When Ian finally reached First Ring Wizard level, which resulted in the hatching of the Cocoon, he gained two bloodline spells: Oath and Wrath.
Out of which, Wrath allowed him to transform his Life Core into a Knight armor in conjunction with his spiritual consciousness. Although, he couldn't fully manifest the armor in his body, he could still selectively summon them when he wanted.
'But I never thought that this armor could even resist the rule power.'
Ian thought, feeling amazed at how incredible this ability was. After all, the Blood Scythe used by the fat worm was really powerful.
If he didn't use his translucent armor to break it, he really had no ability to resist and might need Ignysyl's help.
'However, is this truly the blood of that Atali? This strange sense of closeness… It's definitely coming from it.'
There was a reason why Ian was curious about the Blood Crystal in front that he couldn't even take his eyes away.
After the encounter at the Spirit Realm with that figure, the System said that he gained a fragment of Authority from the Guardian. And now, he had a feeling that if he wanted, he could easily take this Blood Crystal away with his bare hands.
"Hey, hey, are you serious?"
However, although he was okay with it, the fat worm was not.
Seeing that Ian's hand was about to touch the blood crystal, it suddenly got incredibly anxious.
"Swish!"
Then, suddenly before Ian could grab the crystal, the dark figure in front suddenly disintegrated into countless larvae rushing toward Ian's hand stopping him in time.
Even those millions of larvae suddenly changed their direction, heading towards him in extreme hatred, more so than before.
"Don't touch my CRYSTAL!"
The grating voice of the fat worm, akin to a chalk grating against a blackboard, echoed through the forest. From its voice, it seemed incredibly angry.
"So, you knew it from the beginning."
However, to his surprise, those countless larvae and their sharp teeth didn't even manage to touch Ian's hand, let alone stop him. They just passed through as if there were nothing there.
Instead, Ian easily grabbed the Blood Crystal with his hand, taking it out of the swollen worm's body as if pulling a sword from still water, leaving not a trace of resistance behind.
"Did you perhaps sense my existence through this crystal?"
Ian said, when suddenly all those Nyxroot larvae stopped on their tracks as if a pause button had been pressed.
"It is quite convenient."
He mumbled again, playing with the Blood Crystal as if toy.
"How... how is this possible?"
The moment Ian took the blood crystal in his hand, the worm found that he had lost control over all those Nyxroots.
"Wh-Why?"
He couldn't believe it. After thousands of years of penance, he had finally gained partial control over the Blood Crystal.
Through it, he could finally control millions of mutated Nyxroot larvae and had planned to at last leave this wretched place, only to be foiled by a random human.
The frustration was unbearable. He wanted to scream, to fight back with everything he had, to claw his way out with his life on the line.
But the funny thing was… he realized he couldn't.
That was because even he was being controlled by Ian as soon as he took the crystal in his hand.
In fact, because he had absorbed the most blood from that crystal, he couldn't even resist
While he was controlling the Blood Crystal, he had forgotten that he was actually a being produced by the very thing. How could he ever be its master?
It was a foolish dream.
"So, you sensed the Authority left behind by Atali on me and tried to engulf my spirit to gain control over this crystal? You had quite a plan."
Ian finally understood everything as he scanned the crystal with his mental power using Analysis.
---
[Sanguis Core]
[Type: Crystallized Blood Essence of Atali]
[Ability: Dominion, Authority Resonance]
[Dominion: Dominate and control those entities influenced by the blood of an Overlord. The stronger the blood's influence over these entities, the greater the wielder's control and power become.]
[Authority Resonance (Real use): Resonates with the blood of Atali through Authority. Once recognized, it grants control over the true form of the Atali Ruin.]
----
However, when he really looked through the details, he couldn't help but stop suddenly.
'What...?'
Unlike what he had thought, the crystal in his hand only had two abilities. The first, Dominion, he could use as soon as he grabbed it; it was almost instinctive.
But what surprised Ian the most was the other ability: Authority Resonance.
'True form of the Atali Ruin?'
Ian suddenly looked around confusedly at the tall, blood-red trees and the devastated area surrounding him. No matter where he looked, he didn't feel it was fake.
Not to mention, his eyes in their ethereal form could see through everything. So, there was no way he wouldn't know if this place was anything less than the true Atali Ruin.
"Hey, hey, why are you looking around now?"
Just when Ian was confused, Ignysyl appeared right next to his shoulder, berating him. Then he suddenly looked at the dejected fat worm in front and asked Ian,
"By the way, can I eat this fat worm? I don't think he is useful to you. This guy is stupid and quite useless anyway."
He suddenly asked, opening his beak wide like a crow about to snatch a worm.
"W-What... No, I am not useless. I-"
"Yeah, go and do whatever you like."
The dejected worm was about to argue, but Ian stopped it with a wave of his hand, only allowing it to squirm restlessly. Then, without further discussion, he directly agreed to Ignysyl's request.
Honestly, now that he looked at the fat, glistening figure, swollen with blood vessels, he found it quite disgusting. Besides being slightly smarter than the Nyxroot larvae, it was of no real use, so he might as well give it to Ignysyl as rations.
"Try taking that BloodFlare Fruit with him. You should be able to advance easily. This place is quite safe."
Ian ordered again when he saw that Ignysyl was about to gulp down the larvae without a care. No matter what, this worm had the highest concentration of Atali's blood essence. It might help Ignysyl's awakening.
"Hehehe... you are right. Let's do that."
Ignysyl laughed after hearing Ian's order and directly flew to the distance with the worm ready to advance. In fact, he was more impatient to advance than anyone here.
'Now that everything is in order, let's look at the reward from the system first.'
Ian finally relaxed a little, setting the Blood Crystal aside for now. Since coming out of his meditation, he hadn't had a moment to rest.
He was a bit exhausted and desperately needed some downtime.
"Mmmm~~~ Ian, help me!"
But it seemed he was destined not to rest today. Just as he was about to call the prompt in his mind, someone suddenly hugged him from behind, a sweet, seductive voice whispering in his ear.
"What..."
Ian was stunned and looked back reflexively, only to see Morgana's pitch-red face and dreamy eyes, filled with pure affection and inner conflict.
It seemed Morgana had finally succumbed to the Sinner's Bloom poison.
