Bastion’s consciousness was suddenly pulled inward, deep into his soul, returning to the familiar world of golden sand beneath a blazing sun. As expected, the sa translucent blue interface appeared, dominating his entire field of view and presenting his options.
Rank 4: Diamond Golem Knight
Rank 3: Shield Knight
Rank 2: Magic Engineer
Rank 2: Golem Crafter
.
.
.
At a glance, he had the exact sa options as his Rank 1 promotion, but after scrolling past the other Rank 2 options, both old and new, he encountered one that was most likely related to the mysterious ore he had shoved inside his chest.
“Rank 2: Arcane Warden?” Bastion read out.
He wasn’t holding out for any good options this ti around, already resolved to taking the Shield Knight Class since it fit his build without compromise. Now he was presented with a brand new option, all because he had taken a gamble on so mysterious piece of tal Seraphina had offhandedly ntioned during the auction at the Royal Academy.
“I should have stuffed the ore into my chest along with the Space Stone during my Rank 1 promotion. That way, I would have at least found out what the Class did from the beginning. Oh well, I guess it doesn’t matter. I would have taken Armory Knight anyway. There was no way I would have chosen anything else.”
Left with no other interesting options, Bastion selected the Class and took a look. On the left side of the panel was his exact figure, diamond hair, the sa human body, the sa physique, except his eyes glowed an intense shade of blue like lightning. On the right side of the panel, he read the Class details.
[Arcane Corruption]: Grants magic the attribute of Corruption. Increases magic resistance and mana regeneration.
[Arcane Shackles]: Shackles targets together with mana.
[Arcane Lockdown]: Encloses a target area within a do saturated with mana that permits entry but prevents escape.
[Arcane Pulse]: Emits a wave of mana that pushes enemies away.
[Arcane Sigil]: Marks a target with a sigil of mana.
[Arcane Sentry]: Conjures a stationary mana eye at a designated location within range that grants vision, attacks, and alerts according to predefined instructions.
“Holy shit!” Bastion exclaid in disbelief. “Holy shit! Holy. Fucking. Shit!”
The skills all looked simple enough, with a clear focus on the key word “warden.” Arcane Shackles can bind targets and restrict their mobility. Arcane Lockdown creates a prison in place. Arcane Pulse pushes enemies away in a full 360° radius. Arcane Sigil marks a target, similar to Elyra’s Shadow Mark, suggesting he could track them or even observe them from a distance. Arcane Sentry functions as a guard, keeping watch while he’s occupied. All of these were very normal skills, as far as Bastion was concerned.
However, when the first line of the Ability Arcane Corruption is taken into account, this suddenly becos an overpowered Class.
Oftentis when corruption is ntioned, people think of the abuse of power that is common in politics, the twisting of an innocent mind into depravity, or the deliberate destruction of perfectly organized information. However, corruption can also refer to the decay, decomposition, or perversion of a system, text, or structure, causing it to drift away from its original pure state.
Coupled with the effects of the mysterious ore that converts mana into neutral mana, it can be assud that the Corruption attribute can consu the mana of others and transform it into either unusable neutral mana or Bastion’s own mana.
Suddenly, all the skills where mana was ntioned beco far more than what their wording suggests. Arcane Shackles drains the mana of affected targets continuously. Arcane Lockdown consus the mana of those trapped within the do. Arcane Pulse pushes back targets and drains their mana. Arcane Sigil might prevent mana regeneration or greatly reduce it. Even Arcane Sentry could consu both mana and health from those it attacks.
It was a ga changing attribute that could allow Bastion to beco the ultimate mage hunter.
Of course, wherever there are potential advantages, there are also potential drawbacks. For instance, would Bastion still be able to enchant anything? If he could, the mana drain on any user other than himself would be imnse.
He likely wouldn’t be able to use anything enchanted by soone weaker than himself, as his own mana would corrupt theirs and destroy it before he could wield it properly, effectively erasing the enchantnts. There were many possible problems with this attribute, yet the boost to Bastion’s combat capabilities would be staggering.
Against humans in particular, anyone with a Class would suffer when they ca into contact with his mana.
“Wait! No! Let’s not get too excited,” Bastion said in an effort to calm himself. “Let’s count out the pros and cons.”
“Maybe I won’t be able to touch the girls anymore because my mana would consu theirs? No. As long as I have full control over my mana, I’ll still be able to avoid affecting them, similar to how Seraphina’s flas don’t harm anyone she doesn’t allow. Although she does sotis leave neutral flas behind that can still hurt us, they shouldn’t be that devastating.
The only problem I can see is if I accidentally lose control of my mana inside the carriage that Lilia enchanted, destroying everything inside. Nah, I can just add mana insulation to prevent that kind of accident, so it’ll be fine.
I won’t be able to sell anything I enchant? Well, that’s what Lilia is for, so I would basically stop selling my enchantnts and fully focus on smithing instead, which isn’t a bad deal since it would allow to concentrate my ti and energy.
I won’t be able to use anything other than products I make myself? That’s not too bad. Actually, that would be great motivation, since I would be forced to create my own versions of things on the market rather than just buying them. Man, this particular downside might hurt more than I realize.
I won’t be able to make use of certain materials with unique mana inside them? I don’t have an answer for that, but at the sa ti, I would be able to forge so pretty powerful personal weapons that rely on my mana’s Corruption attribute. Mana-drain bullets? Magic-cancel bullets?
Wait, wouldn’t the shrapnel from my Diamond Shatter drain the target’s mana and improve the diamond’s longevity, allowing it to continuously siphon their mana? Damn. That’s one hell of an annoying attack to face.”
Bastion continued to weigh the pros and cons until he realized the Class was a ga changer for him. It had strong synergy with his Diamond Knight Class and would allow him to beco a genuine threat against humans he might not be able to Taunt. He would be the most annoying enemy to face while simultaneously the most dangerous to leave alive, further ensuring the girls’ survival.
Given that they were about to leave the kingdom, where his reputation as a duke largely protected them from other humans, it was in his best interest to beco as powerful as possible to secure both his survival and the girls’. Ultimately, he decided to take the Class instead of choosing Shield Knight.
With his decision made, he pressed the button to accept the Class and hoped for the best. Then he suddenly rembered that the whispers would visit his dreams again, so he braced himself. This ti, however, it was no longer a dream but a vivid vision.
In a world of pure darkness, Bastion found himself floating in the void, gray mist curling in slow coils and carrying whispers that slipped into him like water through cracked stone. He listened with rapt attention, understanding the words but never the sentences.
In the end, as his vision cleared and he awoke, still strapped naked to the table, all he could rember were the whispers and scattered key words.
"…when veils… of ti… draw thin… stars… whisper… forgotten… oaths…"
"…soul… long severed… rise… from… void…"
"…bound… not by… na… nor… flesh…"
"…wander… seeking… the heart… once knew… cannot… rember…"
"…by fla’s… death… and river’s… stillness…"
"…it shall… awaken… where… all roads… et…"
"…shaped… by trials… yet… unspoken…"
"…shadows… will call… it brother…"
"…light… will know… it not…"
"…in gaze… of fate’s… keeper… echo… of what was… stir anew…"
"…only when… threads… of destiny… converge…"
"…upon breaking… of crowns…"
"…shall the lost… be made… whole…"
"…heart waits… reflection… unrecognized…"
"…until… the end… begins again…"
Even awake, the rhythm of the whispers pulsed inside his skull like a second heartbeat. It was eerie and unsettling, like a prophecy from an old goat.
He focused with all his might to rember the words he heard, but the slightest distraction let them slip, forever forgotten.
“Bastion!” Seraphina’s voice invaded his mind, knocking out any mories he had tried to keep. “Are you alright? You’re already awake and didn’t give us a chance to move you to the bed.”
He had been so close to understanding those damn whispers and had even managed to catch clues about them, like how it had everything to do with him specifically and eting soone. But Seraphina’s shouting blew it all away, leaving nothing but the whispers in his mind.
“I…” Bastion said, wanting to shout in anger before quickly quelling his rampaging emotions. “I heard the whispers again, but it wasn’t a dream this ti. It was a vision.”
“Oh? What did it say?” she asked, intrigued.
He wanted to scream again but quickly cald his fluctuating emotions and answered as calmly as possible.
“I don’t know, but it has sothing to do with eting soone. I think it’s a prophecy.”
“So… no other details?”
“No,” Bastion sighed, releasing the tension in his body. “But I’m getting closer. I think I’ll be able to find out more when I rank up again.”
“Let’s hope it’s nothing serious,” she said, smiling. “More importantly, I can’t see your face because of the strange blue mana covering your eyes. What Class did you get?”
Bastion smiled in resignation. “Arcane Warden.”
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