Arion had unlocked his Soul Rune again.
A wide smile slowly spread across his face as he began reading the shimmering, bright runes floating before him.
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
He focused on his rank—and his smile widened even further, almost tearing across his face.
Rank: Initiate
[Insight]
[Rebuild]
He let out a slow breath.
It felt… good.
Too good, as if he had found something meant to be lost, and this time he wouldn't let it get lost again.
Then he felt something, a pull, subtle, familiar… yet completely new.
From within his soul.
'What's this?'
'Did I receive something?'
A gift? An ability?
He frowned slightly.
'No… most likely a new skill.'
A new rune appeared.
His eyes widened.
Name: Arion Brook
Age: 15
Rank: Novice
Bonus: Blood Manipulation
Rank: Lesser
Skills:
Blood Needle
Ability:
Inhuman
He blinked.
Once, then twice and thrice--and finally nodded, it was logical why he had two runes, and it was not at the same time. Whatever it was, he could save the mystery for later.
Just as he was about to read further—
Another set of runes appeared.
[Your Souls are merging]
"…What?"
'Souls are merging, wait...no choice?'
Everything vanished.
Pain.
Not the kind that came from flesh or bone.
This was deeper.
Something inside him was being torn apart—ripped, fused, crushed and reshaped all at once.
'Reincarnating into another world was supposed to bring me bliss not this.'
Then suddenly.....It stopped.
'Did the gods hear me?'
He winced slightly. It took all his willpower not to scream, it would be quite embarrassing explaining it later after all.
The pain had stopped and in its place, a strange feeling.
Like finding something he had lost… a long, long time ago.
Something that was always his.
And yet never was. It was the second time he was feeling like this but this time it was more profound and inexplicable.
Slowly, he summoned his runes again, everything looked the same.
Almost. His gaze sharpened and his breathing hitched, his heart was wildly pumping and he was shivering all over.
There was only one ability now in Ace's rune. Iron Gauntlet.
"Inhuman…?"
Gone. He did not know what happened but it was gone. Then a thought appeared in his mind.
His eyes flicked toward the other rune.
And there—It was still there, but different.
Blessed....
He scratched the back of his head, silent for a moment.
"…What?"
He exhaled, then shifted his focus.
If the souls had merged…A feeling of wanting suddenly grasped his heart.
He looked at his rank again.
Rank: Initiate
[Blessed Insight]
[Rebuild]
His brows furrowed, and his eyes widened and he finally remembered how to breathe.
'Souls are merged...'
Then he checked Arion's rank
Rank: Novice
[Blessed Insight]
Everything had merged.
Abilities, gifts, power. Well everything except maybe his skill.
"…That's…"
He gave a small, hollow chuckle.
"…awesome."
…and a little terrifying, but why would you be terrified when you could be awed instead.
Slowly, he sat down on the bed, silence filled the dark room.
After a while, he exhaled and began reading again.
[Blessed Insight]
An evolved Insight which lets you read and understand your skill, ability and yourself better. This evolved form of Insight also lets you understand evolution better. Gain the rank of Initiate to evolve Blessed Insight.
Pour magic to unlock current uses.
"…Just Insight, but better."
He nodded, that was good enough. In fact, it was better than good enough.
[Blood Needle]
Forms compressed needles from the user's own blood and fires them with deadly precision. Each strike penetrates deeply, tearing through flesh and disrupting the enemy from within. The more blood infused, the greater the piercing power. Become stronger to evolve Blood Needle.
Arion sighed and read it again.
"…Too bad."
What kind of insane bastard would willingly sacrifice their own blood for a ranged attack—with no guarantee of hitting?
But again, the world had no shortage of lunatic bastards like them.
[Blood Manipulation]
Containing the blessed blood of an unknown deity, this abnormal boy finds it hard to bleed and can never again bleed to death. You gain complete control over your blood, allowing it to be shaped, hardened, and weaponized into deadly constructs or reinforcing layers that enhance anything you wish. Your bonus lets you steal anyone's bonus for a limited time when you absorb their blood.
Blood absorbed [0/1000]
He took a shaky breath. Then a wide grin slowly spread across his face.
"The blood of an unknown deity…"
It seemed like the future would indeed like him very much.
First—he couldn't bleed to death.
Which meant that blood Needle had no real drawback anymore.
And no drawback meant no worry to use it.
'Awesome.'
He could harden his blood, he could strengthen himself, strengthen his weapons or simply anything he wanted.
Then, he could steal bonuses, even if temporary, that alone was ridiculous.
His grin only widened as he thought more, even outside of combat…
This ability had uses, so many uses. He would reach places with this bonus.
To evolve it, he had to absorb the blood of a thousand people.
"…A thousand?"
A faint smile.
"Not that I mind."
He was already aiming to be a killer anyway and now that he had a reason, who would stop him?
Finally—
[Blessed]
This evolved Inhuman ability allows you to achieve superhuman strength, speed and endurance. Be aware of the dead gods.
'What?'
"…Dead gods?"
Well, he did not know the gods were dead, so this was a good information but what could have caused the gods to die? And why was he supposed to stay aware of the dead gods?
Questions bombarded but once again he shrugged them off.
He had the blood of a deity.
"…Yeah."
That probably mattered.
Maybe he really had to be afraid of dead entities now.
His brows furrowed.
Then there was another pull.
"…Again?"
His gaze dropped to his name.
There was a rune for his name.
"…What in the actual hell."
Not in his wildest dreams of this life did he think that his name had a rune for itself.
[Arion Brook]
This abnormal boy is named after no one. Forever fated for darkness and eternal slumber, he broke the will of death with the help of an unknown deity. Hated by Gods and the Immortals, the boy once again grasps life and is once again named after no one.
His heart dropped, he swallowed.
"…Hated by gods… and Immortals."
'…Great.'
Slowly, he summoned the other rune. The rune describing his name, his first name.
[Ace Paradial]
The last Paradial was one of the few who had resurrected the slumbering powers inside the soul. Killed by the Moon goddess, he was destined for eternal slumber. The Paradial did not break, and so Blessed by the sword of an unknown deity, he broke death and earned the scorn of multiple gods and the Immortals—but the boy did not care.
"What a bombshell..."
He stopped.
He had read everything out of order. Skills first. Then names.
Then—everything.
"…Yeah, no." This can't be good.
He dismissed the runes.
That was enough. Too much for today.
Silence filled the room once again.
"…Gods hate me."
He muttered.
"…And some unknown deity helped me."
A sigh escaped his lips, his normal life really seemed to be in a risk of becoming abnormal or maybe it had already become abnormal.
"I'll maybe have a meeting with a dead god, if they really do hate me that is..."
A chuckle escaped his mouth.
'I hope it would be pleasant at least.'
His thoughts drifted.
The Moon Goddess.
That beautiful, elegant and deadly Divine bitch.
"…Was she a goddess too?"
He shook his head, and relaxed.
He shook his head.
A sigh escaped his lips.
"Reading novels was fun…Now I feel like I'm inside one."
A chill ran down his spine.
'I just hope this one is a romance novel.'
"…Yeah. No way."
Sadly though, the fact that he was hated by dead gods and some Immortal beings were enough to crush his dream of being in a romantic novel.
He had no world ending power yet, so... This journey won't be as simple as spamming godly powers.
"…Maybe I'm a side character."
He paused.
"…Then who's the main character?"
He thought of Ray being surrounded by several beauties comparable to the Moon goddess and shook his head.
"Well, Makes sense."
Ray would not have women surrounding mostly because he seemed like a person to rather kill women than to be surrounded by them and...
The memory of his, Ariel and Ray talk hours before he died flashed in his brain. A subtle and sad smile appeared on his face.
Sadly the theory of their inhumanly strong friend liking men over women could not be tested because a goddess decided to stop the experiment.
At least if Ray was the main character he would be safe.
Most likely.
"…Character development arc."
His face twitched slightly.
If Ray had some character development arc then well the life of Arion would not be safe.
"…I hope they're alive."
He had no chance of knowing, Ariel died before he did, and Ray most likely died after he did.
"…At least reincarnate or something…"
The thought of losing his first friends was haunting, he had nothing to connect himself to his previous life after all. If Ray and Ariel truly reincarnated along with him, then maybe he could find a way back...
And keep his promise.
The room fell silent once more.
He had a lot to think about after all.
Tomorrow would be a long day.
He slept and dreamt, he dreamt of a mythical hero, a hero he never knew.
Arion stood in a place that didn't feel like a dream. The air was heavy—thick with heat and something metallic, like rusted iron and blood. The sky burned above him, a blinding, merciless light hanging over a distant castle that clawed its way into the heavens.
He did not know why but a vague sense of familiarity rose in his heart and a even greater sense of fear crowded it.
He did not know how he was looking, where he was or even who he was? But he could perceive everything clearly as if he had eyes everywhere, everywhere except one place.
A hood draped over its head, its face hidden in shadow. A torn cloak trailed behind it, stained dark in places Arion didn't want to look too closely at. Each step it took echoed—not just in the air, but inside him. Like something ancient was knocking against his ribs.
He could not see the face of that mysterious man, no matter what he tried-he could only see his back, even though he felt like he could see everything and could actually see everything, the man's face was the one exception.
Then he saw them.
Not the man's face but something familiar and close.
Swords.
They hovered around the figure—silent, suspended, their tips angled outward as if guarding it… or obeying it. They didn't move wildly. They followed. Loyal. Waiting.
It was as if he was watching something, something he could not explain in words. The person in front of him simply could not be described by a single word, and even with a sentence.
It was weird and normal at the same time.
Arion tried to speak.
His throat didn't respond.
Tried to move.
His body refused.
So he could only watch. It was then that he realised, he had no tongue, no mouth, no face, he had no body and his senses refused to obey him-he was like a puppet, only doing and seeing what someone else wanted, but he did not know whom-and his mind strangely did not have questions, it was simply blank and empty.
The figure didn't turn. Didn't hesitate. It walked straight toward the towering castle ahead—a monstrous thing of jagged spires and burning windows, standing beneath that overwhelming light like it had no right to exist… and yet, it did.
The closer it got, the heavier Arion felt. Like gravity had changed.
Like the world itself was bending around that single person.
He did not know why he felt, hell without a body, he did not even know how he felt anything but once again, no questions or doubts clouded his normally inquisitive mind.
And then for just a moment, the figure stopped—unmoving he stood there for a while, and all Arion did was watch him.
One of the swords shifted slightly, its edge catching the light.
And Arion felt it.
Not fear, not exactly. It was more of recognition.
A quiet, terrifying certainty settled deep within him.
That figure…
…was not walking toward the castle.
He was returning to it.
Arion woke up with a sharp breath, his chest tight, his body cold despite the sweat clinging to his skin.
And for a long moment he couldn't shake the feeling…that the dream hadn't ended.