Chapter 624: The Current State Of Being (2)

Truth be told, Ash had been in need of some serious optimization for quite some time.

At one point in his journey, he carried far too many laws, skills, and other abilities, which often led to many of his powers being forgotten or lost over the years.

Everything changed when he created Elysia—she practically pushed him to refine himself into the perfect being he was today.

And while Ash, like every other Unus, might appear to be the pinnacle of perfection to an outsider, he knew deep down that, at this moment, he was far from his ideal state.

This time, it wasn’t an overload of skills holding him back, but rather a sense of stagnation settling in.

Ash sat cross-legged in the void between universes, with Nia pressed against his left side and Elysia resting against his right.

The three of them remained silent for a moment until Elysia finally spoke, her voice calm but carrying a clear sense of purpose.

"Before you even think about building the next road toward the Sixth Wall," she began, "there are two things you need to handle first."

Ash turned his head slightly to look at her, listening.

Elysia continued, her golden eyes fixed intently.

"First, you need to reach your true optimal state."

As she had mentioned before, his progress had been stagnating for quite some time.

This was crucial, as it played a significant role in determining the results of his evolutions.

If he wasn’t in his most optimal state before evolving, nothing disastrous would occur, but it would still be a missed opportunity.

The evolution he achieved wouldn’t be nearly as powerful or effective as it could be if he were operating at his absolute peak.

And in this moment, he has four uniquely overpowered essences inside him — the Origin’s Essence, Isness, something akin to the First Absence, and that unnamed essence that was born from within his own verse, Pantheos.

"That last one is unique to Pantheos. If you want to move forward cleanly, you need to properly integrate and balance them. Otherwise, you’re carrying unnecessary weight."

Nia, who had been quietly listening with her head on Ash’s shoulder, lifted her gaze slightly at the mention of the essences but didn’t interrupt.

Elysia then glanced at Ash with a more serious expression.

"Second... you need to finally give Primordia the attention she deserves."

This time, Nia reacted.

She lifted her head, meeting Elysia’s gaze with a hint of surprise in her eyes.

"Primordia?" she echoed.

"You’re talking about that sentient weapon of his?"

Elysia gave a small nod.

"She’s been left on her own for far too long... what she needs now is a real body, true evolution, and a proper upgrade."

Being connected to Ash, Primordia evolved alongside him, but she had reached a standstill long before his optimization.

It all started the moment she became half-sentient, as no other sentient weapon existed anywhere in Pantheos.

That was also part of why she hadn’t changed—there was no system of power or ranks for weapons to keep ascending beyond their current peak.

In the end, it was all Ash’s fault.

He stayed silent for a few moments, letting her words sink in, before a small, genuine smile slowly spread across his face.

His eyes shifted between Nia and Elysia, both watching him intently.

"...You’re right," he said at last. "I’ve been lazy about this for far too long."

Nia studied his expression for a moment before resting her head back against his shoulder with a satisfied hum.

"Good," she said. "Then stop stalling and start already."

Ash chuckled softly. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, his smile deepening as he began to focus his will.

"Alright," he said quietly. "Let’s begin."

----

As Elysia had mentioned, he started with himself, but before reaching those four essences, he felt the need to alter something—though it was more of an enhancement than a change.

By this point, not only Ash, but every member of the Ineffable Pantheon had maxed out their Codex Powers—or more accurately, their Divine Powers.

From the moment they were introduced, these abilities were intended to be utterly broken and overwhelmingly powerful.

And while Pantheos had been steadily expanding, the tiers of Divine Power had only been recalibrated, never increased, with the maximum still fixed at twenty-one for now.

This meant Ash’s mastery over Art and Quantum—his two Divine Powers—were already on par with, if not surpassing, his own strength.

Yet, he wanted to take things even further.

For the longest time, his quantum powers and his eyes, Oculus Unus, had been one and the same. Now, his goal was to add something just as powerful as Quantum—maybe even stronger.

’Just what could possibly surpass something that practically makes me invincible?’ he wondered, closing his eyes even more.

Ash expanded his perception, scouring through the endless layers of knowledge that existed within Pantheos and outside.

For the longest time, Ash could gather all the information he needed from a new realm once Elysia either copied or linked to its core.

But when they ascended beyond the highest known infinity, one of the many perks that came with it was making Ash, in particular, completely omniscient. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

He moved past the structures of Pantheos, beyond the Prime Expanse, and into the deeper, more primordial layers of existence.

Then, he saw them.

Far within the Primordial Expanse, where Existence and Nonexistence met at the boundary of the First Absence, Ash witnessed something he had never encountered before.

There were countless threads of varying colors — some radiant gold, others deep void-black, some shifting between shades of crimson, silver, and colors that didn’t belong to any known spectrum — stretched across the Primordial Expanse.

They moved with purpose, tunneling and weaving directly into the thin, neutral bubble that was the First Absence.

Ash’s awareness settled on them.

The instant his mind touched these threads, clarity burst forth.

They weren’t laws, concepts, or even ideas—hell, they weren’t powers in any usual sense at all.

They were Fundamental Permissions.