Single Wish: Rise Of The Omniscient Paragon

443  442: Tainted (2)

After Pamela spoke about the Seekers, she paused, and then she poured herself a cup of grape juice. She drank it with a contented expression, and then she glanced at Corey who was staring at her without blinking.

His expression was flat, expressionless, and if a stranger were here, they would think that Corey had gone brain-dead. Meanwhile, Corey's mind was on the information that Pamela had just given him, and he was waiting for her to continue.

Fortunately, she did not keep him waiting, and she continued speaking with a tinge of enthusiasm and excitement in her tone.

"After the Seeker, Tainteds in the fourth stage are called Harbingers of the Taint or Harbingers in short."

"The main obstacle for the Tainteds who want to reach this stage is that they have to find an ancient rune to fuse with. Tainteds who are about to become Harbingers unlock an ability called Rune Melding, and this allows them to fuse their Rune Tattoos with a different type of rune called Ancient Runes."

"I don't know much about Ancient Runes, but from what I could gather and learn, Ancient Runes are distinct because of their color. They're either Black or Red."

Corey's expression froze for a second, and his mind went back to his Genesis Armament.

"It's also said that Ancient Runes are runes of the Old Ones, and they can be gotten from the Temples of the Old Ones or the Ancient Stones of Cities, Villages, and other established settlements."

"However, the Ancient Stone of settlements is usually limited in the number of runes a Tainted can fuse with, unlike the Temples of the Old Ones which is said to have countless number of ancient runes."

Corey's eyes glowed subtly as he pondered on Pamela's words.

'The ancient stone of a city, village, or an established settlement has an ancient rune? Does that mean that the difference between an individual ancient stone and a city ancient stone is not little?'

Corey was certain that his ancient stone and Selena's ancient stone had no ancient rune, however, the same could not be said for his Genesis Armament.

'My Genesis Armament is filled with red and black runes… Are they ancient runes?' Corey could not help but wonder.

"You might not fully understand what I said about the Ancient Runes, but if you go to the ancient stone of Gravenstone City, you'll understand. As for the temple, even I am not allowed to enter."

Corey's brows rose in slight surprise.

"Now, where was I again?" Pamela mumbled while snapping her fingers, and then she stopped while exclaiming.

"Yeah, I was talking about Harbingers."

"As I was saying, Harbingers are Tainteds that have fused their Rune Tattoo with an Ancient Rune, and when they do this, they usually become much stronger in terms of physical strength, they gain more abilities, and their original tattoos become more complex."

"However, there's a high risk of death during melding, and even if one successfully melds, Tainteds usually suffer in two ways."

"The first is that Harbingers usually suffer a permanent physical or mental scar, and most of the time, they experience accelerated aging. Because of this, a lot of Tainteds are wary of old men and women since there's a high possibility of them being Harbingers."

"Harbingers are weird to me because even though they're old, their life span does not decrease, but increases."

"Tainteds in the fifth stage are called Dreadkeepers of the Ancients or Dreadkeepers in short."

"Dreadkeepers are seen as legendary figures, and a Dreadkeeper would be treated with immense respect throughout the dimension of the Old Ones."

"When it comes to Dreadkeepers, this is where Tainteds become envious of we Outsiders. Just like me, you were also given a weapon that can evolve, and Tainteds call such weapons, Genesis Armaments."

"My knowledge of Genesis Armaments is lacking, so I can't give you any concrete information about them. However, what I do know is that Harbingers desire to have a Genesis Armament so that they can become Dreadkeepers."

"For a Harbinger to become a Dreadkeeper, he or she must bind themselves to an Ancient Weapon. Those seven massive weapons are examples of Ancient Weapons, they're the only Ancient Weapons I've seen. I've also heard and read that every Temple has an Ancient Weapon."

"A Tainted would have to lock their Rune Tattoos to the Ancient Weapon. When completed successfully, the Dreadkeeper would be able to manipulate the Chaos Energy on a grander scale, and they can even open minor rifts to summon creatures from another dimension… I don't know what this unknown dimension is."

"If a Tainted fails to successfully bind their Rune Tattoos to an Ancient City, they'd be permanently bound to the Ancient Weapon for eternity. Their body and soul would be tortured for eternity."

"However, for those that have a Genesis Armament, they can decide to nurture their Genesis Armament to their desired grade, and then they can fuse with it without any side-effect."

"And last but not least, the last stage is called Ascendant of the Abyss or Ascendants in short."

"There's not much information on this stage, but after pulling every string possible, I was able to get some information about Ascendants."

"According to what I know, Ascendants become embodiments of chaos, and they can take multiple forms. They can distort time, complete control over chaos energy, and they can also manipulate the environment."

"As for the cost, I only know of one. If they use too much chaos energy, it could lead to physical and mental dissolution into the shattered dimension."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot… A Novice is comparable to a tier 1, a Fractured to a tier 2, a Seeker to a tier 3, a Harbinger to a tier 4, a Dreadkeeper to a tier 5, and an Ascendant to a tier 6."

Corey's expression became slightly strange. He didn't know why, but he expected… more.

Pamela saw his expression, and she instantly understood what was on his mind.

"A piece of advice, don't underestimate these people. The weakest Novice would have physical stats that are comparable to a tier 1 with stats in the Green Star realm… And that is just the weakest." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Corey nodded with a slightly solemn expression when he heard Pamela's words.

'It might seem weird and stupid of me to want my potential enemies to be more powerful, but it was an instinctual response.'

'To him, how could a place that has a Nightmare Finger and beings called The Old Ones be ordinary."