Mastery evaluation result: Baron.

Jon focused on the singular word, waiting to see if something other than just a single word would appear. After thirty seconds of waiting, Jon realized that he was just staring at the entirety of his evaluation result.

Just the word alone caused Jon to frown in confusion, not understanding if his mastery over [Mine Is The Sea Of Knowledge] was something worth being proud or disappointed in.

The distinct lack of anything else on his mastery evaluation result was the complete opposite of all the System generated notifications before it. The level of detail the System went into when determining his understanding and comprehension of his abilities left Jon with the impression that his final evaluation would possess a similar amount of detail.

'I suppose it does not really matter. Whether a determination of Baron is good or bad, the rewards the System will give me a hint as to whether or not I achieved a high result'. Jon thought to himself.

The young man merely shook his head, moving onto the next set of notifications.

Mortal Rank rewards: Choice of one fragment.

Knight Rank rewards: Mortal Title Fragment "Adept".

Lord Rank rewards: Choice of three fragments.

Baron Rank rewards: Choice of one Mana Core.

Jon immediately felt his eyebrows shoot up towards his hairline. His initial qualms about the lack of information regarding his master evaluation result vanishing in the blink of an eye.

His gaze lingered on the names of each rank rewards, starting off with the Mortal Ranked rewards before slowly moving downwards. From Mortal to Knight, and from Knight to Lord. His eyes lingering on the final line of text, his Baron Ranked rewards before a sense of realization washed over Jon.

'So, the level of mastery I possessed corresponded to the level of mastery someone of the Baron Rank should possess? Or has the System merely used the names of Ranks to measure the different tiers of rewards it can give out?'

'I don't even know what the difference between each Rank is. I'm guessing that once I obtain all of my Mana Cores, my Rank will then increase accordingly? Does that mean I go straight from the Mortal Fifth Initiation to the Knight First Initiation? Or is there some other unknown Or is there some other unknown requirement that I need to fulfil to push my Rank to the next tier?' Jon let out a small sigh, rubbing his temples.

While he was quite sure that the Rank after Knight was Lord, which was then subsequently followed by Baron, Jon was very much unsure of how to obtain such a thing. There was a distinct possibility that mastery over an ability was one such unspoken requirement, however, Jon did not know if these tasks were available to individuals outside of the System Introduction.

Jon did not see why these tasks would be available to the rest of humanity after the System Introduction concluded itself. He very much thought that these tasks were uniquely created for those selected to participate within the System Introduction.

If that were the case, then how else would someone measure mastery over an ability?

Jon did not have an answer for this, but just ignored it, throwing the thought into his Sea Of Knowledge.

Eventually, when he had the answer, he would one day remember he asked himself such a thing.

Jon felt his gaze move back towards the task rewards in question. Four levels of task rewards, with each additional layer of rewards forcing Jon to actively suppress the urge to choose four fragments from the list he had in his head. The eighteen-year-old scrunching up his face in thought narrowing his eyes at the reward page in front of him.

Five possible fragments, if he included the reward from his twenty-second optional task.

Jon was quite curious on the description of his newest Title Fragment. He had gone through the majority of the System Introduction so far with only his first Mortal Title Fragment "Pathstrider", before obtaining two more in quick succession.

Mortal Title Fragment "Adept": Reduces mana expenditure of abilities whose mastery exceeds your current Rank.

While Jon had only obtained a level of adequate mastery in [Mine Is The Sea Of Knowledge], his newest Mortal Title Fragment certainly appealed to him more than his previous one did.

Deciding right this moment was too hasty a determination in Jon's mind. He was already carrying in his pockets more than a dozen different fragments and four Mana Cores that he and the others had yet to integrate.

He still possessed seven empty ability slots under his Ice Mana Core and Wood Mana Core and thought about keeping his choices of fragments for any future Mana Cores that he would eventually integrate.

Reaching towards the Fragment Of Marrow in his pocket, Jon glanced towards the distant figure of Wilheim practicing upstream, nodding his head slightly while reading the description of his [Ours Is The Blood That Courses Through The Mountain]. While Jon could not observe the exact details of the ability, the fact that it came with the Mutation Trait and no visible mutations caused Jon to nod his head cradling the gemstone in his palm.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Despite Jon's initial fears regarding abnormal physical mutations as a result of integrating certain fragments, none had resulted in dramatic alterations to his physical appearance or characteristics.

While Jon still felt somewhat apprehensive at integrating a Fragment Of Legs into either of his Mana Cores, he trusted the feeling in his gut, based off the fact that neither Wilheim, nor Han Of The Red Wind showed signs of mutation.

Accepting yes on the integration notice, Jon felt a familiar coolness surge through his bones. The sensation was remarkably similar to the one he had felt after integrating the Fragment Of Heart into his Ice Mana Core. Once again, after integrating the Fragment Of Marrow into his Ice Mana Core, Jon could feel subtle, yet distinct changes occur throughout the entirety of his form.

Unlike his Seir-Glacial Heart which only targeted a single organ, this change was rippling through the entirety of Jon's skeletal system. A mutation, carrying within it the essence of ice, cold and winter.

It did not take much longer for the effect description to appear in front of Jon either.

[Fragment Of Marrow] [Ours Is The Blood That Births Winter And Ice] (Ice, Marrow, Mutation, Ability, Enhancement)

Effect (Mortal): Transforms the mortal nature of ones' marrow into Murmur-Glacial Marrow. The Murmur-Glacial Marrow is a pseudo-spiritual organ capable of producing winterish-white blood containing within it a potent ice natured spiritual energy.

Dramatically increases all physical capabilities. Moderately increases resistances towards physical strikes and blows. Moderately increases the effectiveness of all abilities with the Ice Trait. Slightly decreases aging speed.

Jon felt a faint itching in the back of his mind, the twitch of his [Monstrous Intuition] urging him of something important.

The naming sense of his four mutation abilities were not lost on him. Those abilities possessing the Knowledge Trait were granted the names of gods from Greek mythology, Hades-Sagacity Shadow and Minerva-Sagacity Eyes.

And now with the addition of his newest ability, Jon understood the naming sense of his heart mutation. Those mutation abilities possessing the Ice Trait were granted the names of demons from the Ars Goetia, Seir-Glacial Heart and Murmur-Glacial Marrow.

Increasing the rotation of his Ice Mana Core by roughly three percent, Jon pushed his ice natured spiritual energy into [Lamentations Of a Frozen Affection] and [Ours is The Blood That Births Winter And Ice].

Jon's strength was already firmly pushed into the realm of a superhuman, but with the subtle overloading of his two passive enhancement abilities, Jon's figure swelled with an enormous amount of potential kinetic energy.

Not only that, but he heard Avahni gasp slightly, her hand pointing at the very top of his head. The young human tilted his head to the side slightly, only to see faint whiteish locks drip down over his forehead, obscuring his eyes with their pale, white colour.

'Well, if I didn't think I was edgy enough before, I definitely am now.'

Break

Fortunately for Jon, the shift in his hair colour was only temporary. The synergy between [Lamentations Of a Frozen Affection] and [Ours is The Blood That Births Winter And Ice] allowed one to enhance the other, and for the strain of ice natured spiritual energy flooding his physical body to be reduced.

It was possible for even his own spiritual energy to harm himself, through a continuous overloading of numerous abilities all at once.

After releasing the control he had over his Ice Mana Core, letting it resume its natural rotation, his hair turned back to its normal brown, no traces of white coloured locks littering the top of his head.

Looking down at the reflection of himself on the rivers surface, Jon nodded his head slightly seeing that his appearance had returned to normal. The integration of the Fragment Of Marrow went well, the effects of [Ours is The Blood That Births Winter And Ice] better than he suspected they would be.

His increased resistance towards physical strikes and blows was something that he did not expect. Although Jon had experienced a similar thing through the effects of Wilheim's [Golden Bulwark] buff, he had yet to push such a thing to its limits, seeing just how much damage such an effect would mitigate.

Jumping up and down on the spot, Jon found his physicality unchanged from such an effect. If anything, he found that all his physical characteristics had grown much stronger with the addition of his Murmur-Glacial Marrow. He could jump over two metres into the air without any need to build up momentum or motion.

In most cases, objects with a much denser mass would be able to withstand a significantly greater beating or amount of stress before becoming structurally unsound. Although Jon did not feel heavier or larger than he did previously, he did wonder just how the ability would increase his resistance to physical strikes and blows.

Not that it particularly mattered, as Jon glanced towards Avahni, who was grilling the blueish feline that Jon had given to her. The human strode over towards the lutin, pulling out the Fragment Of Mind he had in his pocket. The green-haired elfin-creature lifted her head, looking down towards the fragment sitting idly in Jon's palm.

Jon decided against revealing the sixteen fragments, fifteen after subtracting the Fragment Of Marrow he had obtained from defeating Han and the blueish feline creature. Although considering that Jon had already integrated a Fragment Of Mind into his Knowledge Mana Core, this particular fragment would not be that much use to him.

What he did not expect, was for Avahni to shake her head in response, pushing the fragment back towards him. The human tilting his head in confusion, glancing down at the Fragment Of Mind in his hand.

"No?" he said, phrasing the word as if it were more of a question than an answer.

Avahni nodded her head, moving Jon's fingers to clasp the gemstone within the palm of his hand. The lutin gave him a small smile, tapping a finger onto his chest.

"This belongs to you Jon. You should integrate it yourself, not give it to me", Avahni said, slowly enunciating her words so that Jon could understand her. The human understood roughly half of the words that she had spoken but managed to fill the gaps with a small degree of difficulty.

Shaking his head, Jon pushed it back towards Avahni, tapping his chest while gesturing to the Fragment Of Mind in his hand.

"Cannot… integrate. I… already ate one," he watched Avahni giggle at his use of Nain, causing his cheeks to flush pink in embarrassment. The word for "integrate" and "eating" were quite similar, both their pronunciation and the notions they represented.

"Jon has a Fragment Of Mind? This is your second one?" questioned Avahni, causing Jon to nod his response.

The lutin nodded her head slowly, glancing down at the Fragment Of Mind in Jon's hand. The green-haired woman hummed for a moment, before reaching down towards her ginseng summon, gesturing to it to hand something over.

The fat creature lifted its head, staring at Avahni for a moment, before reaching into the sands beneath it and pulling out a strange, dodecahedron-shaped gemstone, shining a dark midnight blue colour.

Jon felt the Fragment Of Destruction in his chest stir slightly, watching as Avahni extended the dodecahedron-shaped fragment, dropping it gently within the palm of Jon's hand.

Fragment Of "Hunt" discovered.

Would you like to integrate this into your Wood Mana Core, Or Ice Mana Core?

Y/N

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