The Order Element was just as mystical as Time and Illusion, its form a single small cube. From above, more cubes floated down like snowflakes, neatly stacking until a larger cube formed. As the cube increased in size, minor irregularities caused several cubes to fall over until the entire structure collapsed.

Increasing his Comprehension of the Order Element reduced the number of irregularities that formed, but a mere two percent wasn't enough to create a truly stable structure.

William averted his eyes from the visions of the caged Elements, his mind spinning wildly. Compared to previous upgrades, he could only understand a fraction of the information that reached him.

My knowledge is too shallow. The System can tell me as much as it wants to, but whether I process everything or not is entirely up to me. William sighed inwardly. The stronger he became, the weaker he felt. It was an odd sensation.

William used the Summoning Element to call out Atticus. The Mythical Rat Snake jumped up and down several times, its body twisting and coiling with excitement upon seeing the evening sky. He was still just a SS-Rank Magical Beast that could be upgraded at any time, but calling a Tribulation would draw the Heavens' attention, and Atticus was overdue for several.

This problem kept his scaly friend at the peak of the Ascension Realm, a far cry from the level of William's current opponents. The Bosses of the Quake Dungeon were also very powerful, but he was able to bring Atticus out a few times when the situation was under control.

The fewer enemies William had to keep an eye on, the less risk there was to Atticus' life, but any miscalculation could lead to his favorite Companion Beast's demise.

I thought I was going to have to wait until an Elemental Realm opened, but this is way easier. William thought as he twirled clouds of purple Mana on his fingertips.

He issued a command, "Illusion, conceal his presence. Not even the Heavens should find him!"

William felt his Mana Reserve emptying at a rapid pace, the Mana Circuits across his body dimming while an equal quantity of Mana expanded the cloud of Illusion Mana. Like fog in the morning, the illusory cloud spread for tens of kilometers and hovered slightly above the ground, blocking prying eyes.

The Primary Law of Illusion gave off no aura whatsoever, as if it didn't exist in the World. Staring at the cloud directly would make one think they were hallucinating unless they saw the technique cast from the start.

Even William felt affected and was unable to sense Atticus' presence after several seconds, to which he nodded in satisfaction. He quickly scrolled through the System Panel and chose to upgrade the Mythical Rat Snake to SSR-Rank.

Only a few seconds passed before the cloud of Illusion Mana condensed by a kilometer, encasing Atticus' position like a massive purple egg. No Tribulation formed, nor did William sense the unique presence of the Heavens.

As the egg condensed further, the high pressure caused plumes of smoke to burst out at high speed from time to time. These high-speed plumes were so dangerous they activated William's sub-Talents, slowing down time to give him ample chance to dodge.

As for the environment, the ground and trees were not so lucky. The smoke blasted the ground and created small pits a few meters in diameter. Trees that normally couldn't be scratched by a strike from a Tribulation Transcendence Realm Cultivator had fist-sized holes in them, their trunks swaying from the heavy impact.

-Killed an Iron-Bellied Toad: +1,000,000 PP

"Huh?!" William couldn't help but shout out loud at the System Notification. He cast his attention towards the path of the last outburst of Illusion Mana, finding a small brown frog with bumpy skin lying with its white belly exposed.

He couldn't believe that Magic of the Illusion Element— even if it was a Primary Law, could kill a wild Magical Beast. Judging from the Points gain, this creature was in the Ascension Realm.

An Ascension Realm frog, dead just like that? William couldn't help but reevaluate the strength of Primary Laws.

-It's a toad, can't you read?

"All toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads."

-True, but this one is a toad. There's not even any water nearby, how could you assume it's a frog?

Another plume of Illusion Mana shot into the ground near William's feet, opening a small hole. From it, clear water became a pool just large enough to house a few frogs.

The System was left speechless for a long time.

-You are so petty.

"I don't know what you're talking about," William shrugged his shoulders, "It seems there is some water nearby. You were wrong again."

-Do you really think I can't see you circulating Water Mana? Sigh.

"All I know is that I win."

The System didn't respond, but William felt waves of annoyed frustration from within his mind. He watched Atticus complete his upgrade with a calm smile, maintaining the Primary Law of Illusion through the entire process.

Sensing a reaction from the System Panel, William dispersed the Illusion Element and gazed at his nearly unrecognizable Companion Beast.

Rather than a snake, Atticus had completely changed form to resemble a purple chameleon whose color pattern was constantly shifting to match up with the environment from the previous Illusion Mana. His tail curled downwards towards the base of four long legs, and his eyes slid to the side of his face. He was roughly 800 meters in size, but that didn't inhibit his natural camouflage at all.

In fact, once Atticus fully matched the pigments in his skin to the color of the ground and trees, it didn't matter which angle William looked at him from. He was completely blended!

If not for being present when the color change happened, William would have thought Atticus had turned into a small hill.

Upon seeing his Master, Atticus quickly morphed into his snake form. He shrunk from eight hundred to a mere two meters long, slithering up to William and wrapping around his neck like a scarf.

"Massster! Did you see?"

William heaved a sigh of relief seeing the normal snake form of his little friend. While it would be fine if Atticus were a chameleon now, he had spent too much time with the snake form.

He nodded, "What else can you change into?"

Atticus slithered off William's neck and morphed a few times, becoming a mouse, cat, squirrel, and mole respectively. With each transformation, William could sense with the Blood Element that even Atticus' original bloodline was suppressed.

"What about a tiger?" he asked.

Atticus shook his head.

"Lion?"

"What'sss a lion?" Atticus asked with a questioning gaze.

Even after William explained how a lion looked and moved around, Atticus couldn't manage to change form again. It seemed that these creatures were his limit.

Seeing that Atticus could freely become five different animals aside from his original form made William more than satisfied. He wasn't disappointed in the slightest, since it would be easier to hide Atticus in plain sight. He looked at the System Notification from earlier.

———

BEAST UPGRADED

Atticus: (SS -- SSR)

Learned 5 new abilities.

Strength massively improved.

Speed and Perception improved.

Defensive Abilities improved slightly.

Stealth massively improved.

Intelligence slightly improved.

Comprehension of the Primary Law of Illusion has reached seventy-five percent.

Next rank up: 1,000,000PP

———