"Mythic talents?"
Sol had never heard of such a thing and was surprised, as he thought himself to be the only one to have obtained their first talent beyond level five.
'I shouldn't have assumed I was a unique case…'
Zaman nodded. "That's where I first heard of it, at least. When I was promoted to Grand Knight, I was given permission to select a few books from the third floor of the Royal Library to expand my knowledge of the world. It was only when I became the Commander of the Royal Knights that the King informed me of the truth—they are, in fact, real. Those talents are as rare as they are powerful, either granting the user immense power right from the start or the potential to gain even more."
"Then why…?"
"Why don't we search and recruit the so-called talentless?" Zaman knew exactly what Sol was about to ask. "I asked the same thing to the king once I learned of it. It's similar to the reasoning for why we limit the number of A-Rankers, because of the destruction they can cause if left unchecked. Not only are they guaranteed to become A-Rankers if nothing unfortunate happens to them before then, but they also grow much faster than those with legendary talents. At their peak, it takes the efforts of multiple A-Rankers just to defeat one. They have historically been bringers of change, whether good or bad. After many years of mythic talents causing instability in the world, it was decided they would be given similar treatment to A-Rankers. This is why we suppress the truth regarding those with mythic talents."
"But wouldn't it make more sense to keep an eye on the talentless in that case? Won't cases like mine show up where we level up anyway?"
Sol thought it was even more dangerous to leave potential talentless individuals unchecked if this was the case.
Zaman shrugged. "Wasn't my call to make. This was decided long before I was born, and it's something that some gods actively led. Personally, I'm in favor of keeping track of all the talentless, but we can't do that without more people knowing the truth. Even if we hide the truth and send people to collect information on the talentless, it would only raise questions as to why we're doing so, which would cause people to speculate and lead to more talentless individuals leveling up and unlocking their first talent. The current system isn't perfect, but I can't say it's ineffective. In all my time serving as Commander, I've only encountered or heard of four individuals with mythic talents, at least as far as I'm aware. Now five, counting you."
"So there are four others like me… Who are they?"
"You want to meet them?"
Sol nodded. "Kinda. Not enough to go out of my way, but if there's a chance, I'd like to."
He wanted to know more about them, not only because he was in the same boat but because there was also the chance one of them also had the [Siphoner] talent. If so, he could hopefully meet them and learn a lot from them.
"Well, two of them are dead. One angered a god somehow, and the other was killed by another mythic talent holder. That one was killed by Lanslet, the Holy Defender of the Holy Kingdom of Delvania, for crimes he committed there. As for the last one… you'll meet her soon enough."
With Zaman's tone at the end, Sol instantly understood what he meant and was shocked.
"You mean… the Saintess?"
Zaman nodded. "Though we say she has a legendary talent, in reality, she obtained it at level eight. Somehow, even before she gained her talent, she saw a glimpse of the future and figured out the truth herself, which pushed her to level up and unlock her talent."
'Level eight? Isn't that a little low?' Sol had thought mythic talents would be gained at a much higher level, at least around 15. He himself had to work all the way to level 25 to gain his.
"Is level eight the highest someone has had to reach to gain their talent?"
Zaman shook his head. "Is yours higher? The highest recorded is level ten."
'Just ten?!' Though stunned, Sol nodded and said, "Yeah, mine was at level ten."
He felt bad lying so openly, but the fact that his talent unlocked 15 levels higher than the known highest was too world shattering. He was once again afraid of not only Zaman's reaction but also what would happen if others found out. But at least now, he could pretend it was just a normal mythic talent. They were rare enough that he doubted all of them had been discovered, so he could pretend his was simply a new one.
"That's good. At least now you know the truth of the situation. Now we need to decide on your cover story."
"My cover story?"
"Though word hasn't spread yet about what you've done, it will in time. If it were just our forces, we could suppress it, but the orcs were there too, so there's little point. We can say that the elemental magics you used came from life saving items like spell bombs and the like, but the shadows and floating hands can't be explained the same way."
Zaman stroked his chin, thinking about how to cover for the unique abilities Sol had shown. They were too distinct and could be directly tied to dungeon bosses. After some consideration, he said, "We'll say it's from special weapons we've been working on, based on research from the Handless Fiend and Shadow Crawler's abilities."
Sol nodded. It wasn't the best cover, but it should be good enough. It would still cause some trouble for the Royal Knights, as others would want to investigate what sort of weapon could create endless shadow creatures and magical hands, but at least it would keep them from discovering the truth.
"Thank you, Commander, for helping me. When you first questioned me, I thought I was in deep trouble."
He was touched that Zaman was going so far to help, even after he had lied and hidden his abilities from him.
"Oh, don't misunderstand. You still are." Zaman corrected. "You lied during the knight selection and purposefully hid your status among other infractions. Just because I'm the only one who knows doesn't mean you get off scot free. As punishment, your next mission will be guarding the Royal Knights Headquarters until the end of the month."
"What?! Guard duty?!"
Guard duty was something only weak squads or knights looking for quick merits would do. It involved standing at attention in one location for hours, and if they were lucky, they could stretch their legs and patrol the area. In terms of punishment, it was a slap on the wrist, but for Sol, it wasn't ideal. With the tall pile of tasks he had and the lack of time to do them, the last thing he needed was a time consuming mission like guard duty.
But then he remembered that he didn't plan to stay long anyway, once he got what he needed from the Saintess.
"Okay, I'll accept it."
It was rather devious of him to do so, but it wasn't like he was about to negotiate for a punishment that could be completed before meeting the Saintess.