“So, this is an Ascent…” Nyx commented as she inspected what Rakna was showing them. “It does remind me of the breakthroughs in Life Force. The body essentially has to evolve at some point to allow for further growth lest it gives away under the pressure.”

“Never heard of Random Skill Cards though,” Allan said. “Is it exactly what it sounds like? Do you get a random skill based on one attribute? In that case, I guess you received five of them because of your Quintuple Ascent...”

“What about this Quintuple Burst?” Flavia asked Rakna who was clenching his hands to test the new physical feedback he was getting.

“Mhm, let’s see. I have an idea on what it is though,” he replied as he opened the skill description.

❮ ◈ ❯

Quintuple Burst

The amalgam of the five different types of Burst Skills, exclusively belonging to Quintuple Ascent Hosts. Upon Ascent, an individual is conferred a Burst Skill tailored for the attributes that reached 100.

Quintuple Burst is a skill that allows for the use of all five. The other versions of this synthesis are also aptly named Double Burst, Triple Burst, and Quadruple Burst.

When using Quintuple Burst, the user’s stamina will be the triggering energy. Based on how much internal energy is expended on this skill, the five attributes will increase. To be exact, they will be incremented by 1 for every 50 stamina spent. Currently, the user has enough stamina to increase their attributes by a maximum of 14.

Duration: 1 Minute. If after one minute, the user still wishes to perpetuate the Burst, they will have to renew the cost in Stamina.

Note: The Host, Rakna Xiorra, possesses a physical Fatigue Immunity. Even if they reach the bottom of their internal energy, they will not be inflicted with any sort of tiredness. But keep in mind that internal energy is used, while sometimes minutely, by all abilities.

Even spells can take points away due to the toll it puts on the body, especially high-tier spells. This happens to be the main strengthening aspect of an Ascent; to cast more magic without having the body break down.

In other words, if the user attempts to continue fighting even with 0 STA, regardless of their immunity, their body will start to collapse. An arm could suddenly explode, detach itself from the shoulder, or have its nerves destroyed by a shattered bone.

❮ ◈ ❯

“I see. For a moment, I thought you were going to be able to use that skill without limit,” Evelyn said with a wry smile.

“Actually, that is both true and false,” Rakna said.

“Eh? How so?”

“My stamina; my internal energy, is essentially the composite of two things now that I have this body. For humans and other living beings, Ki could be ascribed to a sort of scientifically unknown entropy contained within muscles. Before, I only had that for stamina. But now, I have both Ki and Eion. In other words, I recover stamina far faster than anyone else. Eye, calculate the time I would need to recover my stamina.”

[| Calculating… Gauging Consuming Measures Employed by Systema… Complete. Recovery Time for The User Measured to Be Fourteen Minutes and Twenty-Seven Seconds. 49 STA Per Minute. |]

“Hahaha!” Rakna’s eyes turned red for a short second as he burst out laughing, startling everyone at the table, Natsu more so than the others; the memory of his fire being swallowed entering his mind. “Would you look at that?” He added with a restored aloof tone.

“I suppose the result of the estimate was hilarious enough to bring out your other side?” Nyx said with a raised eyebrow and Rakna snorted.

“Hilarious, it was. The result was 49 STA per minute. Obviously, that’s far from enough to sustain an attribute burst of 12, which would need me to recover all my stamina within a minute. But at the very least, with just one or two more points in endurance, I can simply have that skill passively active, raising my five attributes by one at all times.”

“In other words, the more stamina you get in the future, the more attribute points you can safely rip-off from that skill,” Higure nodded with a grin. “As expected of you.”

“Rip-off, you say,” Rakna snorted. “It’s not like I’m scamming anyone.”

“Nah, you might as well be really scamming the System at this point,” Allan jested.

Pronos hissed to get his master’s attention and stuck out a second head to point at the projection on the table and then at himself.

“Hm? What is it? You want to have your Ascent too?” Rakna asked and the little guy nodded. “Well, you could--” The therian interrupted himself and squinted. “Actually, wait before doing it. I want to test a certain spell on everyone before you do your Ascents.”

“Test a spell on us?” Marie scowled. “I can’t help but envisage something ominous…”

Rakna let out a faint smile but to them, who had gotten used to his slight expressions, they easily discerned the mischief hidden behind.

* * *

After finishing eating, Rakna led them out of the 60th Plateau and brought them to the 5th. He had to go fetch them after they arrived since even if they now had the privilege the decide where they could appear after the transfer, they couldn’t select a particular place that they had not been to before or that was not landmark defined by the System itself.

Therefore, he guided them back to his claimed territory and showed them the entrance of the cave he had settled in. “Is this the place you said you fought that batshit crazy guy?” Allan commented as he and everyone else walked down the dim stairs.

“Mhm. If nothing else, at least you could say that this is a symbolic place to build a house.”

“Hm?” Evelyn’s eyes widened slightly as they reached the bottom. “I can feel a breeze… but why is it coming from below instead of outside?” After she pointed it out, the others similarly noticed this small detail.

“And there’s light coming from inside too…” Nyx added and the corners of her mouth raised a bit as she began to understand what Rakna had done to this place. Though, she still sent a confounded glance at the therian. ‘This kind of talent… truly worthy of being his relative.’

“Wait is that-?!” Allan exclaimed as he saw a glimpse of what was behind the large wooden doors at the end of the staircase that had been fixed by the Wood Wolves on Rakna’s orders. The blonde rushed in the front and opened the cave’s entrance wide.

His jaw dropped instantly after his eyes were temporarily blinded by the sunlight. He gawked at the heaven-like garden in front of him and barely noticed the breeze as well as the temperature that didn’t feel like an underground space at all.

“Bro, how did you do this?!” He turned around to shout at Rakna, who was casually watching him and the girls freak out at his handiwork. It had taken him hours to construct, so in his opinion, he fully deserved his daily dose of awe directed at him. He had to admit, however, that it would have been even better if Kaelith was present too.

‘Hm, I guess I’ll have to bring her here later,’ he thought. At this point, he had adopted the practice of shocking others with his actions purely for the enjoyment of it.

* * *

“Achoo!” Kaelith sneezed as she was on her way to the Council Board for a meeting after returning to the Nine-Tailed Clan’s main compound.

“Are you all right, Lady Kaelith?” A maid spoke up from her side. “You did not fall ill, right?”

“As if I could catch a cold at my level, Nyla. It’s probably that damn bug’s poison that left its marks after I burned it. I must have inhaled the smokes a bit,” she grumbled. “Well, that or…”

“Or?”

“A certain impertinent brat is planning on bullying me again soon…”

“Eh?” Nyla stopped walking. ‘Who could possibly be strong enough to bully the foxes’ heiress?! That cannot be allowed! I will be sure to tell Lady Kara.’

With that, the vixen maid developed a deep misunderstanding of the situation.

* * *

“I see. Astraea, you say,” Nyx commented as she traced her fingers across the external walls of the mansion. “I knew I felt some amount of divinity in this place. So, you summoned a divine spirit.”

“From what I understand,” Rakna nodded as he sat on a step of the stairs leading to his house’s entrance and observed his group navigate the cavern.

His eyes wandered to the crystal mausoleum where he saw Evelyn and Flavia kneeling in front of the graves. They had insisted on paying their respects after he told them what it was. “By the way, Nyx, since you were a goddess, I assume you’ve met other popular divinities, right?”

She nodded and turned to him, leaning her back against the wall. She crossed her arms, “I assume you want to ask if I met Astraea?” She shot back and he acquiesced. “Yes and no. I did meet Astraea in the past. But I met her as the Goddess of Justice. Not innocence.”

“Hm… Now that I think about it, Astraea is more known for the balance of Shamash,” Rakna said as he recalled the mythology that he learned a long time ago. “Or, to be exact, she is the holder of the scale described in the legend of the Libra constellation and sign. I wonder if I will summon her as well if I draw Libra instead…”

“I would posit that you would,” Nyx affirmed. “From what I understand, Egregore is essentially a place where knowledge gathers. It is similar to the Spiritual Tree that collects thoughts and makes them a reality. So, if you were to try and beckon Astraea through the Libra constellation, what you know of her, the knowledge that you possess of her, will make it so that you will summon the same person,” she said and paused.

“Granted… she most likely will have the memories of every possible instance of herself. That might include my meeting with her, despite the fact that she is a different person created by the collective unconscious. In all honesty, I’m not the best person you can ask about this. Lady Ahura would have been a far better choice…”

“Lady Ahura?” Rakna looked over his shoulder to look at her. “Ahura Mazda?” He inquired and she slowly nodded. “You did mention this name when you said who had fought my old man alongside you. Was she your leader?”

Nyx didn’t answer immediately. She looked up at the sky and sighed, “Yes, she was. Perhaps you’d be interested to know, now that I think about it.”

“What is it?”

“Ahura Mazda is the sister of Angra Mainyu, the Ancient Demon who happened to have created a certain race of humans to one day be reincarnated into the world of the living; the ones they called Life Hunters. After proving to be worthy, a Life Hunter would be promoted to Death Hunter; one destined to be the reincarnation. The last one in the line was a child that escaped the genocide of his race by the Gods. The Last Life Hunter, Ahriman. You would know him… as Arimane.”

Rakna blinked in stupor at the revelation while Higure who was sitting on his head sputtered and fell off. She yelped as she hit the ground before straightening up like a spring. “Damn… Talk about an origin story,” she muttered. Natsu was also listening from the railings of the house but had no idea of what they were talking about.

“Wait, so I have an aunt?” Meanwhile, that was the only thing Rakna took away from the story.

“That would indeed be true. I am sure Lady Ahura would be happy to meet you. And…” She paused and faintly smiled. “That is one main reason why I couldn’t bring myself to hate Eternal Night. The organization I belonged to, the Pillars of Elysium, was arguably a malevolent one that sought to wage war for domination.”

“The reason I joined was that I followed Lady Ahura who lived for the sole purpose of vanquishing her brother. She wanted the Pillars’ support to prevent him from spreading chaos. In a sense, we got what we deserved. We joined a sinful conflict on our own and we were done in by the person we were targeting, turning him into the lawful one at the same time…”

“Don’t overthink it, Nyx,” Rakna said and she tilted her head at him. He chortled, “If my old man was destined to be the reincarnation of an ancient evil, I can’t blame her for trying to stop it from happening. If Ahura truly thinks of my old man as her brother, then all the more justifiable. But, in all likelihood, Angra Mainyu had no chance, to begin with.”

“What? I’m not sure I understand…?”

“I mean, that there is no way some ghost could have won over my old man and taken over his body to do what he pleased,” Rakna replied with a tone that left no doubt. “He’s too stubborn for that.”

Nyx widened her eyes a bit before smiling. “Hm, I see... I suppose that you are right since, as far as I know, Eternal Night hasn’t gone on a rampage to destroy the world or something,” she chuckled.

Rakna snorted. “Don’t get me wrong. That’s definitely something my uncle would do if he believed it to be necessary for some reason. That’s just how he is. But anyway,” he uttered and stood up. He hummed and turned toward a random-looking tree. “Oz, come out.”

On cue, an Earth Wolf that was merged with the ground came out and bowed its head. He was the wolf that Rakna had appointed as the leader within the cave. “Go outside and search for monsters. Kill or capture them, I don’t care. But bring their bodies to me. I will need about a hundred. I allow you to take command over the other Alphas for this.”

Oz nodded in understanding and ran off toward the exit.

Nyx watched it leave and turned back to Rakna who was already at the door of the house. “Why is that for?” She asked and he flashed a small smile.

“You’ll see,” he said ominously and triggered the imprint scanner. When the entrance opened, he took a look inside and cracked his neck, “All right. Let’s furnish this first.”