I took hold of one of the swords. Holding it to my side with one hand. Both of my eyes closed as I felt the gift of this body activate.
The next second happened within a flash. My body turned. A foot within my view, blocked by the steel sword. And the moment next, his head cut from between his shoulders. For he had been weak. Had attacked when he should have stayed his hand.
"Instinct, huh…?"
I spoke. To no one in particular. Yet that same vision still happened, all except for the beheading. I stopped that divine instinct of mine.
'Remember… he is but a child…'
A constant reminder that I had to keep in mind. For if I had not… had done what my gift had envisioned. Then there would have been hell to pay.
Hell in which I could not pay. A master, a parent, even the sect.
I could not afford to be stopped now. Not when I was so close… so… so close to my first step.
"Wha-!" The boy roared, eyes given way to watery tears that seemed to pool around that round chin of his. A baleful glare and gaze from all those around was my only response. For they knew that he had been in the wrong, and despite the mental leaps… they still could not justify my own punishment.
Besides, there was the realm to consider. To punish one that had waited for such an opportunity. To deprive her of such would be too cruel for a mere spat between two.
"Delphine."
A stern voice echoed through my mind. A glare that told of favoritism.
That was the first mention of my name, the first time that I had ever heard the new name I would be called by.
"Yes." I answered, my eyes blinked slightly towards the source. My head deferred to the ground. It would do me no good to be angered over such elementary spats.
Yet still, as I was lectured over the course of the walk. Through a path of green pastures and even greener trees. I found my mind had wandered towards something quite different.
That same voice. Of the only friend I had between the heavens.
A small snort, a blink towards the star's rays, as they shone within my eyes. A blinding glare that stopped me for a moment.
"Was this…?"
I questioned, quietly to myself. The rest… I had finished within my mind.
Beasts.
From legendary monsters that could split tears within reality with but a swipe of their claws. To small creatures that could barely scratch through metal.
Each was divided into their own category, just as us cultivators were. There was no difference between a beast of the elementary level than there was to a cultivator of the same.
Except that was at the most cursory glance. For the beast had instincts, a natural born bloodthirst or intelligence that gave way to greater abilities in combat.
One of the most prominent reasons for the formation of groups, specially created to hunt down such beasts. For they were stronger, more ferocious, and hesitated less. All qualities that made such solo attempts mere suicide.
Yet as they grew in power, as elementary gave way to profound, to core… and further. There was less of a difference and in the same manner even more of one.
Her voice echoed within my mind once more. A divine beast of the highest order, close to the greatest of beasts, yet not quite there.
Please care for my child… if you are able… I trust you
"I will… I truly will… just wait, please…"
A soft echo, one that parted through the grass amongst my knees. Whose touch seemed to give way to the realm. A portal that stood dozens of meters tall, with an ancient and mysterious glow.
"I will be waiting out here, you have all been given talismans, tear them if you find yourself in mortal danger. You will be failed and transferred here."
With that last ignored speech, the glasses on his nose slipped, tiny feet pounding against grass as they arrogantly strode towards that portal. Unknown of their fate, that would lead to either death or prosperity.
…
Once more my talent activated, a premonition of the next second. Filled with the blood of the one next to me. I knew not if it was true, for this talent… esoteric, different from the talent I once used, to great effect.
No, that was wrong, in between milliseconds. My mind whirled. Counted the possibilities and calculated the ability. How it had activated the first time. How it activated now…
For every hundred thousand people there may be one born with a talent. It may range from an affinity to fire, manifested as a fascination of the flames that suffused their home.
To the ability to see that which was not there, the lines of reality. The possibilities were endless. Yet those endless possibilities came with a caveat.
That truly unique talents were born in one in every hundred million. That was not a hundred million people but amongst that same pool of people that awakened a talent.
If one were to take the population of this world, which ranged in the hundreds of billions… not even one would be born from this planet.
It was that rare.
That was why it was called special grade, because it was above the usual. The first grade, second, third, fourth.
A first grade talent would guarantee one a spot within the most powerful of cultivators. If cultivated right that talent might even allow one to make it to the elementary divine stage, however that was the limit of such talent.
Where luck came to play, where hard work faded. Why it was so common to see disputes from sects and individuals. For the universe was filled with such opportunities, but when thousands of divines wanted such a treasure.
It was only right that those places were erased, entire sections of the universe turned to dust within moments for the right to take a treasure that may help them reach further into that realm of theirs.
Hence when the opportunity came, when my special grade talent, that came about in the form of premonition, warned me of danger. I listened.