Chapter 116: Nine Suns Divine Body — Divine-rank Talent
Cain tried convincing her again, but she continued refusing.
She insisted that the Scroll belonged to him and that she did not want to take something he had obtained after risking his life against the Zombie King.
After several attempts, Cain finally felt a headache coming toward him once again.
His expression gradually became serious.
"Sonya."
She immediately noticed the change in his tone.
"I really don’t need this Scroll," Cain said. "What I need is for you to become stronger."
Sonya fell silent.
"The enemies we’re going to encounter will keep becoming stronger. A 2nd Echelon Zombie King already appeared on the first day. There’s no guarantee that something far worse won’t appear tomorrow."
Cain looked directly into her eyes.
"If you want to stay beside me, then you need to have enough strength to do it."
Her expression changed slightly.
Cain continued without softening his words.
"If you remain weak, you’ll eventually be forced to stay behind whenever we face something dangerous. At best, you’ll remain with the weaker fighters and handle whatever miscellaneous work needs to be done."
Sonya lowered her gaze.
Until now, she had simply been happy that Cain had rescued her in some sense and allowed her to join his group.
She had not thought much farther than that.
Cain’s words forced her to confront something she had been ignoring.
The gap between them was already enormous.
Cain had reached the 1st Echelon and killed something two Echelons above him before even advancing. Elara and Ron were also becoming stronger at a frightening pace.
If Sonya remained satisfied with her current strength, there might eventually come a day when she could no longer follow them into battle.
Cain noticed the hesitation appearing in her eyes.
He turned away.
"Fine."
Sonya looked up.
"If you really don’t want it, I’ll give it to Elara or Evelyne."
Cain began walking away.
"I already gave them plenty of good things anyway."
He had barely taken another step when Sonya suddenly wrapped her arms around him from behind.
"I’ll take it."
Cain stopped.
Her grip tightened slightly.
"I want to stay with you."
The playful tone she normally carried had disappeared completely.
"I don’t want to become someone you have to leave behind because I’m too weak."
Cain turned around.
Sonya released him and looked at him with clear determination.
"I’ll become stronger."
A faint smile appeared on Cain’s face.
"Really?"
"Yeah." Sonya nodded firmly. "I’ll work hard enough that I can keep helping you no matter how strong the enemies become."
Cain looked at her for a moment as this was his first time looking at her serious side.
He reached forward and moved several strands of silver-white hair away from her face, then leaned down and lightly kissed her forehead.
"Good. That’s what I wanted to hear."
Sonya’s expression softened immediately.
She hugged him again, burying her face against his chest.
Cain allowed it briefly before his body began reacting in a way that made remaining like this increasingly troublesome.
He separated from her and placed the Red Scroll into her hands.
"Alright. Open it now."
This time, Sonya did not refuse as she slowly unrolled the crimson parchment.
Crimson-gold light erupted from the Scroll before countless particles flowed into Sonya’s body.
Her expression changed as a tremendous amount of energy surged through her.
A notification appeared before her.
[You have obtained Nine Suns Divine Body.]
Sonya’s eyes widened.
[Nine Suns Divine Body — Divine-rank Talent]
[Forms nine miniature Suns within the user’s body, each containing enormous amounts of highly concentrated Solar and Fire energy.]
[Mana +100%. Magic +100%.]
[Greatly increases Fire affinity, Mana recovery, vitality, resistance to extreme heat, and the power of Fire-attributed abilities.]
[The internal Suns continuously refine the user’s Fire Mana, greatly increasing its purity, temperature, density, compression, and destructive power.]
[Each awakened Sun may be manifested outside the body. Every manifested Sun increases the damage of Fire-attributed abilities by 100%.]
[Maintaining manifested Suns continuously consumes large amounts of Mana, with the consumption increasing substantially for every additional Sun manifested simultaneously.]
[Current Awakened Suns: 0/9]
Before Sonya could recover from seeing the rank, the awakening began in earnest.
BOOM!
A wave of scorching air exploded outward.
Cain immediately jumped backward.
Heat flooded the alley as the remaining frost left behind by Elara vanished almost instantly. Moisture between the cracks in the pavement hissed into steam.
Cain could withstand the temperature with his current Physique, but he saw no reason to endure it unnecessarily.
He retreated farther.
Sonya remained motionless with her eyes closed while crimson-gold Fire Mana poured from her body.
Then nine glowing spheres appeared above and behind her head.
They were merely silhouettes produced by the awakening rather than actual manifestations of her internal Suns, but the pressure they released was still astonishing.
Each sphere burned like a miniature sun.
Golden light filled the alley as waves of heat distorted the air around Sonya.
Her silver-white hair lifted behind her while the Fire Mana circulating through her body rapidly changed.
It became hotter, denser, and far easier to compress.
Her Inferno Compression Talent naturally reacted to the transformation, adapting to the enormous increase in the quality of her Fire Mana.
The phenomenon was impossible to hide.
Cain quickly heard footsteps approaching from the intersection.
Ron arrived first, followed shortly afterward by several of the group’s stronger 1st Echelon Awakeners.
They stopped the moment they saw Sonya.
"What happened?" Ron asked.
"Stay back," Cain replied.
The heat alone was enough to make his warning unnecessary.
Everyone maintained their distance while watching the nine solar silhouettes hovering above Sonya.
After several more moments, the Fire Mana surrounding her gradually began returning to her body.
The miniature Suns faded one after another.
The temperature finally started dropping.
Sonya slowly opened her eyes, a faint golden-red light briefly flashed across her pupils before disappearing.
For several seconds, she simply stood there.
Her Mana reserve had expanded enormously, while the Fire energy inside her felt completely different from before.
She could feel her affinity toward Fire as naturally as moving her own limbs.
Ron eventually broke the silence.
"What was that just now?"
Before Sonya could respond, Cain answered.
"Her talent just became much stronger."
She immediately understood that Cain had no intention of revealing exactly what she had obtained in front of everyone.
So she simply nodded in agreement.
"My talent did become much stronger."
The others were clearly curious, but Cain had no intention of explaining a Divine-rank Talent in front of everyone.
"Go back for now. We still have things to prepare before leaving."
Elara studied Sonya for another moment before turning toward the intersection. Nathan and the others soon followed, leaving only Ron behind after Cain told him to stay.
Sonya, however, remained where she was.
Cain looked at her.
"You should go too."
"I haven’t thanked you properly yet."
She walked closer, although this time she stopped before throwing herself into his arms.
"Thank you."
Her voice carried none of its usual teasing.
Cain nodded.
"Just make good use of it."
"I will."
Sonya smiled before leaning forward and quickly kissing his cheek.
Before Cain could respond, she stepped away and headed back toward the others.
Cain watched her disappear around the corner before turning toward Ron.