The world was a muffled roar. Kai lay on the cool, gritty concrete of the loading dock, his ears ringing, his lungs full of ash. For a long moment, the only reality was the frantic thumping of his own heart. The apocalyptic crash of the library collapsing behind them was a fading echo, a testament to their impossible survival.
Slowly, the sounds of the ruined world filtered back in: the distant, mournful wail of a siren, the crackle of the dying fire, the ragged, desperate gasps of his friends.
He pushed himself up, his body a single, comprehensive ache. Elara was on her hands and knees, coughing up black dust. Ben sat with his back against the buckled steel door, his cracked glasses askoy, clutching the ancient book to his chest as if it were the only solid thing left in the universe.
"Did we... we made it," Elara breathed, her voice hoarse.
"We made it," Kai confirmed, his own voice sounding distant.
They were alive. The thought was so simple, so profound, it almost brought him to his knees. He took a moment to check his status, the familiar blue boxes a welcome anchor in the chaos.
[Name: Kaelen Vance]
[Level: 6]
[XP: 700/800]
He was close. So close to the next level-up. The thought of that healing wave, of that surge of power, was a powerful motivator.
Ben finally seemed to gather his wits. He looked down at the book in his hands, his grimy fingers tracing the strange, embossed symbol on its leather cover—a stylized tree whose roots and branches spiraled into each other, forming a perfect circle. The book was completely untouched by the fire and soot, its surface clean, its soft inner light pulsing in time with their heartbeats.
"This is it," Ben whispered, his voice filled with a reverence that bordered on religious. "The second Echo."
"What is it?" Kai asked, crawling closer. Elara joined them, her eyes fixed on the artifact.
Kai focused his Observe skill on the book.
[The Tome of Echoes (Artifact)]
[A legendary Echo containing the whispers of forgotten skills and lost knowledge. It is a catalyst, a key, and a guide.]
[This Echo has not yet bonded to a System User.]
"It's called the Tome of Echoes," Kai said, reading the text aloud. "It says it needs to bond with a System User."
"You, then," Elara said immediately. "Touch it."
Kai hesitated for a fraction of a second, then nodded. This was what they had fought and nearly died for. He reached out and placed his hand on the smooth, strangely warm leather cover.
The moment his skin made contact, the book flared with a brilliant, silver light that washed over him, momentarily blinding them all. It wasn't hot or violent, but cool and intensely clarifying, like diving into a pool of pure information. The whispers he'd heard from the saber, the faint hum of the swordsman's echo, were now a clear, resonant chorus in his mind.
[System User detected. Bonding with The Tome of Echoes...]
[Bonding complete.]
[You have gained a new Core Skill: Skill Manifestation (E-Rank)]
[Quest Completed: The Burning Wisdom]
[You have braved the inferno and retrieved the second Echo.]
[Reward: 200 XP]
[XP: 900/800]
[YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 7!]
[All wounds healed. All stats increased.]
[You have 5 undistributed stat points.]
The familiar, blissful warmth of a level-up washed over him, erasing the deep, bone-bruising aches from his fight with the Guardian and knitting together the minor burns he'd sustained. The fatigue vanished, replaced by a fresh surge of power.
But the level-up was secondary. His mind was reeling from the new information. "A new skill," he breathed, trying to understand the torrent of data the System was feeding him. "It's called Skill Manifestation."
[Skill Manifestation (E-Rank): Allows the User to extract latent skills from Echoes of Power. By channeling XP into an Echo, the User can manifest its core skill as a tangible Skill Book, which can then be learned by any individual, regardless of their System status.]
[Cost: Varies based on skill rarity and rank.]
The implications were staggering. Ben and Elara stared at him, waiting.
"I... I think I can use this book to create skills," Kai said, his voice filled with awe. "Skills that you can learn."
He looked at the book, then at his two friends—the brilliant strategist and the fierce protector. For the first time, a path forward appeared that didn't rely solely on him. He could share the power. He could build a team.
He immediately opened his status and dumped the 5 new stat points into Agility, feeling a new lightness and responsiveness in his limbs.
[Agility: 16 -> 21]
"We have to get back to the lab," he said, a new, fierce urgency in his voice. "We're not just hiding anymore. We're going to get stronger. All of us."