Passing of time

𝐍𝐨𝐚𝐡'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕 (𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰):

A pair of weary orbs were staring back at me through the bathroom mirror. They were dark—the darkest I've ever seen. Mine used to be normal, dark-brown. I didn't know why my eyes changed.

Beads of sweat trickled down my forehead.

Taking a deep inhale, I cupped my hands beneath the rush of tap water.

The sound of splashing filled the air, droplets cascaded down my face.

I was currently staying in a luxurious hotel of Baku, my temporary sanctuary before returning to academy.

I was in a relaxed black cargo pant., my torso, however, was exposed.

I carefully retrieved a small stone amulet from my pocket—the solaris amulet.

Cradling it in my right palm, I pressed it tightly at the center of my chest.

"Be ready, Nano."

[Nano on standby!]

Earlier, I instructed Nano to abstain from healing me during this very moment—during what was about to happen right now.

Without any delay, I pushed the stone amulet, feeling its cold against my chest.

And then, it happened.

As if awakened from a dormant state, eight legs and a fanged head sprout from the stone amulet. The solaris amulet now looked like a spider

It started crawling around my chest, it felt vibrant and strangely lifelike.

Exploring my chest for some time, the symbiotic amulet settled itself at the center of my chest.

𝑪𝒉𝒖𝒄𝒌!—It plunged its legs into my flesh.

"Agh!" An involuntary cry escaped me. But, I steeled my nerves, exerting control against my body's natural response.

[Temporarily numbing sensory nerves for immediate relief...]

Thanks to Nano, the excruciating pain soon disappeared.

In nicety, the solaris amulet—which now looked more like a giant spider, dug its pedipals into my chest, piercing my rib cage and seamlessly aligning its legs to my rib bones.

With it's fangs the amulet, cracked the center of my rib, shattering the bones and penetrating the skin.

𝐷𝑟𝑖𝑝!𝐷𝑟𝑖𝑝!𝐷𝑟𝑖𝑝!

Blood painted my chest red. Despite the absence of pain, a very weird sensation washed over me, causing my eyes to well up with tears.

The sensation was undeniably bizarre and unsettling, a disgusting blend of unease and sicky. Sore, yet not there. Not painful. Disgusting but...it was hard to tell.

It started feasting on rest of my flesh at a leisurely pace. The sound of it crunching and tearing my muscles resonating in my ear.

Having eaten its fill and creating a nightmarish cavity in my chest— the amulet made itself comfortable in the gaping hole, melding with the already shattered remnants of what was left in my ribs.

No longer intact, my chest had a monstrous void, where the amulet claimed residence.

Soon enough, the Solaris Amulet began to glow white, enveloping the entire room.

When the light subsided, I found my chest completely healed, now devoid of any blood. Gone was the pain, and all that gore.

[Activating X-ray vision.]

With X-ray, I checked my ribcage only to see it have vanished—now replaced by the Solaris Amulet. The spider amulet itself was holding my ribs together. It's legs working as my rib bones.

And surprisingly, there was no pain.

Now, the Solaris Amulet itself was a part of me, akin to a symbiotic presence, working in harmony with my being.

"Heh, nice!" I chuckled to myself, sudden excitement coursing through my veins.

With intent, I activated the Solaris Amulet.

In that very moment, a burning golden armor, which seemed to be made of pure energy—plasma or electromagnetic waves, electricity, couldn't tell...but that materialized in my torso, starting from the middle of my chest and growing everywhere, embracing my torso whole.

"Heh! This feels like some high tech gadget more than an ancient artifact."

This was Solaris armour, an indestructible armor—forget piercing, no weapon in this universe can even make a scratch in it's surface. And by no weapon, I mean no weapon. Or atleast that's what it is supposed to be. I never wrote the mysteries and their powers in details. I just roughly added them in manuscript to upload in the novel later.

The weight of the armor was practically nonexistent, as light as a feathery breath of air.

Just as I marveled at my new power, a holographic notification popped before me, disturbing my moment of enjoyment.

[Congratulations, you have unlocked another mystery! A-] "Hut! Fuck off," I swatted the message away dismissively.

"Status."

__________________________

┌─────────────────┐

│ S t a t u s W i n d o w ➙

└─────────────────┘

Name: Noah Grey

Age: 16 (+23?)=39?

Class: None

Rank: (F-)

PRIMARY STATS →

╭─────────────────────╮

│ Health: (F+) │ 300/ 300(+20?)

│ Mana: (G-) │ 115/ 115

│ Strength: F │ 300/300(+45?)

│ Dexterity: (F+)

│ Intelligence: ???

│ Mana Capacity: │ 0

╰─────────────────────╯

SECONDARY STATS→

╭───────────────╮

│Armor: (F-) │ 10

│Resistance: E │ 25

│Stamina: F

│Charm: C

│Durability: (E-) │ 20

│Flexibility: B │ ( )

╰───────────────╯

SKILLS:

-Momentum Transfer [Allows user to...]

-Perception[Allows user to...]

RELICS:

-None

ART:

-None-

Propensity: None

Mysteries:

[Mystery of Teleportation]

[Solaris Amulet]

Achivments:

[Legendary Achievment! Acquired the mystery of Teleportation!]

[Legendary Achievment! Acquired Solaris Amulet!]

__________________________

As I expected, Solaris Amulet boosted my strength, health and even my charm stats.

Other than that my secondary stats were abnormally high, thanks to Nano

Curiosity piqued, I checked the info of Solaris amulet

------------------------------------

Solaris Amulet: A divine armor bestowed with the power to withstand any and all forms of attacks. It is unbreakable, impervious to the mightiest of forces in the universe. The user has complete control over activating and deactivating the armour.

Additional properties:

1) Discarding the Solaris armor grants the user the Solaris Arrow – a formidable weapon capable of binding enemies for a duration of 10 seconds. Regardless of the enemy's strength, once bound by the Solaris arrow, they are immobilized, rendered powerless. But, this ability can only be used once every 3 hours.

2)The Solaris Amulet continuously enhances the user's charm stats over time, increasing their charisma and allure.

3) In addition to its defensive capabilities, when discarded, the Solaris Amulet can also function as a protective force field. However, this comes at the cost of rendering the Solaris Arrow unusable.

4)When exposed to direct sunlight, the armor's abilities are amplified, elevating the user's powers to one-tenth of their original magnificence.

-----------------------------------

"Damn, this thing is completely busted!"

I had intentionally modeled the Solaris Amulet taking inspiration from the legends of Karn's Kavach and Kundal from the epic Mahabhrat.

Of course, I had nerfed down its abilities and its appearance was vastly different, but even with these modifications, it was still broken

During the great war of Mahabhrat, when Karn selflessly relinquished his armor, he was granted a powerful arrow by Lord Indra. Drawing inspiration from this pivotal event, I had fashioned the Solaris Arrow.

Nevertheless, I had to acknowledge that it was indeed a broken piece of equipment, far surpassing my intended specifications.

"Not that I mind, haha" I chuckled to myself.

The first step of my preparation was now complete.

Now, all that remained was to finish engineering the Neuroshock blaster before the Genova incident.

"Oh, shouldn't the unit test be coming up?" I thought aloud, a forgotten task suddenly resurfacing in my thoughts.

But then again, studying was hardly a concern for me.

After all, who needs to study when you can just cheat?