"The third stage is Rank Three—Moderate Fortification." A faint smile appeared on Clentine’s face. "This is generally considered the point where the vessel becos a genuinely combat-worthy structure."
"The body, soul vessel, and energy infrastructure all undergo advanced reinforcent, becoming capable of enduring prolonged supernatural combat, supporting stronger abilities, handling greater energy outputs, and tolerating increasingly demanding concepts and powers.
"In simple terms, this stage greatly enhances physical strength, durability, burden tolerance, resilience, and overall structural integrity. By this point, the vessel is no longer rely stable—it is hardened."
She looked toward Aezaleon. "Which is precisely why most serious combatants begin displaying their true capabilities around this level."
Clentine continued expanding upon the frawork, elaborating on details she had initially glossed over. Whenever one of the girls raised a question, she answered patiently, addressing every confusion and satisfying every curiosity without the slightest sign of impatience. The discussion continued for quite so ti, and by the end of it, Aezaleon found that most of his questions had already been answered.
Most, because there was still one thing he wanted to know. "Hm," he raised a hand slightly. "What Fortification Rank am I currently at?" The question drew everyone’s attention. "I’ve already absorbed sowhere between nine to thirteen Rank Three Calamities, haven’t I?" he continued thoughtfully. "So I should at least be Fortification Rank One or Two by now, right?"
A brow rose on his face. To him, the conclusion seed reasonable.
"That’s actually quite simple to find out." Anastasia was the one who answered. "The bracelets sister bought from the Auction House should already have the necessary rune arrays for that."
Seeing Aezaleon’s confusion, she elaborated further. "They can scan and identify a person’s Ascension Rank, Form Fortification Rank, Core Tier, Bloodline Tier, current health condition, energy reserves, and several other basic status indicators."
Aezaleon’s eyes widened slightly. "Oh—really?"
"Of course." Anastasia nodded. "You simply need to use one on your actual body." Then, as though rembering sothing important, she added, "Mh, and don’t resist the scan. The runes need to interact directly with the target. If you instinctively reject them because they feel intrusive or uncomfortable, the scan will fail, and you’ll receive incomplete information or none at all."
Understanding dawned on Aezaleon’s face, followed imdiately by a realization. He stared at her. "Those things...? The bracelets actually have functionalities that advanced?" The surprise in his voice was impossible to hide. Until now, he had rely viewed them as identification and communication accessories. Learning that they possessed such sophisticated utility functions caught him off guard.
For a brief mont, he even wondered just how much of the world he still didn’t know.
Anastasia chuckled softly. The gesture was elegant, her hand partially covering her smile. Combined with the sheer, revealing light nightdress she was currently wearing, the sight was admittedly distracting.
"Sothing this simple?" she said with amusent. "Of course the bracelets—the ones sister got after looting the auction house—can do it easily." Her crimson eyes curved slightly.
"In fact, they are capable of doing far more than that. Don’t underestimate them, husband. These bracelets are high-grade Utility-Tech used even by high sovereigns in their daily lives. They’re designed to simplify countless tasks and provide convenient access to information that would otherwise require dedicated abilities, equipnt, or personnel."
Aezaleon’s interest increased. "Oh?" Now this was becoming genuinely fascinating. He shot a glance toward Auguszta. She imdiately understood what he wanted. Without saying a word, she sent a thought into her spatial ring and retrieved one of the bracelets.
As soone who had actively participated in collecting the resources left behind after the auction house incident, she naturally had it on hand, along with nurous other items.
Taking it from her, Aezaleon gave the bracelet a thorough inspection. Now that he paid proper attention, it was clearly different from the ones they had looted from the five elves in the forest in the morning. The craftsmanship was superior, the runic architecture was considerably more intricate, and even the materials used in its construction appeared far more refined.
Unfortunately, after a few monts of observation, he rembered sothing important: his actual body wasn’t here, as this was but an illusory manifestation.
With a helpless smile, he handed the bracelet back to Auguszta. "Looks like I’ll have to wait until we leave the Soul Sea."
Auguszta accepted it without complaint. "Then I’ll demonstrate it instead." Without wasting any ti, she quickly swapped the two bracelets and activated the newly acquired one, intending to view her status just as Anastasia had described.
A plain black holographic screen materialized before her with a few faint flickers.
Rows upon rows of information appeared across its surface in pristine white text. Although it was written in one of the many spoken languages she rarely used, Auguszta understood every word effortlessly, considering her blood carried inherited information of countless languages and writing systems, many of which—once more, she rarely had any reason to use.
However, only a few seconds later, the display began behaving strangely. The flickering beca erratic, lines of text distorted, and symbols overlapped. The entire screen glitched as though struggling to process sothing it should never have encountered.
Then—ZAP!
A sharp discharge echoed through the surroundings. The holographic display collapsed instantly and vanished without a trace.
Auguszta simply—blinked.
For perhaps the first ti in a long while, she genuinely didn’t know what to say. After gathering her thoughts, she briefly described what she had just experienced to her sisters and husband, her expression carrying a faint flush of embarrassnt.
Anastasia, who had been sitting nearby, imdiately beca interested. Moving closer on her hands and knees, she leaned forward to inspect the bracelet herself.
Unfortunately for Aezaleon, the movent provided a rather dangerous and tantalizing view of sothing vertical, pink, and glistening in tempting wetness from his current position. Or perhaps fortunately; the distinction was debatable. His eyes lingered for a mont longer than they probably should have before he finally managed to regain control of himself.
Even then, a faint smile remained on his lips. He truly was a blessed man.
Of course, such thoughts were hardly hidden from his wives, his eternal companions. Clentine found the situation amusing, Anastasia felt rather proud of herself, and anwhile, Aphryne and Auguszta beca equally jealous and irritated.
This woman—wasn’t she being a bit too much of a seductress here?
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