Adventure!
Roy felt no surprise at all about obtaining this special development ability.
In his previous life, living in a safe and stable country, he had deeply yearned for heroic-style adventures—essentially an alternative version of single-minded admiration.
Name: Roy
Level: 2
Strength: 0 (I)
Endurance: 0 (I)
Dexterity: 0 (I)
Agility: 0 (I)
Magic: 0 (I)
Development Ability: Adventure (I)
Skills: My Lord Is Here, Blood for Blood
Magic: None
…
"The level-up and selection of a development ability are complete." Goddess Astraea casually locked Roy's status, and the sacred letters on his back faded away.
Gods rarely refuse the requests of their children—much like parents who hope their children will become independent, offering different opinions but letting them make their own choices.
Watching the children of the Lower World live extraordinary lives was one of the greatest pleasures for most gods.
Looking at his new status panel, the golden LV.2 lettering gleaming brightly, Roy clenched both fists, his face flushing red.
"Power is surging out…"
"Pfft!"
Seeing this, Goddess Astraea burst out laughing, revealing a gentle, motherly smile.
"Don't fool around for too long. I'll go prepare dinner."
Roy smiled back. Advancing to LV.2 did not bring the imagined explosive surge of power—it felt calm and ordinary. Both increasing ability values and leveling up did not immediately boost combat strength; the body needed time to adapt.
Staring at that breathtakingly beautiful figure as she left, Roy felt somewhat absent-minded. A goddess's charm was truly terrifying, even if she was not a beauty goddess like Freya.
Once that heart-stopping sensation faded, Roy turned his attention to something else.
The Silver Treasure Chest he had obtained!
Roy clicked "Open Treasure Chest" on the panel.
[Silver Treasure Chest opened. Congratulations, you have obtained:
Three Bottles of Panacea (High-grade),
Strength Enhancement Potion (High-grade),
Grimoire,
Steel Bracers (Epic).]
Name: Strength Enhancement Potion
Quality: High-grade
Effect: After consumption, increases Strength by 30% for ten minutes.
…
Name: Grimoire
Quality: Unable to Determine
Effect: A tome that can only be written by those who have developed the rare abilities "Magecraft" and "Mystery" to their limits. Reading it can forcibly awaken magic!
…
Name: Steel Bracers
Quality: Epic
Attributes: Can withstand all attacks from LV.4 adventurers or monsters with overall ability values below Rank D. As durability decreases, defensive power declines.
Special Effect (Guardian): Activates a magic shield that provides full-body protection. Each activation reduces durability by 10%.
Durability: 99%
…
Roy's eyes lit up. Panacea went without saying—if purchased from the Dian Cecht Familia, each bottle would cost 500,000 valis!
The strength potion, the steel bracers—and most importantly, the grimoire that could forcibly awaken magic!
Roy's gaze was completely drawn to it.
Magic!
A power capable of causing supernatural phenomena, immensely destructive, and usually treated by adventurers as their trump card.
He had seen Ryuu's Luminous Wind several times—once released, it almost always meant instant annihilation.
Magic was divided into innate magic and acquired magic awakened through divine blessings.
Innate magic was tied to racial bloodlines and individual potential. Magical races could learn it through their own latent power and training—such as elves and spirits.
Acquired magic, on the other hand, was related to one's interests and beliefs, awakened through a god's blessing.
Under divine blessings, each person could possess up to three spells, but magic awakening was a matter of fate. Most people went their entire lives without ever learning magic.
By reading a grimoire, one could forcibly awaken and learn magic. The moment he obtained it, even Roy could not suppress the excitement on his face.
Grimoires were extraordinarily valuable, usually appearing only at auctions, starting at 100 million valis, with no upper limit. Even Roy could not afford one—and before receiving a divine blessing, buying one would have been useless anyway.
But now, things were different.
It meant that he was about to awaken magic.
Roy retrieved the grimoire from the system.
It was an ancient-looking book, about three fingers thick, appearing utterly unremarkable at first glance.
Taking a deep breath, Roy slowly opened it, staring intently at its contents. The writing was neither Common nor the languages of various races, nor even the sacred script of the gods.
The characters resembled tadpoles—like chaotic scribbles. Roy could not understand them at all, and the more he looked, the dizzier he became, his consciousness gradually growing hazy.
As if he had eaten poisonous mushrooms, bizarre and vividly colored scenes appeared before him. His field of vision narrowed, and glass reflected his own image.
If his mind had been clear, he would definitely have complained:
Holy crap… ice?!
"What kind of magic do you desire?"
A vague, ghostlike figure drifted before Roy's eyes, questioning him at the level of his soul.
Without thinking, following the deepest choice in his heart, Roy murmured,
"Destructive power that can shatter everything—and the fastest speed in the world!"
"How brutal. Speed and destruction combined—only thunder in nature can satisfy your demands," the youth with the same appearance as Roy said with a smile.
"And then? Is that enough?"
"Something that can fight alongside me—something that will never betray me!"
"So you want a companion?"
"Calling it a weapon might be more accurate."
"I understand. In this world, there are always problems a single person cannot solve. You want a weapon that will never betray you, one that possesses the overwhelming destructive power and speed of thunder. How greedy. Can your ambition control such power? It is a double-edged sword!"
"Accept it. This is your magic!"
The lingering echoes remained by Roy's ears for a long time.
In a daze, Roy caught a whiff of a pleasant fragrance. It soothed his mind, bringing immense comfort to his utterly exhausted spirit. His nose twitched as he greedily breathed it in. When he slowly opened his eyes—
He met a pair of sky-blue eyes.
"Peeking at me while I sleep, Miss Ryuu? Since when did you develop such a hobby?" Roy teased the elf girl as he usually did.
But Ryuu's reaction was different this time. Her voice was like a winter night's wind—cold and cutting.
"What are you doing on Lady Astraea's bed?"
Roy snapped back to his senses, his pupils widening in shock as he sat upright. He remembered now—he had been reading the grimoire, awakening magic. Had it succeeded?
Reading a grimoire did not guarantee a successful magic awakening. Failure was possible. One could not help but think of a certain fox-eared girl who had consumed grimoires worth tens of billions of valis from Fels and still failed to awaken a third spell.
[Magic has been awakened!]
[Lord of Thunder: No-chant magic. Freely control lightning and alter its form. The power of the lightning is determined by the amount of mind supplied. It can also self-destruct. Controlling lightning consumes additional mind.]
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