Chapter 76: Innate Ability [5]
The rain outside the cave had not stopped. If anything, it fell harder now, drumming against the rocky overhang in a steady, relentless rhythm.
Cael sat with his back against the cave wall, the remains of the rabbit nothing but bones picked clean.
The meat had settled in his stomach, warm and dense, and with it came a strange sensation he could not ignore.
His rank had progressed. Very little, almost negligible, but progression, nonetheless.
’How was this possible?’
He had not trained.
He had not fought to his absolute limits.
He had not absorbed any special resources or completed any difficult trials.
He had simply eaten a rabbit.
A small, ordinary-looking rabbit that happened to have wind mana flowing through its small body.
Cael stared at the bones in his hands, his mind racing.
There was no such thing in the novel. No mention of eating beasts and gaining progression.
That was not how the system worked.
Rank advancement came from training, from battle, from understanding your class and mastering your elements.
Not from cooking meat over a fire.
One had to remember that Rank progression related to one’s soul.
And yet, here he was. The evidence was right in front of him.
For some reason, Cael felt the answer was obvious.
It was right there, at the edge of his thoughts, but he could not put a finger on it.
Every time he reached for the conclusion, it slipped away, leaving him more frustrated than before.
He shook his head and decided to focus on something else.
He raised his hand, and frostflame flickered across his palm.
The blue-white fire danced for a moment before he directed it toward the rabbit bones.
They froze instantly, then cracked, then crumbled into fine dust that scattered across the cave floor.
The bones were gone. No trace left behind.
Cael leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes.
He was curious about the forest and the strange creatures in it.
The deer with its crystal antlers. The snake that refused to stay dead. The salamander, he could not sense. The bowman who attacked without reason.
But he had not forgotten his original purpose for coming here.
He was here to find the dark green-haired girl. The one with amber eyes. The one who had achieved the State of Resonant.
Cael opened his eyes and stared at the cave ceiling.
’How had she done it?’
How had a girl who looked no older than him managed to resonate with her class when even Lucian, the protagonist of the novel, had never come close?
He did not have an answer. But he wanted one.
Cael summoned his status interface.
His eyes found his class description, the same words he had read dozens of times before.
...
Iridescent Monarch
Rank: SSS
A class that represents power without a single shape. This class does not embody one concept. It reflects many.
Unlike ordinary classes that define a fixed path, element, or role, the Iridescent Monarch has no predetermined form. Its strength changes according to the user, the situation, and the will imposed upon it.
Just as iridescence shifts with perspective, the Iridescent Monarch manifests power differently in every moment, refusing to be confined to one identity or rule.
It is not a class of specialization. It is a class of dominance through adaptability.
....
Cael read the words again, slowly, muttering them under his breath.
"No predetermined form."
"Will imposed upon it."
"Refuses to be confined by one identity or rule."
"Dominance through adaptability."
The words echoed in his mind, each phrase settling into his thoughts like a puzzle piece that did not quite fit.
Then an absurd thought crossed his mind.
Was progression by eating beast meat related to adaptability?
His class was about adapting, about changing, about refusing to be confined.
If he could adapt to anything, why not adapt to the mana inside the creatures he consumed?
Why not make their strength his own?
Cael recalled his second resonance, the vision of the True Iridescent Monarch.
She had killed a fox by biting it, by eating it alive, by drinking its blood.
He had assumed it was desperation, a primal act of survival.
But what if it was something more?
What if she was not just surviving, but growing?
There was no proof to verify this thought.
No evidence, no data, no precedent. But Cael felt it was likely. It fit too well with his class description.
"So, was this my innate ability?"
Cael muttered.
"Ha. I had an innate ability?"
Now that he thought about it, this was his first time eating a mana beast’s meat.
He had never had the opportunity before.
In the academy, his meals were prepared from normal ingredients.
On missions, he ate store food, which was stored in his space pouch.
"No matter, I will find out soon enough."
Cael’s eyes fell back on the interface.
He wanted to understand his class better.
The description had always felt vague, almost intentionally so.
But now, after everything that had happened, he felt like he was finally starting to grasp its meaning.
"Refuses to be confined by one identity or rule."
He was not able to understand this line.
’Identity or rule.’
’What did that mean?’
’Was it saying I should not just be Cael? Should he be Nicolas as well?’
’The two souls merged inside him, two identities in one body.’
But Cael shook his head.
On the day before he merged with Cael, he already had this class.
The Iridescent Monarch was his class before the merger, not after.
So, it was not about Cael or Nicolas.
Then what?
Cael was deeply contemplating when the rain outside suddenly intensified.
The wind picked up, howling through the trees, and a cold gust entered the cave.
It swept across the floor, reaching the small pile of embers that had been his fire.
The flames flickered once, twice, then died.
The cave fell into darkness.
Cael sighed. The fire was gone.
The warmth was gone. The light was gone. He sat in the dark, listening to the rain and the wind, feeling the cold seep into his clothes.
To create another fire, he would need more dry wood, more dry leaves, more time.
It might take an hour or more, and he did not have the mood to do it again.
’If only I had the Fire element.’
Unfortunately, he had fused fire with ice to create frostflame element.
He could not gain another fire element either.
Once an element was merged into a special element, he could no longer obtain it as a separate base element.
’Would it not be great if I could still use the fire element even after merging?’
’WAIT A MINUTE!’
Cael’s eyes widened in the darkness. His breath caught in his throat.
"Refuse to be confined by one identity or rule."
The line echoed in his mind again, but this time, it meant something different.
This time, he understood.
His class was not telling him to be multiple people.
It was telling him that he did not have to be confined by the rules of the elements.
He had merged fire and ice into frostflame.
By the normal rules of the world, that meant he could no longer use fire or ice separately.
The elements were gone, replaced by something new.
But his class refused to be confined by rules. His class was dominated by adaptability.
Why should he be limited by the fusion?
Cael calmed his mind and took deep breaths.
He stretched his hand forward in the darkness and closed his eyes. He recalled a line from his class description.
"The will imposed upon it."
He summoned Frostflame.
The blue-white fire flickered in his palm, casting pale shadows on the cave walls.
It was cold and hot at the same time, a contradiction made solid.
Cael focused on the flame and started to think of fire.
Just fire. Fire without ice.
Fire as it had been before the fusion.
He imagined the orange glow, the heat that burned without freezing, the wild and untamed nature of the element he had once commanded.
The frostflame flickered.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then Cael felt a warm sensation spreading through his palm, different from the cold heat of frostflame.
It was warmer, purer, more familiar.
He slowly opened his eyes.
Orange flames danced on his palm. Not blue-white. Not cold. Just fire. Pure, simple fire.
Cael smiled.
He had done it.
He had broken the rule. He had refused to be confined.
He was still far from achieving the State of Resonant.
There was still a long way to go.
But this step, this small breakthrough, was a milestone.
He had bent the rules of his own elements.
He had imposed his will upon his class.
Cael watched the orange flames flicker and dance, casting warm light across the cave walls.
"This can be considered my second innate ability, right?"
He asked the question to no one, the words swallowed by the rain and the wind outside the cave.
But deep down, he already knew the answer.