The effect of the skill Lonely Wolf Aura was undoubtedly powerful as being able to decrease the overall battle power of the targets around the user could simply be described as colossally broken. While it was true that in the early stages of evolution this effect would not shine too brightly, in the higher stages this skill would surely show its true terror.
Imagine a Higher Existence frozen in fear or losing power to the point where a Lower Existence would be able to kill it.... Even though Lilith had told him that the difference between the Fourth Order and the Fifth Order was as great if not greater than the difference between an Unclassified existence and a Fourth Order existence, Bai Zemin could not help but think that perhaps he would be able to overcome that vast abyss someday.
Of course, whether these thoughts would stay as wishful fantasies or not was something which only fate and time would tell. However, it was certain that with the skill Lonely Wolf Aura a new path had opened up in front of Bai Zemin; a path that needed to be carefully explored as he was so far unaware of the true extent of the power of this new skill of his.
After some more rummaging through the records, discarding those he considered useless or not important enough to give a second glance, Bai Zemin finally managed to find the record he was looking for.
The last message of the Soul Record he had received during the war on the bridge that he had so far not seen and honestly the one that Bai Zemin was most interested to see even though in his heart he already knew perfectly well what this record would describe as it was a record he had learned on his own.
----------------------------------------
[You have unlocked and learned the UNIQUE skill Sixth Order 'Magic Break' which in the past belonged to the Barbarian King.]
[Magic Break (Sixth Order UNIQUE skill) level 5: With godly eyes and divine senses, you passively sense the flow of enemy magic in such a way that when a magic attack capable of causing damage to you is launched by those you consider enemies you can understand the nature of said magic attack to a certain extent and decipher its weak point. Effect: You can break any magic attack visible to the naked eye that is one stage above the user's power level.]
----------------------------------------
Bai Zemin opened his eyes abruptly and gasped as a flash of disbelief shone in his shocked gaze.
"What happened?" Lilith asked hurriedly in an apprehensive voice as she watched how Bai Zemin's eyes widened as big as saucers.
What surprised Lilith the most, however, was the level of surprise and disbelief in Bai Zemin's eyes; these two emotions reflected by his gaze had reached such a high level that it was hard to believe considering that he had always kept his composure within reason regardless of what was displayed before him.
How amazing and unbelievable must what he had just seen be for him to have that kind of expression on his face? Lilith felt that another big surprise was coming.
However, Bai Zemin seemed not to have heard the voice of Lilith as he was too busy with his own agitated emotions to worry about anything else at the moment.
Sixth Order skill? And a UNIQUE skill at that? Dear God!
Bai Zemin almost choked to death when he forgot to breathe and when he came back to his senses he started gasping for air as he was not prepared for this kind of shock.
A Sixth Order skill! For the love of god!
"How... How..." Bai Zemin muttered like a computer trying to find answers as he stared at the empty space in front of him.
However, regardless of how much he thought about it, none of the theories he considered seemed to make any sense at all.
While the title Brilliant Mind that Bai Zemin had obtained not too long ago was amazing in terms of allowing him to learn and develop his own skills more easily, Bai Zemin did not believe in any way that a title was able to magically grant him a skill that was not only so evolved but was also a UNIQUE skill.
Although he didn't know what a UNIQUE skill was at the present, Bai Zemin was certain that such skills were above "normal" skills just based on the fact that the other two skills of the same type that he had were already so powerful that they were scary.
But... How was it possible for him to obtain such a skill out of nowhere? Bai Zemin remembered that just at that moment, just as the beast leader's lightning-like magic attack stopped his fall in mid-descent and almost consumed him, he felt his soul grow warm and strong for an instant but at the time that feeling was so fleeting that in the heat of war Bai Zemin overlooked it.
No matter how much he tried to remember, nothing came to his mind.
Unfortunately, even if Bai Zemin wanted to it would probably be impossible for him to comprehend and know what it was that was deep in his soul and what were those black lightning flashes with crimson edges that had caused the Magic Break skill to be engraved in his soul as if it was natural.
Bai Zemin cleared his throat and took several deep breaths before looking at Lilith. Although he had tried to calm down, his voice was quite tight as he slowly asked, "Lilith, by any chance, do you know what UNIQUE skills are?"
"UNIQUE skills?" Lilith looked at him in surprise. A flash of pride shone in her eyes as she hurriedly asked, "You little scoundrel, did you learn a UNIQUE skill?"
Bai Zemin raised a hand in front of him to tell her to stop for a moment and said in a serious voice, "First, explain to me about these skills please. I need to understand the situation I'm in better so I can explain to you more about how things are."
"O- Okay!" Lilith nodded firmly. The enthusiasm in her voice was clear from how she stammered.
"UNIQUE skills are unique skills," Lilith said after being silent for several seconds.
"...Oi." Bai Zemin looked at her with a rotten face.
Lilith coughed delicately and after a moment she commenced, "I mean, UNIQUE skills are called that way because they are skills that can only be possessed by one soul. It's complicated to explain but let me give you an example to help you understand."
Bai Zemin nodded seriously and Lilith explained:
"Let's say that on a table there are two blue-colored blueprints which have exactly the same drawing with exactly the same construction pattern on them. These blueprints were there for a long time until finally, two people arrived and when they saw them they took the blueprints and started to study them, but surprisingly, only the first one in understanding the blueprint could build what was drawn there while the other one could not do anything even though the blueprint and the instructions were still intact."
"... So, a UNIQUE skill is basically..... A unique skill?" Bai Zemin almost fell to the ground when he said those words.
"Now you see?!" Lilith nodded as if she was proud.
Bai Zemin was quite disappointed with this kind of explanation. While it sounded awesome that only one soul could contain X skill, what was the thing that made X skill amazing? This was what he most wanted to know.
Seeing Bai Zemin's disappointed face, she quickly added: "The reason why these skills are unique is because their power is on a completely different scale from all other skills, and even those that appear to be weak fulfill characteristics and functions that a normal skill could never fulfill. Each UNIQUE skill can only be learned once for a single existence as these skills can become a Domain and while there may be extremely similar Domains in reality there will always be some difference no matter how slight."
"Domains? Like the ones in the novels?" Bai Zemin asked with a raised eyebrow.
"... Something similar." Lilith nodded and looked at him with weird eyes as she slowly said, "I say, little brother Zemin, could it be that your knowledge is due to the novels?"
"Hey, if it works then it works."
"... I guess so."
Bai Zemin wasn't too eager to inquire too much regarding the Domains as even without knowing so much about it, it was clear that they were things too distant for the current him. Too much information would only end up confusing him more and might even cause him to forget things that were really important to him at the stage of evolution he was currently in.
He would learn more about it when the time was right. For now, it was best to focus on what was really necessary and ignore the rest; he believed that this was the most optimal way to become more powerful, and considering that it had worked well so far, Bai Zemin would continue to act and think as such.
Seeing Lilith looking at him with sparkling eyes similar to the eyes a fangirl would look at her super idol with, Bai Zemin felt a bit embarrassed so he couldn't help but ask:
"Lilith, you have UNIQUE skills?"
"Mm? I do have." She nodded with a smile on her face. "Though unlike you, who managed to learn one in just two months, I took over thirty years to learn my first UNIQUE skill since these skills normally can't be obtained from scrolls unless a really powerful existence is killed, but even then, the victor would need to be very lucky for Soul Power to congregate in such a way."
"This..." Bai Zemin subconsciously looked away with a strange expression after listening to Lilith.
She... She believed that he had only learned one UNIQUE skill.... How will she react when she learns that he had learned three of them in less than a month and a half? Will she faint from shock? Bai Zemin secretly rubbed his hands together as he laughed like a little demon in his heart.
However, before that, he needed to know something first.
"By the way, Lilith." He looked at her before she suspected anything and asked in a neutral voice, "Do you know someone named Barbarian King or something?"
Lilith frowned and slowly the excited smile on her face disappeared. Bai Zemin's question somehow served to show her that this case just like everything around him was not simple at all.
".... Where did you learn about that name?" She asked without much hope.
"... For now, let's just say that this UNIQUE skill of mine is related to that person." Bai Zemin answered vaguely since he didn't know much either.
Lilith looked into his eyes deeply before nodding and calmly saying, "You better tell me everything later. I feel like the Overlap Regeneration surprise was nothing more than the starter dish."
"Haha..."
Bai Zemin tried to laugh without much effort as the corner of his mouth twitched a couple of times upon hearing her saying that. After all, Lilith wasn't wrong; Overlap Regeneration was nothing more than the starter dish.
Lilith took a deep breath causing her big chest area rose mightily before falling again and after several seconds of silence that she needed to recapitulate a few things she began her narration:
"The universe is vast and mysterious so that even the most powerful Higher Existence would not dare to claim to have traversed it completely let alone know it in its entirety. Therefore, the number of species could be said to be practically infinite.... Among these species, there is one in particular that is quite special since they cannot learn magic of any kind due to their special physiques. Even so, that same physique that seemed to be a problem also presented the solution since although the members of this race did not possess Mana they possessed another type of energy called Will."
"Members of this particular race are known as barbarians."
* * * * * * *
Really thank you very much to all those who send gifts to the novel and support with valuable Golden Tickets. I hope we can all keep it up <3