noveldrama
Chapter 258: We Good?
Chapter 258: We Good?
| Goal: 18% |
| Goal: 19% |
| Goal: 20% |
Around 20 minutes after what happened between them, Aoni finally removed his hands from the Sealed door upon reaching the next checkpoint and exhaled slowly.
| Enough Grade-6 Energia has been Siphoned; would the Host like to designate a nourishment |
'Break my Energia Siphon through to D,'
| Using Siphoned Grade-Six Energia to Break (U) Passive: Energia Siphon through the Natural Limits |
| (U) Passive: Energia Siphon has shattered naturally imposed regulation, allowing for further growth into the D-Rank|
| 100 pp Earned |
As he had when upgrading his stats, Aoni didn't randomly assign points here and there without a reason. In the case of his physical stats, it was important to first beef up his Defense; that way, his body would be able to withstand the influx of power and, as such, wouldn't burst.
Using that as a basis, the first thing he'd used his new passive to do was increase his Pain Resistance before moving on to raise the grade of his Energia Siphon.
Was it a crude way of doing things? Sure, however, in his mind, it was necessary because there were far too many things that could go wrong, especially after seeing Ant's reaction.
From the beginning, Aoni was aware of how dangerous what he wanted to do would seem; after all, he was messing with forces far beyond his scope, yet with the knowledge obtained from his Passive, it wasn't as dangerous or impossible as Anthony had made it out to be.
Did it hurt to draw in Established Energia? Hell yes, it did; however, with his Pain Resistance being at D+, it wasn't really that bad, even if he was technically jumping two Tiers of Strength.
'Let's just hope my theory behind what comes next is correct…' Aoni mused before giving the command to upgrade his Siphon from E+ to D+
| Increasing the Rank of (U) Passive: Energia Siphon from D to D+ |
| Progress Points Have Been Deducted |
| 300 pp Earned |
The sudden influx of knowledge was enough to cause Aoni to shift uncomfortably before closing his eyes and digesting all the information about what had changed by jumping an entire Stage.
---
While Aoni sat and mulled over all the new data he'd been implanted with in silence, across the chamber, Anthony was on the stairs with Glacia, hands cupping his face and staring at the ground, beating himself up mentally for what he'd said and done.
Although it came from a place of caring, he'd never been one to resort to physical violence and screaming; that was something unbefitting of an older brother and even Mage.
He was supposed to be the gentle and wise brother, not the ruffian who threw fists as a means of solving issues; that was Clara's prerogative, not his.
Beside him, Glacia would occasionally look away from her snacks and observe Ant. To be honest, she was still too young to understand what had happened, and even with her connection to Aoni giving her emotional distress earlier, she didn't put much thought into there being any issues between the brothers.
To her, it was simply a little argument, like what happens between her and Nyria whenever the birb steals a bathtime toy or something.
While she would get worked up, and they may roll around on the ground, there was never any malice involved.
Plus, if Aoni was already over it, why would she bother worrying further?
Thus, apart from an occasional nudge of encouragement and even offering up a snack or two to Anthony, Glacia went about waiting as if nothing were wrong.
In the end, all she really cared about was food and, of course, that she got to see Aoni's Aura again, which always looked cool in her eyes.
---
It took Aoni quite a while to digest all the new information, but once he finished, a twisted smile spread across his face.
'So that's how it is…' Aoni mused while raising his arms over his head and stretching.
From the very first batch of information he'd received when being imprinted with his Energia Siphon, Aoni was aware of the limits of its power, along with the heights it could reach; however, there was only a slight issue.
Well… issue wasn't really the correct term, more like stop gaps or walls put in place preventing him from going absolutely off the deep end in a power-hungry craze.
Those gaps are the individual Ranks.
With each rank, a new ability would be unlocked, and at E, it was being able to use the Absorbed Established Energia to break the limits of his Passives.
Whereas at D, he could break the limits of his Stats.
If this trend carried on as it was, then soon enough, he should be able to break the limits of his Attribute or even those of his Summons and crafted items.
The world was slowly opening up, but Aoni didn't let that go to his head; as always, he'd stay on a steady path.
'Plus, the siphon time for higher Grades of Energia was reduced slightly, which is great; anyway, I guess I need to deal with him now… It's been about an hour…ugh, I can't believe Anthony actually decked me like that.'
---
Five minutes of silence, one brother standing over the other, neither one making a move.
That had been the scene ever since Aoni finished up with the latest batch of Imprinted Information.
While he knew things were going to be awkward, he never would have imagined it would have turned out this way, with Ant refusing to look him in the eye and acting like a meek child.
Having had enough of it, Aoni cleared his throat.
"Anthony…"
"…"
"Ant…"
"…"
"Aoni, look…"
"Stop; I don't want to hear any apologies because, to be fair, I am just as much to blame for things getting out of hand as you are. From the beginning, there were always going to be things that I LITERALLY can't tell you about, and this was one of them, but it hurt to see that you couldn't trust me even though I said the cost wouldn't be detrimental to my health."
"I may be a moron sometimes and a reckless fool, but I would never endanger myself to the point of suicide, not when that would mean leaving everyone behind."
"Things like this happen all the time for me, but through these adversities, I grow stronger and stronger." Letting his words settle, Aoni reached forward and extended a hand to his Eldest brother.
"Anyway, that's all under the bridge; you hit me, and I flared my aura, so the fight ended, back to brothers now…We Good?" He asked while meeting Ant's eyes for the first time since the conversation began.