~KABOOM~

The sound of a completely different explosion was heard as a jet of flames sprouted from the elbows of Arius.

The Grey stony layer had heated up at a certain point and was now red hot. Orange flames exploded out from his elbow as they propelled Arius forward.

"WHAT!" Kiana was more than shocked by this as she had not expected this to happen at all. 

'So this is the secondary effect that was mentioned in the description of the gift… it doesn't seem very controlled though, but it is still an explosion.' Lucius thought to himself.

When Arius short forward due to the explosion, he had lost his footing, and it was as if he was flying in a superhero posture instead, with one hand extended forward.

~CRASH~

Of course, as expected, Arius crashed into the ground after about three meters face down. The mask and robes he was wearing managed to protect him from any major friction injuries, but Lucius was sure the man will have bruises for a week now.

"Damn! That must hurt," Kiana winced upon seeing Arius crash.

"Better now than in a battle. At least he now knows what his gift can and cannot do." Lucius replied.

~huu~huu~huu~

Arius laid on the ground as he took deep breaths reeling from the hundreds of punches he had thrown earlier. Even if the gift used Aether to function, Arius would still lose a portion of his stamina, retaining his posture and position.

If he didn't do that, he would have no counter force and he would stumble rather quickly while attacking. This could be said to be one of the disadvantages of his gift. While he had a good grasp on his stamina with his old gift, it was certain that the new gift was in a completely different league of its own.

Lucius walked toward the man and came to stand at his side before extending his hand toward him. 

"Are you okay?" Lucius questioned.

Arius looked up at Lucius and nodded his head in exhaustion.

"I'll be fine… though my body's gonna be sore as hell tonight." Arius spoke.

~Crack~

At the same time as he looked up, the mask he was wearing cracked open, as it was no longer able to maintain its integrity.

~Crumble~

Four pieces of the mask fell from his face and Lucius could now see the face of Arius.

The man himself didn't care as much and neither did Arius. He knew that this was something bound to happen at once points and after seeing Lucius keep his promise of upgrading his gift, he didn't mind at all.

"Come on now, get up." Lucius shook his hand.

"Uh!" Arius stood up with a grunt as he took Lucius's hand. 

Arius had dark Grey hair and a rather plain looking face. In fact, even if he walked around without the mask, no one would know that this was Arius. 

"No wonder they had a hard time catching you… they would just end up mistaking others for you." Lucius said upon seeing his face.

"Ahah! Yeah. One of the benefits of being a commoner, I guess." Arius nodded his head.

~shua~

"Also, look—" Lucius pointed at Arius's hands.

"Oh?! They are going back to normal!" Arius spoke with excitement.

"Looks like that exceed Aether is now depleted and your own Aether should normalize," Lucius replied.

The Grey grainy texture of Arius's hands faded away and the size of his hands also started to reduce. Soon they reached his normal size and looked nothing like before. The flaming red elbows also looked normal, and no one would believe they were burning like a stove earlier.

"How does your body feel now?" Lucius asked.

Arius clenched and unclenched his fist before flexing his arms a bit.

"Hmm… it is certainly better. That powerful feeling I felt earlier has passed too. But I do feel better than I used to." Arius stated.

"Good. If you practice using your new gift a bit more, it should be the same as your old gift soon." Lucius replied.

Arius felt a bit pleased now and wondered how he would be after gaining control over his new gift. Even before he could overwhelm multiple enemies when he fought, even if they had rare ranked gifts and now that he had an epic ranked gift, he didn't even know how far he could go.

"Thank you… for giving me this opportunity." Arius spoke.

"Well, you are the one willing to accept it thus, you have to thank yourself too." Lucius replied.

'It did save you from immediate death.' Lucius internally said.

A determined expression appeared on Arius's face, and he looked towards Lucius before speaking.

"You have fulfilled your end of the bargain and it's time I do mine. Just point me to who you want to kill and I'll have their heads!" Arius stated in a straightforward manner.

Lucius smiled underneath his mask upon hearing this.

'The subtle effects of the mark of obedience are already showing its effects. Hmm… as long as I manage to get it on the other two, they should have no reluctance in becoming dedicated either.' Lucius thought to himself.

"Mmhmm…" Lucius nodded his head. 

"I do have an assignment for you," Lucius spoke.

"Just speak," Arius said.

"I want you to cause some disturbance in the territory of Viscount Drew. Nothing directly in the view of the viscount, but rather in the outskirts of his territory." Lucius replied.

"Oh?" Arius had not expected it to be something like that, but he didn't mind it either.

"What kind of disturbance do you want? Will killing some guards or soldiers or travelers be fine?" Arius asked casually.

"Excellent! I would like you to kill all the guards that you see around there in the borders. Make sure that they belong to the Viscount Drew's forces and that all events happen within his territory." Lucius replied.

"Oh, and you have to make it look like a bandit attack too." Lucius added.