Chapter 220: Ascending Rank

Vlad’s eyes rolled back as the same suffocating sensation overwhelmed the pain. His hand fell limp by his side, and his heart stopped beating.

The rune on the tomb glowed, spreading his blood across its entire surface and painting it crimson.

The thick liquid reached the rings of the array, illuminating the runes engraved upon them one by one.

Once the complete array was illuminated, the energy that had previously been dissipating from the hole in the tomb entered the obsidian blade. Using it as a medium, the golden particles reached Vlad’s still heart.

Countless microscopic magic circles appeared across the surface of his heart. Golden veins surged out from his heart, shattering these magic circles.

They quickly spread in every direction, forming a completely separate nervous system, one that was connected to the heart instead of the brain.

The thickest of them reached his core in his lower abdomen, forming the connection that had previously been severed.

Once the veins had reached every part of his body, the obsidian dagger vanished, turning into ashes. No hole remained in Vlad’s heart, as if it had never been stabbed to begin with.

His bones and flesh began regenerating, thanks to the Bracelet of Eternity.

Thump!

His heart beat again. His eyes shot open as he took a heavy gasp.

"Hah... hah... hah..." His chest rose and fell rapidly, sweat quickly covering his skin.

For a few seconds, he neither moved nor said anything. He kept breathing heavily, clutching his chest.

"Th-this was the closest I have ever been to death," he muttered, finally managing to say something.

He pushed himself into a sitting position and analyzed his body. Even though the Bracelet had healed the injury, the dagger had left a permanent mark on his chest, a vertical scar that would always remind him of the lengths he had gone to in order to move one step closer to his goal.

His fingers softly brushed the scar when a system screen appeared before him.

[Congratulations! You have cleared the first phase of the fifth floor of Ascension Dungeon!]

[The second phase will begin in two hours.]

Slowly, his lips curled into a smile as he realized what had changed within him. He jumped off the platform and drew The Éclair from his storage ring.

He closed his eyes. His silhouette was covered in a crimson veil, vapors rising from his skin. Flickers of lightning buzzed around his body.

A liquid form of concentrated mana poured into the blade in his hand, turning its steel bloody red. The size of the blade barely increased by one and a half times.

His eyes opened, his grip tightening around the sword. In one smooth motion, he brought the blade down in a vertical arc with both hands.

Slash!

It struck the altar, cleanly slicing it into two halves.

"My meridians have been regenerated," Vlad murmured, finding it difficult to believe. "Not just regenerated, they have been completely transformed. I didn’t feel the slightest resistance in manifesting the Sword Aura."

His hand moved to his abdomen as he continued, his brows raised in surprise. "That was my hundred-percent Sword Aura strike, and my mana is barely drained. Even my core has expanded."

To make sure that he wasn’t simply daydreaming, he asked Ren to show his status screen again.

---

Status Screen

• Host Name: Vlad

• Rank: A (upgradable)

• Attributes:

– Umbra (Res: Mortal)

– Electro (Res: Mortal)

• Core: Primordial

• Stats:

– Strength: 102 Speed: 101

– Defense: 108 Agility: 100

– Endurance: 123 Vitality: 130

• Skills:

– Foresight Eye

– Lightning Step

– Mana Blade

– Art of Dragon Breathing

– Sword Aura

– Sword of Abyss: Chapter One

– Dragon Tongue

---

Vlad rubbed his eyes. Thrice. The details on the screen still remained the same.

He placed his hand on the altar to steady himself as he nearly lost the strength in his legs.

"I-I’m not a D-Ranked anymore," he whispered, his lips trembling. His voice grew louder, echoing through the walls of the dungeon. "I’m not a D-Ranked anymore!"

It took him more than five minutes to accept the change in his rank, which only made it all the more unbelievable. Never had he heard that a person’s talent could be changed. The number of meridians and their inherent potential to grow further were fixed from birth, and Vlad had already reached the maximum potential of his talent.

But now, his rank had jumped from D to A. How mysterious was the Legacy System that it could alter the very laws of nature?

Vlad decided to ignore the complicated matters for now. His meridians had been restored, his rank had increased, and he had even learned Dragon Tongue. This visit to the Ascension Dungeon had benefited him in more ways than he could have imagined.

"Ren, what do you mean by my rank being upgradable?" Vlad asked, noticing the unusual wording.

[Host’s potential can be increased as they awaken more of their draconic traits.]

Another gasp escaped his lips. Didn’t that mean his rank might someday reach S or even SS?

He decided not to get ahead of himself.

He sat cross-legged and activated the Art of Dragon Breathing to fill his expanded core to the fullest.

Ten minutes later...

"Eternal Eye," he murmured, channeling his mana into his right eye as he looked at himself in the mirror.

His eye had completely transformed. The sclera had become an endless expanse of darkness, speckled with countless stars that glimmered within it. His iris had narrowed into a diagonal slit, resembling a miniature galaxy swirling with cosmic light.

"Incredible..." Vlad gasped, looking closely at his eye’s reflection. "So this is how Eternal Eye looks."

Now that his meridians had recovered, he could activate his Eternal Eye at will.

"Now then..." Vlad’s lips rose into a smile. "Ren, teach me the Early Stage Dragon Transforming Technique."

[Initializing Host’s request...]

[Checking the requirement...]

[Requirement met!]

[Sending the required information directly to the host’s brain...]

His brows twitched from the mild headache. He ignored the pain and closed his eyes, reciting the technique.

"Now I understand why I couldn’t learn the technique before," Vlad mumbled, opening his eyes two hours later.