The Ascender's Legacy [A CHAOTIC STORM LITRPG]

Yue couldn't help but see it as a bad omen that her awakening had occurred on the same day as Sunstone's retaliation. It had cast a shadow over what should have been a day of triumph—literally—and she had been terribly unprepared to face it.

It had all begun when she posed as the manager to steal from the Phoenix Nest. She had exited the inn in high spirits, ready to take on the world and carve out a path to power for herself.

Flush with excitement, she took a shuttle to the largest exchange pavilion in Nematon, but before heading inside, she decided she needed a change of clothes. The thought alone sent a thrill through her. She wasn't some struggling tour guide anymore—she was awakened.

She entered a boutique near the pavilion and picked out the most extravagant outfit she could find, sighing in bliss as the velvety material hugged her body. Five gold coins for a single dress—an unthinkable sum just yesterday—but Yue didn't care. If her money ran out, she could always steal more.

The thought made her giggle. "Bring out more clothes," she told the merchant, unable to suppress her giddiness. "I want to splurge."

The merchant, eager to please, returned with nearly a dozen silk and velvet dresses, each more luxurious than the last. Yue bought them all, reveling in the wild, intoxicating feeling of power that her new abilities granted her.

That she—an orphan, a mere tour guide—would be wrapped in silk and velvet… It felt like something out of a dream. And it was all thanks to her new affinity. Her life had changed for the better, and she planned to enjoy it in the wildest way possible.

However, those dreams were crushed to pieces a moment later as alarms blared across the city.

A voice rang through the streets: This is a Code Red alert! Head to a safety house or bunker immediately. I repeat, this is a Code Red alert! Head to a safety house or bunker immediately.

The warning cracked through the air, a voice imbued with urgency, and around her, the once-bustling streets erupted into chaos. Carts overturned. Merchants abandoned their stalls. People shoved and tripped over one another, each fighting to reach the nearest safety house—stone bunkers designed to withstand sieges, monster waves, and even awakened battles.

But Yue had no chance of reaching one in time.

She turned on her heel and ran, her clothes bags weighing her down. Thankfully, she knew Nematon's layout like the back of her hand. If she couldn't reach a safety house, she would settle for a stronghold, and the nearest one to her was the exchange pavilion.

It was one of the most fortified buildings in the district, its walls etched with defensive runes, its guards equipped with enchanted weapons to deal with thieves and rioters. Surely, it would hold against a Code Red threat.

She sprinted toward the towering structure, her heart thundering in her chest. But the moment she entered the pavilion, she realized that she had made a mistake.

The first impact against the pavilion walls was deafening.

Yue looked out the window just in time to see a horde of monsters throwing themselves against the walls. Creatures—dozens, then hundreds, then thousands flooding into the district. They all rushed towards the pavilion as if it was a beacon, some bounding over rooftops, their forms a blur of fur, talons, and gnashing teeth. Others barreled through the streets, their massive bodies shattering wood and stone alike.

It was a frightening sight, and Yue felt her throat dry up in fear. The monsters rushed forward carelessly, driven solely by their lust for human flesh.

A mammoth boar—easily four meters tall—plowed through a bakery, reducing it to splinters. A Rift Serpent coiled around a small tower and crushed it in a single squeeze.

People screamed. Ran. Died.

Yue trembled, yet her eyes remained glued to the windows, watching as monsters threw themselves at the pavilion walls without care. Trying to steady herself, she whispered to herself. "It'll hold. The runes will hold. The guards—

The walls shattered, and a massive arachnid spider launched itself forward, its chitinous legs tearing through the runic shield like paper. Yue stumbled backward, colliding with a few other people who had sought refuge within the pavilion.

"We are screwed!" One man shouted, but a woman countered him loudly, shouting. "Do not jinx us, you fool. Raol will protect us. I have faith."

Unfortunately for the woman, her faith was in vain because the next moment, the walls collapsed.

And the monsters flooded in.

The sheer size of the horde numbed her brain for a second. Screeches and roars deafened her, hundreds of monstrous forms surging forward in a nightmarish blur. Move! Her mind screamed, but her body was frozen, trapped in the sheer terror of the moment.

Then someone shouted—"RUN!"—and she did.

"Stay calm! The runes—" the pavilion manager began, but his words ended in a scream as the Arachnid impaled him with an icy limb and skewered him to pieces.

Yue didn't stop to watch. She scrambled over fallen tables, shattered glass, and thrashing bodies, ignoring the pain as her palms tore against splintered wood. She saw a guard captain unsheathing a fire blade, cutting down three creatures in quick succession. But for each monster that fell, ten more took its place.

The woman who had spoken earlier fell to the ground beside her and cried out. "Young lady, please help me."

But Yue ignored her, running desperately for the other exit. She pushed people out of the way, not caring, not thinking. She just knew she had to get to the exit if she wanted to survive this nightmare.

However, the safety she sought remained elusive, even at the exit she had hoped would provide refuge. She sprinted out of the pavilion and into a world drowning in chaos.

It was so much worse.

Monsters filled the sky and land in thousands, their hulking bodies blotting out the sun. The once-bubbling district—filled with music and laughter—was now a slaughterhouse. Fires spread unchecked, their flames licking at the ruins of houses and guild halls. Bodies littered the roads—some whole, some unrecognizable.

A few meters away from her, a raptor lunged at a merchant, its fangs closing around the man's neck with a sickening crack. Then it turned its cold, dead eyes to her.

The glowing tear above its head snapped Yue out of her trance. Yue didn't look back.

She ran, her chest tight with panic as she darted through the wreckage, but the monsters were everywhere.

A whip-like appendage lashed across her back, tearing through velvet and flesh alike. Agony lanced through her—white-hot, blinding. Screaming, she tore herself free and continued running, only to stumble into a pack of snarling lizards.

They lunged for her legs with their claws, tearing away thin strips of skin, but Yue didn't feel any pain, too high on adrenaline to do anything more than flee. She had no destination. She just wanted to escape, and thankfully, she knew this city like the back of her palms.

Ducking between two buildings, she barely dodged the slash of a Mamacore, losing nearly all of her hair as its claws raked against her scalp. Another wave of pain nearly knocked her unconscious, but she kept moving. She raced through the crumbling alleys, dodging past fallen debris and slipping on blood-slick cobblestones.

A shadow loomed above her—winged, massive. Without thinking, she dived.

The Drake swooped down, its claws raking through the space she had just occupied, but rather than pursue, it let out a frustrated screech before soaring toward another fleeing group.

Yue stumbled back to her feet and continued running. She couldn't die here.

But her body was failing. Blood dripped from a gash on her arm, her ribs ached, and her vision blurred with exhaustion and pain.

Choking on her breath, she pushed herself forward, her heart slamming against her ribs in panic.

Ducking into a dark alley, she stumbled to her knees, too weak to take another step forward. She didn't know if she was safe, but she had no choice. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed against a pile of broken furniture.

That was when the vertigo hit. A sharp, dizzying wave of nausea hit, and Yue realized that somewhere, somehow, she had been poisoned. She touched her back and whimpered as she touched shredded skin, and her eyes watered.

The pain that her adrenaline had held at bay hit her all at once, and she cried out, unable to bear the stinging pain. She fell to her side, her entire body spasming as blood poured out of her injuries.

Yue knew it was only a matter of time before a monster smelled the blood and came rushing. She had to hide. She had to run. She had to do something!

Something clinked against the wet concrete, and that was when Yue finally remembered that there was something she could do. In her panic, she had completely forgotten that she was no longer the sleeper she had been only a few hours ago. She was awakened now, and she had options.

With trembling fingers, she pulled out the cores from her cloth pouch, fumbling and vision swimming as she pulled out a water core and quickly absorbed it. The energy surged into her core, but it wasn't enough, so she grabbed another core and then another until energy exploded out of her core like a roaring tide, the excess energy diffusing into her muscles, tissues, and bones.

She had advanced to the third tier, yet her wounds refused to heal. Instead, they itched as the poison within her bloodstream fought against the cleansing energies of her advancement. Panicked, Yue absorbed another core and then another, and then another until her core exploded once again with another wave of change energy.

Tier: 4—17%

Energy soaked into her bones, strengthening her greatly. Her muscles tightened, and her senses grew sharper. It wasn't much, but the dark alley seemed just a touch brighter than before, her mind a little clearer, and ears a little more distinct.

Her wound, however, especially the ones on her back, still refused to heal. They had closed up significantly and had stopped bleeding, yet the venom remained, constantly draining her of energy.

Yue glanced at the four cores she had left and shook her head. They weren't enough to take her to the 5th tier, and even if they did, Yue wouldn't trade a chance at class evolution for healing. She would manage. She had to manage and survive until this nightmare ended. She had—

A loud roar echoed as a pack of Rithclaws rushed into the alley, and Yue's eyes widened as her panic returned with full force. Looking around frantically, Yue realized that she had only one option.

Pulling energy from her core, Yue glanced at the nearest piece of furniture—a stool—and activated {Morph—Inanimate}.

The transformation began with the sound of cracking bone, and Yue cried out in pain and pleasure as her body contorted, twisting and warping as her body folded in on itself. Her skin hardened into knotted, bark-like wood, her limbs transformed into sturdy stool legs, her breath vanished, and with a final creak, her stomach compressed into a smooth, polished seat.

The transformation lasted just under a minute, concluding the exact moment the first Rithclaw walked into her line of sight. They sniffed at the blood slowly spreading on the floor, their gazes confused as they tried to understand how her scent had just vanished.

Yue's heart thudded in her nonexistent chest as the monsters circled around her, sniffing and drooling on her body before rushing back the way they had come.

For the next four hours, Yue had remained in that alley, listening to the cries of monsters as her energy slowly drained from her core. At tier 4, she should have been able to keep an innate skill active nigh indefinitely, but with her body draining a significant amount of energy to combat the poison in her veins, her core was bleeding energy faster than it could regenerate it.

Still, Yue refused to deactivate her skill lest she test fate. Instead she stayed in that dark alley, listening as monsters wreaked havoc on her city. The city she had known was unraveling before her ears—stone crumbling, glass shattering, screams merging with the guttural howls of creatures that did not belong.

But exhaustion crept in. Despite advancing two whole tiers in mere hours, she felt drained to the marrow, her mind sluggish, her limbs heavy. The poison in her veins wasn't helping matters either, and finally, after what felt like an eternity, Yue was forced to sleep.

Only, it wasn't any ordinary sleep.

Minutes blurred into hours, hours into days, and still, Yue did not stir. Her wooden form remained curled within the alley's shadows, its surface dull and lifeless. Yet, beneath it, her body waged war against the poison in her veins, her core working tirelessly to purge it.

When Yue finally regained consciousness, three whole days had passed.

Her core was nearly depleted; its reserves bottomed out after fighting the poison and maintaining her skill for so long. With a weary sigh, she finally deactivated it, shuddering as her body softened—wood giving way to warm, supple flesh once more.

Her clothes, however, were in ruins. The velvety fabric was now little more than tattered scraps, barely clinging to her frame. She adjusted them as best she could, ensuring at least the bare minimum of modesty, before bracing herself against the wall and rising on unsteady legs.

Slowly, still a little cautious, she made her way out of the alley and choked back tears at the sight that greeted her.

It was a whole new world, one far worse than she remembered.

Buildings stood broken, their skeletal remains clawing at the sky. Blood stained the once-pristine walls, dark and dried where it had long since settled. The streets groaned under the weight of destruction, debris, and shattered glass crunching beneath hurried footsteps as volunteers and security officers scrambled to piece things back together. The air reeked of smoke and something else—something metallic, raw, and unmistakably human.

One of the officers saw her and shouted, "Healer! Find the healer! We have a situation here."

The officer rushed to help her, his expression sharp with urgency. He grabbed her by the arm, and Yue allowed herself to be helped. It wasn't long before she felt the soothing touch of the healer, and she cried in relief as the foreign energies completed the work her energy had started.

The officer laid her down beside the sidewalk and began asking her some questions. "What is your name?" "How old are you?" "What is your advancement tier?"

Yue answered all the questions perfunctorily until the officer asked. "What of your family? Do you have any guardians?"

She opened her mouth to say no—because she had no family, not anymore—but then the image of a particular storm awakened flashed in her mind, his expression affectionate, and Yue realized that she might not have a family, but she certainly had a guardian. Nodding, she replied, "I have a guardian."

"Okay, we need to get you back to them. Where do they live?"

"Norbuik." Yue replied immediately. "He lives in Norbuik. Menton."

A terse silence reigned within the Brystion mansion as the whole family stared at the unconscious girl sprawled on their center couch until Unrid broke it. "Is she dead?"

"No," Aodhán shook his head, "I just knocked her out."

Aldric and Daruk breathed a sigh of relief, but Synové's eyes widened in horror. "Why would you do something like that to this poor girl?"

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"Because she's a changeling," Daruk explained. "The only way to ascertain that she's who she says she is is to knock her out. That way, whatever morphing or flesh manipulation skill she has activated will be deactivated."

"She hasn't changed though," Unrid pointed out. "Does that mean she's who she says she is?"

"Maybe." Aodhán shrugged, and Daruk agreed. "She might also have a passive skill going on, so we can't be sure."

"That's unlikely." Aldric disagreed. "Changeling skills are mostly active. The instant they run out of energy or lose consciousness like this, they revert to their original form. Besides, if she was dangerous, the guards would have caught her."

"So, she isn't lying then?" Synové asked.

"I don't know, Mum." Aodhán scowled, still feeling a little conflicted. "She's too weak to be an assassin, but I can't for the life of me figure out what she's doing here or how she even got here."

Aldric scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "Wait, you know her?"

Aodhán nodded, and Daruk replied. "She was our tour guide when we first got to the 5th sector. We stayed in the inn she worked for a week or so. We didn't interact much."

"So, why is she here then?" Synové asked, and Aodhán sighed.

"That's what we need to find out," Aodhán replied and pressed a finger against the girl's chest. With a slight flare of willpower, he injected a precise, low-intensity bolt of lightning into her chest.

The action wasn't one Aodhán had intimately had much experience with, but he knew just how much lightning would kill a tier 4 awakened and how much was harmless. The jolt of electricity he injected was somewhere in the middle.

The girl's body twitched, and her chest rose as she gasped back to life, eyes wide in panic and surprise when she found a group of people standing over her. One of them was her guardian, a man Yue had been obsessed with ever since the miracle rain event nearly a month ago.

He was even more beautiful than she remembered, with eyes of liquid gold and skin so dark, it was practically black. She glanced at the others, recognizing them as his family, but when she tried to sit up, his elder brother placed a hand on her shoulders and gently pushed her back down, saying, "Your heart's racing. Calm down. We won't hurt—"

His eyes widened, and Yue blushed, aware of Aldric's affinity for emotions. Rather than embarrass her in the moment, though, he simply smirked and said. "Apologies, I thought you were afraid."

Yue shook her head and looked at Aodhán. "I'm not afraid. I have nothing to fear. Not when he's here."

Aodhán frowned in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

Before Yue could respond, Synové interjected herself into the conversation protectively. "Now, now, let's all calm down. We should at least know the girl's name before we start interrogating her."

Yue smiled and pushed herself into a sitting position so she was facing all five of them at once. "My name is Yue Hazeveil, and I was a tour guide for the Phoenix's Nest in Nematon before Sunstone's recent retaliation."

"And I am Synové." Synové introduced herself and then proceeded to introduce the rest of them.

However, when she reached Aodhán, Yue cut in, saying, "I know who he is. Everyone knows who he is."

Growing a little concerned, Aodhán blinked and exchanged a concerned glance with Daruk before speaking. "Nice to meet you again, Yue. Do you mind telling us why you came here?"

"I…" Yue blushed again and wriggled her fingers before finally responding. "I wanted to be with you."

"What?!" Aodhán's eyebrows climbed up to his hairline, and even Synové and Unrid had expressions of shock and confusion.

Before any of them could react, though, Daruk raised a hand and said. "Wait. Before we all jump to conclusions, Yue, why don't you walk us through this? Start from the beginning so we can understand you better."

Yue nodded and began her explanation, starting from the moment she had awakened. She told them how she had run into the exchange pavilion for safety and then how she had hidden herself in the alley as a stool until her energy ran out. She narrated how she had woken up three days later, cold, wet, and hungry, and by the time she finished, she and Synové were teary-eyed.

"Oh, you poor child," Synové rushed to hug her. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all that."

"I deserved it though." Yue shook her head as tears streamed down her face. She looked up at Aodhán and said. "I'm sorry I disappointed you. While you were off fighting and saving thousands of soldiers in the Steppin' plains, I ran and I hid like a coward. I couldn't fight. I couldn't even protect myself."

"No," Synové hugged the girl tighter. "No, don't say that. You just awakened; no one expects you or can blame you for running. That was the right thing to do. It is enough that you survived."

"Aodhán wouldn't have run or hid, though," Yue argued, her tears falling even harder. "He would have stayed to fight. He's all anyone from Nematon to Norbuik can talk about, and I promised myself to walk in his footsteps, yet at the first sign of trouble, I ran and hid. I have disappointed him."

While Unrid and Synové tried to comfort Yue, Aodhán, Daruk, and Unrid just stared at them, at a complete loss for what to say or do, until Aldric coughed and jabbed Aodhán in the ribs.

"I'm not disappointed," Aodhán blurted out, putting a pause to the waterworks. When both women looked at him, he cleared his throat and continued. "I'm not disappointed. Why would I be disappointed? I've run from many monsters in my life, and I'm still running from some. Fighting a horde of evolved monsters at tier 4 is a suicide attempt, and I'm glad you didn't take it. I'm not an—

The rest of his words were cut short as Yue flung herself into his arms. "Oh, thank you so much. You have no idea what those words mean to me."

"They aren't supposed to mean anything to you because you aren't supposed to be hearing them." Aodhán thought to himself before patting her back awkwardly. When she didn't immediately pull away, though, his gaze darted towards Aldric, and he mouthed. "What the fuck is going on?"

Aodhán stuttered and patted her back awkwardly, his eyes darting from one member of his family to the other, searching their faces for advice. What the hell was this situation he'd fallen into now?

Aldric turned away from him, hiding what seemed to be a chuckle behind his fingers. Aodhán scowled, wondering just what kind of situation he had gotten himself into now. Judging by the smirk playing on Aldric's lips, though, Aodhán suspected something emotional was going on with Yue. If it was what he was thinking…

Yue finally pulled back, and Aodhán cleared his throat and said, "Okay, we've heard your story, Yue, but we still don't understand why you came here or why the security officer brought you to Menton."

Yue's eyes widened, and she blushed again. "I… I came here because I need your help. I want to be like you, to be as strong as you, and who else can teach that to me but you?"

Aodhán blinked, his mind stumbling over itself to make sense of Yue's words. Fortunately, he wasn't alone this time; even Synové frowned in confusion, but Yue's next words soon knocked any iota of logic out of the room.

"I know how this sounds. You think I don't know you enough to decide this, but you're wrong. I was under the first miracle rain, a mere sleeper then, but when the rain touched me, I… I've never felt so connected to anyone else. I may not know you personally, but I know our paths are connected. Also, I have no one else to go to. I hope to attend the academy trials in a few months, and I can't afford to fail it. Please, help me."

"Oh, my dear, we will help you," Synové replied before anyone else could. "You won't fail. We won't let you fail."

"What!?" Aodhán exclaimed, and before Synové began making promises she couldn't keep, he stated. "I haven't agreed to this. Mum, you can't make decisions for all of us like this."

She glared at him. "Surely, you don't intend to let this poor orphan girl fail after all she just explained? She's not asking for too much. All she wants is your help."

"I…" Aodhán looked to Unrid for some logical support, but Unrid just shook his head in sympathy and shrugged. "She's an orphan, Aodhán." As long as it's just a little help she needs, I don't see the problem."

Writing Unrid off as a lost cause, he turned to Daruk and had to admit that he was disappointed to see a sympathetic frown on his face rather than his usual neutral mask. Aldric would have been his last option if he wasn't nearly folded over with barely suppressed laughter.

It seems he was the only one still capable of logical reasoning in this family. Were they not thinking? If he helped Yue, then it was only a matter of time before someone else came along needing his help. How many people would he help? How many people could he even help?

Despite being the only one with an opposing view, Aodhán was more than ready to stand his ground until he realized that he did share something in common with Yue—they were both orphans, but was that enough reason to help? He couldn't possibly go around helping people just because they were orphans like him. However, what made him hesitate was the fact that deep down, a part of him wanted to help her.

Yue had shown up here out of the blue, and all of a sudden, everyone in his family was jumping to help and rushing to her aid. It all felt so orchestrated, making Aodhán wonder if this was fate pulling strings or if he did have a connection with Yue.

If he did, then how had that come about? He had only known her for the duration of their stay in the Phoenix's nest, and even then, they hadn't spoken much after their tour. Where had this supposed connection come from?

He turned to look at Daruk again and was glad to see that his usual cold mask had returned. Sighing, he asked. "What do you think about this connection?" Aodhán asked.

Daruk stared at Yue for a moment before speaking. "If there's some sort of karmic connection between you two, then you should be able to sense it. If you can sense it, then I think you should help her. It's only for the next two days after all."

Aodhán nodded and turned his gaze back to Yue, trying to sense anything other than this strange willingness to help her. After a moment, he sighed. There was a connection all right, but it wasn't karmic. It wasn't even a link. It was just…there. Their paths crossed.

Making a mental note to read up on karmic and cosmic connections when he returned to the academy, Aodhán crossed his arms and nodded in agreement. "I'll help you as best as I can for the next two days. I—"

Yue squealed and launched herself into his arms. Again. "Thank you so much. Thank you so much. You won't regret it."

"I hope I don't," Aodhán muttered under his breath.

After Yue pulled away, Synové came to hug him too and whispered. "I'm so proud of you for being so noble."

Aodhán just sighed and shook his head in resignation. Synové pulled back a moment later and said to Yue. "Come, let's get you into something more comfortable so you can join us for breakfast."

Yue stood up from the couch and followed Synové up the stairs. Aodhán waited until they left his line of sight before turning to glare at Unrid. "You know she's never letting that girl go, right?"

"Yep." Unrid sighed in resignation. "If Yue agrees to stay, then you'll all get a sister and I, a daughter."

Daruk grimaced. "I thought about that, but Mother can be stubborn when she wants something, and she has always wanted a daughter."

"But we don't know her from anywhere," Aodhán argued.

"That's just how Synové is." Unrid shrugged. "We didn't know you from anywhere when we welcomed you into our home too."

Whatever argument Aodhán had been about to make died on his lips, and his mouth snapped shut. Changing the topic, he sighed. "Great. As if being famous isn't bad enough. Now I have a student."

"A very eager student." Aldric corrected with a nasty smirk, making it very obvious what he was talking about.

"Don't mind Aldric." Unrid patted his shoulders. "Besides, this could just be as beneficial to you as it is to Yue. It might even be more beneficial than you think."

"I agree with Dad." Daruk nodded. "I'm sure you'll learn a thing or two from it."

"That's not what I'm worried about." Aodhán shook his head and sat down. "I'm more concerned with this connection between us. It's not karmic as far as I can tell, but it's there. I can feel it."

"Perhaps it's love." Aldric snickered, and Aodhán turned to glare at his brother.

"What do you mean, love? I only just met her."

"Now come on, as if that has ever stopped any man before." Aldric laughed.

Unrid shook his head in distaste and asked. "Where's your refinement, Aldric? I swear, every time you return from that academy of yours, your speech resembles that of vulgar sailors more and more."

Aldric froze, and the silence that descended on the room at that moment was so loud that it was a miracle Unrid didn't sense that something was amiss. Fortunately, Synové and Yue returned to the living room before things became awkward, and together they returned to their breakfast.

While they ate, Synové, Unrid, and Daruk asked Yue a ton of questions about her life in Nematon and her plans with the academy. Yue told them everything eagerly, and Aodhán had to admit that she did fit in with his family. Aodhán didn't join in on the conversation, though. He was too preoccupied with his thoughts.

The matter of where this connection had come from stood at the fore of his mind, but another matter also occupied his mind, and that was the question of where to even begin with helping Yue. He wasn't unfamiliar with the changeling sub-aspect of the change affinity, and by merely looking at Yue, Aodhán could spot a dozen ways to help her. The problem was where to begin.

If Yue was going to end up being his sibling—hopefully, that wouldn't happen—then he had to do his best to help her. His mind dwelled on the matter for the entirety of breakfast, and after breakfast ended, Aodhán suggested he and Yue head to the garden to sit and talk.

Yue agreed, and a few minutes later, they sat opposite each other amidst a field of blooming roses, lilies, and snapdragons. Yue looked at him eagerly, and after a while, Aodhán decided to begin with the basics.

He folded his hands and said. "Tell me all you know about advancement and cultivation."

Yue nodded and began speaking, spewing some scattered notions and thoughts that soon made it obvious just how little she knew about the topic. Even the things she knew, Aodhán suspected, were things she had heard from the awakeneds who visited the inn. It was a relief for Aodhán since it meant she had no preconceived notions or, at least, very little.

Settling deeper into his meditative pose, Aodhán began to explain a few basic things that she did not know of. First, he explained the tiers and milestones, the concepts of spiritual cultivation, and finally, the affinity boons, which involved the origin planes.

Yue listened with rapt attention, so eager to learn that Aodhán smiled and decided to cut his pseudo-lecture short in favor of some practical applications.

Gesturing for her to settle into a proper meditative pose, Aodhán said. "Let's begin with your core. You are at the edge of the first milestone tier, which means the next thing to do is to evolve your class."

"Yes." Yue nodded. "I knew it was important to wait at the 4th tier, but now I know why."

She reached into her cloth pouch and pulled out a trio of evolved elemental cores with an eager expression. "I bought these on my way here. Would have bought conceptual cores, but I don't understand why they are more expensive than elemental cores if they do the same thing." She paused and scrutinized the water core in her hands for a moment before asking. "Why do you think they are more expensive?"

Aodhán, however, was too frozen to speak. His first instinct after he saw the elemental cores was to explain why absorbing unaligned cores was the cause of the limit, but the instant pang of pain and the rattle of oath chains on his core had put a stop to that train of thought immediately.

"Perhaps it was because he spent most of his time around people who already knew the true nature of the limit that he had never dealt with the consequences of trying to reveal the truth to someone unaware of it. The pain wasn't too severe—just a reminder that he wasn't at liberty to reveal that truth."

So instead, he just stared at Yue as she lifted the core in her hands to absorb it, his mind racing on whether to tell her or not. Yue kept talking, oblivious to the mental acrobatics he was doing, but the instant she asked, "So, I'm supposed to absorb this into my class, right?" Aodhán knew he couldn't let her do it, not when he could prevent it.

"Wait! Don't absorb it yet. I have something to tell you." The pang of pain came again, this time even more severe than before, and Aodhán grimaced. "Before I can tell you, though, you have to take an oath. It's a secret."

Rather than the flat-out refusal he had expected from Yue, she simply nodded and said. "I'll take it. I knew there had to be a secret to your strength, and I'm very honored that you would choose to share it with me."

Thrown off by her instant agreement, Aodhán said. "I don't think you understand, Yue. This oath is a core oath. You will be binding your core by taking this oath, which means if you ever break it, you'll be risking either death or the shattering of your core."

His words gave Yue pause, and she frowned, but after a second or two, she asked. "Will this secret make me as strong as you?"

Aodhán laughed and shook his head. "Not directly, but it'll certainly give you a chance."

"Then I'll take it," Yue replied with utmost conviction. "I want to be strong like you, and if this is what it'll take, then I'm ready to do it."

"Okay." Aodhán nodded, moved by her willingness and determination. He wasn't sure he would have been this eager had their positions been reversed, but it only made him realize how much faith Yue had in him—a stranger to her less than two hours ago. Maybe her decisions were questionable.

Nodding, he recited the words of the oath, and after a moment, Yue repeated them, grimacing as the oath wrapped its fetters around her core. When it was done, Aodhán proceeded to give a lecture on the limit, explaining the kingdom's role in keeping it a secret and how to prevent it, but leaving out its origins. Yue didn't need that burden.

When he finished speaking, Yue was silent, her mouth open but unmoving. He allowed her a few minutes to get her thoughts together before asking, "How do you feel?"

"I don't know, I… I can't believe… How did I not think of it?"

Aodhán chuckled. "It's not your fault. That's the nature of the curse. It tricks us into believing it is a natural phenomenon, whereas it can be easily prevented."

Yue shook her head in wonder. "So many people… They don't know… I wouldn't have known; I would have wasted my potential." She shook her head again, and Aodhán finally saw a spark of anger. "Why is the kingdom doing this? So many awakened potentials are wasted. Do they not care for us?"

Never in his life did Aodhán think he would ever defend the kingdom concerning this matter, but as Yue's anger steadily rose, he found himself speaking. "The kingdom has its reasons. People with real power know these reasons, and if they had stayed their hands, I believe these reasons might hold water. That isn't to say that it is right."

"It can't. It can't be right. Do you know how many people have died untimely because they had reached their limits? My parents…

She trailed off, pain etched in her eyes, and Aodhán sighed. "I'm very sorry about your parents, and I'm not trying to defend the kingdom, but…it doesn't matter. There's nothing we can do about it yet. Those who know the truth can't pass it on without risking death, and what would a single show of rebellion accomplish?"

"I know, I just…" She burst into tears, covering her face as sobs racked her entire body, and without even realizing it, Aodhán wrapped his arms around her and patted her back gently.

"It's all right. It's all right, let it out."

Yue did. Her tears poured down from her face in torrents, staining Aodhán's shirt, but that was the least of his concerns at that moment. It took nearly fifteen minutes before Yue calmed down and pulled away from him, face red and splotchy from all the crying.

"Do you want to take a break?" Aodhán asked, but she shook her head.

"I only have two days to learn all I can from you. I don't want to waste any more time than I already have."

They settled back down, and Yue pushed the three elemental cores she had gotten to him. Aodhán accepted them with a small smile, not sure what use tier 7 cores were to him. Perhaps he could use them to activate runes for when he returned to his study.

In return, he took out a tier 17 spatial core from his necklace and handed it to her. It was one of the numerous cores Varéc had gathered for him, and with the recent influx of cores he had gotten from Daruk, he had a mountain of cores in his spatial storage. Most of the cores would be exchanged for money in the end because he was too close to the second milestone to even risk an advancement right now.

With only two tiers standing between him and the advanced class, Aodhán was playing a dangerous game. Two mistakes, and he would no longer qualify to participate in the tournament.

Yue grabbed the core with an awed expression, eyes widening slightly as she felt the power brimming within the core. "What affinity is this?"

"It's a tier 17 spatial core. It should be enough to fuel your class evolution."

Yue nodded, and after a moment of staring off into space, most likely reading through her status screen, she took in a deep breath and absorbed the core. What she hadn't prepared for was the recoil of absorbing a core so much stronger than her current tier, but Aodhán was there to hold her before the core could send her flying back.

Yue gasped as the energy roiled into her pathways, causing some minor damage as it raced for her core. Had he had a weaker core in possession, he would have given it to her, but the spatial core was the weakest conceptual core that he had.

Yue jerked again, but Aodhán's hands steadied her. "You're doing all right." He whispered, but Yue was too far gone to respond. A smile bloomed on her face as energy diffused into her entire body, strengthening her muscles and bones and sharpening her senses, all the while giving her a slight makeover.

Her brown hair became streaked with a tinge of silver that began at the roots and blended towards the middle. Her face became more defined, less childish, and more, well, womanly. Her body went through the same changes, becoming less skinny and curvier.

Aodhán raised an eyebrow as the changes continued, but what had he expected when a change awakened was changing?

The evolution process continued for nearly ten minutes before Yue finally opened her eyes, revealing hazel-green irises ringed by a silver band. She smiled, enjoying the feeling of new strength coursing through her, but she wasn't done yet.

Squeezing her shoulders gently, Aodhán said. "Absorb the rest of the core into your tier. Once you advance into the 5th tier, you stop. There's a lot of foundation building we need to do before you advance any further."

Yue nodded and absorbed the rest of the core into her tier, gasping in pleasure as her core erupted with strength and power. It poured into her newly formed muscles and tissues, enlarging them even further and strengthening them.

With that done, Aodhán plucked the spatial core from her fingers before she gave in to the urge to absorb more. Yue tried to grab the core from him, but he smiled down at her and said. "The euphoria of advancement is a nasty trick meant to keep you from solidifying your foundations. Advancing without doing so only gives a hollow power. You said you wanted to be like me; this is what you have to do."

Yue nodded. "I will do as you say."

"Good, now you might want to take a look at yourself in the mirror. I'm sure Mother will be positively giddy.