It had to be remembered that he may be its founder, but Ace was still comprehending a whole new element.
And to help with his current plight, the Sovereigns and Overgods, all agreed that the Divine Planes of fire and light would be created side by side. Because of that, Ace got to see and compare the two elements in ways he had never been able to do in the past.
In turn, although he hadn't made a definitive breakthrough, his foundational knowledge of the Mandate of Pure Yang had reached all new heights. Previously, he treated the new mandate as the fusion of the laws of fire and light, but now he understood how wrong he really was – although it shared a lot of intrinsic similarities with the laws of light and fire, thinking of it as an evolved version of the two was actually what was slowing him down. The Mandate of Pure Yang was a completely new element.
The reason Ace hadn't made a breakthrough thus far was that, after coming to that realisation, Ace was consciously suppressing his comprehension of the laws of Fire and treating his new mandate as though he was a complete novice with no prior knowledge.
And when taking that into account, Ace's true progress could only be described as blazing.
Prior to this training exercise, thanks to his completed comprehension of the Laws of Fire and subsequent studies of the Laws of Light, Ace had comprehended 90% of The Mandates of "Pure Yang Essence," "Heat," "Explosions," and "The Spirit of Yang," 80% of the "Mandate of Warped Light," and 55% of the "Mandate of the Body of Pure Yang," and over 80% of the six mandates previously mentioned, fused state.
But now, thanks to his new approach, whether it was the six individual mysteries or the fusion of all six, each had reached 99%.
Ordinarily, it wouldn't be too big of a deal, as with Ace's talent, a bottleneck like that would be cleared in only a matter of time, but as it stood, there was only a year left before the date of Ace's battle with Teresia.
Still, Ace didn't seem to care in the slightest. In fact, whether it was his upcoming battle or even the presence of everyone else around, they all faded into the background. The only thing that remained on his mind was the Divine Planes before him, as well as the Golden Sun in his body that had effectively taken the place of his Divine Spark.
That was when, instead of persisting with his peaceful meditation, Ace did something that shocked everyone present to their cores, be they deity, Sovereign, or Overgod.
He casually entered the turbulent region of the void between the still-developing Divine Planes.
Arianna, the current Chief Sovereign of Light, was about to move to stop Ace before he got himself killed – after all, the two embryonic Divine Planes were formed by the pure power of two extremely powerful Sovereigns – but before she could, Aiden, Orloff, and Amira all moved to stop her having noticed the glazed look in Ace's eyes.
They didn't know what Ace intended to do, but they knew he was in the middle of having an epiphany.
He floated absentmindedly before the two still-forming Divine Planes for a month before raising his hands – one towards each Plane. At the same time, Ace's soul-self materialised in the void behind him, causing his already impressive Power of Will to double directly.
It was then that the expressions of all the Sovereigns and the Overgods present trembled as they watched the Divine Plane of Fire and Light edge towards each other, outside of the control of the two Sovereigns originally in charge of creating them.
They all wanted to stop him, but by the time they realised what he was intending to do, it was too late.
It had to be understood that, as powerful as they were, Sovereigns were simply incapable of fusing Divine Planes of separate elements together. It was why they were leaving the task up to Aiden and Orloff – two Overgods. And even then, the fusion that the Overgods weren't thorough and true fusions. Such a process was too difficult and complicated.
As such, the reactions of those watching could be understood.
Virtually every Sovereign present was prepared to escape, as Ace's failure wouldn't simply cause the two Divine Planes in question to explode. It would also cause a chain reaction, setting theirs off, too.
The explosion of 11 embryonic Divine Planes blowing up simultaneously… forget them; not even Phueus would be able to protect himself.
But unlike what they were expecting, there was no heaven-shattering explosion; in fact, there was no explosion at all.
When they looked back, their eyes almost popped out of their heads. Even Orloff was no exception. The only ones who didn't seem surprised were those who had grown up with Ace and had gotten accustomed to his heaven-defying feats.
Aiden could only shake his head helplessly at his disciple as he stared at the infinitely small point in the void above Ace and between the two Planes.
The location in question was infinitely small – no bigger than the fingernail on Ace's outstretched pinkie – but the implications of it were infinitely large; that was because although it was incredibly small, it was the point in which the two planes seemed to genuinely fuse.
As for the man in question, he was still floating – pale-faced – in the void before his creation when the natural laws descended around him.
At that moment, Ace finally broke through to become the universe's first Pure Yang Full God. Still, Ace's eyes were glazed over as though he had no interest in his own breakthrough.
Both his soul-self and his Golden Sun-Spark floated up out of his body, slowly rotating and absorbing the energy that descended due to his breakthrough, both growing in power by the second, radiating a truly terrifying and awe-inspiring might as they did.
Even so, Ace couldn't care any less. He was too busy focusing on his comprehension, but this time, he wasn't attempting to deepen his comprehension of Pure Yang. No, this time he was trying to comprehend that in which he had already comprehended.
To put it simply, he was attempting to gain a perfect grasp on the abilities of his most recent comprehension and turn it into actual fighting power.
Take the Mandate of the Body of Pure Yang, for example – which could be considered the evolved version of the Profound Mystery of Flamebody. The Profound Mystery of Flamebody was a mystery that allowed the user's body to transform into flames, be it for movement or evasion. It had a myriad of uses, but compared to the Mandate of the Body of Pure Yang, it was too one-dimensional.
Whilst a Body of Pure Yang could also become intangible – transforming into Pure Yang which held a lot of similarities with both Fire and Light – that was just the start.
The Pure Yang Body also had enhanced regenerative and healing factors. For deities who had condensed Divine Bodies, it was a point that seemed almost pointless, as one could heal from any wound with enough energy, but not only did the Pure Yang Body reduce the amount of Divine Energy needed to heal from physical injuries, it could now also be used to heal spiritual injuries.
Aside from that, it could also be used to directly enhance the user's physical ability, and for a freak like Ace, whose body had already long since surpassed the body of Apex Divine Beasts at the same level, it was effectively like giving wings to a tiger.
Considering how that was only a single one of Ace's six mandates and how, as of now, all six of his currently comprehended mandates had completely fused, there was a lot to do before his battle began.
Still, after his most recent breakthrough, in Ace's eyes, this battle no longer held any weight or importance.
Although he was far from invincible among Sovereigns, he had his eyes set on a larger mountain. In his eyes, the only ones qualified to oppose him were the Overgods and a couple of the various Chief Sovereigns. As for a Lesser Sovereign like Teresia, he wasn't someone he put in his eyes any longer.
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