Northern lowered his head and supported his forehead with a finger. He was hiding his facial expression from everyone.
All the muscles of his facial features twitched from an intense desire to let out a burst of
ominous laughter and cry at the same time, but Northern suppressed them, not wanting to be asked what exactly went wrong.
Even so, his shoulders still trembled where he stood.
"Is he crying?" Rafel cocked his head slowly as he observed Northern.
Others were also as inquisitive, only silently-their expressions betrayed their thoughts.
Ryan, however, was slightly different. There was a look of determination that rose upon his face, his hands tightly folded into a wrecking ball, capable of breaking even the strongest of walls.
He had never been known to be ridden with such determined look sparkling in his eyes. Ryan was the indifferent type, and everyone that knew him so far had come to settle with his introverted nature.
Seeing someone like that suddenly resonate with determination was slightly surprising.
But then again, with the magnitude of power that Northern had just shown everyone, it was understandable that even he would feel like that.
'How annoying... I thought I would be able to become an Ascendant before leaving this damn rift.'
Northern straightened his back, raising a somber face to the sky.
Currently, he had six talent slots; he had copied one, so he had five more to fill.
And he had six months to do that. That meant he was going to be stuck as a Sage for the next six months.
Six months was plenty of time to become a Paragon and start looking to shoot beyond, at least for someone like him.
But because of the damned punishment for not absorbing talent, he wouldn't be able to become a Paragon and instead would be stuck as Sage.
Northern felt his soul breaking and breaking as he continued to dwell on the thought.
'Shit... let's just look to the bright side of this.'
He was going to be able to delicately choose talents to copy and kill unrestrained, so he'd be able to earn as many talent fragments as possible.
If he was to add five strong-at least S class talents to his repertoire, it would be a great boon; that was an understatement.
He might be able to boost his attack and defense powers with a lot of powerful talents.
Northern nodded with a small smile palely playing on his lips.
After the long, stretched, tense silence, he finally turned around, the smile leaving his face like an exorcised ghost.
"I hope everyone is fine...?"
All of them stood, bleak and speechless, just staring at him.
He smiled and clapped.
"Well then. I guess everyone is okay. From here on out, I don't know what we will be facing, but I know there will be more monsters one, so let's be careful while the offense is left to me. I will protect everyone."
Northern said with a smile that didn't even reach his face.
They did not doubt his words; however, it looked to them-especially the Lieutenant's subordinates-that he did not want to do this.
Whereas Northern was just dealing with the residual pain of not being able to become a Paragon in six months.
'Damn penalty. Damn system, shouldn't it have just warned me ahead? But then, it's a good thing, it's a good thing.'
He consoled himself over and over again, but the lingering regret wasn't able to get rid of.
He just turned and started walking away; others also started moving, following him closely from behind.
Their looks had changed-admiration sparkled in their eyes and they tried to come closer to him without getting too close.
Perhaps they now felt safer protected by his tall frame and lustrous black armor glinting sinisterly beneath the crimson sky.
Northern continued forward wordlessly for a few minutes, instead observing his panel and searching for anything he needed to pay attention to.
Name: Rian Artemis Reimgard (Northern Longguard)
True Name: [Nameless]3
Attributes: [Formless], [Limitless Void], [Vestige of Chaos], [Chaos Eyes], [Chaotic Regeneration], [Chaos Flame], [Seed of Void], [Chaos Infusion], [Chaotic Resonance]
Soul Rank: [Transient]
Void Summons: [7/100]
Talent Fragments: [10,042/6,000]
[Copied Talents]: [2/6]
[Attribute Abilities (Active/Passive)]: [10/11]
[Owned Items]: [Mortal Blade], [Eternal Twilight], [Death Glare] and 13 others.
Northern's brows furrowed.
'It's even worse than I expected. I fought so many monsters and not even a single item. Damn you Ul, you must hate me so much.'
Northern also welcomed the idea that he probably does not exist in Ul's book.
It was totally understandable and he wasn't angry about it. What he lacked for items, he made up for with the amount of soul cores he possessed.
'I still need to work on my collections of items the moment I get out of here, find additional ways to augment my strength and strengthen my weaknesses, although I have none.'
He grinned eerily at the realization and quickly erased it as he turned his focus to another
[Chaos Art of Blistering Thousand Steps]
Heritage Ability: [Chaos Step], [Chaos Sword Art 1: Eternal Chaos], [Chaos Sword Art 2:
Tempest Fury], [Chaos Flame]
Heritage Heirloom: [Grengar]
'It's the same thing with the attribute?' Northern inquired internally, and focused on the text.
As he did, more information popped up.
Chaos Flame: [This is a convolution of all your past breakthroughs with chaos. A flame of chaos now flows in your blood, uniting each ligament and muscle. Because of this flow of flame, your body adaptation to combat styles has increased and a unique trait linking with Chaos Eyes and formless has been created]
Northern stayed confused for a moment. Then went back to the main panel and singled out
Chaos Eyes: [All Eyes (passive)], [Soul Alteration], [Soul Disintegration], [Chaosight], [Reality Warping], [Chaos Constructs], [Formless Flame]
All Eyes (Passive): You possess extraordinary visual prowess, granting you heightened perception and insight into the world around you. Your eyes take on a distinct appearance, glowing with a mesmerizing aura that signifies its power.
Soul Alteration: [You can influence the souls of others directly. You can disrupt the soul integrity of an opponent, weakening their resolve, destabilizing their energy, or even altering their emotions. You can also damage the soul or disrupt harmful curses or hexes cast on
Soul Disintegration: [You can merge chaos with soul energy, creating devastating effects]
Chaosight: [You can perceive the chaos in multiple dimensions of time and space, although in limited flows: You can see brief flashes of the future and trace the past's influence on the
Reality Warping: [You can manipulate time and space on a small scale, momentarily slowing down time for a single target, or distorting space to create confusing or unpredictable
Chaos Constructs: [You can create constructs of pure chaotic energy, but fueled by your understanding of soul dynamics. These constructs could be weapons or barriers designed to shatter not only physical objects but also the soul of those they touch]
Northern paused for a moment.
'It seems I have neglected Chaos Eyes for too long... now that I have Chaos essence... I should
be able to do all these things right?'
His might was kind of just beginning to register in his head. Northern, of course, knew
Chaos Eyes and its capabilities.
But as much as he had potential of doing, he was heavily limited because there was no Chaos
Void essence didn't and wouldn't fuel these abilities. Upon becoming a Sage, Chaos became
more active. But Northern had been too preoccupied to inspect meticulously what areas of his abilities needed chaos to become effective.
He sighed. 'Well, better late than never,' then he continued to inspect the rest.