Chapter 199: Lightning Seed
Watching the chains expand suddenly all over his arm, Moon nearly cursed. It was already too late, and he didn’t understand what was happening.
It was only for a short moment; Moon’s face, looking with curiosity rather than panic or pain, was Ed’s only solace in that very long moment.
"That doesn’t feel too bad," Moon said casually, studying his arm for a second. "How much weird shyt would this arm carry?"
He now had both the Death Echo seal and Symbiotic Spark on the same arm.
Ed’s face relaxed; he stood wordless for a few seconds. His eyes went between Moon, Mishu, who was now wiggling his tail, and the hole he had in his door now, for obvious reasons.
"Mishu, I’m sorry," he said first. "Come by later; I’ll cook something good for you."
Mishu didn’t look at him; he just made his way out, jumping through the hole he had made to get in.
"Thanks, don’t beat me up again," Moon said as well, waving his hand as Mishu disappeared through the hole.
He looked at Ed. "I guess it went well after all." He smiled widely.
Ed, on the other hand, who had his nerves cooked low and slow for a very long duration, shook his head weakly. "I guess it did." He raised his eyes to Moon. "Your greatest problem might be completely resolved or even turned into a strength thanks to this."
"Oh, how do I check it out?" Moon asked.
"Right." Ed’s eyes sparked again, as if he remembered something important that he had forgotten. "You need to check the value first," he said.
"Where?" Moon asked.
"Check your personal info. Lucen said that if the integration is successful, it should appear as a new Ascension Gift," Ed elaborated.
Moon frowned. "I have a new Gift?" he said skeptically before checking his status window.
There, he did find it.
Ascension Gift(s)[Hypothetical Prospective] - Current Success Rate: 0.02%[Symbiotic Spark] - Current Value: 4[An ancient symbiote from the foundational era, capable of storing and providing more Echo beyond the natural capacity]
Moon’s frown deepened. "Only... four?" he said with a hint of pain in his voice.
Ed also looked disappointed. Still, "It’s better than nothing; don’t be like that."
Moon pursed his lips. "I know, it’s just... You said it would double my Echo, and this bastard." He pointed at the tattoo. "It said my capacity was too high."
Moon shrugged. "I can’t help feeling like I was messed with."
"You will be able to do many things with a 4 Echo value, and it’ll increase the further you ascend," Ed said. "Also, this isn’t the only reason I brought you here today." He smirked all of a sudden.
"I’m afraid already," Moon said while trying to crawl to the door.
Ed shook his head, smiling. "Remember when I said we had a third member in our band?" he asked Moon all of a sudden.
Moon stopped and turned around. "That meaninglessly handsome guy?" he asked.
"In the Tower, he was known as Storm King," Ed said casually, getting back to his seat.
Moon also sat cross-legged on the floor; he whistled. "Another cool title," he exclaimed.
"His Gift was abnormally stronger than anything I’ve seen over the years," Ed said. "Do you know what it was?"
Moon guessed for a second. "Making storms?" He dropped an obvious answer.
"’Your Echo is lightning,’" Ed said. "Only these four words were in his status window explaining what his Gift does."
Moon opened his mouth for a little too long. "Damn, he wasn’t only beautiful." He rubbed his forehead. "How can a guy like me survive in this world at all?" he lamented.
Ed chuckled. "It’s true that Samuel, over the years, was aiming to become strong, fast, impregnable, and even untouchable like him."
His shoulders fell. "The bastards wanted to leave me in the dust."
Moon waved his hand. "It’s fine, you’re still cool," he said. "You’re losing weight too," he added.
Ed’s smile turned bitter. "Actually, he made contact with us less than a hundred years ago." Ed’s hand extended, and a bottle with blue liquid inside appeared between his fingers.
"He sent me this."
Moon came closer to take a look. "What’s that?" he asked.
"His message said that he’s been trying to find a way for us to share his Gift, even as attributes," Ed said slowly. "He said he’s finally succeeded in making this potion that would probably not affect us, but would work on second-floor ascenders."
"It will also increase their stats," Ed added, elaborating.
Moon crawled back, crossing his forearms before his face. "I’m not doing drugs!" he said while glaring at Ed.
"What drugs, you stupid bastard?" Ed cursed. "This is a potion, something people kill each other for!"
"I said no, drugs are bad," Moon refused again.
Ed released his Echo, pinning him in place. "Will you drink it willingly, or do I have to shove it down your throat?" he said angrily, looking more tired than usual.
"Ah, dammit!" Moon took the bottle from Ed’s hand. He looked up. "Forgive me, brothers, only this once," he said before opening the bottle and bringing it to his lips.
"It’ll hurt quite a bit," Ed said.
Moon didn’t bother and chugged down the bottle all at once.
[You have ingested Lightning Seed Potion by Storm King.]
Soon, a blue spark ran down his body, making his hair stand. "This isn’t as bad as I thought," he said.
The potion felt like rapid, cutting wounds running over his body. "Aw, aw!" This wasn’t something beyond his tolerance, just another familiar pain.
The pain didn’t last long before Moon felt like his body was starting to grow stronger. His muscles were becoming firmer. "I’m hungry, where’s breakfast?" he couldn’t help saying.
Soon, the sensation faded.
[Your Stamina has increased...][Your Agility has increased...][Your Strength has increased...]
Moon ignored them and focused on the last notification.
[Congratulations!][New Trait Awakened: Lightning (Dormant)]
"Did you get the attribute?" Ed asked eagerly. "It worked, right?"
Moon pursed his lips. "What a waste," he couldn’t help saying.
"You didn’t get it?" Ed’s face fell.
Moon scratched his head. "I got it."
"Then what?" Ed asked.
Moon pointed at the screen. "It says dormant."
Ed leaned back in his chair, holding his forehead. For a long moment, he didn’t say a word.
Moon waited for a moment, looking around the room to waste time before Ed became functional again. But Ed stayed like that for too long.
Cough~
Moon coughed softly. "Can we go eat? I’m hungry," he said.
Ed’s leg shot out at him. "You want to eat more than what you ate, you damn pig?" He kicked Moon, sending him flying through his door.
"Dammit, I’ll beat you up in the ring tonight, just you wait," Moon said before running off somewhere.
Ed leaned back in his chair, his face heavy.
Now that everything was set, all that was left was for them to intensify Moon’s training for the next few days.
First, they needed to make sure he was familiar with his new Symbiotic Spark Echo and could function properly as a normal ascender.
Second, they needed to increase the Shockwave value sealed in his body and have him control the matrix properly.
Third, though it wasn’t very important, Ed wanted to teach him smithing while he still had the chance.
Thus, a new week of brutal struggle began for Moon, who was now in his room whispering the words he had held back before Ed.
"Can’t I just ditch this trial and stay here?"