After receiving Illianna's urgent call, Sian immediately went back to the hotel terrace where she was. Looking up at the completely dark night sky, he immediately figured out the reason for Illianna's nervousness.
It's common to have unusually dark nights where the moon doesn't shine, but the current situation was far beyond that.
For miles around Solaris, not a single star could be seen. Everything was covered by low-lying black clouds that continuously expanded and swirled around a focal point in the sky. Between them were several even blacker patches that looked like bottomless holes.
In the city, even though the streetlights were lit every night, it was completely dark. The light seemed to be consumed by darkness, making it impossible to see anything even in front of you.
Sian himself wasn't seeing anything, all the information he could get was by scanning the place with his magic. Thanks to his sweep, he also discovered that the focal point of all this was the orphanage.
"How long has this been going on?" Sian asked.
Approaching from behind Sian, Illianna replied, "When I called you, the clouds were still forming."
"What do you think it might be?" Illianna asked
"Someone awakening a divine skill."
Reaching the terrace with the other girls, Danna replied.
"Whoaaa~~" Milka looked in awe as she looked up at the sky. "Although the light is normal indoors, it's pitch black out here. To be such a huge phenomenon like this, this baby must be awakening a great skill."
"It's not a newborn," Sian said. "I can't locate any in the orphanage. The only one with a weird magic reaction is Orion. It's nothing to worry about, but I want to take a look."
Leaving the rest of the girls behind, Sian teleported to the orphanage, and right behind him, Illianna also appeared on her own.
Even with her convenient system, she's still not well versed in magic and can only cast a few low-class spells. But thanks to her unique skill, she was able to do things far beyond her capabilities.
Although there is a magic cost, she could teleport freely in the areas mapped by her skill.
"I'm also curious to see what's going on," she said as she received Sian's gaze.
Because this was the focal point, the room was a complete pitch, but using his magic power, Sian quickly cleared the black mist from the room.
Judging by the unfinished food on the dinning hall tables, the kids were in the middle of dinner when this happened.
Looking around, Sian noticed that dozens of children wearing dark yellow pajamas were huddled in a corner of the room. Besides them, the maids were also there. They all had a frightened face as they looked at the center of the room.
The focal point of their gazes was precisely a black-haired boy, Orion. As Sian had predicted, it was he who had triggered the divine skill phenomenon.
Floating in the air due to the layer of black magic surrounding him, Orion was completely unconscious. Above him, the ceiling of the dining hall was partially covered by a thin layer of black mist.
When Sian came close, the black mist approached him, but other than floating around him, it did nothing.
"It's the teacher!"
One of the children shouted.
Then a youthful voice shouted, "Papa!"
Although nervous, when the children saw Sian, they ran to him. Even though they seemed to be afraid of Sian, the maids also came closer due to Illianna's presence.
"Your honor."
The maids bowed respectfully to Sian.
Taking the initiative, one of the maids told them what had happened. When they were in the middle of dinner, Orion suddenly felt a pain in his head and became unconscious. Seconds later, a dark mist appeared around him and he began to float above the tables.
Soon after, apart from the nook where the children had gathered, the whole place was taken over by mist. Only when Sian arrived did it disappear almost completely.
"It's not dangerous," Sian said. "Call Charlotte and let her know."
"Yes!"
Bowing, one of the maids rushed out of the dining hall.
Just in looking, Sian knew this would still take some time to finish, so he walked over to one of the tables and sat down. With Illianna soothing the children, they finished their meals. With the exception of Agnes, who refused to leave Sian's lap, all the other children went to the dormitory.
***
Although a white-haired predator was lurking, the cookie man was casually floating in the air. He was moving slowly from side to side.
With every move the cookie man made, the big blue eyes thirsting for baked flour followed him carefully.
Even possessing a look of intense desire, the predator seemed to be almost giving up on her prey after suffering through a few failures. But it was at that moment that her prey made an extremely bold move.
The cookie man moved closer to the ferocious predator's lips, letting her smell his sweet aroma of baked flour with chocolate drops. Seemingly trying to restrain her temptation, the predator didn't move a muscle, but unconsciously took a big gulp of her own saliva.
Although her previous strikes had failed, due to the proximity, she seemed to feel that this time she would make it.
With a fierce look on her face, she gave the cookie man the quick strike.
Though agile, her white fangs that could easily turn the cookie man into crumbs missed their target.
Acting provocatively, the biscuit man again passed in front of her eyes. But this time he was even bolder and braver.
Disregarding the predator, he landed on her pink lips and glided lightly before leaping into the air again. As if not noticing her thirsty gaze, the cookie man somersaulted and gracefully landed on her lips again.
With a roar of fury, the predator kept on giving voracious and continuous strikes. But to her misfortune, the cookie man's reaction speed was far superior. All her fangs hit was empty air.
"Is he okay?" Charlotte asked as she looked worriedly at Orion's floating body.
Shortly after the maid went to warn Charlotte about what had happened, Sian received a call from her. Worried about the children, she asked Sian to teleport her there, and with her came her butler Winston and her personal maid, who Sian could no longer remember the name.
Because the acquisition of the divine skill was taking a while, Sian started distracting himself with Agnes to pass the time. At this very moment, she is standing voraciously chasing the cookie in Sian's hand with her teeth.
"He's fine," Sian replied as she continued to play with Agnes, the cookie-eating little monster n2.
Out of boredom, he picked up a humanoid shaped cookie and began to dangle it in front of Agnes's face. Moved by her unbridled desire to eat the cookie, Sian could not resist the urge to tease her.
Every time she was about to take a bite, he would pull back his hand, causing her to not be able to eat her much desired cookie.
"You bully cookie man! I will devour you!!!"
Seeming to have reached her wits end, Agnes jumped onto Sian's lap.
Putting strength into her little arms, she grabbed Sian's shirt and started climbing as she tried to reach for the cookie that was already above his head.
"Are you sure he's awakening a divine skill?" Charlotte asked. "Doesn't that only happen to newborns?"
Although she trusted Sian, Charlotte seemed nervous about the situation.
"Though rare, there are cases just like Orion's."
After Sian's words, things in the room began to change.
It having been about two hours since he arrived, the mist on the ceiling began to condense, quickly gathering into a single point above Orion. The black light surrounding his body also changed. Taking the shape of a funnel, it began to absorb the condensed mist.
After the mist was absorbed by Orion, the black light dispersed and his body slowly lowered to the ground.
At that same instant, having already climbed up to Sian's shoulders, the cookie-eating little monster n2 took advantage of the fact that he was distracted and attacked the cookie man.
Even ignoring the hand that held the cookie, the cookie-eating little monster n2 unloaded her rage as she bit cookie man. Unable to resist, the poor cookie man turned into crumbs and was quickly swallowed.
At the same time, Charlotte had already rushed over to Orion and caught him in her arms. Making incomprehensible mutterings, he opened his eyes slowly.
"How are you feeling?" Charlotte asked.
Recognizing the face of the person holding him, Orion quickly stood up and bowed to Charlotte.
"I-I'm fine!"
"Now that the acquisition is over, it's time for you to show us what skill you've gained," Sian said.
"skill?" Orion looked confused.
With Orion oblivious to what had happened, Charlotte explained the situation. Though incredulous at first, when he tried to use the skill, his shadow split in two and one came off the ground and stood upright.
With the two of them side by side, it was apparent that the shadow that rose was a copy of him. Although its facial features could not be distinguished because it was completely dark, it had the same silhouette as Orion.
Although he had just gained the skill, he already knew how to use it. According to his words, it was as if he had always had it.
Currently, the limit of shadows he could summon were only one, but that was due to his meager amount of mana.
Trying to find out the durability of this shadow, Sian gave it a few light blows before it disappeared completely. From what he could see, the shadow seemed to have the same endurance as Orion, and even the strength was similar.
"Now I understand why it was such a huge phenomenon."
Sian was in awe as he looked at Orion.
"What do you mean?" Illianna asked.
"Well, look at that."
Placing his hand on Orion's back, Sian infused mana into him and said, "Try to create as many as you can."
Following Sian's instructions, he began to create the shadow clones. Using the supply of mana offered to him, Orion managed to completely fill the dinning hall with his shadows.
As everyone looked surprised at the shadows, Sian waved his hand, making all the shadows disappear.
"They were destroyed," Orion muttered.
"That's right," Sian said. "And though you understand what happened, you didn't feel anything. Not even the slightest repercussion or side effect. If I'm right, I think those shadows might be even better."
Beginning a series of tests under Sian's guidance, Orion created more clones that were given certain tasks. The same tasks given to them were also given to Orion. They were things like math problems, doing push-ups, and a few other simple tasks.
After testing, Sian came to the conclusion that the shadows had the same intelligence as Orion. When it came to stamina, the shadow was slightly superior. Probably because it doesn't feel pain in its muscles, the shadow is able to extract the maximum of Orion's physical capacity.
The limit of shadows he could create depended on the mana he had to use. However, once summoned, shadows consume a very small amount of mana. Thus, even with little mana, if he takes a break between summonings or takes a mana potion, he can summon several shadows.
"In short, except for the inability to speak, the inability to feel pain, and appearance, the shadow has the same capabilities as Orion," Sian said.
"That's amazing!" Charlotte was ecstatic at Orion's new skill and hugged him. "You're like a one-man army."
"I wouldn't be happy so soon," Sian said. "What are you going to do when the church comes for him?"