"Skill Creation," he commanded with a steady voice.
"Create a skill that allows one to see through everything and know about everything, whether it be a forbidden artifact, person, god, world or a Rune."
"Rune Combination."
"Use Rune of Truth and Rune of Knowledge as the foundation and use any other Runes if needed."
[Processing.....]
**
Skill Name – Eye of Omniscience
Skill Creation Slots Available – 1
Probability of Creating Skill Successfully – 91%
**
[Processing.....]
[Processing.....]
[Processing.....]
[Skill Creation Successful]
**
Skill name : Eye of Omniscience
Rank : ???
Type : Passive / Active
Description :
Eye of Omniscience grants the user the ability to perceive reality as it truly is, allowing the user to see through illusions, deceptions, and concealments, revealing hidden truths, intentions, and the underlying structures of existence. The skill enables perception of unseen forces such as laws, fate, Runes, and concealed energies, while also exposing flaws and weaknesses in all things, living or otherwise.
Note : Prolonged use places immense strain on the mind. Greater the object, stronger the strain.
**
The skill creation was successful, and the result was still within what he had expected. Runes were powerful by nature, and if they could not accomplish even this much, then everything he had done until now would have been meaningless.
Still, there was one thing that surprised him.
The moment the skill was completed, his eyes changed.
A faint hint of gold appeared within his blue irises, subtle enough that he did not notice it himself.
Yet he could clearly feel as if a thin veil had been lifted from his vision and something fundamental had shifted in them.
Previously, he had needed to focus his mental power to activate Elemental Sight, an effect derived from the Rune of Knowledge. But now.....
Elements, mana, and everything else are laid bare before me.....
For the first time, he could see elemental mana interacting directly with his Soul Vault. There was a distinct cycle at work. Mana flowed into it, circulated, and was released again, only to be drawn back once more, as if the vault was reusing the same mana repeatedly without any loss or instability.
This discovery stirred Ash’s curiosity.
He tried to look deeper. He tried to understand how the skill itself functioned. He wanted to see its framework, its foundation, and the logic that governed it.
The moment that thought formed, his eyes blazed with a liquid gold light, and his vision shifted completely.
He found himself surrounded by torrents of mana and countless Runes. The Runes moved slowly, drifting and weaving through space as if they were dancing, while the mana flowed between them in unique patterns, like streams winding through stone.
The entire space was densely packed with Runes, with mana threading through every gap between them.
That’s when Ash noticed something.
The Runes here are not ever changing. They have a permanent form.....
His heartbeat quickened, and in the outside world, his blood surged faster through his body.
He had never been able to truly comprehend Runes before because they were always changing, never remaining the same for even a moment. Understanding something that refused to stay still was nearly impossible.
Now, faced with a Rune that did not shift or distort, his excitement was impossible to suppress.
He focused his gaze and looked deeper into the Rune.
And the instant he did.....
"ARRGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
A violent shock tore through him.
His soul shuddered as if an invisible hand had seized his mind and squeezed without restraint. Pain exploded through his consciousness, and he was forcefully ejected from his soul space.
***
In the void.
Ash opened his eyes, and blood was already pouring from them. It did not stop there. Blood flowed from his nose, his ears, and every other orifice, dark red droplets spilling out before becoming suspended in the empty space around him, drifting slowly away as gravity failed to claim them.
His body curled inward on instinct.
Yet it was not the pain that tore the scream from his throat, nor was it the shock that had struck his soul.
It was the burden.
He had seen something he was never meant to see. He had learned something he was never meant to learn.
The scream came from the sudden flood of knowledge forced into him after peeking into a single glyph of a Rune.
And even that knowledge was barely a fragment, not even 0.001% of its whole.
His breathing turned ragged as the Skill Soul Library worked beyond its limits, straining like an exhausted laborer pushed far past endurance, desperately trying to stabilize the sudden influx of information.
In truth, the Soul Library itself was trembling. It was designed to grow gradually, to expand as Ash accumulated memories and knowledge over time. Now it was as if someone had pressed an instant growth switch, forcing it to expand violently and repeatedly just to keep Ash’s mind from collapsing.
After a full thirty seconds, the shaking finally stopped.
Ash’s breathing slowed, and a thin sense of balance returned.
"What the hell was that...?"
His thoughts felt heavy and sluggish. His vision dimmed at the edges as exhaustion seeped through his soul, draining the last of his strength.
And with that question still echoing in his mind, Ash lost consciousness.
Time passed.
After several hours, Ash opened his eyes once more as his soul gradually recovered its strength.
Did I just gain knowledge related to the Runes...?
The thought came slowly, cautiously.
Through his connection to the Soul Library, he could feel foreign knowledge settling within his mind. It was not much, and it felt incomplete, as if a single page had been torn from the middle of a vast book. The information existed, yet its deeper meaning remained unclear, just beyond his grasp.
Instead of disappointment, his heartbeat quickened.
Without wasting time, he entered his Soul Space, appearing before the towering Soul Tree.
Its size had grown enormous now that he possessed ten Runes in total. Its branches stretched wide, covered in leaves of countless colors, while Runes floated around it in a slow, protective orbit. Lines of many hues ran through the branches like veins, all of it standing above a pitch black sea that swallowed the horizon.
The sight was mesmerizing.
It was heavenly.
Ash allowed himself a brief moment to take it in, but he did not linger. He stepped closer to the Soul Tree and placed his hand= against its surface.
In the next instant, the world shifted.
He appeared within a pitch black space, empty of everything except ten enormous Runes, each one ever-changing, yet undeniably real.
While trying to understand his Soul Space and Soul Tree, he had unknowingly discovered this hidden domain within it.
This was the place where all the Runes he had absorbed resided, revealed in their full presence.
He instinctively recognized each Rune.
Yet he did not comprehend even a fraction of them.
I expected the skill I created to be powerful, but this is beyond that.
I gained knowledge simply by glimpsing the Runes, but the backlash was equally terrifying.
I do not know how long I was unconscious, but it was likely more than ten hours seeing how much energy I have.
If I use this correctly, I might be able to comprehend the Runes.
Before this, he had not even been able to perceive any of the Runes. No matter what he tried, he had always failed.
What Ash did not yet know was that not everyone could even gaze upon Runes.
Only those with rare talent and sufficient insight were allowed to look at them at all.
Ash activated Eye of Omniscience again, and his irises blazed into molten gold as he fixed his gaze on the Rune of Space.
Instantly, his vision shifted, and he was confronted with 72 colossal Rune symbols. Each symbol shimmered with a golden and violet glow, radiating an overbearing aura that pressed against the very core of his soul.
A crushing weight settled over him. His mind throbbed, and his consciousness teetered on the edge of collapse.
Yet he did not flinch. He focused on the smallest of the 72 symbols, drawing all his attention towards it.
Suddenly, his perception expanded again, revealing himself surrounded by 360 glyphs, all pulsating with violet hue.
What the hell...?
The pressure on his soul increased again. He forgot everything else, focused on the closest glyph, and screamed once more with sudden influx of knowledge. Blood flowed from his eyes and other parts, and he fell unconscious once again.
Time passed again. When he woke up in the endless void, he fell into a daze.
Crazy!!
Lightning flashed through his mind as he realized something. He entered the black space again and tried the same thing with every other Rune, but this time he did not peek into any of the glyphs.
By the time he was done with every Rune, he fell asleep again and then woke up. His body remained intact. Even though he had not eaten anything for who knows how many days, he was still fine. The Rune of Life etched onto his heart was keeping him alive for now.
But Ash ignored all of that and summarized his findings.
Every single Rune... I will call it a True Rune for now. 1 True Rune contains 72 Runic symbols. Each Runic symbol contains 360 glyphs. I gain no knowledge from the Runic symbols themselves; it is only through the glyphs that comprehension emerges. That means I must master each of the 360 glyphs to understand a single Runic symbol, and each of the 72 runic symbols to grasp a single True Rune.
The findings were amazing. He did not know whether the World Tree also realized their numbers or not, but he had no way to find out. He was not in Akumia now.
1 True Rune has 72 Runic symbols.
1 Runic symbol has 360 glyphs.
72 x 360 = 25,920
There are 25 Runes in reality, meaning when the time comes, he will have to comprehend...
25,920 x 25 = 648,000
...around 648,000 glyphs.
Just thinking about the number was enough to make anyone crazy. Who in the world with their puny brain could comprehend all 25 Runes?
No one.
Ash always had a question: when the Ancient Civilization had 20 Runes in their possession, why did no single person absorb all 20?
It was simply because a single person did not have the capability to comprehend all the Runes.
But then why was the system pushing Ray to collect Runes?
He had no answer, and he did not care to dwell on it.
Ray can die for all I care. I now have all the Runes present in the World of Akumia, only the one in the deep ocean remains. Snow is finding it, I just hope she will be fine.
But he was not too worried about her. She had the passive effects of all his Runes, even the ones he just gained, and she was also growing. He could see it in his status window.
As for the other Runes, I have no idea about their location. But seeing that in the novel Ray acquired the Rune after killing the Demon King, there might be some method to extract the Runes. Even if Ray gets some, I will just take them away from him.
He had skill creation to make skills like that, so he was not too worried about it.
But I do not have any more skill slots with me. I need to rank up, and for ranking up, I need to break the limits on my body...
As he thought about it, he entered his Soul Vault again and summoned a shard.
It was the same fragment of Rune he acquired back in the Dragon Continent.
Let’s see what you truly are. If you can provide help it will be fine. Otherwise, I might need to make some difficult sacrifices...
With that resolve, he activated his Eye of Omniscience.
****