Chapter 183: Successful Forging & God of Assassins

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sound of metal colliding echoed throughout the underground room, the force powerful enough to cause the walls to tremble.

Fortunately, Aurelius had made preparations, erecting a barrier before he began forging the Relic. Otherwise, let alone the Sol mansion, the entire Blood Sun City would have been alarmed.

Aurelius paid little attention to the noise.

His face was focused, his gaze fixed intently on the liquid in front of him.

Under the effect of Transmutation, his Spirit extended outward, transforming into an invisible hammer that repeatedly struck the extraordinary materials.

With each hit, the originally distinct liquid drops showed a tendency to merge.

Clang! Clang!

The noise continued to ring out.

The process was both physically and mentally taxing.

Although forging the Mystery Cloak was easier than forging some Rare and above Relics, it was still several times more difficult than an ordinary Elite Relic.

It not only required a high Level of Transmutation, but also expert control over one’s consciousness and Spirit.

At the same time, the Spirit itself needed to be powerful enough. Otherwise, the Awakener would collapse halfway through the forging, resulting in its failure.

Thankfully, Aurelius lacked none of these requirements.

The Transmutation skill had already been upgraded to the limit of what it currently could, similar to when he had brought Synthesis to its peak.

Likewise, his control over his Spirit was masterful, a result of his Arcanist and Class Creator Classes.

As for his consciousness?

This might have been a disadvantage in the past, as it was something that could not be measured by simple Base Stats.

In fact, it depended strongly on the Awakener’s soul, which was intangible, immeasurable, and almost impossible to improve.

Yet Aurelius had already noticed that his consciousness had become much nimbler.

’It should be my trip to the Underworld that caused a certain mutation. Was my consciousness washed by the power of Death and thus strengthened?’ Aurelius guessed.

He could not confirm it.

However, now was not the time to contemplate such matters.

He pushed the thought aside and continued focusing on the forging.

He knew very well that the slightest distraction could cause the entire process to fail.

Five minutes. Twenty minutes. An hour.

Before long, Aurelius had stayed in the underground room for several hours.

Had it been in the past, his disappearance might have alarmed his mother and the Sol family.

Fortunately, with Elena having learned of his identity, Aurelius could now become far more unscrupulous. He believed that she would understand the difficulties he was facing and would not try to seek him out.

Time slowly passed.

Aurelius’ face was becoming increasingly pale, evidence of the enormous consumption of his Spirit.

The process had already lasted much longer than he had expected.

His breathing had become slightly heavier, but his movements remained steady.

Just as faint sweat had begun forming on his forehead, a deafening explosion rang out within his mind.

Boom!

A brilliant black light covered his vision, momentarily blinding him.

For an instant, he could see nothing.

When the light faded a second later, the previous messy liquid was nowhere to be seen.

In its place was a black cloak, resembling a long cape.

From its name and the materials that had been used during its forging, Aurelius had initially expected it to be an eerie item.

Yet now, he discovered that he had been wrong.

The cloak was anything but eerie.

It was actually quite majestic.

It was made from a peculiar black leather that seemed impenetrable, while silver strands were embroidered around its collar, giving it a mysterious and noble appearance.

When Aurelius reached out and touched its main body, he noticed a soft sensation beneath his hand, as though the cape was a thin film, fragile and vulnerable.

He knew, however, that this impression was terribly wrong!

The Mystery Cloak’s main function was obviously concealment.

Still, it was an Epic Relic. And as an Epic Relic, its toughness was extraordinary.

Let alone him, even a Rank 4 or even Rank 5 Awakener would struggle to cause it any damage.

The more Aurelius observed his creation, the happier he became.

Especially when he noticed the frantic warnings sent by Alchemist’s Touch, no weaker than when he had held the Sea God’s Trident, he knew he had succeeded!

The Mystery Cloak had been successfully forged!

Even with his composure, he found it difficult to remain calm.

He had spent weeks gathering the materials for this moment.

Now, everything had paid off.

Without any hesitation, he immediately summoned its description.

...

[Mystery Cloak (Epic): A Relic developed and forged by an Assassin of the Tudor Empire. It possesses superb concealment abilities, granting its user immunity to Insight-based Skills and Talents.]

[Effects:]

[Concealment Mask: You are immune to Insight abilities below a certain threshold. You can freely disguise your strength and Class. Current Limit: Rank 6 Awakeners. Relics above the Epic rank can see through the disguise.]

[Assassin’s Vow: You can designate an opponent as your Fatal Enemy. Your attacks against the designated target will be increased by fifty percent. However, your defenses will be weakened by fifty percent until the target dies.]

[Blessing of the God of Assassins: While wearing the Mystery Cloak, the user receives the Blessing of the God of Assassins. The power of all Assassin Skills is doubled, their consumption is halved, and the chance of landing a Critical Hit is increased.]

[Mark of the Tudor Family: The Mystery Cloak contains the aura of the Tudor Family. Beings below Rank 7 are incapable of detecting it, while stronger beings and special methods may perceive it.]

[Reminder: Due to the death of the God of Assassins, it will be difficult to upgrade the Mystery Cloak to its true form.]

[+25 Agility, +200 Spirit (Mana)]

...

The Mystery Cloak carried four skills, just as its description had mentioned in the past.

Yet unlike before, when these skills were hidden, waiting for him to actually forge the Relic, they had now been revealed.

Concealment Mask.

Assassin’s Vow.

Blessing of the God of Assassins.

Mark of the Tudor Family.

The former three were extraordinary abilities that perfectly fit his needs.

Assassin’s Vow and Blessing of the God of Assassins could improve his combat prowess.

Meanwhile, Concealment Mask solved his immediate problem.

It allowed him to hide the Arcanist Class.

After all, in his opinion, there was nothing wrong with him becoming an Awakener.

His only "secret" in the eyes of other people was this Mythical Class.

Now, with the Mystery Cloak’s disguise and his ability to learn skills of other Classes, Aurelius was fully capable of disguising himself as another Class.

As long as he did not reveal anything unusual, he could easily appear to be a slightly stronger ordinary Awakener.

Only Rank 7 Awakeners would be able to detect something wrong.

However, such people were already rare.

It was already difficult enough to encounter them, much less attract their attention so that they would personally investigate him. For the current Aurelius, this was already more than enough.

Yet despite the power of the accompanying skills, Aurelius was not in the mood to experiment with them.

The description had revealed several pieces of information that had stunned him.

First of all, the God of Assassins was dead!

Secondly, the Mystery Cloak’s current form was not "complete."

In his opinion, this meant that the original Mystery Cloak was not merely an Epic Relic. Perhaps it had reached the rank above that!

No matter how knowledgeable he was, for a Rank 3 Awakener like him, learning these two facts was shocking.

’A God... has died?’ Aurelius couldn’t help but mutter inwardly.

He rapidly sifted through his memories, trying to find information about the God of Assassins.

Unfortunately, he failed to find anything.

What he did recall, however, was information about the Tudor Empire.

’The Tudor Empire was rumored to have existed about a century before the Dawn Kingdom’s establishment.’

’In that Era, the Tudor Empire had unified most of Nova Roma. Only the areas of the current Pirate Kingdom had not succumbed to its rule.’

’Yet suddenly, the Empire broke apart. Within decades, the once illustrious Empire had crumbled, breaking into several smaller kingdoms.’

’All the present Kingdoms and Empires can be said to have been built on the foundation of the Tudor Empire.’

The fall of the Tudor Empire had been an eternal mystery.

Some historians claimed it was a result of infighting between Princes.

Others pieced together clues and believed that it was the result of several enemy forces uniting to fight against it.

There were even some who claimed the Gods were involved.

The latter assumption was the least popular, and anyone who believed it was ridiculed as a conspiracist.

With the information he had just learned, however, Aurelius couldn’t help but think that this was the most plausible explanation.

After all, the appearance of the God of Assassins within the Mystery Cloak forged by a Tudor Empire Era Assassin could hardly be a coincidence.

If the Tudor Family truly possessed a connection with that deity, then the sudden collapse of the Empire could be explained.

Aurelius’ eyes narrowed slightly.

’Was the God of Assassins the deity the Tudor Family believed in?’

’Did their Fall result in the family’s destruction?’