Asher could only stare in awe, the sword was decorated from the hilt to the point of the sword. The hilt was covered with intricate gold decorations, flowers and golden lines making a beautiful pattern, the blade was covered in what looked like a multilayer Damascus pattern that looked like it had been forged by the world's greatest master.  Asher knew that this thing couldn’t possibly exist and yet here it was, everything definitely felt real, but he knew that it couldn’t be. After what felt like hours Asher finally blinked, when he opened his eyes, the sword was gone.

Left in the sword's place was this feeling of sharpness, an aura of power surrounding the area where the sword had just floated. Asher couldn’t believe it, the sword itself didn’t make sense but the fact that it had just disappeared leaving barely a trace made even less. That's when he felt a shift in the aura, it began to move around the area that it had originally occupied, then after a few seconds began to circle Asher like he was the eye of a tornado. Asher could only watch in horror as the energy became more and more chaotic.  

The energies continued like this for what felt like years to Asher, circling and flowing around him creating a barrier so thick that he could no longer see the stars that had littered the space. Eventually Asher could see a strand of energy flow out from the cyclone, it looked like a piece of string floating in the wind. The string slowly made its way towards Asher, Asher tried and tried to escape from its path, but it felt like he was trapped in a tight coffin, strapped in place by invisible ropes leaving him no room to escape from his fate.  

The string slowly made its way over to Asher taking its time in its approach, eventually it was just a few feet away from Asher’s head. The string slowly moved a few inches away from Asher’s forehead, acting like an insect searching for its prey. After a second the string of energy stopped and dove into his forehead burying itself into his skull. Energy began flowing though Asher expanding and filling every cell of his body. Pain quickly followed the energy making Asher scream out unable to do anything else as he waited for the energy to finish its rampage. 

The energy didn’t stop once his body felt like it was about to burst, instead it moved towards his head and began by causing images to flash through his mind, some of a sword that looked sharp enough to cut through solid steel. Others were just the hilt of a sword, embedded into the stump of a long-forgotten tree. Asher could only focus on these images trying anything to ignore the pain, and as he did it felt like the energy that had been going rampant in his body began to flow in a more refined way, causing the pain he felt to drop drastically. 

The moment the pain dropped Asher’s focus flew out the window, the pain had somehow sharpened his focus into a needle; letting him block out all other stimuli. The moment that focus was gone through the pain returned with a vengeance leaving him screaming out once again. It took him a long time before he was able to reign in his focus on the images letting the pain drop enough that he wasn’t screaming anymore. This vicious cycle continued for what Asher could only describe as an eternity, the energy seemed to want to drill the idea of sharpness into him and only after it felt like that goal had been completed did it start to remove itself from his body, leaving behind all the energies that had been absorbed. 

With a jolt Asher opened his eyes, he was sitting crisscross on the mat that he had eaten the core on, the director who had taken a seat in one of the chairs was underneath the table in the corner of the room, laying down on a pillow taking either a nap or actual sleep. Anger was bubbling in his stomach, a rage filled with rage fueling his body. As Asher focused on the director, he could feel pain radiating from every part of his body, he quickly snapped his eyes closed focusing on the parts of his body that hurt the most. 

Upon further inspection Asher could feel the most pain and energy circling his heart. With great focus he found that he was able to circulate the energy into his heart and through his bloodstream, the pain only slightly lowering while he did this. The energy followed his blood, quickly entering every cell in his body. The pain from this caused beads of sweat to form on his forehead, his face turning red from exertion. The only thing that helped him keep focus during this was the rage that continued to build, the target of said rage lay asleep under the table. 

Asher spent the better part of the next hour circling the energy though his body, taking breaks every twenty minutes or so to catch his breath. It was only after an hour that the pain began to dissipate. Once the pain had reached what Asher would call mild, did he shakily stand up, taking his time due to the waves of dizziness that hit him. Asher looked on at the sleeping figure of the director, rage burning in his heart, he wanted to jump him and stab him for what he had put him through. But the little bit of reason he had left told him that if he did that it would only lead to disaster, so he took a seat in one of the chairs biding his time.

It took another two hours before Asher could see the director's eyelids start to flicker, in that time Asher had been able to circulate the last of the energy though his body, all that remained was a light throbbing in his heart and head. He could only assume that the pain would disappear, he also knew that he only had another fifteen to twenty minutes before the director woke up completely. If he wanted to check out what ability he had gained, then now was the time.

“Status” Asher said in a low whisper, he said it as quietly as he could. If he woke the director up before he had a grasp on his new abilities, then he would be at a disadvantage for whatever situation arose. The familiar sound of the system ding before the box appeared rang through Asher's ears, the box appearing just a moment later. 

[Name: Asher Gentry]

[Level: 6]

[Race: Human, Rank: F]

[Titles: Bear Slayer, Beginner, Rabbit Slayer, Adventurer, Rare Beginnings]

[Core 1: Sword Core]

[Core 2: None]

[Core 3: None]

[Core 4: None]

[Core 5: None]

[Core 6: None]

[Overall Rank: F]

Asher looked at the screen with confusion, he had been told that he would get an ability from the core, and while he did see that he had successfully absorbed the core and gotten a new title he didn't see the abilities line that had once taken up space on his status screen. An idea popped into his head after a second of rubbing his two brain cells together.

“Abilities” He said at the same volume as he did for his status page. Very rarely did it seem like his ideas were met with success when it came to the system. But after a moment of waiting, he heard the familiar ding; the status page disappeared and was quickly replaced with a new blue box. 

[Abilities]

[Bladed Affinity: +10% Damage with Bladed Weapons, Conjure a ghost blade (Mana Consumption: Medium)]

Asher stared at the ability in shock, his jaw open so wide it could have hit the floor. This was way beyond anything he could have expected. He was finally thanking his lucky stars that he had chosen the sword core. The screen with the different possibilities quickly flashed through his mind, he quickly looked back over the ability and noticed that it was an affinity ability, whatever that was, was clearly very rare and something he should only disclose when absolutely necessary.

“Rare Beginnings” Asher said after a second, he knew that his ability was going to be amazing, and it was time to get his expectations back under control. The best way to do that was to check his new title out.

[Title: Rare Beginnings]

[Effect: -10% Mana Consumption]

Asher was once again left in shock at the system's generosity, if the core ability was the system's fault at all. He could only speculate that the reason his other titles were garbage was because he had gotten them rather easily. But this title wasn't something very many people would get. The only thing that bothered him was that it didn't tell him what he had done to get the title, he assumed it came from having his first core be a rare core, but he wasn't one hundred percent certain. That's when he heard the director begin to stir, his anger from before returning like a fire when a new log is inserted into the fire.