around him broke down, twisted, locked, and sealed themselves endlessly before collapsing in on themselves and creating spatial tears that Damien then used his mana to repair before starting his routine again.
His actions created chaos in his surroundings, but the environment itself remained still. It was built to withstand this level of intense training.
"Dimension Shift."
"Material Shift."
"Phase Shift."
The dimension split in half horizontally, the physical presences within the two halves swapped places, and finally, their molecular structures shifted until they were completely different than their original forms, almost like alchemy.
"Revert."
KRRRRR!
A sound like gears ruggedly grinding against each other rang out piercingly, causing Damien's ears to bleed. Rather than taking it slow and reverting each process one by one, Damien used the "Something Within Nothing" concept to withstand the impact of doing all three actions at once.
However, this was already at the level of manipulating reality. At Damien's level of Void Comprehension, this wasn't yet possible.
"Khhh…!" Damien gritted his teeth and let out a rough exhale. He could feel rampant mana wracking his body with untold pain. Blood leaked from his eyes and lips as he tried to control this chaotic flow.
"Re…vert!"
Haaa!
A battle cry left his mouth along with a spray of blood. The dimension returned to normal, all things returning to their rightful places.
In consequence, Damien's body took on the damage they sustained.
Spurt!
Fountains of blood gushed out of various points in his body like a broken fire hydrant. The amount of damage he'd dealt wasn't light, so naturally, the consequences were equally harsh.
[Heal]
The greenish-white light brought by the trait covered his body and halted the limitless bleeding. His pale face regained a tinge of color.
'It's not enough.'
Despite the insanity of his actions, Damien wasn't satisfied at all.
What had he accomplished?
He could only use these abilities in their base forms. He couldn't manipulate their properties and conceptually alter them to fit his needs like he could with simpler abilities like Spatial Collapse.
'The trigger…isn't spatial anymore.'
He realized it quickly. In fact, his spatial abilities had never been a problem. In terms of comprehending this law, even saying he was heaven-defying didn't do him justice.
It had to be known, something like Dimension Shift was a feat even Tian Yang couldn't achieve. Despite his natural power and stature as a Demigod, Tian Yang's spatial path was far more straightforward than Damien's and didn't reach such an intrinsically conceptual level.
Was this a matter of effort or power? Not at all. It was a matter of sheer talent alone.
Not all beings were created equal. This rule applied especially to Damien.
'Status'
[Status]
[Damien Void]
Human/Dragon/????
Male - Age 27
Level 215 - [Voidbringer] - [Celestial]
Experience value: 18,790/325,000
Title(s): [•••••••, Bearer of the Void Physique, Evolver]
Affinities: Spacetime, ????
Physique: Void Physique
Magic Power: 100000
STR: 2550
AGI: 2250
DEF: 2500
INT: 2000
DEX: 2325
Skills: [Dimensional Magic Level 6], [Transcendent Regeneration Level 2], [Void Art Level 6], [Devour Level 7], [Dragon Transformation], [Demon Transformation], [Awareness], [Celestial Authority], [Reality Shift Level 1], [Sea God's Descendent], [Void]
Trait(s): [All-Seeing Eyes Level 7], [Dragon's Breath], [Ananta Matrix], [Storm], [Void Essence], [Void Flames], [Heal]
Even after his Baptism, Damien's status hadn't changed much. Though, at this point, Damien no longer trusted his status to accurately pinpoint his strength.
It had never been truly accurate after all.
He had a speculation as to why this was. Naturally, it was due to the Void Physique. Just like any other abnormality in his body, the root cause could always be narrowed down to this particular facet.
Because the Void wasn't something the system could understand. The power Damien gained through it couldn't be accurately reflected.
Whenever Damien devoured a beast, he took its essence without the system's aid. This was something only he could do and something that naturally happened outside the system's bounds. The best it could do was attempt to put his strength into numbers.
But those attempts never truly worked out. After all, with the Void Physique not being completely anchored to Damien's body, how could the system perceive it properly? It could only understand a portion of the strength the physique provided Damien.
Nevertheless, Damien didn't look at his status for his abilities or even his physical stats. His attention remained focused on the top of the holographic window.
He sighed a weary sigh.
'Damn…when did I get so old?'
