Capítulo 48: Energy of Battle

"Gods Roger, what happened?"

Lila took a shuddering step away from him, blood leaking down her face. She kept her sword drawn, but it wasn't an aggressive stance.

Holding the crown in his hands, Roger looked up from it and gave her a half smile.

"I couldn't really tell you."

He lifted the circlet and gave it a short wave.

"I found this thing at the top of that staircase. The System called it a Relic, whatever that is. Apparently, I am soul bonded to it, and it's related to the mists."

Pausing to think for a moment, he glanced at the edge of the torchlight.

"It also seems to have something to do with… whatever that thing was."

Lila looked at him with wide eyes, her sword slowly lowering, before she dismissed it. Then, bringing a hand to her mouth, she chuckled.

Not expecting the reaction, Roger leveled a confused gaze at her."What?"

She was shaking her head as she responded, her chest rising and falling with her laughter.

"How is it that you've managed to find a Relic of all things while I'm fighting for my life? Do you know how rare those things are? You could sell it and buy a deed of nobility, Roger! You could become one of the most powerful men alive overnight!"

As her laughter petered out, she wiped a tear from her eye, studying it for a moment before rubbing it off on her sleeve.

"If only I were a little stronger, I could have been the one to find it."

Roger watched her look turn despondent, but she quickly replaced it with a forced smile. It was a jarring change, and made him second guess if she had ever been sad in the first place.

It worried him how envious the look originally was.

'Maybe it wasn't the best idea to reveal the crown.'

He waved the thought away, acknowledging that it had saved their lives.

The proper question was how, and why.

The Crown of Mists granted him the ability to summon the mists, but it said nothing about protecting him against strange humanoid monsters roaming the ruins.

'Unless it's related to the blocked ability.'

The theory made sense. The Crown of Mists had two abilities, but Roger could only access one due to his lack of the proper legacy.

Thinking back to the fight, he realized what had prompted the change.

'It stopped attacking after I absorbed its mana! If that's the case, I wonder if the creature was related to the required legacy! By converting it into my own, it gave me access to the hidden ability!'

The realization was a strange one, as it felt incomplete. There was more to that hidden ability than met the eye, Roger was sure of that, but he had no way to figure out what exactly it was.

Without fighting the creature again, that is.

'I think I'm fine leaving this mystery unsolved. For now at least. I just want to get back to the glade and out of this death trap.'

He looked up to see Lila watching him with a far more convincing smile on her face, but it looked malicious with the long cut across her cheek.

"Done standing there thinking about stuff?"

Roger approached her while sheathing his sword, grimacing as he studied her wounds.

"We should probably treat your injuries. We don't want them getting infected, especially in this place."

Lila nodded her agreement before slowly sitting down on the floor.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

He looked down at her with an incredulous expression.

'Is she just going to sit there? Did the mists impact her nerves?'

Without warning, sparks of blue lightning started to shoot out of Lila's various wounds, coating them in a thin layer of energy.

She had a pleasant smile on her face as she leaned back onto the cold stone, allowing the magic to handle her pain.

Within a minute, all previous signs of the battle were wiped away, barring the streaks of blood covering her face and furs.

"Ah, that's much better!"

Roger watched with disbelief, unable to comprehend what was happening, before finally sputtering out some words.

"What just happened? What the hell was that?"

Flashing Roger a mischievous look, Lila responded between yawns.

"While you might have convinced the last one to run off, there were two others to deal with better you decided to come help. Killing them seemed to be enough to push me to Beta, which gave me that ability."

With a wave of her hand, a prompt appeared in front of Roger.

[Ability Data Offered]

[Recieve: Y/N]

Mentally choosing to accept, a new screen filled his vision.

[Energy of Battle]

[Ability Description: Lightning is an element stemming from energy itself, fueling all living beings. In battle, you may absorb this energy, revitalizing yourself through the death of your enemies. This can heal your injuries, strengthen your attacks, or return stamina you have lost. Be warned, as absorbing this energy can cause fatigue.]

Roger was starstruck as he dismissed the System.

'So she gets rewarded for fighting in long battles. If she can keep killing things, she is unstoppable. She just needs to keep finding enemies and absorbing their energy.'

It was a powerful ability and one that would be terrifying to fight against.

He had just witnessed how effective it could be personally. Lila had used it after fighting three creatures Roger couldn't even wound, and even managed to kill one of them! Then she had healed all of her injuries as if they had never existed in the first place.

Scowling, he compared it to his own ability.

'So the System decides she gets a cool sword and can fight forever, while I can only be as strong things I can kill?'

Suddenly, a new thought struck him, replacing his frown with a grin.

'If Lila got something this strong at Beta, then I will too! I bet it will be even better to balance everything out!'

Turning back to the focus of his thoughts, he shook his head and sighed.

"This must be how you felt when you saw my Relic. I go get a crown that can't help me until I rank up a bunch, and you manage to unlock the craziest ability I've seen so far."

She let loose a single laugh, rolling her eyes as she kept her head on the ground.

"Trust me, once we find a city you'll see what I mean. I'd trade you my ability for that crown a thousand times over. Do you even know what Relics are, or what they can do?"

Scratching the back of his head, Roger admitted they didn't. He then squatted down to listen to her explanation, realizing she seemed more tired than usual.

"Relics are like artifacts but are mostly found in ancient structures like ruins instead of being given after a rank-up. They are bonded to someone's soul, allowing them to be summoned and dismissed at will. They can also be transferred, which is part of the reason why so many people want them."

She rolled her head to face him but didn't lift it off the floor.

"The other reason is the System likes to constantly upgrade them."

She held out her palm and Vronti, her artifact, fell onto it. She didn't grip it, letting it rest on her skin.

"Artifacts like this are usually how they come. I could reach Omega and never see it change. Now that isn't an absolute rule, the System will occasionally change an artifact as a rank-up reward, but it's rare."

Lila limply pointed at the crown in Roger's hand.

"Relics, by comparison, are usually upgraded every other time you rank-up, without taking the place of your usual rank-up reward. It might seem weak now, but by the time you reach Xi, or even Kappa, it could be one of the strongest items on Avar. Relics are incredibly rare, meaning people will do almost anything to get their hands on one."

She frowned, and her eyelids covered half of her eyes.

"You shouldn't tell many people you have it. It'd be better to say it's related to your rank somehow, or maybe just a piece of armor the System gave you. There are people out there that would do anything for that kind of power…"

She yawned and closed her eyes, but not before muttering a few more words.

"People like my parents…"

His gaze lingered on her face as he tried to understand what she had meant by her final words.

'People like her parents? What did she mean by that? Should I be worried?'

Seeing her fade out of consciousness, he realized they weren't questions to be answered now. Instead, he had to focus on keeping them alive in case the beast returned, possibly with friends.

Roger watched as her chest rose and lowered steadily, sleep having taken hold.

'I guess the System wasn't lying, that ability can drain her energy really fast.'

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