Chapter 894 Four Pirs: The Third Shard


    What does it mean toe across a fortuitous encounter?


    To some, it might mean an opportunity.


    To others, it might mean an item or a skill.


    However, if there was one thing inmon among them, it was the fact that the person hade across it on their own.


    Naturally, Valyr was of the same mind when it came to the matter.


    But after having the fortuitous encounter appear before him out of nowhere, the young man now began to think otherwise.


    Of course, Vaughn more or less reacted the same way as him, being left at aplete loss for words as the shard remained on the ground.


    Watching the rift that had opened out of nowhere gradually disappear, the man looked back and forth between Valyr and the shard before opening his mouth. "Are my eyes deceiving me… or is that a Shard of Defiance?"


    Taking a deep breath topose himself, the young man looked at Vaughn with a wry smile. "You could already tell by the aura, no?"


    In response, Vaughn wryly smiled as well. "I know… it''s just that… the Shard of Defiance isn''t something that you''d get from this ce out of thin air."


    Valyr nodded in agreement at those words.


    For him to obtain his first Shard of Defiance, he had to traverse a hidden pathway located at the rearmost portion of the Gates of Enlightenment''s Material Cache.


    As for his second Shard of Defiance, though it was given to him as a reward, he still had to go through the nine trials the Gates of Awakening threw at him.


    Inparison, this Shard of Defiance took no effort from him to obtain whatsoever.


    ''Unless… the right conditions the fortuitous encounter was waiting for was me obtaining ownership over the inheritance?'' thought the young man to himself, recalling the notifications that had appeared just then.


    If that were the case, then this third one would technically be considered the hardest out of the three for him to obtain.


    But of course, that did not diminish the fact that it came out of nowhere.


    Grabbing the Shard of Defiance off the ground, Valyr immediately felt the fused Shard of Defiance in his mind rumble quite a bit.


    Consistently bombarding him with the signal to allow the new shard to fuse with them, the young man inwardly adorned a bitter smile as he soon brought the shard to his forehead.


    Whoosh!


    At the very moment he did so, a stinging pain began to radiate from his forehead, reminding him of the sensation he felt back then when he absorbed the second Shard of Defiance.


    Thankfully, the sensation did notst for long as it was reced by a familiar sensation instead, reminding him of the ancient auras the shards had exuded back then.


    However, unlike before, the ancient aura was now more intense and condensed than before, now reminding him of the tower he had seen in the past.


    Swoosh!


    Luckily, the absorption process of the third Shard of Defiance had no mishaps whatsoever, save for the slight pain that erupted at the beginning of the absorption.


    Focusing his attention inward, he soon watched the third Shard of Defiance fused the two that came before it, transforming into a shard that wasparativelyrger than before.


    Inwardly letting out a sigh of relief in response to the sessful fusion, Valyr briefly nced at Vaughn, only to notice a serious expression adorning the man''s face.


    Understanding that the expression undoubtedly had something to do with what he just did, the young man decided to check on the newly fused Shard of Defiance for now, wondering what kind of changes the third shard had brought.


    ''[Superior Analysis].''


    Ding!


    ————


    [Shard of Defiance] (Item)


    Rarity: ???


    The seed of chaos.


    The sign of rebellion.


    The wishes of a being aiming for greater change, crystallized for eternity.


    Many of its kind exist throughout the. However, only a few could fuse them together and not sumb to its whispers.


    Those few have thought that two was more than enough, yet there were those foolhardy enough to attempt fusing more. Unsurprisingly, 99% of those that attempted it lost their minds doing so.


    But for the remaining 1% that seeded, a wider path awaits.


    Needs the user to haveprehended a 2nd Grade Intent. Needs the user to have reached Rank 5.


    Using this item increases the user''s Authority stat by 2 points.


    ————


    ''Huh.''


    Aside from the item''s description bing considerably longer than before, the requirement needed for him to make use of the shard had been lowered once more, only needing him to have an Intent at 2nd Grade.


    Other than that, the number of points he''d get from Authority had been increased as well, which meant more features he could ess within the system by the time he got it.


    Whoosh!


    Closing the screen he''d brought up, the young man returned his attention to Vaughn, whose face now had a frown on it.


    "How many shards have you absorbed so far?" asked the man, his expression telling Valyr to be as honest as he could.


    "Three," replied Valyr, prompting Vaughn to let out a sigh as he shook his head in response.


    Seeing the man react that way, Valyr could only look at the man in confusion. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Inherently, there''s nothing wrong with absorbing more Shards of Defiance." Calming his emotions, Vaughn looked at Valyr and exined. "A lower requirement to make use of it while getting more Authority at the same time. Who wouldn''t want that?"


    "However, you''re not the only person to have received the Shard of Defiance," added the man. "And when those people absorbed more than one shard… let''s just say they went out with a bang."


    At those words, Valyr faintly shuddered. "Does that mean I shouldn''t absorb more shards, then?"


    "Of course," replied Vaughn. "Then again, you''ve already absorbed all of the shards within this ce, so there''s not much point in talking about it."


    "Just so I could rest easy… have you been hearing someone talking to youtely?" asked the man soon after. "Not like a one-off thing, but like constantly talking to you."


    "No?" Valyr shook his head, soon recalling the incident back when he fought against Daon and Dawan. "Though, there was one time where I heard someone say ''break the chains'' to me while I was in a weird state."


    Hearing the young man''s response, Vaughn let out a sigh of relief. "Alright, you''re fine."


    "As for that phrase you mentioned, that''s the Resonance Mode I was talking about."


    "…Now that I think about it, I mentioned in an earlier conversation that there''s a way to willfully make use of that mode inbat," said the man after a bit of silence.


    Hearing that, Valyr raised his eyebrow as he looked at Vaughn, curious as to how he could do so.


    Seeing as he had caught the young man''s attention, the man faintly shrugged his shoulders as he exined, "It''s pretty simple, really."


    "Just go all out."


    "…By go all out, you mean…?" Though Vaughn did not say much, Valyr immediately understood what he meant.


    "Utilize every skill you have in your arsenal and reach your peak condition," said the man in response. "Only then will the Shard of Defiance respond and allow you to enter its Resonance Mode."


    "But of course, if you were to go all out in every battle you did, you''d be out of mana in no time." Vaughn let out a bit ofughter. "That''s why I made a set of skills that could be used to enter that mode without having to go all out."


    "If I remember correctly, there''s three of them in total, each one corresponding to a level of the Triad Gates."


    At those words, Valyr''s eyes slightly widened in surprise. "Correct me if I''m wrong, but… are you perhaps talking about the [Eye of Enlightenment]?"


    Hearing Valyr mention the name of the skill, Vaughn''s eyes widened as well as he nodded in response. "Yeah! That''s the one!"


    "Is that so?" Valyr merely smiled. "I guess it was the right decision to learn it, then."


    "Even more so now that you have control over the entire inheritance." Vaughn nodded in agreement. "With [Eye of Enlightenment] under your belt, you could learn the [Eye of Awakening] and [Eye of Transcendence], thetter being more than necessary if you want to make use of the Shard of Defiance''s Resonance Mode at any time."


    "I''ll keep that in mind." Valyr nodded.


    At this point, the young man truly felt that he had now obtained more or less everything he could for the meantime.


    Even though there were many more within the inheritance he had yet to im, it wasn''t as if he was on a race against time. As the owner, he could enter and exit the ce whenever he wanted.


    "So, I''m guessing this memory extension of yours will disappear from this ce, then?" Preparing to leave the inheritance for the meantime, Valyr decided to say farewell to Vaughn for now.


    "Just like the memory extensions in this ce, it''ll stay here, waiting for it to be used in the trials," said Vaughn in response, only to shrug his shoulders soon after. "Of course, it''s more so that it would be easier tomunicate with you through the talisman. But if you wanted to remove this extension, you could."


    Hearing the young man say that he had no ns to do so, Vaughn let out a chuckle as he wished Valyr good luck on his endeavors in the war. "If you need me, you could always contact me through the talisman."


    "Though, if you ever be strong enough to be booted out of Veldanyr, search for the Immortal Pantheon. I''ll always be waiting there."


    "I''ll keep that in mind." Saying those words once more, Valyr went ahead and opened a rift that would lead him back to Veldanyr.


    But before he could even step a foot inside…


    Ding!


    [You havepleted part of the requirements for the quest: Traces of the Past.]


    [Find the whereabouts of thest leader of humanity (1/1)]


    "…"


    "…Huh."