He only held on because every time he got injured, every time his hands froze because of frostbite, his muscles jammed because of movement impairment, his bones weakened and body temperature dropped because of cold penetration, or his flesh froze because of flesh crystallization; every time his hands fell off, legs broke, or his innards exploded from the pressure difference.

Clementine always healed him back to normal, regenerated new limbs, and restored his wounds and energy, all through his sub-ability <Shared Strength>. Her healing was a sudden spring of life flowing into a parched and shattered vessel.

However, she did not go overboard, only helping Aezaleon enough so he wouldn’t die, while keeping the pressure of the battle constant and at the maximum.

It was a whole hour of brutal torture, where more than three times, Aezaleon had his energy depleted completely because of constantly infusing it into his body to strengthen it and also to fight against the exhaustion. He was like a piece of iron being hammered incessantly on an anvil of ice.

At last, the calamity White Ibex collapsed on the ground lifeless.

It happened because after a 20-minute-long constant combat, the White Ibex had already exhausted all of its energy too. However, considering it was physically stronger too, the battle had continued for the next 40 minutes. Where the calamity kept utilizing its concepts after regenerating enough energy. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

But it was not like Aezaleon was only taking a beating this whole time. No, in fact, he had left so many wounds on this goat’s body that he couldn’t even count them anymore. The calamity certainly had a high vitality; he couldn’t deny that.

HAAAH!

Clementine appeared beside the tired him. "Your abilities are mostly focused on souls, soul defense and offense, and you haven’t comprehended any concepts yet either; must be why you struggled so much against this calamity: White Ibex!" she remarked in a critical tone.

She glanced at him with a flat look. "Which isn’t even the strongest one here. You really think you can impress me with such a pathetic performance?"

"What do you expect? I’m not even a day old," Aezaleon retorted in a weary voice.

SIGH!

Clementine shook her head, massaging her temples. "Don’t you have any ability geared towards physical offense or defense?" she questioned.

HM! ...

"No..." Aezaleon began, his expression contemplative. "From my three abilities, none of them are geared towards physical offense. Or more like I’m not sure because I don’t even know myself what half of them can even do. However, I suppose you could say that I do indeed have a strong defensive ability."

He looked at her straight in the eyes, his gaze calm. "It is from the ability which has seven ability effects, with each having five sub-ability effects. As for the other two; one of them has five ability effects with each having three sub-ability effects, and lastly—the ability that only has three ability effects and no sub-ability effects." His words were a series of heavy stones dropped into a silent, deep pool.

"Wh..." Clementine got the biggest shock of her life after what she just heard. "Did you really, really just say that you have an innate ability with seven ability effects?!" she exclaimed in a startled voice.

"Um..!"

Aezaleon’s mouth parted in surprise. Certainly, he was not expecting this ancient woman to have such a strong reaction to his words. Was what he had really that much of a big deal for this ancient woman to lose her bearing? Her shock was like a sudden crack in a mirror that had seen a thousand years of history.

"HM!"

He immediately nodded, when he saw she was losing her composure on not receiving any response from him.

"Yes, I did. What of it, is there a problem with that?" he asked curiously.

Clementine blinked. Then unexpectedly she chuckled at his ignorance. "A calamity born with an—Absolute Innate Ability—now I know where all that enormous amount of energy had gone to," Clementine smiled, looking at him with a crimson gaze that was outright dark.

"What can I say? I’m both surprised, amazed, and also fearful. To think I claimed for myself a man born with the strongest kind of power one can have in this cosmos: an absolute ability, huh?" The realization was a rising tide, threatening to drown her common sense.

’AhhhH~’

She truly was losing control over herself, it seems. Feeling the intensity of her growing emotions, Aezaleon couldn’t help but be curious. "Um. Clementine, can you tell me what an absolute ability is at least, before zoning out?" he voiced in a questioning tone.

In a moment, she calmed herself. Taking a long breath—she looked at him again. "It’s a lengthy explanation, do you want to hear it?" she asked.

"No! Give me a brief one. I’m already tired after the battle as it is," Aezaleon replied bluntly. ...

"Understood...!"

Clementine nodded. Taking a few seconds to organize her thoughts. "From what I know, there are two systems of abilities that exist in my universe; a system in which we learn and create. These types of abilities have 10 ranks and seven tiers! While the second system represents the abilities we are born with, also called innate abilities or skills. These innate abilities mostly come from one’s unique <Soul Physiques> or <Body constitutions>. But it is also entirely possible to learn or create them too, after fulfilling some extreme requirements, that is."

"For example—you can learn them if you have the smarts enough to make your own unique soul physique or body constitution. Condition—create them and you’ll get the innate abilities. There is also the option of inheritances, but that’s mostly dependent on luck and fate. There are others too; nonetheless, innate abilities have three ranks: <Unique>, <Ultimate>, and <Absolute>!"

Clementine paused, giving some time for Aezaleon to digest what she had shared. Her silence was a brief respite in a storm of information.

"The problem with them is that, despite how strong they are, they always start at the same rank as the holder of these abilities and grow stronger passively as his strength increases. Meaning, lower-ranked individuals, such as you, aren’t capable of fully utilizing them to their maximum potential because of many aspects. Since, the power they contain is, in simple words—Superior! Oh? And I’m talking about the ultimate and the absolute ability. For the former—one has to be at the bare minimum at ascension rank 7, and for the latter at 10. There are also the core and bloodline tier requirements, but for the holders of these two innate abilities it is not a problem, since the abilities always have a sub-ability effect or two to aid the user in this regard."

"Moreover, with each core tier evolution, the innate abilities—Unique and Ultimate—can also mutate and become more versatile. However, it is guaranteed that every ascension advancement increases their rank and every core tier evolution increases their tier. There are some other factors too, but we’ll talk about them later."

[For example—The probability of Unique and Ultimate ability’s mutation at each core tier evolution. Actually how strong they are. Comparison between the two ability systems. Some other mores.]

"Anyway, innate abilities don’t make anyone super powerful from the start; this mostly depends on the type of ability effects one’s ability has: support, suppression, defense, offense, acceleration, self-enchantment-type, or indirect-strength-support type, etc.. Then there is also the environment that defines their strength and also how much the user himself is proficient with his abilities. There are many aspects that define strength here, but innate abilities, as powers weaved from the ethereal hands of the very cosmos, are far more complex and intricate when compared to the normal abilities created by the lifeforms within it. In simple words, a created innate ability will have a low growth potential, incomplete information, and more faults compared to an inherited one or the one one is born with."

Clementine completed her explanation. It was truly a lengthy one despite her skipping many factors. After a minute...

Aezaleon nodded. "So an—Absolute Innate Ability—is the strongest power one could ever hope to have. It is detailed, complex, versatile, and has seven types of effects," he summarized in a thoughtful voice.

"Indeed," she nodded firmly. "An absolute ability is so strong and complex that the amount of pressure and burden it puts on the user’s soul makes it such that it becomes an absolute impossibility to have more than one of it. Attempting to add one more—the soul reaches its structural tolerance—it creates a power paradox that collapses the soul. Complete destruction of matter, energy, and information, because one’s soul became too powerful."

Aezaleon nodded again. Learning much about many, many things.

"HMM!" ...