Chapter 102 - Confidence

Layton found himself back in his room in Makarov hut, his last memory was the blurry state he was in when he had somehow incarnated into a giant mass of pure psionic energy preparing to face his opponent and then his memory was blank, He could only vaguely remember the wailing of the nascent world as it was unable to contain the energy generated during the mere clash of auras.

Although his memory during that period was kind of blurry but the profound sense of power and control he felt was deeply imprinted in his mind, Layton could feel that if he wanted to he could in a matter of weeks promote himself to at least the deity stage as long as energy was sufficient.

As soon as this thought came into his head the sense of temptation rose tremendously, slowly breathing through his mind Layton forced himself to calm down, he knew that such a hasty promotion was unnecessary and would damage his now solid foundation, judging from all the great works he had read back on earth it was taken for granted that a solid foundation was absolutely necessary for practice regardless whether it was magic or martial arts.

"Good!!" Makarov complemented, it was unknown when the white-robed old man had entered into the room.

Makarov continued stating, "You know most people in your shoes would not stand the temptation, after all a deity stage practitioner is enough to become a hegemon in a medium sized a stage which most casual practitioners cannot reach in their lifetime."

Layton could understand what Makarov meant after all although his memory of his rapid breakthroughs during the battle was a little bit blurry but Layton could recall the profound sense of power he had, even he could feel that in that stage if there was no accident he could live forever.

The pursuit of immortality made the attraction of the deity stage all the more intense, countless individuals in various planes would commit horrible atrocities to become a deity even if one with the lowest combat power all because of the allure of immortality.

Of course as a traverser Layton was vaguely aware that the immortality was not all it was made out to be, after all a deity could still be killed, the world he was in destroyed, his energy source severed, various ways and accidents in which a deity could theoretically be killed ran through his mind which was why he had been able to get rid of the temptation to swiftly advance.

"My pursuits are higher." Layton simply stated, with the information from Minerva, Layton was not satisfied with merely reaching the deity stage.

"You know, I have seen geniuses better than you, traversers who had come in contact with practice in their former world, Deities who reincarnated, countless practitioner's with a solid foundation at every level who ended up not being able to get past the deity stage no matter how hard they tried, even solace your teacher has only formed a rudimentary path to the 4th stage and has not been able to break through, what makes you think you will be any different."

Layton was not surprised at Makarov's words, after the talk with Minerva and the fight with his other self which allowed him to catch a glimpse at the power the other stages of practice held he was no longer surprised or shaken that the existence of traversers was no longer a secret and as for Makarov's question as to whether he would be any different Layton did not reply but just stared back at Makarov.

Layton was not an overly arrogant individual but he was confident that with the almost infinite lifespan of a deity and his knowledge the so called barrier to detachment would be broken by him.

Makarov could see the confident and unyielding gleam in his eyes, it was a look that said it didn't matter if he failed multiple times or how rough the road was but at the end of the day success would be achieved.

"Well since you have such consciousness I will do my best to help you," Makarov stated as he threw a small object at Layton.

"What is this?" Layton inquired curiously as he gazed at the simple black ring in his palm.

"The wreckage of the nascent plane you battle inadvertently created, I would advise not merging with it, rather you should just think of it as a weapon or a spare battery."

B Looking at the ring in his hands Layton could feel the overwhelming psionic energy kept in it, the quality and quantity a much higher one than he currently possessed, Layton could feel that if he wanted he could temporarily overwhelm himself with a huge amount of psionic from the fragment allowing him to temporarily exert some legendary stage combat power or he could just use the fragment as a bomb which during its instantaneous explosion would have some traces of deity stage strength.

"Have you decided about your breakthrough to legend?" Makarov's voice sounded breaking Layton's train of thought.

Breaking through to legend in the wizard path required the mist like soul to undergo another qualitative change turning from mist to liquid, this change was effected by the runes, it could be achieved by engraving a new rune, or by sublimation of the old rune.

Layton presently could use his psionic to sublimate his old haki rune allowing its foundation to thoroughly change and achieving the change of the soul quality needed but Layton did not plan on basing solely on psionic, he wanted to engrave a new rune to give him further prospects, his psionic was one that started from the spiritual to cover the material and Layton had the aim of creating another rune to create a complementary power that would start from the material to cover the spiritual.

He had gotten this idea mostly because of the clash with his other self, the other-self had gone from material to spiritual and during the battle they could both feel the immense potential that lay if one of them swallowed the other, although the battle ended in a draw as the explosion of the nascent world eliminated them both but Layton still planned on trying to go down the road, not necessarily fully following the same path as his other self but creating a similar path that would not oppose his psionic too much.

Layton simply stated his intentions, "I want to inscribe a new rune."

"Do you have a specific type figured out yet?" Makarov inquired lightly

"Not really, I have a vague idea but I feel I need to know more before deciding."

Makarov nodded slightly and then stated, "Indeed, your foundation has been sufficiently laid and I have kept you cooped up here long enough its time to see the outside world, there are numerous talented individuals out there in the void and it would be very helpful for your growth to meet more of your peers, coupled with the spatial fragment I have given you, you should have enough strength to temporarily protect yourself from some unforeseen accidents so I am enrolling you into school city, if all goes well you should be able to meet solace there as well."