NOVEL WEB Chapter 18: Hermetic Vault I
[Your entirety embodies the notion of greed and ambition. Your flesh desires to devour more than its designated portion of gifts in the world. It desires double, and so does your soul. You seek things beyond what you were afforded in your last life]
[You are a rare case where flesh and soul are in mutual agreement]
[You, Incarnate ^8001, are a true Hollow Demonling].
The Incarnate was taken aback.
“What?”
He couldn’t quite wrap his mind around these words. As he understood it, they came right after he obtained the Hermetic Vault, his first Unique Quality.
What exactly did they mean?
A true Hollow Demonling?
Right then, the collection of the Demonling’s properties appeared in his view.
===
Name : None (Incarnate ^8001)
Privilege : 1
Race : Hollow Demonling
---
Far Ji (Unique Quality) :
>Hermetic Vault
---
STR : 1
AGI : 1
END : 1
---
Spirit Essence : 130/150
---
Kanva (Acquired Skill) :
>Sundering Bunt
---
SeiJo (Equipment) :
>Valiant Subject’s Ward
>Bash Brain
---
IP : 0
===
“Oh, it’s really all here,” the Incarnate said, a small smile appearing on his face.
No words could fully express his delight at seeing Spirit Essence finally depicted among his attributes.
He had 150 units of it, though it was unclear if that was a lot or not.
Still, it was great to have this energy that had caused him to curse himself and this bloody place many times during his three-day march (and before that).
The Incarnate closed his eyes to properly introduce himself to the energy.
He felt it slither through him. It was both hot and cold, as it turned out. How it felt within him seemed to change on a dime. After interacting with it a few times before, the Incarnate had formed an opinion about it which was both vindicated and crushed by the actual truth. But, of course, this wasn’t really important.
The silvery-blue energy didn’t seem to have some kind of nexus point within his body. In a way, its origin felt distant from his flesh despite him feeling it coursing through his very blood vessels, strange as that intricate level of perception was.
What made the Incarnate most excited about having Spirit Essence was the fact that his body was transformed by it permanently.
Initially, the Demonling had thought the feeling of abundant strength and the total disregard for pain that suddenly rose as Spirit Essence coursed through him was something similar to a surge of adrenaline – helpful, but fleeting.
Fortunately for him, the sensation was here to stay.
The Incarnate had been thin and spindly before. His body, while unique, hadn’t shown an aptitude for great physical prowess, at least from a basic, visual appraisal.
That wasn’t the case anymore. While the Demonling wasn’t a beefcake, he certainly didn’t look like a regular, malnourished Joe. His body looked like that of a moderately muscular man who ate three, big, healthy meals every day.
‘Thank goodness. I wasn’t really interested in how I looked before, but I imagine I have some space to get interested in such a luxury now,’ the Incarnate thought as he thoroughly appreciated the contours of his body down to his perkier buttocks.
Interestingly enough though…
‘My attributes haven’t changed even though I feel stronger. No, I’m definitely much stronger. I imagine that only Incarnation Points converted to physical attributes can count.’
After a few moments of thought, the Incarnate speculated that perhaps whatever units in Strength, Agility, and Endurance he earned from now would simply add to his evolved physique, which was a great boon. His base had improved, which meant subsequent augments to his physique would be much more helpful than if his base had remained the same.
Beyond sheer power, the Incarnate was also pleased to feel that his skin, which had been a major contributor to his continued life subscription, seemed to have evolved. When he had dodged the katana a minute ago, he felt as though his skin was doing much more than warning him like before. It was acting as a catalyst for sharp movements in his body. It almost felt like he was predicting the path of danger, in a way.
‘That is going to be extremely useful. If I can increase my agility on top of this, I’ll at least ensure my survival against stronger opponents instead of relying on chance,’ the Demonling thought with a sigh.
All this aside, there was one more boon he had to thoroughly analyze: his newly acquired Far Ji.
===
[Hermetic Vault | Grade Legendary]
Allows the user to store and retrieve anything – any entity and the forces applied on them – within a two-meter radius, in a special, sealed chamber.
-
Definitions:
1.[Unassigned]
2.[Unassigned].
3.[Unassigned].
4.[Unassigned].
-
Limits:
>Only a maximum of five things can be added to the vault per day.
>Only a maximum of three things can be retrieved from the vault at a time.
===
The Incarnate tilted his head.
‘…What?’
He didn’t understand most of what was depicted on the tablet, save for the short description of what the Hermetic Vault actually was.
And speaking of this description, the Incarnate found his emotions teetering between underwhelmed and intrigued.
‘A vault? Like a storage space?’ he wondered.
His still-new-to-the-supernatural brain took a moment to cough up a thought that ultimately made him appreciate what his Far Ji was.
‘Wait! Is this like a storage space that no one else can see? It’s not like a place I will have to rent or something, is it?’ the Incarnate thought.
After several more seconds of thought, he got even more excited.
It seemed this Hermetic Vault truly was a mystical place where he could put all his things without worrying about carrying them or keeping track of where he left them. This was the only conclusion that made sense for a Unique Quality designated as Legendary!
But just as the Incarnate rose and rushed towards Bash Brain and the Valiant Subject’s Ward to try this out, he stopped.
“Wait, doesn’t it require Spirit Essence to do this?” he thought, beginning to dread that perhaps this new ability might be useless to him for now.
And when he thought of Spirit Essence, the Incarnate immediately thought of the vast pool of it before which had been lighting up the room grandly. Now, it was a little dim.
The corpse on the ceiling remained and so did the collection of octagons that blazed with essence behind it. However, only two of them remained now, and they issued a dull light instead of the bombastic radiance from before.
‘When I was covered by that Essence earlier…?’ the Incarnate thought, remembering the flavors of pain he had felt then.
He remembered that there had been searing pain on his back. Somewhere during the course of his round two against the armored figure, the pain had faded, but…
The Incarnate reached for his back as best as he could and he felt something branded onto it.
‘What is this?’ he thought with a frown.
He felt grooves on his skin. Sharp grooves. It was as if someone had carved him up, creating some kind of symbol.
Right then, the golden tablet appeared in his vision, but it didn’t answer his current inquiry.
[There are a few major distinctions between Far Ji (Unique Qualities), and Kanva (Acquired Abilities]
[The first is that while an unlimited number of Kanva can be cultivated by a single individual, only a single Far Ji is allowed per combatant]
[The second is that while Kanva require Spirit Essence as a cost, Far Ji do not. Far Ji have restrictions on their usage known as Limits. That is the cost of using them, defining them as one pleases…]