Ash exclaimed inwardly seeing so much details about himself. The status window when compared with his own Eye of Omniscience was like comparing heaven and earth, both showed information, but the depth and clarity were completely different.
I really should have used it in the starting...
But he soon forgot about that thought as he lost himself seeing some hidden details about himself, details that were always there but never revealed to him before.
Biological age was the age of the body, while the soul age was given from the name itself. 600 years life worth of memories of Dark Ash was the reason behind such a huge soul age, memories filled with countless experiences that were forcefully inherited.
While the rest of the 30 years was because of his previous life age.
I died when I was 25, while the rest 5 years should be the amount of time I spent inside my Soul Space to research and practice other things. Of course it is the culmination of different days and times...
[A/N: I know in starting it was 20, but there was a loophole that I missed and had to change it to 25. Extremely SORRY!!!]
But the thing that shocked him the most was none other than the bloodlines he actually had.
Never heard of these bloodlines...
Ash was a little taken aback, not because he knew what they were, but because he had no idea what they were. There was no mention of such bloodlines in any of the books he had read, nor in any records he remembered.
But looking at the names of these, they certainly are quite powerful...
Soon another question formed in his head, and it was related to the origin of his bloodlines. Earlier, Ash believed that the presence of bloodlines in his body was related to the biological parents of this body, a simple and logical conclusion.
But now that he knew the names of his bloodlines, this belief wavered a little.
Even though Ash did not know much about his bloodline, he certainly knew what it meant to have words such as ’Primordial’ and ’Abyssal’ come into the bloodline name. Such words carried meanings tied to ancient existence and unfathomable origins.
Whatever they were, they were definitely not simple bloodlines, and this was something his instinct was clearly telling him.
All of a sudden the background of my body became even more mysterious, huh. But if I have two such ancient bloodlines then how did the human bloodline come into the mix???
This was certainly an interesting question, and one that he had no answer to.
He tried to look into the details of his bloodline using his eyes, focusing his perception further, but it did not work.
Looks like this is the limit of what I can see for now, I will need to increase my comprehension of Rune of Truth if I want to see more than this...
But Ash pushed this matter to the back of his mind for now.
Right now I need to focus on my task, I will think about it later...
Currently, the pressing matter was to find optimal things for completing the equal exchange percentage index to 100%.
My lifespan is 30 years currently, I am 16 years old and I sacrificed 50 years before this, means I had a total of 96 years of lifespan....
He was not too worried about this. As long as he grew stronger, his lifespan would follow suit. As long as his body was reformed and his potential increased, he could grow at an astonishing rate.
Moving down, he saw the [Hidden attribute] section and inwardly sighed.
His luck was in negative, and the ’still fluctuating’ tag next to it just confirmed all his thoughts in his mind.
Whisperer was right about his theory of luck!!
The [Soul Power] and [Will Power] section was certainly a pleasant surprise, but it also brought some disappointment as they did not increase like his other stats.
I hope when I increase my comprehension of Rune of Balance, my hidden stats will also get balanced like my other stats...
Shaking off his disappointment, Ash arrived in the [Skills] section.
He tried to see the details of these passive skills, and this time he was successful.
And he soon learned that these passive skills were none other than the passive effects of Runes, only given proper names.
Arcane Foresight was the ability of the Rune of Time that allowed him to see 1 second into the future at the cost of 10% of his mana. It was short, but in battle even a single second could decide life and death.
Blind Authority allowed him to hide his fate from everyone and block the gazes of anyone who tried to learn anything related to Ash, his body, his bloodlines, or his existence itself.
Immortal, as the name suggested, did not allow him to die as long as his soul was not destroyed. His body could be ruined, but death itself would not claim him so easily.
Void Born allowed him to breathe freely in space and remain unaffected by all sorts of spatial anomalies, void pressure, and environmental collapse.
True Equilibrium was the ability of the Rune of Stability that allowed one to maintain equilibrium of conflicting energies inside the body, and this included all of its other passive effects as well.
But now that he had the Rune of Harmony, the appeal of this Rune was greatly diminished in his heart. Harmony could already do better what Stability struggled to maintain.
Mirror Growth was the ability of the Rune of Balance that maintained his balanced growth, ensuring that no single aspect of him grew out of control.
Unified Self was the ability of the Rune of Harmony. This was something he was still confused about, as not much detail was present about it.
Crown of Thought allowed him to understand all languages and possess photographic memory, along with being protected from all sorts of mental attacks, illusions, and metal based assaults.
Immutable Vitality allowed him to be free from all curses and gave him the power to regenerate as long as he was alive. Combined with the ability of Immortal, it was perfect.
Truth Sense allowed him to detect whether someone was telling a lie or not, making deception far more difficult in front of him.
All of these were nothing but the abilities of his Runes, so he was not much surprised after understanding them.
Other than these changes, there was nothing else to see.
After thinking for a second about what to choose, he added [Ancient Dragon King Bloodline] as the sacrifice, and the percentage went from 60% to 75%.
**
‣[Sacrifice] - 75%
‣[Materials] - [Primordial Cores] (Trait), [Magic Swordsmen] (Class), [Ancient Dragon King Bloodline] (Bloodline).
**
Ash did not regret putting it on the sacrifice list, as he had already added the Ancient Blood Crystal to be fused with his blood during body reformation. So, in a way, he was losing his bloodline, but he would also gain it again through a different and purer source.
He could not directly put the blood crystal as the sacrifice, as the window only accepted something that truly belonged to him and nothing else.
I need another 25%, what should I use then...?
Finding nothing relevant that he could use, Ash felt a little cornered.
Sigh...
Founding nothing else, he sacrificed his ranks one by one.
Expert, Adept, Apprentice, and Novice.
He sacrificed all his ranks, but the percentage only went up by 10%. By calculation, Expert increased 4%, Adept by 3%, Apprentice by 2%, and Novice by 1%.
Although for now there were no immediate changes, once Ash confirmed it, his rank would fall down completely, and his stats will also decrease accordingly.
**
‣[Sacrifice] - 85%
‣[Materials] - [Primordial Cores] (Trait), [Magic Swordsmen] (Class), [Ancient Dragon King Bloodline] (Bloodline), [Rank - Novice to Expert] (Rank)
**
Still Not enough...
Ash was on the verge of losing patience, but this was really testing his limits. Still, he controlled himself and forced his thoughts to calm down.
I did not want to do this, but.....I guess I don’t have any choice.
He could not give up his lifespan, because he had already tried, and it did not accept it.
He could not give up Eclipse, as it was connected to his soul. If he sacrificed it, he might sustain soul injuries, and currently he had no way of dealing with that kind of damage.
The situation was not like when he faced Dark Ash, when his soul suffered injuries but was later somehow restored by the ’red light’ that appeared out of nowhere.
Although Ash believed that it was something done by that masked individual.
The only things I have left are my bloodlines and my Codex..
Thus, with an extremely heavy heart, Ash added something that instantly increased the percentage to 100%.
He tried to remove other things such as his ranks and the bloodline, but the percentage immediately decreased.
Ash gritted his teeth and felt as if the window in front of him was deliberately playing with him.
There is no way it is only worth 15%....
But there was nothing Ash could do. Still, he could not shake the feeling that he had been played by something unseen.
At the end, he sighed.
I lost my cool for a second, but it is natural....
He looked at the sacrifice window for the last time.
**
‣[Sacrifice] - 100%
‣[Materials] - [Primordial Cores] (Trait), [Magic Swordsmen] (Class), [Ancient Dragon King Bloodline] (Bloodline), [Rank - Novice to Expert] (Rank), Initiate of Runes (Trait Ability).
**
Initiate of Runes was the ability of the Codex of Creation that allowed him to create skills using Runes. Ash initially did not want to sacrifice this, but the other abilities of the Codex had no real value on their own.
Rune Combination had no meaning if it was not used together with Initiate of Runes. So it did not increase even a single %.
Weapon Resonance allowed one to evolve a weapon after resonating it with Runes, but it only had one chance, and Ash had already used it on Eclipse. There was a chance that its usage limit might increase in the future, so he could not sacrifice it yet.
As for Protective Override, its help might be needed during body reformation, so he could not sacrifice that either.
But, Ash was not mad for making this decision. Many might say it was an idiotic decision, but he had thought about it thoroughly.
And this was his last resort.
As long as I comprehend the Runes, I can create skills without being bound by skill creation chances..
Ash had realized this after seeing the inner structure of his skills. They were formed by glyphs and mana. As long as Ash understood them completely, he could recreate them on his own.
The process might take time, as he would have to comprehend the Runes one by one, but he decided to overcome this wall.
He also tried to use his remaining skill creation chances so that they would not go to waste, but he received a warning stating that doing so might reduce the sacrifice percentage.
With no other choice, Ash looked at the sacrifice window for the last time and with a heavy heart selected [Confirm].
**