The Assassin's Seven Principles of Manipulation

Chapter 357: Chapter 352 — Infusion

Every ascendant had been taught from an early age the ranks and requirements for advancement, up until even Dominion rank. For once, Zephyrion was actually glad he didn’t need the ancestor for this.

”I’m advancing now. Don’t let anyone disturb me.”

Lumi blinked at him, then, without bothering to ask any questions, gave him two thumbs up.

Zephyrion smiled and closed his eyes, then, for good measure, restricted Demorian to ensure no disturbance would occur during his advancement. With that settled, he entered his mind space.

The familiar darkness was oddly comforting, and Zephyrion felt at peace with the boundlessness of it all. He remained with his eyes closed for several moments, simply enjoying the silence, until eventually, his brows furrowed.

’...That’s new.’

Somehow, in the midst of all this peace, he could feel a faint trace of loneliness. He had never had any issues with being alone before, even capable of spending months without speaking to anyone, but now, after only a few moments of silence, his thoughts were already drifting toward the people close to him.

Clicking his tongue, he opened his eyes and turned his attention to the elemental runes orbiting the center of his mind space, briefly taking stock of their current levels.

Air and Fire at peak Anointed rank. Frost and Blood at peak Touched rank. And finally, Metal at peak Vessel rank.

His gaze lingered on the lower-ranked elements.

’I really need to do something about these.’

He’d already decided where he intended to go for his apprenticeship, but he still hoped it would be somewhere he could gain access to more elemental scrolls.

’Well, one problem at a time.’

Putting the matter aside, Zephyrion finally turned his attention to the main event of the day, his metal rune.

A thick, roiling fog still shrouded most of its surface, but over the past year, Zephyrion had dutifully cleared enough of it to reveal the first two marks of Herald rank.

’I expected better. Seems I gave the Herald ranks less credit than it deserved.’

Usually, with the amount of effort and elixirs he’d expended, what should have been enough to clear about five marks in Vessel rank had barely gotten him through two in Herald. But that only went to show just how significant the difference between the two ranks was. Besides, Zephyrion wasn’t particularly worried.

Thanks to his gambler of an uncle, and perhaps Garaxe and Kastor as well, he’d amassed so many elixirs that the fog now seemed like a minor breeze compared to the hurricane it once was.

’Enjoy your last few days. I’m coming for you.’

With that thought, Zephyrion decided to go over the process of advancing to Herald rank one last time.

At Vessel rank, the ascendant’s body serves as a vessel for the WorldPulse. They draw WorldPulse into themselves, channel it through comprehended runes, and use it to create their element.

However, advancement to Herald rank changes this process entirely. Here, the ascendant begins to carry their element within themselves permanently. Their body was no longer merely a vessel for WorldPulse, but gradually became the physical herald of their element in the world.

Taking several deep breaths, Zephyrion focused on the metal rune and began comprehension. As expected, comprehension had never truly been his problem, and despite the complexity of the Herald rune, he managed to comprehend the first mark in just under six hours.

To understand just how significant this achievement was, one only had to compare it to the average ascendant. Well, the average ascendant usually lived their entire life without even dreaming of advancing to Herald rank, but even among the fortunate few who reached that threshold, spending several months to years comprehending the runes required to cross over was hardly unusual.

Comprehending such a complex rune in under six hours was far too world-shattering an achievement for Zephyrion to be sitting there with such an indifferent expression.

Yet, he remained perfectly calm, without even the slightest hint of excitement.

Part of it was simply because achievements of this magnitude no longer particularly fazed him. It was somewhat akin to a man finally getting his hands on a woman’s boobs. The first time could very well be the happiest moment of his life, but spend enough time with them, and eventually, even something so wonderful would start to feel ordinary.

Zephyrion frowned suddenly, wondering where such thoughts had even come from. Then, he sighed.

’...Demorian.’

It would seem the ancestor’s constant rambling had finally begun to rub off on him. Shaking his head, he turned his attention to the next step.

’Well, that’s one part done.’

Comprehending the rune was merely the first part. Unlike the marks of Vessel rank, where each advancement primarily brought greater understanding rather than significant qualitative or physical changes, Herald rank placed far greater emphasis on the latter.

Advancement into the rank was supposed to herald an entirely new beginning for an ascendant, which unfortunately made the process of attaining it quite... difficult, and even potentially fatal.

Zephyrion left his mind space a moment later, keeping his eyes closed as he took several deep breaths to steady himself. Once he felt sufficiently prepared, he reached out and connected with the WorldPulse.

As with every other time, not even the faintest hum or disturbance occurred, as though he had always been in perfect harmony with it.

The process of elemental creation had always involved visualizing runes, connecting with the WorldPulse, and drawing it into oneself through the visualized runes. Doing so naturally produced something known as elemental essence, which could then be used to manifest the element in whatever form the ascendant desired.

However, the first mark of Herald rank, Infusion, took this process a step further.

In simple terms, it involved permanently binding elemental essence to the ascendant’s body, thereby transforming them into a living conduit for their element.

Once this was achieved, the lengthy process of elemental creation would no longer be necessary. Simply channeling WorldPulse into his infused flesh would allow Zephyrion to generate metal directly, without having to consciously visualize the runes each time.

Unfortunately, this was also where the greatest difficulty of advancing to Herald rank lay. The process was far from straightforward, and failure could result from several factors, ranging from the body fiercely rejecting the elemental essence to the ascendant losing concentration under the excruciating pain of the transformation.

And considering the consequences of failure, neither was something to take lightly.

Zephyrion visualized the first mark of the Herald rune and channeled WorldPulse through it, producing his elemental essence. However, instead of using it to manifest metal as he normally would, he directed the essence into his own body.

A refreshing yet strangely weighty sensation enveloped him, but Zephyrion paid it little attention, allowing the essence to seep into his body through his pores and other openings before immediately bracing himself.

’Alright. Here goes.’

While the body naturally possessed some resistance to the element, it hadn’t adapted to the extent that would allow elemental essence to flow freely within it. There was a need to gradually build up this resistance first, which unfortunately required the ascendant to endure a great deal of pain.

Zephyrion felt the essence enter his body and reach his muscles, but... the expected pain never came. Instead, the sensation was surprisingly pleasant, even empowering, as though the essence were nourishing his muscles rather than forcing them to undergo a transformation.

’Huh? Is it because of the reforging?’

That was right. He was different from the average ascendant. Parts of his body were already technically metal, so it made sense that those parts wouldn’t need to undergo the same adaptation process. However...

’Then what about the rest of—’

The thought had barely formed when an overwhelming wave of pain tore through him. Zephyrion gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, struggling in vain to keep his body from trembling.

Usually, the muscles were supposed to be the first to undergo the transformation, given their greater capacity to withstand the strain. From there, the adaptation would gradually spread to other parts of the body, allowing them to develop some resistance before the bulk of the essence reached them and forced their own transformation.

But now, with his metal muscles, the essence had simply passed through without encountering the slightest resistance, rushing straight into the parts of his body that had yet to adapt.

Which meant that, aside from his muscles and bones, practically every other part of his body, including his internal organs, was being subjected to excruciating pain all at once.

’Fuck... Hold on. Just hold on.’