Shared Power

In the pitch-black space, Xiu Nan ceaselessly etched the model of the Sable-Eyed Vulture, circuit after circuit emerging one after another. Like countless dense veins, they entwined and twisted together, forming a raptor model both eerie and strangely beautiful—almost as if it had been printed in three dimensions.

Regrettably, the Sable-Eyed Vulture model suddenly collapsed halfway through, dissolving into white radiance.

All efforts were in vain; he would have to start again.

Xiu Nan had already repeated this cycle hundreds of thousands of times, carving again and again, only for it to shatter each time. Not a single success—every attempt ended in failure.

In truth, rune masters in the Rune Workshop had a vast array of specialized tools to aid in crafting beast models; none would ever etch by hand as Xiu Nan did—it was simply absurd. The basic Rune Workshop required only four simple circuits, the bare minimum and most primitive form.

A more standard workshop boasted nearly a hundred intricate circuits. It allowed magnified observation of lines, automated trajectory corrections, and marked key nodes to serve as the model’s skeleton.

It could also generate spatial grids at regular intervals using a three-dimensional coordinate system, enabling the rune master to precisely locate the start and end points of circuits and meticulously carve the main routes.

But Xiu Nan lacked all such conditions. He could only follow the guiding white dot, mimicking and etching over and over, trading countless failures for a single success.

Ding!

His finger tapped sharply, and before him appeared an exquisitely complex three-dimensional model.

A lifelike Sable-Eyed Vulture hovered in midair.

Radiance erupted, almost tearing through the darkness.

He had finally succeeded!

His vision blurred, and in an instant, Xiu Nan was expelled from the pure-black space, regaining awareness of his surroundings.

He glanced forward in confusion—a complete Sable-Eyed Vulture model hovered above the rectangular stone slab, blood-red throughout, with energy seemingly circulating within.

Reacting swiftly, Xiu Nan checked his right index finger, where blood trickled from a fresh wound.

After a brief treatment, he looked forward again, eyes burning with fervor.

The next step was to compress the model into a rune.

The moment the thought arose, his mind instinctively knew what to do. He slowly extended his left hand, pressing it to the guide circuit of the Rune Workshop. His right hand tapped the densest part of the Sable-Eyed Vulture’s circuit—its node.

With a gentle flick, a compressed rune was born.

Through repeated cycles, Xiu Nan used ten compressed runes in total to fully compress the Sable-Eyed Vulture model.

The once vast model shrank rapidly, transforming from a three-dimensional figure to a flat rune. It now resembled a simple sketch of a Sable-Eyed Vulture—fierce wings outstretched.

“Thank goodness it didn’t fail. Now, to ignite it…”

Xiu Nan stilled his mind, entering an unusually lucid state. Gradually, the buzzing of insects faded from his ears; no breeze or movement could disturb him.

Now, he could hear only his own heartbeat.

“Thump, thump, thump, thump…”

Within his perception, the heartbeat seemed to slow, as if he had entered meditation.

Where once two heartbeats followed in succession, now a pause stretched between them—the lengthened “thump” never connected to the next “beat.” In that interval, an unknown noise emerged—“hissss…”—like the call of a serpent.

Xiu Nan listened intently, and the sound shifted: it resembled the whirring of a spinning wheel cutting through air. In a daze, a vision appeared before him: a white ouroboros, biting its own tail, spinning endlessly in the void.

Around its path, rings of shattered white light dissolved like snow in clear skies, vanishing into nothingness.

It was as if he gazed upon a swirling, resplendent galaxy.

Was this the Ring of Mystery? How beautiful…

A cold shiver brought him abruptly back to himself.

On his palm, a translucent flame burned.

Xiu Nan positioned his hand beneath the Sable-Eyed Vulture rune, purifying its circuits with fire. Wisps of black smoke rose from the rune, as if expelling some impurities.

He focused with unwavering attention, not daring to be distracted for a moment.

At last, the rune ceased to emit black smoke.

Its surface glowed with a faint white light—if forced to describe it in a single word, it would be “translucent.”

With a gentle tap, the Sable-Eyed Vulture rune instantly merged into Xiu Nan’s body, appearing upon the Ring of Mystery the next second.

On the bone ring, white as jade, a rune gradually emerged. When it fully took shape, the entire ring began to spin rapidly, then slowly came to rest.

Xiu Nan let out a deep, heavy breath. He sensed an alien lifeform curled and dormant upon his back.

Whenever he wished, he could summon it.

“Come forth.”

Birdsong echoed through the cave.

A monstrous bird swiftly grew from Xiu Nan’s upper body, lightly shaking its wings before settling quietly on the ground.

Its size was modest—perhaps a third that of a grown man. Its wings were studded with bone spines, its mouth filled with black serrated teeth, and beneath its body lay gray-white diamond-shaped scales resembling eyes. On closer inspection, the vulture’s throat protruded slightly; surely the bone cyst was hidden there.

Xiu Nan gazed at it, and it tilted its head in turn to look at him—a cute gesture, though its appearance was ugly indeed.

But Xiu Nan favored fierceness; the more savage and powerful his allies, the safer he felt.

With that thought, the grotesque, bone-spined Sable-Eyed Vulture seemed much more pleasing in his eyes—not at all detestable.

He extended a hand, and the creature instantly flapped its wings, leaping up to perch carefully on his forearm.

Xiu Nan studied and played with it for a while, then suddenly slapped his forehead, remembering the special ability attached to the White Bone Ring of Mystery.

Shared Power: ① Any superpower possessed by the wearer can be transferred, with a certain reduction, to the ring beast!

Shared Power: ② The ring beast’s physical attributes or abilities can be transferred, with a certain reduction, randomly to you!

With a thought, the system prompt appeared.

“Current target: Sable-Eyed Vulture.”

“Do you wish to activate Shared Power ②? Once used, it cannot be reversed. There is no option to choose again.”

“Activate,” Xiu Nan replied without hesitation.

The Sable-Eyed Vulture possessed the following attributes and abilities: strength, speed, defense, endurance, bone transformation, and targeting.

Six in all; the odds favored extracting one of the four attributes, while the chance of drawing one of the two abilities was slim.

“Draw!”

Instantly, the result appeared: Xiu Nan had drawn strength, and he relaxed a little.

If memory served, the Sable-Eyed Vulture’s strength ranked above average among extraordinary birds of its size. Of the four attributes, strength was likely the best.

“You and the Sable-Eyed Vulture now share the attribute of strength.”

“From this moment, you will gain one-fifth of the Sable-Eyed Vulture’s strength attribute, permanently added. As the power of the Sable-Eyed Vulture rune increases, so too will your own.”