Epic Of The Demonic Sage

Two different types of objects were kept in the drawer that Lucius had just opened. 

First was a single chunk of rock, which was about the size of a palm. This was nothing but the Trivonite ore. He had procured this during the past five days and had gotten about a kilogram of it.

Though he only needed 500 grams from this. Thankfully breaking it was simply as the ore itself was brittle compared to the pure version of the metal. The next item that he had there was the Aether crystals. There were fifteen of them, each perfectly lined up.

"The requirements are finally complete…" Lucius muttered to himself.

Kiana watched the items and felt a bit confused.

"What are you going to do with these things?" Kiana asked.

"Well, since we are going to take care of the bandits, we need strength. Since those bandits were able to kill a large group of soldiers, including two with rare ranked gifts, we would definitely need a higher power.

And for that, we are going to evolve your gift." Lucius revealed.

Kiana's eyes went wide upon hearing this, and she didn't know what to think of it.

"What do you mean, evolve my gift?" Kiana questioned.

"Well, you know how the priests of Alana can grow the power of their gift as they get promoted, right? It is the same thing, except you are not getting it from a god." Lucius answered.

"How... How is that even possible? Or rather… why do you know this? HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS?" Kiana shot off a string of questions.

Lucius suddenly held the shoulders of Kiana and looked deep into her eyes.

"Kiana…" He whispered.

"Y-yes…?" Kiana responded, feeling unnerved.

"Do you have faith in me? Do you trust me?" Lucius questioned.

"YES, I will always believe in you, Asher." Kiana said hurriedly.

"Then can you trust me this time too and see the results?" Lucius replied.

Kiana could see a different look in Lucius's eyes and felt safe. Knowing that this was someone she would never doubt, she nodded her head.

"Alright. Show me what we are going to do." Kiana answered.

Lucius turned around and took out all the materials, before using his gift nexus. The list of items needed for the evolution of Kiana's gift appeared in front of him again.

'Hmm… the method of evolution is still missing… which means, more aether.' Lucius thought before willing it.

Aether rapidly started to drain from his body and new information appeared in his mind. Little by little it kept increasing and by the time he was done using up all his aether, he finally had the entire method of evolving the gift.

Lucius opened his eyes, that flickered with glee as he looked at Kiana.

"Such a method… didn't expect more similarities," Lucius muttered to himself.

Lucius took out a sheet of silk that he spread on the work table. Then at the center of the sheet, he placed half of the Trivonite ore which he had prepared. Then he took the Rune crystals of the rock bees and placed them at five equidistant points surrounding the ore.

Lucius picked up the Aether crystals and one by one, arranged them around each of the rune crystals. Every rune crystal had three aether crystals placed around them in a triangular formation with the tips pointed outward.

"Your hand Kiana," Lucius spoke.

Kiana extended her hand apprehensively, which Lucius took and lightly pricked with a needle. Kiana didn't even flinch at this, and neither did she question why he did this. At this point, her faith in Lucius was very high.

Lucius then placed her hand on the Trivonite Ore before letting go.

"Activate your gift now,"  Lucius said.

"Activate it? But how can I activate it when I have my hand here?" Kiana questioned.

"You don't have to summon your 'stones' just do what you do when you are just about to activate your gift," Lucius instructed.

~gulp~

Kiana swallowed her saliva, feeling a bit nervous, and nodded her head. She closed her eyes and did as she was told.

~shua~

The moment she did that, the fifteen aether crystals all lit up and started to move around the rune crystals of the rock bees. Lucius closely watched it as this was the first time he was attempting something like this.

It had taken him over a month of preparation, but he had finally reached this point. The only doubt that was left in his mind was whether this would be a success or not. While he had Nexus, he still didn't know its actual capabilities. 

For all he knew, the information provided by it could be wrong and he would just be in the blind.

The rune crystals started to glow as well, and Lucius could see that the 'Rune' on them seemed to have come alive. It flickered and moved around inside the crystal. 

~shatter~

This process lasted for about three minutes, after which the Aether crystals shattered, turning into dust. Kiana heard the noise and opened her eyes seeing the shocking scene.

"Don't move! Just let it happen." Lucius warned.

Kiana lightly hummed in response, afraid that nodding may be problematic. The Rune crystals, which seemed to have come alive all let out a stream of energy from them. This energy traveled into the ore on which Kiana's hand was placed and started to change it.

Soon, the ore started to reduce in size, and the rocky part of it disappeared. What was left behind was the part which was mostly metal. 

The entire thing took ten minutes before the ore had been reduced to pure Trivonite. Lucius felt amazed by this and wondered about the principles behind it. Though once the ore had been fully converted to metal, the rune crystal had completely faded away, as if ice into steam.

~Ah!~ 

Kiana suddenly grunted in pain as she felt something hot prick her hand. Even when she was pricked by Lucius, she hadn't let out a sound, but now she did due to the high level of pain.

"Wh-what's happening?" Kiana couldn't help but say, as she felt something stirring in her body.