Sitting down and leaning against the wall, I closed my eyes, steadied my breathing, and began recollecting my stats.
At first, I was excited to test my strength, but remembering the strange things that appeared on my system window made me hesitate.
"Let's start from number one," I muttered, my eyes scanning through my stats once more.
The first unusual thing I noticed—right at the beginning of the window, was the fact that I now had an affiliation.
Affiliation typically referred to an organization or group you were associated with; this was usually established after the academy, so seeing it already filled in was odd.
"And what does Weaver Coven even mean?"
I didn't have the answer, but I did know it was linked to the bizarre title I was given—'Weaver of Life'—which, oddly enough, didn't appear in the window for some reason.
Glancing below my mana pool, I noticed another section that referenced weaving, further deepening my confusion about what a weaver was. But lacking any answers, there was little I could do for now.
"I can check the library later," I sighed, then continued absorbing the information. "It seems my mana capacity and mana pool have increased."
A smile crept onto my lips as I continued down the sky-blue interface.
Since I had already read it once, the initial shock of my core capacity being filled and rising to the peak of D-rank, a feat that was by no means trivial—had already faded.
Still, I could feel its effects within me—my body felt lighter, my vision clearer; even my face and organs seemed improved, although I doubted that had anything to do with reaching the peak of D-rank.
Skipping my major talent, Shadow of Dominion, which remained unchanged aside from the enhancement of all my saint abilities...
My gaze lowered as I moved on to the words glowing light purple.
"Infinite Adaptability," I muttered. It seemed a talent that didn't originally belong to Kaiser Vanguard had somehow become part of me.
Was it I—Cha Jin-sung's—talent? Or perhaps a gift as the author? Maybe the way talents functioned in my novel wasn't identical to how they worked in this world.
I didn't know, but neither possibility was entirely reassuring.
The talent itself was quite peculiar and would require practice to fully comprehend... So for now, my attention turned to my vestiges, which I hadn't checked in a while.
I still had the hunter dagger that the original Kaiser Vanguard acquired after killing Gobo, then the Regulator I received from Neko-sensei—Nightwing came from the sequence seven drifter during combat training.
As my gaze drifted downward, my body momentarily froze—even my mind seemed stunned by what I saw.
It was an established fact that drifters or demons usually dropped items called vestiges upon death—due to mana being indestructible, though some simply released it into the environment.
But these vestiges were categorized into grades: Spirit (dropped by sequence nine drifters and above), followed by Divine, Ancient, Mythic, Titan, Cosmic, Empyrean, Transcendent, and one additional rank I hadn't specified.
This meant that in the world of Meltonia, Transcendent was the highest known grade—yet no one had ever been recorded wielding one.
Why? Because no mage had ever advanced beyond S-rank, and that meant they couldn't combat a sequence two drifter, which was only slightly weaker than an SSS-rank.
Meaning, in this entire world, I alone possessed a Transcendent-grade vestige.
My hand clenched into a fist as I bowed my head, struggling to process the revelation. A Transcendent-grade vestige was capable of defeating a sequence two drifter... If wielded by an S-rank—since mages couldn't use vestiges more than two grades above their rank.
That meant, even with a Transcendent-grade vestige, it remained unusable in my hands until I reached at least peak A-rank.
I sighed and dismissed the window, complaining about a blessing would be ungrateful. Maybe not now, but someday, that vestige could save my life. For now, I could only move forward.
Dusting myself off, I moved to the wall facing the door and activated the gravity mode via a switch that looked like it was designed for air-conditioning.
The gravity level that Matt and the main cast used at this stage was 130 grams, something that would kill a normal human instantly.
But I wasn't ordinary, and aside from Matt, Ikenna and the anomaly—Anica, none of the main cast were near the peak of C-rank, as far as I could remember.
Withstanding the intensifying gravitational force, I moved toward the Automated System Partner, or ASP for short, stationed at the edge of the room.
The ASP was a revolutionary piece of technology that had taken the magia world by storm.
It was everything a mage could ask for: it could serve as a sparring partner, analyze and explain the weaknesses in your abilities, or even predict possible counters, allowing you to retreat if you encountered someone with a countering talent.
"Come to think of it, does Shadow of Dominion have any counters?" I grinned at the rhetorical question. "I have a feeling it doesn't and that my new talent is just as incredible."
The mere thought of being able to adapt to any situation made my blood race.
Did it mean I could become the greatest swordsman with enough practice? Perhaps I could even develop a talent that allowed me to adapt to other mages' talents?
Testing it all out was going to be exhilarating.
The white robot was featureless except for its glowing blue eyes that looked at me; after some time, it assumed a battle stance.
'It doesn't have lips, but I'd bet it was grinning.' A dark chuckle escaped my lips.
"Is even a robot looking down on me?"
I summoned the Regulator vestige and steadied my posture, just as Neko-sensei had taught me the previous day.
For a mage, balance and focus were paramount. Unlike swordsmen or spearmen who relied on specific stances, mages simply needed to be comfortable.
Since the Regulator could do far more than just regulate temperature, I quickly switched it to heating mode.
Altering the surrounding temperature was as simple as thinking—it literally was, and since the vestige was just a bracelet, there wasn't any alternative method to control it except through telepathy.
The ASP lunged first with blinding speed; I was momentarily stunned like a bolt of lightning had struck my side.
My lungs compressed as I slammed into the wall, which, despite the impact, remained unscathed.
[YOU HAVE ACTIVATED THE TALENT: CLAIRVOYANCE]
My light purple eyes shimmered, and the narrow star at the centre of my pupils expanded slightly; the world changed as if I had stepped into a light-purple dimension where everything was crystal clear.
Without missing a breath, I sprang to my feet and advanced toward the ASP, who was now boxing the air.
The robot hurled a punch at my right shoulder, but with a single step back, I confirmed I could block it.
As the clenched fist neared, I raised my forearm and intercepted it.
The force from the collision was immense, so much so that if we hadn't been in a training room reinforced by a foreign metal, the floor might have cracked.
I immediately pulled back from the ASP. It was clear he specialized in close combat and as a mage, I wasn't his ideal opponent.
But that didn't mean I would back down.
"Let's act like freaks," I muttered, activating my next talent.
[YOU HAVE ACTIVATED THE TALENT: ALABASTER ICE]
The room's temperature seemed to freeze for a moment, then dropped even further as I activated the heating function of the Regulator vestige.
My talent allowed me to reduce the temperature by 200% of anything above room temperature. It didn't just neutralize the heat—it inverted it.
Which was exactly what I needed to generate actual ice magic.
The reason I was fighting so seriously was simple: I needed to understand what the Infinite Adaptability talent truly did and whether it was genuinely overpowered.
Crystals of ice began forming on the floor, snowflakes rising with them as I advanced with precision toward the ASP.
The room's temperature continued to plummet. The heat energy radiating from my body intensified the effectiveness of my talent.
A wall of ice formed as the ASP launched a jab, causing shards to scatter across the pale floor.
The ice, formed from my trait, contrasted beautifully with the color of the room as I glided across the surface, my left hand sweeping downward.
At first, my feet slipped, but the more I moved like a surfer, the easier it became.
"Let's end this."
I had already gained an understanding of my new talent. I had set the ASP to lower C-rank, and the more we exchanged blows, the weaker its attacks seemed to become, even the weight of the gravity chamber became almost none existent.
It appeared the talent allowed me to adapt to any condition, which also meant I stood a chance in any battle, as long as I wasn't defeated instantly.
Of course, I knew fighting a robot wasn't the same as facing a human opponent with a brain, but my goal had been achieved. I had confirmed I was at least on par with the top twenty first-years.
Raising my arm, which was still nearly grazing the floor. I formed a massive prison of ice that immediately engulfed the ASP, giving me the opening to drive my other fist into it, shattering every piece of metal it was made from.
The ASP crumbled to the floor as I collapsed, gasping for breath.
Mana Pool: 15/50
"Thirty removed from only that?" I exclaimed, my breathing finally stabilizing.
Stretching out my legs, I let my body sink into the ground.
My hands traced over my now firm abs and lean, muscular chest, it seemed the awakening had done a better job than the elixir. Though, its full potential had yet to reveal itself.
"That was tough," I muttered, inhaling deeply and exhaling with a heavy sigh. "Some bitter coffee would really hit the spot."