Chapter 40: Ancient Grade
Seeing that his Status Window had finally been unlocked, William didn’t immediately open it to take a look.
Instead, he slowly stood up and felt the surging power flowing through his body. Although he was covered in blood and looked miserable, the aura surrounding him was tens of times stronger than before.
He looked around before picking up a palm-sized stone.
Holding the stone in his hand, he lightly clenched his fist, and the next instant.
Crack!
The stone instantly crumbled into dust as though it had been made of dried mud.
William couldn’t help but feel astonished when he saw this.
Taking a deep breath, he swung his fist once through the air and the resulting pressure alone scattered fallen leaves several meters away.
This scene once again stunned him and he finally burst into laughter.
"For someone to possess this kind of strength immediately after breaking through to the Star Warrior Realm... this is seriously insane." He muttered under his breath, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
Just then, he suddenly sensed something and quickly closed his eyes.
As he did, his consciousness appeared within a gray space filled with drifting mist. This was his Sea of Consciousness, which had just opened.
At the center of the space was a small pond filled with milky-white liquid.
William’s gaze remained fixed on the pond, as though he were waiting for something.
Rumble!
Suddenly, the small pond began to tremble, and the mist covering his Sea of Consciousness churned violently.
William’s lips curled upward slightly as he let out a sigh of relief.
’It’s good that I still have my Trait, just like in the original timeline.’
After discovering so many mysteries surrounding himself, especially those concerning his Traits, William had been somewhat nervous about whether he would still awaken them after becoming a Star Warrior.
But now, seeing his Sea of Consciousness reacting like this, he finally relaxed.
This disturbance was the unmistakable sign of a Trait awakening.
As William stared at the pond, the hilt of a sword slowly emerged from the milky-white water, followed by the rest of the blade.
The sword looked ordinary, possessing a slightly curved blade similar to a katana and a brown-colored hilt.
The sword was very simple, with nothing remarkable about it. But to William, this simple sword was one of the most beautiful things in the world.
It slowly rose out of the pond before silently hovering above it.
Woosh!
Suddenly, a sharp aura burst out from the sword, engulfing William’s entire Sea of Consciousness.
However, the sharp aura didn’t harm him.
Instead, it struck the boundaries of his Sea of Consciousness, causing them to expand slightly.
After impacting the boundaries once, the sword fell silent and continued hovering peacefully above the pond.
Without even opening his Status Window, William could clearly feel the changes the sword had brought to him.
His mind had become noticeably clearer, and he had the distinct feeling that he could wield a sword with far greater ease than before.
Just as he was thinking this, the pond trembled once again.
A broad smile spread across William’s face as he burst into laughter.
"As I thought... my second Trait, Wisdom, has awakened ahead of time."
In the original timeline, William had first needed to comprehend numerous advanced techniques and greatly deepen his understanding of Aether Energy before finally awakening his Wisdom Trait.
However, in this life, thanks to the memories from the original timeline, his understanding of Aether Energy was already exceptionally high.
Because of that, the moment he broke through to the Star Warrior Realm, his Wisdom Trait awakened as well.
(A/N: If you have forgotten, I explained information about traits in Chapter 5.)
Just like the sword, a pupil slowly floated out of the pond and hovered beside it.
A ripple spread outward from the pupil, striking the boundaries of his Sea of Consciousness and expanding them slightly once again.
As the size of his Sea of Consciousness increased, his mental strength also rose slightly, while the water level within the pond increased by several centimeters.
After confirming that both of his Traits had awakened, William didn’t test them immediately.
Instead, he withdrew his consciousness from his Sea of Consciousness, as there were still many things he needed to sort out first.
The moment William opened his eyes, a series of notifications flashed before him, informing him of the awakening of his Traits.
However, when he saw those notifications, he was completely taken aback as they were somewhat different from what he had expected.
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(You have awakened Trait— Sword Dominator [Ancient])
(You have awakened Trait— True Wisdom [Ancient])
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"This... Why are the names of my Traits different? Also, weren’t both of my Traits Legendary-grade? How did their grades increase and become Ancient-grade?" William muttered with a stunned expression, utterly bewildered.
Similar to treasure orbs, there were eight grades of Traits.
Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Ancient, Mythical, and Primordial.
In the original timeline, both of his Traits had been Legendary-grade.
Yet this time, they had somehow advanced to the Ancient grade.
Suddenly, William remembered the notification about the Soul Mutation he had received after witnessing that Supreme Being.
At that time, he had merely guessed that the mutation might somehow affect his Traits, since Traits were closely connected to the soul.
"It was only a guess... I never expected it to actually come true."
William took a deep breath, trying to calm the excitement surging through him.
The difference between a Legendary-grade Trait and an Ancient-grade Trait was enormous.
Awakening a Trait was already an extremely rare occurrence.
Among those who did awaken one, more than ninety-five percent possessed Traits below the Epic grade.
Even Epic-grade Trait holders were exceptionally rare, let alone Legendary-grade ones.
His Legendary-grade Sword Master Trait had been one of the biggest reasons he was able to rise to prominence in the original timeline despite being at a significant disadvantage compared to the nobles.
And now...He possessed two Ancient-grade Traits.
Back then, his Legendary-grade Sword Master Trait not only increased the power of all his sword techniques by two hundred percent, but also allowed him to learn anything related to the sword at an astonishing speed.
On top of that, it enabled him to refine a sword into his Soul Armament, further enhancing the weapon’s power.
Now that the Trait had evolved into the Ancient grade, William couldn’t help but wonder just how much stronger its effects had become.
Just as he was about to open his Status Window to examine the details of his evolved Traits, a small pearl deep within his soul suddenly emitted a brilliant glow.
At the same time, another notification appeared before his eyes.
(You have successfully completed the trial for the God of Time’s Inheritance.)
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(A/N: Now that I have explained most of the basic information and the world’s background, I will increase the pace a bit so we can get to the main story more quickly. Also, don’t forget to throw your Power Stones at me if you are enjoying the story! And if you could leave a review as well, it would be even better.)