'Holy Shit'
That was all Midas could muster at this moment. His inner view was filled with lights of memories and was incredibly vivid and beautiful. But there was more to this than its beauty. Was this one of his skills?
He realised that at this moment, he had the power to search his memories for any date or time, and have the memory at that exact instance pop up to him.
'12 March 2014, 13:09' thought Midas expectantly and then suddenly, right in front of him a memory popped up. He was in 9th grade Maths Class. The memory itself at that moment was paused, almost like a video waiting for permission to playback. And with a thought from him the 'video' played on.
"And here we have a simple simultaneous equation, guys, who wants to tackle this equation here for the rest of the class?" said the balding male teacher standing at the front of the classroom. The view swerved around the room at that moment showing all the reluctant faces of his former classmates.
He could even see the pimples on one of the girl's faces as she stuck her tongue out at the teacher without him seeing it. Midas even spotted a bird flying outside the window. A Laughing Dove. He could see how the light perfectly reflected in beautiful colours as it hit its feathers.
"..."
"Don't make me choose one of you…" said the teacher scaldingly, to which someone in class almost burst out a laugh. Midas was in the moment, almost as if it was happening right then.
He could perfectly recall the whole moment, everything in his vision and senses was perfectly recalled. He could see every image, hear every sound, smell every smell that was possible to be smelt at that moment. He even instinctively knew his own body's condition in detail. It was as if he was reliving that moment.
'Holy Shit' thought Midas, unaware that he was repeating this phrase for the second time.
And then he understood.
'Is this the [Divine Database]? It must be. Wait, that means my Energy came back. Or does it. We need more information.'
And it did. Midas could tell because his headache was gone. He previously could not even feel his headache because he had been in an altered state of consciousness and he could feel Nothing and think Nothing. Now that thoughts were coming back to him, he was thrilled by this discovery.
Midas wasted no time at all and wanted to test out this Skill of his, and maybe even test out all the other Skills he had in his arsenal.
He took some time exploring his [Divine Database]'s capabilities. And to do so he had to explore some of the cringiest memories of his childhood and some of his most horrible memories from his time in the Great Library. But they made no ripples in his heart. His heart was serene as if nothing could affect it. He merely watched and explored the abilities of this Skill. After some time, he had figured some things out.
He could Define Data in a certain Way and Order it as he liked.
He could create Relational Schemas and link Memories together through their meaning.
He could Analyse memories for their meanings.
He could Extract meaning from memories and use it in real life by superimposing images over other images and visions.
He could Create Memories, Delete Memories, and even Modify Memories as he liked.
It was incredible.
Like having an SQL Database in the mind, with 0 latency and lightspeed computation ability, being run by a super computer. His brain had effectively become a supercomputer. No wonder he had such a high Intelligence stat. Of course, he would have to check his stats with reference to other S Rank Gift holders before he comes to any conclusion.
'Actually, Incredible does not even begin to describe this insane ability. S Rank is something else for sure.' thought Midas as he felt a nudge from Julio. And as expected, when Midas thought of the time, it popped up in his mind.
————————————
Time |
—————
01:22
————————————|
The time popped up?? He had an internal clock. The [Divine Database] is Insane.
Midas opened his eyes which could barely withhold the excitement within them, only to see a worn out Julio yawning and pointing at the fire.
Then something popped up in his vision. A square window around Julio's face with the words:
————————————
SEARCHING DATABASE FOR MATCH…
————————————|
'Holy Shit!! Facial Recognition?! I can probably control it, can I not? Ofcourse I controlled it. At this moment, I wanted to know who he is and then the option popped up. It seems there is a passive interface between my thoughts and the Database, and as long as I have Energy, it will always be active and respond to my thoughts and actions.'
Midas nodded and Julio walked over to the other side and lay himself down on the floor to sleep. Midas did not feel sleepy, although he realised he should since he did not have that outrageously overpowered Negative Physical State Negation he had in his Test.
Midas looked around and saw that the surroundings had been wiped clean by Julio's rampage. He had knocked down what was probably 100 trees in this time. Why did he knock down so many trees? Did he really think he could turn them all into firewood
————————————
MATCH FOUND FOR FACIAL PROFILE!!
————————————|
After 2 seconds, those Words flashed in his eyes. He immediately willed the idea of viewing the results to his database and then an Identification document of some sorts and some other memories popped up in front of Midas.
————————————
Identity Found |
—————
Name: Julio Gabriel Morales
DOB: 1998/02/19
Sex: Male
Nationality: República Federativo de Brasil
…
————————————|
'I see. I saw his information before in the Great Earth Library about 4 million years ago. Hmm, it seems he really is Brazilian, as expected. And what's this… A criminal report and an evidence video?' thought Midas.
Midas watched the video and saw someone who looked like Julio beat someone with a baseball bat until he lay on the floor defenselessly. A bloody mess.
————————————
Arrest Report |
—————
Crime: Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Attempted Murder
Previous Crimes: Theft, Theft with a Deadly Weapon, First degree Murder, Second Degree Murder…
…
————————————|
It turns out that Julio was part of some Cartel gang business. He had been running errands for those guys until he recently got caught up in what police were framing as some hit job and was sent to prison for the past three months. If it wasn't for these Trials, he would have found himself facing 20 to 30 years in prison with the evidence mounted on him.
Midas was irked to no end. He would never have pegged Julio to be someone with gang affiliations. Well Julio did have scars on his face, but he figured it may be because he was overly aggressive and militant to some extent. But boy was Midas underestimating Julio's capabilities. Worse still, Julio was capable of some terrifying things.
This guy was a Chosen?
Midas thought Chosen were meant to be the best and the brightest of Earth. He thought he was the ugly duckling among the swans of Humanity. It turned out he might be wrong. There was someone suspected of murder sleeping right next to him. Well there was evidence of the crime and he would have gotten convicted soon enough too. He was a real murderer.
Midas wanted to slap himself. He knew better than to trust someone based on first impressions. Who knows in what weird ways this guy's head was screwed on? Regardless of Julio's experiences in life, someone who was capable of assaulting others while looking deep into their eyes was not someone to be taken lightly.
Right then, Midas wanted to slap himself again. He had only come across some arrest reports, and Julio's history. That was not Julio himself, that was only a reference frame according to the rest of the world. How could he pass Judgement so easily?
Midas calmed himself down and forced himself to think rationally. Then an idea came to him.
[Eye of Judgement]!
————————————
Index |
—————
Earth Name: Julio Gabriel Morales
AC: 6,100
Gift: Gift of Power (B Rank)
—————>
The Gift of Power (B Rank) |
[Your body bursts with Power. This Gift enhances your Ability to Use your Body to its utmost Limits and your Ability to Exert your Influence on the World.
Skills: [Berserker(Lv. 1)], [Power Conduction(Lv. 1)], [Unbreakable(Lv. 1)]
<—————
Abnormal Conditions and States:
—————>
Nature: Chaotic Neutral
Trait: Full Body Control
Mental: Narcissistic Personality, Antisocial Personality, Depression
Physical: Type 2 Diabetes
<—————
Stats:
Dexterity (Agility, Flexibility) → 4.9
Strength (Speed, Power) → 3.7
Constitution (Endurance, Health) → 4.1
Intelligence (Memory, Reasoning) → 1.2
Charisma (Charm, Persuasion) → 1.1
Wisdom (Intuition, Adaptability) → 1.1
Spirit (Mental State, Character) → 1.8
————————————|
————————————
ሀኪሇ |
ሣጣሃኴ ኪየ ኴሣኪኒኪጣሀኴቈየኪ
ኴሃጢሀኪኡ, ኡጤኡ ጢጤኴየኪጣኪ ኳሀ
ጢጣጤሀኡ ሃሣ ጣሀኴየኴ ቧሀቧኪኡካየኳ
ኴየኴሣሀጢሀኲ ጤጣሣሀ ሃኲ, የኒኲጣሀሣሀኪኴ ኳሀ
ኡሃኳ የኪኒ ካሀሣኲየኳ ኒሀቧኪጣጤ
ጢኪኒኒኪኡኲኪኴቈየኪ የኒኲጣሀሣሀኪኴ ሃጣሣየ
ሀኡኲኪህኪጣ ኒሃሣሀኡሀሃ ሣጤኡኴኪቈየሃኲ
ጢየጣየኴ ኪህኪኲ ኪህኪኴኲሃኴ
ኴየኴጢኪኡካሀኴኴኪ የኪኒ ካሀህኡሀኴኴሀኳ ኲኪኒኒየኴ
ሀኡ ጢጣኪኲሀየኳ ኪኲ ኪኡሀኳ ቈየሀኴ ጢጤጣኲሃ.
ሢየኴሣኪ ኪኲ ቈየሃኳ ኳሃህኡሃ.
ኴኪካ ህጣሃየሀካሃ ሃየህየኪ ሣጤኡካሀኳኪኡኲየኳ የኒኒሃኳሣጤጣጢኪጣ ጢጤጣኲሃ
ኡየኒኒሃ ቈየሃኳ የኒኒሃኳሣጤጣጢኪጣ ጤጣሣ
ሀኡ ሢኪየህሀሃኲ የጣኡሃ ኒሃሣየኴ ኪኲ ኒኪጤ
…
————————————|
'Woah!! It's as I thought. I can see their information… But with regards to this other window… I guess I have to learn the language first?' thought Midas after seeing two windows pop up in front of him.
What a pity. This second window seemed to have much more information available, with floating images and visuals too. This was another indication for him to learn the language as soon as he possibly can. For all he could know, there was a trove of information on the other window that he could not access or even understand yet just because he did not understand Uzgiyesh.
This new information could be even more meaningful than the Index. The green life-form did say that the Index was merely a representation, a fake or the real thing. Could he be seeing the real thing?
He needed to learn the language! As quickly as possible.
Midas affirmed his thoughts within himself and then looked at the thieving suspected murderer lying half a meter away from him. 'Oh Julio, what am I going to do with you…'
Midas would have to reevaluate Julio. Even if he might be useful in the days to come, it was better for him to hold off on making any bets yet. And according to his assessed nature, he was someone who chased his personal freedom beyond anything else. It was also apparent that he had no qualms about hurting others if they put his freedoms and liberties in jeopardy.
Midas' intentions flashed and the gift description page for Julio's Gift materialised itself in front of him.
'Hm… I am not entirely sure about the significance of ranks yet. Even if our gifts are 4 Ranks away from each other, I would never underestimate him. Especially with those physical stats of his…' thought Midas pensively while willing more descriptions to pop up.
————————————
Berserker (Lv. 1) |
[Your body swells with Strength for a period of time.]
————————————|
'Strong.' thought Midas. As expected of a Berserker Skill. 15 minutes might not sound long, but it was incredibly useful in an intense situation.
————————————
Power Conduction (Lv. 1) |
[The force of your Body can be applied from anywhere you will in the most effective way possible.]
————————————|
'What?? That is really strong. He could throw punches with his back even.' thought Midas enviously with a chuckle. The human body can only release a maximum of 40 to 70 percent of it's otential force at a time during fights. If he really has that much control, he could even be able to reach 100 percent, at least ideally. Midas was getting more and more excited.
Physical ability is what he lacked most at this moment. It would be great if he could keep Julio around as his bodyguard.
————————————
Unbreakable (Lv. 1) |
[Your body's Defences become impenetrable for a time.]
————————————|
'...'
'What? Now he is bulletproof?' thought Midas while shaking his head with an exaggerated eye roll.
Midas knew that he should not be jealous at this moment since he not only received a Gift, but he also received an Authority too. It also seemed that Authorities might be rare or special. He would have to collect more data to confirm this. Both of his Gifts were high level Ranked ones. Midas knew that he had struck the lottery in his own way.
He could tell based on the disparity in the stat upgrades that he got compared to the stat upgrades gotten by Julio. Some of Midas' stats were in the 9s. Midas felt that this signified a nine times more capability relative to normal humans exponentially. But still, Midas found Julio's Skills incredibly useful. And that meant that Julio could be incredibly useful too.
Midas took a moment to think about his next moves and then he stood up and approached the broken up wood on the sides. He grabbed some larger pieces and placed them on the flames. Immediately, smoke started rising up as the wood was inflamed.
*Whoosh*
The flames started rising higher as they found a new source of fuel. This released some light which Midas would find useful for his next actions.
He wanted to make tools. Prehistoric Tools. He could make a container for water, a makeshift water bottle, and he could also make a spear set and some other basic weapons. He could even make a knife out of stone…
Midas then grabbed a larger piece and started his woodworking. Doing this much would keep him busy for the rest of the night. And so he grabbed a sharp looking stone and started carving up the block of wood.
— Back at the Shrine —
There were large bonfires and tens of people gathered around speaking and laughing to each other. It didn't seem like a few hours ago, 20 odd people had died by having their heads explode in front of everyone else. That felt like a totally different time.
In an obscure place outside the view of other people, 4 people gathered together as if conducting a clandestine meeting.
"So? What did you want to talk about?" said a woman to two other women who were standing nearby. One of those women, with long black hair and a blue jeans white T shirt getup responded.
"We found a Stone Tablet down South. It has those same types of markings as the Shrine does. We think they may be linked."
"Really? Did you find something else? An announcement pop-up maybe? An item?" said the other person. It was a man this time. He was wearing a suave business suit which looked out of place in a forest setting like the one the Chosen found themselves in.
"No. There were people who came before us, but they claimed that they didn't find anything either." responded the black haired girl.
"Really, even Maria couldn't discern anything?" asked the woman again.
"Y-yes. I found out that they were not lying. But…" said a small woman named Maria.
"But?"
"There was one guy. His name was Midas. I couldn't read him at all. Even with my [Truth Seeking] skill I couldn't tell if he was lying or not." said Maria with apparent fear in her voice.
"Eh… really? Hmm… We'll go there and check the Tablet out tomorrow. As for that 'Midas', even if he has a way to go against your [Truth Seeking] skill, there are still other things that can be done. We'll find out the real situation soon enough."
"Okay" said the two women almost deferentially.
"Okay, now go enjoy yourselves like the rest of them. Just because we're in the Trials doesn't mean we can't have fun am I right?"
The two girls walked over to the rest and were welcomed jubilantly. The two figures in the shadows watched over everyone with a calm eye as they began speaking among themselves. Nobody knew what those people were talking about.