:::[Third person POV]:::
While Adam was at the training ground, something happened inside the castle.
Julius shouted and stood abruptly from his seat. "What? She died?"
A soldier made a rapport concerning the maid who was suspected to have poisoned Adam. And the content of this rapport shocked Julius and the other people inside the room greatly.
Julius and the other nobles were having a meeting, related to the incident of the previous day when someone knocked at the door and gave this report.
The soldier answered Julius's question, showing a piece of paper tainted with blood, and had words written messily inscribed on it. "There was a letter this letter in her room."
"A letter? Are the words readable?" Julius asked. It might contain some clues about what happened to her after all.
"Yes my Lord, It can be read," The soldier said after inspecting the paper in his had. "The letter says the following: 'I am so sorry, I didn't know what to do…. I had to choose. I couldn't let them hurt her. She is just a naïve girl… In the end, I failed… That thing, that person, he sees everything… Lady Marie, please be careful of the—" The letter ended there.'
"What was that? And how she died?" Julius wondered out loud, shocked by the content of the letter.
"It was suicide, my Lord. S-she hanged herself," explained the soldier.
The situation turned out to be more and more concerning.
Julius still didn't know about it, but the motivation behind Balista and Randolph's actions seemed so petty. It was as if someone pushed them to act by offering them a golden opportunity.
No one in the room thought that all of this was because of the fact Adam awakened his gift when he was six and that Pride used some of his power to process information.
There was something dark who monitored constantly what happened in this universe without anyone noticing.
Julius was feeling anxious and his intuition told him that something odd is happening.
"Thank you for your report. You can go now," Julius said.
Then he closed his eyes and massaged his temples with his hands.
Like Adam, Julis also got a lot going on his mind and this was one more added to his list of problems that needed to be investigated and solved.
*****
:::[Adam's POV]:::
I knew that I still needed more training if I wanted to increase my strength, but I didn't expect that my actual skill would be that bad.
It seemed like my perception of myself was distorted at a very crucial level.
Even though I said that my power was incomplete, I tended to believe that I would manage to overcome any obstacles if I just found something that could make up for its shortcomings.
However, I was wrong. What I lacked was something more fundamental.
[During this test, try to activate your power as long as you can, and swing swords as many times as you can.]
I believed that I more or less understood what Cristal tried to show me, but I already understood with that first test so I didn't understand the point of the second test.
Honestly, I was mentally tired of all of these enigmas and this information that seemed like they were already too much, but turned out that they were just the tip of the iceberg.
I don't even know what could probably surprise me at this point.
I was on the verge of understanding something, but then something less popped up.
I kind of shut down my brain and ignored all of this information, so that I focused on one thing at a time.
However, it was extremely difficult when all of this information seemed important.
"Okay, I will do it… But I need to reorganize my thoughts a little after this." I said.
[ As you wish.]
I took a deep breath, then focused on the primordial particles inside my body. It was similar to trying to move your toes.
Then when I felt the primordial particles inside my body gathering in a single point, which was my chest, I tried to let them all out of my body.
This was the most basic way to activate my power.
All I left to do was to swing my sword multiple times and get others with this. I still had many things to think about.
'Huh? What's going on? I can't activate my sword.' I realized something unexpected.
I couldn't activate the plasma sword, or more like, it switched off the moment I activated my power.
'What is this?' I pondered.
Then tried to activate the sword without using my power, and it worked fine.
"What is this? I can't use my sword while my power is active? I remember that I could do it before when I was killing those monsters, so why it doesn't work now?"
It was so simple. I needed to swing my sword multiple times while using my power, and with that, I would be able to attack, my enemies, when they are immobile, but it seemed like I was not able to do it. 'I never used this sword while activating my power before that incident because my power used a lot of strength to activate. Still, why did I assume that it would work?'
"Cristal, my mind is a bit tired, so do you know what's happening? No more mystery for today."
[Master, it seems like you got the wrong idea about the nature of your power. Or more like, you haven't grasped its true nature. However, you need to rest for today. You might not be aware of it, but I can analyze your condition.]
"I am doing my best to change. I need to change my way of doing things, but I need to accept that my ability alone isn't enough if I need to do that. So tell me everything I need to know. Make sure you don't leave any details out."
Cristal just stayed afloat in the air, showing no reaction as I expected.
[Master, I suggest you share some of your worries with the people you trust. Even if you must face everything alone, you don't have to be the only one who knows what you are going through. You seem to be convinced that if you talk to someone then it will make you look like a kid or unintelligent.]
I was a little bit annoyed by Cristal's words. "What do you even know?"
[Your mother is currently spending time inside the garden. Talking to her might help your current self to avoid an undesirable turn of events.]
After saying that, Cristal floated above and disappeared somewhere.
Before I knew it, everyone was looking at me with a dumbfounded expression. I didn't realize that I talked loudly and not everyone knew that Cristal could talk.
Whether I liked it or not, I needed to rest a bit. My mind was starting to hurt.
'Talking to my mother will probably help me a bit,' I thought to myself.
I didn't expect my mother to understand what I am going through, but her presence brought me peace so I decided to listen to Cristal's suggestion.