—

Nearly five days later..

Kieran stood a few meters from Scar with a decisive expression while several chains of blood snaked around his body. A sharp look radiated from his eyes as Kieran lifted his unoccupied hand.

Throughout this training, Kieran broke the habit of having Crimson Ashrune as his only medium to unleash blood attacks.

While it was far from perfect, Kieran felt a deeper connection to the blood he wielded after Blood Mania reached Lv.4, which was a mere step away from a decent upgrade.

'I haven't reached the level of containing all my vitality with zero wastage, but it has been greatly reduced. This training was truly amazing,' Kieran inwardly thought.

Kieran's gaze shifted to Scar, who seemed to await his final move.

"Unleash it. I know you'll get it right this time. Once you do, it will conclude our first formal training. While victory remains uncertain, I don't doubt you'll do well," Scar said.

At the same time, he gestured for Kieran to come at him.

The air surrounding Kieran fell silent for a moment, but it grew incredibly dreadful as a strange ring surfaced around his feet. It was the first time it formed so fast, but Kieran expected as much, and so did Scar.

Why? Because Scar unleashed this attack two days ago and disclosed it was within Kieran's capabilities. It only took devotion and persistence to learn it.

Because of this comment, in addition to constantly fighting against Scar, he attempted something he had never done before.

Kieran attempted to learn a skill without using Skill Points to obtain it from the Skill Tree.

Under normal circumstances, Kieran wouldn't attempt such a complex action, but the skill's cost drove him to seek this path.

'I've attempted this many times over the past two days. Let's pray it is successful this time,' Kieran inwardly mused.

This wasn't the first time he had come this far, but none of his prior attempts succeeded in applying the effects of this dreadful ring.

Kieran exhaled and lifted Crimson Ashrune, ensuring to maintain a certain level of focus while doing so. The dreadful ring thrummed, gathered all the blood scattered throughout the room, and slowly ascended Kieran's body.

It took a substantial amount of focus to come this far, and Kieran didn't intend to fail after attempting to learn the skill hundreds of times over the last three days. Whenever he recovered enough energy, he would try again despite the outcome.

If there was anything Kieran excelled in, it was tenacity, which in some cases could also be mistaken as stubbornness. Charles mentioned it before, but Kieran was headstrong and refused to completely submit to anyone.

Such a personality was challenging to command, but Scar appreciated this trait. Although it could cause immense trouble, conflict was something neither Scar nor Agrianos feared.

And those two grand figures just so happened to be Kieran's backing.

The dreadful ring's ascent paused after reaching Kieran's waist. A few seconds later, Crimson Ashrune adopted its very presence. This step was the furthest he had ever come to completing this skill.

Kieran then closed his eyes and commanded his power. 'Yield!'

A strange ripple pulsated from Crimson Ashrune and the unnamed ring surrounding Kieran's body. It was different to describe the sensation, but Kieran enjoyed it—the feeling of exerting dominance of his power.

The more Kieran enforced his iron will, the stronger the unknown ring of energy resisted.

〈System: Your Soul Trait ?Vengeful Soul? is interacting with your actions. The resonance is triggering another Hidden Attribute.〉

Kieran glanced at this notification but didn't let it consume his attention. The attempt would inevitably fail if he allowed his concentration to be broken.

Considering there wasn't much time left until the Gladiator's Coliseum commenced, it was quite literally Kieran's last attempt at manually learning a skill to conserve a large number of Skill Points.

'Yield!' Kieran demanded in his mind once more.

The dreadful energy gradually grew docile as his intent overpowered the energy's innate defiance.

A few seconds later, this intent gave birth to a satisfying notification.

〈System: Due to you adamantly commanding your power, you have awakened the Hidden Attribute: ?Will?!〉

〈System: You have received one point of ?Will?!〉

There was no reward for awakening Will because he wasn't the first to do so. Bastion was the person to receive the unique opportunity, but Kieran didn't care. Any fortune his party members experienced contributed to the longevity and success of the team.

Besides, Will was one of the most straightforward Hidden Attributes to increase. A user's Willpower quantified their Will Attribute, so the more he applied, the higher the system would quantify it.

With the appearance of Will, Kieran's actions became easier. The dreadful ring grew subservient, and Kieran beamed after relishing the complete connection.

Immediately after, he rushed toward Scar and slashed out his sword. A dreadful splash of energy steeped in Kieran's very own blood lashed out toward Scar in a wild manner.

Scar lifted his hand and blocked with a thin blood shield while genuine delight blazed in his eyes. 'Excellent! He is learning one of the True Berserker's most destructive skills!'

The energy in the ring didn't dissipate after a single attack, so Kieran utilized the momentum of his first attack to execute a downward diagonal slash. The same energy assailed Scar once more as he maintained the shield.

When his attack failed to penetrate, Kieran executed another strike traveling in the opposite direction and left a subtle gash in Scar's shield.

Finally, he lifted the sword above his head and performed an extremely heavy downward slash, intending to cleave the blood shield in half.

BOOM!

The backlash made Kieran retreat a few steps while the dreadful ring dissipated. But in return, Scar's blood shield suffered a deep gash that even he had to praise. 'What a dreadful little monster... The twerp learned it faster than I did during my youth.

"Well done! Although you're only able to maintain it for four attacks, that last attack where you instilled all your power temporarily escaped the shackles of a Tier 1 existence.

〈System: Congratulations, you have manually learned S Rank Active Skill ?Dread Culling?!〉historical

〈System: As a reward for your actions, your title Enduring Warrior has upgraded to ?Tenacious Warrior?!〉

「 Title Name: Tenacious Warrior

Title Rank: Unique

Effect(s):

While this title is in the user's possession, the following effects apply:

-User's Stamina Consumption for all physical tasks is reduced by 30%.

-User's Stamina recovers at 200% of their Stamina Regeneration rate when outside of combat.

Description: A title rewarded to a warrior that displays stellar tenacity. Despite the presence of adversity and challenge, their tenacity persists and drives them to accomplish unthinkable feats. 」

After reading through this title's effect, it dawned on Kieran that he never once checked the effects of Enduring Warrior. But, because Tenacious Warrior was an upgrade of the title, Enduring Warrior vanished.

Thus, there was no way to know what its effects were.

Nevertheless, given the effects of Tenacious Warrior, Kieran could infer the effects of Enduring Warrior. After all, it was obtained after he endured the Ancient Volcanic Ichor and Elixir of Destructive Renewal.

Once he learned of the effects of Tenacious Warrior, Kieran switched to his newly unlocked skill. As an S Rank Active Skill, Kieran conserved 50 Skill Points by learning it manually.

Considering that number was half his remaining Skill Points, Kieran was ecstatic.

「Dread Culling (Lv.1)

Skill Rank: S

Skill Type: Active

Mastery (25.00%)

Description: The user harnesses the barbarity of their blood and builds upon the innate dread to form a ?Dread Circlet?. The energy inside the ?Dread Circlet? will empower [4] attacks with ?Dread Rush?. (Limited only to basic attacks. This skill can't be combined with existing skills at its current level.) Every attack fueled by the ?Dread Circlet? deals 2,664% of the user's Attack Power.

There is a 33% chance of ?Culling? enemies under 30% Health. [A successful ?Culling? reduces the skill's cooldown by 25%]

Consumption: 15% Health, 500 Mana

Prerequisites: ?Blood Mania?

Cooldown: 12 hours 」

Kieran sighed in relief once the Dread Circlet dispersed, allowing him to relax his shoulders. The nonstop fighting had truly taken its toll on him. But, Scar expected this outcome, which is why he left time for Kieran to recover naturally without the aid of special potions.

However, that didn't mean Scar wouldn't permit it. "If you need an elixir, you're welcome to head over to Isadora."

Hearing Isadora's name made Kieran shudder. He was reminded of that damned quest which was currently akin to a death sentence.

"Speaking of which, I owe you some words! That woman tricked me, and so did you, dammit! Did you know she would force me to go meet with the Emplenan Few?!"

Scar first guffawed before looking away innocently while scratching his head and feigning ignorance. "Reason is lost upon that woman. I can't help you there, twerp. The powers behind her are too frightening to go against. She an indispensable force within the Hero's Sanctuary and Xenith as a whole."

Kieran scoffed. "Where is your backbone?! Going weak before a woman? Tsk tsk, shame be upon your Scar."

Scar sputtered with widened eyes. He was appalled by the nonsense spewing from Kieran's mouth! "Say that again! I dare you! Watch how I correct your jaw, you little twerp."

Kieran opened his mouth but closed it a second later with a ferocious glare. He could sense the blood bubbling inside Scar, so the threat wasn't empty. There was a chance his head would be taken clean off.

Eventually, Kieran clicked his tongue and forgot the issue. Instead, he focused on another topic. "What is the Trial of Inheritors? The quest Isadora gave me mentioned the Trial of Inheritors."