It was by far the most power he had ever had waiting at one point. Over eight thousand free stat points represented around sixteen thousand once he considered his stat bonuses. It was more than he had possessed up until at least Tier 4.

  Already having planned for this, Jonathan allocated his points. Two thousand into Resilience and Strength, and one thousand into everything else. His entire body thrummed with barely constrained might. An unexpected notification appeared a moment later.

  You have gained a new title!

  Sovereign of Strength: Ancient

  Your strength is immense. To a mortal, it might even be boundless. You have reached a million points in stamina before Tier 10, an incredible feat for one of your race. Many monsters gain immense boosts to their physical stats on account of size, but humans do not. For a human to reach such a level of power means that they possess talents that few others can even dream of.

  Bonuses: +25% to efficacy of Strength

  Joanthan groaned as another wave of might washed across his muscles, one even greater than the previous. He had just gained close to eight thousand more points in his Strength. It wouldn’t show on his stat sheet, but he didn’t need it to. The reports from his own body were convincing enough.

  Jonathan quickly changed the portal destination to his capital of the Oozing Bastion. Before he left for the Hells, he needed to pick up Arkanon.

  With one look back at the world that he had made home for months, Jonathan leaped through the portal. He wouldn’t be returning here again, but hopefully, he wouldn’t have to.

  ***

  The Greater Circle of Sloth was how Jonathan had left it. Because of the fusion of Cessation and the Labyrinth with his own realm, his emergence point was now in the center of the Great Farm. The endless rolling fields, tilled by slaves toiling under the watchful eye of demons that were now as strong as Circle Lords. There hadn’t been much of a chance for escape before, but there certainly was none now.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “My gauntlets hunger for blood,” Arkanon barked as he saw the demons nearby.

  They were grotesquely enlarged now, and each was surrounded in a noxious haze of foul gasses and warped elemental power. Before Jonathan could say anything, the Uthraki warlord slammed his gauntlets together, and sprinted towards his target. The ground broke underneath his stride. Each of his fists became a tiny star as he used his most powerful skill. Loops of incandescent flame spun around his body before sinking into his flesh. His armor began to glow as his body burned with the heat of a sun. Instead of breaking, the ground now melted beneath his stride.

  A few seconds later, he was already engaged in battle. The nearest cluster of demons was about ten miles away, but to a master of Stamina, that was nothing. Each of Arkanon’s steps crossed two or three miles in a single go.

  Edgar quickly joined in, lifting the slaves away from the battlefield with his Air elementalism. They gently bobbed across the skies, heading towards safety.

  Jonathan moved in, but held back about a mile away from the conflict. He wanted to see just how strong his allies had really become. Each of the demons was now the equivalent of an early Tier 6 Circle Lord. The only difference was that as far as Jonathan could tell, none of them had any of the signature abilities that made the Circle Lords the powerhouses that they were.

  There were ten demons watching over the small group of slaves, three too many for the group that Jonathan currently led. The four Uthraki, Edgar, Eliza and Eva seemed willing to fight, but Jonathan could tell that would be a bad idea. Maybe Arkanon and Edgar could fight two of the monsters on a somewhat equal level, but that was up to chance.

  Instead, Jonathan simply snapped his fingers. His control over the Void had increased immensely over his time in Tartarus, passing over the twentieth percentage mark. That had given him access to a new form of the Void. He currently had Consumption and Negation, with the addition of Cessation. Now that he had three, he understood the way that the different aspects of the Void worked. Consumption represented large quantities of the Void unleashed to feed on reality. Negation was more balanced. Cessation relied on entropy and damage over time, with tiny amounts of the Void eating away at existence over extended periods of time. There were surely more, but for now, he had enough.