Assimilate All Talents

There were many odd things about this object, starting with the fact that it was a blessed item, meaning a god was involved. But what truly confused him was that its only skill wasn't just unidentified; its description didn't clearly explain its purpose either.

'What does it mean by narrative focus?'

He glanced at where the compass was pointing, somewhere behind him, but as the carriage took a turn, he noticed the arrow still aimed directly at him.

'Could it be?'

He moved the compass left, then right. No matter where he shifted it, the arrow always turned to point in his direction. Sol even activated [Muffled Movements] and [Invisibility] to reduce his presence, but the compass still locked onto him.

'It's pointing at me… but how?'

He found the situation both absurd and incomprehensible. A compass that could track him so precisely seemed impossible.

'I guess now I know how the Harbinger found me. But why would a god create this and give it to them? When did I offend a god?'

The only god he had ever interacted with was Orna, and he was confident their relationship was on good terms. He combed through his memories, but nothing stood out to suggest a reason for a god to target him, and certainly not in such an indirect way. If a god wanted him dead, they wouldn't need to rely on such methods; they could kill him effortlessly.

'Maybe it was the Harbinger's god who gave it to him?' Sol speculated, then shook his head. 'That doesn't make sense. This item's effects are completely different from the Harbinger's abilities.'

It was well known that someone could only become a god's Chosen if their talents and affinities aligned with that god's domain. The same rule applied to Harbingers. Sol knew the Harbinger specialized in assassination, yet lacked even a single tracking skill. That didn't match the compass's function either.

He considered other possibilities, but none seemed plausible. Frustrated, he decided to shelve the mystery for now and put the compass away. He also dismissed the system prompt asking him to name the unidentified skill.

'I don't even know how it works. What am I supposed to call it? Sol Tracker?'

The thought made him chuckle, though he knew such a name wouldn't be appropriate.

Setting aside the blessed item for now, he examined the other belongings of the Harbinger. Most were unremarkable. A few unique weapons and armor pieces caught his eye, but none were particularly useful to him in his current state. He planned to sell most of them, keeping only two unique daggers and a set of leather armor with useful skills for Amber.

Just as he was starting to think he'd gained nothing of real value from the Harbinger aside from the compass, he came across something exceptional.

[Tome of the Fell Flame
Unique

Durability: 230/350

Skills:
[Fire Amplification] Lv 7, [Zone of Flames] Lv 7, [Page Immolation] Lv 7]

[[Fire Amplification] Lv 7]: Increases the power of fire spells and abilities by 140%.]

[[Zone of Flames] Lv 7]: Drastically raises the temperature of the surrounding area, enhancing fire element prevalence. Fire magic becomes 35% stronger and requires 20% less mana, while water/ice magic becomes 35% weaker and requires 40% more mana. Duration: 20 minutes. Cooldown: 10 hours.]

[[Page Immolation] Lv 7]: Burns a spell recorded in the tome to cast it instantly at a designated target. Costs no mana and requires only basic mana control to utilize.]

'This is perfect!'

A broad smile spread across Sol's face as he examined the tome. The results from [Analysis] didn't interest him much; it was the tome itself that excited him.

'With this, I can finally learn advanced fire magic!'

Opening the tome to a random page, he found a spell called [Cinder Chains], which conjured four fiery chains to burn and restrain targets. Even without casting it, Sol could tell it was far stronger than any fire spell he currently knew.

'Till now, I've only had three advanced level dark spells, but this tome could let me learn an entirely new set of spells.'

One of Sol's biggest limitations in magic had always been his lack of advanced spells. While he possessed [Advanced Elemental Magic (Variant)], all of his spells were siphoned from others, meaning they were either basic or intermediate. He had managed to compensate by spamming spells with loop and multi casting, or by relying on his advanced dark spells from the Laughing Skulls, but it was still limiting.

This tome, however, was a game changer.

'Even though some pages are burned from the previous owner using [Page Immolation], there are still over 40 intermediate spells and 5 advanced ones that are completely intact.'

He carefully stored the tome, along with the compass and the items he'd set aside for Amber, in his own spatial ring. Everything else went back into the Harbinger's spatial ring which would be sold whenever he had the chance.

Once he finished sorting through the items, Sol opened his status page.

Name: Sol
Race: Human
Talents: [Siphoner], [Transformer]
Level: 121
Exp: 43,536,641/13,348,063,234

HP: 5000
MP: 6250
Str: 120 (+480)
Vit: 120 (+380)
Agi: 120 (+480)
Int: 120 (+480)
Wis: 125 (+500)

Talent Skills:
[Siphon] Lv 7, [Analysis] Lv 9, [Aggregate] Lv EX, [Reinterpret] Lv EX

Siphoned Talents:
[Swift End] Lv 2, [Create Magic Hands] Lv MAX, [Impact Bubble] Lv 4, [Spectral Claw] Lv MAX, [Gigantify] Lv MAX

Passive Skills:
[Muffled Movements] Lv EX, [Reflect] Lv 9, [Intermediate Psychic Mastery] Lv 8, [Advanced Weapon Mastery] Lv 5, [Wild Hunt] Lv 5, [Invincible Body] Lv 9, [Perfect Balance] Lv 7, [Death Absorption] Lv MAX, [True Sight (Variant)] Lv 8, [Superior Mana Control] Lv 7, [Fortified Soul] Lv 2, [Intermediate Craftsman] Lv 2, [Battle Dance] Lv 9, [Nether Body] Lv MAX, [Battle Intuition] Lv 7, [Critical Precision] Lv 7, [Speed Reading] Lv 5, [Bartering], 8, [Animal Handling] Lv 7, [Cartography] Lv 5, [Swimming] Lv 2, [Beekeeping] Lv 5, etc.

Active Skills:
[Lesser Channel Control] Lv 1, [Phase Step] Lv 6, [Invisibility] Lv 9, [Terra Manipulation] Lv EX, [Burrow] Lv MAX, [Telepathy] Lv 4, [Unpassable Bulwark] Lv 9, [Advanced Elemental Magic (Variant)] Lv 3, [Overpower] Lv 8, [Weapon Empowerment (Variant)] Lv EX, [Piercing Lunge] Lv 9, [Mana Slash] Lv 7, [Polychromatism] Lv EX, [Mana Burst] Lv EX, [Repair] Lv 5, [Close Combat] Lv 6, [Vorpal Blade Rush] Lv 7, [Guided Bombardment] Lv 6, [Phoenix Dive] Lv 7, [Unarming Blow] Lv 7, [Phantasmal Rip and Tear] Lv MAX, [Death Sentence] Lv EX, [Umbral Domain] Lv EX, [Telekinesis] Lv 7, [Memory Engraving] Lv 5, [Mental Acceleration] Lv 6, [Mental Scrying] Lv 4, [Psy Blast] Lv 4, [Remote Viewing] Lv 5, [Intermediate Blood Magic] Lv 9, [Blood Pact] Lv 7, [Shapeshift - Bat] Lv MAX, [Blood Recovery] Lv MAX, [Enthrallment] Lv 8, [Beguiling Gaze] Lv 8, [Silent Execution (Variant)] Lv 5, [Double Step] Lv 3, [Lock Crack] Lv 4, [Persuade] Lv 4, [Map Creation] Lv 6, [Quick Salve] Lv 4, [Dowsing] Lv 6, [Fast Bake] Lv 3, etc.

Sol first turned his attention to his most important skill, [Siphon], which had finally leveled up after such a long time.

[[Siphon] Lv 7: Siphon 4 skills from dead beings, including law techniques. Can additionally siphon one talent skill. Near perfect efficiency and retention of knowledge, but dependent on whether the target's channels have faded away.]

He had to relearn the skill from the ground up after discovering it was, in reality, a psychic skill, and that tethers were intrinsically tied to how efficiently he could extract abilities. Tethers naturally faded after death, but how long it took varied. Some lingered far longer than others and he had yet to find the reason why.

As he reread the description, Sol focused on the first sentence and thought to himself, 'So I couldn't [Siphon] law techniques before? But I managed it anyway when it was still level six.'

He wasn't sure if this was the natural progression of the skill or if his actions had somehow influenced it to evolve. Either way, he was glad he could now obtain law techniques without issue.

'Maybe that's why it was so hard obtaining [Swift End].' Sol thought to himself as he recalled the struggle he faced just preventing the tether from escaping his grasp.

Closing the description for [Siphon], his gaze shifted to the massive list of skills on his status page. Over 200 entries stared back at him, and his expression darkened. Normally, he would be thrilled by the sheer variety, eager to combine and refine them into something even greater. But not this time.

'All these skills came from people who shouldn't have died.'

While he had gained combat skill levels through battle, the vast majority of these abilities had been siphoned from the helpless victims of the vampire attack—men, women, and even children.

Sitting in the stillness of the carriage, the only sound was the rhythmic clatter of wheels against the uneven road. His fist clenched tightly.

'I can only become stronger. Strong enough to stop something like this from ever happening again.'

Sol knew he couldn't afford to dwell on the past. Regret would achieve nothing. The only path forward was to ensure he was better prepared for the challenges ahead.

Determination flared in his eyes as over a hundred colorful tethers materialized before him, each representing a skill he had siphoned.

With a resolute expression, he began combining.