After the initial shock faded, Vaeloria briefly explained the importance of skills. Ash already knew most of it from her memories and fragments of the novel, but he listened anyway, golden eyes locked on her emotionless face.
"Skills are similar to talents, yet fundamentally different in two ways," she began, voice flat as winter steel. "Talents are innate, born from bloodline or heavenly blessing. They cannot be created or shared. Upon awakening, one usually receives up to four talents if they possess multiple S-rank or higher aspects. After that, a new talent is granted with each major rank beginning at C.
Skills, on the other hand, are forged. They are born from your understanding of your affinities and the limits of your imagination. Form the concept clearly in your mind, and the world itself will etch the result into your status."
She finished with the ranking system: F to SSS, judged purely by scope and impact across all of Elaris. Only three SSS skills were known to have ever existed, even from the Primordial Era.
Ash sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.
He began with the affinity he understood most intimately.
Lust.
He was its embodiment, and it was him. Lust was not mere carnal hunger; it was the primal force that drove every living being toward completion: power, flesh, love, recognition, domination, worship. It was the ache behind every heartbeat.
He imagined weaponizing that ache. A single sentence, no louder than a lover's murmur, yet capable of drowning entire armies in obsession. Currently he could already make his voice sound like melodies, it was a neat perk of being lust. But what envisioned was something more... something far deadlier.
Two weeks vanished inside the Lesser Chamber.
When he opened his eyes, golden script burned across his vision.
[Skill Created – Eros Whisper | Rank S | Cost: 10 % of total mana pool per use
User speaks one sentence in a voice no louder than a lover's murmur. Any target within 50 km who hears it (directly or through any medium) is instantly seized by an irresistible tide of desire aimed solely at Ash.
Targets A-rank and below:
- Immediate, total surrender.
- They drop weapons, kneel, and will obey any verbal order Ash gives for the full 10 minutes.
- Orders can be as simple as "sleep," "follow," or "kill your king."
Targets at S-rank
- Paralyzed for 10 seconds.
- After the stun, they suffer 60 % reduced combat effectiveness and cannot target Ash with killing intent for the rest of the 10 minutes.]
"Not bad for a first skill," Ash said, satisfaction dripping from every word.
"What rank?" Vaeloria asked, voice still cold.
He turned to her, slow smile spreading. "S-rank, my lovely fox~"
For the first time in months, the mask shattered completely.
Her violet eyes widened, lips parted, a thin line of silver blood appearing on the corners of her lower lip. Inside her chest, her core trembled so violently she had to clench her fists to stay upright.
'Dammit… dammit… dammit…'
The word echoed in her mind like a death knell. He was beyond any genius she had ever witnessed, the most beautiful creature she had ever seen, and an arrogant, insufferable bastard.
And she loved every bit of that about him
She bit down harder, tasting starlight and copper.
'I have to choose… and fast.'
"Continue," she managed, voice barely steady. "You'll need an arsenal of skills in case your talents are ever sealed or out of commission.
I'll be waiting by the river."
[Affection 99%]
She turned and walked out, each step measured, regal, bleeding.
Ash watched her go, smile fading into something darker.
"I need to find a solution for this. Fast."
His gaze sharpened.
"Maybe a skill can help with this?"
With that thought burning behind his eyes, he began his final bout of training.