As Asher, Wuthenya, and Malrik discussed, a knock echoed through the door.
"You may come in," Malrik answered calmly.
The door creaked open, and a tall man standing at over six feet entered with a composed demeanor. The moment he stepped in, he bowed in greeting. "I greet the First Sun, Second Moon, and Tenth Sun."
Asher, Malrik, and Wuthenya didn’t reply to his greeting. Instead, Wuthenya simply spoke, "You may proceed. And don’t miss anything."
Hearing this, the man stepped forward, heading toward the sofa where Asher sat. Virelass, who had been playfully engaged in a mock battle with Wuthenya’s soul-bound dagger, instantly disengaged and returned to Asher’s side.
She was curious, she wanted to see if this man could truly find what her master’s siblings believed she had missed.
Seeing the man arrive before him, Asher asked, "Do you need me to stand or lie down for this?"
"You don’t need to bother yourself, Tenth Sun. Being seated is perfectly fine," the man answered. His hands rose over both of Asher’s shoulders. A green glow appeared on his palms and then gently enveloped Asher.
Asher remained silent, watching with rapt attention. After all, this was the first time he was witnessing a healing ability outside of Virelass’. The glow surged through every inch of his body, as though scanning him for anomalies or hidden damage.
The man didn’t dare make eye contact. His eyes and hands remained focused on Asher’s shoulders. Three minutes passed in complete silence. Then, suddenly, the green glow vanished. The man removed his hands and turned toward Asher and his siblings.
"First Sun, Second Moon, the Tenth Sun is perfectly healed. He is merely physically exhausted, and his Astra is almost completely depleted," the man stated formally.
"You may leave," Wuthenya replied. At her words, the man bowed once again and left without another word, closing the door behind him.
"It seems Virelass’ healing capabilities are top notch." Malrik remarked with a slight chuckle.
Hearing this, Virelass hummed proudly, as if saying; Hmph, don’t ever look down on my greatness.
"Yes, Virelass is the best in whatever she does," Asher said with a smile. He was confident, unshakably so, in Virelass’s healing abilities.
"But can she heal other people?" Wuthenya asked, her tone pensive as she voiced the thought that had been lingering in her mind.
Asher simply shook his head and replied, "No, she can only heal me, the one who is soul-bound with her."
Malrik and Wuthenya nodded their heads, accepting his explanation. ’A shame...’ they both thought at the same time. It would have been a significant advantage if another sibling had the ability to heal others.
"So, let’s talk about your rapier’s ability. We’ve seen some of it, but we’d like to know more," Malrik said with a smile.
Asher looked at the both of them for a moment. ’There’s no need to hide it since they’ve already seen it,’ he thought.
"The blood healing ability, which you already know about, is actually called Crimson Pact," Asher began. "But there are some limitations. For example, if my arm or a limb is severed, I can’t simply heal it with the blood of any random beast, like a rat beast or a wolf. Those types of blood are only good for minor injuries."
At Asher’s words, Malrik and Wuthenya fell into thought.
"So basically, the graver the injury, the higher the quality of blood you need?" Wuthenya asked, summarizing.
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Asher nodded and continued, "Yes. That’s why I always blocked any attack aimed at my organs, like my eyes, lungs, or other vital areas, while sacrificing less vital areas like my ribs or taking surface wounds. The assassins’ blood could heal those gashes and cuts, but when it comes to delicate organs... I’d rather not take the risk. Better safe than sorry."
Wuthenya and Malrik nodded again as they recalled Asher doing exactly that during battle. Even the knight turned assassin, Hillary, had picked up on this and incorporated it into his strategy against Asher.
"I guess that’s a reasonable limitation. After all, your rapier can also store blood," Malrik added.
Asher nodded, unsurprised that they knew about Virelass’ ability to store blood despite never having mentioned it aloud. After all, Virelass had healed him more than twice without actively drawing blood from anyone.
Within Virelass’ reserves were just blood samples from Whisper and Echo ranked beasts, which Asher wasn’t even sure could regenerate human limbs or deeper wounds.
"What about the teleportation ability? It seems like you can place marks in various locations, allowing you to teleport," Wuthenya asked, moving the conversation to another of his abilities.
"That’s basically how it works," Asher replied. "But the ability only works with three marks, no more."
"But we only saw you teleport to two separate locations. If you had used a third mark, you could’ve had more breathing room," Malrik said, raising an eyebrow.
Asher simply smiled and replied, "The third mark was placed in my room months ago." He didn’t need to say more. Wuthenya and Malrik instantly understood.
"So you could have teleported to your room the moment you woke up in that forest, ended the entire True Awakening before it even began," Wuthenya said with a smile, clearly intrigued by the possibility.
"A True Awakening not lasting even five seconds would’ve been... interesting. That might’ve set a record for the shortest True Awakening ever," Malrik added, just as amused.
"What about the third ability that protects you against mind based abilities?" Wuthenya asked next.
’Well, technically, that’s the system’s function and not Virelass’s,’ Asher thought, but he didn’t dare say it out loud.
"It protects my mind against many mind related abilities," Asher answered vaguely. "Which is why I think things like that psychology abilities wouldn’t work on me, since they operate through the mind."
"Now that you mention it, that’s actually true. That ability wouldn’t work on you," Malrik agreed.
Asher nodded. Whatever mind related skill they brought against him would be completely ineffective thanks to the system’s protection.
"Are there any more abilities?" Wuthenya asked.
’It seems they don’t know about Virelass’ Astra Veil ability,’ Asher noted internally.
"Not really," he replied aloud, choosing to keep that ace hidden.
’A man should have one or two secrets of his own,’ Asher thought with a mental smile.
"What about your abilities? Would you both fill me in?" Asher asked, his eyes lighting up with curiosity, clearly expecting to hear about some mind blowing powers.
Malrik rose from his seat with a smirk. "If you want to learn about our abilities, youngest, then you’ll have to follow us to the battlefield. After all, we found out about yours on a battlefield."
"Indeed," Wuthenya added, echoing his sentiment with a grin.
’Tsk. What is wrong with this family? Would it kill you to just tell me now?’ Asher thought. But he wasn’t going to jump into a battlefield just because he was curious. His siblings were overpowered titans. As for him, he was just an overpowered ant, but still an ant, regardless.
"Great catching up, youngest," Malrik said as he stepped out of the room, with Wuthenya following right behind him.