Pushing those thoughts aside, Kael focused on the rewards themselves.
The first item was the Skill Book.
Without hesitation, he reached into his inventory.
A beautifully crafted scroll appeared in his hand.
Its surface was smooth like polished jade, while intricate golden runes flowed across it in elegant patterns that continuously shifted as though alive.
Simply holding it, Kael could faintly sense the enormous amount of energy sealed within.
He focused his thoughts on the scroll.
Immediately, its information appeared before him.
[Skill Book]
[Grade: Legendary]
[Effect: Upon use, grants the user one random skill ranging from SS-Tier to SSS-Tier.]
Kael nodded slightly.
A Legendary-grade Skill Book.
That was undoubtedly an excellent reward.
Now that he had already surpassed Level 100, his Skill Tree had expanded considerably.
Four additional skill slots had become available.
Until now, however, he had deliberately left every single one empty.
The reason was simple.
He didn’t want to waste valuable skill slots on mediocre abilities that would eventually become obsolete.
Although there were methods capable of deleting learned skills, such as Skill Erasure Cards and other similarly rare treasures, those items were incredibly difficult to obtain.
Using them simply because he’d been impatient enough to learn a weak skill early on would be nothing short of foolish.
He would rather leave the slots vacant until he found abilities truly worthy of occupying them.
Fortunately...
This Skill Book seemed capable of solving that problem.
Even the weakest possible outcome would still grant an SS-Tier skill.
That alone made it worth anticipating.
Satisfied, Kael carefully returned the scroll to his inventory before shifting his attention toward the second reward.
The Fragment of Silen.
Unlike the Skill Book, this item immediately made him frown.
It had passed through the Infinite Reward Multiplier...
Yet nothing had changed.
At least, not on the surface.
The name remained exactly the same.
There was no upgraded rank.
No evolved version.
Nothing.
Curiosity immediately surfaced within him.
Without hesitation, Kael reached into his inventory once again.
The next moment, a dark violet orb roughly the size of a fist appeared in his palm.
It wasn’t solid.
The object looked almost liquid, constantly shifting beneath its translucent surface while faint wisps of black mist drifted around it.
Every few seconds, the orb released an almost imperceptible pulse.
Each pulse carried an indescribable aura that made Kael instinctively uncomfortable.
It wasn’t fear.
Nor was it hostility.
It was simply... unsettling.
As though the orb itself carried countless years of bloodshed and death within it.
Ignoring the strange sensation, Kael focused on the orb.
Its information immediately appeared.
[Fragment of Silen]
[Contains a fragment of Silen the Executioner.]
[Upon absorption, the user may obtain a portion of Silen’s memories and experiences.]
Kael narrowed his eyes.
"Silen..."
Naturally, he still remembered that name.
The Tenth Floor Boss.
Or rather...
Its replica.
According to the information revealed by the Eye of Judgment, the being he’d fought wasn’t the true Silen.
It was merely a cheap imitation created from the original.
The real Silen had once served as the Executioner beneath the rule of an emperor belonging to an ancient empire whose name had long since faded into history.
What exactly an Executioner meant within that empire, Kael still didn’t fully understand.
However, one thing was clear.
Silen had faithfully carried out executions under the emperor’s command.
Then, the empire fell.
Its emperor died.
Without the one who had guided him, Silen lost his purpose.
Or perhaps...
His purpose simply became twisted.
Instead of carrying out the emperor’s will, he wandered endlessly, judging others according to his own standards before executing anyone he deemed worthy of death.
That was roughly everything Kael knew.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
Yet now...
A fragment of that very existence rested quietly in his hand.
According to its description, absorbing it would allow him to inherit a portion of Silen’s memories and experiences.
Kael couldn’t help wondering why such an item would appear as a reward.
Surely there was more to it than simply witnessing another person’s memories.
Perhaps those memories concealed forgotten techniques.
Ancient secrets.
Or even experiences that couldn’t be learned through ordinary means.
There was only one way to find out.
Even so, Kael didn’t immediately absorb the fragment.
Instead, he carefully returned the violet orb to his inventory before reaching for the Legendary Skill Book once again.
His eyes lingered on the ancient scroll as anticipation slowly rose within him.
It was finally time to see...
What kind of skill fate had prepared for him.
Kael’s fingers tightened slightly around the ancient scroll before his thoughts focused entirely on it.
Almost immediately, another translucent blue screen appeared before him.
[Skill Book detected.]
[Do you wish to use it?]
[Yes] [No]
There wasn’t even the slightest hesitation.
"Yes."
The instant the command was given, the scroll began to tremble.
Golden runes engraved across its surface lit up one after another, bathing the entire room in a warm golden glow. Tiny cracks spread across the scroll before it suddenly collapsed into countless shimmering motes of light.
The particles didn’t scatter.
Instead, they rapidly converged toward a single point.
Within moments, they condensed into a brilliant sphere no larger than a marble.
Whoosh!
The orb shot forward with astonishing speed before disappearing straight into Kael’s forehead.
An overwhelming torrent of information immediately flooded his mind.
They poured into his consciousness as though they had always belonged there.
Several seconds later, the sensation finally subsided.
A familiar notification slowly materialized before him.
[Skill Learned.]
[Sovereign’s Decree - SSS Rank]
Kael stared at the notification before a smile slowly spread across his face.
"Good."
"Very good."
Still...
He quickly suppressed the excitement rising inside him.
An SSS-Rank skill was undoubtedly extraordinary, but a high rank alone meant nothing if he didn’t understand exactly what the skill could do.
Without wasting another moment, Kael focused on its information.
A much larger status screen unfolded before him.
# #
Guy’s, please join the Discord server using the link I posted below.