Chapter 712: Three stages to inheritance

"Let’s see what the Storm King Inheritance is all about," Max muttered, his voice calm but filled with the weight of expectation as he sat cross-legged on the cracked, scorched remains of the battlefield.

The red glow had completely vanished now, leaving behind only silence—and the vast trove of knowledge that had just been forcefully etched into his soul.

He closed his eyes, letting the whirlwind of inherited memories and information sort themselves out. His breathing slowed as he dove deep into his mind, navigating through the vast sea of battle experiences, insights, and storm-based principles left behind by the Storm King.

Every word, every image, every feeling was embedded with a kind of ancient clarity that showed just how powerful and refined this inheritance truly was.

After what felt like hours but was merely minutes, Max opened his eyes again and exhaled a long breath, his heart still thudding from the overwhelming realization. "Storm King’s Inheritance is truly strong," he murmured, his tone laced with awe. "No wonder I had such a hard time defeating him."

He now understood why the Storm King had felt so unshakably powerful—because the techniques he used were not just elemental moves, but deep-seated manifestations of the essence of storms themselves, forged through centuries of battle and comprehension.

The inheritance was divided into three grand stages, each more terrifying than the last.

The first stage, aptly named Brilliant Thunder, was all about the application of lightning to enhance physical power. It wasn’t just channeling lightning into his limbs—it was fusing it into every movement, every muscle fiber, every swing of the sword or strike of a fist.

This stage allowed the user to coat their weapons or fists with lightning so precise, so condensed, that even a single casual slash could split through reinforced spirit iron. It increased not just sharpness, but speed, reaction time, and explosive force.

Max could already imagine how devastating his attacks would become once Brilliant Thunder was mastered. Just the first stage alone was enough to completely overpower most Champion Rank techniques. And this was only the beginning of what the Storm King’s legacy had to offer.

Max recalled the scene vividly—the red lightning gathering like a torrent at the tip of Storm King’s spear, crackling with a power so intense it made the very air tremble. At the time, he had only thought it was an advanced technique or normal method to use lightning on weapons to increase their sharpness.

But now that he had absorbed the inheritance, he understood. ’So that was the first stage’, he mused silently. ’Brilliant Thunder.’ It explained everything—the razor-like precision of each thrust, the devastating weight behind every strike, the way the red lightning seemed to slice through the very fabric of space with each movement.

Every time Max’s sword had clashed with the Storm King’s spear, it wasn’t just brute force—it was an artful combination of elemental essence and physical technique refined through this stage. And now that he had seen the blueprint behind it, he realized with a chill how far he still had to go.

Because Brilliant Thunder was just the beginning.

The second stage was where the true horror began—Heaven’s Wraith. As Max processed the details in his mind, he felt an involuntary shiver crawl up his spine. According to the inheritance, this stage unleashed the pure destructive nature of lightning, casting aside restraint and control in favor of chaos and annihilation.

It was a realm where every strike carried the wrath of the heavens themselves, turning the user into a walking calamity of thunder and ruin. In this state, the power of lightning would no longer merely coat the weapon—it would consume the battlefield, surging through the surroundings like divine punishment made manifest.

The Storm King had used it sparingly, Max realized, perhaps to prevent complete destruction of the testing island itself. But its traces were there—in the way red lightning had carved scars into the land, in the shockwaves that had turned stone to dust, in the sensation of standing before something ancient and furious.

Max remembered the old saying—lightning has three natures: destructiveness, speed, and the power of rebirth. Whether that was a myth or truth, he didn’t know. But one thing was clear—Storm King had believed in it. And with the second stage representing destruction, it was terrifying to even imagine what the final stage would hold.

But Max couldn’t help but grin slightly. If this was the strength he could gain... then walking this storm-wreathed path was more than worth it.

The second stage of the Storm King’s Inheritance—Heaven’s Wraith—was not created for elegance or finesse, but for one thing alone: sheer, unrelenting destruction. Max could feel that truth burning into his mind as he absorbed the details of the inheritance.

This wasn’t a skill designed to restrain or defend—it was forged to tear everything apart, to devastate whatever stood in its path, to embody the fury of the storm in its most merciless form. Heaven’s Wraith was a manifestation of lightning’s destructive nature at its peak, and it carried the overwhelming force of a collapsing sky. But with such power came an undeniable cost.

"According to the inheritance, Heaven’s Wraith puts a heavy toll on one’s body, so it is recommended to have a strong physique before using the second stage," Max muttered under his breath as he carefully examined the requirements laid out in the inherited memory.

He blinked once, slowly, and then a faint smirk touched his lips. "I can ignore this requirement, I guess."

With the combined power of his Flame Tyrant Inheritance, Dragon Scales Transformation, and the might of his six hundred Draconic Essences, Max’s body was already far beyond what was considered normal—perhaps even monstrous.

His physical constitution could withstand the immense backlash of Heaven’s Wraith, and the thought of harnessing such raw devastation excited him. But he didn’t linger long. His mind turned toward the final stage, the one that had truly caught his attention.

Extreme Speed. The third and final stage of the Storm King’s Inheritance. As the name suggested, it was built to tap into the lightning’s defining trait—its incredible, blinding speed.

The technique allowed one to accelerate far beyond the limits of their own physical movement, pushing their body to race like the flash of thunder itself. Movements became blurs, attacks arrived before the enemy even realized the battle had begun, and dodging became near-impossible for those not possessing special perceptions.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay