Chapter 49: Mission surveillance!!

Fwoodh….

Looking at the rewards from the legacy, I was somewhat satisfied. The resonance between both the legacy artifacts was a plus point that would become an invaluable asset as it would let me perfectly coordinate my bodily movements whenever I wanted.

The strengthening of my soul was going to make it easier to work with runes in the future, giving me a leeway to focus on making the runes more interesting and useful with more soul power at my disposal. The time I could control the 'Nightmare' was also going to be increased, which was a tremendous boon for me as it was a worthy partner to have around oneself.

Altogether, the rewards were there to help me master the runes now that I know about the 'flaws' that every rune has when getting inscribed on my being. Having the ability to master the runes easily was going to help me mitigate the effects of runes by a lot in the upcoming ones.

After reeling on the rewards, the next job I had was to train with my newly increased soul, learning about its effect on my inscription and my control over 'Nightmare'.

I trained for almost an hour, trying to learn the limitations of my strengthened soul, and oh boy, the duration for which I could control the Nightmare with my will had almost doubled. My control over mana had also increased significantly, making it easier to etch the runic symbol into the longsword I carried. Additionally, my soul power recovery had improved, with its rate increasing considerably, making it easier for me to work with my soul for extended periods in the future.

" Yes, I even went on and etched the runic symbol into my longsword." The imbuement of meaning was still left as I could only do the job of etching the symbol within an hour. The rune I was going to inscribe on my longsword was the 'Rune of Sharpness' which would increase the sharpness of my sword by quite a lot.

I also wanted to test the limit of runes the Aura weapon could hold into itself. The rune that manifests itself was excluded from the testing since it wasn't something that was under my control. 

As for the long coat I was using, It would be inscribed with the 'Rune of Defense' which would be the rune I would use to manifest the ' Rune of stealth' as the long coat I had right now was the same as the previous one. It was made with the same material, and the process of creating the long coat was also the same. So, I was hoping for the manifestation of the ' Rune of stealth' that the previous one had.

 Having both defense and invisibility from low-tier monsters, it was going to save me a lot of time when raiding the dungeons in the future. With a slight smile etched onto my face, I exited the training room as I hadn't eaten anything since last night, and it was already evening today.

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[ Beep!! Message from the Lord.]

[ Beep!! Message from the Guild master.]

Several messages from both the ' Lord' and the ' Guildmaster' were presented in front of me as soon as I exited the training room. I didn't bother with these messages for now and directly went to the kitchen, filling my stomach with stored food from yesterday before finally relaxing somewhat.

" Damn, Yesterday was crazy." I thought while trying to remember the events that had happened inside the training room, resulting in me losing several fragments of my memories.

"It feels like I'm not me anymore." The feeling of having my identity fragmented wasn't something to scoff at. It was disheartening, yet I couldn't even show emotions of pain and reluctance because the rune responsible for this was more powerful than I was. The rune was 'Uncommon,' while I was just an 'Awakened' warrior, making its effects even more powerful on me.

It didn't just suppress my emotions, rather it totally disintegrated such emotions into nothingness, reminiscent of the memories that had been vaporized during its inscription.

" The perk of having a higher-ranked rune" I could only bitterly smile to myself as not every perk was amazing and had a positive impact, some had somewhat absurd perks that gave a hard time getting used to them.

" This was the way I would like to describe the effect of my rune right now." I wouldn't call it a negatively effecting rune but it was something that I had to get used to in the future.

The way it was able to make me have a clear state of thinking even with such a big problem(Having several fragments of memories destroyed) was worthy of it being an 'Uncommon' rune while I could only inscribe the 'Common' ones by myself.

" Once again limited by the legacy."

The situation was quite ironic because the strength I had today was all due to the legacy, yet this very legacy had become a constraint, limiting me from fully utilizing the power (runes) it had granted me with.

" Such was Life."

I was looking at the messages from both the 'Lord' and 'Guildmaster' which basically told me about the 'decision' they had taken while I was inside the dungeon, killing monsters trying to calm the bloodlust they had helped to activate in the first place.

They were going to start the 'surveillance campaign' while coordinating with the party from the duchy to learn about the anomalies within the 'Forest of Grimness' and eradicate the anomaly if they were able to.

"The party of five", I couldn't help but think about the party that was covered from head to toe in Aura equipment.

"They were able to survive the onslaught of greedy adventurers." This was worth noting, as it proved their capabilities as warriors on a mission to survey the forest that even Elite-ranked warriors avoided unless necessary.

" They might have been able to escape from the clutches of some random adventurers in the little town, but were they capable enough to tackle the wild monsters living in the forest?" It was another question to which I would be able to obtain the answer once the mission started after a month.

Yup, the party was considerate enough to provide us with ample time to prepare for the upcoming mission. They wanted every adventurer to be in their perfect state, for the mission could be deadly, requiring the participation of almost every adventurer active within the town.

As for me, my job was to be one of the adventurers protecting the party from the dangers while they survey the forest. They only wanted my presence while the 'Guild master' spearheaded the party of adventurers participating in the mission.

As for the Lord, he was staying behind to handle matters within the town while almost every warrior was gone. He would be the last line of defense if any abnormal activities occurred in the absence of the warriors.

" They even proposed me with the aura equipment if my choice if I were to accept their proposal."

The blatant bribery was somewhat amusing, but I was perfectly fine with such actions from the lord as having me in the party was equivalent to doubling the protection of the warriors from the duchy.

"Who doesn't want a free stuff?" And if the stuff was something that could strengthen yourself, it was even more appreciated by me who lived frugally till now.

'' Did I accept the offer?"

Not outright as I wanted to check whether there was a possibility for me to rank up and become Transcendent by the time this mission was to be taken place.

"How much time do you think will it require for my 'Mana Purity' to rank up?"

[About a week]

With the confirmation of the Legacy, I was ready to accept the offer as I would have enough time to strengthen myself within the time the mission was going to start.

With the acceptance of the offer, I was presented with a catalog of the equipment that I could choose as per my liking.

[These are the best equipment we have in our town. Feel free to take any one of the equipment as per your liking.]

"He sure was fast with his job." I mused to myself as the catalog was presented to me even before I was able to close the communication function embedded within the ring that was on my finger.

With the catalog in my hand, it was the perfect time to upgrade my gear. Upgrading my long coat into Aura equipment was the best choice right now. I already had an Aura Longsword for attacking, but the long coat I had wouldn't suffice if I encountered any tier-4 monsters residing in the forest.

"Even Aura equipment would have a hard time protecting me if I were to really encounter a monster of that tier," but my only requirement was enough time to escape from the monster itself. Any degree of injury was acceptable, as I wasn't going to die anyway; I would just be forced to live as a handicapped warrior for a certain time.

I would be able to make myself whole again, in a perfect state to battle, as my strength increased with each baptism by heaven and earth for every rank up. While others were bound by time, I had eternity if I had the patience to wait for my 'Heart of Runes' to purify the Mana and help me increase in rank in the future.

" Enough about the future."

Let's focus on the catalog in front of us, Shall we?