"My soul...has evolved?" He whispered to himself, it was not even a minute since they had killed the beast and already he had something else to ponder on.
Quickly snapping himself out of the haze, he hurriedly summoned the Soul Rune.
Name: Ace Paradial
Age: 16
Rank: Initiate
Bonus: Blessed By Swords
Rank: Greater
Skills:
- Floating Blade.
-Voidflare.
-Sword Domain.
-Blade Echo.
Ability:
-Inhuman.
-Iron Gauntlet.
-Iron Core.
-Phase Step.
Ace blinked, his rank and the bonus rank had evolved. He received two new skills and four abilities.
'What luck.' He grinned then a sudden thought appeared on his mind, he turned to his friends who were reading invisible lines in front of them. It seemed like even their Soul Rune had evolved but they probably did not receive any abilities as he was the one who landed the killing blow.
"Hey guys, anything new?" He asked nonchalantly. Ariel looked at him and gave him a bright toothy smile.
"Yeah, guess what. I got two skills and an ability, and two gifts as well."
Ace raised his eyebrows. "Gifts? What are those?"
Ray sighed. "Try concentrating on your personal rank."
He followed focusing on his rank.
Rank: Initiate
The ascended gifts unlocks your novice gift [Insight] and grants you a Initiate gift [Rebuild].
Ace scratched the back of his head, he did not need Ray to say him to focus more and find the descriptions of his gifts.
[Insight]
Grants a deeper understanding of your skills and abilities, revealing their functions, growth paths, and methods of evolution.
He let out a whistle, he was almost about to put it to test but sighed remembering about his other Gift.
[Rebuild]
Allows the user's body to regenerate, gradually recovering from injuries.
Ace was silent for a while then let out a chuckle.
"Well? How is it?" Ariel asked and this time it was Ace giving him a bright and toothy smile. "Got two gifts as well."
Ace stayed silent for a while then spoke again.
"I also got two-no three new skills and four abilities."
Both Ray and Ariel looked at him shocked expressions.
"Really, well what do all of them do?" Ray asked.
"Uh, I have to check but I think I received three abilities from the beast, I think we all should have one each." Ace said, a smile appeared on his friends face as they nodded.
"But...how?" Ariel suddenly asked.
"In stories like this, we must have some sort of physical contact I guess." Ray said.
Ace first grabbed Ariel's hand and grinned.
"The three abilities are Iron Gauntlet, Iron core and Phase step. Which one would you like?"
His friend pondered for a while then opened his mouth, then hesitated and finally spoke. "Give me the Phase Step."
Ace nodded and first read the description of the ability he was going to lose.
Phase Step
Instantly shift a short distance in any direction, allowing rapid repositioning and evasion.
Rank: Rare.
He held back a cry as he felt the ability fade away and then he let go of Ariel when he saw the jubilant expression on his face. A smile crept onto Ace's face as he turned to Ray and held his hand.
"What about you?"
"Iron Core." Ray said simply, and once again Ace read the description before giving it to Ray.
Iron Core
Manifest a dense layer of living iron around your body, forming a durable armour that greatly enhances defence. The armour does not restrict the wielder's movements at all.
Rank: Elite.
Grunting and regretfully, he gave the ability to Ray and let go of his hand, finally Ace shrugged and concentrated on his Soul Rune again, he had to see his new skills for himself.
He focused on Floating blade.
Floating Blade
Allows the user to summon and control a single sword to float and move through the air according to the user's will. The number of swords the user can control increases with mastery of the skill.
Sword Control: 3/1000.
Rank: Rare.
Ace smiled, now he knew what Insight did, and it helped him a lot, though it did not show him any way to evolve the ability. Was Floating blade at its peak? Or was his Insight not fully capable yet?
He sighed, a rare skill-he had a feeling something good will happen when he could finally control a thousand blades, and he was eagerly awaiting it. It seemed that he had gotten something in him wanting to grow strong now that he ascended a rank.
He focused on his other skills.
Voidflare
Name: Voidflare blade.
Type: Manifested Sword
Rank: Unknown
Description: This is the first blessing you receive—a blessed sword.
Effect: Increases attack power and allows the user to channel energy through the blade, enhancing each strike.
The blade evolves itself with each fight won.
Ace nodded, the evolution part was new, his eyes lingered on the rank for a while then went to his new skills.
Sword Domain
Creates a dome of floating swords around the user, forming a defensive barrier that intercepts and blocks incoming attacks.
Rank: Lesser.
Dome swords. 10/????
SwordEcho
Each sword strike leaves behind a delayed afterimage that repeats the same attack moments later.
Rank: Lesser.
The more foes killed, the closer this skill comes to evolution.
Ace could not help but whistle, they were walking back to his room-each were silent studying their runes, especially Ray who seemed in a really...good mood reading his rune.
Then he focused on his abilities, ignoring the Inhuman Ability, he focused on Iron Gauntlet.
'I wonder what it's evolution will be like.'
Iron Gauntlet
Manifests iron coverings over both arms, greatly enhancing strength and reinforcing each strike with heavy impact.
Rank: Elite.
Can evolve.
Ace stared at the gauntlet's runes for a while and then let out a sigh. It was not bad, not bad at all. He only had to learn how to fight, and maybe then he could use this ability.
"Well Ariel, what skills did you get?"
Ariel turned to him, he still had that grin on his face which refused to go-and honestly he seemed kind of charming.
"Well my first new skill is Rupture. When I strike an area already infused with my poison, I can accelerate or just control the poison and blast the area." Ace looked at his friend with a bewildered expression.
He seriously hoped he would not face neither Ariel nor Ray in a death fight.
"And my second skill is that, I can summon a poisonous snake."
Ace slightly tensed and let out a shaky breath. "Just so you guys know, I have Ophidiophobia."
Ray scoffed, looking at him with a funny expression. "What is that?"
"Extreme fear of snakes." Ace replied, his legs still trembling, Ariel let out a low chuckle. It seemed like the boy had some sort of bad plan in his head and Ace did not like it one bit.
"Well what about you Ray?"
Ray looked at them and hesitated for a while, then shrugged and nonchalantly said. "I got three skills."
Ace sighed, he already knew that his overpowered friend would become more overpowered. It seemed as if the gods did not want anyone else to catch up to his favourite.
"And I got two gifts as well." Ray said. Ace smiled, at least there was something in which he was equal to his fiend friend.
"I guess all of us got only two gifts." Ace said, seeing the other two nod, his smile grew.
"I see, so for each rank we grow, we receive one gift but for each bonus rank we grow, it depends on the person-or maybe some other factor."
Ray nodded, agreeing with his smart friend then began talking.
"My first skill is a flame sword. It is made of pure and extreme flame, and burns the enemy to death, it is also insanely sharp and indestructible. I can also adjust its size according to will."
Ace shrugged, once again-Ray had climbed the mountain while he had just began ascending it. Ariel had a similar expression on his face but oddly both remained silent.
"My next skill is Silent burn, I can burn any enemy inside my domain without any contact, and the flames are silent and undetectable. My enemy won't feel the flames until he begins burning."
"So it is a invisible, and undetectable flame." Ariel said to which Ray smiled with an almost mocking expression. 'Damn this bastard.' Ace grit his teeth and asked in an offensive tone.
"Well, what the hell is your last skill?"
Ray let out a small chuckle at his friend's impatience then began speaking again.
"My final skill is Ember. I can teleport into any flames burning in my domain and turn into flame myself to avoid physical attacks." He paused looking at the two pale faces in front of him. "You can still use water to extinguish me you know."
Suddenly a thought came to his mind, and he paled even more.
"Uh, Ray-what exactly is your domain again?"
Ray smiled.
"It has evolved. I can augment myself when wrapped in flames, and even without that, when my flame domain is active-I get more physical and mental strength. My domain stretches to a kilometre."
If it was not for the danger outside, Ariel would have definitely fainted but the guy just shrugged off. "Good thing you are our ally. Continue being our ally to keep yourself safe from us Ray." Ariel said receiving two dumbfounded looks.
"Well, I guess it is your turn Ace."
"Hm, my Floating sword has evolved, I can control three swords now. I received a new special sword, its name is Voidflare, you saw me use it. I killed the iron bastard with that superb sword. Then, my new skill is sword dome-created a protective sword dome around me." He lingered for a while.
"And finally, according to me-the best skill I got is Sword Echo, I can strike invisible sword strikes with my sword."
Ray's eyebrows flew up-those were actually good. Very good according to Ray, a small smile crept onto Ray's face, a dark look in his eyes with unlimited hatred.
"Maybe after this, let's continue being friends." Ray said in a nonchalant tone.
Ace and Ariel nodded, failing to see the dark look in his eyes.
"Well my gift, my novice gift is insight. It lets me take a better description of my skills and abilities, then my initiate gift is Rebuild. It heals my body."
Ray and Ariel seemed.. like somewhat happy and confused.
"I got the same novice gift, and my initiate gift is assassin. It lets me move freely and without any sound or presence until my enemy sees me. In this state, you can't smell, hear, or sense me… unless you see me."
Ray nodded, though he seemed a little alert.
"Same novice gift as you both, as for my initiate gift. Instinct, it is my second gift. The closer I am to death, the stronger I become, and no one can ambush me, if I am sleeping and someone attacks me-my body acts on its own. Even while awake, if someone strikes me from a blind spot, my body moves and fights."
"Guess we all are ready then." Ace said, he was a little startled, one of them could heal. The other could move and attack the enemy with no sound and catch them off-guard and the last one of them can't be caught off-guard.
'Guess this is good.'
"For now, let's continue exploring more of the ships...alone, and gather at the deck when night comes." Ray said and already went separate not waiting for their response. In the end, both Ariel and Ace sighed walking in separate directions as well.
Ray's face suddenly twitched, a indescribable look on his face.
"Father." He muttered.