Apotheosis

Zen quietly sat on the golden leaf, his gaze becoming calmer and his mind becoming clearer as time ticked by.

As of now, he was unable to unleash all his strength because of the limitations on his physical body. Right now, the most urgent thing was to push this limit.

He pondered over it all. The power that came from the outside world was essentially the same as his own…

If that was the case, he could transfer his own power.

After obtaining the will of the world from the little monster, Zen was able to maintain a connection with everything in the great world.

It could be a flower, a log, a mountain, or a sea….

Everything Zen saw could be linked to him magically. He could connect to things he had never even seen before. This was because the memories of the entire world were firmly stored in Zen's psyche. He was now the spokesperson for this great world.

He could feel the origin of the will of this great world. Certainly, he would explore it himself in future, but right now he had more important things to do.

By transferring the power, Zen could take on immense strength while causing no damage to his own body, for another entity would replace him and absorb the strength. By the West Dragon River, Zen had taken on the punch from War Emperor York with the help of the mountains by the river. The vast Feather Holy Sea had helped him block the Heavenly Thunder Halberd from Fredric not so long ago.

If he used the skill of power transfer, he could take on the power of ten thousand dragon scales, or even the power of one hundred thousand dragon scales. This way, the power that his body was supposed to consume would be borne by other things.

However, the problem he was currently facing required a different solution.

He now needed to pour all of his power into this light golden leaf. If he used the skill of power transfer, the power from the dragon scales would be transferred to somewhere else.

'Transfer...'

Thinking of this, Zen tapped his forehead at an important revelation.

He had been too rigid in his way of thinking. It dawned on him that he could actually use this ability of power transfer in a different manner.

Seeing Zen's behavior and his shining eyes, Randy's eyes flashed. He wondered if Zen had come up with any good ideas.

Fiona blinked, a smile starting to form at the corner of her mouth. With Zen's intelligence, he truly might be able to find a way to solve this predicament.

Suddenly, Zen rose. Standing on the top of the leaf, he took a deep breath.

"The power of dragon scales!"

The scales of the cyan

"It's a breakthrough. This really is extraordinary…"

Their faces were full of surprise as various thoughts ran through their heads. However, except for a few people, such as Randy, Fiona, and Camilla, they were unable to contain the envy and jealousy in their hearts. It was almost as if it was their first instinct to feel jealous, like it was something unavoidable.

Those who had been looking forward to Zen smashing the golden leaf didn't feel the satisfaction they should have, for they had in fact wished that Zen would fail. Humans were such contradictory creatures.

'I'll strike it again!' Zen thought.

He bent down once again, both his fists slamming down onto the golden leaf.

Bam!

A second crack appeared on the surface of the golden leaf, extending from the bottom of the first crack.

Things had been tough in the beginning. After the first crack appeared on the golden leaf, it became its weakest point. Zen didn't let up. He kept hitting the first crack to make it shatter.

Bang! Boom! Bang…

Zen's powerful strikes landed on the golden leaf one after another. More and more cracks became visible.

At the sight of the cracks, Zen narrowed his eyes. Waves of life vitality rushed into his trembling fists. Soon after, the waves transformed into specks of starlight that enveloped Zen's body.

"Star Shakes the Earth! Smash to pieces!"

Zen gritted his teeth and threw out his final punch.

Boom…

Bang…

They all heard the sharp, unmistakable sound of a crack. The golden leaf under Zen's feet cracked from the middle, and at the same time, the stems of the golden leaf broke apart.

The Black Star pickaxe unveiled itself from beneath the tens of thousands of broken pieces.