Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger - Chapter 279

Chapter 279: EX 279. The Stars
Leon finally understood why the orb had felt so strangely familiar the moment he saw it. It wasn’t just curiosity or awe, it was resonance. The faint pulse he’d felt deep within his chest was the reaction of his Primordial Dragon Art, stirring to life as if the black orb were calling to it.

‘So that’s it… it’s reacting to the dragon trait within me,’ Leon thought, his gaze fixed on the shifting black surface that seemed to drink in the light around it.

The Emperor noticed the faint glow in Leon’s eyes, the subtle thrum of energy that rippled through the air. “It seems it likes you,” Alexander said, amusement curling at the edge of his voice.

Leon blinked. “It… likes me?”

The Emperor chuckled softly, the kind of sound that carried both wisdom and power. “Nigg’erite is a powerful ore, yes, but its strength doesn’t lie in its durability.”

Leon tilted his head, puzzled. “It doesn’t?”

Alexander smiled faintly, his emerald eyes reflecting the orb’s darkness. “No. What places Nigg’erite among the top ores of Pandora is its sentience, its ability to sense the will of its wielder and adapt to it perfectly. That is why it is the rarest and most expensive of all known ores.”

Leon stood there for a long second, the weight of that statement sinking in. An ore that chose its master. A living material that could evolve with its wielder’s intent. No wonder the commander had looked so stunned earlier.

Leon’s conscience tried to whisper you should refuse, but that voice was faint, overpowered by the thrill rising in his chest. He looked the Emperor in the eye, his tone respectful but his grin impossible to hide. “I’ll use this well, Your Grace.”

The Emperor’s smile deepened. “I’m sure you will. But first, you’ll need to bind it, to your soul.”

Leon’s expression froze. “Bind… to my soul?”

The Emperor nodded, still calm. “Of course. Otherwise, how could it ever take its perfect form for you?”

Leon didn’t hear anything else after that. His thoughts stopped cold at “of course”.

Every trial taker in the human domain knew what that meant. Soul-bound weapons weren’t just powerful, they were legendary. Artifacts that even SSS-rank powerhouses would slaughter each other for.

And now, one of such an artifact was sitting in his hands.

Leon stared at the orb again, speechless.

It was beyond unreal.

****

Trial takers and professionals lived by a rule no one could break, a limit carved into the very laws of the universe. No one knew who set it or why it existed, but it was absolute: a person could only wield skills and equipment equal to or below their rank. Anything higher simply rejected them.

Because of that, every rank advancement came with an inevitable shedding, old skills lost their power, old weapons turned dull. Strength was a constant race to replace what no longer served you. But there was one exception to that rule, a miracle that defied the system itself: a soul-bound weapon.

A weapon that grew with its master. A companion that never became obsolete. It was the ultimate treasure, coveted by every trial taker and professional alive.

Although Leon was a strong believer in the idea that the wielder determines the strength of the weapon, not the weapon the strength of the wielder, he wasn’t foolish. The primary reason he didn’t bother looking for better weapons was that any item he found would soon become obsolete, making the entire search a hassle. This, however, was not the case for a soul-bound weapon. But as he stared at the black orb in his hand, he still couldn’t see how this could possibly be one. The thing didn’t even look alive, it was like holding a piece of condensed darkness.

The Emperor gave him a few calm instructions, his tone steady. “You don’t need blood. Just hold it and open yourself to it. Let it know your will.”

Leon nodded, relieved. ‘Good thing I don’t have to cut myself… not that anything would come out even if I did.’

He gripped the orb, closing his eyes and focusing inward. For a few seconds, nothing happened, then a pulse rippled through his palm, a deep resonance that made his body hum. The connection was instant, almost as if the orb had been waiting for him.

In the next heartbeat, the world fell away.

Leon opened his eyes and found himself floating in a vast, endless void, but it wasn’t the familiar one that existed within him. That one was silent, cold and still, yet it tried to imitate life. While this one felt truly alive. The darkness moved like it breathed. Every shimmer of light pulsed with quiet awareness.

Then something shifted.

A colossal eye opened in the void, it was slitted, reptilian, and glowing with starlit gold. Its eyelid didn’t rise, it slid sideways. The sight made Leon’s breath catch. The eye was larger than worlds; compared to it, he was less than a speck of dust.

His mind went blank for a moment before the realization struck him:

‘This… this is the soul of the ore.’

It made sense. The ore was formed from the blood of dragons, and what stood before him wasn’t just energy, it was a remnant of a dragon’s soul, ancient and impossibly vast.

Leon couldn’t help but wonder, ‘If its eye alone is that big, how massive would the full creature be?’ He couldn’t even imagine the rank needed to reach such size. Then, a stray thought crossed his mind. ‘Would Lizzie… end up like this someday?’

Before he could follow that thought, a voice rolled through the void ancient, deep, and layered with echoes.

“You possess the scent of the ancients.” Leon froze, his mind racing; although shocked by the voice, he still wondered what it was referring to.

‘It must mean my Dragonic traits, the ones I got from the Primordial Dragon Art.’

But before he could be sure, the voice spoke again.

“No…” the voice corrected “you carry the scent of the stars.”

Leon’s heart skipped a beat. Whatever this presence was, it had seen something deeper than his art, something even he didn’t understand.