Prince of The Abyss

[Raven of the Desperate] - A beast born from the Egg of the Harbinger of Death. Despite being born as a Reader-ranked creature, it possesses the potential to grow alongside its owner and eventually reach its ultimate power.

Category - Entity

Class - Reader

Knowledge rank - Fragment

Growth - 2/100

Abilities - [Summon]

Aether stared at the Codex, completely baffled; this was the first time he had ever heard of something like this. Ever. ’What the heck is growth? How am I even supposed to fill that up?’

He sighed. ”Seriously, what is up with all these new systems? They are not cool; stop adding more.”

...

Rolling his eyes, he noticed the ability. Something he had expected... yet at the same time, was really weird. Relics are things that you can summon; they don’t need to have an ability to allow them to do it. It made no sense, and it did.

The only explanation was because of its Entity category. It was special by itself, so it was bound to have some special things to it.

[Summon]- Allows the user to make a bond with the beast that will allow him to summon and command the beast at will. The ability will disappear after it is used.

Aether’s eyes widened. ”Disappear? But then it won’t have a rank. Well... I guess artificial relics often also are without any abilities...’

There was nothing else to do but try it.

He didn’t necessarily know how to summon it; he thought of it as a normal relic...

.... And it worked... he just didn’t expect what came after.

His eyes widened in pain as he fell to his knees, gasping for air. His hand moved to clench his shoulder where the aching pain kept coming. It felt as if something extremely hot was being poured on him. Like it was burning deep into his skin, completely, to the point it reached his bone and marked that too.

He lay on the floor, not being able to do anything. He tried using Erosion, but his Essence wouldn’t work. He was powerless...

It lasted a whole ten minutes; he was lightheaded, very lightheaded. To the point he felt like he was about to lose himself any moment.

But forcing himself to stand up, he turned his head towards his shoulder, where he saw some weird black marking, and where... a small raven rested.

A baby that could fit in his hand, and that didn’t even have most of its feathers. Aether stared at it, confused, as it stared back, tilting its head. ”You’re kidding, right? This... thing caused all that? This is what I waited so much time for...”

The small bird moved, trying to fly, but the moment its feet left its shoulders, it started falling. Luckily, he was able to catch it. He sighed, looking at the bird in his hand. ”Is there anything you can do?” The bird, almost as if it had heard him, started jumping and moving... almost as if showing him a little dance.

But... Aether was in no way impressed. ”Just... go back for now.” He said, moving it to his shoulders, and watching as it just jumped in somehow... its feet falling into the black marking. He was shocked as he saw it. It reminded him a lot of Voidpiercer.

[Raven of the Desperate] - A beast born from the Egg of the Harbinger of Death. Despite being born as a Reader-ranked creature, it possesses the potential to grow alongside its owner and eventually reach its ultimate power.

Category - Entity

Class - Reader

Knowledge rank - None

Growth - 2/100

Abilities - [None]

’Funny... it actually can’t do anything.’

But there was still something he had not checked.

Lifting his hand, Aether pressed the growth button.

[Growth]- Unlike normal relics, entities aren’t born with strength; they have to acquire it, and the only way to do so is through their master. Whenever their master kills an opponent, it will also gain its own GP, which will allow it to grow. Each entity has its own unique stages, some with more, and others with fewer. Each time it reaches a stage, its appearance changes, alongside getting more powerful.

The GP awarded depends on the opponent.

Class below: 1 GP

Equal class: 5 GP

Stronger class: 10 GP

Class two or more times stronger: 25 GP

Stages-

Hatchling-0 GP

Young-100 GP

Adolescent-500 GP

Mature-2000 GP

Awakened-10 000 GP

???-50 000 GP

...Aether let out a small laugh. ”How much?” This was beyond insane; did they really expect him to kill ten thousand creatures of the same class as him, just so that he could raise it from the second-to-last stage to the last

”But...” Aether calmed himself down, trying to think rationally. ”Thinking of it, it’s not that big of a deal; it doesn’t take from my rank, so I can raise both at the same time. Still, the anchor system now this, how am I supposed to remember everything? Like seriously.

...

”It’s getting exaggerated; life as a Reader was much easier.”

There were many questions: what did ??? mean, what kind of powers it was going to get, and more importantly... did it need to eat or sleep? ”I never asked to be responsible for it... but I guess I’m going to be an early father...”

He... had never had a bird as a pet, especially not a Raven; they aren’t normal animals people kept as pets, so it was weird to think he had one. It was very different from its mother...

...

”Looks like in this next book, I’m going to have to take care of both Maeve and this little thing... speaking of it... I should name it... shouldn’t I?”

Aether stared at a wall, just thinking. ”Never needed to think of a name for a Raven before, so I’m a bit stuck...”

Looking back at his shoulders, Aether noticed the marks again... they almost seemed like tattoos.

...His eyes widened as he got an idea. A big grin emerged on his face.

”How about... Inky.”

...

...

”Wait a minute, why is the Growth already at 2?!”