Kael stared at the notification in stunned silence.
A new skill?
He hadn’t expected that.
The fragment had clearly stated that it contained only a portion of Silen’s memories and experience, yet somehow it had granted him an entirely new ability. Whether it was because the fragment itself contained traces of Silen’s power or because the System had converted his accumulated experience into a skill, Kael had no idea.
For the moment, however, he wasn’t in a hurry to find out.
His head still throbbed from the overwhelming flood of memories, while the lingering nausea left an unpleasant taste in his mouth. He took a slow breath before dismissing the notification and turning his attention toward the mess he had made.
After rinsing his mouth several times and washing his face with cold water, the uncomfortable feeling gradually subsided. He cleaned the sink, wiped away every trace of the mess, then stood quietly for a moment until he was certain his body had finally settled down.
Only then did he leave the bathroom.
As he stepped back into his room, his attention instinctively drifted toward the living room.
Silence.
The television was no longer playing. It seemed Lyra had finally gone to bed.
Knowing his sister, though, she had probably kept watching until she could barely keep her eyes open. Once she started one of those ridiculous reality shows, convincing her to stop was practically impossible.
That thought brought a faint smile to Kael’s face.
He reached for his phone resting on the bedside table before switching on the screen.
1:34 A.M.
His eyebrows rose slightly.
"So late..."
It was well past midnight.
No...
That wasn’t the surprising part.
What truly caught his attention was the time itself.
One thirty-four in the morning.
That meant he had spent several hours absorbing Silen’s memories.
Thinking back on everything he had witnessed, the amount of time suddenly seemed perfectly reasonable. Those memories hadn’t covered a few days or months. They had spanned decades of another person’s life, from childhood all the way to the destruction of an empire. Experiencing all of that firsthand within only a few hours already felt astonishingly fast.
Shaking those thoughts aside, Kael returned to his bed and sat down once more. He summoned the notification back, and it floated patiently before him, waiting for his attention.
His curiosity immediately resurfaced.
Without another moment of delay, he focused on the final message.
A new screen unfolded before his eyes.
---
[Skill: Aura of Destruction]
Rank: SS
Abilities:
•—World-Eroding Halo—•
A constant, invisible aura of pure ruin radiates from the user.
Anything that remains inside it for more than a few seconds begins to lose structural integrity, durability, and regenerative capacity.
The longer a target stays within the aura, the faster the erosion accelerates.
Range: 30 meters. Can be compressed for greater intensity or expanded at the cost of power.
•—Fracture Resonance—•
Every attack the user lands while the aura is active leaves a lingering "fracture" on the target.
These fractures resonate with the aura, causing delayed internal destruction that bypasses conventional durability.
Multiple fractures can link together, creating catastrophic chain failures inside the target’s body or armor.
•—Ruin Domain—•
The user forcibly expands the aura into a temporary domain of pure destruction.
Inside this domain, healing, regeneration, and restorative abilities are heavily suppressed, while all forms of defensive reinforcement steadily decay.
Duration: 30 seconds.
Cooldown: 15 minutes.
•—Final Collapse—•
When a target has accumulated enough fractures or has stayed inside the aura for a prolonged period, the user can trigger a full collapse.
The target’s remaining durability is instantly converted into pure destructive force that detonates from within.
Note: Effectiveness drops sharply against beings of significantly higher rank.
----
Kael quietly finished reading the description before slowly nodding to himself.
"Amazing..."
Although the skill was only ranked SS, its destructive potential was by no means inferior to an SSS Rank abilities. Every single effect revolved around one thing and one thing alone.
Destruction.
There wasn’t a single supportive effect hidden anywhere within its description. No defensive capabilities. No utility. No movement enhancement.
Everything it possessed existed solely to destroy.
After giving it some thought, Kael believed he understood why the System had only classified it as an SS Rank skill.
The ability lacked discrimination.
Its aura didn’t differentiate between enemies and allies. Once activated, everything within its range would gradually suffer the effects of destruction unless explicitly protected by some external means. For most Hunters, that limitation alone would greatly reduce the situations where the skill could safely be used.
Large-scale battles.
Team expeditions.
Guild operations.
In all those situations, Aura of Destruction would become far more difficult to utilise without endangering one’s own companions.
Fortunately...
Kael rarely fought that way.
From the very beginning, nearly every serious battle he had faced had been fought alone.
For someone like him, the skill’s greatest weakness barely qualified as a weakness at all.
He could unleash its full destructive power without worrying about friendly casualties.
If anything...
It felt as though the skill had been tailor-made for him.
A satisfied smile appeared on his face as he dismissed the System window.
Now came the most important part.
Understanding his new abilities.
Reading descriptions could only tell him so much. Before bringing any of them into actual combat, he needed to understand how they behaved in practice. Mana consumption, activation speed, effective range, hidden limitations, interactions with his existing abilities... none of those could be learned simply by staring at a few lines of text.
There was only one way to find out.
Testing.
Without another thought, Kael rose from the bed and quietly slipped out of the apartment.
The corridor outside remained silent as everyone else had long since fallen asleep. Closing the door behind him without making a sound, he left the apartment building before disappearing into the darkness of the night.
His figure became a blur as he sped across the deserted streets, weaving effortlessly between abandoned buildings before heading toward the same desolate area he frequently used whenever he wished to enter the instance.
Several minutes later, he arrived.
The surrounding wasteland lay completely silent beneath the pale moonlight.
Kael spread his senses outward, carefully sweeping every corner of the area.
After confirming there wasn’t another living soul nearby, he established a connection with Varek.
Almost immediately, the familiar portal unfolded before him.
Without hesitation, Kael stepped through.
The scenery around him distorted for a brief instant before the familiar throne room greeted his vision once again.
Waiting close to the portal was Varek.
The moment Kael appeared, the Quasi-Transcendent immediately lowered his head in a respectful bow.
"Varek greets Master."
Kael gave a small nod in acknowledgement before speaking calmly.
"I’ll be testing some new abilities. Carry on with whatever you were doing. Don’t mind me."
"As you command, Master."
Varek offered another respectful bow before turning around and walking toward the far end of the throne room.
Ever since recovering a portion of his strength, he had devoted nearly all of his time to rebuilding his Shadow Legion. Kael had no intention of interrupting that progress. The stronger Varek became, the stronger one of his greatest trump cards would become alongside him.
Watching the retreating figure disappear into the distance, Kael slowly withdrew his gaze before looking down at his own hands.
The throne room fell into complete silence.
It was finally time to discover what his new abilities were truly capable of.