Luke had a confused look on his face.

"What do you mean? Do I still have the curse?"

Julian shook his head before answering.

"No. What has happened here is a result of the fact that you carried this curse for your entire life. Normally, someone who has been cursed by the glutton will either break the curse before birth or never get rid of it. There has never been a case of someone breaking the curse after many years of having it."

Julian paused before continuing.

"Since you've had this curse for so long, it became ingrained in your own soul. It is believed that our aura is developed by our soul. Look at it this way, if you hang out with someone every day for a year, then you will naturally start to pick up on their traits and behaviors. Basically, both of you start to mimic each other in many ways. That's what happened here. You had this curse for so long, that your aura simply mutated to grow alongside the curse."

Luke didn't have any words. He had gone his entire life wanting to gain an ability, but now that he had one he found out that it had adapted to the very thing that kept him from having one.

"Don't worry. This isn't a bad thing. How does your body feel right now?"

Luke moved around and found that something was different.

"I feel a little stronger. My body also moves quicker than normal."

Julian smiled at Luke's words.

"It would seem that you have a very handy ability there."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. You forcefully drained my aura from me. That aura has to go somewhere. The only place it can go is into you. That's why you feel slight changes in your body. Your ability lets you take aura from others and use it to power up yourself."

Luke started to look excited.

"That is handy! With this, I can actually fight with everyone and not hold you all back!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself yet. Just because you've gained an ability, doesn't mean that you'll do well in combat. Your ability is indeed helpful to gain power, but it doesn't help much to increase your skill."

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Luke thought for a moment before speaking.

"Then it's time for me to learn a martial skill."

Julian nodded his head.

"Yes, it is. I think I know of one that would be perfect for an ability like yours. It's not a standard martial skill though. No one else but me even knows about it. You could call it a little technique that I made myself."

Julian was lying. The only reason that no one knew about it is because it hasn't been invented yet. In his past timeline, a man that came from Scandinavian descent invented a martial skill that incorporated Viking-like tactics in its moveset. It was both offensive and defensive in nature and focused on the strength of the practitioner to overpower opponents. Since Luke would also gain a boost in speed, a martial skill like this one would be a great asset to have in his arsenal.

Luke was brimming with excitement by this point. He had yet to learn any martial skills and was ready to help the squad if they ever needed it.

"I'm ready."

"This martial skill is called Skol Chant. It's hard to practice, but the cultivation for your aura is immense. I'll teach you the basic moveset, and then you're on your own. Unfortunately, I won't be of much help in your training since this skill relies on personal determination. You'll only break through the tiers if you have a strong desire to grow. I'm sure you won't have a problem with that though."

Julian gave him a smile and taught him the basic moveset of Skol Chant. Luke picked it up pretty easily since he was a quick learner. Julian watched him train for a bit before returning to his room.

Sitting on his nightstand, was the stone that Iris had given him. He had yet to check it out since he had been very busy, but since he had some time to himself he decided to find out about it.

He picked it up in his hand and poured his aura into it. The stone began glowing and a voice sounded in his head.

"Hello, Julian. Long time no see. For me, at least."

"Titus? Is that you?"

"Yes. I just wanted to check in on you to see how everything was going. How's little Iris doing?"

Julian was a little surprised to hear from Titus. He believed he wouldn't see him again until he ascended to the heavenly realm.

"She's fine. I didn't know you had a daughter."

"Haha! She isn't my daughter. She was already conceived by the time I found her. I just gave her a small amount of my aura before she siphoned it from her mother. That way her alpho cells, or whatever the humans call it, develop to gain a similar ability as mine."

Titus did something that only someone with heavenly aura could do. Normally, a child's ability will be completely random, but if the aura pool is filled with heavenly aura before it can siphon any from the mother then the alpha cells will be influenced by the heavenly aura to manifest an ability similar to the one who gave them their aura.

"They're called alpha cells, man."

"It doesn't really matter to me what they're called. I don't have any."

Julian had to agree with him. The old gods don't have any alpha cells. They have been around since the beginning of reality itself. Their power is something that they have always had and is manifested by their aura directly.

"True. By the way, you still haven't explained how she got to me in the first place. What about her family?"

"Unfortunately, her family was killed by some terrorist organization there some years ago. She isn't too hung up over it though since she always knew she was going to have to leave to come to find you. I made sure that she wouldn't have any contact with you before your conscience returned back to that point in the timeline. That way she couldn't influence the you that was already there. I gave her this stone and tasked her with delivering it to you so you could communicate with me. This stone can only be activated once every night on Earth or else it will break from the usage."

"Wait, so she's been waiting for me to arrive for 18 years?"

"Yes, she has. I filled her in on everything that happened. Consider her as an ally that you can rely on. She may not have as much power as I do, but she is my way of helping you out without personally being on Earth. You know how the humans get when a god steps foot there. I don't need any religions starting up for me right now. I'm a little shy, you know?"

Julian almost laughed out loud. It had been a long time since he had spoken to Titus at length. Titus was his closest friend in his previous timeline.

"I understand completely. It's good to hear from you again. Make sure there's a new villa waiting for me when I ascend. Also, I'll make sure to take care of Iris. She won't be harmed with me around. Thank you, old friend."

"No worries. You've helped me when I needed it, so this is just returning the favor. I look forward to seeing your ascension. The Heavenly Realm is a lot quieter without you here."

Julian and Titus said their farewells. Julian placed the stone back onto his nightstand and laid down on his bed. After about 2 minutes, he shot up.

"Dammit! I should've asked him about Arielle!"

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