Reincarnated Hero System - Chapter 945 - 945: Testing the 2nd Activation

Ever since encountering this restriction years ago, Evan had often pondered what it truly meant to achieve a deeper understanding of ‘Flames’ and ‘Mesarthim.’

He speculated it might involve the Law Comprehensions typically attained at the Transcendent level. However, now that he could manipulate Universal Laws, he was curious to see if a deeper understanding was possible at his current stage.

However, this experiment was failing woefully, so he spared the man the fate of being burned to death.

Withdrawing his destructive flames, Evan used Mesarthim’s GREEN together with the Paladin Skill’s limited healing to restore some of the man’s vitality before looking at his Unique Skill tab.

“So, uh…where were we? Right. Blessing of Destruction 2nd Activation.”

Evan felt a portion of his magic power pour out from his body and he felt the ambient destruction law energy swirl around him, forming a mini-domain around him.

“Then, Marked Vulnerability and Nether Cage.”

When he used Nether Cage, Evan stumbled and nearly fell to the ground at the huge chunk of his magic power and aura that disappeared in an instant.

“Whoa! I would NOT be using this a lot!”

50% of his current energy reserves was egregious.

But this was a test, so he downed a magic potion to replenish his energy while studying the spherical cage that had appeared around the man.

“This is usually the point where the target tries to break out, but…”

Evan glanced down at the man silently writhing in pain and shook his head. He certainly wasn’t going to be breaking out of anything anytime soon.

Bringing up the skill description, he read on the Nether Cage’s features again.

|—Nether Cage: As part of Second Activation, the user can consume 50% of their current energy to summon a Nether Cage around a single target, encasing them in a prison of concentrated Destruction Energy.

This cage inflicts steady, destructive damage, dismantling the target’s armour, magical barriers, and ultimately the target themselves if they remain trapped. Should the cage be broken, a Destruction Energy Burst is released, inflicting an immediate burst of damage upon the target. |

“It does not specify that the target has to break it. So, I can do it myself.”

With that, Evan raised his hand and summoned the Unforged Vale, before swinging it down and using an aura slash.

However, his attack bounced off harmlessly.

Considering it had consumed 50% of his energy upon creation, there was no way the cage could be broken so easily.

So, Evan decided to put in a bit more effort.

And by a bit, the lunatic meant using a Unique Skill.

‘World Sunder.’

“Let’s kickstart the new year with a BANG!!”

**KABOOM!!!

Thus, the truth behind Evan’s act of terrorism was revealed. The boy was testing his new powers, which were far more potent than he expected.

As he was laughing at the devastation he had caused, Arthur teleported beside him and glanced at the flames, before looking back at Evan and asking.

“How much power did you put into that thing? When the flames die down, we’d have an island-sized hole in the ground…”

Arthur wasn’t just making an estimation, his left blue eye was glowing, showing he was seeing the Island-sized hole in the future.

“Uh…about 50%?”

“…are you crazy?”

“Very much.”

At this point, Evan could not deny he had a few screws loose.

Artemisia and Beatrix had their attention drawn by the blast and came over to question it, and Evan just scratched his head and responded.

“I was testing a few things and…let’s just say they worked very well.”

The two girls gave him incredulous gazes, but he averted his face to avoid further explanations. It was then that Arthur posed a question he didn’t have an answer to.

“Why did you shout ‘Start the new year with a BANG’? We’re in May. There’s nothing new about the year anymore.”

To Arthur’s question, Evan temporarily disassociated from the Fourth Wall and responded.

“Well, when the Author uploads this chapter, it’s gonna be January 1st, so…”

“Oh, I see.”

As usual, Artemisia and Beatrix couldn’t make heads or tails of their conversation, and they didn’t bother trying.

Evan dusted himself off as he rose from the ground, casting a glance at his status board to check his level gains. The increase was underwhelming, and he let out a disappointed sigh, before blaming Arthur for this.

Arthur, ignoring Evan’s blame, turned his focus to more important matters.

“I’m not one to talk since I have a lot of laws, but I guess I am one to talk since I also have them separated according to priority.”

When Evan shot him a puzzled look, as if question marks floated above his head, Arthur explained.

“What I mean is, you need to prioritize the Universal Laws you want to master.

Identify your primary laws—your Mains—and rank others as secondary.

It’s best you do this now, so you can lay the foundation you would build upon when you get to Transcendence.”

After speaking, Arthur took a deep breath and released his law energies for the other three to sense.

Evan’s eyes widened in surprise as he could detect various Universal Laws radiating from Arthur, ones he recognized and ones he didn’t even know existed.

Time, Destruction, Gravity, Space, Summoning.

These were the five laws Evan had believed Arthur comprehended, but now, he realised how far off he was.

From Arthur, he could sense Life, and Light, Death and Darkness, Wind, Water, Earth, and Fire.

He sensed a law that felt like the First Finger’s power and realised that was the Law of Fate. The energy of another made him instinctively step back, for fear that he would be cut by its energy—the Law of Swords.

Then two other scary law energies that felt just like the Law of Destruction—the laws of Extinction and Annihilation. The other two laws in the famed ‘Destructive Trio’.

“Do you see what I mean now? I’ve got so many law energies under my belt, but you only see me use on a select few, don’t you?”

Evan nodded silently in response to Arthur’s question and Arthur pressed on.

“You need to choose your mains.

I realised this after I had already used a lot of law crystals, but you honestly can’t use as many laws as you’d like to.”

Arthur had a wistful, almost nostalgic expression as he spoke.

“If you try, you’ll spread yourself thin. You’ll end up with half-baked law powers since you wouldn’t have the time to properly master them.

You have a lot of other things in life to deal with besides law manipulation, so you have to use the time you must allocate for it wisely.”

True, Evan’s To-do list was probably longer than he was tall. He certainly wouldn’t have the time to master a lot of laws while also juggling the items on that list.

“In the future, you’ll face enemies of all kinds.

Some will be jacks of all trades and masters of none, but others will have poured everything into mastering just a few laws they resonate with. Those are the ones you’ll struggle against if all you have are unfocused, incomplete powers.”

Evan couldn’t help but agree with Arthur. Even with exceptional talent, innate raw power, and a strong affinity for certain laws, if one failed to fully capitalize on these advantages, someone with lesser talent but a deep mastery of their chosen laws, could seize the upper hand in a fight.

“So, Evan, you decide. Separate the laws you master into Primary and Secondary Priorities based on how good your affinity is and how they apply in combat.”

Arthur turned to the two goddesses nearby and addressed them.

“The same goes for both of you, especially you, Artemisia.”

Artemisia’s eyes narrowed slightly, but Arthur only chuckled before continuing.

“It’s likely tied to your evolution powers, but a lot of your elemental affinities are artificial, aren’t they?

Your mastery is impressive, sure, but when it comes to Law Manipulation, I’m willing to bet you can feel the gap between your natural affinities and the ones you’ve artificially acquired.”

While Arthur spoke with Artemisia and Beatrix, Evan conjured a void step in the air and perched himself on it, his expression thoughtful.

‘If any laws were to be my mains, it’d have to be Fire, Destruction and Ice.’.

Fire and Destruction were no-brainers—his strongest affinities by far. Ice, though artificial, was a vital component of his arsenal.

He had gained it by mimicking an Ice Skill, which had forcefully granted him the affinity to wield its power.

Despite its unnatural origin, it had become integral to his combat style, especially when combined with Fire to create Frostfire, a fusion that compensated for the limitations of fire as an element.

“When I think about it, I’m a troublesome elementalist…”

Evan’s main damage came from his fire powers, which made water an obvious counter to him.

This wasn’t just a strategic consideration; it was an inviolable truth hardwired into the Universal Law of Fire: water quenches fire.

Even Evan, with all his irregularities, couldn’t deny that fact.

However, there was another side to this dynamic. Just as water quenched the fire, sufficiently high heat could evaporate water, turning it into gas—a basic principle of chemistry.

Theoretically, Evan should be able to counter water-based attacks by producing enough heat to evaporate them. But reality wasn’t so simple.

If an opponent used water against Evan, they wouldn’t rely on natural water that could boil at 100 degrees Celsius.

Instead, they would use magically generated water, and any opponents Level 700 and above would imbue it with the Universal Law of Water’s power.

If generated by the average Legendary Level, such water would have a much higher boiling point—often exceeding 500 degrees Celsius.

For Evan to evaporate such water, his flames would need to reach at least that temperature.

But Evaporation was not an instantaneous process; for normal and energy-generated water. If Evan wanted to evaporate such water instantaneously, his flames needed a base heat of at least 5 times its boiling point.

In practical terms, it was highly energy inefficient for Evan to rely on this method unless he was significantly stronger than his opponent, enough that the temperature of his flames surpassed the boiling point of the opponent’s water by default.

Once again, Evan wouldn’t have to think about all of this because he had Harbinger of Ice.

If water-based magic was used against him, Evan could simply freeze the water with his ice-based powers. Conversely, if someone used fire against him, he could counter it with his own flames.

And if Evan felt particularly vindictive, he could combine his flames with his Harbinger of Ice to create Frostfire.

Evan’s Frostfire embodied duality, dealing both burning and freezing damage simultaneously. It was a power that reduced the effects of conventional elemental weaknesses. If someone tried to counter it with fire, the icy component would endure. If they tried ice, the fiery aspect would overwhelm them.

After coming to this realization about himself, Evan chuckled and redirected his focus to his law mastery priorities.

As for secondary priorities, Evan had a tentative group in mind.

[IMPORTANT AUTHOR NOTE]