Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Physical changes and abilities Calming down from the small burst of excitement, he took a breath and refocused.
The smile faded from his face as his eyes returned to the floating screen in front of him.
Ranking up had been a victory, sure, but that wasn’t why he opened the status again. He had something else in mind.
Healing.
That was what he needed. That was the only thing that mattered right now.
He scanned the lines carefully.
---
[Name: Rhian Locke] Age: 18 Divine Core: E Rank (3.89%) Bloodline: Ragnarok [Abilities]
■ Locked ■ Locked ■ Locked [Unlocked Abilities:] ■ [Passive] Aquatic Adaptation — Able to naturally adapt underwater, forming the organs needed to breathe or survive in aquatic environments. ■ [Passive] Predator Instinct — Enhanced reaction speed, hand-eye coordination, and heightened danger sense. ■ [Passive] Ragnarok Physique — The user’s body gains increased strength, speed, and internal magic storage. Physical adaptation is accelerated under pressure. ■ [Moderate] Reptilian Regeneration — Fast regenerative ability. Accelerates healing of minor wounds and stops bleeding. Deep wounds require more time to heal. ■ Pain Resistance — The ability to endure large amounts of pain and keep a clear mind. ■ Breath of Ragnarok — The ability to channel destructive energies through the body. ■ Poison Immunity — There is no poison in the world that can kill you. ■ Illusion [Limited] — Can create a 5-second illusion of anything and control it. ■ Shadow Manipulation [Limited] — Able to control someone’s shadow. ■ Combat Instinct — Your connection to the essence of war heightens your ability to learn and adapt in battle. You grasp techniques, timing, and strategy far quicker than others, allowing your combat skill to evolve at an accelerated pace with each fight. ---
He blinked. Once. Twice.
His brain felt like it hit a wall. The list wasn’t just impressive, it was ridiculous.
Each one of those could’ve been worth years of training. Any one of them could define someone’s combat style. And yet... here they were.
He leaned back slightly, his hand gripping his knee.
This wasn’t what he expected. Not even close.
But the smile faded quickly.
He stared at the ability list again, reading line by line. His heart sank when he reached the end. No healing ability. Nothing even close to it.
He sat there, still for a moment, then let out a long breath through his nose. His hand rubbed across his face.
The feeling of strength was nice, but it meant nothing right now. He looked down on his arms. Nia was still lying unconscious. Her skin hadn’t regained warmth.
He looked up toward the far ceiling above. He could see the large opening.
The drop had been too far, and the way back up was gone. Unless they could fly or had climbing gear, they weren’t getting out.
Then his eyes settled back on the cave entrance across from them. That faint crack in the stone wall.
The one that looked normal until you remembered the warning on his wrist. The watch was still on, but it had faded.
He hadn’t seen it yet, and nothing had come out.
That alone bothered him more than he admitted. Either it didn’t care to investigate the noise, or it didn’t need to. Maybe it was still watching him.
But something was different now.
He wasn’t the same person that had dropped in here. His Divine Core was E-rank now.
That meant something.
It had to.
He felt stronger. There was no mistaking it. If before he could put a dent in a normal human’s skull, now Rhian felt like he could make it explode. Maybe that was exaggerated, but that’s how it felt to him.
He looked down at her. The only real option was to explore the cave path, or just wait here until the student time limit in the portal ended.
Waiting felt like wasting time. He didn’t know how many days had passed or whether that monster would come for them again.
But with that plan forming in his head, there were still a lot of missing pieces. What would he do with Nia? What would he use to fight?
As if answering his thoughts, he felt a small sting across his nails. He looked down and noticed they were darker now, black, sharp, and slightly curved.
A weak smile pulled at the corner of his mouth.
That made him examine his hands more closely. They looked larger, rougher. Scales wrapped along his skin in tight patterns that almost looked like ink at first glance.
He looked at his left hand. The same pale tone from before was still there, but it was just pale now.
But like the right, the arm had dark, subtle scales that climbed all the way up past his elbow.
He couldn’t help but wonder what else had changed.
So he took off his uniform top to check the arms and any other bodily changes.
He ran his hand along the scales, fingers tracing the pattern as they moved up his forearm.
The texture was smooth but dense, like pressed leather stretched over steel.
The scales stopped just before his bicep, and that’s when he noticed the muscle beneath. It was clean, defined, and tighter than he remembered. He stood up slowly.
As he straightened fully, he paused. The ground looked... lower. Not by much, but enough to make him blink.
’Did I grow taller too?’ he thought.
This was getting weirder. He didn’t know much about carriers, sure, but he had never heard of anyone changing this much.
Even cursed/evolved, depending on who you asked, usually kept the same body outside of transformation. Miss Liane had explained it once.
The awakened form, or true form, usually showed all the changes. But ranking up? She hadn’t mentioned anything about physical changes with each rank.
Maybe she didn’t know. Or maybe his case was different.
’Do I even look the same anymore?’
He turned toward the water, careful with each step. His eyes adjusted easily in the dark, the night vision from his bloodline kicking in.
The surface of the lake reflected just enough to show a shape, it was his shape, blurry and warped by ripples, but still there. He leaned in closer.
A pale outline stared back. His jawline looked sharper. His eyes had a soft glow to them, the green more vivid, slitted like a snake.
The strands of black hair now held visible hints of green when the light touched them. His skin wasn’t pale exactly, but it had a cooler tone now, a hint of grayish tint under the surface.
And along his cheeks and temple, under the skin, the faintest marks of scale patterns shimmered.
He blinked, staring longer.
’What the hell happened to me?’
He glanced down at the water again, then stepped back immediately.
A part of him remembered what had been below, dragging Nia deeper like a lure. It hadn’t shown itself again, but he wasn’t about to take chances.
He looked toward the cave.
One option.
And not a great one.