Arion sighed—his bad luck was finally coming to an end. He hadn't told anyone about his bonus.
How could he? Knowing someone had two Soul Runes in the world would bring all attention to him, he already knew that while he would receive more attention and training, he would also very well be in danger.
He was not strong, not strong enough—and so he knew that if some odious terrorist organisation wanted to recruit him, he would endanger himself and everyone around him too.
And again, questions had to be answered, and he would have to face research and many tests, which he did not want to—for an obvious reason.
What kind of idiot would go around shouting he was reincarnated? That would just endanger his life further.
Saying neither of his bonuses nor even the fact that he unlocked them was a wise decision, though if he ever stumbled upon another mage, he would be instantly recognised as a mage too.
People having Soul Runes have some kind of instinctual way of knowing their kind with only a glance.
Still, he was not going to keep it a secret.
He had two bonuses, and he was contemplating on which one to say to others, Blessed By Swords was not an option—after coming to this world, he got a huge surprise.
People possessing the word Blessed in their bonus were seen as sacred and even future gods, the last Blessed bonus was around half a millennium ago. He did not read much about him but now that he had unlocked his runes, he was determined to know everything about the mysterious Blessed bonus user.
That left Blood Manipulation, of course saying this would undoubtedly bring lesser attention and maybe no attention even—but saying it would make him vulnerable to his enemies.
When someone knows he had an ability related to blood, people would stop bleeding near him.
There was a bright side, they probably would not let him bleed too, but again making him bleed would be really difficult.
So, he came up with two ideas.
Either to keep his bonus a secret or make an alias bonus, like Sword summon. He had the power to summon swords and so, that seemed appealing but the mere idea of not sharing his bonus with anyone else was more appealing.
At the end, he came to a conclusion, he would keep it a secret and if someone asks him, he would simply say Sword Summon.
But if someone with an ability to read Soul Rune happens to stumble onto him, it might be a bit complicated but again, people like them were extremely rare and popular so there would be no way he would stumble upon someone like them.
Throwing a Blood needle at a wooden post in the middle of a clearing he found in the forest at the outskirts of the town he watched as the needle pierced the thick log and sank deep into it.
And then the needle disintegrated in red sparks at his will. For the past week, he had been practicing his aim and well it seemed that unnatural basic aim came with his Soul Rune.
He could instinctually hit any object unless they were too fast and again there were few to none he knew fast enough to dodge the needle now.
No one except Moon Goddess and her mysterious companion could dodge it...
'And maybe the guy I saw in the dream too...'
His expression darkened when he thought of his strange dream.
A hooded figure, his torn cloak with patches of blood walking towards a high castle, swords hovering above him.
He had too many questions bombarding his mind when he came back to his senses.
Who was that man? Those swords, did he perhaps have a similar bonus to his own, or maybe, was he the future version of Arion?
He shook his head. 'Impossible...'
No matter what he thought, there was an answer. Shrugging it off as a simple dream would be logical but as the saying goes, nothing in the Magic World is logical.
The dream had to have some meaning. Why? Because he felt that way.
Sending another Blood needle with instinctual perfection and ease, he took time to see his new first skill.
He had first thought that skills were powers one receives from their bonus, and that the skills would reflect or enhance the powers of the bonus but he was wrong, not entirely but was wrong.
The skills were both internal and external, one can receive skills from his bonus, soul or from the outside world. One can't lose their skill nor can they give it to others.
But they could earn a skill from the outside world, it was complicated to understand but yet, he did.
Though one question clouded his mind. 'If one can't lose or give his skill, then how can one gain it from the outside world?'
How could something from the outside world be connected to his very soul? And how had such thing ended in the outside world?
If it were a skill, then how did a person lose it? If it wasn't then how could it become a skill later on? And once again he had no answers to his countless questions.
The fact that one can't lose his skill or bonus just made his own bonus very special. He could steal other's bonus but after careful thinking, he had come to a conclusion.
Since magic flows in blood, and magic is connected to one's soul—their bonus and skills and their very soul were also flowing in their blood.
That was maybe why he could steal someone's bonus. After all, it was not stealing—just copying, and in his theory the other person won't even know.
He had to put his theory into practice however, that could wait for now.
He threw a couple more needles and when he was finally satisfied willed them to disappear and they did just that, disappearing in red sparks.
A wide grin appeared on his face.
"Maybe I'm ready." He said to himself.
In the evening sky, Arion walked around the city.
The city's roads were wide and carefully planned, stretching in straight lines between rows of neatly arranged houses. Smooth and well-maintained, they were marked with clean white lines that guided foot traffic, keeping everything orderly and predictable. Sidewalks ran along both sides, slightly raised, with evenly spaced streetlights casting a steady glow at night.
People moved in quiet streams rather than chaos, each keeping to their side as if it were second nature. There was no clutter, no noise of engines—just the soft rhythm of footsteps echoing against the ground.
Everything felt structured.
Almost too structured.
Arion had seen this sight many times, and through it, he could not help but feel a bit nostalgic. These places were all too familiar or rather looked familiar.
It resembled his own world perfectly, well except for the lack of vehicles, the world was mostly the same. They did not have any telephones but they did have some magical gadget called Magic communicator, and well it does the exact same thing as a mobile except this was charged by magic.
There were many weird things about this, first was the name. Magic communicator, the name was not weird and was even fitting but the thing was that...there would be no way a world wide device would be named so cheap and plainly.
It was almost as if it was designed after a mobile from his world, or rather upgraded from electric charging to magic charging.
'Wait...so how are people without magic going to use them?'
He sighed, they probably had their ways, as for him, he had just bought his own magic communicator just now.
With the money he received from his...family every month was more than enough to buy even two of these magic communicators, but he wanted to wait until he had unlocked his Soul Rune to buy them.
Magic communicator required magic to charge itself, and only the owner of the device could charge it, that was why he did not know how exactly normal people without magic charged them.
Now that he had unlocked his Soul Rune and magic however, he could charge it himself. Arion also did not forget the fact that he also had to learn manipulating his magic too.
As Ace, he had never learnt it, and the only one who actually realised there was something similar to manipulating magic was Ray, he had been working on learning to control his magic but before they could make another step on it...Well Arion did not want to remember it.
He had a month of freedom before the academy would start again, he had to attend this year...It was the final year after all.
His mind then drifted to his Magic communicator, oddly there was already internet, or at least something akin to it.
The first he searched in the internet was. "Bonus, skill and abilities." The young boy was now sitting in his room with a confused expression on his face.
'Gods, I knew skipping classes were bad, but seriously...Am I really this behind?'
He was currently scribbling wildly on a book. That book was an ability he had received from his family this evening after they discovered he had finally unlocked his Soul Rune.
[Private Book]
This book is the most trust worthy thing in the world, not only will it listen to your writing but neither would it ever spill your secrets written. The book is endless, and has all information about your experience.
Rank: Greater.
Abilities: [Private diary], [Eternal]
He had one week to gain knowledge on Blessed Insight, and soon he unlocked its true powers. By pouring enough magic into the gift, he evolved its abilities. It was weird knowing that a gift had an ability, and even weirder the fact that an ability itself had an ability.
'Weird.'
Now the Blessed Insight could not only give him a better description, better understanding and a clear way to evolve his skills and abilities and literally even itself but it could also now help him see the ranks and abilities.
He was not going to waste his time reading his runes again though, that could wait for later.
Arion wrote in the book.
A bonus is proved to be the reflection of the soul, if one's soul is pure they would receive a bonus akin to pure, if one's soul is filled with malice and darkness, they would receive a bonus akin to that, but then how does one have a blessed bonus?
Skills are provided by bonus but all rules have an exception and thus, there exists some skills not given by their bonus, and the skill does not have to be related to the bonus either.
There are three types of skills. The first one was Manifest, second was Sorcery, third being Utility.
Abilities on the other hands are something you receive outside of the connection of your soul and bonus, its mostly unlocked naturally though it might sound weird since souls aren't involved. Its a bit complicated to explain you see.
You can share your abilities with others unlike your skills...the most common way to receive a ability is by killing a magic beast and gaining a ability, its rare but the most common way. There are three types of abilities too...
Then there is Gift, the most mysterious if them all-there's not much information on it but from what I understand, it reflects on the mind and way of combat. The first Gift for everyone is insight, the purpose of it-according to me is to let you create a proper mindset and properly use future gifts.
Though the most mysterious of them all is name...