Irwyn barely kept the pace with his father. The man seemed to not care for the struggle of his short-legged offspring; or maybe he just didn’t realise that his casual stroll speed was basically a sprint for the 2 years old. Because of that Irwyn unfortunately still could not use [overseer] on his father. At this point he was slightly annoyed with the man, or at least his new self was since the infant was not particularly good at regulating emotions.

He desperately attempted to keep going for the next few minutes, but when they approached a long spiral of stairway he just gave up and dropped to the ground, huffing in exhaustion. Irwyn was actually not so exhausted as to actually drop dead like he just did, but he realised that attempting to sprint all the way was futile, and had to do something about the pace.

As he was lying on the ground for few seconds Ezax finally seemed to notice. At first he just raised an eyebrow and his eyes slightly widened, but then he finally realised his misjudgement.

“I am sorry. You should have said something,” Ezax’s words were a bit stiff, but he appeared to be genuinely apologetic. Irwyn didn’t answer as he instead chose to breathe as loudly as he could. Ezax looked at him for a while longer before he shook his head and picked Irwyn up. Getting carried the rest of the way was much more comfortable and allowed Irwyn to recover. Just as he was about to finally inspect Ezax’s status screen he felt something they made him immediately stop.

It was a presence that he hadn’t felt for a very long time; the aura of pure understanding and acceptance. Something that could only be radiated by those who glimpsed at the incomprehensible foundations of the universe and committed to their minds a splinter of the primordial truth hidden there. In other words, the awakened ones.

It was no longer any wonder that the family had access to enhancement rituals and perhaps other such things; the awakened had long enough lifespans to hoard an entire trove of various secrets. Unfortunately for Irwyn using any skills was now off the table; his body did not yet have the necessary finesse to avoid detection from such a being.

As these thoughts were going through Irwyn’s it came to his attention that he was being placed back on the ground. That likely meant they were nearing their destination, although that much was already obvious because of the presence. Just few moments later they reached a small dead-end hallway with only a single elaborately ornamented door forged from sort of black metal on the opposite end. On the door were carved various runes and images. Most of those Irwyn managed to glance at were utter nonsense and had no meaning nor power, but Irwyn recognised one of them before Ezax opened the door. A clear frown emerged on his face as he recalled its meaning: The call of the void. Whoever was beyond this door was not a simple awakened. Irwyn barely managed to remove the frown before he entered together with his father.

The room was reeking of darkness as an extremely pure elemental essence seemed to cover the the walls and ceiling of the room. It was impossible for Irwyn’s current body to see anything inside the room, but the presence of an awakened got significantly stronger after he entered; just as he expected. When they fully stepped inside the door closed behind them. Irwyn found himself in complete and utter darkness. His senses were nowhere near acute enough to navigate the room or even see his own body so he just remained standing still in the dark.

About ten minutes of utter silence passed before Irwyn decided that this would not end if he did nothing. But before he was able to do anything his body began to suddenly and uncontrollably shake; literally uncontrollably as he far too late noticed that there was a terror inducing spell active inside the room. A short while later he crumbled to his knees, still trembling so much it was almost humiliating; it was actually a small miracle his body withstood it as long as it did, but that didn’t make it any less insulting. He was perhaps even about to actually start crying when the darkness finally vanished and allowed him to completely collapse on the now clearly visible stone floor. The only thing he felt at that moment was a warm hand grasping his shoulder.

Irwyn hyperventilated for a bit, but eventually managed to regain full control over the body. When he finally sat and looked up it became obvious it was not actually his father that placed the hand on his shoulder, but an ancient half corpse. Irwyn saw only a wrinkle covered shrunken skin at first, but eventually he noticed the terrorizing eyes of the person. They were filled with pure void energy making them appear far darker than black ever could. It was as though they devoured all and any light that dared to even attempt entering them.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

When you stare into the void, the void stares back. Should one survive that returned glare their eyes would be forever corrupted by the immaculate demonic nature that can be otherwise found only in pure-blooded demons. Such eyes contain enough secrets that they may even become a catalyst for an awakening through comprehending the void. Irwyn could not perceive the true depth of those eyes, but they were definitely not something that was just obtained recently. It was impossible to stop a visible shiver when those eyes looked into his own.

“You are indeed curious little one,” the ancient man slightly rose what was left of an eyebrow before removing his hand “at first I was sceptical whether what I heard about you is true, but now there is no doubt in my mind that they were all understatements,” then he vanished only to instantly re-appear a bit further inside the room next to an altar, a yellow gem glittered on it.

With a single glance Irwyn recognised it as the [gem of true sight]. The old man invited him to come closer and place his hand on it, and Irwyn followed that command.

He was honestly surprised that they were willing to use it just for him; anything that was supposed to spy on status screens within Logos came with a significant price; perhaps with the exception of intentional cheat effects like his [overseer]. Even an awakened one would not be able to scoff at the price of using such an item; it would not be anything like permanent damage, but it would likely require a period of recovery. Such a price might seem too high, but the purpose of Logos is to guide along the way, not to interfere with the way of another. That was especially true for skills like [true sight] which revealed the entire status screen and ignored basic resistances. The price was only multiplied by not using the skill directly, but through an item.

Irwyn was not panicked as he touched the stone and felt how it instantly invaded him. Common sense would dictate that he would be exposed with his true identity after they saw his titles which might cause his immediate death, but he had an ace in the hole exactly for situations like this.

[Overseer, unique # / #

Condition: May only be granted by the aspect of Logos himself.

Effect:

1. May access any information within Logos for the lowest price possible.

2. May alternate any information gathered or extracted through logos for the lowest price possible.]

[Activating Overseer]

[Activation successful]

[Name: Irwyn von Blackburg]

[Race: human (pure)]

[Soul grade: Immortal (suppressed)]

[Mana: 30/30]

[Active Classes:]

[Worship: none]

[Essence: 0]

[Unspent points, level: 0, attribute: 0, upgrade: 0]

[Titles:Seeker of Ignis, born of epic light, beholder]

[Magic:]

[Skills: Glimpse 1/1]

[Dormant classes: Seeker of flame, Distant light]

[Attributes:]

[Magic capacity: 3.0]

[Constitution: 1.3]

[Strength: 0.2]

[Intellect: 0.6]

[Dexterity: 0.2]

[Soul: 18 (126)]

That sounded moderately more reasonable. Enough to make them gasp at his talent, but not nearly enough to expose him. He decided to put in his elemental talents to make sure his education was not missguided and also threw in [beholder], a title that signified someone with a skill that could access status screens. That went well together with a rare skill that allowed the user to view someone’s titles for a comparatively small price like [glimpse]. He decided that he might need an explanation for information gained through [overseer] somewhere down the line.

There was a long silence in the room after this happened. Ezax was stunned mute while the ancestor was apparently thinking. It took a whole minute before he spoke.

“Ezax, you will personally guide him through initiating his first class tomorrow and bring him here weekly. I will personally perform reinforcement rituals on him. Additionally you will get him a capable guard to watch over him day and night. Those commands are absolute. Now both of you are dismissed, I need time to think.” the ancestor seemed to somehow both frown and smile.

Ezax barely managed to break free from his daze to nod to the commands and wordlessly led Irwyn out of the room. In the meantime Irwyn almost laughed in joy. Things went so much better than he dared even hope. How wonderful it was to have such a fortunate birth.

It would seem that he would able to begin his path of magic early this time around.