Chapter 259: Ordeal Democracy [1]
Chapter 258
───────────
Episode 66 - Ordeal Democracy [1]
─────────────────────────────────
Ting! Ting!
I opened the door to Mia’s shop and stepped inside casually.
Without wasting any time, I left a chocolate coffee on the table and went straight to take a bath.
About ten minutes later, I came down to the first floor. By then, Astrid was sitting at the table, drinking chocolate coffee while reading a book.
When she saw me coming down from the second floor, she asked with some confusion:
"Why did you take another bath? You left completely clean two hours ago."
I sat down on the couch and replied:
"Um, actually, someone bumped into me on the way here, and their drink spilled all over my shirt."
".....?"
Astrid frowned and narrowed her eyes as she stared at me.
"That sounds like a lie. What did you actually do?"
"..."
When she realized I had no intention of answering, Astrid sighed and decided to ignore me.
’It’s getting harder and harder to fool her.’
Upon hearing my thoughts, my master’s voice echoed in my mind.
’That girl’s talent is no joke, and her intelligence grows every day. If anything, you’re the one getting worse at lying, you know?’
I scratched my head, slightly incredulous, although his words made quite a bit of sense.
’I guess I’m the one getting less intelligent.’
’That much was obvious.’
"..."
I shook my head inwardly and turned my attention back to Astrid.
At first glance, she looked like nothing more than a child enjoying her childhood. However...
’Her talent far surpasses mine...’
The difference between us was like heaven and earth.
Astrid didn’t just possess the talent of ’Creation’, an ability capable of creating Sword Arts, Martial Arts, or Magic. At its core, it was the ability to create anything that could enhance her combat capabilities.
A talent that allowed her to develop all kinds of techniques in the middle of a battle, and do so within a matter of seconds.
The most terrifying part was that each of those techniques was extremely complex and adapted to her opponent at an absurd speed.
But that wasn’t all.
She also possessed the talent of ’Understanding’, the ability to literally copy the powers of a Trait.
For example, Astrid managed to copy and understand my Nine Heavens Sense Trait within a matter of minutes.
When that happened, both my master and I were left completely stunned.
A talent capable of copying what a Trait could do was not only considered impossible, but was also a true Myth among myths.
’On top of that, her ability to naturally absorb Mana is almost comparable to mine.’
In a very short amount of time, Astrid had reached Three Stars.
Of course, it would still take her around two or three months to reach Four Stars.
Even so, her growth was far too fast, even faster than mine and Lumina’s.
’Even so, why is her talent so high?’
My master and I had asked ourselves that exact same question at the same time.
My talent was exceptional, but it couldn’t even be compared to Astrid’s. Rather...
’I’ve felt something strange about my own talent for months now.’
Suddenly, my talent had begun to grow, something that was supposed to be impossible.
According to my estimates, it wouldn’t be long before I reached the talent of the ’Creator’.
After all, I had begun creating techniques in the middle of battles, although I still needed several minutes to do so.
A clear example was my Imperfect Heavens Art.
Although it wasn’t a Martial Art created entirely from scratch, since I had used Lumina’s Martial Arts as its foundation, it still fell under the category of the ’Creator’ talent: the ability to create techniques in the middle of combat.
’Mhm, could it be that, just like my memories, my true talent is also sealed?’
In any case, whether or not that theory was correct, I would find out once I recovered my memories.
"Hey, Astrid, can you copy this?"
Astrid looked at me as I raised the palm of my hand.
Then, Dark Mana formed above it and began creating a kind of 4D Cube.
Mana manipulation could be perfected by creating extremely complex shapes.
For example, the 4D Cube was one of the most complex shapes that existed, since a 4D Dimension was impossible for someone existing in 3D to perceive.
Therefore, through the Higher Mind, an ability possessed only by Six-Star Awakened, it was possible to comprehend and somehow ’see’ the 4D Dimension.
So, rather than asking her to copy exactly what I was doing, I wanted to test Astrid’s talent and see if she could at least recreate the 4D Cube.
Astrid frowned and asked:
"That’s cheating. My head hurts just looking at that weird cube."
"That means you can see its shape to some extent."
Astrid nodded.
"....!"
’She really can see it, even if only slightly, without the Higher Mind.’
My master’s voice sounded incredulous.
Meanwhile, I simply smiled and teased her:
"Mhm, looks like the little monster can’t copy it, hahaha."
Astrid gritted her teeth and glared daggers at me.
However, after a minute, she extended her hand, and Dark Mana surged from her body.
The Mana began to take shape, and within a matter of seconds, the 4D Cube was formed.
Even so, it was quite unstable. But if I gave her a little more time, the Cube would eventually become perfect and turn into an exact copy of mine.
"Ugh, my head hurts. And stop testing me, fool."
Astrid made the Cube disappear, and shortly afterward, she returned her attention to her book while drinking her chocolate coffee.
I sighed inwardly and leaned back against the couch.
’She actually managed to copy it.’
My master nodded slightly.
’She really is incredible. This is the first time I’ve ever seen someone create a 4D Cube without relying on the Higher Mind.’
’However, it’s not impossible, is it?’
’Obviously not, but an ordinary human mind can’t create a 4D Cube to train Mana manipulation.’
I sighed inwardly as my attention remained fixed on Astrid.
Only then, with a simple thought, the system window appeared in my mind.
What appeared was...
——————————
Name: Blood of Divinity.
Category: Heart’s Strength
Description: A heart that can only be Awakened by those Chosen by the Origin.
Passive Effect.
[Passive]-[The blood within your body is like an Elixir that can even revive a dead person with a 10% chance, according to the Law of Fate.]
[Passive]-[You can create a Divine Essence from your blood, with a maximum of three drops every One Hundred Years and a 1.5% chance of creation.]
[Passive]-[After reaching the First Rank of the Throne of Divinity, the use of Divinity is multiplied by 10× and naturally replenished.]
Note: Every five bottles of Divine Essence created reduces the creation rate by 0.1%.
——————————
After reading the characteristics of my Heart’s Strength once again, I turned my "gaze" back toward Astrid.
’I can create a total of three Divine Essences to awaken the Divine Body once I advance to Five Stars.’
Astrid was currently at Three Stars; however, it would take her several months to reach Five Stars.
Perhaps she would achieve it around the middle of the year 790, sometime between June and July.
’Every five failures reduce the chance, which means I’ll have to deal with even more failures. However, I only need to create a single Divine Essence.’
I only needed one drop, not all three.
It was truly incredible that my Heart’s Strength had the ability to create drops of Divine Essence.
Even if the odds continued to decrease and I ended up obtaining only one drop—or, in the worst-case scenario, none at all...
It was still far better than waiting a thousand years and relying on the Dream and Desire Tree to give me Divine Essence.
’Creating Divine Essence is surprisingly simple.’
The information I needed had appeared directly in my mind.
The process was simply a matter of circulating Mana until it formed a sphere, then placing a drop of my blood inside it.
After that, I had to keep a tremendous amount of Mana circulating for a certain period of time until the Divine Essence was finally formed.
That was the entire process.
In any case, setting my thoughts aside, I asked Astrid:
"Astrid, you really don’t want to train?"
At my question, Astrid let out a frustrated sigh.
"No, I already said I’ll only train once I’m a little older."
"....."
"And when will that be?"
"When I’m sixteen, so I can prepare to enter the Academy, of course."
"Mhm, but if you start training now, you’ll be even stronger than a Nine-Star professor."
New cadets could only enter the Academy at eighteen.
In other words, eight years from now, Astrid could enter the Holy Academy or any of the Five Great Academies in the world.
’Except by then, she’ll probably have far surpassed a Nine-Star Awakened.’
No, more than that, considering her natural ability to absorb Mana, even without training...
She could probably reach at least Seven or Eight Stars.
The only problem was that she would have no combat experience or prior training in Sword Arts, let alone Martial Arts.
"That would be boring, so I’ll wait until I’m sixteen."
At that moment, my master’s frustrated voice echoed in my mind.
’To hell with what she says, disciple. Let me teach that spoiled brat a lesson.’
I rubbed the bridge of my nose upon hearing that.
’There’s no need. I’ll make her start training with me myself.’
At that moment, without me realizing it, Astrid felt a strange shiver run through her body.