?Awakening Daniel Fang’s War Rune wasn’t more difficult. All Danny’s body required was to absorb enough origin energy to form an Energy Pillar. The excessive energy would be absorbed into the Energy Pillar, slowly forming the War Rune with a little bit help from a small object.
Selena didn’t explain what that object could do, but Michael wasn’t interested enough to question her either. He was more concerned about his brother’s well-being. Danny was having difficulty when Selena’s origin energy entered him first. His energy paths were still new and had never been used. Stretching them by channeling highly potent origin energy through them was an overkill.
Fortunately, Daniel didn’t sustain any injuries. His War Rune formed in less than one hour, conjuring the first Runic Gate along as well. It jumped into existence seconds after the War Rune was etched into his existence. The War Rune formed on the back of his right hand, where it shimmered faintly.
“It’s that simple?” Michael asked. Selena nodded in response.
“It is that simple.”
Daniel nodded slowly and closed his eyes, presumably to feel the origin energy coursing through his body, which was still void of impurities. A bright smile blossomed on Danny’s lips when he opened his eyes.
He walked over to Michael, raised his right hand, and extended an energy tendril from his War Rune. Before Michael could say something, Daniel grasped his brother’s right hand to initiate the Link of Loyalty. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long to complete the Link of Loyalty. Michael didn’t go against his brother’s wishes to join his territory, which would have blocked the completion of the Link of Loyalty. In the meantime, Daniel didn’t hesitate once. He finished the Link of Loyalty swiftly and let go of Michael’s hand to look at the changes unfolding within his Runic Gate.
The Runic Gate tore and twisted as the white in its center changed, revealing Arx’s center to the Nest Leader and the brothers.
“You got a nice place over there,” Selena commented, only for Daniel Fang to stare intently at her.
“Just go inside already. I don’t care if you put your Runic Gate’s anchor in my room or if you do that in the middle of nowhere. The sooner you leave this place before your High Ascension, the easier your advancements will be,” Selena gestured for him to leave already but tilted her head at last when she recalled something, “But then again, you shouldn’t have any issues with advancing, in the first place. Your body hasn’t accumulated any impurities yet. Your breakthroughs will be a walk in the park.”
Daniel didn’t want to waste another minute in the Nest, but Michael motioned for him to wait a second.
He retrieved a thin, double-edged longsword, which looked similar to Tigerfang, the Tierless Epic-grade Artifact Daniel had given Michael before he embarked on his journey inside the Origin Expanse for the first time. Now it was Michael’s turn to reward Daniel with a bunch of treasures!
A bracelet made from azure gemstones and silver metal connecting the gemstones neatly appeared in Michael’s other hand.
“Zaer is a Legendary-grade Tierless weapon artifact. I used Insert on a bunch of Tierless Sword Artifacts to cobble this together. It has a Sharpness and Stamina Recover Enchantment. It will never get dull and recovers your stamina whenever you kill something,” Michael explained, shoving the Sword Artifact into his brother’s hand, “I used a bunch of Natural Tierless Sword Artifacts to produce this. Hence, it augments your physical attributes drastically as well. The effect is probably similar to the augments of a Natural Epic Artifact.”
Not letting his brother talk, Michael lobbed the bracelet at Danny, who barely managed to catch it.
“The bracelet has several Shield Enchantments. The Simple Shield Enchantment uses the surrounding energy to recharge quickly. You can manifest a thin barrier before you to block deadly blows or repel a pouncing monster. The enhanced Shield Enchantment can be used twice before recharging, which takes the natural energy recovery enchantment six hours per charge. It shouldn’t be difficult to block the attacks of the average Mid Tier-1 Monster.”
Michael smiled, “The bracelet is a Tierless Epic-grade Artifact with special augments. It increases your Perception, enhances your mind, and has a passive effect that keeps you calm in most situations.”
He was proud of the Artifacts he cobbled together by tearing apart hundreds of Tierless Artifacts. He extracted the excellent portions and put them together using Inset. Fortunately, the aftermath of his actions wasn’t visible anymore. On the contrary, both Zaer and the bracelet were quite pleasant to the eyes.
“Alright, alright. That’s enough pampering for a day,” Selena intervened in their brotherly relationship and their gift-throwing. There is no more time to waste, and you can see each other in your territory.”
She stared at Danny and waved at him dismissively, “Take your disgusting treasures and go into your brother’s territory!”
Michael and Daniel raised their eyebrows at the Nest Leader’s commentary. Was she…jealous? No, that couldn’t be, right? She was a Divine Lifeform and one of the strongest existences they’d seen.
Michael chuckled, thinking Selena was jealous of the items Daniel had given him at the start of his journey. It was amusing.
‘I wonder how she started. Her ascension must have been quite difficult. Not only is her Curse really powerful, but with the Supreme Human Alliance causing trouble…she must have struggled a lot at that time. The Nest didn’t exist just yet. There was no support for her. No one to tell her what to do and how to control her Curse. Selena did everything on her own.’
The more he thought about it, the more impressed Michael was. Selena was powerful, and she must have survived as many life-and-death situations as Michael—probably many times more and much worse.
Michael retrieved the Awakening Stone and threw it over to Daniel, who caught it lightly.
“Ah, right,” He murmured, looking at Michael with a smile, “I nearly forgot about that one.”
Selena eyed the crystal in Daniel’s hand and narrowed her eyes. However, she queried no questions and motioned to Danny to leave.
Daniel Fang did precisely that. He linked the Artifacts to his soul and grimaced through his body’s pain, enhancing rapidly. A moment later, he disappeared into the Runic Gate.
It wasn’t the first time he entered the Runic Gate, but it might as well have been. Danny was excited and smiled from one ear to the other. A new journey unfolded before him.
This time, he wasn’t going to die!
Michael watched his brother disappear in the Runic Gate. He closed his eyes momentarily and sensed his brother’s Link of Loyalty. It was stronger than any other Link of Loyalty. Even Tiara’s True Link of Loyalty was not as firm and thick as the link between the brothers.
However, that was not all. There was more to it.
The brothers’ Link of Loyalty was different.
Their Link of Loyalty was golden and pulsated like it was alive. It was more. Better.
[Can you hear me?]
A familiar voice reached out for him, taking Michael by surprise. The golden Link of Loyalty pulled and stiffened. More words reached Michael.
[This is amazing! We can chat even though we’re not in the same dimension. Well, not really. The Nest is still somewhat connected to the Origin Expanse, but still. Your territory looks great as well. Everyone is so nice. They didn’t even know that I was coming, but they were welcoming me with open arms. You are a good Lord, brother!]
His brother’s words resounded in his ears.
Somehow, their Link of Loyalty was different. Michael wasn’t sure how that was possible, but it was nice. He was the last to complain about something like that.
His brother was still with him. They could chat all day.
A bright smile blossomed on his face, and Michael prepared himself to conjure his Runic Gate and enter the Origin Expanse as well. His training session was over, and it was about time that he paid more attention to his territory.
However, Selena held him back before he could form the Runic Gate. Michael was about to say something, but his lips were sealed when he saw the strict expression on the Nest Leader’s face.
“Now that we’re done with your brother and training, I think I must tell you something.”
…