Gwin stared slack-jawed at the runes for what felt like forever. After rereading it for the fourteenth time did he finally manage to take in what he was seeing.
"It really is divine…holy…shit"
It still hadn't sunk in yet but it was starting too. His mind's earlier cloudiness was being driven away as his new aspect took over all of his attention. An aspect above Awakened was already rare and special and anything above supreme was unheard of. Getting a divine aspect was unbelievable, something only speculated!
"Nobody can look down on me…"
He greedily began to suck in the information granted to him by the spell.
[Aspect Name: Primordial Endling]
Aspect Description: [You last living member of a mighty lineage. Your kind was beloved by your creator and chose to follow her into battle only to be annihilated. Your existence is now one of pitifulness as you long for the great heights your ancestors once knew.]
Innate Ability: [Bounty]
Ability Description: [You absorb a portion of essence from slain enemies that enters a separate and exhaustible reservoir in your soul]
"That sounds really cool honestly, what kind of creatures were these though? Wait, were they dragons!? Also an innate ability? I've never heard of an aspect having one of those. It's kinda confusing though."
Gwin was a nerd when it came to nightmare creatures although he would never admit it. Out of all the ones he knew dragons were by far his favorite. He had spent hours looking at drawings of them and watching shows that involved them. He was enraptured by their giant scaly bodies and their mighty wings. It had been Gwin's dream to ride on a dragon for ages but he never imagined he might get to be one!
Having an innate ability was strange too so he didn't know what to make of it. It seemed helpful though but he would have to actually fight a nightmare creature to see how it worked.
[Attribute has evolved]
[Attribute has evolved]
"My attributes too?"
He looked for the runes describing his attributes and found them quickly
Attributes: [Elusive presence] [Envious] [Bestial Vitality]
[Elusive presence]—You are not prone to leaving any kinds of tracks or traces of your existence.
[Bestial vitality]—-your body is a well of endurance that responds to your environment quickly making you an efficient creature.
Gwin could understand how these changes to his attributes made sense. A strong beast would naturally be a good hunter which needed it to be sneaky right? His other attributes made him think though. Notably the part about his body reacting to the environment quickly. A picture of himself forming gills to breathe underwater appeared in his head.
'No way, that'd basically be another aspect. I'll have to figure out what it does later.'
He was struggling to digest the depths of his new power. He couldn't shake the feeling that the spell was preparing him to fight for forever. His attributes seemed on the stealthier side but being able to fight for a long time without tiring was more valuable than he initially realized. Tied to his innate ability which restored his essence, kind of, when killing nightmare creatures it seemed like he could fight forever. He didn't know anything about divine aspects so he was not sure what at all to expect. Just gaining an ascended aspect was rare and those people were sought after. People who earned transcended were complete powerhouses that were normally the leaders of clans. Supreme was so rare that the number of people with one could be counted on one hand.
Of course it was entirely possible there were more who hadn't had their aspect revealed but who would do that? What was the point of having an extremely rare aspect if he wasn't going to share it?
'That's probably not a good idea.'
Gwin's dad had always been secretive about his Aspect and Aspect rank, as well as with his Flaw but most everyone was unless they had an extremely hard to hide Flaw. He had only assumed it wasn't that good since his dad was kinda low ranked but even then his dad had neglected to answer.
'I don't want to become a pawn though, I should hide until I can actually protect myself. Then I won't have to worry about people trying to use me…or put my family in danger by becoming a target.'
Gwin was finally thinking about things logically. He knew telling the world he had a divine aspect was a bad idea. Not only would it make him a target for the great clans but it would put his family in danger. There was no telling what methods the Great Clans would resort to to recruit him. For their sake he had to stay hidden.
'Damn, I feel like the main character right now!'
Gwin was feeling pretty smug. He then looked at his overall status.
Name: Gwin
True Name:—
Rank: Dreamer
Soul core: Dormant
Soul Fragments: 0/1000
Spirit essence: 8/1000
'Spirit essence?'
His status had been mostly normal except for the mysterious spirit essence and he had already somehow accumulated some.
'Was that from slaying the Disciple of Kesh?'
It must have been since that was the only nightmare creature he had ever slain.
"Why did I get eight though?'
Eight seemed like an odd number to get. Usually to gain soul fragments one needed to absorb the soul shard from a slain nightmare creature. That was why those who finished their first nightmare typically didn't have any since the nightmare ceased to exist soon after slaying their foe. Gwyn however had gained spirit essence from what was most likely his innate ability [Bounty]. One needed to absorb a soul shard of the same rank or higher to gain any shard and a sleeper gained more soul shards than most since almost every shard was higher ranked than them. Each class of nightmare creatures held a different amount of soul shards depending on their class with monsters having one and the mythical titans having seven.
A devil should have four so perhaps it was because he was dormant that he gained eight. Feeling smug after solving the mystery he looked at the rest of his runes.
Memories: [Kiss of Kesh]
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Elusive Presence] [Envious] [Bestial Vitality]
Aspect: [Primordial Endling]
Aspect Rank: Divine
He sighed with satisfaction after finishing taking it all in.
[First Seal is Broken]
'Hm?'
[Awakening Dormant Powers…]