Asher felt like he was floating in a vast space of darkness. One by one, his sense of touch, sight, and other senses disappeared. He had no sense of time or direction, and felt as though he had been there for hours.
<Anomaly detected ....>
The system detected the strange behavior of the rune.
Asher suddenly felt many voices calling him. He was going through a stream of his own memories.
"Hello Asher-...."
"Don't kill me please!!"
"I will kill you!!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!"
"You know I felt strange when I-"
"Demon!! He is a Demon..."
Suddenly, Asher heard many voices calling to him and saw faces of people he knew. Some of the memories were unpleasant and some so insignificant that he didn't even care what he had done to them. It felt like he was exploring something within himself. Although these memories were suddenly cut short and he would remember another one immediately. It felt like he was exploring something in himself.
< Energy Detection Confirmed >
< Devil's Absorption Rank SSS ? is being used >
< Rune is getting absorbed >
Meanwhile, Nathan, who had been observing Asher for six hours, saw many runes on his body glowing.
"Is the rune accepting him so early?" Nathan was surprised.
"What's happening to this boy?" Nathan was unable to use his mana to check Asher's body as it would disrupt the bonding process with the rune.
He watched as letters traveled all over Asher's body, from his neck to his legs, eventually changing into lines that formed a path from his neck to his legs.
"This is strange. I remember it didn't happen to me!" Nathan was aware that normally, it would take at least a week for the rune to bond with Asher before the process of assimilation began. But due to Asher's new bloodline, his ability overpowered the rune and forced it to be absorbed directly.
He was right, normally Asher would have stayed in that darkspace for at least a week if the rune accepted him. Only then the process of assimilation would have begun. This strange anomaly happened due to the new bloodline of Asher. The system used one of the sealed abilities of his bloodline to acquire the rune and directly absorb it.
His bloodline ability overpowered the rune and forcefully absorbed it before the rune could delve deeper into his memories. Normal runes were different from ancient runes, as normal runes did not have any will of their own. Moreover Runemasters were rare and they were respected individuals. Learning runes was not a thing everyone could do and making them was even more of a difficult task.
Ancient runes on the other hand were a mystery, the only known person with such runes was the Principal of the World Academy who shared this knowledge with others. This knowledge made many people covet his powers but who could harm him, he was a peak Rank SSS hunter himself moreover he was known as the strongest human alive.
The ancient rune absorbed mana from Asher's body and created a runic circle on him, allowing him to maximize the efficiency of the rune and obtain all its abilities. Normally, the ancient rune would have only given Asher one capability related to his mana manipulation bloodline, but now, with his bloodline ability overpowering the rune, its full capability was unknown.
"Did he get a better mana manipulation ability than mine? He even sensed Livia's illness immediately," Nathan thought, confused. "Well, we can find out when he reaches his second year at the academy anyways."
Nathan decided to delay the training of the twins, as he felt that his attention was needed for Asher. He did not want to risk leaving him alone.
In the living room of the Greville estate, Arthur was being confronted by Sylvie.
"He's fine, right? I couldn't even peek inside that barrier. Even Lucas and Livia's training is on hold," Sylvie worriedly asked.
"Don't worry, I went through it too when I was young. He'll be fine," Arthur reassured her as he sipped his morning tea.
"Yeah, don't worry, Mom," Amelia joined in.
"Lucas and Livia, why don't you guys do the basic training with me instead of that old man?" Arthur suggested to the twins.
Lucas and Livia looked at each other, then Lucas gave Arthur his phone. A hologram projected from it, showing a video from Nathan.
"You ungrateful son, if you take my students, make sure your bones are fine because I will break them to the point where you'll sit on the Guildmaster seat for the rest of your life, doing paperwork!" Nathan grinned on the video as he spoke.
Arthur was not a coward, so he came up with the idea of going against Nathan's thinking. "This old man is just joking, huh? Do you think I'm afraid?" Arthur scoffed at Nathan's warning in his mind.
"And in case you think I'm joking, let me apologize to Sylvie. Sorry, Sylvie, I might have to cripple your husband, but don't hold it against me, okay?" Nathan acted sad, and the video cut off.
"THIS FUC-" Arthur shouted, but he stopped seeing the young twins. "Ahem, let's respect your grandfather's request if he wants to teach you guys personally." Arthur continued drinking his tea. Sylvie and Amelia wanted to laugh, but they knew better than to add fuel to the fire.
The process of absorbing the rune lasted for three days straight, and Asher felt as if he had been in that vast space of darkness for weeks. Thanks to the system helping him, some of his senses had returned, reducing the strain on his mind.
On the fourth day, Asher's whole body was covered in sweat. Multiple black lines connected to his neck, stopping around his ears, and his upper body. The runic lines started glowing again, and they covered Asher's entire head region.
Inside the vast darkness, Asher could feel his brain being flooded with strange information. The Ancient Rune was the way knowledge was transferred, and in simpler terms, it was a medium used for transfer. Asher was absorbing the entirety of the rune without even knowing it, and Nathan also didn't know that the whole rune was being absorbed into Asher's mind.
"I hope you make it, brat," Nathan spoke as he watched Asher's unconscious body.
At this time, apart from his sense of hearing and sight, he had regained every other sense. He could feel a unique type of mana flowing throughout his body. Inside his body, the Ancient Rune was merging the black lines with his mana veins as the black lines broke down into multiple small runes.
These runes flowed through Asher's body's mana circulation path and finally stopped at his mana core, forming a runic ring around the center of the core. A floating ring of strange characters formed around his Mana Heart. The black lines on his lower body disappeared completely.
< [Runic formation] started...>
<Completion rate 3%...4%.......>
Asher could feel the stinging pain near his heart as the runes were forcefully etched onto his mana core. One by one, the strange letters were absorbed into his core.
<Completion rate 10%......>
<Completion rate 20%...27%...>
After his core absorbed the rune, he felt as if his brain was being hammered. The rest of the black lines on his upper body started moving towards his head region slowly. Every time a rune's information was passed through his neurons, he felt as if his head was about to explode. His body was unconscious, and he was still trapped in the vast darkness, unable to move his body and just endure the pain.
Nathan noticed that Asher's fingers were trembling, but he was still unconscious.
"Hang in, brat, you can do it," Nathan spoke, but Asher had no way of hearing him.
<Completion rate 31%......>
<Completion rate 42%......>
<Completion rate 57%......>
<Completion rate 63%......>
Just like that, three days have passed. Asher's whole body was trembling in the vast darkness. He was in pain, but it was nothing compared to the pain he felt when he acquired his new bloodline. The trembling was due to his overworked neurons carrying a huge amount of information to his brain.
Gaining knowledge of the rune was not like gaining information or memories. The rune imprinted its own abilities on his soul, rather than just giving him information. This meant every fiber of his being was adapting to the new abilities. It was like gaining a swordmaster's experience and becoming a swordmaster yourself without having to put in time and effort.
Even if someone learned how to cast a spell, they still needed to convert that theory into something practical, which took time and effort. But the ancient rune removed that requirement. It was like gaining complete mastery over a spell just by learning it without casting it once.
As the week came to an end, Asher had almost fully assimilated with the rune. His body had stopped trembling and most of the black lines had disappeared, with only a few remaining around his ears and forehead.
<Completion Rate: 99%... 100%>
<Rune Assimilation Done>
[ Host received the Rune of Eirdin ]
Asher opened his eyes and looked at Nathan, who was proudly smiling back at him.
"Congrats, brat! You've achieved something nobody in our family has done since me," Nathan exclaimed, quite happy for Asher that he momentarily forgot something important he wanted to ask him.
