The Villain's Story

Chapter 971: The Jade Palace.

Each domain is unique, catering to the user who developed it. Every domain is more like a story of their lives, or on a more extreme note…

Their conviction, their questions, and the answer. It is the manifestation of their path to power. It is the hallmark of the Legendary rank and a power that cannot be underestimated.

Every being who has a domain, a powerhouse of the legendary rank, is a legend whose path is paved in sweat, blood, and grit. A mountain of corpses is their throne.

Your lineage, or race, like the dragons, the god beasts, and Void spawns, could naturally elevate you to the Epic rank after a significant amount of time, but such is not the case for Legendary and above.

It is difficult, extremely, extremely difficult. The gift of humanity, a glimpse of domains, speaks of this in its own manner as well.

Elves have the special ability to communicate and harness the power of plants and certain types of organic matter. Every elf is capable of this, from royalty to peasant, from birth, and is capable of growing this power to unprecedented levels. It helps them throughout their life, no matter the rank they reach.

The dwarves can do the same with metal, and the orcs have the special ability related to the spirits of their ancestors. Each member of their race can access this ability from birth. Such is the case with almost every other species as well.

Humans, however, are an exception. Their special ability, Glimpse of Domains, is something only the best of them can access after many trials and tribulations. It is not available to all members of their race, only the best of the best, and in limited capacity as well.

It is powerful but too limited and rare. Therefore, the special ability of humanity is regarded poorly. Being a former human, Alan has inherited the special ability, however, in the same limited capacity.

Despite this, Valus had stressed multiple times that his domains are special, two of them, at the very least.

Each domain that a legendary being possesses is unique but has one common factor. Upon releasing it, the domain either expands in a circular or cubic barrier, isolating the space within. It can barely affect the outside world.

Legendary domains, or true domains, to be precise… are the same. Only a few special domains are capable of affecting an area, and these are almost always tied to the area they are first released in.

The perfect example of this is the domain of the Supreme Dragon of Shadow, Kulak’s domain. The Shadow Realm is an extension of the Lightless Void, Kulak’s domain. Although the Shadow Realm itself comes from Ariel, due to prolonged exposure to Kulak’s domain, it has been changed permanently, to such a point that even Ariel would struggle influencing it.

However, at the same time, it is bound to a special place.

Alan’s two domains, mainly The Jade Palace and The Crucible of Chaos, are outliers. Simply put, they don’t give a fuck about rules and established perceptions of domains. Ironically enough, it fits them, considering the two people they actually belong to.

His two domains are inheritances, to be exact. The Jade Palace hails from James Smith, who promptly released the seals on it after Alan unlocked it, setting it at the base point. Similarly, Crucible of Chaos hails from Aranus.

Unfortunately, Alan will only unlock his own spatial attribute domain once he is at the apex of Epic Rank and must take the step to Legendary. Obsidian Sanctum and Shadow Star Dance, thankfully, belong entirely to him, although they do take some inspiration from Valus and Kulak.

The Jade Palace summons itself without a care for its surroundings; it will manifest itself no matter what, but that is it. It has no other special effects on the environment simply by its existence. It is an extension of James’s path, his belief of his superiority, to the point where it conjures soldiers and other such things. Furthermore, it is an announcement, or a declaration of his superiority, of his authority.

It unleashes from Alan as the center point and merely expands. It has no other effect on the environment other than taking up space and destroying whatever was there originally. Not only that, but it is incapable of permanently altering an environment. All damage it can do is temporary and can be fixed.

Regardless, it is a powerful domain; it isn’t one to be underestimated at all, considering who it comes from. Alan is also aware that he has yet to uncover all the Jade Palace’s secrets.

Valus stressed that he learn more about it, explore its options, and other such things. He also made Alan promise that Crucible of Chaos would only be used in a life or death moment, for the domain is… special, unsurprising considering who it comes from.

Crucible of Chaos is tied not only to Aranus but Lapsus as well. It is an absolute grade domain, and it deserves that rank

Crucible of Chaos does not care for the environment or even the existence of other domains as well. It is the ultimate representation of the element of chaos itself and Lapsus. Once released, it embodies itself in the world, like a divine painting in the world itself.

It reduces everything, all powers, and effects and corrupts them. It destroys magic, aura, aether… and even the effects of the Weave upon whoever or whatever is caught within it. Not only that, but it is a domain with such power that its effects remain even after the loop.

But it has a heavy price and is Alan’s best trump card, perhaps second only to Possession, where the owner himself is summoned.

Before focusing on the Crucible of Chaos, however, it is imperative that Alan focus on the Jade Palace, both to get Valus off his back and also…

It was always a fantasy of his to play the role of a general… or a king sending soldiers to do his bidding.

Didn’t every boy dream of it? It wasn’t Alan’s fault; he could actually do it…