Chapter 529 — Rank 7

A dark vortex appeared in Liora’s palm.

Thin crimson threads like tentacles extended from its center and drilled into the Nine-Headed Hydra’s body.

As though they were its veins, they began spreading like a dense network.

The Nine-Headed Hydra could do nothing but watch powerlessly throughout the process.

It was unable to recover from the mental damage it had sustained, much less offer any resistance in the face of Liora’s actions.

It could only roar helplessly as Liora activated Predation.

The crimson tentacles began to shake violently.

Yet for the first time, this Unknown-Ranked talent failed to drain her opponent of all its strength.

Liora faced a significant amount of resistance.

Something deep within her opponent was awakening and trying to stop Predation’s advance.

Her eyes narrowed.

She urged the World of Heart even further, making the deity’s screams even more intense.

The resistance faced by Predation weakened.

However, it didn’t fully disappear.

The tentacles continued trembling, plundering everything about the opponent.

The process was slow, but steady.

Upon activating Predation, the first thing Liora sensed was the huge amounts of Cosmic Energy pouring into her body.

The energy surged through her and filled her talent genes, causing the evolution of the last few remaining Rank 5 talents.

Those that had already been at Rank 6 also received various benefits.

The liquefied Cosmic Energy within them turned even denser, growing into solid blocks of energy that seemed to integrate with the talent genes’ membranes.

Hearing the popping sounds that kept on coming from within her body, Liora nodded in satisfaction.

However, she soon frowned.

She could tell that although Predation had not failed and was indeed plundering the energy from the opponent, the process was actually extremely slow.

It would take her months, if not years, to completely drain everything from the other party.

Thinking of this, she grumbled.

She knew she could not afford to waste such a long time.

Not only because doing so might not be worth the time wasted, but also because of the danger accompanying it.

Although the demi-plane was a secret, it was highly likely that the Hydra Tribe had methods to enter it.

The Blood Clone outside did not possess her full strength. It was only a matter of time before the chaos was suppressed.

As soon as it did, the hydra’s reinforcements might arrive.

At that point, unexpected changes were highly likely to occur.

With that thought, Liora made a quick decision.

Summoning the System, she took a look at her Evolution Points and at the techniques column.

Before her arrival in Hydra City, she had no chance to upgrade the Cosmic Devouring Technique any further.

She had nearly ran out of Evolution Points.

But following the chaos in the outside world, she had managed to gather just enough.

A (+) had appeared beside the Cosmic Devouring Technique.

Under normal circumstances, Liora would have found a relatively safe place before using the System.

However, knowing the gravity of the situation, she didn’t hesitate and mentally clicked on the (+) button.

A large stream of information flooded her mind.

The already circulating Cosmic Devouring Technique turned even more violent, as though each of her cells had transformed into a black hole.

This was not what concerned Liora the most at the moment, though.

Instead, she shifted her focus to the changes taking place within her Predation talent.

This Unknown-Rank talent had always been strange.

It had not been fused with a Domain at Rank 4, while reaching Rank 6 went against all common sense and didn’t require the absorption of Cosmic Energy.

To be honest, Liora had no idea how to evolve this talent any further.

At least this had been the case until now.

The instant the Cosmic Devouring Technique was upgraded and its contents poured into her mind, Liora seemed to have gained enlightenment.

Her consciousness moved on its own.

It entered the illusory space of the Predation talent gene and grabbed the solidified Cosmic Energy.

Like an invisible hand, it manipulated the energy to gather together into the sky.

Slowly but surely, it formed a giant whirlpool or vortex that much resembled the mouth of a towering beast.

The stored Cosmic Energy was depleted before the structure could be completed.

However, despite it being only half-completed, this seemed more than enough.

The illusory space began to expand in a familiar way.

A surge of strength filled Liora’s body as Predation evolved into Rank 6, matching the highest of her current talents.

The improvement in power was a joyous event, but was currently at the back of her mind.

What made Liora the happiest was the increase in the devouring speed of Predation.

The Nine-Headed Hydra started to get sucked out of its essence, as though an invisible entity was siphoning its power away.

The pace of the writhing tentacles suddenly increased.

More Cosmic Energy was forcefully extracted from the opponent and merged with Liora.

At the same time, something more fundamental accompanied it.

Nine lights slowly moved through the tentacles’ surface and poured into her body.

As they entered it, countless insights emerged in Liora’s mind.

Several concepts, or rather Laws, collided.

Some were things she was already familiar with, like the Four Elements and Time, while others were completely foreign to her, and it was the first time she had encountered them.

Even so, ideas regarding them started to intertwine.

Before long, nine new talent genes were awakened.

They used the Cosmic Energy plundered from the Nine-Headed Hydra to advance, reaching Rank 4 in the blink of an eye.

Then, the insights she had just gained surfaced.

Nine Domains materialized, falling into the talent genes and upgrading them to Rank 5.

With another pop, the nine talents simultaneously advanced to Rank 6 as they were filled with Cosmic Energy.

In nearly an instant, the nine talents had reached the highest current level.

Things did not stop there, however.

To advance to Rank 7, an Awakener needed to comprehend a trace of Law and place it within their talent genes.

Due to her limited time in this world and lack of understanding, Liora had yet to achieve this.

But now, through the upgraded Predation and Cosmic Devouring Technique, she was able to directly strip the Laws off her opponent.

Four Elements. Time and Space. Life and Death.

...And a Law carrying imperial majesty.

Nine different Laws merged with the nine talent genes, each glowing with its representative color.

The specks of light gathered together.

Similar to the vortex of Predation, they flew into the sky of the illusory space before turning into a sun.

If anyone were to take a look at them, they would realize that these suns closely resembled the Godheads of Blood Forest Realm’s deities.

They looked much like their prototype.

Liora only briefly looked at them.

As soon as the nine Godheads materialized, another evolution process began.

One far greater and far more impactful than any she had gone through today, as well as in the past.