Chaos Carrier With A Broken Talent

The Patterns were part of the Carrier's power, but that wasn't what allowed them to move on to the next stage.

Strangely enough, Ethan and Menir were perfect examples of this. Because of their situation, they had to find all the Patterns for their Catalysts before they could use the Revolve for the first time.

Other Carriers began absorbing energy immediately after the ceremony, as soon as they returned home or celebrated, to make their Circles spin through Revolve faster.

[The First Ring is ready to appear.]

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

The Circle continued to spin, gradually increasing its speed, but since Ethan was only a First Rank Carrier, his abilities were severely limited. In the future, his Circle would be able to rotate faster and absorb more energy, and what's more, stronger Carriers had more Circles, which sped up the process several times over!

[From this moment on, all energy absorbed through Revolve will be directed toward filling the First Ring.]

Click. Click. Click.

Countless gears inside Ethan's Construct began to move, causing his Circle to stop to make room for another process.

Two bright flashes receded to the same distance, carving out the First Ring in the Circle, bright blue, almost white, but completely empty.

The symbols filling Ethan's Circle shifted slightly, as did the connecting lines, so that the First Ring became a complete, autonomous part of the Circle.

Then, a familiar mechanical voice sounded in Ethan's head.

[The First Ring has been created.]

Without his knowledge, information about his Construct was revealed.

[Construct

Stage: First Circle

First Catalyst: Triumvirate Path (Patterns 3/3)

Connected Artifact: Blood Seeker (Projection: Crimson Cut)

Revolve: First Ring (0.01%)

First Ring: 0.01%. Estimated time to full completion: 3 years.]

Ethan nodded in satisfaction as he read the new information, his eyes slowly lowering until he reached the bottom line that was previously hidden.

In a heartbeat, the smile disappeared from his face, replaced by a pale, shocked expression.

Three years.

Three years.

Three years.

The same words filled his mind, sounding more like a curse or a death sentence than something good.

This was not a mistake.

If Ethan wanted to become stronger as a Carrier in terms of the energy filling his body rather than his abilities, he would have to spend three years filling the First Ring.

Moreover, in reality, the time required was much longer because the Revolve was not a passive process, but an active one. 

Even if a Carrier could afford not to work and had a peaceful place to live, he still had to sleep and eat.

Given Ethan's situation, those three years could easily stretch to five or even ten if he encountered problems during that time.

The scariest thing was that this was only the first step to becoming a Second Rank Carrier.

The first thing Ethan wanted to do was open his eyes to return to the real world and tell Menir everything, but...

Instead, he kept on using Revolve.

He knew that Menir hadn't reached that stage yet, but he was sure that she would get there in time.

Ethan wasn't the most patient person, but if it was necessary, he could do it.

Thus, deep night fell unnoticed.

During those long hours, neither Ethan nor Menir made a sound until...

"Ethan..." Menir's voice rang out, causing him to open his eyes.

His serious expression was a clear answer to her next question.

"You ended up in the same situation, right?"

"Yeah, the First Ring. I thought it was already created, but... Fuck, did you see how much energy we need?!"

Menir bit her lip.

"Yes, three years of active use of Revolve. If we want to get stronger, we're bound to absorb a lot of energy."

Ethan waved his hand, finally getting up from the ground.

"I don't know. Do all the other Carriers go through the same thing? I mean... at the very least three years? That's... That's a long time!"

Menir tried to take the information less emotionally.

"Well, if you think about it, there aren't many young Carriers among the powerful ones. It takes time to become powerful, and as you can see, it's not just about training and finding Patterns, absorbing energy takes a huge amount of time.

"However..."

The pause in her speech caught Ethan's attention.

"Three years isn't the minimum, it's the maximum. Well, assuming you spend all your time using Revolve."

Ethan raised an eyebrow, baffled. "Hmm? You mean you can speed up the Circle? I've thought about that too, but I don't know how to do it, and... would it help that much?

"Of course, that's good, but honestly, I don't see much difference if I can fill the First Ring in three years or, say, two and a half or even two! It's still too slow!"

"No. That's not what I'm talking about."

Menir shook her head.

"Remember what we found in the anomaly and what caused Black Horn to head to the Rotten Forest?"

Ethan blinked several times as his eyes widened in realization.

"Ah, you mean the Essence?"

Menir nodded slightly.

"Yes. The Revolve can absorb energy from almost any object that has energy. The Essences are the most obvious and effective example because they are the densest form of energy in a small volume."

"I see... Black Horn wanted the Essence of Rotten Forest so badly that he immediately went after us, believing Konrad's information. Hah, I bet he doesn't want to wait years to fill his Rings with energy either!" Ethan exclaimed with a smirk, feeling that they now had a backup plan.

This was definitely good news.

"I can't say Black Horn is an idiot. He just knew that when it came to me, being aware of my abilities, he understood that I had most likely found the Essence of Rotten Forest."

Ethan clenched his fist as a flame lit up in his eyes.

"Then let's do it! Too much has happened in this forest, and it doesn't want to let us go. Once we get its Essence, this chapter will be over!"

In response, Menir wanted to say something, but changed her mind.

"Hah, you're right, I don't think even hunters visit the Rotten Forest that often. But it will be difficult to obtain the Essence even if we can find it thanks to me."

Her expression became serious.

"We must prepare properly. I don't want haste to kill us."

Ethan shrugged.

"That'll do."