Chapter 27

　　So We Meet Again

　　Maria`s evolution went a lot easier than she originally thought. Or maybe it was the fact that she had already made a perfect evolution in her past life that made this transition so much easier.

　　The first main change was that all her titles had been updated.

　　World First Notice: First Third Tier Mage

　　Title: First Third Tier Mage: You were the first mage to take the next step in realizing their true potential, and to realize there was more hidden behind the curtain of the universe. Reward: +20 Intelligence, +20 Power, School Master +2 phantom ranking.

　　Note: Power Attribute bonus automatically switched to Spirit Attribute bonus.

　　This title was just the doubling of her previous Title. The sad part was, that now that Maria had her own node, she saw how worthless these titles were. In this case, other than the Title also providing a phantom boost to her spell tier, effectively making her an Intermediate caster of Spirit magic.

　　At this point Maria realized the true problem with Titles, on the one hand they seemed to give an immediate advantage right off the bat to any would be owner of said title. Afterall in the initial phases, before a person first reaches their natural evolutionary cap of 40 Attribute points, such titles would be priceless, but now that Maria had made her way through the third tier of evolution and was clearly looking at trying to find ways to get all her attributes up to the new maximum of 4,000 attributes, such small titles did little to help.

　　Right now, Maria was reminded of the warning of her instructors, how Titles only made you a target for the enemy, "basically all a Title does is paint a bullseye on you stating, aim here first."

　　She believed the words before, even in her past life she saw the way everyone with a title was destroyed within a year of the Gods being fully unleashed on the planet.

　　With the first titles changes understood, she went on and found that each additional title also followed the same format of merely replacing and doubling the benefits provided by the first titles she received.

　　Title Gained: First Third Tier Cultivator: You have seen the energy of the universe and were the first to consume it and from it to your will from your planet. +30 to all Attributes, +150 to Meditation.

　　World First Notice: First Third Tier Psychic

　　Title: First Third Tier Psychic: You are the first true psychic to have evolved your mind from your world twice and have been recognized as such. +30 Intelligence, +30 Spirit, +150% Psychic Focus, +150% Psychic Manipulation.

　　Nothing truly impressive about either Title, especially given that Maria would now just be shoved even further into the limelight, with little in the way of improvements being offered. Even the culmination title, one denoting her perfect evolution was lackluster.

　　World First Notice: Continued Perfect Evolution (First, Second Step).

　　Title: Continued Perfect Evolution (First, Second Step). You were the first of your kind to have a perfect evolution going into your first and second race change. +20 Spirit, Spirit +20%.

　　Actually, this title Maria realized might have a hidden bonus in that it provided a percentage increase to Spirit, making it far more appealing than any of the other titles she had received thus far today.

　　Taking a deep breath, Maria focused her mind. Not wanting to get lost in the pace of wanting the Titles to be as valuable now as they were originally, Maria decided to focus her attention on what she could change right now.

　　The first thing Maria realized she could improve upon was her magical aptitudes, as she still had 18 of her original 21 magical potential points remaining.

　　Realizing that after all this time, she still felt a strong resonance with Spirit magic, she decided to continue putting more of her limited Magical Potential into that school of magic.

　　Magical School Improved: Spirit Magic Improved for 4 (Maximum) magical potential.

　　Remaining Magical Potential: 14 / 21.

　　Spirit Magic Rank: Expert (+2 Steps)

　　With the new steps added to her now Tier Seven base, she felt even more powerful than before. Granted Spirit magic was just one school of magic, and anyone who knew her as a Spirit magic expert could easily counter her and prepare their resistances ahead of time accordingly. But Maria had already taken care of the one greatest weakness that was provided to all Title bearers, namely she managed to keep her titles hidden. So even these evolved titles that did little to her, other than showing her as a prized trophy to be claimed, were hidden. Granted if she was killed, those titles would no doubt be revealed, but at that point Maria was certain she would not have to worry about such issues.

　　Of course, no good deed goes without being mildly rewarded. This milestone was no exception as Maria was met with a title warning the world of her most recent accomplishment.

　　World First Notice: First Master Arch Mage (Spirit)

　　Title: First Master Arch Mage (Spirit): You were the first of your kind to become an Arch Mage in any field of magical study. +70 Spirit, +70 Intelligence, +150 Cosmic Knowledge, +300 Meditation, +100% Meditation rate.

　　Again, the bonuses applied by the title looked great, until you got to the third or fourth tier of evolution, when you realized just how meaningless such a title was in the grand scheme of things. The only thing that Maria found truly useful from this title was Cosmic Knowledge, something she had never truly understood in her past life.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

　　Realizing that in her own nexus, taking a year to ponder such interesting questions like what is Cosmic Knowledge was possible, Maria decided to do just that.

　　Focusing her mind inward, she began to call upon the components of Cosmic Knowledge. Focusing her thoughts inward, she found a somewhat familiar sensation as she felt her spirit begin to leave her body. It had been years, and the blink of an eye since she last entered such a state of bliss, of nirvana, but it still felt warm and inviting.

　　Following the sensation, Maria found her traveling in a now familiar direction, out of her body, through the tides of energy that surrounded her world and finally to a dimension filled with four extremely powerful beings. Beings that Maria had both met before, and immediately recognized as important.

　　"Oh look, we have a visitor." The first voice began speaking, hearing the voice for the second time in her conscious memory, Maria immediately recognized this as one of the powerful beings of fate she met before the planet restarted.

　　"This one looks odd," A second voice said, drawing near to Maria and appearing to gaze upon her.

　　Now that Maria had more Attributes, she saw that these beings of immense power were like jellyfish, that is if jellyfish could change their shape from moment to moment, were filled with immense power and had the resting form of a beautiful woman.

　　This time, Maria didn`t feel herself getting constricted by the powers of the four. She didn`t feel herself being squeezed to death under their beings` intense scrutiny. Instead, having already experienced this type of sensation once before, and feeling somewhat calmed by her previous interactions, she just stood there.

　　"Haven`t we seen this one before?" The third junior voice asked.

　　Hearing those words, and apparently seeing just how close the three junior sisters were to detailing Maria`s past encounters, the main being spoke.

　　"Possibly, these creatures all look the same. Come now, this is our last iteration on this planet, and given that their planet`s champion is dead. All we need to do now is bestow our blessings upon this creature and be done." The leader of the four said, once again, her powerful presence spoke in a way that brokered no arguments from the others.

　　"Very well, I will go first." The first speaker said, and with that she placed her finger upon Maria`s forehead.

　　Nothing.

　　There was a slight glow, as power was clearly meant to traverse between her finger and Maria`s forehead, but nothing happened.

　　"That`s strange, nothing happened." The first voice said.

　　"Did you do it right?" The second voice asked.

　　"Of course, I did it correctly, this isn`t my first time performing this task you know." The first voice said indignantly.

　　"Well, let me try next." The second voice said, pushing the first speaker away, and placing her own finger on Maria`s forehead.

　　Tingle.

　　This one tingled, but once again there was no real notification given.

　　"Huh?" The second voice said.

　　"Oh, get out of here, you are both pathetic." The third speaker said, placing her finger on Maria`s forehead and once again.

　　Buzz.

　　Aside from a deep electrical pulse of cosmic energy filling up Maria`s core and Danteans, nothing happened.

　　"What? Is she broken?" The third voce asked.

　　"Relax, you all did fine. You are all likely tired from your recent ordeals. See." The main speaker said, and as she spoke, she pulled up the three blessings from Maria`s screen.

　　Blessing Received: Blessing of Spirit Stability: Your Power Attribute has evolved to be able to process spiritual essences.

　　Blessing Received: Blessing of Perfect Perception: Able to view the spirit of everyone. Allows the viewing of everyone`s true potential, along with their current progress towards achieving their true potential.

　　Blessing Received: Blessing of Perfect Evolution: You managed to perform a perfect evolution of your body, when going for your first transformation. Base Attribute Potential increased by +1,000% (Maximum of 4,000).

　　Those were the exact blessings that Maria had always had. The only difference being that the perfect evolution now said her maximum was 4,000 attribute points, but that was something she was certain she had done herself.

　　"Now then child of fate." The most powerful of the beings began speaking. As she did, everyone immediately turned their attention back to her. Maria even noticed how the other three bickering sisters of fate all had their attention fully on the supreme being. "Know that this is your planet`s seventh and final attempt to survive. I see that you have already done remarkably well for yourself thus far, but know that you are just beginning your ascent, and that your greatest trump card, your planet`s Champion has already been destroyed. As such, it is now up to you to warn your planet of the impending doom upon you."

　　With that, there was a deep pause, as the full weight of the being`s words hit Maria like a sledgehammer. The Detective was dead, it had been a few hundred years, or the blink of an eye, and she was gone. As were so many other lives that were not given a chance. Suddenly Maria realized that while she had cleared away the initial danger set before her family at the hospital, she had not fully eliminated all threats in the area. Even the fact that the minor node next to her parent`s house was under her control meant little as she could not be there to protect her family, while she was busy cultivating in her pocket realm.

　　"Yes, child of destiny, you see the problems of the world and even now try to intuit ways to address them. While you have done well, and pushed yourself further than many could dream of, your progress is not nearly enough for what is to come. Also, you are now realizing the trap of being a realm holder. For while you might hold a realm, you are powerless to do much to fully influence the material world that you are in fact fighting for. That is why I will bestow upon you my blessing, a blessing meant for the Champion of your people."

　　As she spoke, Maria could feel the weight of her words filling Maria. With her new affinity for Spirit Magic, Maria realized that each word spoken by this being was laced with power. Just being breathed upon by such an impressive being was the equivalent of being infused with the power of a star.

　　Realizing the amount of power at the beck and call of this creature, Maria realized why it had denied giving such its blessing to Maria the first time they met. Had the being wanted to, Maria would have received the power of the divine being and then subsequently been ripped apart due to her body`s inability to handle such power.

　　Even now, Maria realized that with a peak second evolution under her belt, she realized that her impressive attributes meant that even now, as the strongest humanity had to offer this early into the integration, she would be unable to stop any attack from this creature, if she had malicious intent in her heart.

　　Fortunately for Maria, the being before her was benevolent and wise. Maria saw that now, felt such emotions from the residual energy being emanated from her, as she spoke to and focused her full attention on Maria.

　　"As your planet`s first true complete node owner, owning not just the major, but all twelve minor connecting nodes as well. I see fit to bestow upon you a blessing that will allow you to cultivate at full speed, while being able to interact with the real world." The being spoke.

　　At that, Maria tried to comprehend what the being said. Tried to and failed, until the being put her massive finger on Maria`s forehead.

　　Pulse.

　　There was a surge of energy unlike anything Maria had ever felt before. There was sunshine, radiation, and above all unlimited potential being released in that one touch. Best of all, Maria knew that her body was able to handle the power, maybe not fully, it was clear that a lot of the power being presented was being lost to the ethereal realm around them, but that didn`t matter. Right now, Maria felt the power of the sun, no, she was the sun, as she felt the equivalent of nuclear fusion happening within her very core.

　　"That is the ultimate of creation and existence that you just felt. That is the true limit of what your kind is truly capable of." The voice spoke, as she did the sudden intense burning within her stomach began to subside, as it did the protective barrier that the supreme being had established within her own core also began to subside, showing that the entire thing had been a controlled burn. Something done to inspire Maria to further heights. While Maria knew that replicating such an event was far beyond her means at the moment, she knew that it would not be impossible, rather it would just take time to reach such upper limits.

　　"Now, it is time for your blessing. Know that after you receive this, my daughters and I will go. This is your planet`s last chance Maria Alvarez, use it to the best of your abilities." The divine being said, and before Maria could utter her reply, a surge of energy infused Maria`s soul.

　　Divine Blessing for a Champion Bestowed: Divine Blessing of Internal Pocket Realm: You have been bestowed with the ability to conquer major and minor nodes and infuse their power within the center of your core. Effects: Unknown (Upgradable with the acquisition of more connected Node points).

　　"Now that you have received your blessings, we bid you and your planet adieu." The divine being said.

　　With that, Maria felt her consciousness slipping, until she felt the sensation of falling, much like one would in a dream. But unlike falling in a dream, this was real, as this was her soul being forced back into her recently evolved body.

　　Oof.

　　Her soul landed, and next thing she found was a large brown bunny sitting next to her.

　　Peering around, she looked to see where she was. If she was where she had been, then she expected to find herself by the Football field at her High School. Yet, she was clearly in a developed part of town, one with a large five story building right next to her. Spinning, she found a sign denoting where she was, Hospital Emergency Room.

　　Then looking at the time on the wall, Maria realized something was off.