Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

Meanwhile, Kael was grinning ear to ear as he lowered his head slightly, ‘System, Can I copy one of Atlas’s abilities now?’ His eyes remained fixed on the reward he had received after completing the mission, and there was an obvious amount of anticipation in his expression.

He had been waiting for an opportunity like this, especially after seeing the ridiculous number of abilities Atlas possessed, and now he finally had the chance to take something for himself.

[Authority: Copy]

[Copy: Allows the Host to copy the properties, abilities, authorities, concepts, and fundamental characteristics of a designated target.]

[Host should be warned about this matter. It is impossible to copy Atlas Mariorett’s core abilities. Host can only copy a handful of them which are not at the level of his core abilities.]

Kael became speechless the moment he heard this, “…”

He couldn’t begin to understand how an Authority which was obviously above even Laws and concepts was failing to copy Atlas’s abilities. From the description alone, the Authority should have been capable of copying anything, yet…Atlas was somehow an exception to it, and that fact alone left Kael unable to comprehend the situation.

After staying silent for a brief moment, Kael could only release a sigh of defeat before asking the System, ‘Sigh, then show me the list of the abilities I can copy from him.’ Although he couldn’t copy Atlas’s core abilities, there should still be something useful among the abilities that remained available, and Kael wanted to know exactly what his options were before making his decision.

[Shadow Shift, Shadow Reaper, Malbreat’s Glacial Singularity (SSS), Malbreat’s Freeze Gem (SSS), Spirit Barrage (S), Velgrath’s Spirit Sphere (S)….]

The list continued, and Kael only swallowed hard as he wondered how Atlas could possess this many abilities inside himself. The number alone was enough to leave him speechless again, especially when he realized that the list still hadn’t reached its end.

Even Kael himself didn’t possess this many abilities, and seeing such a long list belonging to a single person made him feel even more surprised.

‘And these are not even his main abilities, damn.’ Kael thought while looking at the list in front of him. If these were merely the abilities that he was allowed to copy because they weren’t considered Atlas’s core abilities, then Kael didn’t even want to imagine what the abilities hidden beyond this restriction were like.

His eyes eventually settled on the first two abilities on the list, and his expression changed slightly.

‘Hmm, these two don’t have ranks?’ Kael asked inwardly as he looked at Shadow Shift and Shadow Reaper. Unlike the abilities listed beneath them, neither of the two possessed a rank beside its name, which immediately caught his attention.

He had already become accustomed to abilities being classified by ranks, so seeing two without any classification naturally made him curious.

[No, Host. These two don’t have ranks as they are somewhat different. You can see them as growth-type abilities unlike the ones below.]

‘Oh?’ Kael mused inwardly before speaking up, ‘Then just copy those two. The ones below aren’t going to come in handy when fighting the Extraterrestrials.’ He didn’t need to spend too much time thinking about the decision, as the two Shadow abilities were clearly more suitable for him than the other choices available on the list.

Just as he said that, the System screen flickered before Kael suddenly felt something integrating into himself. A strange sensation passed through his body as information began folding into his consciousness, and Kael remained still while allowing the process to complete.

The feeling only lasted for a brief moment before everything settled down, leaving him with the knowledge of the two newly acquired abilities.

[Copy Successful! Shadow Reaper and Shadow Shift are now copied as Host’s possessions!]

[Host should thank the System.]

Kael frowned when he saw the next window pop up. His expression immediately became somewhat strange as he stared at the words displayed before him, ‘Huh? Why?’

He asked in confusion, unable to understand why the System suddenly wanted him to thank it after he had already completed the copying process. There was clearly something else behind those words, and Kael waited for the System to explain itself.

[Atlas Mariorett possesses something that makes anyone unable to replicate or copy him or anything he possesses. It was because Host has an Authority which bypasses that ‘Something’ ever so slightly for now, thus the Host was able to even copy something from him.]

Kael stared at the window for a brief moment before thinking, ‘What the fuck? You mean to say… I will be unable to copy even the scraps from him later on?’

The System answered without hesitation the very next moment, leaving no room for Kael to misunderstand what it meant.

[Yes, Host. That is correct.]

Kael’s expression remained slightly stiff as he processed the answer, but before he could begin wondering how he would solve this problem in the future, Eliomor continued speaking. Its voice immediately took everyone’s attention back toward the matter that had been discussed before, causing Kael to put the matter aside for the moment and listen to the explanation regarding the Emperor Rank.

“There are three conditions to reach the Emperor Rank for the people of my world.” Eliomor paused briefly after saying that, allowing everyone to focus completely on what he was about to explain. The words alone were enough to make the atmosphere more attentive, because they had already learned that the Emperor Rank was the next level beyond the Astral World Rank.

“The first is to destroy your Astral Core.”

The moment those words came out of Eliomor’s mouth, everyone frowned. Eliana and Velmira spoke up at the same time, “Destroy our Astral Core? Wouldn’t that lead to our death?” Their reactions were understandable, because the Astral Core was the foundation they had painstakingly created to reach the Astral World Rank in the first place.

Destroying something so important sounded less like a method of advancement and more like deliberately throwing away everything they had obtained.

They could only wonder if Eliomor was sending them to their deaths by telling them to do something that seemed completely unreasonable. However, before their thoughts could churn any further, Eliomor spoke up again, immediately clarifying what he meant.

“No, the matter of fact is that you need to survive exactly that. After you destroy your Astral Core, the immense amount of energy inside your Core will spread and may burst your own body, but… that’s where comes the Second Condition.” Eliomor paused again, making everyone listen attentively as they tried to understand the process. Destroying the Astral Core itself wasn’t the final goal, but surviving the destruction was apparently an essential part of reaching the next rank.

“You need to create a ‘World’ inside of your physical body.”

The moment the next words came out of Eliomor’s mouth, everyone frowned even more, as they could only wonder what kind of nonsense Eliomor was speaking. Creating a World inside their own physical body sounded even more unreasonable than destroying their Astral Core, and for a moment, none of them seemed to know how such a thing could possibly be accomplished.

They had already reached a level where their Astral Domains could extend their will into reality, yet Eliomor was now telling them to create an entirely separate World within themselves.

“Create a World inside our own physical body?” Seraphiel asked with a frown, clearly trying to understand the meaning behind Eliomor’s words. Eliomor nodded at her question before explaining further.

“Yes, once your Astral Core shatters, you need to create an individual physical space inside yourself where that dispersed energy remains contained. Only after that comes the Third Condition.”

It paused once again, letting everyone process the entire matter and connect the two conditions together. If the Astral Core was destroyed and its enormous amount of energy spread throughout the body, then they needed somewhere to contain all of it…but it must be inside a world?

Everyone remained silent while processing the explanation through their own comprehension, trying to understand what it meant to create a World inside their own selves.

Some moments later, Eliomor began speaking again, finally revealing the last condition they needed to fulfill. “The third condition is that you need to imprint your existence in that physical space inside you, which is done by creating your Second Self.”