Chapter 274: Athom.

Chapter 274: Athom.

Kael groaned.

He had completely lost track of how long he had been watching Ghorrath’s life, but it felt like an eternity.

And every second of it had been terrible.

Not that Kael wanted to sound like some lunatic who enjoyed watching other people suffer, but if he had to choose between watching Silen’s life again and experiencing Ghorrath’s memories a second time, he would choose Silen without hesitation.

At least Silen’s life had been somewhat bearable.

Ghorrath’s life was just one long sequence of corpses.

That bastard had apparently been obsessed with them from a young age.

He had been born into a powerful family of Dark Mages, and instead of anyone stopping his strange interests, his family had encouraged them. What started with a child’s curiosity toward corpses eventually became an obsession with understanding them, modifying them, and discovering just how far their bodies could be altered.

Kael had already started regretting agreeing to absorb the fragment halfway through the memories.

It only got worse from there.

Ghorrath experimented on corpse after corpse.

At first, it was one or two at a time. Then he had an entire research laboratory dedicated to his experiments, every kind of corpse, beast or human. In fact, anything that possessed a body that could be dissected and altered eventually found its way onto Ghorrath’s operating table.

Kael’s expression twisted as he watched the experiments continue.

"Why?"

He wasn’t even sure who he was asking.

There was no one around to answer him anyway.

Eventually, Ghorrath’s research progressed even further.

He began experimenting with grafting.

One corpse was no longer enough.

He started combining different bodies and body parts together, gradually developing a Dark Art that allowed him to fuse the corpses of different creatures into entirely new forms.

The result was one grotesque monstrosity after another.

Kael’s stomach churned.

Then Ghorrath went a step further.

He began grafting the modifications onto himself.

Kael’s expression immediately turned ugly.

"You’re fucking insane."

Of course, Ghorrath couldn’t hear him, and the memories didn’t stop either. He could only continue watching.

The experiments continued.

Years passed.

Ghorrath grew stronger, more knowledgeable, and increasingly obsessed with his research until eventually, his attention turned toward the Tower.

That was where the final memory took place.

Kael watched as Ghorrath stood inside a Tower floor, facing a monstrous boss.

The creature looked almost human at first glance.

Its upper body was shaped like that of a man, but half of its body had been replaced by the enormous form of a giant scorpion. Its grotesque body towered over the battlefield, its limbs tearing through the surrounding terrain as it fought.

The battle was brutal.

But Ghorrath eventually won.

And the moment he did, Kael already knew what the bastard was thinking.

Of course.

He wanted to graft the boss onto himself.

Kael could only stare in disbelief as Ghorrath began his final experiment but then something went wrong.

The power of Existence Cramming overwhelmed him. His body couldn’t contain all the existence Ghorrath had grafted into himself, and his very being began to distort.

The memories grew increasingly chaotic as Ghorrath’s body was consumed by the power he’d tried to force into himself.

And eventually, he lost control, mutating into the grotesque monstrosity Kael had encountered inside the Tower.

Then the memory ended.

Kael’s consciousness snapped back into his body.

He didn’t move.

For several moments, he simply sat there with his eyes closed, trying to calm his mind.

He had just witnessed an absurd amount of nonsense, and unfortunately, thanks to his unusually sharp memory, he’d remember every bit of it for a very long time.

Kael slowly opened his eyes.

A system notification was already floating before him.

[You have obtained a new Skill: S-Rank Grafting.]

Kael immediately scowled.

"Grafting?"

Of all the things he could have obtained from Ghorrath, it had to be this.

He had just spent what felt like an eternity watching that lunatic grafting corpses onto himself, and now the Tower had decided to reward him with the same ability.

Kael had absolutely no interest in becoming another Ghorrath.

Besides, he already had something far better.𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

His Chimera Physique.

There was little reason for him to bother with a skill that essentially dealt with something he could already accomplish through a superior ability.

Kael was just about to dismiss the notification when another system message appeared.

[New Skill: Grafting is Synergizing with active Class Perk.]

[Proceeding with synthesis.]

Kael’s brows furrowed.

His expression immediately became serious.

This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.

The same thing had occurred when he obtained the Eye of Judgement, but there was one major difference this time, his Infinite Reward Multiplier hadn’t activated.

Kael’s eyes narrowed. Why was that?

Before he could think any further, another notification appeared.

[Mythic Grade Rule Book detected.]

[Would you like to use the Rule Book to assist with synthesis?]

[Yes] [No]

Kael stared at the notification for a moment, his brows slowly drawing together.

That was strange. He’d already put the Rule Book into his Inventory, yet the system could still detect it, and more importantly, it wasn’t merely detecting the item, it was suggesting he use it for synthesis.

Kael’s gaze remained fixed on the screen.

Normally, the system screen awakened with an Awakener was supposed to be nothing more than a tool.

A metric system.

Something that allowed Awakeners to track their stats, skills, levels, and other information.

At least, that was how it was supposed to work.

But Kael had noticed for a while now that his system seemed different. It felt smarter, more responsive.

At first, it had only been a thought in the back of his mind, something he couldn’t quite prove. But now, he was certain something was definitely off.

Then a voice suddenly echoed inside his head.

"Kid, what are you wasting time for? Accept it already."

Kael froze.

He knew that voice.

His expression changed as he looked around instinctively, even though he knew there was no point.

"Sir Goldie?"

There was a brief silence, then the voice replied, noticeably grumpier.

"Your whole generation is Sir Goldie."

Kael blinked. "What?"

"How dare you desecrate the great Athom with such a lowly name!"

Kael’s eyes widened slightly. Athom? So that was his name, he hadn’t known it before.

And judging by the sheer irritation in the voice, calling him Sir Goldie had apparently struck a nerve.

Kael decided not to mention that he’d only made the name up because he didn’t know what else to call him. Instead, he immediately lowered his guard.

"My apologies. I didn’t know your name, so I had to come up with something."

"Hmph." Athom’s displeasure was obvious. "Now stop wasting time and accept the damn thing. I can’t influence the outside world much longer, or there’ll be consequences from the great rule."

> Kael’s eyes returned to the system notification. He didn’t immediately select anything.

"The Great Rule?"

The moment those words left his mouth, Athom’s voice came again. "Why are you asking so many questions? Just accept it."

Kael remained silent. That only made him more suspicious.

He didn’t know what Athom wanted. The being existed within him, yet he’d already demonstrated an absurd level of power. From what Athom had said, directly extending his influence into the outside world could bring punishment from something called the Great Rule.

Yet he’d still intervened. When Kael had nearly died at the hands of that Supreme Being, Athom had helped him. Now he was interfering again.

Why? What did Athom want from him?

Kael stared at the two options floating before him.

His finger hovered in the air. There was no doubt that using a Mythic Grade Rule Book during synthesis could produce something extraordinary. But that wasn’t what concerned him.

What concerned him was why Athom was so eager for him to accept.

Just as Kael was about to ask another question, Athom’s voice echoed through his mind again.

"Hey, kid." There was a brief pause. "You’ve been using my power all this time, so why are you hesitating now?"