As the elevator slowly ascended, making a grating, crumbling sound, Azrael opened his status window to examine it.
(You have unlocked Low-Level Essentia Art – Wings of Wind)
The first notification he saw was about the transparent wings of wind element that had appeared on his back earlier.
He was already confused about how he had suddenly managed to use this Essentia Art, but what made Azrael frown even deeper was the word "UNLOCKED" in the notification.
He scrolled up through the list of notifications, going back to the one he had received when he first learned the SkyRift Slash Essentia Art.
(You have learned Low-Level Essentia Art – SkyRift Slash)
Seeing that the notification contained the word "learned" instead of "unlocked," Azrael's eyes narrowed.
What did it mean for him to unlock an Essentia Art instead of learning it?
It could only mean one thing—that he already knew this Essentia Art, but for some reason, it had been sealed away.
When he saw No. 4's condition earlier and lost control of his emotions, desperately wanting to reach her as quickly as possible, it was as if he had subconsciously triggered the technique, unlocking it.
'But how is this possible? Other than the SkyRift Slash, I haven't learned any other Essentia Art. So how could I already know the Wings of Wind? More importantly, if I did know it, then why was it locked away and why couldn't I remember it?'
What baffled Azrael even more was that, unlike the SkyRift Slash, which he had only mastered at the entry level, the knowledge now flowing through his mind told him that his mastery over the Wings of Wind was already at the perfect level.
The problem was that because he was only at the class level and his power of the wind element wasn't yet strong enough, he could only use the entry-level power of the Wings of Wind for now.
As his level increased, he would eventually be able to wield the full strength of the Essentia Art without even needing to raise its mastery further.
At this moment, Azrael couldn't help but recall the strange feeling he had experienced when he saw outer space for the first time, during their mission when they left planet Arkanis.
For some reason, when he had looked out into the vast expanse, he had felt a deep sense of familiarity, as though he had been out there before, yet no memory of it existed in his mind. (Chap—157)
A genuine look of confusion crossed Azrael's face as he tried to comprehend what was happening.
'Is it related to that thing?'
He opened his palm, and the space around it rippled. An old, broken pocket watch materialized in his hand.
It was the Ancient Relic, Pocket Watch—a space-time relic he had found with him when he first arrived in Genesis.
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---) Pocket Watch (Ancient Relic): A powerful space-time relic imbued with a Universal Core. Currently heavily damaged and cannot be used.
=====
As he read the relic's description, his eyes lingered on the words "space-time."
'I always thought I was brought here from Earth… but what if things are completely different?'
Until now, it was true that the only Essentia Art he had learned was the SkyRift Slash...But what about the future?
This pocket watch was a relic bound to time itself, and after everything he had experienced so far, he couldn't shake the thought that it might possess the ability to let him use Essentia Arts his future self would learn.
Still, this was nothing more than a rough guess and he had no concrete proof to back it up.
The elevator suddenly stopped, pulling Azrael out of his thoughts. He looked ahead and saw he had returned to the chamber where No. 4 had been held earlier.
Most of the chamber lay in ruins from the previous battle, the tattered walls groaning with unsettling creaks, on the verge of collapsing. Once they gave way, the entire tower-like structure would inevitably come crashing down.
Even with his strength, Azrael knew escaping unscathed from a complete collapse was nearly impossible, so he quickly made his way toward the exit.
But then, something caught his eye.
Beneath a pile of rubble, a strange mass of flesh pulsed like a beating heart.
"This thing…" Azrael narrowed his eyes as he recognized it. The mass of flesh looked eerily similar to a heart, and he remembered that Boris had been injecting No. 4 with its blood.
He looked at the next notification, but the moment his eyes fell on it, his expression froze.
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(A new task has been issued.)
Task — Make the Seed of the End within you acknowledge you as its master.
(Reward: ???)
====
Rattle—Rattle—Rattle—
The sound of rattling chains within his mind suddenly grew deafening.
'The Seed of the End… within me…'
Azrael's expression darkened. To him, this meant there was something inside his body he hadn't even been aware of until now.
He was already troubled by the strange abnormalities of his status window, which was unlike anyone else's.
After his Eonrift Trial, he had gained a faint clue—that his unusual status window might be connected to Eonrift itself. That had given him a small measure of relief, at least a clue to investigate further.
But now, before he could even solve that mystery, this new task told him that something unknown already resided inside his body, and he was required to make it acknowledge him as its master.
'The Seed of the End… Is it related to the Enders?'
He thought inwardly and immediately recalled the deep-red space rift he had just seen in the underground chamber.
When he had approached the rift, the sound of rattling chains in his mind had intensified sharply, as though it was being drawn toward something within the rift.
Considering everything together, Azrael couldn't help but arrive at a possibility.
'The sound of chains inside my head… like something trapped there… Could it be the Seed of the End?'