Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

Atlas continued deeper into the Abandoned Wind Chapel after confirming that S-Rank Traits were still beyond his current control.

The corridor ahead narrowed for several minutes before opening into another section of the underground ruin. The wind here moved slower than before, but the Spirit interference had become thicker. Every time Atlas tried to sense farther ahead, the flow twisted and broke apart before reaching properly.

That made the ruin annoying.

But it also made it useful.

If this place could disturb Spirit perception this much, then using the Codex inside it had been the correct choice. Outside detection would be much harder, and even if someone sensed a fluctuation, they would likely blame the ruin itself.

Atlas walked forward while keeping his right hand slightly raised.

Qield’s Horn pressure moved faintly around his fingers. He had already learned that releasing too much power would destroy more of the ruin than necessary, so now he kept the output thin and compressed.

The next group of monsters appeared from the side passage.

Windbone Hounds.

Five of them.

Their bodies were made of gray wind and old bone, with exposed ribs and mouths filled with crooked teeth. They moved low against the floor, then spread out before attacking together.

Atlas did not step back.

The first hound lunged toward his leg.

Atlas moved his foot slightly and struck its head with two fingers wrapped in Qield’s Horn pressure.

Crack.

The skull collapsed instantly.

The second hound came from the right.

Atlas turned his palm and released a short pulse.

Boom.

The focused pressure pierced through the hound’s chest and struck the wall behind it.

The other three hesitated for a moment.

That was enough.

Atlas stepped forward, used Spirit Tails to correct his balance, then cut with Spirit Claw strengthened by Qield’s Horn. The slash was much smaller than before, only enough to cut through their necks.

Shhk.

Three heads fell.

Atlas lowered his hand.

”Better.”

The destruction was still higher than he wanted, but his control had improved compared to the earlier chambers. His attacks no longer carved through everything behind the monsters every time he moved.

The Sanguis Stylus emerged after the bodies fell.

It pierced the nearest corpse and began absorbing blood. Like before, faint pale particles also rose from the dead monsters and disappeared into the stylus. Atlas still did not know what those particles were. They did not look like normal blood, but the Codex absorbed them every time without showing a separate explanation.

Atlas watched briefly, then continued walking.

The deeper he went, the fewer weak monsters appeared.

That usually meant one thing.

The Boss area was close.

After another corridor, Atlas reached a circular chamber.

The ceiling was higher than the earlier rooms, and several broken statues stood around the walls. Each statue showed an angelic figure holding a long instrument, but every face had been scratched away. At the center of the chamber stood a raised stone platform with a cracked crystal floating above it.

The crystal gave off a faint blue-white glow.

Atlas’s gaze settled on it.

”Relic?”

He did not move toward it immediately.

A ruin would not place something like that openly without protection.

The wind inside the chamber suddenly gathered toward the center.

The blue-white crystal pulsed once.

Then the air behind the platform distorted.

A figure formed from wind and pale Spirit.

Its body looked like a tall, thin priest wearing broken chapel robes, but the robes were made from moving air. Its face had no proper features, only two hollow lights where eyes should have been. A long staff formed in its hand, and wind circled around the crystal behind it.

Atlas narrowed his eyes.

”Chapel Wraith.”

The Guild information had mentioned it.

Possible C-Rank Boss.

It interfered with Spirit perception and used wind-based attacks.

The Chapel Wraith lifted its staff.

The wind around the chamber changed direction instantly.

Atlas moved.

A compressed wind blade cut through the place where he had stood and sliced a broken statue in half.

Shhk.

The upper half of the statue slid down and smashed against the floor.

Atlas’s expression became more focused.

That attack was stronger than the others.

The Chapel Wraith raised its staff again, and several smaller wind blades formed around it. At the same time, the Spirit interference in the chamber thickened, making Atlas’s senses blur for a brief moment.

He stopped trying to sense the whole chamber.

Instead, he watched the movement of air.

The wind blades came from five angles.

Atlas used Spirit Tails and stepped between them.

One blade grazed his shoulder.

Blood appeared.

Regenerative Hide closed the cut a few seconds later, but Atlas felt the cost.

The Boss was only C-Rank, but its attacks were sharper than the earlier monsters. If he took too many hits, Regenerative Hide would keep draining Stamina and Spirit.

So he moved faster.

Qield’s Horn pressure gathered around his palm.

Atlas released a focused shot toward the Wraith.

Boom.

The attack pierced through its chest.

But the Wraith’s body scattered into wind and reformed near the left side of the platform.

Atlas frowned.

”Spirit body.”

Physical strikes and normal piercing attacks would not work unless he disturbed the flow that held it together.

The Wraith swung its staff again.

Wind wrapped around Atlas’s feet and tried to lock him in place.

Atlas immediately used Spirit Poison.

Dark Spirit spread from his foot into the wind binding him. The poison did not spread far, but it interfered with the energy pattern enough to weaken the binding.

Atlas broke free and rushed forward.

The Wraith tried to scatter again.

This time, Atlas used Qield’s Horn differently.

He compressed the pressure into a thin cone around his hand, then added Spirit Claw at the edge.

The moment the Wraith’s body began turning into wind, Atlas cut through the core of its movement.

Shhk.

The Wraith’s form distorted.

Its body did not scatter fully.

Atlas understood immediately.

The key was not to hit its body, It was to interrupt the Spirit flow before it could separate.

The Wraith shrieked, and the entire chamber shook from the sound. Wind blades formed again, more than before, covering the space around Atlas.

Atlas did not use Velgrath’s Spirit Sphere.

He did not even consider it.

That Trait was unusable for now.

Instead, he used what he could control.

Spirit Tails for movement.

Regenerative Hide for small mistakes.

Qield’s Horn for compression.

Spirit Claw for cutting.

Spirit Poison for interfering with flow.

The wind blades shot toward him.

Atlas moved through the first gap, lowered his body under the second, then let the third cut shallowly across his arm because avoiding it would have forced him into a worse position. Regenerative Hide closed the wound as he stepped forward.

The Wraith lifted its staff.

Atlas threw a short Qield’s Horn pulse at the staff first.

Crack.

The staff broke.

The Wraith’s body trembled.

Atlas reached it before it could reform another weapon.

Spirit Poison gathered over his left hand.

Qield’s Horn compressed around his right.

He struck with both.

The left hand touched the Wraith’s chest and poisoned its Spirit flow.

The right hand pierced into the unstable center.

Boom.

The Wraith’s body burst apart into pale wind and broken Spirit.

For a moment, the chamber became filled with scattered blue-white particles.

Then the pressure disappeared.

Atlas stood still and controlled his breathing.

The fight had not been difficult enough to endanger him, but it had been useful. The Chapel Wraith forced him to think about Trait combinations instead of only killing with power. Its Spirit body could scatter, so simple strength meant less. Against that kind of enemy, Spirit Poison and Qield’s Horn were far more useful than raw physical force.

Atlas looked at his hands.

”So this is why control matters.”

If he only had Strength, he would have struggled more, if he used S-Rank Traits recklessly, he might have destroyed the chamber and injured himself.

But by combining lower and A-Rank Traits properly, he could handle a C-Rank Boss without using his strongest stored abilities.

That was useful information.

The Bloodbound Codex pulsed beside him.

The Sanguis Stylus moved toward the place where the Wraith had died.

There was no normal blood.

But the stylus pierced into the air itself, and faint blue-white particles gathered from the scattered remains before flowing into it. Atlas watched the strange particles enter the stylus and frowned slightly.

Again.

Something other than blood was being absorbed.

The Codex still gave no explanation.

Atlas decided to leave it for later.

The floating crystal above the platform dimmed after the Wraith died, but it did not disappear. Atlas walked toward it carefully and reached out.

The crystal was about the size of his palm.

It was smooth, cold, and faintly transparent, with tiny wind-like lines moving inside it. It did not feel like an ordinary monster core, and it did not look like a simple relic fragment either.

Atlas turned it in his hand.

There were no words.

He placed a little Spirit into it.

The crystal glowed for a moment, then released a small wind current around his fingers before becoming quiet again.

Atlas narrowed his eyes.

”This will have to be checked in the Guild...”

He placed the crystal relic inside his bag.

After that, he checked the rest of the chamber.

Broken statues.

Old benches.

A few scattered relic fragments with weak Spirit residue.

Nothing else of immediate value.

The Guild mission required surveying the inner structure and retrieving remaining relic fragments, so Atlas collected what looked useful and stored them carefully. He did not know which fragments had value, but the Guild could evaluate them.

After finishing, Atlas turned back toward the entrance route.

The ruin was quiet now.

The wind still moved through the corridors, but the pressure had weakened after the Chapel Wraith died. That meant the main danger had been cleared.

Atlas left the underground hall and retraced his path through the broken chapel corridors.

Several dried monster bodies remained where he had fought earlier. The Sanguis Stylus had already emptied them, so he did not stop. His clothes carried cuts, his hands had faint dust and blood marks, and his body still felt a little strained from using multiple Traits, but he had completed the mission.

More importantly, he had tested his new foundation.

Attributes at 10.

A-Rank Traits usable.

S-Rank Traits stored but not controlled.

That was enough for now.

By the time Atlas exited the Abandoned Wind Chapel, afternoon light had already begun descending across the western outer zone.

He looked back at the ruin once.

Then started walking toward Lumivale.

...

..

As afternoon slowly descended, Atlas finally reached the Lumivale Guild.

The city still felt different from Ormolio every time he entered it. The streets were cleaner, the guards did not stare at him like he was a criminal, and different races moved through the market without lowering their heads every few steps. Even after spending only a short time here, Atlas could feel the difference in how people moved.

It was not equality.

But it was less suffocating than the Human Continent.

Atlas adjusted the bag on his shoulder and walked toward the Guild entrance.

Then he saw her.

A woman stood outside the Guild, surrounded by several A-Rank explorers.

She had silver-white hair, clear eyes, and elegant wings folded behind her back. Her gown was neat and perfect, colored in grey and white with subtle noble patterns along the sleeves and waist. Her posture was calm, and the explorers in front of her listened seriously while she explained something.

Atlas looked at her once.

’Must be a noble...’

That was enough for him.

He did not stare.

Nobles were troublesome no matter which continent they belonged to. Even if Lumivale treated commoners better than Ormolio, Atlas had no reason to get involved with anyone who looked like they carried status.

He passed by the group and entered the Guild.

The inside was active, but not chaotic. Explorers moved between counters, the floating mission screen changed constantly, and Guild staff handled materials and reports with practiced speed.

Atlas went to the counter where the same Angel receptionist was working.

She looked up and recognized him.

”Mr. Atlas, you returned already?”

Atlas placed his Guild Card on the counter.

”The ruin is cleared.”

The receptionist blinked once.

Then she checked the card.

”You cleared the Abandoned Wind Chapel in one day?”

Atlas nodded.

”It was manageable, I suppose.”

The receptionist looked at him for a moment but did not comment immediately. She took the mission confirmation, then accepted the small pouch of relic fragments he placed on the counter.

”Please wait while I record these.”

Atlas then took out the crystal relic from his bag.

”I found this in the deepest chamber after killing the Chapel Wraith.”

The moment the receptionist saw the crystal, her hand stopped.

Her eyes widened.

For one second, she only stared.

Then, before she could stop herself, she blurted out loud enough for the nearby area to hear.

”How did you manage to get an Epic-Rank Relic?”

The Guild hall became quieter almost immediately.

Several explorers turned toward the counter.

The A-Rank explorers outside also heard it through the open entrance.

And Seraphiel Rosaria stopped speaking.

Her gaze shifted toward the Guild counter.

Toward the hooded human standing there.

Toward the crystal relic in his hand.