Ascension of the last Celestial

Arthur looked at Valerian who was doing his best to flex his SSS-rank charm while asking him to be friends.

But his perfect visage didn’t fool Arthur one bit; he knew exactly what kind of plan Valerian had behind the smile.

’This guy just wants access to my system shop!’

He was right.

Well, partially. It was true Valerian wanted access to the overpowered system shop to get things he usually won’t be able to get. But there was also another reason: Valerian, in all his glory and perfectness, didn’t have friends, well, he had Seraphine, but that was different.

And now he found someone that was his age and had the building blocks to be someone that could keep up with him and stand on the same level of strength, so he wanted Arthur to be his friend.

Even though Arthur saw through the shameless attempt, he still thought about it because he also had a total of zero friends. There was a reason he was here in the Voidwoods all alone, so he too needed a friend.

With a sigh, Arthur looked at Valerian.

"Fine, let’s be friends, but to make things clear, if you want me to buy something from the system shop you have to give me something equivalent in exchange. I won’t just spend all my hard-earned points for you."

"Sure, sure, buddy."

Valerian waved at him dismissively, but deep inside he was happy because he managed to make his first real friend. It was a weird feeling.

Standing up and dusting himself off, Valerian stretched himself.

"Okay, I have enough mana."

With a thought, he summoned Twilight and created a set of clothes for himself. It was the same outfit he had before the whole chief fight.

Arthur watched as a pair of clothes just materialized on Valerian with a surprised face.

"How did you do that? You had no spatial ring."

Valerian looked at Arthur from the side with a raised eyebrow.

"You saw my status, so you also saw my bound weapon."

While Arthur did see the line that said [Bound], the other parts of the status kind of took all his attention, so he unintentionally skipped it. Curious, he used his skill again.

[Analyze]

While Arthur was reading through the description, Valerian continued to stretch himself to better understand his body. While the little fighting he did with the chief gave him a rough idea of how this new body worked, it still felt weird, and there was also the line next to his new physique that he couldn’t forget.

(Infant Stage)

His new body was completely overpowered and it was still in its infant stage. Just how powerful will it be once it fully awakens?

There was also his bloodline and race change; he didn’t have to make a guess why his race changed.

While his body was being reformed by the mana, his bloodline interfered and created a new type that fused the two races he had previously, turning two halves into one full. But then it also said that it’s Unawakened, so it partially sealed itself. The only reason Valerian could think of why it would do that is because he was too weak to hold the unawakened Celestial Dragon bloodline.

But there was one more thing about his physique that even Arthur couldn’t see with his analyze.

[Description]

[Physique: Infinite Cosmos Physique]

A physical vessel engineered to shatter mortal limitations. This body possesses no internal boundaries, allowing its storage capacity for mana and power to expand infinitely. Death is treated as nothing more than a temporary state; as long as a single drop of mana remains in the vicinity, the flesh will violently reconstruct itself from the brink of destruction. It is an unyielding, immortal shell built for the sole purpose of carrying a God.

(Note: Due to the immortal nature of this physique, your aging will completely stop once the body hits its mature stage of 18 years. After that, it will stay in that state until destroyed by an outside force.)

Yeah, he will completely stop aging once he turns 18, and the note clearly says that it will stay that way until an outside force intervenes, so that also means that there is no limit to his natural lifespan.

In short, once he becomes 18, he will be an immortal 18-year-old until someone kills him.

It was an insane thing to think about, that there is an infinite amount of time ahead of him, completely free of the shackles that is a lifespan.

But it wasn’t all amazing, since that would also mean that he will lose everyone he knows while still looking 18, and then he still has an infinity in front of him. It was a lonely feeling.

Especially the thought of losing Seraphine hit him hard. It was weird; they had just met a few days ago and barely spent a day with each other, but in that short time she managed to become someone without whom life felt empty, meaningless.

Yes, she is an elf and elves have a naturally longer lifespan, and she is [Loved By Mana] so the mana will give her also a longer life, but a longer life and an infinite life are two things that couldn’t be more apart.

So silently, a resolve formed in Valerian’s heart: he would find a way for her to become like him, a being without a natural limit to life. Because what is the point of an endless life if it means to let go of her and say goodbye in a few thousand years?

"Dude, this bound weapon is even stronger than a lot of things in the system shop. Where did you find it? And maybe is there a second of it?"

Taken out of his thoughts of giving Seraphine an endless life by Arthur, he turned to look at him and was met with the worst attempt at puppy eyes he had ever seen. With a disgusted face, Valerian addressed the boy trying to act all cute.

"There is no second, and even if there was one, I wouldn’t give it to a disgusting bastard like you."

A vein popped on Arthur’s forehead at the empty insult.

"Who are you calling a bastard, you bastard! I was just asking!"

Now a vein popped on Valerian’s forehead at the insult that was just as empty.

"Then don’t act like a kid asking for a present, it’s disgusting. And ugly!"

"I’ll have you know that this face will create a harem of 10 beauties that will love me! So you better don’t insult the future leader of the strongest harem like that!"

A confused expression appeared on Valerian’s face.

"What is a harem, and you want to do what with beauties?"

A wide grin appeared on Arthur’s face that screamed "let me teach you."

"A harem is truly the best thing that exists. Just imagine a group of beautiful women who all love you and want to be with you, could there be anything better?!"

"Why would you want multiple partners? And how does that work? You can’t love them all equally."

Arthur wagged his index finger like he was correcting a child that made a small mistake.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, my dear Valerian, it’s not about love, it’s about sex. Having a harem of beautiful women isn’t about loving them all equally, it’s about having multiple women to sleep with."

The confused expression didn’t disappear but deepened instead.

"Why would I want to sleep with more than one woman? I don’t think I can do something as intimate as sex with someone I don’t love."

"Well, Valerian, some of us are just built different and can satisfy more than one woman, but I guess you are too young to understand that, you one-lifer, haha."

Valerian looked at Arthur with a blank face.

"So? Where is your harem? Did you already start to build it?"

Arthur froze in his preachy expression and answered with a fake cough.

"Ahem, not yet. I’m still planning to build my harem."

"So you are a virgin that wants to build a harem of 10 beautiful women and is telling me how to satisfy a woman? Did you at least have a girlfriend in your first life?"

With a red face, Arthur looked to the side and talked in a small voice.

"Not really, I was kind of just by myself..."

Valerian couldn’t hold it anymore and exploded in a fit of unrestrained laughter, mocking Arthur who tried to defend himself with a face that was as red as a tomato.

"Stop! It’s not like you have a girlfriend or experience with women!"

The fit of laughter stopped abruptly as Valerian got quiet and recalled one certain event that happened before he came to the Voidwoods.

Arthur didn’t miss how his laughter stopped instantly when he mentioned Valerian’s inexperience.

"Wait, don’t tell me you have a girlfriend!"

Valerian’s face became as red as the moment his and Seraphine’s lips lightly touched during their dance.

"Well, she’s not my "girlfriend," but I guess we kind of kissed."

"WHAT?!?!"

Arthur’s loud exasperation was probably heard through the entire Voidwoods, as he couldn’t believe what he just heard.

"What do you mean she’s not your girlfriend but you kissed? Don’t just stop there! Say the whole story!"

Now completely red and flustered, Valerian talked in a small voice.

"Well, we were about to dance at a ball and I turned my head too fast and our lips touched, but only a bit! It wasn’t even a full-blown kiss! It’s not that crazy!"

Arthur couldn’t believe his ears.

"So you’re saying your and this girl’s lips just happened to touch and now you’re acting like a schoolgirl that is talking about her crush, and you are calling it "not that crazy"? You have a lot to learn, my dear friend."

"I don’t think I want the advice of the harem master that didn’t have a single girlfriend in two lifetimes."

Arthur physically recoiled at the insult, but before he could counter again, a loud roar came from outside the cave.

RROOAARR!!

The light atmosphere in the cave vanished instantly as they both turned to the entrance.

"Your loud screaming attracted a monster, you genius," Valerian said to Arthur.

"More like your fight with that goblin attracted the monster. Haa, doesn’t matter, let’s just take a look and kill it."

With a nod, they both walked to the entrance to deal with the monster that was attracted by their conversation.