"Is something wrong?" Noah was alarmed by their sudden seriousness.
"Wrong, do you know what this means? Your Talent." Nephra said eagerly waving her hands around. In her excitement, she wasn't able to form any coherent sentences.
The sheer joy in her tone baffled Noah. One moment there she was serious and the other she was happy. He couldn't understand what was going on in her head.
Not to mention miss Florelle was there to double down on him.
"You should have told me that you were a Potential Awakened." She said rubbing her forehead with a vexed look. Miss Florelle looked like she couldn't be more frustrated by this new development.
Noah wasn't sure what the new term meant but he could at least judge from her expression that it was going to be a lot of trouble.
"Do you mind explaining?"
"Right, visitors." She sighed before elucidating the situation.
"I don't wish to say much but since it directly affects you, it would be best for you to have a general understanding. If you didn't already know, Talents come in grades. Minor talents like slight boost can be found easily in droves. Then comes the basic Talents which allow small growth in a stat. Those are rare. In this town, you can find less than a hundred who have them. After which are the rare ones which are a step above basics like your Intelligent. The scope then changes from this town to the kingdom. You can now guess what I am worried about."
He nodded to her understanding fully well that possessing something valuable could be a very troublesome thing or possibly even dangerous.
She continued her explanation.
"Some even have double Inherent Talents. There are even records of people possessing greater ones. Very few of them are found within entire empires. Every single one of them turns out to become a monster. Not in the literal sense but in that the absolute power they wield demands them to be labeled as such. Fortunately, that isn't that case or a political storm will be coming."
"It seems I got lucky." Noah snarked while sweating inwardly. He seemed to be grossly wrong in his conjectures. There seem to be more tiers of Talents than he had speculated. He was just able to think of their own Status. He needed to remind the two to keep it a secret.
She briefly considered his statement before replying.
"That is only partially true as they will only give you a head start. Talents come along as one evolves progressively. I acquired a rare one on my Racial Evolution. However, the gap is still present. What's important is that everyone has a chance to obtain special skills related to their affinity from their Rite. With a decent Talent, one is guaranteed to pass the Rite with some good ones."
"That means those with Talent have it easier compared to those who don't but I still don't get the worry. Are those skills that good?"
"You seem to have caught on to what I mean. Awakened are those who acquire special skills. These skills are potent for your level. Therefore, it brings a lot of attention. Both good and bad. Whatever the case, it becomes messy. I would recommend you to keep it to yourself as long as you can."
"I will do my best." He didn't want any trouble either.
"You need to. I don't want a repeat of that mess." She muttered the last part under her breath but Noah was able to catch parts of her statement and asked.
"What mess?"
A blank look crossed her face for a moment before she replied with her usual smile.
"Oh, I had an acquaintance who had to deal with tons of nobles and factions who came to recruit him for his Rare Talent. That was quite a bothersome thing." She giggled as if she was recounting that event in her mind.
For some reason, he felt suspicious. Her story felt fabricated to him. He scrutinized her but found no noticeable openings. Left with no choice, he had to resort to exploiting her weakness. He looked at Nephra to see her hopping around in excitement. She was behaving like a child who had found a new toy. He wasn't letting the obvious opportunity go and dived in.
"Neph, what got you so happy?"
"Obviously because I have also got -" She paused abruptly in her speech as both of them felt a crushing force on their very being. It didn't feel like a normal force but more of a metaphysical one as if something was pressuring their souls. He felt suffocated and was about to falter down on his knees before the pressure vanished suddenly. He knelt and heaved violently feeling his breath return to him.
"Neph, get your gear. We will start your morning practice." Miss Florelle's voice brought chills down his spine.
Noah looked to see Nephra dashing away frantically back towards the Inn. This left him alone with Miss Florelle.
He could feel her presence behind him. Mustering up his nonexistent courage, he turned to face her.
She towered over him by few inches. He had to look up to meet her gaze.
This was something he had found out soon after being teleported to this world. The average height here was more than back on earth. Particularly, the knights were all more than 6 feet tall.
Peering closely at her, he found her blue eyes were locked onto his figure. A breeze blew past them letting her golden locks cover her face. She tucked them behind her ear and addressed him.
"I think we should have a proper discussion."
'Here we go again.' He clenched his buttocks in preparation for the upcoming disciplining. He definitely wasn't going to enjoy what he was about to face soon.
...
'Pain may come and pain may go but the scars accompany you.' That aptly described his current condition. Noah was considerably tired from the 'discussion' with her. His taut nerves had finally relaxed.
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Surprisingly, he was left relatively scot-free with just a short lecture about not yapping around. Man, she was scary though. He was just relieved about not being thrown out of the Inn. Afterward, he went back to learning Eqin while Ava began her training with her mom.
Regardless, it was now unquestionable that Nephra had a rare Talent. One thing he came to knew about her from their short friendship was that she sucked at masking her emotions. It was very improbable that she didn't.
He now needed to make sure their Talents doesn't become public. Miss Florelle would throw them out if they gave any trouble to her.
He didn't know whether Talents are genetic. From what he could glean from Miss Florelle, there was a considerable chance of that. She felt very strong to him. Stronger than even the knights. He had gotten the same feeling as Knight Sanders from her.
Although he wasn't sure who was stronger between the two, they were clearly leagues above the others. There was also the Racial Evolution she mentioned in passing. He was feeling restless wanting to learn more about all the new stuff.
Noah was thinking about his conversation with her and therefore wasn't paying attention to the sword coming his way.
It struck at his waist making him crumple down to the ground in pain.
"You okay? You were zoning out." Ava asked in concern while offering her hand.
He had already completed most of today's training constituting the regular old run and obstacle course. Now they were left alone to practice their weapon skills by Knight Rylee who was away doing god knows what. Some tried picking up archery while others honed their sword mastery. He chose the latter and decided to spar with Ava.
Accepting her hand, he stood back up and assured her.
"Yeah, just a lot to think about."
In response, She crossed her arms and stared at him fiercely. She wasn't very keen on him keeping his problems to himself.
He huffed amused by her behavior and shared whatever he managed to gather from his talk with Miss Flroelle.
She thought about it and eventually nodded.
"I didn't think our Talents were that rare. This really is concerning. Though, I suppose we don't have to worry that much. If someone asks, we can just say we have basic Talents."
"I don't know about that. Shaun isn't exactly being lowkey, to say the least." He switched his gaze from her to look at the archery section.
She joined him in observing the display and remarked.
"He seems happy."
"We won't be if he keeps showing off."
There were a group of trainees practicing there with bow and arrows. Shaun was standing out among the group. Every arrow he shot was landing close to dead center. He was gathering quite an audience with his performance.
"You should think about yourself. We need to work on your form."
She took her stance and readied her wooden sword. Noah did the same but it was quite shoddy in comparison to her.
"Why do I have to learn from you?" Noah wasn't happy with Ava acting as his instructor.
"Two years in fencing and one in kendo. I don't claim myself to be a professional but compared to you, I might as well be." Her smirk infuriated him.
He lunged at her with a basic swipe which she parried easily and counterattacked. He hastily blocked the sword and tried attacking back. Though, his stance was broken by it. She wasn't going to let the opening pass by and put pressure on him continuing her flurries of stab and slashes.
With each successive strike, his posture crumbled till it turned into a jumbled mess. She did a leg sweep and he was back on the ground tasting the dirt.
"You're improving. I'm impressed. Even so, your form is trash. It needs to be worked upon from the ground up. Come on now, stand up."
Noah spewed out the dirt in his mouth and stood up faltering slightly in the process.
"Ugh, I hate this."
Steadying himself, he rushed ahead at Ava with an overhead assault.
...
"You don't hold-Huff" "back. Seriously, how are you still standing?" Noah was breathing rapidly trying to calm down his pounding heart. Exhausted from the practice, he was laying down on the dirt field. The sun overhead was making him dizzy while he felt spasms of pain from his stomach. He didn't feel so good right now.
"You were wasting so much of your energy in excess motions. The first thing you should have realized was that you need to conserve your stamina if you wanted to stay standing for hours. It wouldn't matter if we have similar stats if you are going to utilized only half of it." She headed to the side and brought back a waterskin. Loosening the plug, she poured the water over his head.
Noah's eyes opened wide after being sprayed with water all over his face. He spluttered coughing out the water.
"Cough-cough What are you doing?"
"You are heating up. If I don't do it, you will get a heat stroke." She took a few gulps out of it before passing it to him.
"Here, keep yourself hydrated."
Noah kept glancing back and forth between the waterskin and Ava. She frowned seeing his actions and asked.
"What are you waiting for? Want me to give you permission."
He eventually shrugged and held it above his mouth while savoring the cool water coursing down his throat. He took care not to touch the waterskin with his mouth. He didn't want any stupid complications with her.
Peeking at her, he thought he saw a disappointed look on her face for a moment. Shaking his head, he was met back with her normal grumpy face. Was he hallucinating now?
Not wanting to think on it further, he continued hydrating himself to clear his mind.
After quenching his thirst, he passed it back to Ava.
"Wanna check up on Shaun?" Standing upright, he asked while dusting his clothes.
Her eyebrows rose as she responded.
"Can you move?"
"I can try. Just got to shake off the tingling in my leg-" His voice trailed off as clanging of metal boots on the ground began coming from afar.
They turned to see Rylee brisk walking in their general direction. He was in his normal cotton training clothes except for the metal boots adorning his legs. There was also an arming sword on his waist.
Despite how much he loathed his presence, Noah couldn't deny the dignity and majesty he was radiating at the moment. Rylee could portray himself as a righteous knight when he wanted to. Of course, from inside he was rotten to the core.
Knight Rylee halted his march near the group and yelled.
"ROUND UP"
After a few days, everyone was somewhat acclimated to their new lifestyle. Following his orders, they decisively left whatever they were doing instantly and lined up in front of him.
"Your practice and sparring should be done. We can start the main class ."
"The session today is going to be a bit different than normal. You will now be introduced to the practice of Meditation. From today onwards, it is expected of you to meditate for at least an hour a day in your free time. This is not counting the session you will undergo in the training camp."
"Not to worry as I have faith you lot will be half-assed about it. Even Orges listen better than you. I have seen young kids whose performance exceeds many among you."
They were accustomed not only to his orders but also his constant insults.
"Come forward one by one. Be careful with it. You won't be provided another one."
Similar to yesterday, they moved forward and were handed something by him. Only this time it was something entirely different.
The thing turned out to be a bulbous purple leaf with blue veins. He felt the texture to be very soft. He could squash it if he was slightly careless with it. Purple pulp dribbled down from the side as he put some pressure on it.
"Now, sit down at your place." Rylee ordered with a firm voice.
They followed on it and sat at the bare ground. There wasn't much complaint from the Trainees as they were already covered head to toe with grime and dirt.
"Gently place your Morwo leaf at your tongue and leave it there. Then squeeze out the juices inside slowly. Make sure not to chew or swallow it down whole. I do not wish to be held responsible if any of you duckfucks mess yourself up."
Taking heed of his advice, everyone tried to be careful and placed the leaves slowly within their mouths.
Seeing that no one was thrashing from an overdose, he continued.
"Morwo leaf or better known as Serenity herb is very essential in practicing Meditation. It will soothe your mind and forcefully pull you into a calm state of mind allowing you to activate the skill. Since your Souls are not awakened yet, you will not have any significant benefits from this practice. It will however improve your recovery and help your mental stat growth. Therefore, it is notably vital in your training. Nevertheless, its true usage will only come after you complete your Rite." He paused for a moment before continuing.
"Meditation is a core Skill for every Class. Remember that when you practice. It may be disorienting at first but the sensation should not overwhelm you. Therefore, try to be -"
"WHOAAAA" Noah erupted out suddenly drawing everyone's attention.
His pupils started dilating as an intoxicated expression appeared on his face.