Chapter 78: Breaking News!
Being admitted to the Starlight Royal Academy was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for any Superhuman. Even participating in the entrance examinations could broaden their horizons so Cedric wanted to be at his best form once it was time for him to take the exams.
It wouldn't be now though...
The minimum requirement to participate in the Starlight Royal Academy's Entrance Exam was to possess their token, which is already a difficult process in itself. They also wouldn't accept anybody who hasn't reached Tier 3 Lv.1 at least, they also wouldn't accept those who have already reached Tier 5, so even if Cedric had the ability now, he wouldn't be granted access to it.
Besides, the entrance exam only happens once a year and it already passed, so Cedric would have to wait for a few more months to participate, which is fine since he wasn't in a hurry.
What's important right now is to increase his strength as best as he can. He still had a lot of growing up to do and he couldn't underestimate the people he would eventually encounter there.
Cedric was also taking his time leveling up. Even though he could theoretically charge through levels like nobody's business thanks to his invention that could purify Demon Souls, it wouldn't be wise since his body had to enter a period of natural adjustment each time he levels up to make up with the sudden changes on his body.
His body adjusts fast, sure. But he still wanted to be careful since his body was his foundation. Any instability in it will hamper his future growth.
Right now, Cedric's focus was centered around training his Sword Intent and his Sage Arts.
With his absurdly high comprehension ability, his grasp over the profundity of Sword Intent was rising higher and higher each day that passed. Right now, he could safely use this skill for a whole minute without any consequences.
Using the Sword Intent, Cedric could essentially cut through metal as if it were a sheet of paper, effortless. Even materials like; refined metals, heavenly silk, spell armor, and so on. The more potent his Sword Intent was, the easier it would be for him to render any defenses useless.
『Sword Intent』 is at Lv.5. It's a little slow but it's growing so he can't complain. In fact, it's natural for his progress to be slow considering the difficulty of comprehending this skill.
As for his 『Sage Arts』, he has: Sunlight Manifestation, Jester's Mask, True Sunfire, Sunlit Stars, and Luminous Arsenal.
'Sunlight Manifestation' is a skill that allows him to generate and control True Sunlight despite not having seen a real sun before. True Sunlight and Sunfire are incredibly lethal against demons because they possess evil-vanquishing attributes.
Through this skill, he could shape sunlight however he pleased, turning it into lightning spears, swords, concentrated beams or lasers, and so on.
'Jester's Mask' is the Sage Art of deception. It helps the user to create a disguise that cannot be seen through normal means possible. It allows for a comprehensive transformation to the point that even the user's thumbprint changes. It can also be used to suppress one's power, making them seem weaker than they actually are.
'True Sunfire' is the counterpart skill of Sunlight Manifestation. It summons fire that could eventually grow as hot as the Sun's temperature, maybe even surpassing it through the right means. Just like Sunlight Manifestation, this skill allows Cedric to shape and generate True Sunfire according to his will.
As his current expertise at this skill, he could reach temperatures as hot as 2000°C, which is enough to cause severe damage to anything it touches and it's nowhere near done growing. He's only ever limited by his own Tier and Level.
Sadly, he never had any chance to get much experience handling the current maximum temperature he could reach because; 1. This temperature is already enough to kill any available targets he has, and 2. His current weapon arsenal couldn't endure such a high heat like that, they would melt in his hands if he ever tried.
He really should buy new equipment for himself but right now, he truly has no immediate need for his so he's putting it on the sidelines.
'Sunlit Stars' is a zoning type of skill. It spawns an energy construct which also serves as a turret that he could 'set and forget'. They automatically target everything he deems as an enemy, shooting them with Sunfire-infused projectiles.
And finally, there's 'Luminous Arsenal'. A skill that essentially extends the area of his attacks. Using it will summon a giant arsenal to strike his foes that follow the trajectory of his attacks, increasing its area and lethality.
For example; if Cedric was in the middle of swinging his sword horizontally and he used this skill to go along with it, a giant gold-plated sword would suddenly appear, swinging down at the general vicinity of where he struck. Its reach would be about ten times the range of his sword.
Note, that his Sword Intent applies to this as well. So one could only imagine how fearsome this skill could get.
With how absurd this skill could get, it became one of Cedric's favorites, actually.
All of these skills are wrapped into the skill 『Sage Arts』, so the more he trained them, the higher the skill's level increased.
On another note; 『Lightspeed』 could also be considered a part of 『Sage Arts』, he doesn't know why it was given to him separately but he was not complaining.
With the growth of the 『Lightspeed』 skill, his speed was steadily approaching the true speed of light. Once he maxed this skill out, speed of light would be his actual speed and it wouldn't have a cooldown anymore. Who knows? Maybe he could even figure out a way to go faster than light.
Aside from these skills, there are still more skills listed under 『Sage Arts』, Cedric just didn't practice everything he saw in there because he wanted to focus on what he got so far. There a few skills that he would like to learn soon but right now, what he has is sufficient enough.
Actually, it wouldn't be wrong to say that he's already loaded with absurdly powerful skills. Considering that he's only Tier 2, this could already be considered cheating, however, he doesn't mind that.
With how dangerous this world is, the more absurdly powerful he gets, the more he can secure his existence. That's why he's not opposed to cheating since nothing's fair in this world anyway.
**
Done with today's training, Cedric could be found relaxing in his living room, casually eating some snacks while watching random videos online.
He was initially expecting this day to be rather dull just like the previous days he had however, the sudden breaking news changed his perception about that.
"We apologize for interrupting our regular programs. We just received news from the Climate Oversight Beaureu (COB) that we are expecting the arrival of a Black Sky as early as next week."
"The prediction of the experts about the Black Sky's intensity for all areas will be displayed on the screen right now. We strongly suggest that everybody cooperate with authorities to prepare for the upcoming disaster for it would increase your chance of survival."
"That's all we have for now. We will be updating you in real-time should any changes occur. Thank you for listening, god bless you all."
"...a Black Sky, huh? It's been a while since that happened. The last time was about three years ago." Cedric calmly recalled.
The Black Sky refers to a unique change in climate that happened once the corruption of the world entered a specific degree. This phenomenon originates from the Outer World due to the sheer density of corruption out there.
This event not only darkens the sky, as its name implies, but it also causes all Demons nearby to enter a berserk state. It's always certain that every time a Black Sky occurs, a Demon Horde will follow.
And since the experts were anticipating that the Black Sky would hit the Human Civilization, that also means that everybody should expect Demon Hordes to attack.
Spreading his senses out, Cedric picked up signs of distress and panic from his surroundings. As expected, this was bad news for everybody.
What makes this worse is that the experts predicted that the intensity of the Black Sky that would affect the Black Thread City would be Level 3, which usually means that not only will his Black Sky attract a far larger Demon Horde than normal, but it would also last for days, maybe even weeks.
The city just barely managed to safely defend itself from the sudden appearance of Tier 5 Demons thanks to the cult, now all of sudden, there's another large threat looming over it.
Cedric sighed as he retracted his field of senses. The Black Sky is already a threat on its own and he also believes that the cult will not let this chance pass.
"This is turning out to be a larger headache than before."