Assimilate All Talents

Leaving the Chieftain's place, the four made their way back to the house. It wasn't quite nighttime yet, but because of the upcoming Rite of Ascension, the city was unusually lively. Even now, preparations for the event were in full swing.

Totems of various animals were being erected, their heads alight with flames that illuminated the surrounding streets. In open areas, circles had been drawn on the ground filled with colorful symbols. Young orcs played a lively game within them, jumping to land on whichever symbol was randomly chosen by a die roll.

Stalls lined the roads, offering all sorts of unique foods. One of them sold colorful frozen sticks that looked like some sort of flavored ice. Sol was curious to try them, but all four of them were far too full from the feast to even consider it right now.

Eventually, the group arrived at the house. As they stepped inside, Sol turned to Reena and said, "You can use the room you woke up in. I'm sure you're still tired, after all, you were only unconscious for a few hours from the mana overdraft and haven't had much proper sleep."

Reena didn't respond at first, but eventually gave a small nod. It was true, she still felt the lingering effects of mana overdraft. While she had been putting up a strong front to not appear weak even while having her magic suppressed, her body yearned for rest.

As she made her way toward the room, Sol suddenly called out to her. "Oh! Before I forget. Here."

He walked over and handed her a spatial ring. Reena instantly recognized it as hers.

Her first instinct was to look inside, but she quickly realized several items were missing.

"Where are my items!? My communication gems, my staff, and the rest of my gear!"

"Well, I'm not giving you back your ring just so you can call for help or attack me." Sol replied with a short chuckle. "I took out anything that could be used as a weapon or for contacting others. I didn't return it just so you could fight me, just figured you might want a spare change of clothes."

"…"

She felt foolish for expecting anything else.

Reena didn't bother responding. She had more or less accepted her situation, and not having her weapons didn't really change much. Still, it was nice to at least have her spare clothes and some daily necessities.

Once Reena left, leaving only Amber, Sol, and Thorwyn outside the entrance, Amber turned to him and asked, "Keep watch?"

Sol shook his head at her offer. "No, I can manage alone. As long as I keep my law technique active, she won't be able to get far without us noticing. You should get some rest too."

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Amber simply nodded and headed to her room.

As for Thorwyn, Sol helped the large Raijin settle into the shed at the back of the house. It wasn't difficult, Thorwyn was barely able to stay awake after stuffing himself during the feast. The moment his bedding was laid out, he collapsed and was out like a light.

Sol returned to the last vacant room and made himself at home. As he lay inside, he glanced at the wall separating his room from Reena's. He couldn't see her tether, but he could feel the tether he was suppressing through his law technique which would last as long as he maintained it.

'Can't sleep while using [Lesser Channel Control]... or she could escape.'

Only he could suppress her space magic, which meant he couldn't afford to fall asleep. Even a few seconds of unconsciousness might allow her to teleport thousands of miles away.

'Space magic really is a pain… but I might as well make the most of this and check on those skills—and those weird system messages.'

He sighed, pitying himself for a brief moment before deciding to shift his focus and stay mentally active. After a few moments, he decided to examine the new skills he'd acquired.

[Void Walk] Lv MAX, [Voidling Resemblance] Lv MAX, [Void Corrosion] Lv MAX, [Void Absorption] Lv Max, [Void Rupture] Lv MAX, [Bloodless] Lv MAX, [Void Maw] Lv MAX, [Erasure Beam] Lv MAX, [Fractured Claw] Lv MAX, [Void Pulse] Lv MAX, [Void Tap] Lv Max, etc…

Looking at the long list of void skills, he was reminded of just how profitable that accidental trip to the void had been. It had netted him a large haul of powerful abilities from voidlings. He had already spent time naming and organizing them while waiting for Reena to wake up, so all that was left was to decide whether to combine any of them or keep them separate.

'I need to think about what direction I want to take these. From what I've learned in obtaining the skills, void energy isn't like shadow or earth or any other element, it's not something I can control or create with mana. It only works with actual void energy… and I can't convert it like the void root. Not yet, anyway.'

Much like psychic energy, void energy existed separately from mana and couldn't be recovered normally, but unlike it he couldn't convert mana into void energy like he used to do with psychic energy, even if it was very inefficient. Only by using skills like [Void Absorption] together with [Void Tap] could he briefly pierce the dimensional barrier and draw energy directly from the void to replenish his reserves.

As for how much void energy he could hold compared to mana... he wasn't sure. The system only quantified mana, so he had to rely on intuition. Judging by how it felt within him, his void energy reserves were about a fifth the size of his mana pool. But despite the small quantity, void energy was incredibly potent. If he unleashed it all at once, it could likely match, or even surpass, the destructive power of the Tynamo Cannon at full output.

Wanting to test its strength, he retrieved a random sword he had looted from a bandit a while back. Channeling a sliver of void energy into his fingertip by using [Fractured Claw], he gently tapped the edge of the blade.

Crack!

Black lines instantly spread from the point of contact, corroding the metal and snapping the sword clean in two. It was instantly destroyed beyond repair.

Sol stared at the ruined weapon, wide eyed with awe. Sure, it was only a common rarity sword, but for it to shatter so easily from a mere touch?

'That was only using one percent of the void energy… I shouldn't have expected anything less from the same energy that could severely harm me even while fused with Thorwyn…'

While he knew it's power when he had the Tynamo Cannon, he was only reminded again that void energy was no joke.