Given Aktatin's hospitality and friendly demeanour, Zalan was pretty sure the power he received from Aktatin isn't anything that will bring him harm— aside from the inheritance process at least.
However, the scene in front of him made him want to question if everything Aktatin did was just an act. Was he really just a psychopath? Did he just love scaring Zalan? Or Maybe both?
Dashing through the yellow cloud, Alex practically teleported right in front of Zalan. To make matters worst, the grey colour his body turned now resembled that of a Chasm-born exclusively. If not for the lack of horns and red eyes on Alex, Zalan would have most definitely screamed.
However, upon closer inspection, Zalan realized that Alex's body actually was still the same, but there was now a grey fire dancing around his core that radiate the grey light through the body. Glimpsing at Alex, Zalan felt as if he could pierce Alex's physical body see a faint silhouette.
'Why is there a grey flame around his core?' Zalan wondered in his head before turning down to look at his own body. Expecting to see the same grey hue, Zalan was surprised to notice that his body radiated a purple colour instead of a grey one.
'What is this flame? And why is mine purple?' Zalan wondered before feeling Alex's arms wrap around him tightly. Alex's worried face appeared right in front of Zalan before he blurted out questions.
"Are you ok Zalan? I think we should stop for today. You got the technique down for the concealment technique right?" Alex asked in a flurry before running the Vis through Zalan to check for any damage once again.
"I think we should wait until you are older until I teach you techniques. For now until you are 6 let's only focus on comb——".
Alex stopped speaking abruptly when something finally clicked in his head. Something had felt off about Zalan before, but now Alex could finally pinpoint what it was.
"Y—your eyes.. why are they blue?"
Abruptly stopping his chain of thought, Zalan couldn't answer him because he didn't know. But also, Zalan was completely focused on a glowing interface that suddenly appeared right beside Alex. It read:
{Name: Alex Caddel
Affinitiy: [Ice]
Status: Awakened [Alive]
Race: Human
Soul colour: None
Passive abilities: None
Power potential: 7
Current tier: 3
Percent advancement in current tier: 79
Abilities: [Ice manipulation] [Dual Wielding Swordsmanship]
Description: Framed man on the run}
'W—what is all this? What kind of power did Aktatin give me?'
Seeing Zalan stare blankly beside him, Alex couldn't help but turn around and see what he was looking at. However, upon seeing the black cave walls, he couldn't help but ask:
"Zalan what are you looking at? Are you alright?"
"Yes. I feel fine. I think I want to rest for a bit" Zalan replied now shifting his focus back on Alex.
'What does it mean framed? And what is he on the run from?'
Zalan didn't give it much thought and as he needed time to check out what other abilities he had in peace without a concerned Alex breathing down his neck. Temporarily closing his eyes, Zalan waited for Alex's answer.
"That's alright, but will the pain return?" Alex voiced out with a hint of worry
"No, it was something I was trying with the Vis. It won't happen again." Zalan said while mustering as much confidence he could so that Alex wouldn't doubt it. The trick seemed to work as Alex's facial features eased and he promptly nodded and headed towards the stairs.
But before doing do, he turned his head back around.
"Also I added your identification to use this room. Just place your hand anywhere on the wall to enter or exit this place". There was a slight pause before Alex remembered something very important. "Only use the red crystals and don't make a mess" he said sternly before leaving
"Ok".
As the footsteps disappeared into the distance, Zalan sighed in relief. Now alone, the first thing he did was try to enter his consciousness space like how Aktatin said.
'The will mentioned that all I had to do was imagine being in the space. Sounds easy enough' Zalan thought before standing up and closing his eyes.
Picturing the imagery of the sun and the enormous trees dangling from the sky, Zalan suddenly felt his consciousness splitting. It was as if his consciousness split in half and one side connected to his consciousness space and the other stayed aware of what was happening inside the real world.
'This is so cool' Zalan thought standing in the same place he when Aktatin was there with him. In the garden and grassland directly underneath the sun.
'But what can I do here? Can I store things here? Or is whatever I learn going to appear here? And why is there a garden inside? I thought there were usually oceans here like what other people described their consciousness spaces to be like.' Contemplating for a bit, he decided to return to the real world and check out other gifts that Aktatin left for him, before delving deeper into the secrets of his consciousness space.
Back in the real world facing the familiar black walls again, a sudden thought hit Zalan.
'I wonder if I can see my own status?!'
Without wasting a second, Zalan once again imagined the golden screen appearing right in front of him. But this time, with his name on the top instead of Alex's.
Seconds later, a new sensation washed over Zalan's head before a golden screen materialized right in front of him. Exactly like how Alex's appeared except for a couple of differences.
{[Current] Name: Zalan Caddel
Affinity: [Space][Energy]
Status: Awakened [Alive]
[Current] Race: Human
Soul colour: Violet
Passive abilities: [Soul-sight] [Fourth-wall] [————][————]
Power potential: 10+
Current tier: 1
Percent advancement in current tier: 30
Vis techniques: [Core concealment] [Icarus's swordsmanship]
Ultimate ability: [————][—————]
Description: Major calamity; Cause of———downfall————light————Chasm-Born}
Zalan's eyes widened in shock again.
"Why is there so many censored bits?" He couldn't help but notice.
"M—major Calamity? Why is my description major calamity!?"
However, as soon as these worlds left Zalan's mouth, a sharp pain jolted him as if telling him he couldn't know that information yet.
"Does it zap me every time I inquire about censored information?"
As if it understood him, the information began flooded into his head to explain everything.
'What is Icarus's swordsmanship?' As soon as this thought flowed through his mind, the interfaced flashed before the knowledge about the sword art came into Zalan's head.
'What the hell happened?'
Despite Zalan's small body, it seemed like the different movements of the sword art were being downloaded to fit him perfectly. Zalan felt as if there was a certain instinctive understanding of the sword art that he possessed. Almost as if the muscle memory from the lives he didn't remember we're slowly being incorporated into his current body.
'High speed movements that release different strength attacks. With its focus on clean precise slices' Zalan thought in awe before wondering if thinking about other attributes will also help him gain information.
Soul sight was the ability he currently used now. However, Zalan still imagined the description of it to see if other information will be transmitted to his mind. Luckily it did.
"So with soul sight I can see other people's souls. Different colours represent different numbers of passive abilities. Red and Orange each have 1, green and light blue each have 2, dark blue has 3, and violet has 4." Zalan said to himself to remember. "Also I'm the only one who can see it".
"Forth wall helps prevents mental attacks, lie detectors, and others from reading my mind." Zalan said with a smile forming on his lips
"Very useful."
"Lastly my affinities. Space allows me to manipulate the environment around me and I can teleport when I reach tier 6!" Instinctively raising his voice up a pitch, Zalan not be more excited at the prospect of being able to appear anywhere he wanted at any time.
"Energy comes with the manipulation of black energy beams that can be discharged like lasers. But why is it so specific?" Zalan wondered.
Not being able to think of any theory, he decided to test the swordsmanship out instead.