Wonderous Treasure part 2

Initially, he was surprised, but then the pain started assaulting his mind, and his internal energy disappeared at an alarming rate.

"Mhm... Dammit..."

The young man firmly held his head between his hands as if that action could somehow comfort him. Yet, the pain intensified and then ceased abruptly after giving him a long minute of living hell.

"Ah... ah... ah... How the hell is that possible..."

Atlas took a moment to breathe, but then he couldn't help but be surprised by the information drifting in his head.

"Bloodthirsty Rune, created from the defective essence of a Cursed Leech. Fourth Rank Mortal Rune..."

The content wasn't limited to the name and rank of the Rune but also contained a detailed explanation of how to draw that Rune in every single step, the materials necessary, and the potential improvements and disadvantages. It was as if an expert had transferred all his knowledge of that specific Rune to him.

"Chaotiss... is that you?!"

The warm sensation started precisely where that peculiar artifact had found a home, so Atlas's thoughts couldn't help but fall in that direction.

"Hey... Chaotiss..."

He tried to communicate with the Artifact Spirt again and again. Still, in the end, no response came from it, and inevitably, Atlas turned all his attention to his faithful companion.

He had only one last opportunity to obtain another Rune for Astra, so he prayed and then landed its deadly tip on the last fragment.

The process was faster than before, but also more fortunate than all the others because something else appeared on the pickaxes.

A new rune took place on a shiny metal surface with a shape very similar to that of a small white sphere, and its condition was no worse than that of the first Rune.

With the appearance of the new Rune, Chaotiss' presence reappeared, giving the young man another long minute of headache.

He had anticipated this possibility and steeled his mind for it. Yet, the process affected his internal energy and weak soul, so he could do nothing else but grit his teeth and endure the pain.

"Celestial Darksweeper, created from the bone dust of the devoted Celestial Fox. Third Rank Mortal Rune..."

Same as before, the info became part of Atlas.

"A Mortal Rune with affinity to the light element... Damn... that's a huge catch. Those types of Runes are the rarest among the elemental type."

Just like the Alchemy and Artifact world, the path related to Runes was divided into ranks, from the lowest one with the Mortal Runes to the higher ones with Saint, Sage, and God Runes.

The lowest one was similar to the cultivation path and divided into five ranks. The ranking depended on the quality of the materials, the dexterity of the Rune Master, and the quality of the Rune.

It was another vast and complicated world that Atlas had barely touched, thanks to Old Mold's teachings. After all, it was an essential component of artifacts, especially for those related to particular elements such as light, space, time, and even rarer ones.

"Hmm... it went better than I had expected... I even got the property of the light element for Astra..."

Curious about the newly acquired power, Atlas released a bit of internal energy, and soon, a bright glow appeared all over the sharp blade of Astra.

"It's warm and sure strange..."

The peculiar energy emanated from the glow spread around his body just enough to reach his hands.

The quality of the Rune wasn't perfect. In fact, it was even less potent than a Second Rank Mortal Rune, but nothing could change this fact, and Atlas felt content with that.

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It took him almost one hour to recover and assimilate the vast amount of information he had acquired.

Clearly, having all that information didn't make him a skilled master, but it gave him a solid foundation and a clear direction over those two specific Runes.

He needed time to train and acquire manual skills, and only then could he fully use the newly acquired resources.

Naturally, this wasn't the right time to do that. In fact, Atlas moved over to the following crucial matters and took out the martial chaos techniques from his space artifact.

Of course, the first Martial Chaos Technique he held was Earthly Submission.

He opened the scrolls, eager to find out the secrets behind them, and hastily read the content: "Earthly Submission... The force of gravity around you will increase by two times... Within a radius of influence around three meters, everything inside that range will suffer from its effect except for you."

Given his style of fighting with the battleaxe and the young man's preference for venturing alone, this was one of the few techniques most apt for his fighting style. It could give him advantages over his enemies and inversely boost his combat capabilities, influencing the adversary.

As he kept reading, the content became more specific, and it started explaining in detail how the cultivator should operate his internal energy.

It was a detailed description with several sketches and warnings about the possible countereffects.

"Surely, those fellows deserve their fame. It's such a detailed scroll that probably only those renowned Martial Sects can hold."

The young man kept reading and assimilating the content of the scroll for almost an hour. It wasn't a simple task, and sure, it took him several attempts before he could even release a tiny portion of its effects.

"Mhm... it should be like this... let it flow in this direction and then release the core energy through those points..."

More time passed, and in the end, the energy inside the room turned strangely.

"Hmm... yes!! It should be like this... and then release!"

It was just a test, but inevitably, his internal energy followed his command, flowed across his body, and reached its target.

The room contained a bed, a wooden chair, a small table, and other objects, all of which were somehow affected by the new and oppressive force in the space.

"Oh... it's working..."

Atlas had just released a tiny portion of his energy, but the result made him jubilant and eager to test on his adversaries.

Clearly, that ordinary room could handle more than that, so after a couple of tries, he switched all his attention to the second scroll, another technique strongly related to the earth element.

Unlike Earthly Blessing, this one didn't act on a wide area around the cultivator but directly targeted a specific area.

The content of the second scroll held the secrets of a technique named Eternal Grasp, which made the ground under the target similar to quicksand, immobilizing or reducing its movement speed.