Chapter 18: True Verlimon Bird Slash

Leon closed his fingers around the Skill Rune and felt its faint warmth seep into his skin.

The world around him seemed to slow—not physically, but in the way his mind processed it. Every detail of the rune’s structure unfolded before him with astonishing clarity, revealing patterns and intricacies that would have taken an ordinary player countless hours to decipher.

He could feel the technique settling into place within his mind, its movements, timing, and precise mechanics becoming instinctively clear.

Even the exact angle at which the blade needed to travel was already etched into his understanding, as though the rune had transferred not merely knowledge, but the experience required to execute the technique perfectly.

It took two seconds.

For an ordinary player, Leon suspected, a Gold-Rank Skill Rune like this one would have required hours, perhaps even days, before the technique could be fully understood. But Supreme Comprehension made such a process almost meaningless. What others might spend days struggling to comprehend, Leon could grasp in mere moments.

The knowledge was simply there.

Ding!

[Skill Acquired: True Verlimon Bird Slash]

[Level: 2]

[Rank: Gold]

[Description: A crescent-shaped slashing technique infused with compressed wind energy, capable of extending a blade’s reach and cutting power well beyond its physical length.]

Leon read the description twice, and the second time through, a short, humorless laugh escaped him.

Wind energy.

The exact element that could have carved through the golem’s Runic Fortification without forcing him to endure sixty rounds of escalating Arcane Surge. If he had possessed this skill an hour earlier, the entire fight might have lasted a fraction of the time it actually had. There was something almost cruel about the timing—the golem’s own corpse had handed him the very thing that would have made killing it trivial.

It was, Leon supposed, a fitting kind of joke.

He filed the irony away and turned his attention to the second notification.

[Talent Devourer: Residual Talent Energy Detected: "Runic Fortification"]

[Fragments Available: 1]

[Source: Stone Golem (Boss)]

[Consume Fragments?]

[Yes / No]

Only one fragment.

That was a far cry from the twelve fragments he had extracted from the Fang Wolves, but Leon selected Yes without hesitation.

Ding!

[You have consumed 1 Fragment of "Runic Fortification".]

[Talent Fragment Stored: Runic Fortification ×1]

[Insufficient Fragments to acquire New Talent. (Requires: 10)]

[Fragment may be fused into an existing Talent or Skill instead.]

Leon studied the options in silence.

One fragment wasn’t enough to form a new talent. But that didn’t mean it was useless. If anything, a single fragment could still prove valuable if fused into something he already possessed.

His gaze settled on Life Mend.

Of everything in his arsenal, it felt like the most natural choice.

Healing was reactive by nature. It repaired damage after it had already been inflicted. A fragment of Runic Fortification, even a small one, might allow him to get ahead of that damage instead—hardening a target’s body the moment his healing touched them rather than simply repairing what had already been broken.

It was a gamble, but a reasonable one.

Leon selected Life Mend and fused the fragment into it without much further deliberation. If he was going to experiment, this was about as close to a safe bet as he could get.

Ding!

[1 Fragment of "Runic Fortification" fused into Role Talent: Life Mend.]

[Life Mend has gained: Partial Runification.]

[Description Updated: In addition to restoring vitality, Life Mend can now temporarily harden a target’s body with a partial runic layer, granting a short-term increase to physical defense immediately following treatment.]

A slow, satisfied breath escaped Leon.

His starting Role Talent could now heal someone and reinforce their body in the same motion.

Not bad.

Before he could examine the change any further, a third notification appeared.

Ding!

[Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level 3!]

[You have gained 5 Stat Points and 2 Evolution Points.]

Leon immediately pulled up his status panel to check his progress.

[Status]

Name: Leon Wes

Role: Support

STR: 5

AGI: 5

CON: 5

INT: 10

Stat Points: 10

Level: 3

Rank: Initiate

EXP: 52 / 600

HP: 100 / 100

MP: 100 / 100

Skills: Arcane Surge (Lvl. 3, Silver), True Verlimon Bird Slash (Lvl. 2, Gold)

Role Talent: Life Mend (A), Poison Howl (D)

Inventory: Mana Staff (Iron), Bloodfang Edge (Silver) (Equipped), Fanghide Battleplate Set (Gold): 2/50

Extra: Evolution Points: 4, Talent Fragments: 0

Ten unspent Stat Points now sat in his status panel, waiting for a decision he still hadn’t made about how he actually wanted to build himself. Leon closed the panel without touching them. There would be time to allocate them later, once the adrenaline from nearly getting crushed by an oversized statue had fully worn off and he could think about his long-term strategy with a clearer head.

The carriage rolled on, and within the hour, the eastern checkpoint finally came into view.

It rose from the landscape like a small fortress, a ring of grey stone walls surrounding a cluster of buildings far sturdier than anything Novice Village #0048 had offered. Watchtowers stood at each corner, with NPC guards stationed along the battlements and keeping a watchful eye over the surrounding road.

A steady stream of players and merchants passed through the open gate, some arriving while others departed, filling the settlement with the low, constant hum of a place that had clearly seen this kind of traffic for a very long time.

Banners hung from several of the taller structures near the center, faded by years of exposure but still legible enough to distinguish the checkpoint’s administrative buildings from its trading posts. Farther inside, Leon could make out what appeared to be a small barracks, likely reserved for whatever passed for the local defense force in this part of Eternal Heaven.

It was a far cry from the quiet, almost empty streets of Novice Village #0048.

For the first time since arriving in Eternal Heaven, Leon felt something close to the pull of an actual city rather than the sterile atmosphere of a temporary holding pen. There were merchants shouting over one another, players discussing quests, NPCs hauling crates between buildings, and guards moving through the crowd with the practiced efficiency of people who had done the same work countless times before.

Garrick guided the carriage through the gate without incident. The guards barely spared them a second glance, offering the merchant a familiar nod that suggested he had made this exact journey more times than either of them could easily count.

Leon climbed down once the wheels finally came to a stop.

It was only then, standing in the middle of the checkpoint square, that he noticed something strange.