~~~
This is it. Whatever's in here is going to change everything.
Jin closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened his chest.
The moment the lock clicked open, reality seemed to bend around the contents. Light didn't just spill out—it erupted, cascading in waves of pale blue and gold that made the air itself shimmer like captured starlight.
"Holy shit," Jin breathed, his voice barely audible over the harmonious resonance emanating from within.
Inside, nestled in silk padding that seemed woven from captured moonbeams, lay treasures that made his enhanced senses go wild.
The dungeon's interface materialized, providing names with the same cosmic authority as before:
o__________________________________________o
[ESSENCE'S EDGE - 3 STAR EPIC GRADE | SOUL-BOUND TO: JIN WINTERS]
[REDUVIA'S BATTLE ENSEMBLE - 4 STAR EPIC GRADE | SOUL-BOUND TO: JIN WINTERS]
[SKILL IMPRINT CORE: FIREARM MASTERY]
[SKILL IMPRINT CORE: EYES OF DEEP INSIGHT]
[SKILL IMPRINT CORE: OVERDRIVE]
o__________________________________________o
Epic equipment. At Order 0. This is absolutely fucking insane.
Jin stared at the items with genuine awe.
The armor was a masterpiece—light leather that seemed to drink in the dungeon's amber light while simultaneously emanating its own soft radiance.
The dark material was accented with intricate purple embroidery. The ensemble also included a long, trench coat that moved like a liquid shadow, even when perfectly still, its fabric shifting between solid and ethereal with each breath of air that passed over it.
"This set is incredible," Jin murmured, running his fingers over the material. "Look at this craftsmanship, Rudy. I got an armored shirt, pants, and a coat."
Beside the armor lay a dagger with a blade that seemed to be forged from crystallized twilight—deep purple that caught light and threw it back in impossible patterns.
"And this blade..." Jin picked it up carefully, feeling the weapon's weight settle into his grip like it had been waiting for him specifically. "It feels like it was made for my fighting style. Would work perfectly with Iron Howl for close-quarters combat."
But it was the three skill imprint cores that really made Jin's mind race with possibilities.
I need to appraise these properly. Get a full understanding of what we're working with before I do anything stupid.
Jin activated his Appraisal skill—and immediately staggered backward as his vision filled with cascading question marks. No matter how hard he focused, no matter how much essence he poured into the skill, the items remained stubbornly opaque to his sight.
"Fuck," Jin muttered, rubbing his temples as a headache bloomed behind his eyes. "The equipment is too high-grade for my current Appraisal level. It's like trying to read a doctoral thesis when you're still learning basic grammar."
But there's a way around this. There's always a way if you know the system well enough.
His eyes drifted to the skill cores, particularly the [EYES OF DEEP INSIGHT]. If he remembered correctly from the novels, there were ways to merge compatible skills, potentially upgrading his Appraisal into something much more potent.
The main leads never figured this out until much later in the series.
"Rudy," Jin called out, noticing his friend was occupied with practicing sword forms, swinging his massive new greatsword with obvious joy. "Absorb your skill core when you're ready."
"Hmm?" Rudy paused mid-swing, purple eyes narrowing with familiar concern. "Jin, why do I get the feeling you're about to do something incredibly dangerous that might result in explosions and/or us dying horribly?"
"Because you know me too well," Jin replied with a grin. "But hey, I've only almost gotten us killed, what, three times today? I'm due for a success."
"That's not as reassuring as you think it is," Rudy muttered, but he stepped back to give Jin room to work.
Taking a deep breath, Jin picked up the [SKILL IMPRINT CORE: EYES OF DEEP INSIGHT] and cradled it in his palms. The sphere was warm to the touch and pulsed with inner light like a miniature star. Instead of simply letting the core dissolve into his essence like he had with previous skill acquisitions, this time, he did something different.
Instead of letting it find its own place in my Mantle, I'm going to guide it. Force it to merge with my existing Appraisal skill rather than creating a separate ability.
Jin closed his eyes and reached out with his essence, carefully merging and intertwining his power with the threads of knowledge within the core. Using his own essence as a pathway, he followed the connection deeper than he'd ever ventured before.
Into the heart of my Mantle itself.
The journey felt like falling through layers of reality. Jin's consciousness traveled along channels of pure essence, diving deeper into himself than should have been humanly possible, until he arrived at something that made him gasp in wonder.
There, where his physical heart beat in the center of his chest, was another heart made entirely of crystalline essence—dense runes and inscriptions that pulsed with cosmic light in rhythm with his actual heartbeat.
Beautiful. This is my Essence Heart—my Mantle's true core.
Jin let his essence flow as he searched the crystalline surface, finding the Appraisal skill sigil imprinted like a constellation among the other markings. Focusing intensely and biting down on his lip to maintain that delicate state of consciousness, he let the essence touching the Eyes of Deep Insight core flow into him.
Focusing intensely and biting down on his lip to maintain that delicate state of consciousness, Jin began guiding the essence threads from the [Eyes of Deep Insight] core directly toward his Essence Heart.
The moment those foreign threads approached his Essence Heart, Jin hijacked the pathway, forcing them directly into the Appraisal sigil instead of letting them find their own place in his Mantle.
Come on, work—
The instant those threads made contact, Jin's body convulsed. Intense pain exploded through every nerve as his Essence Heart blazed with white-hot light. He watched through tears of agony as the Appraisal sigil began to change and evolve, its simple structure becoming something far more complex and beautiful.
Almost... there... just need to hold on...
Then his concentration shattered like glass, and he was back in the dungeon chamber.
"Ugh..." Jin coughed, blood spattering the ancient stones as his vision swam red. Every muscle felt like it had been put through a meat grinder, but he'd held on. He'd actually done it.
Without hesitation, Jin reached into his spatial storage and pulled out one of his precious healing potions, gulping it down like his life depended on it—which it probably did.
Only when the pain faded to a manageable throb did Jin let himself collapse toward the ground. But instead of hitting hard stone, a gentle presence caught him, lowering him carefully to the floor with invisible hands.
The dungeon is actually helping me. That's... unexpectedly kind.
"WE NEVER EXPECTED PEOPLE WITH SUCH TENACITY AND TALENT STILL EXIST..."
The voice resonated from everywhere and nowhere, filled with something approaching awe.
"O CHILD BEYOND THE STARS OF FATE, IT IS OUR FORTUNE THAT YOU STUMBLED UPON OUR HALLS. WE SEE YOUR PATH IS DIFFICULT AND UNDERSTAND YOUR DECISION TO CHALLENGE THIS DUNGEON WHILE STILL LIMITING YOURSELF."
Limiting myself? Oh, farming latent aura—
"THEN LET US HELP. THE DUNGEON WILL NOW TRANSFORM INTO A ONE-TIME INSTANCE DUNGEON. WE WILL POUR ALL OUR RESOURCES INTO THE NEXT TWO FLOORS."
Jin felt the entire structure around them pulse with new energy, ancient magics awakening and reshaping themselves for something unprecedented.
"STAY STRONG, O CHILD BEYOND THE STARS OF FATE."
The presence retreated, leaving Jin alone with the weight of what had just happened.
The dungeon is pouring everything into making this harder. The rest of the run is going to be incredibly difficult.
But also incredibly rewarding. A one-time instance meant unique rewards that could never be replicated. This was either the best or worst thing that could have happened to them.
Shaking his head to clear the lingering dizziness, Jin called upon his Mantle:
o__________________________________________o
NAME: Jin Winters
AGE: 16
TITLE: The Soul Beyond the Stars of Fate
THE MANTLE OF HARVEST
❂ BOON
"What mortal hands would barely reap, the Bearer's touch shall always yield more—what earth gives forth through toil and seed, the Bearer's hand makes plenty's deed."
❂ AFFINITY
»»»» «None»
❂ [ORDER 0] ENTITY
❂ MARKED SKILLS [1/5]
»»»» [Novice] The Reader's Dominion «UNIQUE» (32)
❂ ACQUIRED SKILLS
»»»» [Adept] Reading (55)
»»»» [Adept] Learning and remembering (60)
»»»» [Novice] Cleaning (23)
»»»» [Novice] Physical fitness (18)
»»»» [Novice] Sword Mastery (12)
»»»» [Novice] Unarmed Combat Mastery(15)
»»»» [Novice] Light firearm Mastery (45)
»»»» [Novice] Combat Mastery (35)
o__________________________________________o
Wait, what?
Jin's eyes locked onto the newly marked skill. He'd been expecting something like Deep Sight or Eyes of Truth, but what was this Reader's Dominion?
That name...
Just as his thoughts lingered on the skill, a new panel opened before him:
o__________________________________________o
The Reader's Dominion
Mastery: [Novice] » (32)
Type: «UNIQUE»
A dominion unlike any other, this skill grants its bearer—or rather, you, the Reader—one who perceives existence as if it were but a written tale. With this authority, the world and its countless threads are laid bare like words upon an endless page.
»»»» Allows for true appraisal with 100% guarantee
»»»» ???? (Rank up your mastery for more abilities)
»»»» ????
»»»» ????
o__________________________________________o
Jin stared at the description, his mind reeling. This wasn't just an upgraded Appraisal skill—this was something that recognized his nature as someone from outside this world. Someone who had literally read about this reality as if it were a story.
The skill knows I'm a reader. It knows I see this world like a novel.
"That's..." Jin whispered, then louder, "That's incredible. And terrifying. And probably dangerous as hell."
"What's incredible?" Rudy asked, looking concerned. "And why are you muttering to yourself again? Every time you do that, something explodes."
What else will this skill reveal as it develops? What other abilities will unlock when I understand more about my unique perspective? And more importantly, what are the limitations and costs?
"Jin," Rudy's voice carried a note of alarm, "what happened to your eyes?"
Jin turned toward his friend, then caught his reflection in the polished surface of his new dagger. His breath caught.
His eyes had changed dramatically. Where once they'd been simple blue, now they held depths that seemed to contain swirling galaxies of purple and blue light—as if he could see through the very fabric of reality itself.
And just like that... His vision flashed, and [The Reader's Dominion] triggered automatically.
Suddenly, Jin could see everything. Not just the surface details, but the underlying structure of reality itself.
Information flooded his consciousness like a dam bursting.
"What the hell?"
~~~