"I'll scrape your bones clean," Gold Fangs hissed, "and crack them open to suck the marrow."

Before Priam could react, his foe vanished. His Domain caught a flicker of movement behind him—just enough time for [Kinetic Sovereignty] to deflect a killing blow meant for his skull.

Instead, razored claws tore through his shoulder blades.

Lvl Up: [Shear Resistance] lvl 22

CONST +7

META (Endurance) +2

Before Priam could process the damage, his Achilles tendons were severed. Then the cruciate ligaments in his knees. His legs buckled beneath him.

Falling to his knees, Priam detonated a dual kinetic-thermal blast. It hit nothing. The agile bastard had already vanished.

If he dodged, that means it could've hurt him. He's speed-built, not tanky.

Doubling down, Priam set off another burst to prevent a follow-up strike, while burning lifespan to accelerate his regeneration. He couldn't afford to sit still.

A grimace twisted his face. His healing was faltering, stymied by a Concept laced into the wounds. His foe's claws had left something behind. Something that fought against his recovery. Bastard.

While his tendons slowly knit back together, Priam summoned Pyro. A lotus of fire, big enough to swallow a bus, bloomed around the Sage. If the Aelbe wanted to get close again, he would have to walk through hell.

Stabbing Promesse into the molten sand, Priam leaned on the spear and pulled himself upright. Anyone who had ever lost the use of their legs knew the crushing helplessness it brought. Bracing with his arms, using his weapon as a crutch, Priam locked eyes with his enemy.

At the far end of the arena, Gold Fangs stared back, licking Priam's blood from his fingers with smug delight. If he had been a Tier 0, the hydra poison in those claws would've dropped him in seconds.

"What now?" Priam called out, voice low, challenging. He was daring the Aelbe to step into the fire.

Gold Fangs said nothing.

Seconds passed. Priam watched his body mend slowly and held his ground. The cockroach strategy was perfect. Outlast to win.

However, after a full minute of stillness, something itched at the back of his mind. Frowning, he lifted his gaze to the sky.

"If he refuses to fight…?"

Above, standing beside the Demiurge, Zulkar winced. "Gold Fangs drew last blood. If nothing happens for five minutes, he wins by default. Terrible for entertainment, but those are the rules. You've got less than two minutes to land a hit."

"…"

Priam clenched his jaw. He had thought he could bully a Tier 2, but his opponent refused to be just another stepping stone. Gold Fangs had studied the tournament rules until he had found a loophole to exploit.

Despite looking thirty, the Aelbe was well over a hundred years old, and carried all the cunning that came with it. Neither shame nor rage would goad him into making a reckless move. An ugly win was still a win, and he planned to claim it for his clan.

That left Priam in a bind.

Now the question is: how do I hit someone this fast, who's also stalling for time?

He could try flooding the entire arena with fire, but at this scale, it would take more than two minutes… and leave him drained. Without fuel to feed Pyro, Priam would have to use his own aether. And while vast for a Tier 0, his reserves weren't infinite.

Same for the mist. So that rules out both Concepts. My attacks… most are dodgeable, and the ones that aren't would cost me too much. And with Arnold watching, I need a clean win. That leaves me two options. Use an unavoidable ritual…

For a second, Priam envisioned an array designed to harness sunlight and converge it into a single scorching point, a solar spear to incinerate his foe. Like a weaponized giant magnifying glass. For all his opponent's speed, even Gold Fangs couldn't outrun light.

Step one: craft a lens large enough to concentrate solar rays. Problem: the enemy wouldn't stand still. The lens would need to have a variable focal point, real-time orientation, and a tracking system to pinpoint the enemy's position with precision…

Priam dismissed the idea.

"One minute remaining," Zulkar yawned.

Second option: match his speed.

Gold Fangs' smirk was reaching divine levels of smugness, and Priam resolved to wipe it from his face. The feline thought himself untouchable? He was gravely mistaken. [Kinetic Sovereignty] could leave him in the dust in a straight line. And while Priam didn't yet have the finesse to use the skill in tight turns, he had another solution.

Closing his eyes, the Juggernaut focused on the fresh scars marring his back. By burning away his lifespan, his vitality had eventually diluted the enemy's infused Concept enough for his wounds to fully heal. A few heartbeats later, not a mark remained on his skin. At least, not to the naked eye.

In the magical spectrum, however, an impressive tattoo was pulsing. With aether as its ink, not even the greatest human artist could have rendered the lifelike beauty of the spectral wings that now unfurled on either side of his spine.

Rolling his shoulders, Priam exhaled. Like a blossom in early autumn, the lotus of flame around him withered, folding in upon itself until it condensed into a single, burning seed. At the end of its brief life, the infernal lily became a fire pearl. The Pyro Sage swallowed it whole.

Before it reached his stomach, Priam diverted it into his meridians, where the fire roared to life, surging along his dorsal pathways.

The crowd fell silent.

A pressure settled over the arena as if the very air recognized the awakening of a high bloodline. Instinctively, those with lesser blood held their breath, aware that a legend was stirring.

"That scent… Ash and vitality…" Zulkar inhaled with reverence. "Ladies and gentlemen, bear witness. One of the eleven known High Bloodlines… the Phoenix!"

From Priam's shoulder blades, two radiant tendrils of aether erupted. In the next instant, his aether transmuted into Pyro, shaping twin tongues of plasma. The flames shot upward, magnificent and searing. Without [Pyro Champion Physique], Priam would've been incinerated by his own skill.

The loading phase entered its final stage.

The two fiery ribbons grew to three meters, slowly coalescing until they resolved into wings. Nearly six meters in wingspan—three times that of a golden eagle—the organs were breathtaking. Every hue of red danced across the feathers, while six of the hundred and twenty shimmered with resplendent gold, like sunlight caught in a moment of eternity.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"I thought you were supposed to be a dragon?!"

Priam ignored his opponent's stunned outburst and unfurled his wings with pride. More than tools, they were works of art, both aesthetically and magically. That was why he had struggled so much to upgrade them beyond the rare skill granted by his mentor.

As a legacy skill, the ideal upgrade required a special prerequisite: an insight into a true phoenix's wings. Alternatively, studying the original rune of [Ideal Phoenix Wings - Epic] would have enabled the upgrade directly. Since that rune was unknown even to the Phoenix Prince, Priam had spent long hours studying the holographic wings, trying to decipher their secrets.

It hadn't resulted in the upgrade. Not that it was wasted effort—each feather, like a rune, held a unique pattern capable of shaping reality. A treasure trove for an Aetherist like Priam. Still, the Champion had been overwhelmed by their complexity. The wings he studied belonged to a Tier 6 being, and even stripped of the Myth they once bore, they remained far beyond his grasp, regardless of how much Potential he was willing to burn.

That would have been the end of the story if not for the Minor Skill Epiphany, which Priam had gained as a reward for surviving Valaryth's Deluge—a Mythical Achievement. The scope of inspiration was beyond words. For a single heartbeat, the System itself plugged into his soul, like a celestial addon.

One moment, Priam stared at an impossible, alien structure. The next: he understood the patterns, appreciated the elegance of each line unfolded before him, and heard the Myth in the feathers. The Phoenix Prince's wings had whispered their secrets, and Priam had stolen a few.

[Phoenix Wings - Rare] has reached level 40, its maximum level as a rare skill.

Prerequisites met:

Phoenix bloodline

Pyro Champion

[Chimera - Mythic]

.

[Hatched Phoenix - Gold]

- Merit, Tier 3

Insight into a true phoenix's wings (key prerequisite for a legacy-type skill)

Ideal Upgrade unlocked:

[Nestling Phoenix's Wings - Epic] - Treading on the fragments of your shell, you spread your wings. Ideal upgrade potential. Potential Cost: 320

POT -320

[Nestling Phoenix's Wings - Epic] - Though not all phoenixes align with combustion, they all share a love for flames.

The shimmer of heat, the dance of light, the crescendo of sound; elegant arcs rising skyward… fire fascinates them.

When a phoenix is born, the sky is the first thing they see. They look to the stars and recognize kin.

Perhaps for that reason, each phoenix dreams of reaching the firmament. To help them, nature gave the first phoenix a pair of wings.

Radiating with stellar heat, your feathers glide across aether itself. Each one is a pattern, ready to resonate with reality to launch you toward where your heart belongs.

Part of a legacy, this skill is the second stage in a series.

META (Focus) +7

META (Endurance) +2

The joy Priam had felt when unlocking the upgrade evaporated the moment he tried using it.

[Nestling Phoenix's Wings] was aptly named. At this stage, the bird was just beginning to flutter. According to his mentor, without a particularly pure bloodline, some phoenixes took decades to reach the fledgling stage—the first flight beyond the nest.

The stats hadn't lied. After a month of effort, Priam had only gained two levels in the skill. Though flight resonated with his yearning for freedom, he wasn't exactly a natural in aerial maneuvers.

Lvl Up: [Nestling Phoenix's Wings] lvl 2, 3

META (Focus) +14

META (Endurance) +4

More than enough to break the sound barrier with a single wingbeat. Completely insufficient for catching a feline mid-turn.

But Priam was hopeful. Today, that would change.

If talent failed him, then he would fall back on the time-honored method that had never let him down: Pay to win.

His mentor had identified two major obstacles keeping phoenixes from mastering their wings.

The first was Concept mastery. Since the feathers were forged from flame, full Unity with a related Concept was essential to control them with finesse. Priam had long since passed that threshold with Pyro.

The second was motor control. Every micro-movement had drastic consequences, and Micro was required to ensure proper synchronization between mind and muscle.

Though Priam possessed Micro, its effects had not yet extended to his wings, for they weren't physically grafted into his body. At this stage, they were more magical constructs than part of his body.

Until now.

During the Gu Trial, Priam had evolved [Bloodless] to Gold by replacing his blood with fire. The Title's new description had caught his attention:

[Bloodless - Gold] - …

With this Title, Pyro integrates seamlessly with your body. Through your Concept, you control the fluid coursing through your veins—regardless of its form. Journeying further down the path of Unity, you glimpse the place where all paths converge—the next stage.

The Phoenix in you cries out, recognizing your potential. Second atavism possible (10% bloodline purity required).

Your blood can now fuel your flames. The reverse is also true…

If he wasn't mistaken, [Bloodless] opened a path between matter and energy. Between blood and Pyro. The two were nearly interchangeable. If he could inject his blood into his wings, could they finally be considered organs rather than constructs? And if so, placed under Micro's dominion?

Priam's instincts whispered a resounding yes.

But for that to happen, the blood had to flow through his feathers without dripping to the ground. A tall order, as flames had no substance.

Or did they?

image [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ABLVV86ntzoD-HJqDVAP1s444IvMXkepEihhSPuBu0d47WxVUUFRguQ_8nYcMN9aBTM0At6gkJAg08bpBWOOTjFiD2hdRWzDPMxaTJPwXFhhfte2683qZMgu-ZEV_BMGNKexI5K87smBQhRzI3lno1TfgEkn=w1181-h295-s-no?authuser=0]Status:

PHYSICAL:

Strength 1 253

Constitution 2 093 (+10)

Agility 1 652

Vitality 2 092

Perception 990

MENTAL:

Vivacity (D) 666

Dexterity 894

Memory 1 152

Willpower 1 298

Charisma 996

META:

Meta-affinity (O) 1 405

Meta-focus 886

Meta-endurance 1 587 (+3)

Meta-perception 861

Meta-chance 1 089

Meta-authority 768

Potential: 33 707 (+3)

Tier 0

[Tribulation]: Three Tribulations pending.

Next thresholds: 12 attributes 900 / 3 attributes 1 800 / 1 attribute 2 100

Next arc already complete on Patreon (50+ chaps ahead) if you want to find out what happens next!

https://www.patreon.com/ANovelConcept