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Brightburn Art

Type: Hybrid Skill

Rank: B

* Created by the Brightburn Captain after the Battle of Tropeh. Inspired by the course of the Battle, the Captain devised a fierce counterattack which would later become a staple of his military campaigns.

* Imbues the user’s Aura with the fierceness of a roaring flame, allowing Pathways to be forcefully opened and discovered with more ease.

* Grants knowledge about a specific pattern of Aura cycle, which increases Aura circulation speed.

* Technique’s effectiveness is massively increased when used under Ignition. Increases the effects of the Ignition Flames.

* The higher the Skill Proficiency, the better the effects.

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It was the first time Liam had seen an Aura Circulation technique and a Hybrid Skill. So far all skills had been categorized into Passive and Active Skills, but surprisingly those weren’t the only types. Liam momentarily wondered why Eynart hadn’t taught him a technique like this. Did the Golem simply not know about them? It was unlikely. It had lived for hundreds of years, while this technique had been created by a simple Captain.

‘Did he want me to create my own?’

It made sense. The Brightburn Art probably fit the Brightburn Captain the best, as it was created by and for him. As such, Liam would benefit the most from a technique created by himself, tailored to him. But if that was true, why hadn’t Eynart mentioned their existence? It would have been better to make him aware of Aura Circulation techniques as early as possible, in order to get him thinking about it. Did he not want Liam to be distracted by the creation of a new Skill and instead focus on the ones he already knew? Or was the creation of such a technique more complex than it seemed, to the point Eynart had deemed it unworthwhile to even tell him? In the end, there was no way to find out. The Golem was dead. Remembering this fact made Liam frown, depressing memories flooding his mind. Shaking them off, he continued to browse the category.

He opened every Aura Circulation technique he came across, looking to obtain more information about their nature. He gradually started to come to a realization.

‘Some of these sound awfully like Aura Incorporation.’

He was beginning to understand why Eynart never bothered to mention those techniques to him. While many of them seemed useful at first glance, a deeper analysis would reveal that they were more like a beginner’s introduction to Aura; a way for them to use Aura in combat and for training without needing to figure out their own cycle. Simply put, these techniques were a crutch. Eynart had considered him an unprecedented genius, despite his protests about the matter. The Golem probably wanted him to be more intimately familiar with his Aura before needing to rely on Skills like the Brightburn Art.

‘Their Skill effects cannot be ignored, however.’

A crutch or not, the descriptions were unlikely to be wrong. It meant that as long as one used the specific cycle of the Skill, their effects would activate and prove to be helpful. Since every one of them had a distinct cycle, there was no way to use several at the same time and stack the effects. One had to choose the Art most suited to one’s needs and train in it to increase its Proficiency.

Liam continued to look at the various Aura Circulation techniques as ideas slowly started to sprout in his mind. Absorbed in this task, time passed by seamlessly until he felt the ship start to shake. He raised his head, activating his Aura Sight and making it slip under the door and to the outside. The whole ship shook considerably. He extended his Sight beyond its confines to the hangar they were in alongside other ships, within Arimiar’s own. This allowed him to find out that the Commander’s ship itself was the one shaking. An instant after that, all was still. The shaking stopped, as if it had never been in the first place. This continued for a few minutes before it returned. Then, it stopped once more.

Liam felt the door to the room in front of his open, as did the others. He hurriedly stood up and went outside, coming face to face with One, who was about to bang on his door. The Drakkhan grumbled under its breath, as if it were unsatisfied by the lost opportunity to cause Liam some annoyance, but spoke to him with an emotionless voice afterwards.

“We’ve arrived. Let’s get moving.”

Liam nodded and followed the rest of the Squad through the hole that had opened on the ship’s side. Looking around, he saw various other soldiers walking out of the nearby ships. It was then that his eyes widened. He saw other humans following them, much like himself. The difference was that the humans weren’t wearing Elite Armor, instead donning the ordinary ones. Liam was shocked. He never expected to see other humans so soon, especially in this place. Containing the urge to go up to them and ask about what they knew, he continued to follow his Squad.

He felt glances be thrown his way by both the Drakkhan soldiers and their human counterparts. The way the other squads parted before his own was obvious, as well as the differences in their armor. He stood out like a sore thumb, but no comment was made except by the humans, who talked among themselves before being hushed aggressively by their Captains.

Liam followed his Squad as the others followed them. Eventually, they came across another Elite Squad. One and the other squad’s Captain nodded at each other while the members of both squads greeted one another, while still keeping to their own groups. The other squad’s member’s gazes drilled into him, but he tried his best to ignore them. It would take a while before he convinced the Drakkhan that he was deserving of a spot in the Elite Squad, but truthfully he didn’t care to do so. Impressing the aliens wasn’t high on the list of his priorities.

He thought back to the humans among the soldiers, glancing back. He’d initially assumed that all members of humanity would be safe for longer, but it seemed like Varlian wasn’t one to bide his time. It made him worry about Arthur, Cassandra, and the others. If they were placed in one of those squads, they could end up hurt or worse. Deciding to contact the prince as soon as he was able to, Liam tried to force the worry out of his mind.

‘I hope they’re alright.’

Liam and the others walked out of the hangar, watching the steady flow of soldiers coming from the other one. Along the way, they met many other Elite Squads, for a total of fifteen. His squad was the only one with thirteen members due to his presence, all the others being composed of twelve individuals. He was also the only human among them. Walking in front, the fifteen Elite Squads were closely followed by thousands of soldiers, coming from all corners of the ship. It was then that they walked by a large window, which allowed Liam to realize that they were still in outer space. He furrowed his brow. They walked by another window and this time Liam managed to see the planet of Zancorix, diagonally below them.

‘This is ridiculous.’

The planet was sand-colored and utterly enormous. Two times the diameter of Jupiter, six times denser and much more massive, Zancorix was an astronomical impossibility that should not, by all measures, be a planet. Yet, it emitted no light and showed no other signs of being a brown dwarf or a star, looking no different from a large ball of sand. It was a planet, even though that turned the laws of physics on their head.

“Captain. How is that possible?”

“What?”

The Drakkhan glanced back at Liam as the others around him turned to face him, as well.

“How can such a planet exist?”

One remained silent, as if judging whether telling Liam was worth the time or not. Eventually, he seemed to have come to a conclusion.

“…All I can say is get used to it. The Convergence isn’t an ordinary place. Everything here, including previously known facts, is subjected to the whims of the System. Even if that means different natural laws. Zancorix isn’t unique and will not be the first impossibility you see. If you survive, of course, which you won’t.”

Liam blinked. His mind started racing.

“What is the speed of light?”

“At least two million kilometers per second. We aren’t sure.”

This time, the answer was almost barked out. It looked like One’s patience was quickly wearing thin, but Liam didn’t care. Realizing that he wouldn’t get much out of the lizardman anymore, he settled for thinking about the implications of what he’d just heard. If the laws of physics could just happen to be different, what else had been changed? And…

‘How powerful is that son of a bitch, exactly, to casually change something like this?’

He felt a slight chill creep up his back. He had a long, long way to go.