The presence of Glitch, Blood Devour, let Kai tower over all Contestants of the same Set.
It showered him with Abilities, a thing that all wanted but only a few possessed, and that too only after treading upon a bloody path full of bloodier difficulties.
It also gave him Skills with varying uses, letting him enjoy a broader spectrum of power than his peers.
For Kai, however, whose fighting motto was — Take wounds, Snatch lives, and who grew stronger the longer he battled, Blood Devour provided the greatest means for him to ascend toward the Peak of Absolute Power.
Blood Devour was Kai's Individuality.
However, there were two major drawbacks to Blood Devour, as it was now.
First, it was the Cooldown.
All Skills obtained by Kai through Blood Devour could only be activated for 30 seconds, and then he must wait for five minutes to use Skills again.
Five minutes!
This duration was neither short nor long, for it depended upon the circumstances. But, with Contestants, this was an incredibly long time.
Five minutes were plenty to decide the fate of battles and lives.
Five minutes were plenty to level grounds against enemies.
Five minutes were plenty to change one's destiny.
It was especially so for Contestants like Kai whose fighting styles were quite fast-paced and leaned more toward dealing accurate and precise blows than toward depleting the opponent's stamina.
The only reason he had been able to use Dementors Progenitor, right after using Dementor's Kiss was because of the absurd Sealing Powers of the Zanpakuto — Ayin, who had used Kai's Spiritual Awakening as the foundational bypassing agent.
It was just like how the Spiritual Awakening had reset the Cooldown of Little War Horn after Ayin had tampered with Murasame's Quality.
Ever since Kai had gained his first Blood Essence, he had been trying to find ways to shorten the Cooldown.
Alas! Only after enslaving Meg did he get to know that it was impossible.
There was nothing in the Primordial Tower that reduced or even changed the Cooldown.
It was as if this Cooldown of 5 minutes over his Blood Essences' Skills was a natural restriction on his Glitch's potential.
If it was only that, then Kai could have made his peace with it.
Yet, when Meg had broken the pot of his expectations related to his Glitch's Skills' Cooldowns, she had also ruthlessly told him another piece of heavy news.
Skills, granted by the Primordial Tower, had NO concept of Cooldown!
It had been also her first time hearing Skills possessing Cooldown, to begin with.
And this brought forward the second drawback of Blood Devour — Unlike the Abilities, the Skills Glitch blessed Kai with, disappeared with the Blood Essence.
There are three widely known ways of obtaining Skills, master, Meg had told him. First, most of the Items have Skills. If one fulfills an Item's requirements, then one can freely use its Skills.
Second, almost all upgraded Titles give Skills. Here, too, only switching Titles has the concept of Cooldown. Not Skills.
Third, and most widely known, are the rewards of Hidden Missions.
It was then Kai came to know that all Hidden Missions awarded Skills, their grade varying from the lowest to one's Main Mission's grade.
Of course, this knowledge had brought no joy to Kai.
By then, Kai had already carried out Hidden Missions.
Sure, he had obtained greater rewards, including Mission Credits and Attribute Points. But his Hidden Missions had awarded him no Skills.
However, what Meg had failed to mention was that there was one more way to get Skills.
And though the chances of Skills' presence in this way depended upon Contestant's own efforts, they weren't null, either.
This other way was — Inheritance.
There was no sure way to know if an Inheritance would give Skill or not.
Sometimes, even after obtaining 100% Inheritance, one didn't get a Skill, and sometimes, with only 5% one could get two Skills.
The grade of Skills in those cases was bound to be the lowest, true enough. But that was a different matter altogether.
It was because of all of this that even after obtaining a greater chunk of the Inheritance, Kai wasn't expecting any Skill.
For him, if he were to gain Shadow Lord's Alchemical Inheritance, then that would have sufficed as well.
So, when the Inheritance's notification appeared in front of him as he was ruminating over the matter of a Deep One, his eyes popped out.
And why wouldn't they, when there wasn't one Skill in the notification, but… two!
…
[
Congratulations Contestant Kai Stormborn…
As the Temporary Protector of Jack Sparrow, you have gained 5% of the Inheritance allotted to the task of escorting him out of the Inheritance Land.
As one of the Contestants who brought down the Shadow Lord, you have gained 30% of Inheritance allotted to the task of handling the Anomaly.
…
Inheritance Grade: C+
Inheritance Obtained: 35%
Rewards:
1. Elementary Alchemist: Proficiency 5%
2. Skill - Shadow Space
3. Skill - Shadow Link
]
…
Kai couldn't believe it.
He had escorted Jack Sparrow out of the Inheritance Land as a Temporary Protector along with Moraine.
If Sounga hadn't killed all Contestants on the ship, then he would have never obtained 5% Inheritance related to Jack Sparrow, as the other 5% now belonged to Moraine.
Not to mention, the greatest chunk belonged to dealing with Shadow Lord.
Kai had obtained a whopping 30% out of the 40% allotted to the task. Another 10% must have been shared with Red Sun and Moraine.
Still, to gain not only an Ability, but two Skills out of the 35%…
This was unprecedented.
These weren't Skills granted by the Glitch.
These Skills now entirely belonged to him… without Cooldown!
Kai's head was still full of the years' worth of alchemical practice he had undergone during his artificial comatose state, the countless ingredients, diagrams, and formulas occupying his thoughts.
Nothing could prevent him from shooting himself to his feet, though.
"What happened?!" Cersei blurted concernedly, eying Kai's tall back. "Did everything go alright?"
Kai stopped her with a raise of his hand, his eyes shining bright.
Skills! Skills! He, the unlucky one, finally got Skills! And not one, but two!
"Hahaha!" Kai suddenly threw his head up and broke out with a burst of thunderous laughter, lifting his fists toward heaven. "Finally! Finally! Brilliant!"
Behind him, not only Cersei but even Dementors and Lilith seemed to be stuck between the layers of time, not knowing what to say or do.
They all just gawked at Kai, his dark silhouette darkening the blazing fire.
Cersei's eyes shone with the greatest elation.
Never had her lord lost his composure. Not like this.
Something truly stupendous must have happened, she knew.
And, just by happenstance, Cersei was intelligent enough to make an educated guess.
"Congratulations, my love," Cersei said, bowing, the shadow suit melting back into her forehead. "At last, you have obtained a Skill."
Ignoring her, Kai licked his lips and brought out the first Skill, then.
…
[
Skill: Shadow Space
Grade: D+
Specification: Turn the Contestant's shadow into a portal to the Shadow Realm
Requirement:
1. Correspondence >20
2. Presence of Contestant's shadow
Attributes:
1. MP consumption rate: 5 points/second
2. Size: 300 cubic meters (flexible)
Effect:
1. Open a portal to the Shadow Realm
2. Assign a space of set volume to the Contestant
3. The portal remains open as long as the Mana is supplied
4. All manners of things can be stored in the Shadow Space
5. Degradation of organic things doesn't pause in the Shadow Space
6. The Contestant can go in and out of the Shadow Space as per his will
]
…
Kai rubbed his hands, his palms itching to activate the Skill.
This wasn't the time, though. His urge to see the second Skill was greater than ever, rising with every moment.
With a thought, he brought up the second Skill.
…
[
Skill: Shadow Link
Grade: C-
Specification: Brand shadows and link the Contestant's shadow to them
Requirement:
1. Correspondence >20
2. Perception >20
3. Skill - Shadow Space
Attributes:
1. One Shadow Brand - 100 MP
2. Area: 500 meters radius
3. Time Limit: 24 Hours
Effect:
1.The Contestant can brand a shadow in a set area using Mana
2. The Branded Shadows are portals to the Shadow Space
3. Once a Branded Shadow is used, the Brand will vanish
WARNING: Shadow Link is not a Cross-Dimensional Skill. All Brands automatically vanish upon crossing Dimensions
]
…
Kai's heart skipped a beat.
These two were not mere Skills.
These were a set of complementary Skills!
And not just any complementary Skill, either.
These were the best assassination tools one could ever hope for.
For the first time after coming out of the forced comatose state induced by the Inheritance, Kai turned around and eyed his subjects.
Cersei was already beaming at him, curling a lock of stray hair.
The Dementors sensed Kai's happiness and lunged at him, sucking away bits of it.
Kai didn't mind, his face gaining an aloof and cold expression.
For now, only he could feed them.
Behind them, the Lethifold, Lilith, hovered nonchalantly as if it had nothing to do with Kai or his four children.
"Let me show you something," Kai said, his gaze landing on Cersei. "You of all will certainly like it."
Just as Kai finished his mystifying words, 100 points from his MP bar vanished as he activated Shadow Link.
With his Perception now standing at 23, and as he had the Title Novice Collector equipped, he already met the Requirements of the Skill.
Cersei's shadow rippled in Kai's eyes, and he could feel a brand on it, linked to his own shadow.
Then, he activated the Skill — Shadow Space.
Kai's shadow was stretching far because of the fire behind him.
Suddenly, the entire shadow became still like a frozen lake.
It felt like someone had nailed the shadow to the ground.
Under Cersei's expectant eyes, Kai stepped forward and fell.
One moment was Kai standing on the floor, in the other, he landed in a vast hall, completely black.
As the Volume of Shadow Space was flexible, Kai could feel he could manipulate it to give any shape.
Not to mention, the moment he fell into the Shadow Space, his MP began falling as well, vanishing at the rate of 5 points per second.
He wasn't meant to stay down here much longer, Kai realized.
Kai lifted his head and his eyes shone as he saw two round openings on the roof, through which he could see outside into the library.
One belonged to the point from where he had fallen.
The other…
Kai walked into this soundless and dark room and eyed the shadow portal.
He saw Cersei looking left and right, her brows furrowed.
With one thought, Kai levitated, his hand reaching for her ankles.
Outside, from Cersei's shadow, Kai's hand stretched out noiselessly like an illusion.
"Ahh!" Cersei shrieked as fingers curled around her ankle in an iron grip and pulled her in.
When they were both inside it, Kai landed next to her and asked, "How is it?"
Cersei stood up and looked around, her eyes widening like two saucers.
"I knew it," she hissed. "We finally got them. Skills. This… beckon celebrations, my lord."
Kai felt his Mana draining out and nodded. "There's much wine…"
But before he could finish his words, Cersei threw herself at him, her smooth hands wrapping around his hand. Her lips fell upon his, and she smelled of the richest wine, tasting of a sweet summer flower.
This was also a way of celebration.
Alas! There was no knight or maiden involved in this lascivious sight…
… Only a demonic being and a lifeless form, warming each other in cold embraces.
***************
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