Born In Ashes: The Enigma

Azrael held a black band in his hand, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"How do I use this thing?" He muttered under his breath, and just like Kael, he placed the band around his left wrist.

Earlier, when he found the clothes and the Water Spirit Pendant on the bed, the band had also been among them.

At that time, Azrael hadn't paid much attention to it, as he was in a hurry due to Lia and the butler's sudden appearance. It was only after seeing Kael use the band that he realized it wasn't just a normal accessory, prompting him to hurry back to his room.

"Do I need to press a hidden button or something to activate it?"

As Azrael ran his finger along the band's surface, he suddenly felt a very slight bulge on the underside. He gently pressed that area with his finger, and the moment he did, the band vibrated slightly, followed by—

(Fingerprint Authentication Successful)

A mechanical voice echoed in his mind, making him raise an eyebrow.

He ignored the mechanical voice and instead focused on something far more interesting.

'This band used to belong to the Azrael of this world, meaning the fingerprint registered in it should've been his. But I still managed to unlock it using my fingerprint…' Azrael narrowed his eyes and looked down at his hand. 'Does this mean it's not just our faces that match?'

As the voice faded, Azrael felt a strange connection form between himself and the band on his wrist.

With a single thought, a holographic screen—about the size of a small television—projected itself from the band, suspended in midair in front of his face.

Azrael browsed through the features of the band and quickly realized that it was similar to a smartphone, only far more advanced.

"If I had known about this band earlier, I wouldn't have needed to use those cheesy words to get that little bit of information out of Kael..." Azrael muttered to himself, then immediately opened the search engine to begin his investigation.

The first thing he wanted to understand was what kind of world he had ended up in. But before diving into that, he decided to look up information about the Awakening—something that seemed to be the root of everything here.

As he searched, numerous articles appeared on the holographic screen. After reading just a few, he gained a basic understanding of what the Awakening was.

According to what he read, in this world, there existed an object known as the Awakening Stone. Once a human reached the age of sixteen, they could awaken a special power through the use of this stone.

The most important word in that sentence was "human."

Because the articles also mentioned that certain species didn't require an Awakening Stone to awaken their powers.

This strongly implied that other intelligent species besides humans existed in this world.

"Other species... are they talking about monsters like Coco?" Azrael muttered to himself, his thoughts drifting to the winged beast sleeping peacefully in the backyard.

He didn't immediately rush to look into the details of other species, choosing instead to continue reading more about the Awakening.

As he delved deeper, he learned that upon Awakening, a core corresponding to one's power would form inside the awakened person's heart. At the same time, there was a certain probability that the individual would also receive a Trait.

However, even after Awakening, the person wouldn't be able to immediately use their powers.

To gain access to their abilities, they would first need to enter Eonrift—the Land of Trials—and complete their Awakening Trial. Only upon successfully completing this trial would they be able to utilize the power of their core.

(A/N: There are a few more details about the Awakening, but I'll explain them later when it's time for Azrael's Awakening. I don't want to overload you with too much information at once.)

The articles also contained information about Runes, Attributes, and Substances.

Attributes were special talents that added additional effects or properties to a person's core power.

For example, if someone awakened with the power of Fire and later gained the Attribute Poison, their fire would inherit the toxic qualities of poison. Likewise, if someone awakened the power of Wind and obtained the Attribute Sharp, their wind-based abilities would take on razor-like lethality.

Unlike Traits, which could only be awakened naturally, Attributes could be obtained both naturally and artificially. However, artificially acquiring an Attribute required extremely rare items.

In contrast to Traits and Attributes, Substances were items used to enhance a core's strength to a certain degree. Such as increasing the power of your core by 1.5 or even 2 times.

There were many different types of Substances, but an individual could only use the ones that were compatible with their awakened power.

For instance, someone who awakened Fire could only use Substances aligned with fire properties, while someone with Water-based powers could only use Substances with water attributes.

Substances were ranked in levels, and awakened individuals were unable to use Substances beyond their current level.

They came in two forms: Natural Substances, which were formed under the influence of universal forces, and Artificial Substances, which were created by people using their abilities and technology.

On the other hand, Runes were akin to rule based skills. When an awakened individual acquired a Rune, they would gain a unique power associated with it.

In one of the articles Azrael was reading, he came across a Rune called Nightfall.

This Rune not only allowed its user to hide their presence from others, but it also granted them a big power boost during nighttime.

Azrael continued reading various entries and articles, and by the time he had gathered a basic understanding of the world he now inhabited, night had already fallen.

Using the excuse that he wasn't feeling well, he had asked Lia to bring his lunch and dinner to his room, ensuring that no one disturbed his extensive research.

"Well, I already knew from the start this wasn't an ordinary world… but still," He muttered, gazing at the holographic screen floating in front of him. The screen displayed a man engaged in a fierce battle with a massive rhinoceros-like creature that stood nearly five hundred meters tall and Azrael's mouth twitched slightly.

"Isn't this a bit too much?"