+ “unique skill eye of the world is now active”

+ “Unique skill sixth sense is now active”

+ “Unique skill hero’s blood is now active”

+ “Unique skill dance of the wind is now active”

…..

Gilly was getting faster and more accurate amidst the buzz generated by these words rang in her head. Astoria was being pushed back, unhappy as she was being forced on the defensive. Though it was not a bad spot, her pride was still hurt.

She distanced herself a bit from Gilly, her expression turning intense. Torrents of fire began to dance around her as the wind whistled. She activated her field and regalia, and the surface of the platform began to char as fire danced on its surface.

At once she attacked Gilly, her speed and weight of each strike evidently more than before. She had gone almost full power, causing Henry standing beside Aroelan to shudder a bit in concern.

Gilly, however, didn’t flinch, observing her with caution while avoiding blows she could not parry. This would go on for a while until Gilly was sent flying to the edge of the platform. She has a slight gash on her forehead so she was bleeding.

She began to feel overwhelmed looking at Astoria, who now smiled; faint blue markings were already visible on Gilly’s skin as she starred at Richard, who was seated opposite where she stood. She exchanged a few blows with Astoria as she began to feel a strange sense of power with her. She looked at her hand and saw the blue markings, which made her alarmed.

They had the same white flowing lines on them, with the lines pulsating with an even pretty intensity. She was always alarmed when she moved without thinking. It had saved her life countless times, but she did not like the idea of not being able to control her actions; that made her no different from an animal. The doubt in her heart began to grow.

Being unsure now of who she truly was, her memory returning and her powers, of which she had no idea of their origin, made her uneasy. She turned to look at Aroelan, who shook his head looking at her seriously. She let out a heavy sigh, raising her hands.

“I forfeit.”

Richard, who was observing the duel intensely, could see that Gilly’s mana flow was beginning to soar, and even from his seat he could feel it. The surrender infuriated Astoria.

“Are you just going to quit?”

Gilly said nothing, bowing silently to the audience, and left the stage, with Aroelan following behind. The fight had only lasted for an hour, and it was now around ten in the morning.

The crowd was not so pleased with Gilly's surrender, with angry murmurs audible. Though the fight was intense, they could not wrap their heads around why Gilly forfeited.

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They could see her power was rising, which gave her a chance, but she still quit. Astoria looked at her father, among the dispersing crowed. With a heavy expression, he shook his head. She understood if the fight had continued, one of them would be severely injured.

One after the other, they left the field, and at last only Henry was left standing. His left eye, which was silver, began to glow, which made him uneasy. Looking off in the distance, he could see people as faint, blurry outlines. Behind a wall at a distance, he could see a black figure walking. The figure turned back, waving at him as if he had seen him directly, even though they were hundreds of meters apart.

In shock, he cleaned his eyes, and when he looked again, the figure was gone. The reason he stood still in the field was because when he looked at Gilly’s eyes, his left eye twitched.

He began to observe the world and people as colours. Each person had a color; some were faint and some were bright. His sister had around four colors: green, red, brown and white, and her glow was crimson-orange. like a building on fire. But when he looked at Gilly, she had seven colors, including a gray murky color that was around her.

He had knowledge of this eye’s ability; it was not the true mana eye, but it had the ability to see people’s mana attributes and how strong their ability was. He could not help but get an uneasy feeling from the man who shook his father. He soon abandoned the thought and walked away from the field into the castle.

Astoria, still rather unhappy about the duel outcome, walked straight to her father’s chambers to inquire about Gilly’s strange behavior. But he was not in the room; instead, he was at the garden with Gilly. This information obtained from the guard raised her anger as she stormed off in the direction of the garden.

In the garden north of the castle stood several small shade areas with seats underneath them. At the center was a unique pavilion at the center of a pond. The pillars holding the roof were wood that had gold inscriptions of dragons. Underneath it, Gilly and Richard sat face to face, with none having a hint of emotion on their faces.

“You are an otherworlder, right?”

Richard's face was grim; he knew what destruction they could cause, so he had his suspicion of why she called off the duel midway. Gilly did not answer her; she just sat back, looking at him. Her eyes were still pale sky-blue, and the markings on her body were still visible.

“Why don’t you speak? You know the power I hold, right?”

His tone was getting serious, carrying an authoritative intensity.

Gilly just sat motionless as she tried to calm herself, outlining a peaceful riverbed. Richard’s words started to prick her annoyingly, but she knew better than to speak rashly to a king.

After a brief recollection of her emotions, she spoke up.

“I woke up like this when I came to this world, little over a year now. My memories are very shallow, and I barely remembered my mother, and the other memories I have are in fragments.”

When Richard heard this, he finally let out a long breath.

“Seems I made a fuss when I don’t know your situation; my apologies.”.

His expression lightened up, a smile emerging.

Her eyes still pale blue, she looked at the king. She noticed that the lines flowing in Richard’s body had small black particles flowing in the white lines. She hadn’t seen anything like that before, shrugging it off as the king’s eccentricity.

At this time, Astoria had stormed through the garden’s doors, her blazing aura now visible.

“Good timing, Astoria.”

Hearing this made her a bit skeptical to approach her father. As the pavilion became visible when she stepped on the bridge, her face turned sour.

“Gilly!”

She stomped her feet on the bridge; it shook. Gilly’s demeanor was calm; her marking on her skin was completely gone, and her eyes were back to normal. She took a seat beside Gilly, pouting as she stared at his father.

“My child, not everything is as it seems. I believe Gilly had her reasons for quitting, and it appears her powers are unstable. She has only spent about a year in this world, so she knows nothing about it, that is why you two will be adventuring together.”.

Astoria paused to take a look at Gilly, who smiled back to her with her eyes closed.

For some reason, Astoria felt a chill seeing that smile on Gilly’s face. Gilly turned back to Richard and said,

“Your Highness, Lord Mizin sent me here saying you wanted to see me, but for what reason if I ask?"