Aeron brought the black vial to his lips.
The liquid inside didn't slosh like water. It moved thicker, heavier, like ink that had been stirred by something alive. The moment it touched his tongue, a metallic bitterness spread across his taste buds. There was no warmth, no sweetness, no burn. It was unnervingly cold.
He swallowed.
For one heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then the world tore open inside him.
Aeron's spine arched as a violent pulse exploded from his body. He gasped, but the breath never fully formed.
The pain was nothing like the earlier potions. Those had been needles and fire. This was a thousand times worse.
Every bone in his body felt like it was buckling inward.
Every nerve shrieked.
His vision turned white, then black, then white again.
Eron couldn't hear her anymore.
The pain swallowed sound.
It swallowed breath.
It swallowed thought.
His heartbeat thundered once.
Twice.
Then a third time, and on that beat, something ruptured inside him. Not physically. Deeper. Something that had always been there, asleep, now dragged awake with violent force.
A pulse burst from his chest.
The room shook.
The air cracked like glass struck by a hammer. Aira's hair fluttered backward as an invisible pressure surged outward from Aeron.
He collapsed to his knees, clutching his chest. The pain sharpened, then twisted, then inverted. It felt as if his own soul was being peeled open.
He forced one eye open.
The world around him was warping.
Shadows stretched. Colors bled. The walls rippled as though made of liquid.
Aira's voice reached him faintly. "Don't resist it. Let the gift manifest."
Aeron's consciousness snapped like a pulled thread, flinging him forward into darkness.
He drifted.
Weightless.
Soundless.
Painless.
The agony dissolved, replaced by cold silence. Aeron floated in an infinite void, black as the potion he had swallowed, yet shimmering faintly like ink mixed with stardust.
Shapes flickered at the edges of his vision.
Circular runes.
Geometric glyphs.
Fragments of cards drifting like leaves carried by invisible tides.
A voice whispered through the void.
Awaken…
Aeron looked around, though he wasn't sure he had a body anymore.
The void shifted, stretching open until he was standing on something solid. A floor of obsidian glass that reflected not his body, but possibilities. Infinite versions of himself flickered beneath the surface.
Stronger.
Weaker.
Older.
Younger.
Unknown.
'What is going on?'
Suddenly, a gust of wind swept through the empty realm, and cards materialized around him in a slow spiral, each one glowing with pale gold light. The designs on them shifted constantly, never settling, as though even reality struggled to contain them.
These pulsed with ancient power, each one radiating an aura that felt old. Older than time. Older than creation itself.
Aeron stepped closer.
As he reached out, the deck rose into the air on its own.
The cards fanned open in a perfect circle around him.
Each card bore a name that shimmered in symbols he instinctively understood, as if their meaning flowed into him when his eyes lay upon them.
A faint hum rang that turned into a voice. A voice that belonged to not a person, but something utterly primordial.
[ The reality bears witness to the birth of the ninth and final aspect of ####. ]
[ Born of silence before creation,
a deck that breathes where fate collapses.
Old as the void that swallowed first light,
The Forbidden Arcana stirs awake.
Fate shatters at its pull, law bends at its presence.
The Forbidden Arcana crowns its bearer with power older than reality. ]
[ Primordial-Tier Gift—Deck of Forbidden Arcana. ]
All cards were suddenly stacked into a deck and entered into him.
Darkness enveloped him, and then his eyes opened in the room with Aira's face right in front of him, just a meter away.
Aeron blinked. 'Am I sitting on her lap?'
"You're awake." Aira smiled. "Congratulations. Now let's check your stats and gift's grade."
Aeron got up and nodded. "What do I have to do?"
Aira walked towards the square crystal in the room. "Here. Put your hand on his hand anywhere."
Aeron walked and did as told.
The crystal cube lit up faintly before a hologram sprang up from its surface, showing a screen.
————
Lifeform rank: Tier-1
Power Level: 78
Gift Grade: ???
-Physique: 19
-Stamina: 170/170.
-Spirit: 23
-Prana: 140/140
-Vigor Points: 39 opened.
-Spirit Points: 42 opened.
————
"What?" Aira blinked with confusion, her head tilting slightly. "Why couldn't it measure your gift's potency grade?"
Aeron looked at his status. 'Hmm…I can sense and feel this gift. I think I know how to use it.'
"Generally, there are only two reasons for question marks. Either the gift is too weak, or the gift is too strong." Aira looked at Aeron, her eyes filling with curiosity. "I wonder which one it is?"
Aeron stretched his hand, and his palm faced the ceiling. "Let's check."
Aira suddenly saw Aeron's eyes shimmering with an unreadable symbol that overlapped his pupil briefly before a black card with golden patterns appeared in his hand.
'Eh? Only one card? I thought I had a deck.'
"A card?" Aira raised her eyebrows. "It has weird symbols. You should have gotten information about your gift. Focus, and you will understand what it does."
Aeron was already seeing something in his mind.
He saw two floating cards, and it seemed he had to choose one. Fortunately, he could read and understand the meaning of the eccentric symbol writing on them.
1. Deck of Elemental Forbearers.
2. Deck of Valiant Force.
Aeron made a choice. The one he chose stayed while the other card vanished.
[Deck of Valiant Force]
Card Draw: 10 Prana per star-quality of the card.
"Ok, so I think I know how it will work," Aeron said as he consumed 10 Prana to draw a card.
In the next moment, the card that floated above his palm transformed. It glowed as one star appeared in its header. Below it was a design of two muscled fists crossing each other, and the background was glowing with sky-blue starry blaze.
The
The design below was words written in symbolic language, but only for others. For Aeron, it was English.
"Wow, it transformed. Can you read what it says?" Aira's eyes sparkled as she saw the card. "It shows fists, but judging by the design, it could be a buff type."
Aeron was surprised. "You guessed it correctly. When I use this card, it increases my physical strength by 20%."
But he didn't tell her the full truth.
[ Power of Two ]
Card Quality: 1-star
Effect:
—> Increase your physical strength by 20% for the next one minute. Increases by 20% per card stacked, until 100%.
Card Stack Effect:
—> When you stack 5 Power of Two into one, create one Thousand Impact Fist(3-star).
"Physical strength boost by 20%?" Aira rubbed her chin, a flash of disappointment in her eyes, but it didn't linger for long. "It's weak, but it's fine. Some people have completely worthless gifts. Even without gifts, one can train to become stronger. Gifts are just bonus powers. Mainly, we need to train our Physique, harness our Spirit, and open chakra points constantly to go beyond and learn various techniques and skills."
Aira patted his shoulder and smiled. "Come on, we are not done yet. My parents will come to visit me after three days, so I want you to be as strong as possible by then."
But as if realizing something, she froze. "Wait, I'm really sorry!"
Her smile dropped as she added with a sigh. "The potions you drank must have given you a lot of pain. You should rest and relax first."
"Well, I am up for it." Aeron chuckled. "I do want to relax a bit."
Aira's eyes lit up. "I got an idea. It's a perfect place where we can rest, while I give you some basic knowledge about multiple things."
"Well then, ladies first." Aeron smiled as he gestured at the door. "I shall follow you wherever you go."
"Alrighty." Aira chuckled.
As the two left the room, Aeron's eyes faintly flickered. 'What I experienced didn't seem weak, and this name…yeah, this Primordial Gift must be some crazy gift instead of a weak gift.'
'I should check it thoroughly.'
[ Deck of the Forbidden Arcana ]