Chapter 44: Storm Sovereign

Before I could make sense of what was happening, numerous system notifications began appearing in my vision.

[You have received the Legacy of the Thunder God!]

[You have unlocked a Legacy Class: Storm Sovereign!]

[Storm Sovereign]

Description:The inheritor of the Lightning Legacy. A warrior who commands the power of the storm through the Doom Axe, using lightning to strengthen his body, overwhelm his enemies, and shatter anything that stands in his way.

[Your body has been strengthened by the Legacy of the Thunder God!]

[All physical attributes have increased!]

[You have acquired Mana Runes!]

[You have unlocked the ability to absorb and manipulate mana!]

[You have received four Legacy Skills!]

[You have received 50 Legacy Points!]

1. [Thunderclad] Passive [0]

Whenever the power of the axe is activated, lightning continuously reinforces the wielder’s muscles and nervous system, increasing physical strength, movement speed, and reaction time. Higher proficiency allows the user to channel more lightning through his body.

2. [Thunder Cleave] Active [0]

The wielder coats the Doom Axe in lightning before delivering a powerful swing. The strike deals physical and lightning damage, with the electrical discharge briefly disrupting the target’s muscles. At higher proficiency, the attack can release a short-range arc of lightning.

3. [Lightning Step] Active [0]

The wielder releases a burst of lightning through his legs, accelerating over a short distance in an instant. It can be used to close the distance, dodge an attack, or reposition for a powerful swing. It is not teleportation, and experienced opponents can predict the wielder’s destination or intercept him.

4. [Storm Charge] Active [0]

The Doom Axe absorbs a portion of the lightning generated by the wielder’s legacy skills and stores it in its runes. The stored energy can be released to strengthen a subsequent attack. The axe has a limited capacity, so the wielder must decide when to unleash the accumulated power.

What the hell?

I could only stare at the text floating in front of me, my jaw hanging open.

I looked down at the axe in my hands before turning my attention back to the notifications.

To think this weapon carried so much power!

I had awakened a legacy.

Although I had no idea what a legacy actually was, there was no doubt in my mind that it was something amazing.

Along with it, I had received a new class called Storm Sovereign, which granted me the power to wield lightning.

I had also unlocked the ability to absorb and manipulate mana, something I had never expected to gain.

I had always wondered how Talia and Orgrun were able to use mana despite their magic being sealed.

Now, it seemed they could still interact with mana through something called runes.

If I had to guess, they had their own Mana Runes, just like the ones I had apparently acquired.

I lowered my hands and noticed strange markings spreading across my skin.

They began around my fingers and spread across the backs of my hands, climbing up my arms before extending toward my back.

The markings resembled intricate tattoos, though their faint glow made it clear they weren’t ordinary ink.

However, the markings weren’t even the most exciting part.

That honor belonged to the new skills I had acquired. I immediately opened my status screen to see what had changed.

[Status]

Name: Sylas Stone

Level: 14

Class: Storm Sovereign (Level 1)

HP: 610/660

MP: 345/355

Rage: 75%

[Stats]

Physical: 51 (+10)

Mental: 5

Social: 10

Stat Points: 5

[Skills]

Innate Skill: [Evolution Devourer]

Legacy Skills: [Thunderclad (0)] [Thunder Cleave (0)] [Lightning Step (0)] [Storm Charge (0)]

Passive Skills: [Camouflage] [Night Vision] [Iron Gut] [Regeneration] [Venomous Bite] [Boar’s Tough Hide] [Enhanced Leg] [Sharp Vision] [Cragdillo Scale] [Wolf’s Prowess] [Sticky Grip] [Gill Adaptation] [Silent Steps]

Active Skills: [Rage] [Blade Dance] [Thunderous Roar]

Wow!

I was stunned by how much my status screen had changed.

I was now Level 14, thanks to the humans I had killed during the battle.

My Physical stat had crossed the fifty-point mark, and with the additional ten points provided by my newly awakened legacy, my effective Physical stat had reached 61.

More importantly, I now had four powerful legacy skills at my disposal.

Thunderclad was a passive skill, while the other three required activation.

That meant I would need to spend mana to use them, so I had to be careful not to waste it.

I had no idea how much mana each skill consumed or how quickly I could recover it, and finding out in the middle of a fight would be a terrible idea.

Fortunately, I still had five unspent stat points. If increasing my Mental stat also increased my mana capacity, I knew exactly where those points needed to go.

"System, put all five points into Mental."

[Mental: 5 → 10]

[MP: 355 → 405]

My mana capacity increased immediately, giving me some breathing room.

It wasn’t an enormous amount, but every extra point could prove useful if I needed to rely on my new skills during a fight.

Another question had been bothering me, so I decided to ask before heading back outside.

"System, what does the level beside my class mean?"

[It means you can level up your class.]

That was a rather simple answer.

"How do I level up my class? Is it similar to the way I usually level up?"

[Most creatures, especially those with powerful classes, possess fragments of a legacy, whether they are aware of it or not. By defeating such a creature, you can obtain its legacy fragment, which is converted into Legacy Points. These points can be used to level up your class or improve the proficiency of your legacy skills.]

Oh, so that was what the number beside each skill meant. They all started at zero, but by investing Legacy Points, I could increase their proficiency and presumably make them stronger.

That was good to know.

[You will acquire a new legacy skill every five class levels. Upon reaching certain thresholds, your class will evolve, advancing you into a new realm of power.]

A grin spread across my face.

The thought of unlocking even more legacy skills filled me with excitement. If the four I had just received were anything to go by, the abilities waiting for me at higher class levels could be incredible.

As for the creatures I needed to defeat to obtain more Legacy Points, I suspected humans would be my most reliable source.

It was unlikely that ordinary forest creatures, such as boars or snakes, possessed the kind of legacy fragments the system was talking about.

Some goblins might have them as well, but I had no intention of going out of my way to hunt down my fellow goblins just to test that theory.

I had a feeling that, especially after awakening the power of the Doom Axe, I would find myself clashing with humans more often than not.

It wasn’t because I hated them. I had been human once, after all.

I knew what it was like to live as one, and I had no particular desire to treat every human I encountered as an enemy.

Unfortunately, that wouldn’t stop them from treating me as one.

The thought of a goblin wielding the power of the Doom Axe would either terrify humans or tempt them to seize that power for themselves.

Either way, I would attract attention, and I doubted all of it would be friendly.

But I welcomed it.

From the moment I became a goblin, I had known that conflict with humans would be difficult to avoid.

After what had happened to me, I had even less reason to believe otherwise.

Besides, I had unfinished business with the particular humans who had attacked the clan, and I had every intention of dealing with them with these new abilities I just awakened.

I closed my status screen and glanced at Talia, who was still standing nearby, staring at me as though she hadn’t fully processed what she had witnessed.

"Let’s go," I said.

She blinked before nodding, and we made our way toward the entrance.

However, the moment we stepped outside, we found the swordsman waiting for us.

He was back on his feet, though his movements were noticeably stiff, and he looked as though he was still recovering from the lightning that had sent him flying.

"You... What... How did you do that?" he demanded, his eyes darting between me and the axe in my hands. "How are you able to use magic?"

"Oh, I just picked up this axe, and it gave me powers. Interesting, isn’t it?"

The swordsman furrowed his brow.

"Are you messing with me right now?"

I turned to Talia.

"He thinks I’m messing with him. What do I do?"

Talia blinked at me, clearly confused by my question. I couldn’t blame her.

I wasn’t exactly taking the situation seriously, but after everything that had happened, I found it difficult to resist messing with the swordsman a little.

"No matter," he muttered, tightening his grip on his sword. "You only managed to land a hit because I was caught off guard. It won’t happen twice."

He lunged toward me without another word, covering the distance between us in an instant. His sword came down in a powerful diagonal slash, aimed at my upper body.

Yet, despite the speed of his attack, I could follow his movements with surprising clarity.

His sword seemed slower, giving me enough time to shift my weight and lean out of its path. The blade swept past me, missing by a narrow margin.

My eyes widened slightly.

So this was the effect of my strengthened body and Thunderclad. The lightning flowing through my system had enhanced my reactions, allowing me to respond before his strike could connect.

I tightened my grip on the Doom Axe, planted my feet, and swung down at him while he was still recovering from his missed attack.