Chapter 53: Heroic Spell

Chapter 53: Heroic Spell Lucen speed-walked up the Grey Keep’s marble steps, through the long halls, and back to his room. People glanced at him, raising eyebrows and muttering things under their breaths. Once the two giant knights closed the door with a groaning bang, he asked the system to display the new skill. [Blood Rebirth (Heroic): A single drop of a divine being’s blood is enough to create life. Your blood is infused with healing properties that not only keep you alive, but can heal others. Infuse your blood with mana constantly to heal without needing to summon the runes.] Lucen gaped silently for a few moments. [Breath of Mending] was good for healing small injuries. [Blood Rebirth] was a life-saving treasure. [Breath], his first channelling technique, was a Minor-rank Life Channelling technique. It could use enhancement spells like [Breath of Rage] and [Breath of Veil], and healing spells like [Breath of Mending]. With this, all his original skills were at the High or Heroic rank, except [Breath of Veil]. But after his fight with Thomas, it was surely on the verge of a breakthrough. It was probably going to happen when he was a Knight and had tempered his soul. "So can I take a knife to the heart," Lucen wondered, "like Peter did?" [Try it. I’ll have a good laugh before you die.] Lucen glared at his white interface and its golden bezels. "Can you be useful?" [Hmph. Cross only survived your fatal blow to his heart because Blood Rebirth was King-rank back then. As long as the blade isn’t enchanted, he won’t die till his heart is ripped out. You, on the other hand, will heal as long as your heart is still pumping.] Lucen nodded, smiling. He could work with that. Bull wolves would go for the limbs and neck. He shivered at the thought, but at least he’d live. Next up was his new spell. He unrolled the scroll. The runes were drawn with purple rockflower ink. Its residue was magical enough to prevent the runes from burning through paper, and with some Arcia and Obsidian, you could cast this spell using only the scroll. The comfortable air of the room turned sharp and hot. His eyes burned as they fell on the rune, and his body quivered uncontrollably. Spells used unnatural runes to pervert the laws of the world. Scholars studied the natural runes of the world, copied, and then bastardized them to do what they wanted. Learning new spells was personal torture. The runes resisted being memorised, and their shapes hurt his mind. An hour of studying a spell made your brain feel like melted rubber, and that didn’t guarantee you could use it. Dominance was important for consistently summoning runes in your mind. Will was your ability to use mana channelled into your body to form these runes. Not to mention Insight, which determined whether your eyes wouldn’t just burst from looking at the runes. He had all these stats at the High rank at this point, so the runes stabbed his head like hot needles, but he could withstand and master them far faster than when he was younger. He needed to lock this spell in before the Bull wolves arrived. An hour of pure pain passed, then two, and finally three hours passed. Lucen put the scroll back into his storage space and went into the white-tiled bathroom to take a very cold bath. He was at his limit, and Selene would return soon. He wiped the water from his face, exhaling a satisfied breath. He willed his interface to open. [Your skills Night vision (Low) Wall climbing (Low) Comprehension (Minor) Targeting (Minor) Reading (Minor) Song of Light (Heroic) Breath of Veil (Low) Traveller’s Aid (Minor) Sinking Sand (Minor) Surging Flames (High) Bone Spear (Minor) Final Spark (High) Blood Rebirth (Heroic) Will’s Breath (High)] [Will’s Breath: uses the caster’s exhaled breaths to enhance attacks. Increases range and power of strikes.] This melded suspiciously well with [Surging Flames] and [Starfall], the ability of Barth’s treasured spear. Windy might have known how, but he didn’t want to attribute too much competency to her. It would make him more wary of disobeying her. He breathed in lightly and summoned the runes in his already sore mind. A vein popped out of his forehead, but they appeared. He made a slight jab with his fist while exhaling, and the air whistled, travelling across the bathroom and slamming into the tiles. A crack formed on the white tiles. Lucen grimaced. He had been trying to hold back. Selene would have his head. He flexed his fingers well and measured the distance. The power and range were truly impressive—a mid-range spell that would make most fights easier, and it could work with a variety of weapons. Bull wolves were huge and tanky. Breaking their skin was not going to be easy. Their horns and size meant if they got on him, it was over. He needed to stay quick and vigilant. If he even survived this, then he had to journey to the Red Keep to kill Aya’s brother and find whatever was connected to his fate there. The last time a Keep was sieged and broken, it was by the Bluefeather Knight, Caroline. All Keeps are magical fortresses, even if all the other six Keeps came together, bringing down the Red Keep wouldn’t be easy. But Caroline didn’t break the castle. She broke the people inside. Lucen heard that her very form tormented the defenders of the Keep with nightmares and mental illnesses from the fear. He wondered if Chester could be that terrifying. Probably not, considering the fact that Caroline was hailed as the greatest Grand Knight in her generation. She would have reached a higher level if not for her assassination. Then there was also Shanakal’s treasure and the Nine-Claw Swamp that Chester mentioned. He could bet a leg that the things in there could help him defeat the Red Keep. [You have stats already close to Heroic, but I recommend you put off becoming a Knight. Tempering yourself closes off your chances of gaining special attributes like resistances to curses or reaching the next level of mana sense.] That would explain why all Knights didn’t just have second sight. Thomas couldn’t see perfectly through mana, but he had a sixth sense for danger that Lucen suspected was a side effect of tempering. "I can’t slow it down though," Lucen said, "the more I channel, the more my soul coalesces." [That’s why I’m here. Focus on mastering your current skills. I’ll stall your advancement.] [New mission! Slay thirty Fledgling Bull wolves and devour their essence.] Should he be happy about this? The first wave of wolves would be here tomorrow—maybe some extra power at the cost of special attributes was worth it. He stared into the water pooling at his feet and sighed. "Patience really is a virtue."