[Your ’Runecaster’ aspect has advanced to the late 2nd phase.]

[You have created, "First mantra of the True Rune Meditation Technique"]

[Your innate comprehension has increased]

[The potency of your ’Mutated Runic Eyes’ has increased]

Axel looked at the written rune mantra, something the system labeled the True Rune Meditation Technique, which, in a way, made sense, since his grandfather, as far as he remembered, had not learned all 24 runes at every level, even with the runic eyes.

Because it inherently created a bottleneck, progress slowed. The suppression of the World Will became too tyrannical, all of which Axel knew very well. This was one of the primary reasons Axel could not use the first part of Damien’s meditation technique outright.

Axel had to modify it so that it would suit his unique foundation, grow alongside him, and avoid any lingering problems later on.

He began to read the mantra written in the runic language, but no words came out of his mouth. Because he was not at a level where he could speak the rune with his voice and command the elements of reality with his tongue, rather, he could only use a weapon as a medium for the rune symbols’ exertion of power.

But the sound of it resonated in his mind, throughout the world, the mana itself rippled by every word he uttered. He could feel something unlocking within, the torrent of mana from outside gushing inside like a tide.

KRRRAAAAASHHHHH!!!

Then the unmistakable sound of glass shattering reverberated throughout his soul sanctum, ever deeper, as if something frozen in the coldest, deepest frost had been cracked open.

The feeling of overwhelming power bloomed inside his very soul, a tsunami of energy washed over his entire soul sanctum, to be precise, his primary aspect chambers, lower and upper floors, were flooded with power.

A new section appeared on the 2nd floor of his primary aspect chamber. Where in the walls, the first polygon circle and all the 24 symbols, which were from the trial world, not the rune symbols of Eldarion, became printed there in a golden shine, as if painted by a master artist, with utmost devotion.

The instinctive knowledge of True Rune Meditation Technique flowed in his mind, his runic eyes flashed in delight, and in an instant, it deepened his understanding.

[You have learned "First mantra of the True Rune Meditation Technique"]

[Your innate comprehension of the Runes has increased.] 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

[The efficiency of your Mutated Runic Eyes has increased.]

[The total number of Nexus Artifacts you can wield has increased.]

[You can now wield two primary weapons and three accessory-type weapons.]

[You are now able to superimpose the effects of any of the 24-Gon in your first polygon circle into your rune weapons, a maximum of five at a time.]

Axel’s eyes snapped open, his shimmering blue eyes and the golden runic eyes flashing with profound understanding of something more—a deeper level into the mechanism of the rune. Till now, he had only seen two sides to the power system of the runes.

One belonged to the Trial World, the other belonged to Eldarion. But there was a third, a bridge between the two. Something that worked far better than he ever thought possible. Axel grinned, looking at the lines of notifications.

His guess was correct; there was no notification indicating that he was the first one to do something like this. Meaning that old fart Damien was likely the very first one to accomplish this feat of converting the power built on the trial world to something usable within Eldarion.

That sneaky old bastard. Axel could only wonder what sort of monstrous and deep level of knowledge the old man must have gathered after so many years of doing nothing but researching into the field of runic sorcery, throughout the entire continent.

Axel immediately got up from his sitting position. His mind was filled with inspiration and overwhelming passion for Runecraft; he had to make a unique set of rune tools now, of the highest caliber, which he could use with his newly learned True Rune Meditation Technique.

Accessories, as well as swords that could go perfectly with his first polygon circle of 24 sides, must be created with utmost perfection, then those must be optimized through fighting with the rune phantoms.

Axel looked at the doppelganger bastard who was continuing to slave away with an almost lifeless look on his face. For a moment, he could not help but feel utter distaste towards the bastard.

Bang!!!

Axel, without hesitation, kicked the imitator on his stomach. The doppelganger crashed into the wall, coughing up blood, without even realizing what had just happened. The copy screamed in rage, "You mf*** son of a bitch. I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU....."

But Axel didn’t even bother to register that comment. Taking a properly forged sword, he instantly started engraving on it with his mana and treating the imitator like air.

Axion stood there dumbfounded, unable to believe this fucking bastard. He clenched both of his fists so hard that blood began to come out. For a moment, he thought of actually skewering a sword through the chest of this fucker, but eventually, he had to stop that train of thought.

In the end, he simply left the room, though not before cursing the bastard one last time, "Fuck you and your 14 generations."

Again, Axel didn’t even hear the words; it went into his one ear and flew out through another. His complete focus was on the rune engraving procedure; he had already entered the flow state, his brain caring about nothing else but the work and work alone.

After a few days of grueling work, he finally managed to make five perfectly suited pure artifacts to his new needs. Usually, he would make artifacts that would be more or less usable with both of his aspects. But in this scenario, he found it counterproductive.

So, he maximized these five artifacts to work most in tandem with his runecaster aspect, in exchange for not being much usable with his chaosblood aspect, an acceptable trade-off that gave great returns.

After a quick inspection and a nod of approval, Axel finally exited the rune chamber. Taking a quick shower, he slumped down into his large, soft bed. Clara came to the room, leaving a tray full of food sealed by a magic container.

So, even after many hours, the food would stay fresh and warm, as if cooked just moments before. All so that the young master could enjoy the food and fill his stomach whenever he woke up. Axel’s body suddenly moved, exactly in the middle of the night—the time when the world is usually asleep.

Letting out a tired yawn, he walked to the balcony, and bright silver moonlight washed over his entire body, making his blue hair flutter. But he did not walk onto the balcony in the middle of the night to enjoy the moonlit night.

Axel spoke, his voice still groggy and tired, waking from deep sleep, even though he did not want to, "Come out, little assassin. I know you’re observing."

But there was no response; he was only met with profound silence. But Axel didn’t mind, and he chuckled, "Judging by your stealth techniques, let me guess, you’re from Arclight."

***

{Author Note - Sigh, Never thought I’d live to see this day, 500 Chapters, guys. Five Hundred Freakin Chapters.}