"I don't remember any of that," Edwin said quietly. "I just remember the light… and then, it felt like something alive was trying to enter me. Like a voice… a force."
He placed a hand on his chest.
Something had definitely changed.
He could feel a warm, steady pulse deep inside him—almost like a second heartbeat, but one made of energy.
The Spirit Rune was no longer in his hand.
It had been absorbed.
Whatever it had given him… it was now part of him.
"Are you okay now?" Elysia asked after a moment.
Edwin looked up at her, his breath finally starting to calm.
"…I think so," he said. "I don't fully understand it yet. But I survived."
Jin gave a small grin. "You're lucky. That thing almost killed you."
"No," Elysia said, her tone serious. "He's not just lucky. His body withstood something that would've killed an ordinary person."
"Did you crack a rune or a powerful talisman?"Jin asked.
"I activated a spirit rune", he replied.
