'Damn it,' Keith thought, hanging in a state where it was hardly possible for him to survive, let alone save Thalrexia, who was being subjected to such gruesome pain.
He forced himself to compose his mind and think of a solution.
In this situation, where moving himself to attack those people was impossible, the only option was a throwable weapon, which he could not access as he was busy with both hands, hardly holding onto the tree root and the stick held by Thalrexia.
'....Extract Aureon Arrow,' he remembered the arrow artifact he had obtained from that man after killing him, recalling how it had the ability to move on its own.
Soon enough, he heard the notifications he had anticipated.
[ 0.4 Eros Points Available --⟩ 5 Eros Points needed for Extraction ]
The window popped up, conveying that the Eros points he currently possessed were the decimal form he had obtained from Thalrexia at that time.
Clearly, it was not enough for him to extract the artifact.
'Sacrifice Dagger!' Without a hint of hesitation, realizing that the dagger in his possession was futile since it was a male weapon, he remembered that even though he had used and invested a total of 10 Eros points before, the sacrifice would only return seven Eros points.
Still, he chose this option.
[ Sacrificing Veinrend Fang --» Eros Points derived = 7 Eros Points ]
[ Extracting Aureon Arrow [ 5 Eros Points Used —⟩ Remaining 2.5 EP ]
Suddenly, a feeling surged inside his body.
It was as if the artifact, which had seemed to connect with him, vanished, replaced by a hollow feeling that soon filled as a new connection established, allowing him to feel the newly connected artifact, the Aureon Arrow.
To describe this feeling, it was similar to having one's limbs, like hands or feet.
One doesn't need to always feel them; they are like body parts.
And it was the same for the artifact that had just been extracted.
It was as if he could sense its complete extent.
After the extraction, he realized that the integrity of the artifact had become zero.
It was clear to him that without even a single bit of integrity, he would not be able to use it.
To put it simply, the integrity of an artifact is the total amount of strength it can exert over its dominion, clearly linking integrity with dominion rather than the artifact itself.
To understand it better, it was like how the Veinrend Fang, being a poisonous dagger, might possess the ability of poisoning, but its dominion, filled with poison, would provide an area around the holder that was poisoned, depending on the integrity level.
The strength of that field would be greater with higher integrity.
While on his way to the forest from the town, Keith had inquired about the integrity concept and learned that as artifacts pass down through bloodlines and break into fragments, they dilute and scatter, separating into forms of integrity.
For example, a Dim Tier artifact, which is a higher level than a Shattered Tier artifact, will have 400% integrity.
It became clear that if a person possessed the entire artifact, and their artifact passed down to the coming bloodline—having four separate lineages—then the integrity would break into 100%, while the artifact would turn to Shattered Tier.
Each tier has a threshold of integrity that, when accomplished, will increase the tier's level, or a loss will decrease it.
'Repair it,' Keith ordered without hesitation, given that he currently possessed a small amount of Eros points.
This would be enough to give the artifact at least 2.5 percent integrity, and he had 8% Void Flux that he had taken from that man.
So, in total, his integrity would reach 10.5%.
This would be enough for him to use the artifact, considering he wouldn't need to utilize its dominion, as the dominion's strength depended on integrity.
The Aureon Arrow had a mind control type of dominion, which he couldn't use without the permission of the bloodline holder.
Nor even with the permission would it be effective due to his low integrity level.
This rendered him inclined to use the artifact manually rather than automatically on command.
****
Present,
'No....!', Keith yelled in his thoughts as his mind registered the body signatures that reached the conclusion she was dead.
It was evident from all the valid evidence, yet he could not bring himself to believe it.
Considering that she possessed such an ability, which could have saved her life if it weren't for her complete trust in him, he momentarily realized that if he were to lose her, he would most likely lose such a rare ability.
Since he didn't possess any artifact, he would not even be able to extract it.
Indeed, Thalrexia didn't have any artifact on her.
Instead, she had Dominion, which was clearly different from what Keith had learned from the information given to him by his ability.
Yet ignoring all this, he focused on the situation at hand, where he needed to do something.
"Hang in there!" Keith shouted, fully aware that in a situation when a person is in an unconscious state, there are chances of their five senses activating or at least their mind being aware of the surroundings, even at the deathbed for a moment.
He prompted his genuine care for her, hoping that she could hear him.
While his mind was calm, he swiftly put her on the ground and sprinted towards the young man.
"Damn it..." Keith leaned down and grabbed the bottle artifact from beside the young man.
He felt irritated knowing that he would need to sacrifice the Aureon arrow in hopes of extracting the artifact in his hand.
Yet he was cornered into doing this as he weighed the pros and cons.
Even after weighing all the probabilities, it was inevitable that no matter how he thought about it, hundreds of such artifacts could be sacrificed in front of the ability that this girl possessed, considering how potentially strong it was.
Not the least did Keith want to lose it, prompting him to just grab the bottle.
As he did, the bottle turned to stone, completely white, with a window popping up in front of him.
━────────⊹⊱♡⊰⊹────────━
Artifact Interaction Window
Name: Alchemy Vial
Tier: Shattered
Dominion: NULL
Integrity: 40% (Stable)
Condition: Good Enough
Void Flux: NULL
Extraction cost: 10 Eros Points for extraction [Presently available = 0 EP]
━────────⊹⊱♡⊰⊹────────━