Zarek's eyes flashed.
Decode.
Shaking the bottle, Zarek used its abilities to pull the liquid out. A small bead of emerald green took shape as he activated his Profession's Talent, Decode.
Complex thoughts weaved into Zarek's psyche, but as he felt one stream of thought after another, his eyes were only growing sharper and sharper.
He was correct. There really was another secret to be had here, and it was a huge one.
Zarek flicked a wrist, raising it up in an almost elegant posture he wasn't used to using, and yet it came as second nature to him in that moment. With that movement, a quill of gold, red, and black took shape in the air, manifesting from the depths of his Profession as an ancient scroll was born as well.
If Zarek's eyes hadn't practically been glazed over, he would have noticed that both of these items had undergone substantial changes. It was as though they had been passed through the annals of history, carrying with them the depths of mystery even the universe itself couldn't fully grasp.
Inscribe.
As Zarek's thoughts flashed from one to the next, and then the one following that, his quill glided through the air, one Matrix after another taking shape.
Some were half-formed, some were complete and pulsing with power, while others seemed little different from what one might use to keep themselves cool beneath a summer heat wave.
Zarek didn't miss a single one nonetheless.
Slowly, he snapped out of his trance and the beads of emerald green fell back down to—and into—the vial.
To Zarek's surprise, none of what he had done just now took any energy from the bead at all. He could practically do that continuously, though it would be a worthless endeavor since he had already unearthed all of its secrets.
Well, at least the secrets related to Wind Godsfall Intent.
But Zarek felt far from done.
He stared at the scroll for a moment and then flicked his wrist again. This time, it was the wrist attached to the hand carrying the vial.
The bead shot back into the air, and Zarek's quill-wielding hand snapped forward, piercing through it.
Suddenly, the beads of green became the ink to his quill, and he redrew one particular Matrix that had caught his attention the most.
SHUUU.
Inscribe.
The scroll burned away, leaving a green flame that surged with might.
Graft.
Zarek's thoughts moved, as did the Matrix, etching itself right onto his back in the form of a miniature pair of wings encircled by a halo. The Runes swam around as Zarek's amber irises flashed with an emerald light.
A pulse of might came from Zarek as he took a step.
In an instant, a flash of wind surrounded him, and he crossed a distance of over 10 meters in an instant before coming to an abrupt stop.
'… So fast…'
He slowly reached for his back, lightly touching the tattoo. It had already lost about 10% of its strength. He could use it nine more times before it vanished completely, but that wasn't what Zarek was concerned about at all.
In that moment, it had felt like he had the strongest Wind Godsfall Intent affinity in the world, like he had been born to use the Intent. But the moment he stopped using the tattoo, the feeling was gone.
The most shocking part?
He hadn't needed to use any Godsfall just now at all. All of the power he needed came from the concentrated bead of emerald. It took up nothing from him other than focus and Charisma—a minor, fledgling amount of it too, since...
It was like the presence of the Concentrated Essence took the guesswork out of it, leapfrogging his poor Intelligence Growth Potential and circulating his Godsfall for him. Not only that, but it made his own Godsfall Intent not a problem at all.
Normally, using Lurker's Godsfall on a Wind-Type Matrix should have slashed the power of the latter by a considerable amount. Yet, he only needed his Lurker's Godsfall to circulate—the rest was handled by the Matrix and Concentrated Essence itself.
Once again… Zarek hardly used any stamina at all.
Of course, if he was continuously activating these tattoos, or using multiple at once, the weight on his Charisma would be heavy. But as Axiograft progressed, the cost would only lower.
'I can use Decode to decipher the secrets. I can use Inscribe to write down the Matrices I've seen and somewhat comprehended. I can then use Infuse to draw them out onto my real body, and the Graft… takes it from something that's merely on me, to something that is me—a true part of me… something that I can use as naturally as breathing, as though it is my own…'
The difference between Graft and Infuse, other than this? It was that Graft could only be used when there was an actual external item to be used.
If there was no Concentrated Essence, Graft wouldn't work. In that case, he would only be able to use Infuse, and the results would be far weaker.
But what did all of this mean?
It meant that Zarek suddenly had a whole treasure house of Wind Godsfall Intent resources to take advantage of. If he loaded his body up with tattoos, he would be able to casually use Wind Godsfall Intent Skills as though he were a member of the Imperial Wind Lineage—not Thalion.
This Matrix Zarek had chosen was just one of the many that had caught his attention. Some of the more powerful ones were incomplete, but he bet if he allowed the vial to concentrate more Godsfall Droplets, or even start concentrating some Godsfall Crystals, they would only become clearer.
What he needed to do now was find a balanced set of them he could add to his combat tree. He had something for movement, so he would need something for control, something for attack, and something for defense.
Unfortunately, dreams and reality were very different things.
Zarek had only just begun his next round of experiments when he ran headfirst into a barrier.
That barrier? His body.
There was a limit to the number of these tattoos he could take on at once. It seemed that the fact Axiograft was only F Class right now did have meaning after all.