Lec could feel something waking up within him, not too dissimilar to when he first utilized chaos energy to enhance himself against that mad man actively. In any other situation, he probably would have been startled quite a bit by the sudden feeling. Still, after undertaking that golden transformation earlier, he truly felt that no increase in power could ever phase him again.
He could feel the strange energy fill up every fiber of his being, moving alongside his body's natural chaos energy. He almost thought they'd mix for a second, but it seemed like neither power ever got too close. It was as if they were actively pushing away from one another, yet they weren't exactly hostile either, simply living in a tense peace. Lec of course found it strange, but decided not to think too deeply about it; the experience wasn't over, after all.
The heat began in the center of his chest, slowly reaching his stomach and shoulders, then his arms and legs, then his hands and feet. Under that heat, his bones, muscles, organs, and blood vessels were being rebuilt and revitalized. It was as if he was being reborn...well, reborn again.
It was almost as euphoric as his first time actively using the power of chaos. He could tell the difference between the two energies; if chaos energy were a roaring wave of passion, then whatever this was felt like a calm stream....He kinda liked it.
A slow realization began to wash over him; it's not like he didn't know, but he was just too in the moment to think about it. In just a few weeks, he had gone from a scrappy outskirts rat to whatever he was now. If only his sister could see him now.
After some time had passed, the heat in his chest finally cooled down. Instead, it was replaced with a strange coldness, like he was floating in space again. That coldness washed over him, eventually reaching his eyes and brain.
Suddenly, his vision strangely doubled, and his surroundings changed.
***
It was a sunny day outside...
'Outside???'
Whipping his head around, Lec found himself in a completely different area. Instead of floating in a pace of interconnected strings, he was standing in a rather large clearing within a forested area. "Where the hell..?"
Looking up towards the sky, Lec struggled to cover his eyes. Despite the sky being the past dark void with an endless pattern of stars, the sun strangely seemed to still be up. From all his knowledge from reading webtoons, Lec knew that this had to be his so-called Sea of Soul. But wasn't it supposed to look different?
From what he remembered, it was supposed to be a seemingly endless ocean with a person's bright soul core hanging over them. The soul core definitely wasn't missing, but clearly his soul didn't get the endless ocean bit. Should he call this place the Soul forest, then?
'No, that name sucks... I'll think of something later.'
Looking around, Lec finally spotted something right in the middle of the clearing. It seemed to be some kind of altar. Moving closer, Lec's suspicions were confirmed true. Seven pillars shot up into the sky, forming a circle around his soul core. Along with them, there was a small sphere of light orbiting around it. This must have been his memory, [Air Shoes].
A solemn smile appeared on his face as he returned his attention back to the pillars.
"Seven pillars for the seven emeralds?" Walking up the stairs leading up to what Lec assumed to be a plaza of some kind, he was thoroughly disappointed when he found nothing there, although the hole in the middle of the ceiling made for a great way to blind himself by staring directly at his soul core.
Not wanting to waste any more time, he'd open his runes to inspect the Air Shoes' memory. But before he could do such a thing, the spell began to speak again.
[Awakening Aspect Ability…]
"Huh?"
"Oh, finally! Took you long enough."
Divine Aspect or not, his future still heavily depended on his first Aspect Ability. His role in the Dream Realm would be based on its characteristics. If it were a combat ability, he would be cracked on the frontlines. If it were tied to sorcery, he would likely become a powerful, but fragile, ranged fighter.
If it were something having to do with utility, he would be a vitally important part of the behind-the-scenes workings of the Dream Realm. Utility Abilities were also extremely valued in the real world, where Awakened performed many tasks that kept it going.
[Aspect Ability acquired.]
[Aspect Ability Name: Chaos Snap.]
"Ohh, snap! What's dat?" Immediately summoning his runes, he'd hurriedly search for the ability.
Name: Lec.
True Name: Black Wind.
'So cool!!! Ahem, anyways.'
Rank: Dreamer.
Soul Core: Dormant.
Soul Essence: [14/1000].
Memories: [Air Shoes].
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Knight of the Wind], [Mark of Divinity], [Living Cure].
Aspect: [The Ultimate Lifeform].
Aspect Rank: Divine.
Aspect Abilities: Chaos Snap.
Aspect Ability Description: [A localized application of a weak chaos control compressed into a single instant. With nothing more than focused intent, the user vanishes from their current position and reappears within a short distance.]
"Huh, neat. But does that mean I no longer have full-on chaos control anymore?"
"I mean, I guess it makes sense. The only reason I was able to accomplish chaos control in the first place was because of the emeralds, and this chaos snap is what I received in its stead."
All in all, he felt pretty good about his new ability. But it also worried him, 'Will I need the emeralds to accomplish higher feats of power? If so, that kinda sucks. Who knows if I'll ever see one again.' So for his future, Lec really wished that wasn't the case, and if it was, he hoped that he'd be able to find them.
As he thought that, the Spell's voice resounded throughout his Soul Sea.
[All power has a price.]
[You have received a Flaw.]
[Your Flaw is: …]
"Ah, Shit."