These Enhancements were unlocked as part of Hunger's ascension as a King, by taking control of a Realm via his Cloak, by killing an Armament as important as Procyon, by his reignition of the Fonts of Myth, a feat of legend, and finally by his Astral Rank, sufficient to contest an Armament at it's height.
King's Blood. 25 Arete - 2 Picks.
It is expected for a king and his descendants to be wise and mighty both. Frequently, this is untrue, but the myth persists, and noble bloodlines are often prized. This is a power that is meant to enhance one's blood to the level one who rules should be at, a King's Blood. Unlocked by Hunger's kingship and power over Blood, he can inherently supercharge his blood, increasing his Quickening effects immensely. Further, his blood's inherent mystical significant transfers a small fraction of his power to his Second Stage. This remedies a major weakness somewhat, though an opponent not crippled by the effort of bringing him to that point will still find him a far easier kill. In addition, he may deem others worthy of a fraction of his Blood-related boons, though each person it is shared with dilutes his blessing.
Doubles Quickening-related Stat bonuses. 10% of Stat bonuses carry over to Second Stage.
Hunger may designate others as 'subjects' where his Blood is concerned, and they may receive up to 25% of his Quickening bonus, though the effect is diluted with each subject.
All enemy Blood effects must directly contest Hunger's mastery of Blood, as the king will brook no dissent from his Blood. This allows even Afflictions and Curses to be mitigated, should they directly affect his Blood.
Weapons of Wealth. 25 Arete - 2 Picks.
The concept of total war involves treating an entire nation, people, geography, industry, and economy, as part of the enemy and thus valid targets. This is the only means by which one may effectively fight a true master of Weapons of Wealth. The more the wielder owns, the better they become in wielding this effect, to the point it is generally only useful for the rulers of a land or business empires of trans-dimensional scale such as Disney. Though it can only be used to create weapons. Even defensive barriers are off-limits, save for shields as technically counting as weapons. Thus, the user can become a one-man army if they rule a prosperous kingdom, but in the hands of your average citizen, it would be difficult to make more than a knife. Unlocked by taking possession of something of immense value.
The user is never truly considered disarmed unless they've been divested of all significant wealth. Given Hunger's possession of the Forebear's Blade, Ring of Blood, and Cloak of Evening, which in turn extends to the Realm of Evening, this is very unlikely. This doesn't provide any direct bonuses to the user, their skill with the weapons created is unchanged. However, since everything is devoted to the weapons, they can accomplish truly ridiculous conceptual and magical effects. Wounds that never heal, blades that heal instead of harm, weapons with elemental effects, weapons that allow the user to steal attributes from their opponents, staves that absorb enemy magic, etc.. Ironically, this power can be said to be a weaponized, if you'll pardon the pun, form of the old adage 'If you have enough money, you can buy anything.' as sheer versatility of weapon-based effects are immense. Still, they all retain the caveat that they cannot directly improve the user. No bolstering casting ability, no increasing durability, skill, strength, or learning speed.
Mostly a versatility boost. Gisena will need some time to build up a wide variety of effects, and this will allow Hunger to fill the gap until then. It's main downside is exactly as described: it does not do anything but create weapons which cannot directly enhance Hunger. Though his companions are free game. Aobaru could be granted gauntlets that bolster his flames, Aerie a dagger that enhances stealth, Adorie a staff that can convert combat power into rulership, or the reverse. Though, Hunger will need more riches for the last. For the asking price, it doesn't offer much power. On the other hand, constructs persist until Hunger dismisses them, and his 'maximum MP' in regards to casting with this ability is the only limiter on the number of weapons he might create. Thus, he might outfit an entire legion with special weapons for little cost beyond a few moments apiece.
Oak of Ages. 25 Arete - 2 Picks.
It is frequently said that elders are wiser, and their advice should be listened to. In some realities, age will confer Astral might, or directly increase the parameters of an artifact. These things can be made true for a user of Oak of Ages, as age will confer both power and wisdom. Still, it takes literal ages to build significant might in this fashion. However, this is a baseline improvement, and cannot be revoked by most normal means. Even Nullity fails to remove it, as if the user's age has burned these improvements into reality. Though Hunger has not finished his first century, even the small amount of age he possesses will be significant in his weaker areas. Unlocked by restoring one of the glories of a past age.
Gains ++ to all Stats. Additional + for every magnitude of age, with time spent resting counting for double, and time spent in contemplation quadruple. An additional + when Hunger reaches 100, 1000, etc. Most effects have significant difficulty in removing this bonus. This is of immense potential value to one bearing the Curse of Indenture, as a single octillion years will eventually grant 27 to every Stat. However, this offers little direct power immediately, and advancement is exponentially slow unless complementary Enhancements or magics are discovered. The Realm of Evening facilitates this somewhat, for example, effectively increasing each month's length by 70%, and allowing for extended periods of rest that the Apocryphal Curse would otherwise interfere with. It is possible to accelerate the build-up with other complementary Enhancements, though more time-extensions to Pillars would likely be easiest to obtain relative to many of them.
Wind of Death. 25 Arete - 2 Picks.
The Wind of Death is a very simple power. It adds a Death-Curse to the user's blows that scales with their speed. A normal human would find their blows a little bit more likely to cause lethal damage, but wouldn't be felling trees with a single blow. A fighter jet would be able to kill a battleship with regular gun fire. A being on Hunger's level would be causing death from wounds that would otherwise barely bleed. Unlocked via killing Procyon, the first Armament.
However, the Wind of Death is relatively easy to resist. Much like Ruin, it can also be revoked purposefully. The former is actually the price for the latter. Essentially, Hunger gains a secondary Ruin, focused specifically on Death, rather than entropy and destruction. As such, the Wind of Death is significantly less effective on non-living targets. Ironically, this means an AI mecha would be less resistant than the mechanical arms in a factory. In theory, the Agi necessary to circumnavigate a planet in a few minutes could allow the user to leverage this Enhancement into more conceptual effects like killing stars by turning them into black holes or simply snuffing them out with no further investment.
AN: Each of these takes inspiration from the Color Magics. Some more than others. For instance, King's Blood is drawn fairly directly from Ring of Essence. Oak of Ages has a similar time-based mechanic as Green. Weapons of Wealth and Wind of Death are the less obvious ones. The former is less 'Money' and more 'how wealthy is your empire?' which, admittedly Gold does too, but Weapons trades a lot of utility for magic weapons that can be used to trivialize a lot of life's less major problems and offer aid against larger ones. Wind of Death, however, is more about inflicting death than gaining power from it.
By the way
@Rihaku , Color Violet isn't retroactive, right? If you got it later, you'd start with a kill counter of 0, like everybody else, barring any bonuses from Red, correct?
1385 Words, discounting this line.