"Kaelith?" Adrian's calm voice reached her.
Only then did Kaelith blink out of her thoughts.
She composed herself and spoke, "I brought my warriors, as you requested."
Her tone was steady, but her gaze betrayed curiosity.
When Adrian had told her he needed her army for training, she had assumed it meant her Duskbane veterans would be the ones training the Origin soldiers. But after what she'd seen, thousands of SSS-ranks casually casting Stellar-level spells, she realized she had understood nothing at all.
Adrian seemed to sense her confusion.
He smiled faintly. "Were you shocked seeing my warriors use multiple affinities? Or perhaps how they cast Stellar-level spells without collapsing?"
Kaelith hesitated, then nodded slowly.
"Follow me," he said, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "You'll learn soon enough."
He led her through the training arena. Warriors, inscribers, and administrators paused mid-movement to bow as Adrian passed.
Adrian acknowledged each with a nod, his pace unhurried.
Kaelith followed, watching the reactions ripple through the crowd. These weren't the fearful bows she'd seen in other clans, where subordinates trembled before tyrants. These were genuine, born from respect.
They soon entered a vast chamber, the Inscriber Wing.
At the far end, Adrian picked up what looked like a plain parchment.
It bore a simple white-grey design, a single flowing line that split and branched infinitely, like veins of light threading through darkness.
Kaelith recognized it instantly.
"The Origin Clan's symbol," she murmured.
Adrian turned it toward her. "Yes. But it's also something more."
Kaelith frowned. "More?"
Adrian smiled. "It's not just an emblem. It's a skill scroll."
Her eyes widened. "That— That can't be right. A skill scroll looks nothing like—"
"Look closer," Adrian interrupted softly. "The runes are condensed beyond normal visibility. Only those who understand inscriptions at their conceptual level can perceive them."
Kaelith squinted, focusing her vision. Slowly, faint lines and runic spirals began to emerge from the parchment, stretching and coiling infinitely within the symbol itself.
The density was absurd. Hundreds, maybe thousands of interconnected runes compressed into a space no larger than her palm. Any standard inscriber would dismiss it as decorative art.
And then he channeled mana into the scroll, and the parchment pulsed with light.
From it, the symbol detached and hovered.
"This," Adrian said, "is possible due to the Tattoo Symbol inside this. It allows the user to etch any rune directly into their flesh. Flexible, removable, and perfectly stable."
Kaelith arched a brow. "You mean… a living skill scroll?"
"Exactly." Adrian's lips curved. "Care to try it?"
Curiosity outweighed caution. Kaelith extended her hand.
The symbol floated forward and pressed against the back of her palm.
A hiss echoed through the chamber as the symbol burned into her skin, searing with faint light. She flinched, a sharp pain surged through her arm, as if multiple concepts inside the rune rejected her body, and only fire and ice resonated smoothly.
The discomfort faded within seconds, leaving behind a faint white-grey mark.
Adrian's eyes glinted with interest.
"So, dual-essence wielders can handle the integration more easily," he murmured.
"You adapted fast. The rejection was lighter than I expected."
Kaelith flexed her hand, watching the tattoo shimmer faintly beneath her skin. It felt alive, responding to her mana like a second circulatory system.
"Try inserting pure mana," Adrian said. "And think of blinking to somewhere."
Kaelith frowned. "Blink? Adrian, I'm not a space wielder."
"Just try."
She channeled liquid mana into the tattoo, imagining herself shifting several meters away.
The next instant, the world folded.
A blink of light, a twist in sensation, and Kaelith reappeared behind Adrian.
She froze, eyes wide. "I… I just blinked."
Her voice trembled slightly. "Without space affinity. Adrian, how— how did I just—"
Adrian turned, smiling. "I forgot to mention, the ink used here isn't ordinary mana ink. It's something different. Something that removes affinity bind from skill inscriptions."
Kaelith's expression shattered into pure disbelief. "Removes affinity bind?"
She felt her pulse spike. "Adrian, that's— that's impossible! Affinity binding is the foundation of all inscription logic. Every rune reacts only to compatible elemental mana or essence."
She stepped closer, voice rising despite herself. "How could something like this even exist? One able to comprehend multiple affinities is fine, but just pure mana being a substitute for any essence is just absolutely ridiculous! It breaks not just the inscription logic, I feel like the entire reality is breaking!"
Kaelith's heart pounded. Her mind reeled through centuries of knowledge, through Lexarian research and archives, but none of it came close to this.
She finally understood what she had seen in the arena.
The blinking, the chained spells, the Stellar-level attacks from SSS-ranks, it wasn't them. It was the tattoos.
Adrian's warriors weren't bound by affinity at all. They were, effectively, multi-affinity combatants.
"Adrian… do you realize what this means? You've shattered the foundation of inscription itself. If the galaxy learns of this, you won't just have empires chasing you; even the demon empire will come after you!"
Adrian's gaze didn't waver. "What options do I have, Kaelith?" he asked quietly. "Hide while my people die? Wait for the galaxy to understand before saving my clan?"
Kaelith fell silent.
He continued, voice low and resolute. "You saw it yourself, the tattoos can't be identified at a glance. No one knows the ink's nature. And even if someone gets a fragment of this ink, it will take years to reverse-engineer to just find what it does. Years we can use to grow."
Kaelith frowned deeply. "Don't underestimate Lexaria. If they get even a single drop of this ink, they'll dismantle it faster than you think."
Adrian's lips curved slightly. "Then I'll make sure they never get a drop. By the time they even try, the Origin Clan will be untouchable."
He turned back toward the workbenches. "You came here to fight beside us, Kaelith. The Duskbane Clan deserves to share in this strength. Let's have your warriors etched with the same symbols."
Kaelith blinked. "You'd share this… with us?"
Adrian nodded. "Of course. You trusted me with your clan. I trust you with mine."
He added, "Didn't I already owe you one? Consider this my repayment for the route you gave me to the Edge."
Before she could answer, he continued, "The tattoos include multiple skills, from basic Blink to several Stellar-level techniques. Use the Stellar ones sparingly; for SSS-ranks, they'll consume around twenty percent of total mana."
Kaelith was speechless. "Twenty percent…?"
In the galaxy, even a Stellar-level skill scroll would drain half an SSS-rank's reserves, sometimes all of it, and that would still be affinity-bound. This efficiency was beyond comprehension.
She looked down at the tattoo on her palm, then back at Adrian.
"Adrian… you need to be careful. The empires and demons are not the only threats out there. There are others, beings we call the Ancient Cultivators."
Adrian raised a brow. "Ancient cultivators?"
Kaelith's expression darkened, her usual composure cracking at the edges. She glanced toward the chamber's exit, as though ensuring no one else listened.
"Yes. They dwell deep within the Edge. Beings older than the current empires, wielding multiple essences, power beyond even Stellar Warlords."
Adrian studied her face. The unease radiating from Kaelith wasn't fear, more like caution born from experience. She'd seen something, encountered something.
"And?" he asked.
Kaelith's jaw tightened. "And they don't follow galactic law. If one learns you've created something that breaks the essence system… they'll come for you. For this ink."
Adrian was quiet for a long moment, lost in thought.
"Ancient cultivators. Multiple essences. Beyond Stellar…"
The Guardian Spirit's words echoed in his mind.
"Could they have reached the Astral Stage?" he wondered aloud.
Kaelith blinked, confused. "Astral… stage?"
Adrian smiled faintly. "Just a theory. Nothing serious."
But inwardly, his thoughts churned.
"If the path beyond Stellar existed, perhaps these ancient beings had already touched it."
The concept tantalized him. Beings who'd outlived empires, who wielded multiple essences without the crutch of his Source advantage. If they existed, they could have already walked the higher path.
He couldn't worry too much about this, for now, there was work to do.
He turned back to Kaelith. "I'll be careful if I meet one."
Kaelith's expression remained troubled. She stepped closer, lowering her voice. "Just don't underestimate them. Even Lexaria fears to provoke those who live on the Edge."
Adrian's eyes sharpened at that detail. Even Lexaria fears?
Interesting.
Still, he kept his tone light. "Don't worry. I have no plans to reveal the ink's nature for now. The galaxy will just think our warriors could use multiple affinities."
He gestured toward the tattoo parchments stacked along the workbenches. "Bring your warriors here. They'll feel rejection at first, but once they comprehend even the planetary truth of the concept, the pain will fade. Then they'll be ready to use the spells inside this."
Kaelith nodded slowly, still dazed by the enormity of it all.
As she left to gather her troops, she couldn't shake the thought.
When the Origin Clan steps into Drakthor, the galaxy won't be watching a doomed army. It will be witnessing the birth of a new power…