The clock was ticking toward the final, crucial talent acquisition of the year: the Epic-Tier Martial Skill, Phantom Blade Barrage. Viktor knew this replication would be the most difficult yet.
The target, Cassian Reye, was not a corporate enforcer like Gaius, but a freelance executioner. Reye was always moving, always armed, and dangerously paranoid. He was a Stage 9 Warrior, barely a breath away from the Epic-Warrior realm, and his Apex-Tier Blood Rage talent meant he was strongest when covered in the blood of his victims.
Viktor needed to replicate the skill, but he had to avoid a protracted fight with a warrior of Reye's caliber who possessed such a lethal combat talent.
Reconnaissance and Weakness
Viktor utilized his remaining days not for cultivation—which was now internally maximized—but for intricate preparation. He used his knowledge of the lower sectors to track Reye's pattern.
Reye operated primarily in the underground fighting circuit, specifically at an illicit venue known as The Cage. Reye's primary obsession wasn't credits, but his gear.
The Artifact: Reye possessed an Apex-Tier artifact—a pair of specialized gauntlets called the Rending Claws. These were essential to the execution of the Phantom Blade Barrage, channeling Reye's energy into rapid, high-impact slashes.
The Weakness: Reye was fiercely possessive of the Rending Claws. After every major fight, he would retire to a private locker room in The Cage to clean and polish them personally, refusing to allow anyone else to touch them. This was his only moment of sustained stillness and lowered guard.
The replication required touch. The easiest way to touch Reye was to touch his weapons while he was handling them.
The Operation: Infiltration
Day 30. Replication Cooldown: 0.
Viktor, wearing common maintenance coveralls and a heavy-duty respirator to mask his scent, infiltrated The Cage. He was no longer a Novice struggling to hide; he was a Stage 8 Warrior with a Special-Tier energy core, moving with the silence and efficiency of a seasoned assassin.
The venue was chaotic: noise, blood, and the stench of raw mana. Viktor slipped past the main arena and located the private changing rooms.
Reye was fighting in the main event. Viktor could hear the crowd roaring as Reye, already covered in fresh crimson, activated his Apex-Tier Blood Rage. The sounds of the Phantom Blade Barrage—a sequence of impossibly quick, tearing sounds—echoed down the hall.
Viktor approached Reye's locker room door. It was reinforced, but the lock was a simple low-grade biometric scanner.
He used a specially prepared polymer solution, gathered from his old processing plant job, to lift a perfect, high-resolution latent print of Reye's thumb from the door handle. A quick application to his own gloved finger and...
Click. The lock disengaged silently.
The Acquisition
Viktor slipped inside. The room was small and sterile, contrasting sharply with the chaos outside. Reye's armor was stacked neatly on a bench. The Rending Claws—polished, gleaming black gauntlets with wickedly curved blades—were resting on a maintenance mat.
Viktor's mission was not to steal the gauntlets; it was to use them as a vector.
He extended his right hand, the one used for the replication. He held his breath, concentrating not on the physical object, but on the residual energy signature of Reye's talent embedded within the claws.
Contact.
His fingers wrapped around the wrist brace of the first Rending Claw.
ATTENTION: New Talent Detected.
Hostile Subject: Cassian Reye (Via Artifact Signature).
Talent A: Apex-Tier Blood Rage. (Combat - Active)
Talent B: Epic-Tier Martial Skill: Phantom Blade Barrage. (Martial Skill - Active)
Systematic Replication Initiated.
Replicating...
Replication Complete.
New Talent Acquired: Epic-Tier Martial Skill: Phantom Blade Barrage.
Cooldown Initiated: 30 Days.
He released the claw, placing it back exactly where it had been, and retreated toward the door. The entire process took less than five seconds.
The Overwhelming Victory Prelude
As he reached the door, the arena roared one last time. The main event was over.
He froze. Reye was coming back.
There was no time to escape through the door. Viktor scanned the room. Above the ceiling, there was a small, dusty ventilation grate.
He activated his Shadow Form, leaping silently, using the minimal effort of a Stage 8 Warrior to reach the ceiling. He tore the thin grate off, pulled himself into the ventilation shaft, and replaced the grate just as the heavy, reinforced door swung open.
Cassian Reye entered, a massive figure radiating intense bloodlust, his armor smeared with the dark, wet evidence of his victory. He walked straight to the bench.
Reye stared at the Rending Claws. He didn't see anything missing or moved. He began to unfasten his breastplate, muttering about his next target.
Viktor lay silent, barely breathing, ten feet above him. He could feel the latent power of the Phantom Blade Barrage skill now residing in his core—a sequence of perfect muscle memory and precise energy application.
Reye paused. His head tilted, listening, not with his ears, but with his cultivated senses.
"Someone was here," Reye growled, his voice a low, gravelly threat. He scanned the room, his blood-red aura flaring. "Smell of... cheap detergent. A maintenance rat."
Reye stepped directly beneath the vent and looked up. Viktor instinctively dampened his energy signature to the bare minimum of a struggling Stage 1. Reye didn't see the grate. He was looking for energy, not physical intrusion.
Reye dismissed the thought with a huff. "Just my paranoia. Get some sleep, Cassian."
Viktor stayed still for another twenty minutes until Reye left to find a meal. Only then did Viktor silently slither out of the vents and disappear into the night.
Status Update: The Lethality Factor
Safely back at his abandoned railway sub-level, Viktor checked his status, a surge of power coursing through his limbs.
$$\text{STATUS}$$👤 STATUS: Viktor D. Harper
Cultivation Realm: Warrior (Stage 8 $\rightarrow$ Near Saturation)
Core Talent:Special-Tier Cultivation Talent: The Aether Well (Passive - Cultivation)
Special Talent: Systematic Replication (Unique - Unranked)
Cooldown: 30 Days
Replicated Talents: 3
Replicated Talents:
1. Top-Tier Healing Factor (Passive - Defense)
2. Special-Tier Cultivation Talent: The Aether Well (Passive - Cultivation)
Martial Skills:
1. Phantom Blade Barrage (Epic - Offensive Skill)
2. Shadow Form (Novice)
Artifacts: None
He focused on the Phantom Blade Barrage. It was a skill of pure lethality, relying on hyper-velocity movement and perfect energy channeling to deliver dozens of strikes in a second. He didn't need the Rending Claws; the skill was in the energy application, and his Special-Tier Aether Well could feed the technique with far more sustainable mana than Reye's core.
The culmination of his efforts was complete. He was now a Stage 8 Warrior, on the precipice of the Epic-Warrior realm, equipped with a top-tier healing ability, a vastly superior mana engine, and an Epic-Tier attack skill.
It was time to stop hiding.
It was time for the world to witness the debut of a 'Novice' who won every battle with overwhelming, devastating force. His first target: Gaius Trak and the Obsidian Shield.