Dr. Gerard braced himself against being dragged around by the wind while the titan's golden form had only his long robes flapping about. His focus never wavered, his face remaining unreadable.
Everything suddenly calmed. The woman's pale skin and cold body grew warm, and her eyes snapped open, her gaze landing on the golden titan beside her.
Her eyes widened in shock at seeing the legendary figure before her. "Calm down. I'm just a gatekeeper. You have so much life ahead of you now. Wake up!"
Her eyes closed as she fell back asleep. Dr. Gerard was surprised by the man's words, but that wasn't as important as what had just happened before him.
"This is more resurrection than necromancy!"
"It certainly looks like it!" The golden figure's deep voice shook the chamber.
"Why did you say that to her?"
"I don't want word spreading that I'm still alive," he explained. "She's dazed now—her story will be of someone she saw when she died."
"Hmm. What if the boy tells her the truth?"
"That's your job—make him understand."
"That's not important right now. Are you okay with him being a necromancer? Last time I checked, you hated those practitioners. You slaughtered everyone stupid enough to reveal themselves... Are you changing your ways? Has your struggle shifted your mindset? I mean, if you have a new philosophy of life, share it with us—we need to change with you..." Dr. Gerard found himself asking things he would never have dared ask before.
The man sat and listened, not offended at all. His actions were indeed strange to the doctor, but if Gerard had known what he knew now, he wouldn't be shocked.
"No talent in the world is forbidden," he spoke, silencing the doctor. "How you use it is what makes it forbidden. And because talent shifts the perception of the user, they become a danger to the world rather than its salvation. You need to control your talent, shape it and change it—not the other way around."
The golden man's gaze turned toward the boy's direction. He could feel him vividly and said, "He is innocent. He carries power he doesn't understand, but he carries it effortlessly. It won't change him unless he wants it to."
"Really?" Dr. Gerard asked. He knew more than anyone that talent could be more curse than blessing. Those with SSS Rank talent were praised, but not all could carry its weight—most crumbled and wasted away.
The golden man sighed, his gaze shifting elsewhere. "I sense another talent—an extremely powerful one, SSS Rank—and its owner is straining to carry it."
"How powerful?" Dr. Gerard felt a chill down his spine. The man's seriousness frightened him.
"One that could end the world in an instant."
---
It was hard to distinguish night from day underground, but sometimes, if you were close to the surface, light would sneak through crevices.
That's what was happening now. Eiran had spent the night learning to walk, getting better with each moment and mastering his movements. A streak of sunlight touched his Small Palace, and his link with it made him feel its warmth.
He walked toward the door. A smaller opening appeared, and he saw it—a single line of bright light containing heat and grandeur greater than anything he'd seen underground.
Eiran sensed his match, and he ran back. The door closed swiftly behind him at his will.
"I'm not alone." Eiran felt complicated emotions. He'd found his match—should he be happy or should he fear them?
"This world is dangerous!" he muttered again, rooted behind the door as he stared at it. He wanted to see the ray again but refused to move.
He then walked back to the stone. It stood four feet tall while he was smaller. Crimson liquid formed around him, lifting and placing him on top.
From there, he looked at the door. Walking and falling hadn't caused him much fatigue, but focusing with his high intelligence had worn him down considerably.
He wanted to revert to a baby's mindset and enjoy some rest, but the place was still too unknown and dangerous for him to relax.
He raised his hands. They were white, contrasting with his bright pink skin, but as talent energy continued pouring in, they were mending, shifting, and becoming more real than bandages.
By now, they were almost filled with his talent energy. He could sense something significant was about to happen.
Eiran said, "Flood!" The entire chamber filled with a crimson sea. Eyes closed, he felt everything the bloody sea touched as it immersed the chamber.
The chamber contained only the stone, but as he covered it, he saw the pyramid's entrance. The blood seeped inside and mapped the location without destroying anything.
He filled the interior and captured a mental picture of everything. It was more mechanical structure than normal building, with large chambers, rooms, and a small library containing a book Dr. Gerard had shown him.
Eiran retrieved that book and three others that interested him. After they settled before him, the entire crimson sea vanished as if it had never existed.
No one had taught him to read, but from watching nannies read and older children being taught, he'd grasped the skill.
He read the book's title easily: "Talents." Opening it, he found the categories he already knew listed, then opened to the first section, which explained Power with deeper detail than Dr. Kael had provided.
'So even the categories have subcategories,' Eiran thought as he read through the major categories to grasp them better.
Power, Enhance, Elemental, Invoke, Shift, Control, Alterborne, Force, Psychic, Warp, Creation.
Eiran knew them all by now, but only Warp, Force, and Creation weren't properly explained.
Force was self-explanatory—an invisible power that pushed, pulled, or controlled objects. Usually static in movement, it used raw energy as its source.
But it could also take form, sometimes depending on the talent. For example, Psionics was a force some psychics used to control objects, and some could make it visible.
Warp was a sought-after category because talents from this group usually distorted space, time, perception, or objects. Those who grasped their Warp talents well were very difficult to deal with.
The explanation noted that talents usually fell under two or more categories apart from their origin, and talent users must understand this to excavate their abilities' full potential.
This part gave Eiran ideas, and he read about origin talents, learning they mentioned six but only truly listed five.
Power, Enhance, Creation, Force, and Control. Since most were unknown, Eiran didn't dwell on that, focusing on the available information. Under each was detailed explanation of what made it an origin category.
Power existed in all awakened—talent energy improved their overall strength, immunity, and perception. The more phases one progressed through, the more qualitative growth they experienced in raw power.
This meant an awakened person was always physically stronger than an unawakened person on average, even if the awakened had developed some long-distance sight talent with zero effect on their body.
Enhance applied to everyone who could control their Talent Energy—Phase 2 awakened individuals. They could use talent energy to enhance their physique, run faster, jump higher, and see farther than most.
Phase 2 and above could fight beasts or other people using just their Talent Energy without employing their actual Talent.
Creation applied to all talents that could manifest anything, even if it was just force.
Phase 3 individuals could manifest their Talent Energy outside their bodies, using it as powerful energy blasts, to hold objects, or fuel it as energy for technology. That was Force.
Phase 4 individuals could solidify Talent Energy into any construct they desired. By then, Talent Energy had become so versatile it was even better than one's actual talent. That was Creation.
All talent users could control their talents to some degree—that was the Control Category. The control of talent energy was self-explanatory.
Eiran fully grasped how the origin categories functioned. By then, his former bandaged hand was full of energy and had shifted to match his skin texture and color.
His body trembled as full understanding of the Forged Form flooded his mind. It was a Talent Object.
The book explained how some objects and tools in the world developed talents of their own, giving wielders additional abilities.
If the Talent Object was complementary, the awakened person would receive an extraordinary boost to their abilities.
Brand Bind: Forge Form [A symbiotic bandage that primarily stores talent energy, forges clothes, bandages wounds for accelerated healing, isolates presence, and when full of energy, creates a Husk Form.]
Eiran frowned and tilted his head before inscribing with blood on the list of talent categories a new name: Husk Form.
He instinctively knew this was an additional category.