Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

Atlas moved deeper into the Abandoned Wind Chapel after assimilating the higher-ranked Traits.

The lower prayer hall was behind him now, filled with dried monster bodies and broken stone. The Sanguis Stylus had already absorbed the blood from the Wind Imps and Hollow Crows, so there was no reason to stay there longer.

The corridor ahead sloped downward.

Wind moved through the passage in uneven currents, sometimes pushing against his chest and sometimes pulling from behind his back. The walls were carved with old winged figures holding broken instruments, but most of the carvings had been damaged by time or monster claws.

Atlas walked carefully.

His body still felt strange after assimilating the A-Rank and S-Rank Traits. Crowbeast Wings stayed dormant near his back, like a new function he could feel but not operate properly. Velgrath’s Spirit Sphere sat deeper inside him, far more dangerous than the others. Just thinking about using it made his Spirit gather too sharply.

So he ignored the S-Rank Traits for now.

A-Rank first.

Qield’s Horn.

Regenerative Hide.

Those were difficult enough, but they did not feel impossible.

A sound came from the passage ahead.

Several sharp clicks.

Then movement.

Three Wind Imps crawled out from cracks in the wall, followed by two larger creatures. These ones had longer arms, sharper wings, and denser wind gathered around their bodies. Their eyes glowed faintly, and their fingers scraped against the stone as they lowered themselves for attack.

Atlas recognized the type through the mission information.

Greater Wind Imps.

Still D-Rank, but stronger than the earlier ones.

The first smaller Imp rushed forward.

Atlas did not dodge far.

He raised his hand and tested Qield’s Horn.

Dense Spirit gathered near his palm first, then compressed into a narrow forward pressure. The shape was rough, but the effect formed quickly.

Atlas pushed his palm forward.

BOOM

The Spirit pressure pierced through the Wind Imp’s chest and continued into the corridor behind it.

The monster died instantly.

The wall cracked.

Atlas looked at the damage.

”That much from a small release?”

Qield’s Horn was clearly stronger than Spirit Horn in structure. Spirit Horn had fired Spirit in a direct line, but Qield’s Horn focused the output before release. Even with a weak attempt, the piercing force became far higher than Atlas expected.

The remaining Imps moved at once.

One came from the left wall and another from above.

The two Greater Wind Imps used the corridor wind to accelerate their bodies and cut toward Atlas with their wing edges.

Atlas stepped forward instead of retreating.

Spirit Tails corrected his footing, and Qield’s Horn pressure wrapped lightly around his forearm.

He punched the first Greater Wind Imp.

CRAAACK

The monster’s chest caved inward.

Its body flew back and smashed into the wall hard enough to leave a deep crater.

Atlas’s eyes narrowed.

The force had increased beyond a normal punch.

Qield’s Horn was not only for shooting Spirit. It strengthened charge force and piercing impact when applied to movement. If he wrapped it around a fist or limb, his physical strike became sharper and more concentrated.

Useful.

Very useful.

The second Greater Wind Imp cut across his shoulder with its wing.

SHHK

Blood sprayed lightly.

Atlas felt the wound open.

Then it closed.

The skin tightened, the flesh pulled together, and the bleeding stopped within seconds.

Atlas paused briefly.

Regenerative Hide had activated automatically.

The wound was shallow, but the recovery speed was much faster than ordinary healing. It consumed a faint amount of Stamina and Spirit, but the cost was not large for this kind of injury.

The Greater Wind Imp tried to retreat.

Atlas caught its wing.

Qield’s Horn pressure gathered across his fingers.

CRACK

The wing broke in his hand.

Then he slammed the monster into the floor.

BOOM

Its body burst against the stone.

The remaining smaller Imps tried to scatter.

Atlas moved between them.

A short step, a controlled hand movement and then - a compressed strike.

Each one died quickly.

By the time he stopped, the corridor was filled with broken monster bodies and cracked stone.

Atlas looked at his hand again.

The A-Rank Traits did not hurt him when used in small amounts.

The Sanguis Stylus emerged from beside the Codex without waiting.

It moved toward the corpses and pierced the nearest one.

Thin crimson strands rose from the bodies and entered the stylus. But this time, something else also followed. Faint pale wind-like particles lifted from the dead monsters and disappeared into the stylus along with the blood.

Atlas noticed the strange glow but did not understand it.

”Spirit residue?”

That was the only explanation he could form.

The Codex did not show a message.

The stylus simply continued drinking until every corpse dried.

Atlas watched for a few seconds, then continued deeper.

.....

...

..

The next chamber was wider.

Broken benches were arranged in circles around a collapsed statue, and wind runes covered the floor in spiral patterns. The moment Atlas stepped inside, the runes activated faintly.

The air sharpened.

Several black shapes dropped from the ceiling.

Hollow Crows.

More than twenty.

Behind them, four larger crow-like monsters unfolded their wings. Their feathers looked darker, and their bodies carried heavier Spirit fluctuations than the ones from before.

Hollow Gale Crows.

D-Rank.

The entire flock attacked at once.

Wind blades filled the chamber.

Atlas activated Qield’s Horn and Spirit Claw together.

Pale Spirit formed over his fingers, and dense horn pressure sharpened the edge.

He swung once.

SHHHK

A crescent-shaped claw mark cut through the first row of Hollow Crows.

Six monsters split apart immediately.

The slash continued farther than he intended and carved a deep line across the far wall.

Atlas stopped his hand.

”It’s still too wide...”

The remaining crows circled above him.

Wind blades came from different angles.

Atlas used Spirit Tails to move through the gaps. His footwork was smoother than before, and with all Attributes at 10, his body responded faster without falling apart. He could feel where each step became too strong, then reduce the force before it turned wasteful.

A Hollow Gale Crow dove from above.

Atlas raised two fingers.

Qield’s Horn compressed around Spirit Claw.

SHHK

The crow’s wing separated cleanly.

He shifted his hand and struck its head with a short Spirit Fang.

CRUNCH

The monster died.

Another crow cut across his back with a wind blade.

The moment the wound opened Regenerative Hide reacted.

And the bleeding slowed and the flesh closed as new!

Atlas felt the cost - A little Stamina and Spirit.

But if he took too many wounds, the drain would add up.

That meant the Trait was useful for mistakes, not for careless fighting.

Atlas adjusted immediately.

He stopped allowing hits and used the monsters to train faster response.

Spirit Claw for cutting.

Qield’s Horn for focusing.

Spirit Fang for close crushing.

Spirit Poison when a monster touched him.

Spirit Tails for balance.

One monster after another fell.

A crow lunged toward his face.

Atlas caught it by the neck and released a thin layer of Spirit Poison.

Its wind flow collapsed, and its body spasmed before falling.

Another tried to escape into a side corridor.

Atlas pointed one finger.

Qield’s Horn gathered into a thin shot.

BOOM

The shot pierced the crow and cracked the corridor wall behind it.

Atlas lowered his hand.

The shot was still too destructive.

But compared to earlier, it was better.

He was reducing output little by little.

By the time the last Hollow Gale Crow died, the chamber looked like it had been cut apart by blades. Benches were split, the statue had collapsed further, and several wall carvings were damaged by his missed strikes.

Atlas looked at the destruction.

He had not used much Spirit.

He had not used full force.

But the result still exceeded what he expected.

A-Rank Traits were powerful because their structure was better, not only because their rank was higher. Even a small amount of Spirit became dangerous when shaped through Qield’s Horn.

The Sanguis Stylus moved again.

It drank from the corpses.

Blood rose.

Faint wind-like particles followed.

This time, Atlas watched more carefully.

The pale particles did not look like normal blood. They came from the dead monsters after their blood was almost gone, like something remaining inside their bodies. The stylus absorbed them naturally.

Atlas frowned.

”Hmm? that’s not blood though...what is that?”

The Codex gave no explanation.

But whatever the stylus absorbed, it clearly considered useful.

Atlas decided not to think too deeply for now.

The deeper corridor after that was narrower and darker.

The wind became colder.

Atlas felt the Spirit interference increasing.

His senses twisted whenever he tried to spread Spirit too far, so he stopped relying on wide perception and focused on sound, movement, and pressure changes nearby.

Then the floor cracked ahead.

A large creature crawled out from beneath the stone.

Its body was shaped like a thin hound made of gray wind and old bone. Its ribs were exposed, but wind currents moved through the gaps like muscles. Its head had no eyes, only a long mouth filled with crooked teeth.

Then another appeared.

And another.

Seven in total.

Windbone Hounds.

D-Rank monsters listed as dangerous because they attacked in groups and ignored normal terrain.

The first hound charged.

Atlas tried Qield’s Horn through his legs this time.

Dense Spirit gathered around his foot.

He stepped forward.

BOOM

The floor cracked beneath him, and his body launched faster than planned.

He reached the hound instantly and struck with his knee.

CRACK

The Windbone Hound broke in half and crashed into two others behind it.

Atlas landed harder than intended and slid across the floor.

”Tch...Again, that was too much.”

Qield’s Horn strengthened charge force far more than he expected. Applying it to movement could make his speed explosive, but controlling the stopping point was the problem.

The remaining hounds surrounded him.

Atlas let them come closer.

When the first one leapt, he used Regenerative Hide deliberately. He allowed the teeth to scrape across his forearm while keeping the damage shallow, then struck its skull with a controlled punch.

CRACK

The wound healed almost immediately.

The cost was manageable.

That confirmed another use.

Regenerative Hide could let him test enemy damage safely if the gap was not too large.

But he would only use that against weak monsters.

A second hound lunged low.

Atlas used Spirit Claw with Qield’s Horn compressed into two fingers.

SHHK

The hound’s head separated.

A third attacked from behind.

Spirit Tails corrected his balance before he turned fully.

Atlas used Spirit Fang through his palm.

CRUNCH

The Spirit projection crushed the hound’s neck.

The remaining four attacked together.

Atlas raised his hand and released a short Qield’s Horn pulse.

BOOM

The focused pressure shot forward and pierced two hounds at once.

He stepped sideways, caught another by the jaw, injected Spirit Poison through touch, and watched its body lose structure after a few seconds.

The final hound tried to escape into the wall.

Atlas moved after it.

This time, he limited the Qield’s Horn pressure in his leg to a much smaller amount.

His step became fast but controllable.

He reached the hound before it disappeared and slammed it into the wall.

BOOM

The monster died.

Atlas exhaled slowly.

”Better.”

His control was improving.

A-Rank Traits were difficult, but they followed logic. Qield’s Horn focused output. Regenerative Hide repaired damage with reserves. If he understood their conditions, he could use them without hurting himself.

Then Atlas made a mistake.

He looked at the dead hounds, then remembered Velgrath’s Spirit Sphere.

He had been avoiding it, but avoidance would not teach him anything.

He did not plan to release a full sphere.

Only a small one.

A test.

Atlas raised his right hand.

Spirit gathered in his palm.

At first, it obeyed.

A small pale-gold point formed above his skin.

Then compression began.

The moment Atlas tried to condense it further, pressure shot through his arm and into his chest.

His mind strained immediately.

The Spirit did not want to remain small.

It wanted to gather more.

Pull more.

Compress more.

His breathing became rough.

The pale-gold point trembled in his palm, and the surrounding wind began collapsing toward it. Loose stones lifted from the floor. The dead hound bodies shifted slightly. The corridor walls groaned under the pressure.

Atlas’s eyes widened slightly.

Too much.

He tried to stop.

The gathered Spirit resisted for a moment.

Pain shot through his palm, wrist, chest and head at the same time.

”Kheuk—!”

Atlas recoiled backward and slammed his shoulder into the wall.

The small sphere broke apart before release, scattering unstable Spirit into the corridor.

BOOM

The shockwave cracked the walls and sent broken stone across the passage.

Atlas lowered his hand immediately.

His palm was trembling.

The skin had split across his fingers, and Regenerative Hide began closing the wounds, but the strain remained inside his arm and head.

He breathed heavily for several seconds.

Then his jaw tightened.

’Damn it, I can’t use S-Rank Traits as of now...’

The conclusion was clear.

Crowbeast Wings might be possible later because it was movement-based, but Velgrath’s Spirit Sphere required compression control far beyond his current level. His Spirit was stronger now, but stronger Spirit without control only made the failure more dangerous.

Atlas looked at the cracked corridor around him.

A small test had nearly damaged the whole passage.

If he tried to release a real one, he might destroy himself before hitting the enemy.

His fingers slowly closed into a fist.

”Kheuk... Damn bastards, I don’t need S-Rank for these small fries.”

The Sanguis Stylus floated past him and pierced into the nearest Windbone Hound corpse.

Blood and faint pale essence began rising again.

Atlas watched it for a moment, then looked toward the deeper corridor ahead.

For now, A-Rank Traits were enough.