After confirming the god's avatar was gone, Darien sank onto the impalpable floor and resud everything he had been attempting back in his inn room.
The mont he began, he imdiately felt the difference.
In his ditating vision, so glowing jewels floated in a white scope within his reach, each representing one of the basic elents.
He hadn't encountered anything like this before.
Focus ca effortlessly within the realm, and by activating , Darien faced no difficulty sculpting his Energy to his will.
In a short but significant span of ti, he succeeded.
All the forces he had with him now made the task remarkably easier than expected.
Sitting proudly, Darien finally felt complete.
[Congratulations! You have successfully ford your Energy Core!]
[You get 1020XP!]
(Life Core LV.1)
(Elent: Water)
(Potence: Stable)
[Congratulations, host. You are now Rank 1 Mortal Novice]
[Mage Rank: Novice 0/250]
Ding!
(Congratulations on reaching Rank 1 Apprentice)
( 1 points all Attributes)
[Mage Rank: Apprentice 770/1000]
This was his first step as a mage.
His Energy Core, Water, wasn't Neutral like most monsters and beasts were.
Neutral Life Cores belonged to beings and creatures with no true depth of affinity toward any elent.
Furnace Boars and Blazewyrms, for instance, were monsters with superficial Fire power, so their cores remained Neutral.
Only truly strong monsters and genuine warriors developed specific elental or mystical cores, just like Darien now had.
He felt as though he finally possessed an epicenter for his soul.
Water was the elent of adaptability and balance, the most foundational in magic.
It yielded to everything, yet it could erode the strongest stone, a calm but devastating affinity. This was why it granted traits of calm temperant, emotional intelligence, and patience.
Just like Harwin, water users were rarely impulsive, Darien noticed.
He enjoyed the traits, but he also didn't want to be affected by weaknesses like passivity or being conciliatory all the ti.
Lifting a hand, Darien decided to test just how attuned he was.
He focused and swiftly ford a water ball in his hand whilst at the center of the living realm.
The sphere of liquid hovered from his palm, gliding over the back of his hand and circling back again in a smooth loop.
Then, splitting it into five smaller balls, he let them perch atop each fingertip before they spread thinly, coating his fingers and shaping into translucent nails that shimred like glass.
With his eyes reflecting his creation, Darien whispered softly, "Wow… it's incredible."
He beca very excited and couldn't imagine what it would feel like to connect spiritually with all the other elents, too.
Now that he could deepen his affinity with Water, Darien expected himself to soon create powerful Water spells.
He had none at the mont, but if there was ever a need to craft his first, he knew it would be sothing extraordinary.
Finally turning his attention to the system, Darien noticed unfamiliar notifications.
'Mage Rank?' he thought. 'How will experience points be shared between both classes?'
[Experience points are shared equally]
'Equally?'
When he saw the mage rank, Darien thought he would be getting XP for magehood when casting and XP for knighthood when fighting, not to have them split.
Either way, this only told him that his 100 XP multiplier might not be sufficient after all.
Quickly, he demanded his status panel to see the changes.
[Mage Rank: Apprentice 770/1000]
[Knight Rank: Expert 150420/250000]
[HP: 582>>1788]
[Physicality: 115.3]
[ntality: 76.6]
[Soul: 7.0]
'The creation of my own core unlocked more attributes?' Darien thought, intrigued.
His stat list had been completely revamped, reorganized into only three clear categories—Physicality, ntality, and Soul.
Creating his own Life Core had unlocked new sub-attributes like Wisdom, Perception, Charisma, Spirit, Constitution, and Faith.
But they were categorized under the main pillars.
Darien actually liked the change, as it gave him a clean overview of his progress without the clutter of tracking every individual value.
And right now, he was shocked to see he had close to two thousand health points!
His passive attribute points skill had been working overti!
Darien rose to his feet and scanned the vast cosmic realm around him.
He felt the urge to explore further, but fatigue weighed on him, so he promised he'd do that next ti.
Willing his exit, he left the cosmic realm. The next goal was to master Fire, and Darien felt confident it would co just as easily now that he understood the process.
For the rest of the day, though, Darien planned to return to the city and sell off the remaining loot he'd gathered from his last mission.
He couldn't risk being recognized as Jakob again, so this ti he decided to assu the identity of the frustrated man who had served him his al earlier.
No strings could be traced.
~~~~~~~
News of the duke's son's death had begun to spread throughout the province.
It was the kind of reception it deserved.
When notable figures or warriors died, it always sent waves through the masses because they believed such people were untouchable and didn't die easily.
For many, Vincent was believed to be immortal.
Rumors about the nature of his death were uncertain, so claid he perished during his dungeon test, so spoke of a secret ambush or treason, and so said sothing else entirely.
All these stories sounded absurd to those who knew his strength.
Nothing in Duskfall City was capable of killing him with twelve royal guards as protection and his best friend, Kalan, by his side.
And so, the cause of death beca spiritual.
Vynsera didn't tell her father imdiately after returning to the palace.
She played the part of an innocent sister well, pretending to believe that her brother was simply taking extra ti to level up and would soon return with new achievents to boast about.
Only when Vincent's absence began to weigh, and their father demanded proudly for his heir, did she finally co forward, her eyes brimming with fake worry.
In her hands, she presented the Luminara sword, saying she had found it lying "lost" at the Sanctum and that it might very well be loot from his death.
The Duke was mad with fury when he heard it.
His roar shook the walls, and Vynsera rembered him imdiately ordering a team of investigators to head for the Sanctum and verify every trace of the scene.
After that, countless etings followed, as the death of the crowned heir sent ripples through their clan.
It was a blow to structure and power, as the Velgranes now feared being cornered by other great families who ruled the remaining dukedoms.
The consequences of her actions were on full display, but Vynsera seed to happily accept them.
Before even considering approaching her father or revealing herself publicly, Vynsera had already sought a stronger illusion for her status.
She was willing to pay her entire fortune.
She had three delegates from the clan act as interdiaries, sending them to find the rchants, purchase the artifact, and bring it back to her.
But when the ti ca to pay up, the Duke's daughter collected the item, then slew all three n she had hired, blindsiding them completely.
No one expected such treachery from the Duke's blood!
Her defense was that she couldn't risk them knowing at all, as she sensed they were rats.
Now she focused on discovering the Eclipsera Plane, and also her favorite new person, Darien, whom she hadn't seen in a while.
Vynsera was weighed down with countless royal duties, but she always managed to make out ti for her personal growth and training.
Now at the brink of Rank 2, the Duke had no choice but to shift his full attention to his only remaining child and encourage her advancent.
That didn't an she was let off easily, however.
Vynsera might have avoided being forced into marriage with her late brother, but she was still bound for political courtship.
Being the only person in the entire world with a Light affinity made her incomparably valuable—and she was also a young woman.
Now that Vincent was gone, many began to notice more about her than they had before.
That sa day Darien returned to the museum to fully offload his inventory, Vynsera made her way back to the academy in search of him after receiving a lead on the location of the Expanded Realm.
Students were stunned to see her elegant figure moving gracefully through the knight buildings, her presence alone drawing every gaze in the corridor.
So trailed her quietly, curious to know what business the Duke's daughter had in such a place.
When she finally stopped at Darien's room door, murmurs erupted across the hall.
It wasn't until Mirielle appeared, confused by the sudden commotion, that she saw Vynsera Velgrane herself, standing and patiently knocking on Darien's door.
"Darien died in his dungeon trial, my lady," Mirielle said softly.
Vynsera turned to her with slightly lowered brows, recognizing her imdiately as the sa girl who often hovered around the boy.
Her words sounded honest, but they weren't the truth at all.
Vynsera could sense the deception for what it was. She quickly knew it was so mischief the white rat was spinning to hide himself.
And she wasn't going to be the one to scissor through his weave.
"Thank you," she replied politely before leaving just as calmly as she had arrived.
By dinner ti, when "Jakob" ca to the cafeteria, Mirielle eagerly recounted what had happened earlier that day.
She tried to gossip about what the Duke's daughter could have possibly wanted with Darien, but he wasn't the least bit interested.
Instead, he felt a quiet sense of relief knowing that his new partner hadn't turned out to be a traitor after all.
She must've co to inform him about the Legendary invitation.
Darien guessed she must still be trying to reach out.
Apparently, the real world had never been reality for either of them.
So, he sensed she'd want a et-up back in Duskfall City.
Exactly as predicted, Darien used his rift compass to return to the vicinity of the crumbled Sanctum.
Standing there, waiting for him, was a golden-haired beauty.
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