SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant

Chapter 458: Chapter 458: Real Birthday Gift [II]

Trafalgar extended his hand without saying anything. Valttair opened his own, and a moment later an item appeared in his palm as if it had always been meant to be there. A ring. He placed it into Trafalgar’s open hand.

The moment the metal touched his skin, the system reacted.

[Item Acquired: Heirloom of the First Lord – Unique Rank]

Type: Ring

Effect 1: +20% damage against all bloodlines.

Effect 2: +15% Agility.

Effect 3: Stores fragments of bloodline-based attacks received by the wearer. The next strike releases that stored resonance, dealing bonus damage and partially ignoring bloodline defenses.

Effect 4: Warns the wearer when noble blood, hidden bloodline signatures, or lineage-based items are nearby.

Description: A ring once worn the First Lord, preserved as one of the last remnants of the first rightful lineage. Its power responds to inheritance, authority, and blood itself.

Trafalgar’s eyes widened immediately. For once, he did not even try to hide it.

A Unique Rank item. Not only that, but one that had belonged to Magnus.

For a moment he only stared at the ring resting in his palm. It was not flashy.

The First Lord was a name Trafalgar had never heard before, one that meant nothing to him beyond the weight it seemed to carry. He had no idea who it belonged to or who that person was.

”Unique Rank?” Trafalgar asked at last.

”It was your father’s,” Valttair replied. ”After the commotion you caused, I believe a gift of that level is appropriate. I never used it. I only preserved it. It is one of the few things I had left of Magnus.” His grey eyes lifted to Trafalgar again. ”Now it is yours. Use it well.”

Trafalgar looked down at the ring once more. The effects were absurd. Twenty percent damage against all bloodlines alone was already insane. Fifteen percent agility on top of that was enough to make most people lose their minds. The other two effects were even more ridiculous in their own way.

And yet the part that stayed with him the most was that this ring had once been worn by someone important.

”...Thanks, I suppose,” Trafalgar said.

Valttair gave a small nod as if that was enough, then spoke again without lingering on the gift. ”We are leaving the Cemetery of Swords today. There is nothing else for us to do here.”

Trafalgar lifted his eyes from the ring and looked back at him.

”Once we descend, preparations will begin for the Council. After the Council ends, you will return to the academy and continue properly.” Valttair’s grey eyes remained fixed on him. ”Even if something of a similar scale happens again, I will not involve you.”

That made Trafalgar’s expression shift slightly. It was not what he had expected to hear.

”Do not misunderstand,” Valttair continued, his voice unchanged. ”This is not because I doubt your ability. It is because too many eyes are on you now. What you did in the war caused more commotion than you realize. If you keep appearing at the center of events like that, more people will start paying attention than is useful.”

Trafalgar understood immediately. He had already felt it himself. Since the war ended, everything around him had shifted slightly. The way people looked at him. The way his name carried more weight. The way even someone like Caelvyrn had come personally to speak with him.

”For now, the academy is the best place for you,” Valttair went on. ”You will grow there properly. Quietly, if possible. That is better than throwing you into another large conflict before it is necessary.”

Trafalgar closed his fingers around the ring. There was no point arguing. The logic was obvious. ”Understood,” he said.

Valttair held his gaze for a moment longer, then rose from the bed in one smooth motion. ”Good.”

That was all. He turned and walked toward the door, his steps as calm as when he had entered. A second later he opened it and left without another word, leaving Trafalgar alone with Magnus’s ring still resting in his hand.

The door closed behind Valttair, and the room fell quiet again. Trafalgar stayed where he was for a second, still looking at the ring in his hand. Then he moved back toward the bed and let himself fall onto it, staring up at the ceiling as he raised the ring with two fingers and held it in front of his face, turning it slightly so the metal caught the morning light.

[Heirloom of the First Lord – Unique Rank.]

’Wow... honestly, I didn’t expect to receive a Unique item as a birthday gift,’ he thought. ’I suppose I really did do well.’

His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at it more carefully. The effects were ridiculous. ’Twenty percent damage against all bloodlines... that’s insane. And fifteen percent agility on top of that?’ He compared it immediately to the ring he already had. That one gave him fifteen percent overall damage, which was already absurd enough, but this one was different. Against bloodlines it was far more monstrous, and in fights against nobles or people whose strength came from lineage, this ring would hit like something completely different. ’This thing is even crazier in certain matchups.’

Then there was the third effect. Trafalgar’s eyes sharpened. ’Stores fragments of bloodline-based attacks received by the wearer...’ He read it again, slower. ’So if someone uses their bloodline skills against me, part of that gets stored, and I can throw it back at them with bonus damage while ignoring part of their defenses.’ That alone was already incredible.

But the fourth effect made his thoughts move even faster. Warns the wearer when noble blood, hidden bloodline signatures, or lineage-based items are nearby. Trafalgar stared at the ring in silence for a few seconds. ’This is basically a bloodline detector.’ Not just for enemies, but for opportunities. Hidden people. Lineage-based treasures. Noble signatures that should have stayed concealed. ’With this, I could find some crazy things.’

A faint smile touched his face before fading again. He was pleased, more than pleased if he was being honest. Between the effects, the rank, and the fact that it had once belonged to Magnus, this was far better than anything he had expected. Still, he could not stay there forever admiring it. They would be leaving soon.

Outside in the corridor, Valttair walked in silence. The matter of the gift was settled, and yet what remained in his mind was not the ring, nor even Trafalgar’s reaction to it. It was the boy’s face. Trafalgar had clearly not slept. Valttair had noticed it the moment the door opened, and now that detail sat beside another thought that had not fully left him since the previous night. There had been a presence on the mountain, one that should not have been there.

His eyes hardened slightly. Lysandra had been with Trafalgar last night, and it was he who had asked her to keep an eye on him. If something had happened up there, she would know.

’I will ask her,’ Valttair thought as he continued down the corridor.