I Can Assimilate Everything-Chapter 216: Adrastia Imperium Vitae Ascension Codex III

What he was looking at was almost too unfathomable to understand.

One of the more staggering realizations was that the technique in front of him couldn't even be classified within the typical assimilation Echelons.

It wasn't something one elevated from First to Second or Third Echelon. It belonged to a domain outside of that hierarchy.

It was simply... Null Echelon.

A classification that shouldn't even exist. A blank slate. A silence between levels.

No amount of assimilation would push it forward!

What he needed was a more complete inheritance of this ancient, terrifying technique that had become diluted, fractured, and scattered like drifting ash across countless generations of the Adrastia bloodline.

Because of that dilution, he was left with only a single, basic unlocked ability. A mere shard of a of legacy from the complete inheritance once held by the First Adrastia Emperor King.

That original Adrastia Imperium Vitae Ascension Codex, unbroken and pure, likely held wonders that defied the structure of anything possible.

Achilles stared blankly at the panel hovering before him, softly glowing with runes and sigils that pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat. A strange silence settled over him. Then, his voice came, quiet and distant, as if recalling something too fantastical.

"In my lineage dream this time… I saw my grandfather."

…!

Rose's eyes widened with a sharp inhale. Her lips parted slightly, caught between awe and alarm, but she held her words, sensing this was not a moment for questions. She merely nodded, eyes steady as she listened.

Achilles went on, his tone tinged with wonder.

"It was strange. Meeting him inside a lineage dream felt more real than standing here. When he looked at me… he said I was weak. Crippled, even. Because I lacked a technique belonging solely to the Adrastia Emperor Kings. That without it, I wasn't able to truly utilize the blood I carried."

He drew in a breath, his gaze distant. "But I managed to obtain that technique from him. And now, I'm going to try it."

…!

The Adrastia Imperium Vitae Ascension Codex.

A name that echoed with myth.

And its basic unlocked quality: Basic Adrastia Bloodline Refinement.

He told Rose what he intended to do, then slowly floated upward, settling into a meditative posture above the purple-gold Life Spring- a body of luminous liquid that shimmered as though filled with constellations. Around them, incandescent trees radiated a soft glow, casting layered shadows that moved even in the stillness.

Achilles closed his eyes.

He exhaled.

Then, within the quiet sanctum of his mind, he called out.

Basic Adrastia Bloodline Refinement.

Refinement.

Bloodline.

It sounded so simple.

But the moment the technique activated, the surroundings… paused.

From the depths of his chest, a sound emerged.

DUM.

A deep, resonant thrum, like a war drum carved from the bones of forgotten stars.

DUM.

It echoed outward, shaking the wind, rippling through the light.

DUM!

As though the technique, ancient and unfathomable, was declaring its return to existence.

DUM!

A proclamation…that The Adrastia Emperor King has returned!

DUM!

His heartbeat thundered, no longer just a bodily function but a seismic pulse that reverberated across the Kingdom of Neon.

From the peaks of Titanfall Mountain to the floating districts of the city, the tremor could be felt.

These Skyborne lands, small airborne continents connected by the Ancient Impenetrable Titanwall Dome, trembled.

DUM!

The sound sought distance as it traveled far and wide!

Achilles grimaced, clutching his chest as the golden-violet light in his eyes surged. He tried to silence the beat- to contain the sound within his blood.

He wasn't ready to be that King, that loudly!

He was still too weak to announce himself as if the enemies of his family discovered him...he would be another dead Adrastia Emperor King!

The beat softened.

DUM.

A simmering, controlled rhythm took over. Not gone. Merely waiting.

As if it told him it would quiet down down, but sometime in the future, it had to ring loudly!

Heat surged through his body like a river of stars, and across his skin, veins and arteries began to light up.

It began faintly, with threads of gold.

Then- runic inscriptions ignited in violet and crimson, emanating outward from his heart like burning trails of ancient calligraphy.

They weren't symbols.

They were Living Scripts.

Living Scripts of Runescripture!

Runescripture more profound by millions of times compared to the Runescripture of the Ancient Impenetrable Titanwall Dome as Achilles could barely wrap his head around them.

And they were more than decorative.

They were Imperial Embers!

The first spark of a bloodline long dormant.

The first whisper of something trying to awaken!

The very air around him thickened and became concentration.

Flashes of another time struck his mind.

Memories.

Shattered moons. Golden palaces in orbit.

Armies clad in white flame kneeling before a man whose eyes held stars.

Fragments.

Only fragments.

Not as clear as the lineage dreams as these were echoes. Haunted reflections from the ruins of generations of his family.

WAA!

Achilles' body jolted and began to tremble.

Not from pain.

From weight and importance.

The sheer weight of inheritance.

It felt like the memories of kings- countless generations of rulers- were anchoring him in space, judging whether he was worthy.

The world around him shifted subtly.

And behind Achilles…

A shadow.

It grew.

It solidified.

An Imperial Throne appeared as it was half-real, half-dream. It shimmered with spectral light, purple and gold radiating all around.

Majestic. Towering. Silent!

The Living Scripts across his body responded, glowing brighter, syncing with the rhythm of his blood.

Then…

WOOSH!

The throne fired a beam skyward- a spear of concentrated light.

It punched through clouds.

It vanished into the stars.

Then it waited.

Rose stepped back in shock.

And then, not even seconds passed, and the sky answered.

Above the Kingdom of Neon, the sun dimmed.

The light shifted. Time seemed to pause.

Then from beyond the atmosphere, far above the skies themselves, a river of starlight began to descend.

A cascade of astral brilliance, drawn by the call of an imperial throne.

It wasn't supposed to be possible.

Even Achilles looked up in disbelief as he saw it!

The Luminblood Stage of Astral Core Ascension allowed one to absorb droplets of starlight painstakingly, over time.

But what Achilles had called down star light, and what he summoned was not a droplet.

It was an ocean.

An ocean of star light…was what came when activating the Adrastia Imperium Vitae Ascension Codex!

"..."

His eyes pulsed.

He finally understood.

His grandfather had spoken truth- without the Codex, he was crippled. A King without a throne. A bloodline bearer without the fire.

Because…

What kind of power would he have reached if he had begun absorbing star light even during his Body Modification Stage?

Who would have stood against him then?

SAA!

Starlight rained upon him, glorious and relentless.

He had already assimilated the threads of a Luminblood Phoenix within his veins.

He held points of starlight.

But this?

This dwarfed all of that.

It flooded his blood.

It refined every drop.

And it began the transformation of his lineage…

Into something that should not have been possible.

Something beyond understanding!

It was the grandeur of the Adrastia Emperor King!

Emperor! King!