“Eisty left this for you before she left.” Brendu arrives at the apartment—she had gone to see her father since the morning.
“She already left? She didn’t even say goodbye or anything.” I look at Brendu’s hand—she’s holding a wrapped piece of paper and a small brown sphere the size of a grape. Neither object looks ordinary—I can feel different types of energy coming from both.
“Apparently something urgent came up—she didn’t have much time. Aunt Eisty isn’t the only one, most of them have already returned to their territories. They must have a huge backlog of duties; the longer they stay here, the longer they’ll be stuck in their offices when they return.” As Brendu finishes speaking, the girls come out from the room to join us.
“What’s that?” Arisa leans in close to both objects, closing one eye and focusing with the other, as if she could read a description just by concentrating.
“The paper looks like an improved version of private letters. As for the sphere, I have no idea—but it looks important.” Sol answers from beside her, clearly just as curious.
“Can I?” Marga asks me. I nod, and she takes both items. “Sol’s right—this paper looks like an enhanced version of typical private letters. And this brown sphere looks a lot like an object I saw at home used to improve a Banner, but I’m not sure.”
“Sol and Marga are right. This paper can only be opened by you. Eisty must have taken your mana and Imra signature without you noticing—only you can open and close it. Though I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of an obsidian rank breaking it by force.” Brendu says as Marga hands the items back to me.
“This brown sphere can be used to improve your Banner, but that’s not its only function. My father and Aunt Eisty realized your Banner is draconic—I imagine everyone at the party noticed as soon as they looked at you. This object will help camouflage it slightly from curious eyes at this rank and even when you reach ruby rank.” Brendu’s words leave me frozen.
The four of them and my family already knew about my Banner—even Susan and Julio had information about its draconic nature. Everyone was shocked—Susan even dropped her glass of wine that day. It was unsettling to see. They only needed to focus a bit on my body to notice it.
I’ve been trying to hide it all this time. It seems to have worked well against people below obsidian rank. As long as they don’t actively inspect my body, they won’t notice—but a single deep look would be enough to uncover my secret.
“They’re both worried about you. You never know when you might run into an obsidian rank on the street—they can hide their strength easily. This object will help conceal it from prying eyes.” I take the sphere and examine it more closely while Brendu continues.
“According to my father, once you consume the sphere, they’ll only be able to understand its properties if they force their Imra through all your defenses and look inside you. There are some exceptions, like people specialized in inspecting cubes, but in most cases, you’ll be fine.” I nod lightly when she finishes.
I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Brendu’s father and Eisty have given me something incredibly valuable—I don’t know how difficult it is to obtain. Usually, creating objects like this requires the core of a monster with illusion-type affinity or something similar, along with a specialized artisan.
“Thank your father for me. I’ll thank Eisty personally when I see her again.” The gratitude in my chest is immense—I’ll avoid a lot of trouble in the future.
I’ve been thinking about this for days—the stronger you become, the more powerful people you meet and face. It would be a problem if someone with bad intentions discovered my draconic Banner—they could send hunters after me constantly.
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Brendu, Marga, and Sol explain how to consume it—even Arisa gives good advice. All of them have consumed many enhancement items before ranking up—they have far more experience than I do.
They leave me to meditate with the brown sphere in my hands. According to Brendu’s father, I first need to break several small mana barriers, then use my Imra to carefully solve the final puzzle.
“Hey, sleepyhead. I don’t know if this will cause any strange sensation in my cube. Do you want to come out for a bit, or stay inside?” I speak to Glia—she’s been working hard to increase her rank this whole time.
“I’ll stay here. I feel like I’m close to breaking a certain limit—I might gain some insight from that sphere. According to my estimates, we might ascend at the same time.” She replies mentally. I can picture her sleepy feline face—she’s been pushing herself to the limit absorbing monster cores.
“As you wish, little sister.” I let my feelings of happiness flow toward her. I’m truly proud of her effort—Glia is giving everything she has to keep up in strength. I can feel her desperation at times—she hates feeling weak.
I move my mana carefully, surrounding the sphere until it’s fully sealed. Gently, I shape part of my mana into the tip of a sword and begin striking several delicate points in the formation to break the first stage.
I don’t know how long it takes me to break the first three stages. Technically, they’re repeated precise strikes—if the tip of my sword is too weak, it shatters, and if it’s too strong, the formation distributes the damage across its surface.
It isn’t particularly difficult in the end. Consumable objects like this aren’t meant to be overly complicated.
I pass through all the mana layers—now I need to use my Imra like a key. I must find the correct path through the puzzle. Once I reach the end, I’ll be able to absorb everything inside. I need to use my Imra delicately, just like in one of the first courses at school.
There’s nothing complex at this stage—the only challenge is finding the right path. It’s just a matter of time.
When I reach the end, I break a small barrier. Finally, I’ve broken all the protections of the consumable. At that moment, I feel the energy swirl inside my cube. At first, it seems lost, so I guide it toward my Banner.
It takes a moment for the energy to react—it leaps like a starving wolf onto its prey the moment it senses my Banner. For an instant, I feel a slight fear, even clenching my jaw expecting pain—but instead, it feels refreshing.
My Banner absorbs and absorbs the energy endlessly, like a black hole devouring everything. I soon feel a difference—it’s strengthening rapidly. It was already close to its limit, so I’ll most likely be able to rank it up not long after reaching ruby rank.
When all the energy is absorbed, I feel the most important change—a faint mist now conceals my Banner. At first glance, it feels slightly weaker.
I open my eyes with a wide smile. This consumable did an incredible job—not only did it greatly improve my Banner, it also gave it a fascinating property. Now I don’t have to worry about prying eyes from obsidian ranks.
“Looks like it worked well.” Brendu is the first to notice—well, it’s impossible not to, her face is only a few centimeters from mine. I’m always surprised by how flawless her face is—the four of them have no imperfections.
“Yeah, it worked perfectly.” I explain the process and the new details to all four of them. They all congratulate me.
“Now open that paper—I want to know what’s inside.” Arisa keeps poking my abdomen with her index finger—that’s her way of telling me to hurry.
“Try it first.” I hand her the paper. She rolls up her pajama sleeves, but after ten seconds, she gives it back to me with a sad expression—she couldn’t do anything to it.
Opening this private letter is simpler than it looks. I just need to break three layers—the first with my ice affinity, the second with my mana, and finally my Imra signature breaks the last protection.
Inside the letter is a detailed location explaining how to reach the town where she lives with her husband and brother. The directions are clear and precise. There are also instructions on how to create a field around me capable of freezing everything—I remember mentioning it to her before.
According to the girls, the path from the nearest major city to that town is dangerous—there are many grade 4 monsters around, and even some grade 5.
“So that’s why I need to rank up first before going to meet her. It would’ve been impossible for me to cross that path in my current state.” It’s only a couple of days’ journey, and there’s a relatively safe route, but monster and bandit attacks still happen occasionally.
I need to focus on ranking up as soon as possible—I don’t know how long I can hold back the urge to go see her. That’s not the only reason—I feel stuck right now. I can’t see any progress. My body and sapphire-rank cube are already at their limit.
With each passing day, I’m getting closer to ascending—I can already visualize the steps more clearly.