Mentally exhausted yet still in optimal condition, Reinhard took out the two soul shards left behind by the centurion and absorbed them.
Soul Fragments: [63/1000]
A quick switch to [Echo Perception] told him that Nephis and Sunless had won their battle as well.
Relieved by that discovery, he slowly made his way back to the area where the other fight had taken place.
When he returned, what greeted him was the dead body of a carapace centurion and two sleepers lying nearby.
Luckily, both of them were alive, with no major injuries.
***
Seeing Reinhard approach, Nephis had risen to her feet and looked him up and down. Exhaustion made it harder for her to hide her emotions, and a faint frown appeared on her face.
Almost immediately, he had realized why she was acting that way.
Sunless had already been healed by her, so she was checking whether Reinhard had suffered any major injuries. Finding none was bound to be surprising.
Or perhaps she had realized that he possessed some way to heal himself, which was the truth.
Now Reinhard, with his back against a rock protrusion, sat a few meters away from the three sleepers huddled together for warmth.
They have gotten quite close to each other.
It was understandable.
Trust tended to form quickly among people thrown into similar circumstances and subjected to the same pressures, after all.
For a second, he imagined himself sleeping beside them—
He cringed.
Yeah, fuck no. I am alright just where I am.
Reinhard's gaze shifted to the sleeping Sunless.
He's got a good head on his shoulders, but he's far softer than I initially thought.
The kind of guy who would turn into a decent person if given enough safety, comfort, and time.
Reinhard couldn't relate.
Ending that train of thought, he turned his attention elsewhere.
Mid-battle against the centurion, he had completed the next mastery level for his aspect legacy; that meant a new relic.
His main objective for staying awake was to check it out.
Time to see what it is!
With excitement coursing through him, Reinhard summoned his runes and directly looked at his aspect legacy.
Aspect Legacy: [Divergent Precept.]
Divergent Precept Description: [Born from the refusal to follow any single way, this legacy is shaped through observation and refined through understanding. In time, even the unfamiliar begins to reveal its order, and every clash becomes a lesson etched into flesh.]
Divergent Precept Mastery Level: [2/7]
First Relic: Claimed.
Second Relic: Unearned.
Third Relic: [Claim].
Forth Relic: Unearned.
Fifth Relic: Unearned.
Sisth Relic: Unearned.
Seventh Relic: Unearned.
Just like he had thought, the mastery level had turned from 1 to 2.
However, what he saw below surprised him a bit.
Instead of unlocking the second relic, Reinhard had somehow unlocked the third.
Weird.
Deciding to think about that later, Reinhard concentrated on the third relic.
Claim.
As he watched, the runes glowed brightly for a few seconds and then changed.
Third Relic: Claimed.
And a moment later, the spell spoke softly into his ear:
[You have received an Aspect Legacy Relic.]
[You have received a memory: Eight-Handled Wheel Of Sin.]
Long-ass name.
But it also made him excited; that sounded quite cool!
Reinhard focused on his memories next.
Memories: [Pain Eater] [Bright Fury] [Axiom of Virtue] [Golden Rope] [Ranger's Cloak] [Azure Blade] [Eight Handled Wheel of Sin]
As he gazed upon his newly acquired memory, its runes expanded.
[Eight-Handled Wheel Of Sin]:
Memory Rank: Divine.
Memory Tier: VII.
I am eating good!
Memory Type: Charm.
At least it's not a weapon type.
If it were a weapon type, then Reinhard wouldn't be able to use it with Axiom of Virtue in his soul sea.
Memory description: [Perfection is stagnant. Perfection is still. Perfection is the eternal end.
All things possess flaws, and through their imperfections they change, and through change they endure.
Yet there once existed those who stood beyond such laws. Flawless beings untouched by weakness, untouched by contradiction, untouched by want. Their design was perfect. Their nature was complete. And because they were complete, they could become nothing more than what they already were.
Thus, when the world was young and the first flawless design stood complete, eight imperfections were carved into its surface. Not upon flesh or soul, but on the minds of thinking beings.
They were neither curses nor punishments, but necessary fractures deliberately preserved so that existence might continue to move forward.
This ancient wheel materializes those fractures. And each handle feeds on the mental imperfections of their owner.
And when the wheel is fed, it turns. Then with every turn, another imperfection awakens.]
Memory Enchantments: [Lingering Presence] [Companion in Strength] [Handle of Pride] [Handle of Sloth]
[Lingering Presence] Enchantment Description: "A relic of the soul is not bound by distance. Whether manifested in the waking world or hidden within the depths of its bearer's soul sea, the Wheel remains present. Its handles may still be grasped, and its authority may still be invoked. For what resides within a soul is never truly absent."
[Companion in Strength] Enchantment Description: "The wheel was not created to be inherited. It was created to accompany. Bound to its bearer, it shall mature alongside them, gradually recovering fragments of its forgotten authority."
[Handle of Sloth] Enchantment Description: "The sin of weariness. The sin that seeks rest. Through this handle, burdens may be deferred and entrusted to the Wheel's eternal revolution. Pain, exhaustion, strain, and suffering may be set aside for a time, allowing the bearer to continue forward unimpeded. Yet nothing surrendered is ever truly lost. The Wheel remembers all burdens placed upon it and shall eventually return them to their rightful owner."
[Handle of Pride] Enchantment Description: "Through this handle, the bearer may bestow fragments of their own power upon others, elevating them through personal sacrifice. Those who accept such gifts become bound beneath the bearer's authority, essentially becoming their subordinates. Yet all power granted is power relinquished, and no kingdom can rise without first diminishing its king."
Holy sheet!
Maybe something like this should have been expected from a divine-ranked memory; maybe his mental exhaustion was making him more reactive, but despite that, this memory was simply too precious.
The description and the enchantment [Companion in strength] indicated something special about this memory: that it will simply continue to get stronger with Reinhard.
If it has two handle enchantments right now, maybe the other 6 will come as I rank up.
That would mean the awakened rank would unlock the next enchantment, then ascend the next, and so on.
But ignoring all that for a moment, the uses of the two enchantments themselves were just amazing.
Highly interested in checking them out, Reinhard immediately stood up from his spot and walked some distance away from the three sleepers.
Then he focused on the new divine memory and summoned it.
He was initially looking downwards towards his own body. Charm memories were usually small accessories in the shape of rings, necklaces, bracelets, or other small things, but what surprised him was noticing a flash of light above his head.
Reinhard looked up.
Hovering directly over his head was a large golden wheel with eight handles. It looked eerily beautiful, and in a strange sense, Reinhard felt like he was wearing a crown of sorts.
That is a new aesthetic, I guess.
For a moment, he thought about how it would seem to others if they saw an awakened human fighting with a big-ass wheel over their head.
Anyways!
Time to check out what this can do.
The only two enchantments that he could really test were the Handle of Pride and the Handle of Sloth.
From both, Handle of Pride required other humans for testing; Handle of Sloth, however, could be tested simply by himself.
Reinhard looked around for a moment.
I guess the brief tiredness I feel can be considered suffering in a way, so technically I should be able to send it into the wheel.
Giving himself a small injury with his other swords wouldn't work, since his armor would simply heal it up.
And Reinhard didn't really feel like going naked at the moment.
After switching to [soul essence control], he sent his soul essence into the memory; a second later, the wheel slowly turned a few inches, as if its gears had been rusted.
At the same moment, Reinhard felt completely refreshed.
As if he had just woken up from an amazing 12-hour sleep and his body had been completely healed up.
Interesting.
Reinhard sent another command to his memory; the wheel turned a few inches in the opposite direction.
The exhaustion returned.
So this is how it works?
He could already think about how beneficial this wheel was to him; for example, in the earlier fight against the centurion, if he had had this wheel, then he would have been able to give his pain, exhaustion, and injuries to the wheel and completely recover. After doing that, he could finish the centurion, go near Nephis, and allow the injuries to come back so she could heal them.
The description of the enchantment had made it clear that whatever he fed to the wheel would eventually come back to him. So there was no point in thinking of a possibility in which he could simply leave his suffering on the wheel and just not take it back.
Still, by the looks of it, this memory seemed like it was even better than Axiom of Virtue. Even though the single interesting enchantment provided by the sword was even more rule-breaking than the wheel's four enchantments.
At least this doesn't have any drawbacks, unlike that sword.