The wolf-kin stood at their place, staring at the ominous light in growing horror, unable to figure out what was taking place.
However, their senses screamed danger.
Even Ethan found it hard to believe the scene he was witnessing. He leaned closer, attempting to grasp the situation.
"What is that ominous glow?" Ethan questioned with his hands pressed against the throne.
The sky glowed bright red with streaks of crimson flashing. Surrounding the pillar of light were storm clouds that rumbled and flickered.
Even from quite afar, the wolf-kin could feel the sheer wind pressure coming from the location of the light.
What terrified them even more was the concentration of an unimaginable power that resided within the pillar of light.
Except Thran, the other wolf-kin were even struggling to remain awake. The force leaking from the pillar of light was so strong that it was threatening to knock them unconscious.
Ethan, being a god himself, could feel this concentrated power. Having felt the presence of this power, he couldn't help but become restless.
Worried, he frowned as he tried to comprehend, "That power… isn't normal, is it?"
[Correct]
[What you are witnessing right now is class ascension]
The system responded.
Hearing the response of the system, Ethan's eyes perked up. He had heard of this term before.
"Class ascension?" Still, he questioned.
[Class ascension. When someone has accumulated enough power to break the walls of their current class, they undergo a revolutionary change to transcend past their limits…]
"Stop, I know what class ascension is…" Ethan interrupted, albeit sounding a bit irritated.
He knew what class ascension was, and he didn't want to hear more about it. Just like the name suggests, class ascension meant ascending a class. For example, a warrior ascending to the class of a knight.
Though he was familiar with the term of class ascension, he wasn't familiar with such visual effects taking place during class ascension.
In the game, the players could ascend their class upon meeting certain criteria.
For example, triggering some hidden bonus or collecting enough points to evolve a class.
Ethan himself had attained the highest class a mage could hold before.
There were altogether nine classes for a mage, with apprentice as the lowest class and Eternal Magus as the highest class.
Ethan had achieved the feat of becoming an Eternal Magus in the game.
Hence, he was even more aware of the benefits of a leap in classes brought. But having said that, such visual effects that could stir change in the surroundings were unheard of before.
'Perhaps, it's because it isn't a game now,' Ethan concluded.
**** ****
Under the eerie glow of the moon, the wolf-kin village glowed in an ethereal glow, silhouettes long on the surface.
The once bustling winding street was now filled with silence. However, some parts of the village revealed different stories.
People gathered at one place under the bright glow of the torches, chattering and expressing their thoughts.
The smell of alcohol and food wafted around the place while the gathered wolf-kin chugged on alcohol like water.
These people were rather loud; their voices were vigorous and tinged with excitement.
"Hahaha, did you hear about it?" one of the wolf-kin seated before on a table spoke. "Dorian did it. He refined the ore we found."
"Yeah, I heard about it too. I still wonder how he managed to refine that ore. Even the pickaxe broke when I tried to mine it."
Then came another loud gruff. "Hah— Who cares? The thing that matters the most is that we can now have proper weapons…"
The people over there burst into laughter.
"HAHAHA. Yeah, who cares how he refined it? Now, we can have proper tools and weapons…"
Under the influence of alcohol, these gathered wolf-kin discussed the refining of the newly discovered ore with great enthusiasm.
While some people were discussing the refining of the ore, others were gathered in the training ground.
There was a bunch of dummies crafted with straws and wood lined up, their crude form waiting to be tested.
Kael stood before the dummies, holding the dagger in his hand.
The air itself seemed heavier than usual, the faint whisper of the night breeze swirling around the dagger as if drawn to its presence.
Kael tightened the grip on his dagger, feeling its rough surface.
Then, with a slow exhale, he dashed forward in one swift motion.
The dagger carved through the air with a whisper too sharp for mortal steel. Shadows coiled at its edge, and a trail of faint violet light followed every arc.
One dummy split cleanly in half before Kael even realized he had struck; another collapsed as if the life had been drained from it, the straw smoldering with an eerie glow.
The watching wolf-kin stiffened, eyes widening as each movement revealed the weapon's terrifying grace.
To them, Kael no longer looked like a warrior; rather, he looked like a storm unleashed, his strikes blurring into flashes of steel and shadow. With every cut, the dagger seemed to hum, as though feeding on the destruction it sowed.
Then, silence.
Kael stopped mid-step, chest heaving.
The last dummy crumbled into splinters behind him, dissolving into the dirt.
He looked down at the dagger in his hand, his breath catching. For all his battles, for all the blood he had spilled—never before had a weapon answered him so eagerly, so hungrily. His amber eyes widened, astonishment breaking through his usually composed face.
He stared at the dagger in his hand, his heart thumping.
But before he could even grasp the power of the weapon he held, a surge of excitement erupted forth, disrupting him.
"Did you see that strike?!"
"It cut through like butter!"
"Kael, this dagger… It's beyond anything we've seen!"
Kael hadn't used his blessing. Despite that, he felt like he had used the blessing. The speed at which he operated when he held the dagger was comparable to the blessing he had received.
This shocked him.
How can a weapon grant him such a divine miracle?
He couldn't comprehend.
But the lingering feeling of the power he had grasped earlier made it unbelievable.
Can weapons grant power, too?