[What now?] Codex asked in irritation after a few moments passed in silence.
"Get it out so I can see it." I said with a similar tone of irritation.
After getting down the stairs, I stood in the backyard, waiting for Codex to do something.
[Are you insane? Is your brain on a vacation? Just use it as you were trained to.] Codex bellowed inside my head.
'Chillax man, how am I even supposed to bring it out the old way? At least get it out for me, or give me some clues.' I tried to coax Codex.
[I won't, do it yourself.] Codex made a short reply.
'Is it perhaps… you can't?' I asked in my mind as I entertained a certain possibility.
[I… I'll help a little, just a little though.]
'Guess I found a nerve.' I muttered with a smirk. I could already imagine Codex screaming in disapproval.
"I guess that'll have to do for now."
[Alright, all things aside, do you remember the feeling when you absorbed the mana pearls? Try to recreate that feeling in your head, but this time, reverse the effect and instead of focusing on your chest, focus on your palm, simple right?] Codex instructed in all nonchalance, being absolutely 'simple'.
Without saying another word, I sat cross-legged on the soft, cold grass and concentrated, surrounded by chirping of insects under the night sky.
Seconds passed, soon seconds turned into minutes.
By the time fifth minute rolled in, I opened my eyes and asked:
"What's supposed to happen? Can't you do anything else?"
[Just do what I told you to, it takes time.] Codex said with a calm voice, showing neither irritation nor annoyance.
Again, I closed my eyes after nodding once.
I again focused on myself, as I did—all I could feel was my steady heartbeat.
In a couple of minutes, I could feel something move near my heart. I was dead sure it wasn't my doing.
I tried to guess what it was, when I felt something move around in my tummy, then in my thigh. Soon enough, I felt as if hundreds of ants were crawling under my skin.
It was a one-of-a-kind feeling. Definitely not to my liking.
[Now you know what to work with, try to move it on your own now, my work is done here.] Codex's same neutral voice resounded in my head.
Not bothering to reply, I willed those 'ants' inside me to move in the way I desired.
Not unexpectedly, nothing happened. But this time I didn't call out to Codex, because this time I had a clear 'object' I needed to interact with, unlike before where I had to walk blindly.
After persistently poking and prodding at the moving 'ants', I noticed something strange.
To be sure, I stopped everything I could, even breathing. Then I noticed a minute vibration in my spine, hiding under the rhythmic vibration of my breathing.
Following the vibration, I moved up the spine, it was there at the back of my neck and going higher, there was minor movement in my head as well.
Then I realised that there was similar movement everywhere inside my body.
"Paah!" I exhaled and started breathing heavily due to not being able to hold my breath any longer.
After steadying my breath, I again held my breath and focused on the movement inside my head.
As I focused on the thing, 'it' buzzed inside my head, giving me a mild headache for a moment before returning to normal.
[???
Status: Functional
Rank: Prismatic
Amount: 200 ml
In use: 100 ml]
(A/N: Armaments:- Basic, Uncommon, Rare, Unique, Legendary, Prismatic, Mythical, Divine, Transcendent)
(A/N: Treat this 200 ml as volume, as in space occupied by 200 ml of water, which would be a cube of length roughly 5.85 cm)
"What the…" I exclaimed in surprise, I didn't expect a system message at all.
[You did it kiddo.] Codex chuckled.
"Why the question marks?" I asked, "Isn't it already named?"
[It isn't what it was before, that name isn't appropriate anymore.] Codex elaborated.
"...let's leave the naming for later." I muttered and stood up while dusting my clothes.
"Alright let's do this." I said.
As I did, I extended my right hand forward. With my hand, I made a gesture of grabbing something in the air.
Soon, that something inside my head buzzed minutely again—as if humming in agreement to my demand—and my arm started glowing starlight.
To be more precise, the veins on my arm started glowing.
The glow wasn't enough to light up the whole place, but it was enough to make the grass shine in pleasure, it was a surreal sight. Starlight shining on the grass under the calming glow of the moon.
I could feel something move from every part of my body and be accumulated in my arm, from the tip of my toes and from the expanse of my scalp.
Soon the starlight veins started to flow towards my hand.
First a droplet of shiny black fluid came out of my palm, then second, followed by third.
The droplets didn't fall on the ground as one would expect them to, instead they started to take shape, perfectly fitting into my hand.
The whole process was like seeing threads being woven into cloth and cloth being layered and stitched together with more thread.
In the next moment, the glow in my arm started receding, and soon it disappeared completely, leaving a brand new modern pistol in my hand.
"Come on now! Bed is ready!" Mom called me from above.
"Coming mom!" I replied and ran back upstairs.
Mom truly has perfect timing! I thought.
"Here here." I said as I entered the room.
"Go sleep, it's late now." She said, "I'll be there in a bit." And proceeded to stand at the balcony, quietly gazing at the moon.
"Un!" I said and entered the soft blanket to sleep through the cold night.