[You've purchased Noble Adornment. Minor rune bonus: Speed +3, Power +5, Will +17. Refresh?]
"Keep the Will. Refresh it once."
[After refresh: Speed +4, Stamina +4, Will +17.]
Even though the total value of the minor rune stats hadn't changed, Shinji was already more than satisfied. For King Halo, a bonus of 17 Will was already excellent.
If anything, it only reinforced his impression that Witch's Authority was pretty awful.
A mere minor rune could already provide 17 points of Will. It wasn't as if Will would suddenly undergo some massive qualitative leap after reaching a certain threshold, right?
And even if it did, so what? The fact that a minor rune could give that much Will already suggested that the threshold had to be quite high. If you had to rely on the number of blessed opponents in a race to trigger it, then Witch's Authority's activation conditions were absurdly restrictive.
No matter how you looked at it, it deserved the label of "underwhelming."
Letting his thoughts drift, Shinji decided to leave Witch's Authority hanging there. It didn't affect him one way or another.
[Do you want to choose the equipment and item now?]
"Of course. I basically had them picked out when I bought it, didn't I?"
He took out the vial of Apex Bloodtrace from the system.
When he gave it a light shake, the crimson liquid inside swayed gently with the motion, carrying a strange, unhealthy beauty, as though it wanted to flow into Shinji's heart and seep into his flesh and blood.
This was the first time he had actually taken it out and looked at it carefully since obtaining it. The more he stared at that eerie thing, the less it resembled an item meant to awaken bloodline potential.
If anything, it looked more like some sinister object designed to tempt people into darkness.
"This one."
[And the equipment?]
"Her own equipment, I guess. Since we're going in the direction of enhancing her bloodline, that piece should have something to do with her family. Hopefully it'll help Apex Bloodtrace bring out an even better effect."
If both transformed items wound up carrying effects tied to her bloodline, then Shinji very much hoped King Halo would be able to recreate some measure of Goodbye Halo's strength and take a solid step toward her dream of becoming first-rate.
And with his help, surpassing her mother would be all but inevitable.
The words Noble Adornment gradually vanished from the rune page.
A cloud of iridescent color appeared out of thin air, then slowly split into two portions. One merged into the Apex Bloodtrace in Shinji's hand, while the other shot straight out the window and disappeared into the outside world.
The scene was strikingly similar to when Offside Trap had received Mother of the Realm, and it immediately made Shinji think of the Seed of Blessing. He had no idea when he might ever come across an item like that again, and the thought made him strangely excited.
[Apex Bloodtrace: An equipment that fully awakens a horse girl's bloodline potential and links souls through the resonance of shared blood. Special effect: Can perceive spirits under certain conditions.
Usage: Apply beneath the horse girl's eyes, starting from the center and extending downward along the face.]
Some time passed before the system stirred again.
The blood-red liquid in Shinji's hand had already begun to change. A trace of purple had appeared within it, and the result was that the once blood-like substance no longer looked quite so unsettling. Instead, it carried a strange sort of nobility.
Shinji gave it another light shake, only to discover that the purple and red seemed partially separated rather than fully blended together.
"So this counts as equipment too? In the end I still have to smear it on."
[Of course it counts. Why wouldn't war paint count as equipment?]
The system's utter confidence made Shinji curl his lip.
Honestly, he still didn't understand why war paint qualified as equipment.
Fine. He'd accept that it did.
Then he waited for the new status of Halo Crest to update.
[Halo Crest: Increases competitiveness and pride. While pride is maintained, Guts +200.
Special effect: A crest containing the strength of the family, allowing the horse girl a chance to inherit the purest form of that legacy.]
Only then did Shinji finally smile.
The description of Apex Bloodtrace just now had been so vague that it had told him almost nothing concrete about how it would strengthen a horse girl. It wasn't like other runes or equipment, whose effects were usually spelled out plainly.
To be honest, he had been a little uneasy. Descriptions like that often implied a very high ceiling—but also an equally low floor, or even the possibility of no effect at all.
But now, with Halo Crest, even though the special effect remained rather intangible, Guts +200 alone was already an extremely powerful boost on the panel.
Even if it still fell short of the rune's full price in terms of sheer value, at least now there was some guaranteed effect to work with.
Thinking that, Shinji turned his gaze toward the bottle of Apex Bloodtrace in his hand.
Tomorrow would be the first day of a new year, and for Shinji, a day suitable for training was naturally not something to waste.
He had already decided—tomorrow, he would hand this piece of equipment over to King Halo.
Who knew? Maybe her bloodline ran especially true, and she might show results immediately.
Carrying that hopeful thought with him, Shinji dropped backward into bed and drifted into sleep.
Inside the dream, a figure appeared all of a sudden.
King Halo frowned. She had no idea why, of all days, she would be having a nightmare on a day she had been so happy.
Even though everything in the dream was a little blurred, the ominous colors and the sensation of being pursued made her certain that her mind was perfectly lucid.
She just couldn't wake herself up.
People generally possess an instinctive ability to tell whether a dream is good or bad.
At that moment, King Halo felt exactly that.
She tried over and over to force herself awake, but the more solid the figure before her became, the firmer the dream turned, locking her inside it.
She stared fixedly at the figure taking shape.
It wasn't particularly tall, yet it carried an inexplicable aura that made even her heart tremble.
But Halo wasn't afraid.
She could sense that the figure meant her no harm, and it didn't seem like it would suddenly lunge at her just to scare her either.
Shinji had already told her what tomorrow's training would be.
She didn't want to show up in poor mental condition—his eyes were too sharp. He would notice immediately that something was off, and then he would no doubt prepare all kinds of "special methods" to torment her.
The figure finally completed its form.
Now genuinely curious, Halo wanted to see the woman's face—but the woman refused to follow the logic of Halo's own dream, simply standing there with her hands clasped behind her back, radiating lonely pride.
That made Halo think of someone.
Of her mother.
Goodbye Halo.
The same proud bearing. The same arrogance.
Halo circled around behind the woman, only then noticing how much of the woman's hair had turned white. Reaching out, Halo instinctively tried to touch her—
But before her hand could land, the woman suddenly turned around.
Halo looked straight into her eyes.
She couldn't find words to describe the sharpness within them. She couldn't even hold that gaze without feeling her heart shudder.
She froze.
And by the time she came back to herself, the pale ceiling above her had already replaced the dream.
Halo slowly sat up.
Urara had exhausted herself all day and was sleeping soundly, utterly unaware that Halo had risen.
Watching her roommate's rather messy sleeping posture, Halo found that, for once, she couldn't laugh.
She slowly curled her fingers into her palm.
Then let them go.
Looking out at the moon beyond the window—it was small, but bright—Halo murmured softly:
"What… was that…?"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 142)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter181)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter103)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter192)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 173
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 166
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 110
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 190
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 165
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 156
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 81
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 102
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 120
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 80
Uma Musume: I Want All 95
I Can Copy Unique Skills 84
Summoning an Evil God, but the 66
Supernatural Multiverse 83
My Harem Is Indescribable 75
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 81
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 75
Still playing traditional Honk 55
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 60
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 57
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 45
Transmigrated as Sukuna 55
Checking In in Demon Slayer 60
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 65
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 35
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 35
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 39
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 58
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