She clawed up, water passing through her fingers as she struggled through the water—it wasn’t good form, but who cared? She couldn’t stay where she was—she would drown. As she moved up, her skin seemed to vibrate.
It was as if a wall of something was moving towards her, pushing water at her. It had to be the beast.
She looked down, and there, approaching through the murky depths, was Brutian. She couldn’t afford to be hit again. The blow would surely knock her unconscious, and she was barely holding on. Her eyes widened as an idea popped into her mind. It was risky—but doing nothing would get her nowhere.
If this worked, that beast would show more caution. She grit her teeth, fighting back the darkness that was slowly creeping into her vision. She had to time this right. If she didn’t—it was going to be difficult to explain to Hector how she got a broken arm.
She moved her arm out in front of her, holding it steady, preparing to let loose her ability. She’d never tried this on anything living before—she’d never needed to. Hunting beasts was not on her training plan as yet.
Finally, the beast was within reach. Energy surged through her body and out of her palm, freezing the water in front of her. The cold raced to it, slamming into the beast’s face.
It recoiled. And a smile came to her face, but it didn’t last long. As the beast turned, moving its head away from her, its body swivelled with it. Smashing into her, its tail sent her sailing up through the water, all the air ejected from her lungs.
The last thing she felt before falling unconscious was the cold rush of air as she broke through the water’s surface.
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Hector let out a breath, flickering his eyes open as he raised his arms and stretched. He didn’t know how long he’d been meditating—time, as usual, passed like water when one cultivated. But as he looked around the void of his Talent Garden space, his lips quirked into a smile.
On the marble pedestal, inside the brown clay pot, the Talent tree stood tall. It had finished growing. At the top of the plant, three large balls stood, glistening with white light like the seed had before he’d planted it. But these were no seeds.
He placed his hand into the water, pushing himself to his feet with a grunt. Walking towards it, a surge of energy bubbled in his chest as he imagined the possibilities of these new Talents. His main hope was for something to do with cultivation.
That was his greatest hope for the system so far—a method to increase the speed at which he cultivated. What he had now was painfully slow. Hector was one of the worst in the dojo—in terms of cultivation speed, anyway. The only saving grace was that he seemed to pick up on techniques surprisingly quickly.
He came to a stop before the three pedestals, letting out a sigh as he raised his hand towards the plant. The golden leaves running along its stem seemed to sway, but he wasn’t sure why—there was no wind in the Talent Garden space. He moved his hand forward, placing it on the middle Talent, and as he did, the whole plant shook.
Flakes of light fluttered off, drifting into the air, slowly at first, but then there were many. Finally, the plant burst into a shower of light flakes, leaving three floating white orbs in front of him.
I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to how much showmanship seems to go into the system’s actions.
He lowered his hand, gazing at the Talents as their surfaces shimmered white, scrawling with the unknown language. He hadn’t made any headway in figuring out what any of it meant—he hadn’t really had the time. But it was something that could be useful to look into.
He reached forward, his hand stopping just underneath the middle Talent, a breath away from touching it. A smile slid across his lips, reaching all the way to his eyes. He took a moment, gazing at the Talent, slowly taking a deep breath.
His hands shook a little—part of him hated that. But then again, he couldn’t help it—he’d lived two lives, and both were almost absolute failures. These Talents and the ones that came after could be the key to turning all that around. Strength. It was his path to a better life, and he needed it.
He moved his hand up, cupping the Talent orb and pulling it towards him. The orb had a weight to it he hadn’t noticed before—it bore down on his hand in a way he couldn’t quite put into words.
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I wonder if that has something to do with the old saying of things weighing on your soul.
His gaze scanned over the Talent, and a moment later a screen opened, words flowing onto it.
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///: Tracker’s Charm: Once every six hours you can track a particular scent. You can tell how strong it is, allowing you to determine age, as well as the direction the scent you are tracking is going.
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Raising an eyebrow, he stood back and brought the orb out in front of him. It was kind of disappointing—it was good, but not what he wanted. Tracking people wasn’t something that he needed to do right now, so this Talent had little use.
It did make things easier, though. He read over the text again, trying to come up with a spark of inspiration, some way in which this would help him cultivate. But he kept drawing a blank—he couldn’t smell mana after all. It would have to be replanted in hopes of a better Talent or Talents coming out of it.
It’s a shame, though if I wasn’t in such a hurry for strength, maybe I could find some use for it.
He sighed. The Talent wasn’t even useful in the pickpocketing operation—not in a standard one, anyway. He didn’t need to track a target. If anything, he wanted to get in and out, forgetting they even existed as soon as he was done.
He brought his other hand up, placing it on the other side of the orb. It was time to make a new seed. He brought his attention to the water at his feet, reaching out to it with his mind. The connection was instant, like falling back into a familiar role. Forming fast, the whirlpool whipped at his feet.
The tendrils, snaking through the air, plunged into the Talent and began turning it into a seed once again. He took a breath, smiling as the Talent began to morph. He hadn’t noticed before, but it kind of smelled like wet dirt.
I guess the smell could have been a lot worse. Though, having a smell at all is strange.
The void in which everything usually took place, for the most part, smelled like nothing—not that that really made any sense. It was probably more accurate to say it was the absence of smell. Not that it mattered too much.
Several minutes later, with a slight frown, he stood before the pedestals, a new seed in hand. He raised the Talent seed up and moved it around. It looked exactly the same as the last—not really surprising. But he’d hoped to at least see something that set it apart from the last. Maybe there was—after all, he didn’t exactly have a photographic memory.
He shrugged, taking the seed under one arm as he stepped closer to the middle pedestal. He brought his hand forward, plunging it into the pot, and began to move the dirt as blue cracks of electricity lit the soil. Once the hole was wide enough, he slid the seed in and covered it with soil.
The particles of light floated up from the water’s surface, curling into a ball above his outstretched hands. The ball then once again dripped glowing water onto the soil as it condensed. It was still quite the sight. Moments later, he finished and brought his attention to the next Talent of the two remaining ones.
He reached forward, pulling it out of the air, and examining its surface as another screen with text popped up in front of him.
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///: Light Token: Every 3 hours you can create a light source that will last for 30 minutes.
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He frowned. Another skill not even the slightest bit useful for cultivation—not any that he knew of, anyway. If anything, the skill was worse than just using an average torch. At least the torch would last for a few more minutes and could be re-lit quickly in comparison to a three-hour cooldown.
I don’t think this would be useful for anyone. Maybe in an emergency situation where light is needed right away.
His mind drifted to his little sister. Mirae could get into trouble one day, and who knows, maybe the upgrade would be worth it. He shook his head, chiding himself as he gazed at the seed. It was useless, plain and simple.
Besides, Mirae had barely even started cultivating. She didn’t need to begin learning how to make use of a new Talent. It was clear enough she hadn’t fully understood her first one.
I should probably make some time to actually sit down and talk to her about it.
He set the idea aside and went through the motions of burying another seed. At least it would hopefully make another good Talent or three.
Finally, his gaze moved over to the last Talent. It floated above the pedestals. Careless. Unbothered. Not a care in the world. It was kind of enviable in a way. He reached forward and pulled the Talent from the air, feeling its weight settle into his palm, his eyes scanning over it.
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///: Street Reader: Once every 6 hours you can gain information about a crowd’s movements or a public space. You will be able to know likely congregation points or quiet areas.
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His head flopped as he resisted the urge to sigh. Again, nothing. Not one of these Talents had the faintest hint of being useful for cultivation. He looked up, gazing into the inky blackness of the void, before bringing his attention back to the Talent.
It would have to be planted. Water sloshed at his feet as he made his way over to the last pedestal. He looked down at the seed for a moment—was it really going to be that hard to get something that could boost his strength? He was weak already. The only thing that even kept him safe was his ability to learn faster than others and make use of his little resources.
It would have been nice if these Talents were at least good for... wait. The Talent said it would give information on crowd movements. That could actually work.
He had never pickpocketed before—the idea hadn’t even crossed his mind. His father would have beaten him black and blue if he’d even got a whiff of the idea. But one thing he at least understood about pickpocketing was that it was about timing. And knowing what a crowd would do, and where to go to find good targets, could help that quite a bit.