Chapter 68: Asura Awakens

Jet sat on the edge of the bed, studying the Monster Cores spread across the sheets. He had handled enough that they no longer carried the novelty of the first Core he pulled from a Black-Fang Hyena, but seeing this many together was different.

Each contained the condensed essence of a Beyond creature, and unlike the materials sold at Greyvault, these were never intended to become money. Jet raised his hand and summoned a translucent crimson panel, its light washing softly over every Core before him.

[Eight-Armed Asura]

[Rank: SSS]

[Status: Active]

[Stage: Dormant]

[Synchronization: 1.00%]

[Bound Authorities: War | Combat | Slaughter]

[Ability: Asura Physique — Stage I]

One percent. Nine Divine Runes remained sealed because his body couldn’t sustain them, while the one left active still sat at the lowest stage of its development.

Tonight was the first time Jet possessed enough Monster Cores to discover what meaningful investment into an SSS-Rank Rune actually looked like.

Jet picked up the nearest Lesser Core. It was warm despite having spent hours inside a storage container, its cloudy interior carrying a faint pulse that became easier to perceive once he focused Mana into his palm.

He settled cross-legged on the bed, held the Core between both hands and directed his attention toward the Eight-Armed Asura. The tattoo covering his back responded almost immediately.

Heat gathered between his shoulder blades before spreading along the inked arms and weapons, and a tug developed somewhere deeper than muscle, as though the Rune itself had recognized food.

The essence did not leap out of the Core or disappear into him at once. A thin current entered through his palms first, hot enough to make his fingers tighten.

It traveled along his arms, reached his shoulders and then poured toward his back, where the Asura tattoo grew steadily warmer. Jet closed his eyes and maintained the flow. The essence carried a wild pressure unlike ordinary Mana. His Rune drew what it needed inward while the Core slowly lost its luster.

Minutes passed. The pulse inside the Core weakened. Its once-clouded interior faded toward grey, then a hairline fracture appeared across its surface. Jet continued until the final trace of usable essence disappeared. The Core cracked between his fingers with a dry sound, collapsed into brittle fragments and crumbled into dull powder across his palms.

A notification appeared.

[Monster Core Absorbed.]

[Divine Rune Synchronization Increased.]

Jet immediately checked the percentage.

[Eight-Armed Asura Synchronization: 1.31%]

The increase was real, but hardly dramatic. An entire Lesser Core had moved an SSS-Rank Rune by less than a third of one percent. Jet understood the implication. High-ranked Divine Runes possessed monstrous ceilings, and feeding them would be equally monstrous. Resources that could substantially advance weaker Runes might amount to little more than a mouthful for Asura.

He reached for the second Core. The second entered more smoothly. Jet adjusted the flow, felt heat trace the Asura’s eight arms across his back, and watched another Core eventually turn grey and fracture. He checked the increase, noted it, then picked up the third.

Soon the process settled into a rhythm. Establish the connection, draw the essence without overwhelming his pathways, let Asura consume what it could use, discard the dead shell, then begin again.

Grey dust and fractured remnants accumulated while the Cores steadily diminished. The increases weren’t identical; denser specimens produced stronger reactions, but none offered an absurd leap. If a handful of Lesser Cores could casually push an SSS Divine Rune through its stages, its rank would mean little.

By the fifth Core, however, his body was beginning to feel the accumulation.

Heat no longer remained confined to his back. It spread across his shoulders, chest and arms, sinking into muscle until sweat gathered along his forehead. His Mana pathways throbbed every time another stream of essence passed through them.

Jet paused, drank water and waited until his breathing settled before continuing. There was no reason to turn a profitable night into self-inflicted pathway damage through impatience.

The next Core made his spine crack. Every muscle across Jet’s upper body contracted at once. His teeth clenched as the Eight-Armed Asura tattoo burned against his skin like heated needles. When the contraction released, he leaned forward and breathed through the ache.

Something was changing.

He summoned the panel again. Synchronization had climbed considerably, but the tattoo itself interested him more. Previously he sensed it most clearly during combat. Now it remained awake while he sat motionless, a steady pressure beneath his skin.

Jet looked at the remaining Cores. "Still hungry?"

The Rune obviously didn’t answer, but the warmth between his shoulder blades intensified enough to make him smile.

He took another.

Then another.

The process became harsher. His muscles tightened whenever fresh essence reached the Rune, his bones ached, and his Mana pathways pulsed with every heartbeat. When his fingers began trembling too badly to hold another Core, Jet stopped until the shaking subsided.

The next Core was one of the denser ones in his allocation.

The instant its essence entered him, heat exploded through both arms and slammed into his back. His spine arched, and the Core nearly slipped from his grip. Crimson light leaked through his shirt as the Asura tattoo flared. Jet forced his breathing under control and continued drawing.

The Core dimmed. Cracks spread across its surface. The final surge entered his body. For one heartbeat, everything went silent.

Then the Red Moon System filled his vision.

[Synchronization Threshold Reached.]

A second notification appeared before Jet could open the Rune panel.

[Eight-Armed Asura Synchronization has reached the required threshold.]

The pressure behind him changed instantly. What had been concentrated heat became something vast and violent. Jet lurched off the bed as pain drove through his spine. Both feet struck the floor, but his knees almost folded beneath him.

He caught himself against the edge of the mattress while every muscle from his neck to his calves contracted.

[Rune Stage Advancement Initiated.]

Jet sucked air through clenched teeth. The tattoo no longer felt like ink; its eight arms seemed to press outward beneath his skin while waves of heat rolled through his flesh. Veins rose along his forearms as sharp aches traveled through his bones.

Mana surged through pathways that had never carried this volume before.

Jet dropped to one knee and caught the bedframe. Asura Physique reacted, but this wasn’t combat damage. The Rune itself was pushing further into his body, demanding more space, more Mana, more of him.

For several brutal minutes, Jet could only endure. Sweat ran from his jaw as his muscles spasmed and heat crawled over his back in eight distinct trails before converging at his spine. Beneath his pounding heartbeat came something like a distant roar and the clash of countless weapons.

Then the pressure broke.

Jet inhaled sharply. The crimson light beneath his shirt faded to a deep ember glow.

A new notification appeared.

[Divine Rune Stage Advancement Successful.]

[Eight-Armed Asura]

[Dormant → Awakened]

Jet stared at the words, chest rising and falling. He had barely begun processing what they meant when another panel opened over the first.

[Existing Ability Evolution Detected.]

[Asura Physique — Stage I → Stage II]

His eyes widened and before he could inspect it, the System continued.

[New Divine Rune Ability Unlocked.]

[Asura Arms — Stage I]

Another notification descended immediately beneath it.

[New Divine Rune Ability Unlocked.]

[Asura Mask — Stage I]

Jet slowly straightened from the floor. The pain remained, but curiosity had already begun overwhelming it. He raised a hand toward the floating panels, intending to open the first ability description.

The System wasn’t finished.

A final crimson notification unfolded across his vision.

[Innate Trait Unsealed: Weapon Master]