Ever since Talon received the Dimension Harvester skill, it hadn't leveled up a single time. The reason for that was a mystery for him and Acrypha, but they theorized that it could simply be because the skill itself relies on the abilities it provides to level up.
Since Talon had been constantly leveling up all of Dimension Harvester's abilities, it was naturally bound to level up at some point too. That point seemed to be today. But, the question is, what would he get from that skill leveling up?
"A new ability?" Acrypha floated next to him as she touched his hand to see what he got.
"Yeah, it didn't give me a new ability in a long while. I hope this one is well worth the wait." Talon murmured.
"You have a skill that grants you abilities randomly. If that isn't ridiculously strong as it is, I don't know what is." Acrypha rolled her eyes.
"Is finding skills that hard? I could easily get a few if I kill monsters now." Talon raised an eyebrow.
"Weak skills are easy to find, that is indeed true. But, what people naturally look for are strong skills. Skills that can boost their strength to new levels. In your case, Dimension Harvester has been giving you really good abilities so far. They aren't world-shaking strong, but they definitely added an extra depth to your power." Acrypha explained.
Talon nodded his head in understanding. He knew what she was talking about. So far, Talon had three abilities from Dimension Harvester, they were Spearmanship, Enhanced Focus, and Poison Resistance. All These abilities weren't that strong on their own but Talon benefited from them greatly so far.
They weren't as destructive as Tear Of Reality, nor did they boost his strength to a ridiculous level like his new class Boundless Breaker.
"Well, I can't deny that I needed all three of them in basically all kinds of situations. It's as if the skill knows what I would need in the future. But, it never really gave me anything without a trigger for it."
So far, Talon didn't receive a single ability from Dimension Harvester without working his ass off for it. He either had to push his limits, or do something that had never been done before to receive a new ability so it was never a 'free ability' type of deal.
"Of course, the Core Dimension would never grant you strength without a proper trigger for it. So far, you've been continuously pushing your limits so you deserve to get powerful."
"Mmm, and it's also because you helped me a lot. I appreciate it very much." He said with a smile on his face as he stared at his beautiful companion.
"I'm inclined to say 'I barely did anything'. But, knowing your stubbornness, you would never want to hear that, do you?" She asked.
"Hahaha, you know me well."
"I can't deny that. Anyway, open the skill, and let's see what you got."
"Ok."
Talon finally shifted his gaze to the holographic window.
[Ding!]
[You have gained the active skill: Azure Flames.]
"Azure Flames?" Talon raised an eyebrow as he read the notification. "I received blue flames?" He looked at Acrypha with a confused look mixed with disappointment.
"No, this isn't... normal flames..." She said as she read the name. "Open the description of the ability, I think I know what this is and if I'm correct, then you've got yourself an extremely useful ability."
"It is. Its distinct color has its charm. It's the most beautiful flames you could see in the Core Dimension actually."
"Wait, there are other types of flames?"
"Obviously, there are a lot. Too many to even count, and they're good for offense, defense, blacksmithing, or even healing. The azure flames are one of the best offensive ones that is."
Rubbing the back of his head, Talon nodded his head. "The rabbit hole goes deeper than I expected..."
He only knew of one single type of fire, the one that he used to cook every day. To think that the flames in other dimensions could do things far more advanced than that was very new to him.
"Try to throw that fireball and let's see what could happen."
"Hm? Yeah, I was about to." Talon said as he focused on the flames again before he tried to make them fly from the palm of his hand.
He thought that it was the same as the Aetherial Blades in that case. However, what happened was completely out of his expectations.
The fireball suddenly started shaking and flickering in his hand as if it was trying to react to something. Then, out of nowhere, it exploded powerfully.
*BOOOOM*
"Agh!" Talon groaned loudly as he was thrown back a good 5 meters, landing on his back. "Ugh! Fuck! My hand! That hurts!!"
Looking at his hand, he didn't notice any burn marks or anything other than some black smoke. He was clearly not burnt, but the pain he felt from his hand at that moment was intense, probably worse than if he was burnt by a normal fire.
Laying there, he held his hand as he heaved up and down to calm himself. Eventually, 30 seconds later, the pain started subsiding slowly and Talon could finally rise up from the ground.
"What the heck... That hurt as hell!" He cursed.
"I told you, it didn't burn you, but it gave you a very small soul damage. Luckily, it's not anything to worry about. Your soul will recover in a few hours at most." Acrypha said.
"So this is how soul damage feels... Damn, that was brutal!" Talon frowned hard.
Even with his really high pain tolerance, that small hit was really terrible and he didn't even know why. He couldn't really put into words the pain he felt at that moment and that made it even scarier. He didn't even want to know what an actual soul injury would feel like. Just the mere thought of it sent a chill down his spine.
"I see you're getting scared," Acrypha commented with an amused smile.
"What?! Ehem, who's scared? I'm not scared. It was just the initial shock. This flame ain't nothing!" He said as he extended his hand again.
"Oi..."
"I will learn how to control it properly! Watch!" Talon declared loudly as his determination ignited.
'I probably should've not joked that way with him... He has a stubbornness I've never seen before.' Acrypha looked at the young man with a tired expression.
(A//N: Thanks to everyone who supports the book with power stones and golden tickets, you guys are the best:) )