Chương 116: Chapter 121: Unbound

Use Trait Evolution Token on Arcane Aptitude? Yes/No Yes. The system answered immediately. I felt something pass through me, an energy maybe, or a wave. I couldn't even begin to understand what it was, but it went through the entirety of my being, making me feel exposed like never before. Then I felt it in my skills. I didn't know where my skills resided, I could use them, but not detect them. Now I felt them vibrating at the foreign touch. Then the scan went deeper, touching what made me… me.

──────────────────────── Synergy Detected Arcane Aptitude, Arcane Shaping, and Arcane Manipulation are aligning… ──────────────────────── I could feel the traits and the skill like never before. They were woven through me, no different than an organ. No, they ran even deeper. They were in every cell, in every strand of DNA. The traits were part of me, and I could lose a limb, but I wouldn't lose them. It was a wonder what I had managed before.

Now I understood that evolving my curse resistance trait meant evolving myself, at least in part, like a fish forcing itself to breathe oxygen and actually changing in real time to do exactly that. The traits were reaching a critical point, I could feel it. Then… ──────────────────────── Alert! Multiple Achievements Detected Profane Substitution, Overpowering Magic, Genesis of Damnation, Enhanced Will, Forced Evolution and user preferences are being analyzed. ──────────────────────── The process halted somewhat.

Not completely, but the synergy that was building before started to shift while the System worked its magic on me. Now it felt like it was sorting through my memories. Could it do that, or was it just my imagination? I felt the wave seeping through my body focus on my mind, searching, cataloguing, analyzing. I felt it rummaging through my head for a time. I couldn't say how long. Then the previously slowed process picked up speed again, changing me in a different way than before.

I felt the trait link my body to my mind in a way that was more than just simple electrical signals like my brain used. It was spiritual in a way, something that took my more magical side into consideration. The mundane had little part to play in this. Finally, I felt my Will working as both conduit and source. Ding! ──────────────────────── Trait evolution complete! Arcane Aptitude evolved into: Unbound Arcana Abandons structure to impose your will upon energy and skills alike.

Greatly enhances control, allowing precise internal and external manipulation. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ──────────────────────── My body was all tingling at this point. The System was stingy as usual with descriptions, but I didn't need one to understand what had happened to me. I raised a hand and focused my senses on it. I marvelled at the mana I could feel now, not only in my hand but suffusing my whole body.

More than that, I could perceive my aura more clearly, and I thought I could catch a hint of my own lifeforce. I had never managed to sense it before. Not that I would have used it anyway, but now I was really starting to see how these energies were a part of me, how they were interconnected in some way. I roused my aura and compressed it into a ball hovering on my upturned palm. Without skills, but I could feel my trait at work.

By simply willing it, it moved much more smoothly than before, responding to my desire instantly. I shaped it into a sword. Like many times before, I tried to give it an edge. I pictured it in my head, sharp enough to cut the air itself. The simple-looking, all-grey sword compressed. The handle remained the same, but the blade became thinner and thinner until it nearly reached the thickness of a sheet of paper. Aural Manifestation. The aura solidified into a real, tangible construct in my hand.

I raised the sword high, gripping it tightly, then swung it down fast at a tree to my right. I felt slight resistance for a moment, then my arm continued and finished the motion. The tree beside me rustled, then slid forward a couple of inches before creaking and toppling to the forest floor. Branches snapped and leaves flew everywhere as the tree fell, but my eyes were glued to the remaining stump. I took a step closer and touched the cut surface. It was extremely smooth, with only a few waves.

I was no sword master, but the blade was sharp beyond words. I would spend much more time experimenting with my skills right now if I could. The new trait was amazing in ways that weren't immediately obvious from the simple description, but I already had many ideas floating in my head. If only I could evolve Arcane Shaping too… maybe I could merge the traits? In any case, I had much more control now, enhancing what I already did manyfold.

I would be able to push my skills further away from their intended path, unlocking more evolutions, maybe even merging them together. My trick of imprinting my will on mana would be enhanced. Maybe I could even manage to attach curses to my aura the way I wanted now. I started experimenting lightly with it while I walked back. Unfortunately, my curse was done giving me any more leisure time. I realized it just now. My curse was affected too. No, that wasn't exactly true.

It wasn't that the curse was affected by my new trait, it was that I could sense it better now, and affect it too. I could rouse my Curse-Born Resilience trait against it, my achievement, and my own Will. I could probably fight it even better now, but exhausting myself for some extra training time wasn't productive. I was already tired, and there was much to do. I would have to deal with that stupid contract. Not only that, but I had to talk with everyone about the letter's content.

The others weren't stupid, they would already be speculating. But instead of hiding information, I could use them to my advantage. The only question was how. I breached the treeline. The town was in sight, wooden like before. I enhanced my vision with my aura and noticed how much smoother it was now. The enhancement was better overall too, allowing me to see farther and with more detail, even if it was still in black and white. I saw many people moving around, and some guards too. More than I had noticed before.

But they were just patrolling. They were watching us, guarding us, not the monsters. The safe zone was, by definition, safe against monsters, but not against internal conflicts. And now there were more or less fifty people, plus aliens, roaming around. I just hoped no one started anything stupid. I had my fair share of things to deal with, especially the contract. After the hint in the letter, I had a pretty good idea of how to proceed, but I needed to verify everything first.

I wouldn't move before being certain of winning. But if I managed it… the possibilities… That hint really saved me a ton of wasted time. That, and the trait, gave it even more credibility. All of this was straight out of a fantasy book. Time travel, or whatever it was Adrian was doing, was insane. If I had that power… I could have done incredible things by now. How much could I have improved even before exiting the first safe zone? More questions came to mind. Did that guy keep anything other than his memories?

Skills, traits, rewards from the System? It couldn't be right, could it? That would be too much. Just the knowledge and mastery gained would already be absurdly overpowered, as Quinn liked to say. Speaking of him, I saw Quinn fretting between two buildings, heading somewhere with Alya, Marcus, and Tom. Perfect. Just the people I needed. It was time to brainstorm this whole matter.