Chapter 193: Prepare

Jaxir raised an eyebrow as Luxy kept staring at him through the connection.

Her face was so pale that, for a second, he wondered if she was glitching. The old woman opened her mouth twice without getting anything out, then gripped the edge of her counter until some color came back.

"What’s wrong with you?"

Luxy swallowed and looked at him again. This time, her eyes stayed fixed on Jaxir instead of the Compendiums.

"Did you... become a Sovereign?"

She asked it so carefully that Jaxir blinked. Then, he remembered the Title he’d gotten from the Black Gem Ancestral Spirit.

"Not exactly." He shrugged and pulled the Beast Taming Compendium farther onto his lap. "I just got a Title for beating one."

Luxy’s knees buckled.

Jaxir lurched forward and caught her before she could completely collapse. Given how fragile the old woman looked from time to time, one bad fall might end her for good. You’d think an Ultra Merchant would be made of sturdier stuff.

She clung to his forearm for several seconds, breathing through whatever shock had just hit her, then slowly pushed herself upright with shaking hands.

Jaxir waited until she looked like she could stand on her own before letting go.

"Okay, now you’re making me curious." He leaned back and looked at her more seriously. "What exactly does it mean to be a Sovereign?"

Luxy took several seconds to answer. Whatever amusement usually colored her expression was gone.

"A Sovereign stands beyond a Grand Archmage, but reaching that standard isn’t as simple as pushing your Root Abilities one Tier higher."

She raised one finger as she started counting off the requirements.

"Your Root Abilities must reach five Tiers beyond your own Tier, your L1 Branch Abilities must reach three Tiers beyond it, and your L2 Branch Abilities must reach one full Tier beyond it."

A second finger went up while Jaxir’s expression slowly changed.

"Then, after you’ve satisfied all of that, you still have to survive the Sovereign Tribulation before the world will recognize your crown."

Jaxir blinked.

He’d assumed the step beyond Grand Archmage would mean another ridiculous Root Ability requirement, and maybe pushing his Branch Abilities a bit further. What he hadn’t expected was for the entire Class tree to get dragged into it at once.

Five Tiers for his Roots, three for L1, and one for L2. It sounded absurd, right up until he actually turned those requirements into the Levels he needed.

His mind started running the numbers.

Level 60 for Cast, Charge, and Attune. Level 40 for Wither, Bind, and Fracture. Then, Level 20 for Haunt, Drain, and Unravel.

Jaxir went over his current progress once, then a second time to make sure he hadn’t missed something obvious.

After the Hollow Mana Spirit, Attune was already at Level 58. The rest of his Ability tree had been climbing at a pace that would’ve sounded impossible to most, but it didn’t seem impossible for him.

The gap wasn’t small. However, it wasn’t anywhere near as ridiculous as he’d expected.

"Oh, I’m not actually as far away as I thought..."

The only question was how long he should stay away from Level 11. If he remained at Tier 1, it wasn’t impossible. But if he entered Tier 2, it would immediately cause problems. He’d have to reach Level 70, 50, and 30 respectively, and that was much harder.

"DON’T!"

Jaxir flinched and looked back at Luxy. She had both palms planted on the counter now.

"What?"

"Do not aim for Sovereign right now."

Every trace of the merchant who had happily sold him almost anything he could afford was gone from her voice.

"The Tribulation isn’t meant to be a challenge."

Jaxir’s smile faded a little.

"It’s a death sentence."

Luxy stared straight into his eyes as she spoke, leaving him no room to brush off what came next.

"The Gods consider a Sovereign ascension a direct challenge to their authority, and many of the restrictions placed on their interference loosen during the Tribulation."

That made Jaxir sit up straighter.

Luxy noticed but kept going before he could cut in.

"You’ve already drawn the ire of the Minor God of Gravity badly enough for him to ban you from his entire province and put rewards on your head." Her mouth tightened. "If you trigger a Sovereign Tribulation within his reach, he may be able to send a real Avatar after you."

"A real Avatar?" Jaxir repeated the words more slowly. "As opposed to what I fought before?"

Luxy nodded.

"What you encountered in the inheritance trial were bodies being forcibly used as vessels for Divine Energy, not true Avatars prepared to carry it."

She paused, then added, "A real Avatar is someone whose body and mana have been conditioned to withstand Divine Energy to a limited extent."

Jaxir’s eyes narrowed as the difference sank in.

Tayo, Telik, and Zay had become terrifying the moment the three Demi-Goddesses poured Divine Energy into them. However, the same power that made them stronger had also given Jaxir the weakness he needed.

Their bodies couldn’t properly hold what had been forced into them. Every time they tried to heal damage or seal one of his Hexes, they put even more strain on vessels that were already failing under the pressure.

Jaxir had won by turning that flaw against them, until their own power helped tear them apart.

A true Avatar wouldn’t give him that opening.

"The Divine Energy wouldn’t destroy their body the same way..." Jaxir said quietly.

He remembered how Fracture had kept reopening the damage Tayo’s possessor had struggled to hold down. Then, his thoughts moved to Telik, and how Wither had poisoned the mana containment itself until the Divine Energy became impossible to control.

"So I couldn’t just make their own power kill them."

"Not easily." Luxy shook her head, tightening her grip on the counter. "And unlike an improvised vessel being overwhelmed by possession, a true Avatar can still use Abilities."

Jaxir went quiet.

The three fake Avatars had nearly killed him and Nick, and that was with bodies that couldn’t handle their own strength, crude control over the Divine Energy filling them, and almost none of the versatility their original Classes should have given them.

A true Avatar would bring that same divine reinforcement into a body that could actually carry it, while still fighting with a developed Ability tree.

And if Gravity Boy himself got enough freedom during the Tribulation to choose the vessel? Jaxir doubted he’d be polite enough to send someone convenient.

His eyes drifted down to the Beast Taming Compendium.

The Drowned Willow Sapling was still soaking up its three evolution materials, not the least bit concerned with the conversation happening above it. Deeper in the book, the Black Gem Alpha was still going through its own transformation.

10 minutes ago, Jaxir had been thinking about turrets, illusions, and how fast he could abuse a Legendary Legacy. Now, he had even bigger worries. He couldn’t stop himself from doing the math on how close he was to inviting a god to murder him personally. But... what else was new?

He rubbed his chin, seemingly lost in deep thought. But the longer he spent in that state, the more his eyes glowed.

"So what you’re saying is I should prepare first."

Luxy’s face went blank.

Jaxir grinned.