Twisted Fate Part 2

Time passed, and even if the icy winds ruled over the windy mountain, Atlas and Uranus were still there, surrounded by a warm and stormy barrier of energy.

The process needed time, as Atlas' soul was weak and could barely escape from the sense of exhaustion only thanks to the shiny pills that were slowly melting inside his stomach.

Indeed, before starting the process, August had given him a blue pill that could replenish soul energy at a rapid pace. He didn't tell him its name, but surely it was a precious pill, even if concocted by his grandmother, Marigold.

Hours passed, and finally, the energy caging them vanished.

"Good job, you resisted pretty well."

Atlas couldn't help but smile, being praised by his grandpa.

"Hehehe... I became stronger now, Grandpa."

"Indeed... I can feel reassured about that, but surely, I shouldn't be too arrogant as the world is a dangerous place and deadly for fools."

Atlas nodded at his reminder and stood up, stretching his aching muscles.

"Hmm..."

The pain caused by the process was still there, troubling his head, but with a couple of deep breaths, he put them aside and looked back at his grandpa, who was holding a juicy fruit in his palm.

"Since you two are now bound... give this little fellow one of these apples."

Atlas looked at the fruit, and he found them quite familiar.

"Grandpa... These are the Flaming Apples... I have them, too. But why should I give it one of them?"

"Silly boy..." August was left speechless when he said, "Those are not Flaming Apples but Awakening Saint Apples, a special fruit that can help a creature's bloodline evolve or awaken."

"But, Grandma... called them Flaming Apples..."

"Well... knowing how stubborn you are about wasting our money on you, she didn't explain their true value."

Atlas made an awkward expression at his response, but luckily, he wasn't that useless child anymore.

"So, I wasted chaos stones every time I ate them... and I consumed many of them in the last few years. Bloody hell..."

"Well... don't worry. After all, those fruits nurtured your frail body by a bit. As they are fruits filled with calm and abundant energy for humans."

'Oh... well. It is a matter of the past... Anyway, now I understand why that arrogant fellow was so strange after I gave him one of them...'

Another mystery was resolved, but indeed, he had to recover some interest from the unruly horse.

"Uranus... take this... let's see how you will evolve..."

Uranus ate the precious fruit without a second thought when he found it before his nose, but then he made a pitiful expression as if asking for more.

"Greedy fellow... First, let's see if you can gain some benefit from it..."

Even after hearing his response, Uranus' expression didn't change, and he kept looking at him strangely.

Alas, Atlas didn't bother and turned back to August: "Grandpa, what do you think about my combat abilities?"

August looked at him for a moment before replying: "Well... you comprehended all my combat techniques, yet you are so stupid... Why didn't you learn a movement technique?"

"A movement technique? Isn't the minimum Realm for them the Primordial Descendant Lord?"

"Sure... But you told me that advancing in your Chaotical Primordial path brings small advantages even to your physical body, so there shouldn't be problems if you start now. Anyway, I suggest you find a Body Cultivation Manual for your flesh body in the future. The only problem is that your physique is a bit unique, and I don't know where you can find such a thing…"

This was his first time hearing about his unique physique, but since they also didn't know about it, he didn't ask more.

Surely, Atlas was not against movement techniques, but he did not have such a scroll with him. In fact, the ones deposited in the library were far too weak for his licking, and he indeed liked the one used by his grandparents more than anything else.

"Grandpa, do you have any of them a bit stronger than the one inside?"

"Hmm..." August searched inside his Space Ring for a while: "... well... we have found this in one of the chests inside the Ancient Site. Its name is even a bit familiar to yours... The Solaris Eternis Catcher."

Atlas grabbed the scroll and asked: "Solaris... Did you find it before I arrived?"

"Yes... Probably, it could be a coincidence... but that word could also mean that it's highly related and the most suited to you."

"Hmm..." Atlas was unsure about that, but he couldn't find an answer, so he started checking the content.

"Solaris Eternis Catcher... Even a simple step could bring the Universe to its doom... ten steps to conquer a land... one hundred steps to dominate a world... one thousand steps to catch a star... From ancient times, only the holder of stars was the true ruler of the Universe..."

The tome continued describing how to manage the Chaos Energy and operate the technique efficiently.

Atlas was so engrossed by it that he didn't even realize that almost two days were gone.

He woke up from the trance only after assimilating all the information within...

"Fabulous... this technique came from another world indeed... It looks even a bit familiar... Could it be a technique from my birthplace?"

Atlas tried with all his energy to remember something, yet it was all in vain...

"Well... sooner or later, I will find out the truth... For now, let's keep growing stronger..."

After talking with his grandparents, Atlas found a new target that was even more important than proceeding further than anyone else on the cultivation path. His primary target was to find out his origins.

"It should be like this... A simple step is just the beginning..."

Suddenly, there was a fierce swift, and Atlas's body was gone.

BOOM!

"Fuck!"

The Solaris Eternis Catcher was so powerful that Atlas found himself almost at the forest's borders.

"I crossed over fifty feet in just one step?... This is incredible... My consumption is also acceptable, but it will grow drastically if I use it too many times. I need more power... It's always the same story."

Atlas kept testing the technique to understand its limits, and sure enough, at the fifth step, almost all his Chaos Energy was gone.

"Damn... it is already incredible that I managed to test it until this point..."

He had acquired a lot of Chaos Stones, so he started consuming them to recover all his strength.

It took him almost 150 Low-Grade Chaos Stones to recover and test more side abilities.

Stepping forward was simple, but changing direction was another story.

Indeed, while he was trying the technique, he almost broke his ankles a couple of times...

Time flew by, and night fell again on the World of Oblivion.

Many things happened in those days.

A fallen prince had regained hope...

The sleeping beauty had awakened, and another cursed the heavens for the stupidity of a single man...

Unfortunately, the gears of the twisted fate had begun to turn again, unaware that the changes were getting closer...