Armipotent

Tang Shaoyang caught the scroll and read the content. The oath was exactly what the woman told him, if he decided to join they had to help each other, share information, must keep the secrecy about the alliance, not leak the member's identity, and so on. The oath was forced to help the other God Ranks that needed help with his best, which was reasonable. He could not just join and just expected help from the others and refused to help the others by saying: "I am not capable of this and that."

However, there was the last point that caused his expression to turn cold. There was the condition, he must fulfill two favors from each member of the White Mystery. Meaning, he owed two favors for each member and could not refuse their request. Even though the point said the request was not something unreasonable such as leading him to his demise, but he must, the word "must" was important, meaning he could not refuse the favor. In the end, it was the same as an order from his superior. It was no different than him being their subordinate, but they worded it nicely with a favor, thinking that could trick him to take the oath.

The Chaos Fire burst out from Tang Shaoyang's hand, burning the scroll. He looked at the mysterious woman, "It's indeed too good to be true. I will pretend I have never heard about this White Mystery. That's my answer."

"Fool! Do you think you can survive the God Ranks that are after you!" The mysterious woman raised her voice. She was clearly upset that the scroll was burned. Not that the scroll was a precious scroll, that was just a normal scroll, not valuable. However, she was upset by the way Tang Shaoyang rejected her, the blatant disrespect despite coming here to help him.

"That's not my problem, not yours. I think you are crossing the boundary between us. I don't need your pity! And I will not become your slave!" Tang Shaoyang replied coldly.

"Fool! You are so foolish For someone who relies on his skills, you are so foolish to reject the invitation! You will regret this, Tang Shaoyang!" The mysterious woman's figure slowly faded before she completely disappeared.

That baffled Tang Shaoyang for sure, especially when the woman talked about the skills. The skills were akin to a blessing from the system, making him capable of what seemed impossible before. He did not understand why she said such nonsense.

[I think I understand what she means. Have you tried to use your skill without activating the skill?] Karoen suddenly spoke in his head.

That was a confusing statement, using a skill without activating the skill. That threw him off, "What are you talking about, Karoen?"

[Let me give you a simple example. There's a skill called fireball, but you can perform a fireball without learning the skill. That's what it means to not rely on your skill, I think.]

"Do you mean that I have to learn to use [Blink] without activating the skill? What's the difference? Also, what's the point?" This got Tang Shaoyang confused even more. Activating the skill was a shortcut, the easiest way to use an ability. The thing he needed to put up at another level was his control over his skill, at least that was what was in his mind.

[It indeed will cause you some inconvenience for Blink because what you need is a short activation, but if you use it as a skill, there's a cooldown, no? What if you can use Blink without a cooldown?]

Tang Shaoyang was struck with a realization. If he could learn Blink without activating the skill, the cooldown would not apply, meaning he could use Blink continuously. The only time he needed to use Blink continuously was in the fight against the God Ranks. What if he could use it without a cooldown, he might have a chance to kill one of the God Ranks.

[Or maybe Thousand Blast skill. You can control the destructive power of your blast if you can use it without the skill. If you don't want to kill your opponent you can reduce the power, or you can maximize your strength if you want to crush your enemy into pulp. Another thing is Mana Shroud or is it Divine Cloak now? You have good control over your Heavenly Energy, so that should be easier for you to learn. You can add a twist to the skill, like making a flow on your energy, so it will not just block the attack, but also reflect the attack. If you explore more into it, I believe you can do a lot of things with that skill.]

[There are so many variables for some simple skills but useful. That's the advantage of learning the skill manually. But yeah, the biggest advantage of learning the skill manually is the cooldown. It is hard, especially for you who have no basics, but I advise you to learn using an ability without the skill. Of course, for some skills, you can't learn them manually like your Spirit Integration, Spirit Fusion, and a lot more about your Spirit Contractor's skills.]

That was a good thing to know, but as Karoen said, learning the skill manually was very hard. He lacked the foundation, and he did not know where to start. The basic thing like Divine Cloak might be easier to learn, but for something like Blink and other movements, steps would be hard.

"Does it work like the Nine Heavenly Gates?" Tang Shaoyang realized that the thing he learned from the Nine Heavenly Gates was similar to what Karoen told him. They were abilities but not skills. There was no notification from the System that what he learned was a skill, "Maybe the basic thing was the innate energy? Let's explore it slowly later. Our focus will be climbing up the tower for now. I am still far off from the God Rank anyway."

He was currently Myth Rank, there were three more ranks above him before he could participate in Astral Battle. Then he needed to gather at least ten God Shards to advance. From his progress, the next trial should be at level 6000.

"Are you done talking with your spirits and ready for the twelfth floor?" Rosalie asked from the side. She had been listening to the monologue for a while and barely understood anything.

"Alright, my Empress, let's head to the twelfth floor," Tang Shaoyang let out a chuckle.

[Do you want to teleport to the Twelfth Floor? Yes/No?]