Evolving My Undead Legion In A Game-Like World

Chapter 595: Advancement Method to Rank 3

A while later, the visions faded.

Michael found himself sitting utterly still, the Law Seed resting cold and silent in his palm once again.

His breathing was steady, but his heart pounded with the weight of what he had just witnessed.

For the first time, he felt as though the fog that had always veiled the concept of Laws had been pulled back. Not entirely, but enough to grant him clarity.

If before his thoughts had been little more than speculation, fragments gathered from observation or hints gained in battle, now he possessed something real. A truth.

The seed in his hand belonged to the water element. That much he knew. More than that, he understood what that truly meant. It wasn’t about summoning a wall of water, or casting a blade of it to strike an enemy. Those were mere applications. What the seed had shown him was far deeper.

It had revealed that Laws were not "abilities". They were the very concepts that the universe itself was built upon.

A Law was not something to be learned, but something to be recognized. In that recognition, one brushed against the very foundation of existence.

Water was more than liquid. It was movement, life, destruction, depth, and change. It was a principle that shaped rivers, carved valleys, fed civilizations, drowned them, hid strength beneath stillness, and shifted endlessly between forms.

That was the essence the seed had unveiled to him.

Michael’s fingers tightened around it, his chest rising with a long breath.

"So this... this is what a Law really is."

The words felt strange on his tongue, as though saying them made the realization firmer, etched deeper into his soul.

His mind turned toward advancement. He had always known, vaguely, that to reach Rank 3 wasn’t going to be easy.

Now, however, he understood why.

To rise beyond the rank 2, a term he could now more or less call the mortal stage, one needed more than accumulation.

One had to grasp a truth of the world itself, then condense it into their own understanding until even the universe acknowledged it.

That act of resonance was what pulled a being across the boundary.

It explained why monsters of Rank 3 radiated such overwhelming presence. They were not merely powerful creatures but embodiments of some truth. Their existence resonated with the universe, and it had accepted them.

Michael let out a low breath, a shiver running through him. For all his strength, for all his growth, the path before him was far steeper than he had realized.

To reach the next rank, he would have to confront the world itself and declare that he, too, had understood one of its secrets.

The thought was humbling. And yet, it filled him with a strange exhilaration.

Because for the first time, the path was no longer shrouded. It was difficult, yes, but it was visible.

A thought settled into Michael’s mind as he stared at the Law Seed glowing faintly in his palm. The insight it had shown him was profound, but what lingered most was the quiet temptation behind it.

Through this seed, he realized there was a path—one that seemed far easier than what he had just glimpsed.

If a Law was the foundation of existence, then these seeds, condensed fragments of universal truth, could serve as borrowed foundations.

By resonating with a seed, by molding himself around the truth already captured within it, he could step directly into Rank 3.

The realization made his breath catch. The method was almost straightforward in comparison to what he had expected.

Use another’s foundation. Borrow the road already paved. Stand on the shoulders of truths unearthed by others.

With a seed in his grasp, it felt as if the door to Rank 3 was within reach.

Yet, almost as quickly as the idea formed, Michael felt an instinctive resistance flare within him. His very soul recoiled.

He understood the allure—power, advancement, progress without fumbling blindly in the dark. But something inside him screamed that such a step would never sit right.

Following another’s path was not inherently wrong, but there were truths to consider.

First, even if the path could be taken, it could not be so simple. Even if the seed offered him a glimpse of water’s nature, could he really believe the universe would accept such an imitation as his truth?

Perhaps it might. Perhaps many had already taken this path.

But to him, it felt like a chain as much as a gift.

Second, it was not his path. The water seed belonged to the beast his undead had slain, its truth carved by its own life, its own essence.

To mold himself upon it would be to acknowledge another’s existence as greater than his own, to bind his future to their foundation.

And third, though most intangible, it was the most important—perfection could only be found in what he recognized for himself.

Borrowed truths might carry him far, but they would never be flawless.

The cracks would remain, invisible until tested by calamity. Only the Law he comprehended with his own soul would be whole.

Michael sat in silence, weighing the thought. His instincts rejected it, but he wasn’t arrogant enough to assume his view was absolute.

Perhaps his suspicion that following another’s Law was "inferior" was wrong. Perhaps those who did so could reach heights just as great, maybe even greater, than those who clawed their way forward alone.

He remembered his earlier thought—that no power was truly useless, that value lay in how one wielded it. Couldn’t Laws be the same? If someone took another’s truth and reshaped it, cultivated it until it was no longer a shadow but a blade of their own, could that not become a strength equal to any self-realized Law?

The possibility was there. He couldn’t deny it.

But still, the unease persisted.

Michael’s gaze shifted to the seed again. Its soft blue light flickered like a droplet poised to fall, full of potential. With it, Rank 3 was within reach. Yet his fingers tightened around it until his knuckles whitened.

"No," he whispered to himself.

Michael closed his eyes and breathed slowly, steadying the restless pulse of his heart.