Chapter 22: Cloak of Edginess, Reporting for Duty.

Chapter 22: Cloak of Edginess, Reporting for Duty. <Ding> [You have successfully assimilated Skill: Ember Sense.] I opened my eyes to the glow of a blue system window floating in front of me. Hell yeah. I did it. Not that I ever doubted it, of course. Still... my heart was pounding. I immediately clicked open the skill window. I already knew the details but hey, excitement over small victories is human nature, right? I just wanted to see it again. To make sure that snail bastard didn’t scam me. Soon the skill window appeared before me. __ ∟Ember Sense → Type → Active/Passive Rank → C Effect → Enhance physical senses, reflexes, touch, hearing and awareness of the user. When activated, it grants thermal vision, allowing detection of enemies, traps and movement through smoke, darkness or thin walls. Mana cost decreases if the user has fire elemental affinity. Refinement level → 1★ __ I looked at the screen and smirked. Just as I remembered it in the treasury. My refinement level was still low but it would increase with time. The higher it was, the more naturally the skill syncs with my core. At five star, it becomes a permanent part of me. Time to see what this baby could actually do. I closed my eyes and focused. Starting with the passive, obviously. Almost instantly, I could feel the environment around me sharpen. Every breeze, every subtle vibration in the room felt vivid. Ok, I was exaggerating a bit. I mean, it’s still a C-Rank skill. It’s not like I turned into some superhuman. I was still blind with my eyes closed. But now I could sense faint air shifts—just enough to catch nearby movement. It wasn’t flashy. But who cares... at least I will be able to sense an attack from my blindspot. After testing a few more things, I moved on to the next part—activating the skill. This one was trickier. It was my first time actually using the skill for real. To activate it, I had to visualize the cue I imprinted during refinement while channeling mana according to the skill’s flow. I closed my eyes and focused, picturing the flaming card in my mind. That was the trigger. At the same time, I guided the mana toward my eyes, just like the skill information instructed. It felt a little awkward but that was expected for a first try. Give it a few days and I’d be able to activate it just by instinct. No manual mana control. But for now? I had to do it slowly and carefully. As soon as the mana reached my eyes, I felt warm. My senses sharpened more than before. The world around me felt clearer. I opened my eyes and immediately noticed the difference. My vision... had changed. The colors were gone. Instead, everything was painted in shades of heat. Warm tones glowed in orange, yellow and red while the cooler objects faded into blues and greys. Damn. So this was thermal vision. I walked forward, scanning the room. Even through the thin stone wall near the end of the chamber, I could make out the silhouette of someone passing by in the corridor. It wasn’t perfect. The range was limited, and the details weren’t razor sharp. But it’d do for now. Of course, it had a few drawbacks, like the fact that I couldn’t see through proper concealment magic. Like Aeon. She was definitely somewhere in the room, hiding in the shadows. And even with Ember Sense active, I couldn’t spot her. I only knew she was here because of protocol. She followed me everywhere outside my personal room, just like Stella, unless I told her not to. Even in the training room, she’d silently monitor from the shadows, just in case something went wrong. Unless I explicitly told her otherwise, she’d be there. And after that meeting with Seles? Yeah... I completely forgot to tell her anything in my excitement. So odds are, she was still lurking in some corner right now. Good thing I wasn’t one of those transmigrators with loudspeaker syndrome—muttering their entire master plan to themselves like they’re in a damn stage play. Otherwise, Aeon would’ve already blackmailed me. Or worse—thought I’d gone mad and reported it to my father. And that... would’ve been a whole different problem. Let’s try. "Aeon, you there?" I whispered softly. Just to check if she was here. As soon as those words left my mouth, she appeared out of thin air. She bowed slightly. "Yes, Young Master." Her voice was calm and her expression blank as always. But something was off. I looked at her—not just with my eyes but with Ember Sense still active. Nothing. No heat signature. No aura ripple. It was like she didn’t exist. She was five damn ranks above me. And her Nexus [Daughter of Mist] was an assassin-style class. Stealth wasn’t just a perk. It was the whole damn point. "You don’t need to monitor me in the training room anymore," I said casually. Until now, whatever I’d been doing was basic—nothing that really mattered. But starting tomorrow, I’d be practicing the Ashborn family’s martial arts. Something that wasn’t meant to be seen by outsiders. She didn’t argue. Honestly, she didn’t give a damn about me. I was just a job to her. So if I told her to stop, she’d stop without any questions asked. "Okay, Young Master," she replied. "Oh... and one more thing," I added, narrowing my eyes a bit. "Don’t use teleportation around me." It wasn’t just annoying. It made me jealous as hell. Plus, I could never tell if she actually left... or if she was just lurking in some damn corner, watching me like a ghost. Creepy. I mean, sure—she’d signed a soul contract that stopped her from doing anything shady. But still. You never know with people like her. She didn’t say anything and just walked herself out of the training room. When the door clicked shut behind her, I finally deactivated [Ember Sense]. It had drained nearly ten percent of my mana just to keep it running for five minutes. It didn’t have a cooldown, sure—but the mana cost was too damn high. __ After checking everything about the skill, I turned my gaze toward the artifact lying quietly beside me. The cloak. It just sat there. All black and dramatic. I picked it up. Unlike skills, refining an artifact was easy—no visualizations, no resistance. Just channel some mana to form a bond with it and done. That was it. As my fingers brushed the fabric, I felt it—cool, soft and surprisingly smooth. The kind of smooth that made you question if it was really D-rank. Still, I had no fancy expectations. I focused and started channeling mana into it. The process was straightforward. My mana seeped into it smoothly without any obstacles. Too smooth, maybe. But I wasn’t going to complain. After a few seconds, I felt the shift. I could feel an invisible bond form with the artifact. A system window popped up in front of me. [You Have Successfully Bonded With The Artifact: Cloak of Edginess] Easy peasy. Of course it worked. I’m a natural. Probably the first person to bond with something this fast— And then— [Error] [Error] [Error] My smile froze. What the hell? [Sentience Detected] Wait—what? [True Form Of Artifact Is Being Revealed] The cloak in my hand... began to twitch. Then it moved. _____ Author’s Note: Rael’s just awakened Ember Sense—thermal vision, heightened senses and all that spicy stuff. Oh and the cloak? Let’s just say... things are about to get weird. Poll time: Rael’s current affinity is fire-only and I have big plans for it. But if you had a say... What would you pick? A) Keep it fire-only and evolve it into something next-level.????→???? B) Add a second affinity down the line and double the chaos. ????+❄️ or ⚡, ????, ????️ Vote below, curious to see what the chaos-hungry crowd prefers. If you’re enjoying the ride, feel free to drop a Power Stone, Golden Ticket or even a Gift—every bit helps fuel the fire