After Stealing Hero's Mother, I Reincarnated in the Fantasy World!

Chapter 60: Five Steps to Transcendence

Looking at the two items in his hands, Rain immediately opened the status window of the fire scroll that caught his attention.

[Mantra of the Sun]

[Type: Technique]

[Rank: A]

'So this time it's technique... that's pretty good.'

This was the first time Rain had been rewarded by the system in the form of a technique, so he was curious to see what was in it. Moreover, rank A was high by the standards of this world, so Rain expected something powerful from this technique, especially considering the heat coming from this scroll.

With anticipation, Rain opened the description of the technique.

[Like a fire lord, you will rise above mortals, bathing in a sea of fire and flying through the sky. Your power will have no equal among men, and fire will be your faithful and only partner. The technique causes incurable male impotence.]

Rain blinked a couple times and reread the passage.

"It can be used..."

Rain reread the description of the technique once more.

"No, I have to use it!"

Having gained that confidence, he put it in the storage ring.

Of course, Rain wasn't willing to kill his little brother for some imaginary power, so he decided to use it on others.

'If it's not a curse but just a side effect of the technique, it can't be cured by holy magic or dispelled with a blessing at the temple. So I could slip it to one of the heroes, disguised as his happy encounter, and give him such a nice surprise.''

Cale may not have been a threat to Rain, but there was also Grey, who was rumored to be far superior to Cale and could prove to be no easy opponent.

'...Or I'll just give this technique to one of my women, since they shouldn't be affected by the side effect.

With these thoughts, Rain turned his attention to the second unremarkable scroll, which, unlike the previous one, emitted a calm glow. He opened it, hoping that this time he wouldn't have to put his head on the line...

[Martial art of the Fading Stars]

[Type: Lost technique from a Destroyed World]

[Rank: S]

Even more than the rank of this technique, Rain was surprised by its type, which broke from the classical view and made him wonder what it meant.

[All worlds sooner or later face their own catastrophes, and if they are unlucky enough not to survive them, they simply fade into oblivion, being erased from history. The fact that this technique still exists shows how unique it is.]

The system explained with a hint of sadness.

After understanding everything he needed from the system's words, Rain opened the technique itself. It didn't have any vivid descriptions like the last technique, but the following lines made goosebumps run across his skin.

------------------

[5 Steps to Transcendence.]

[1. The gravity of everything and anything.]

[2. ????]

[3. ????]

[4. ????]

[5. ????]

[At this moment, there is only one person in the entire universe who has mastered this technique perfectly.]

------------------

'System, I want to learn this technique.'

Without delay, Rain ordered.

The next moment, he closed his eyes, feeling a large amount of information along with images pour into his head, allowing him to skip the hundreds of hours of study and start practicing right away.

A couple minutes later Rain opened his eyes, absorbing everything he had gotten from the system.

He now had a more accurate understanding of this technique and knew that the main purpose of the first stage of this martial art was to utilize gravity in order to move objects at will.

Realizing how to use it, Rain pulled out a regular dagger from his storage ring and tossed it aside. He then began to circulate energy in his body, just as described in this technique and tried to exert an effect on the dagger, but it didn't budge a millimeter.

Without further emotion, Rain continued to repeat the same actions, focusing on the dagger in front of him.

Although he was able to skip the stage of learning the technique and already knew how to use it, he still needed to practice it to get the results he wanted.

After a few dozen attempts, he managed to make the dagger move weakly for the first time.

Realizing that he was on the right track, Rain continued to practice the new technique with concentration.

With the life force bubbling and flowing through his veins, Rain would continue to do this for hours without a break.

With each new attempt, as Rain followed the images in his head and honed the first stage of the Martial art of the Fading Stars, something new was revealed to him that made him marvel at the depth of the technique.

At the moment, Rain could manipulate the dagger quite freely at a distance of a few meters from him. And something told him that after some practice he could just as easily influence the gravity around him and make objects heavier or lighter at will.

Rain tried to learn the next steps of the technique, but every time he did, the letters in front of him blurred and he couldn't read them properly.

[Your understanding of the technique is insufficient.]

All of this was accompanied by system notifications of lack of understanding.

[This is one of the techniques that require attaining a certain level of understanding of the previous stages in order to learn the subsequent ones. The power and difficulty of learning also increases with each new stage.]

'So I just need to keep honing it and deepening my understanding.'

Several more hours passed before Rain stopped and addressed the system.

"Nari, is there any way you can visualize my progress with this technique?"

The system answered nothing, but instead a panel appeared in front of him.

[Martial art of the Fading Stars]

[Stage 1: 2%]

"Only 2%? If I can already move objects now, what will happen when I reach 100?"

Rain was curious to know the answer to that question, but still he finished his training as he had already achieved the desired result and was able to move from controlling a small dagger to controlling a sword. Though he could only push it away or draw it towards him now, it was going to make a big difference in case of danger.

'Tomorrow is going to be one hell of a day at the academy, so I can't miss it.'

Rain went to shower again, then returned to his room without incident.

As he lay on the bed, Rain was going over in his mind everything that had happened in the last day. It had been a very eventful day, and he'd had two great battles with the Rift Master during that time, one in the rift and one in his own room. And since Rain had come out of both victorious, it had only improved his mood.

'The academy authorities must be dying to see me right now.'

Although they were unlikely to come to his house, Rain was sure that he was definitely going to be interrogated when he returned to the academy.

But it didn't bother him and only brought a chuckle to his lips because everything that had happened was the fault of the academy itself.

How could they be blamed for being 'unlucky' to fall into the clutches of a dangerous monster? They almost died there!

Aelorian could also fully confirm this version of the story. So the only ones who knew the true events were Rain and the Rift Master herself.

Since there were no reward points for Rift Masters, the academy would never know that Rain had captured her, not killed her. And since nothing could be held against him, he could safely construct his own version of events, making it look good.

When such an incident happened to the hero, the academy had to pay him a solid compensation, but Rain didn't plan to let them off so easily and wanted to rip them off even more.

"This is going to be a lot of fun. Do you agree with that, Sives?"

The wolf girl nodded her head, continuing to doze in his ring.

Anticipating tomorrow, Rain fell into a deep sleep.

***

Thanks for reading, everyone.