Asher opened his eyes and saw Nathan, who congratulated him. Feeling tired and dizzy, he wanted to rest for a bit. He tried to stand up but found his body's reaction was delayed.
"Don't move too much for now. Relax and clear your mind until you regain full control of your body. And don't try to use the rune right away," Nathan warned.
"I have to go tell your parents about you, but your training is not over yet, brat, so don't run away," Nathan laughed before disappearing into thin air.
Asher was covered in sweat, and the odor was unpleasant. After resting for a few minutes, he regained control of his body and was able to move all his limbs perfectly. He went to the shower room at the training grounds, turned on the water, and as the cold water hit his head, he moved his hair upwards.
"Phew, let's see the gains from all of this," Asher thought to himself.
"System, show me my status," he called out, eager to see his progress.
----------------- Fate Devourer System -------------------
[Name] : Asher Von Raven Greville
[Level] - 7 (EXP 0/7000)
[Bloodline] : Devil's Absorption Rank SSS
[Blessing] : Goddess of Time(Sealed)
[Body Constitution] - Mana Core Rank E
[Shop] [Quests] [Synthesis]
[-Attributes-]
Strength: 40+4
Agility: 30
Endurance: 45+5
Intelligence: 55+50
Mana: 60+6
Stamina: 47
Charm: 60
Fate: 5730
[AP]: 30 [SP]: 12
--------------------------------------------------------------- [-Skills-]: Time Dilution (Rank S) Lvl 1, Absorption (Rank S) Lvl 1, Ash-Sword Art (Rank C), Mana Flow (Rank C), Rune of Eirdin (New) Rank E
His fate points had increased by 2000 from the quest he completed during his birthday party. He also noticed an increase in his strength and mana stats after learning the mana circulation technique Nathan taught him. He knew he gained increased endurance stats from the whole experience Nathan made him go through.
"My intelligence increased by 50?" Asher was surprised to see that his intelligence stat had increased the most.
"System, can you explain what happened when the rune entered my body?" Asher asked. He had not forgotten that the system used one of his new bloodline's sealed abilities, but as the system had told him, he should not have been able to use it until he increased it with skill points.
[Insufficient Authority!!... Searching for other answers....]
[The rune was trying to manipulate Asher's mind, so the system used one of the host's hidden blessings. This was a rare phenomenon and will not happen again. The system advises caution with sentient powers in the future.]
Asher was still not satisfied with the answer. He felt like the system was hiding information from him and he was not sure what it was.
"Can you interfere and use my abilities without my permission like this?" The air around Asher changed and a chill spread through the atmosphere as some of his intense killing intent leaked out of his body. He hated being controlled by others. He hated bowing down to others.He did not know why, but every fiber of his being hated being forced to do something against his will. Call it arrogance, but Asher could not handle being controlled by others, no matter the circumstances.
[If the host's life is in danger or in unique situations where the host is unable to act, the system can use its abilities to assist. The system was created to assist in the journey and has no control over when it initiates or stops.]
Listening to the explanation, Asher calmed down and controlled his killing intent. Although he was still upset, if the system was really helping him, he had no reason to be angry.
"Argh, forget it. Explain what the rune does and why my intelligence stat increased so much," Asher said, still annoyed by his headache. He was not sure if the sudden increase in intelligence was the cause of it or if it was from the assimilation process he just went through.
[The host has gained a Growth Type Rune]
[Activating Rune of Eirdin....]
Asher watched as a black dragon-like tattoo appeared below his neck and traveled towards his right shoulder. He instantly felt that his headache was gone, and he could now easily use the knowledge he gained through the rune.
[Elaborating its effects...]
******************************************
[Rune of Eirdin] - Growth Type - <Rank E>
-> Increased mastery of the space element.
-> Increased intelligence
-> Growth equivalent to the mana core
Activation Cost: Mental Drain
*********************************************
[This rune is a growth type rune, and due to the Host's Rank SSS bloodline ability, you have unlocked the rune fully.]
[The rune will grow with the rank of the Host's mana core.]
[Some of its abilities will be unsealed and the existing abilities will be strengthened as you increase the rank of your mana core.]
"Increased space mastery!" Asher's crimson-red eyes shone as a smirk appeared on his indifferent face.
As the rune did not require any mana to activate, this would be one of his trump cards. His mental drain would already be low due to his absurdly high intelligence stat. One of the reasons many space element users died early was due to the drain they experienced when they used their spells.
Meanwhile, outside in the living room, as the week had passed, Arthur and Sylvie were sitting and chatting when they noticed Nathan had arrived in front of them. The twins were sleeping and Amelia had gone out, so nobody except the couple was there.
"Old man, what happened? Did he pass?" Arthur asked eagerly, wanting to know the result.
"Sigh, control yourself, you mannerless son of mine. Asher has done what you and Ivar failed to do," Nathan said proudly.
"So is his training over?" Sylvie asked, happy for Asher but wanting to confirm whether the training was complete or not.
"No, I will take one more week to train him thoroughly, but tell Lucas and Livia that they will also train with him now," Nathan continued.
"I didn't expect that brat to complete the whole process so quickly, so I will use the rest of the week to prepare him for his next dungeon run as well," Nathan said, already sitting on the dining table.
Asher got out of his bath and started practicing his sword. After half an hour of talking with Arthur and Sylvie about some important stuff that had happened during the week, Nathan saw Asher training with his sword.
"It seems you have rested enough if you can swing your sword like this," Nathan commented. At his words, Asher stopped his training.
"I am trying to get the feel of what has changed after getting this rune," Asher said, as he saw Nathan pick up a sword near him.
"Watch, brat. I will demonstrate some of my techniques which you can imitate on your sword later," Nathan said, taking his stance.
Asher was surprised to see that there was no gap visible to him in Nathan's stance, and anyone who was not more powerful than Nathan would have great difficulty injuring him.
"My first technique is the Phantom Swing, which you can imitate with a sword as well when you learn it later," Nathan swung his sword in multiple directions, going opposite to the previous one without cutting the force behind his attacks.
"Second technique, instead of maintaining the force of swings, amplify them into one strike," he took his greatsword again and slashed slowly towards the barrier.
*BAM*
Even though his strike seemed weak, the barrier shook and a loud noise of clashing between two hard objects could be heard.
"Don't focus on the technique too hard, get the meaning behind it and you can replicate it yourself in your sword art," Nathan moved a bit backwards.
"Third technique allows me to pass my sword through matter itself, which takes the first technique, and makes it seem like a child's play," Nathan threw a wooden sword into the air and passed his greatsword through the wooden sword as he slashed it. The greatsword easily went past the sword, as if it were going through water.
"This technique will require your advanced mastery in telekinesis and other teleportation space spells, and combining them together you can perform something similar to this," Nathan stopped as he watched Asher, who had his eyes fixed on Nathan's movement.
"I have a few more, but they are too destructive to teach here and they will not help you as a sword user as well. Combine your talent as a mage and apply it to your swordmanship," Nathan said, as he put down the greatsword.
"Okay, that's enough of these techniques. I've given you enough clues, and I'm confident you can enhance your sword art. Let me correct your basics," Nathan smiled as Asher looked confused.
"My basics are perfect. I haven't made any mistakes," Asher replied confidently.
"No one is perfect, and every sword has flaws. You must find those flaws and exploit them to gain an advantage over your enemy," Nathan countered. "Come on, I'll use only basic sword techniques against you."
"Come at me, I will only use basic sword techniques to defeat you." Nathan controlled his power.
Asher slashed towards Nathan from the right, he was also fighting with his basic techniques. He saw that Nathan's simple counter nullified his attack. He was expecting it so immediately launched many similar attacks on him. His slashes were getting nullified and Nathan did nothing but counter him.
Asher could now understand why Nathan said he could improve his basics even further, but Nathan underestimated the capabilities of Asher in his sword. His new high intelligence made him have a better control of his killing intent so he decided to go a bit serious against him. His eyes sharpened and his attacks got more precise.
He immediately started to trap Nathan into his feints creating a fake pattern in his swings and after 25 such exchange of their swords he attacked Nathan from an awkward position making him take the blow on his hand as he could not use anything other than the basics of the swords.
Seeing that Nathan who was defeated due to the sudden shift of pace by him, Asher gave Nathan a arrogant smirk,
"This fuc**** Brat!" Nathan was holding in his anger and forced himself to smile.
