Improving Active Skills

[Target: Godi Gavin (Captain of the 37th Central Army Group of the Federation Military District, Grandi Civilization)]

[Level: LV122]

[Class: Shadow Blade (Martial Arts)]

[Skill: Blade of Shadow Dance (SS-rank)...]

Shadow Stealth (SS Rank)...

Federation Military District Standard Combat Technique (A) Level

...]

[Overall Rating: Grade A]

The look in Godi's eyes was full of fervor and respect.

After all, he had just shown his strength.

Lister didn't care about any of that. Nowadays, most of the sergeants in the Federation Military District look at him with that kind of gaze, treating him like a god.

He was surprised by the skill level of the opponent.

It should be noted that ordinary junior officers rarely possess even S-level skills, let alone SS-level skills.

Not to mention this guy, whose combat strength was only C-level in the original military region records, how did he improve so much in the blink of an eye?

This level of A-grade combat capability, from barely qualifying as a junior officer, has directly advanced to the ranks of field-grade officers with potential for development?

Could this barrier be used to upgrade skill levels?

"My lord... I found the key to the barrier."

Godi's expression was serious, but tinged with a hint of embarrassment.

"Found it...? The key...?"

"Um..."

When asked this by Lister, Godi nodded seriously once again.

"Every time I go on a mission to a new star system, I always pick up some meteorites from that unfamiliar star system as souvenirs."

"This time... it seems like I just happened to find a meteorite, I never expected it to be the key to that barrier..."

"Where's the key? Is it still there?"

"It's already with me; this is the key."

Within a few days, Major General Qi naturally figured out why his subordinates were able to enter this unfamiliar barrier.

The so-called key has already been handed over to Lister.

It is actually a very distinctive meteorite crystal, with its surface covered with natural, charcoal-like patterns that refract a dark purple swirling halo when illuminated by starlight.

As the crystal slowly rotated in his palm, the charred patterns on the surface of the Eye of Ashes simultaneously began to glow faintly.

"I've had it tested and analyzed, and the substance on it is the same as the wood grain of the Eye of Ashes."

Major General Qi's voice came from beside my ear.

"However, this meteorite currently only has an energy resonance of 1.3%... it has lost its activity and should be a one-time use key."

The moment Lister received the crystal, a notification popped up on the system panel:

[Eye of Ashes - Dimensional Key (S-Rank, Invalid): The key to open the Eye of Ashes Barrier, a naturally occurring debris that falls from the Eye of Ashes every thousand years. Allows entry into the Eye of Ashes Barrier.]

So... it really was just Captain Godi who was lucky enough to find the key and that's how he entered the Eye of Ashes Barrier?

To be honest, some people are really lucky.

"Since it fell naturally, there should be other similar meteorites nearby, right?"

"There should be, but the previous battle was too chaotic."

"To avoid attracting the attention of other forces, I didn't send anyone to search for it."

The barrier at the entrance to the Eye of Ashes was now riddled with cracks and spiderweb-like patterns.

It's impossible to hide it; if he were to strike again, the entrance to the barrier would likely be shattered.

If he's just going to pull off one job and leave, then there's no need for him to bother looking for this kind of key.

But now that the entire Angis Galaxy will be under his rule, a different consideration is necessary.

He should at least continue using this barrier for a long time. The entrance should still be entered through the normal procedure, and efforts should be made to avoid further damage and allow the barrier entrance to repair itself naturally.

The Angis Galaxy has existed for countless years, but the wonder of the Eye of Ashes cannot have existed for that long.

But it should still be hundreds of thousands of years old, and theoretically there should be at least several hundred key crystals that have fallen off.

Even if we wander continuously within this star system, we shouldn't be unable to find a second one.

Of course, given that the number of meteorites in a single star system is countless, it can be said that Godi's ability to find this one truly shows his good fortune.

Now, all the soldiers have begun the search under Major General Qi's orders.

Fortunately, there was a first physical object for comparison, and with the help of the anomaly detector, the overall exploration work could still be done.

Otherwise, without any reference, finding a special meteorite in the star field would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

"General... we've found him!"

"General, our squad has also found one."

In just half a day, more than ten similar meteorites have been found.

It seems that the Eye of Ashes has existed for longer than he expected.

Holding several newly discovered meteorites in his hand, each a different size, but all with charred natural patterns on their surfaces, and each reflecting a dark purple swirling halo.

[Eye of Ashes - Dimensional Key (S-rank, can be used once): The key to open the Eye of Ashes Barrier, a naturally occurring debris that falls from the Eye of Ashes every thousand years. Allows entry into the Eye of Ashes Barrier.]

Is there anything special about the barrier?

"Special?"

Godi pondered silently for a moment, then shook his head.

"It's just like the outer universe, except you have to keep training."

"The only difference is the timing."

Lister nodded silently, then stopped asking questions and looked at Major General Qi beside him.

"Continue to have people search for these meteorites."

"While I am inside the barrier, your fleet will guard the area and prevent anyone from approaching it."

Having said that, Lister raised the special meteorite in his hand and approached the Eye of Ashes.

The energy fluctuations at that location immediately intensified, and the space within the entrance fully materialized, beginning to Twist in the next instant.

Holding the meteorite in his hand, Lister stepped into it.

His figure gradually blurred in the Twist space, and when the charred patterns of the Eye of Ashes completely engulfed him, the meteorite energy in his hand also dissolved into nothingness.

The scene inside the barrier was exactly as Godi had described.

Countless shattered celestial debris floated in the vast, dark red star field, and the star of the Eye of Ashes also stood horizontally within this star field.

It was almost indistinguishable from the outside universe until the Killing Intent Wave from his body extended outwards, at which point he finally realized that the physical rules within this barrier were clearly different from those outside.

Lister stepped onto a giant floating rock slab, and the system immediately started popping up notifications.

Notification: You have entered the Eye of Ashes - Skill Tempering Barrier.

"Notice: Within the Eye of Ashes Barrier, the time flow ratio is 1:1080 (1 day inside the barrier ≈ 3 years outside)"

"Notification: Training efficiency for all active skills within the barrier is increased by 1000%, and the probability of skill rank breakthrough is increased by an additional 300%."

"Warning: Each stay can only last a maximum of 3 days (barrier time). Exceeding this time will trigger an energy storm, resulting in forced expulsion from the barrier."

"Notice: Given that the user has multiple keys, the time limit can be automatically extended."

It really was the skill tempering barrier he had envisioned.

In his previous life, he had only heard about it from some top players on game forums.

The vast universe offers numerous opportunities to hone skills, with various methods for improvement.

Some people improve directly, while others improve through training. The barrier in the Angis Galaxy is clearly the latter.

Of course, the barrier that enhances active skills is a relatively common type of barrier.

What is truly of high value is the soul nurturing space of the Babylon Galaxy, and the completely unique Soul Barrier of the Milky Way Galaxy.

However, for Lister himself, this kind of space for skill refinement is what he currently lacks most.

Because his rank increased too quickly, his active skills have always been a weakness.

Most other World-Ending Level active skills have several SSS-level skills, and even the weakest one will have at least one SSS-level skill.

He was different; he had truly survived until now solely thanks to his SS-level Merrick Saber Technique.

If it weren't for the fact that his dozen or so passive skills were indeed quite powerful, he would have been at a significant disadvantage in a battle between two beings capable of World Annihilation.

In the distance, a crimson blade of light suddenly tore through the void—it was Lister's test attack that he had just unleashed.

At this moment, the blade of light is being demonstrated in a loop under the rules of the barrier. Each time it rewinds, the angle is slightly adjusted, as if countless invisible instructors are dissecting the movements.

"How to visualize the timing difference in coordination skills?"

Lister's fingertips traced the Shadowless Blade as he continued his relentless training.

It wasn't just an improvement in his swordsmanship; a direction for further exploration of Merrick Saber Technique inexplicably arose in his mind.

It seemed he had gained a new understanding of the sword technique, so the improvement in his skill... truly followed the direction of his ideas.

"Notice: The first round of the barrier's duration has expired and has been automatically renewed."

The energy of a special meteorite on his body dissipated once again.

Lister's mind was no longer on that; he was staring intently at the slash that had been unleashed before him.

Nine years have actually passed within this space. It is indeed not easy to upgrade an SS-level skill to SSS-level; the difficulty is even greater than upgrading a skill directly from zero to SS-level.

The energy was crisp, refined, powerful, and carried a hint of killing intent. To outsiders, this strike was flawless and terrifyingly powerful.

But Lister himself felt it wasn't enough.

Gazing at the thousands upon thousands of their own sword trajectories within the special array of space.

My own experience over the past nine years, through countless training sessions, has been about constantly improving from the beginning to now hitting a bottleneck.

There's always a sense of incompleteness in my feeling that my knife skills are lacking something.

I calmed myself down once again.

Looking again at the killing intent energy flowing on the Shadowless Blade in his hand, he found that the Killing Intent Wave resonated with the blade in an unprecedented way under the catalysis of the barrier rules.

Countless afterimages of the sword marks he had once slashed emerged from the void within the barrier, each carrying a different concentration of killing intent, showcasing, like a textbook, the myriad possible combinations of power and skill.

Suddenly... Lister had an epiphany.

"Killing intent... is simply an extension of swordsmanship."

He suddenly released the hilt of the sword, Shadowless Blade hovered in mid-air. As the blade trembled violently, his own killing intent surged into it once more.

This time was different. Originally, it was just killing intent energy attached to the blade, attacking along with the blade's aura.

But this time, the two energies seemed to have achieved a brand new combination.

The killing intent was completely integrated into it, truly becoming part of Lister's mastery of the two combined forces.

"Draw your sword with your will!"

The next instant, the Shadowless Blade reappeared in his hand, and his sword-wielding movements became even more refined.

With a simple and unadorned slash, the space it struck was immediately locked by killing intent.

The crimson blade light swept across the space unstoppably, opening up a massive spatial rift.

The entire barrier seemed unable to withstand this power and began to issue warnings.

Warning: Do not damage the barrier; violators will be expelled.

Unlike the blade strikes of the past, although they could still tear through space, the powerful restorative ability of space itself allowed them to recover instantly.

This time, the blade's edge cleaved the space in two, leaving no trace of its restoration.

Notification: Merrick Saber Technique has been upgraded.

[Merrick Saber Technique (SS-rank → SSS-rank) LV215: A slash executed with the intent to kill, dealing 21571~29298 damage (affected by Strength, Killing Intent Intensity, and Soul Attribute) (74.7% of which is true damage). Upon execution, the user enters Super Armor state, immune to control effects and gaining some damage immunity. The slashed target is spatially imprisoned. It can also directly execute opponents with less than 8.6% health (Note: Cooldown for this execution is 3 days).]

It has finally been upgraded to SSS level, with the sword technique now accompanied by an increase in the intensity of Killing Intent Wave and target spatial confinement. Even the minimum kill threshold and kill judgment date have been improved.

On the surface, it might not seem like a significant improvement, but Lister was now giving it another try.

Killing Intent Wave forth, gathering between his fingers. Suddenly, the space at his fingertips seemed unable to withstand the pressure and began to shatter.

At the same time, killing intent gathered in front of him.

Several sword slashes suddenly appeared out of thin air... their intensity was in no way inferior to the previous ones.

With a thought, a long sword formed from killing intent appeared in his hand. Both the blade and the hilt of this long sword could extend and change according to his will.

At first glance, it appears to be identical to the longsword held by the Saber Soul deep within his soul.

It could be said that... he has broken free from the blessing of the Shadowless Blade and is now truly using killing intent as his blade.

Seeing that there was still enough time in the space, Lister continued to train his only movement skill, Flash.

Compared to improving swordsmanship, improving movement skills is now much easier.

Lister's figure flashed frequently among countless spatial nodes.

Gradually, each movement left behind a scarlet afterimage of killing intent, which, under the rules of the barrier, solidified into physical spatial coordinates.

"True spatial transcendence should not be limited by the scope of perception."

He stared at the entire star field covered by the Killing Intent Wave and suddenly realized that the essence of SS-level Flash was still "borrowing a path" - moving through the channel marked by killing intent.

Achieving a breakthrough to SSS level requires completely breaking free from path dependence.

"Buzz--"

The Shadowless Blade suddenly trembled on its own, and the Saber Soul deep within its soul resonated with the space around it.

Lister, with a focused mind, reversed the flow of murderous energy into the void, causing the originally stable spatial structure to shatter like a spider web.

In the instant the cracks intertwined, he captured the "strings" of the essence of space—the energy veins that constitute the fundamental dimensions of the universe.

"Using one's own Saber Soul as an anchor point... directly reconstructing space!"

The crimson blade suddenly split into billions of light particles, each precisely embedded in a node of a spatial string.

When Lister took another step, the entire star field shrank as if it had been folded into a sheet of paper.

His figure seemed to appear simultaneously at all the coordinates covered by killing intent, and then ultimately reassembled millions of light-years away.

Notification: Flash has been upgraded.

[Flash (SS-rank → SSS-rank) LV215: Reconstructs space using oneself as an anchor point, activates spatial string resonance, and movement is no longer restricted by the range of killing intent. Each movement leaves a permanent spatial imprint (maximum of 3). When encountering spatial blockade, the probability of forced breakthrough is increased to 99%]