Chapter 25: Reward

Sigurd remained seated in the cultivation chamber, slowly opening and closing his hands as the last traces of warmth from the two Demonic Cores settled throughout his body.

The grey powder that remained of them slipped between his fingers and scattered across the stone floor. His first Vis Core rotated steadily within him, noticeably fuller than it had been before tonight’s cultivation.

The difference wasn’t subtle. Two months of ordinary cultivation had effectively been compressed into a single night, and that was after the Star Devouring Leviathan had devoured, refined, and converted the essence contained within the cores.

If Osric hadn’t personally handed them to him, obtaining resources of that quality at seven years old would have been difficult even with his position in House Zierghardt.

He brushed the remaining dust from his palms and closed his eyes again, allowing his awareness to settle upon the System. The translucent interface appeared before him with the same familiar silence it had possessed for years. Seeing it reminded Sigurd of something he rarely thought about anymore.

The System had been almost completely dormant before his Soul Revelation Ceremony, providing little beyond basic information. That had changed after he awakened the Star Devouring Leviathan.

The first Main Mission it gave him had been ridiculously straightforward: form his First Vis Core and officially enter the Awakened Rank. At the time, Sigurd hadn’t known whether completing it would result in something extraordinary or something completely useless.

One month later, when his Embryonic Vis Core finally formed, he received his answer.

The old notification remained stored within his Records.

[MAIN MISSION COMPLETED.]

[The First Step]

[Objective: Form Your First Vis Core — Completed.]

[Objective: Enter the Awakened Martial Rank — Completed.]

[Rewards Obtained: Beginner System Reward Chest | Full Martial Soul Analysis | ]

Sigurd remembered sitting inside this same cultivation chamber when those words first appeared. He had barely finished stabilizing his newly formed Core before opening the Beginner System Reward Chest.

Considering it had been his first reward from the mysterious System that had accompanied his reincarnation, he had expected something impressive.

Instead, several items had appeared.

Ten High-Grade Vis Shards.

One Vis Purification Elixir.

One Technique Comprehension Token.

And an expansion to the System Inventory.

The first two had been disappointing.

Not because they were worthless. Far from it. A High-Grade Vis Shard contained a considerable amount of concentrated Vis, and the Vis Purification Elixir was useful for cleansing accumulated impurities from one’s channels and Core after absorbing too many external cultivation resources.

To an ordinary seven-year-old martial practitioner, either reward would have been precious.

Sigurd simply wasn’t ordinary.

He was the Tenth Son of Malhazar Di Zierghardt.

House Zierghardt didn’t lack Vis Shards.

If Sigurd required cultivation resources appropriate for his rank, Sylvia could obtain them without difficulty. His monthly allocation alone included resources that independent martial practitioners would fight over, and Osric had access to additional supplies for his training.

High-Grade Vis Shards were valuable, but they weren’t something Sigurd needed the System to provide.

The Purification Elixir suffered from the same problem.

Zierghardt possessed its own medicines, alchemists, cultivation chambers, and methods for maintaining the foundations of its descendants. Sigurd had stored the elixir rather than throwing it away, but he hadn’t regarded it as some irreplaceable treasure.

The third reward had been different.

Sigurd opened his Inventory.

A small object appeared above his palm.

It looked deceptively simple: a translucent token no larger than two fingers across, its surface resembling dark glass with faint silver patterns moving beneath it. The markings never remained in the same configuration for long. They flowed slowly around one another, separating, reconnecting, and forming symbols Sigurd couldn’t recognize before changing again.

[Technique Comprehension Token.]

[Single Use.]

Sigurd rolled it between his fingers.

Even after two years, he occasionally took it out simply to look at it.

Unlike the Vis Shards or elixir, House Zierghardt couldn’t casually provide another one. The token could place its user into an extraordinary state of comprehension while studying and practicing a single Martial Technique.

It wouldn’t directly teach the technique, nor would it magically push mastery forward without effort. What it offered was something far more valuable: an opportunity to perceive a technique’s principles with clarity far beyond one’s normal state.

Sigurd had nearly used it recently.

On Severing Line.

When Osric first handed him the battered Black-Rank manual and explained that technique mastery depended upon understanding rather than merely repeating movements, the token had immediately crossed Sigurd’s mind. He had considered taking it out that very evening.

Severing Line required synchronization between footwork, physical movement, Vis circulation, timing, and the sword’s cutting path. A comprehension state would undoubtedly have made understanding those relationships easier.

He hadn’t done it.Three days later, he reached Initial Understanding through his own effort. The decision now seemed even more correct.

"Using this on a Black-Rank technique would have been criminal." Sigurd tossed the token upward once and caught it.

Severing Line was useful. His fight against the Armored Bloodfang had proven that beyond question. Without it, severing the creature’s head in a single strike would have been far more difficult. He intended to continue practicing the technique and push its mastery higher.

But Black Rank was only the second level of Martial Techniques. Above it stood Earth, Human, Heaven, and Divine.

Somewhere in Eden were techniques created by monsters who could probably erase his current self with a casual movement. Techniques containing principles so profound that comprehending even their foundations might take years.

That was what the token was for.

Sigurd returned it to the Inventory. "I’ll save it."

The interface disappeared with it. There was another reward from that mission that had mattered considerably more than the Vis Shards.

Full Martial Soul Analysis. Before completing The First Step, the System’s information concerning the Star Devouring Leviathan had been frustratingly limited. Sigurd knew its name, its strange unquantifiable Grade, its Growth classification, and the four Authorities associated with it.

Devouring.

Gravity.

Light.

Stellar.

The completed mission had revealed more about the first Authority than Sigurd had previously understood.

Devouring wasn’t restricted by affinity. The Star Devouring Leviathan didn’t care what kind of Vis it consumed.

Fire-aspected Vis, ice, lightning, darkness, light, poison, beast essence, elemental energy, or ordinary ambient Vis, the nature of the energy itself didn’t determine whether the Leviathan could devour it. Devouring was exactly what its name suggested. Foreign energy entered, was consumed, broken down, refined, and transformed into something Sigurd could use.

The limitation was Sigurd himself. That distinction mattered. The Star Devouring Leviathan might possess the capacity to swallow terrifying sources of energy, but Sigurd’s seven-year-old body didn’t. His channels, Vis Core, flesh, and current cultivation established the amount of power he could safely endure at one time.

Trying to devour something vastly beyond his current limits wouldn’t produce some miraculous increase in strength.

He would burst. Sigurd had found the System’s warning regarding that possibility rather memorable.

[Warning: Vessel strength determines current Devouring limit.]

[Attempting to Devour energy exceeding the Vessel’s tolerance may result in catastrophic physical destruction.]

There had been more information concerning the Leviathan’s other Authorities, but much remained inaccessible because Sigurd simply wasn’t powerful enough to use them properly. The analysis couldn’t hand him abilities his Martial Soul hadn’t awakened. It could only explain what had already become available and reveal fragments concerning what might eventually become possible.

That suited Sigurd. He didn’t want the System fighting for him.

Today had demonstrated why.

No panel had taught him how to avoid the Bloodfang’s claws. No notification had corrected his stance while fifteen feet of muscle charged toward him. No mysterious reward had shown him when to abandon an attack or how to exploit the beast’s injured rear leg.

He had learned those things by fighting. The System was a tool. His Martial Soul was power and neither replaced him.

Sigurd dismissed the remaining panels and returned his attention to his body. The essence of the two Demonic Cores had settled completely now, feeding his cultivation without destabilizing his Nascent Core. He could still feel the difference, enough to make the prospect of obtaining more Demonic Cores extremely tempting.

But there was another thought bothering him. The Armored Bloodfang. When he had touched its corpse earlier, the Leviathan had reacted without a Demonic Core being present. Ferocious Beasts possessed no cores, yet something had still been pulled from the dead creature and devoured through his palm.

Sigurd slowly raised his right hand. He remembered the warmth.

The hunger.

The intoxicating sensation of something leaving the corpse. Then Osric’s clapping had interrupted him before he could understand what was happening.

His eyes narrowed. The two Demonic Cores had answered one question tonight.

The dead Bloodfang had created another. Sigurd stared at his palm for several seconds before a faint smile appeared.

Apparently, he would need another corpse.