[The Ancient Gate will transform your body and soul, and one of these transformations is on the eye...]
[The Ancient Eye...]
Mirage spoke softly, seemingly in a daze. His eyes glimmered with awe while speaking about it.
[In the hundreds of Great Worlds, only the Ancient Eye is capable of seeing through the mystery of primordial will.]
[You may not understand it now, but when you grow stronger... forget it. There's no point telling you this now. Inheriting the Ancient Gate grants you this eye.]
Victor was slightly annoyed. He was close to scolding the heavenly wolf. Why even bother to tell something and then drop it?
Mirage paused as he felt Victor's annoyance. He coughed, seemingly embarrassed, before continuing:
[The Ancient Eye has three unique abilities: to appraise, to predict, and to create.]
[The Ancient Eye can see through the origin of everything in its sight. As long as the thing you're trying to observe is from this universe, then you can find out anything about it. It can appraise any treasure and existence.]
"... Isn't that literal omniscience?"
[Close, but not quite. While the Eye can see through everything, the user may not able to handle the backlash of the information received. Use it carefully. Some beings or things that lived long enough have some level of corruption on their origin, causing anyone who investigates them to go insane.]
Victor nodded silently, taking note of it. In other words, try not to be too interested in everything he sees.
[The Ancient Eye can predict—but it doesn't show the future outright. Think of it as probabilities instead. Every action has a ripple effect, and the Eye lets you see which ripples are strongest.]
Victor raised his brows. "So it's like letting me view the possible futures and the chance of them happening?"
[Exactly. But be warned, this ability depends largely on your interpretation... If you misread the future, you could end up worse off than before.]
Mirage's cryptic way of speaking reminded him of the fortune tellers back in earth.
They would exaggerate and dramatize everything they say to get a reaction out of their target.
Although… the old wolf seemed much more credible than those phonies, probably.
Victor gazed at Mirage suspiciously.
"Continue."
Mirage's ears twitched again.
[... Lastly, The Ancient Eye can create. Among the three, this is its most mysterious and powerful ability.]
Mirage spoke of it with awe. Victor looked expectant, but his face dropped when he heard the following words.
[However, my knowledge ends here. I'm not entirely sure of its capability and how powerful it is, only the holder can know after they possess the eye.]
Mirage glanced at Victor.
Victor sighed and rubbed his temple. This old wolf... he hated people like this the most, it reminded him of a colleague he almost killed in anger.
He nodded, but he couldn't help but be bewildered by one thing.
"... How are you sure that it's the strongest then?"
[All the previous successors told us the same thing.]
Mirage mused. Even now, they didn't really understand what the Ancient Eye could create.
When one of them tried asking a successor in the past, the successor just told them that it was the most powerful ability of the Ancient Eye, and it was directly related to the supreme power of the Ancient Gate.
Thus, the rest of them, including him, had very limited information regarding the third ability.
Victor rubbed his chin. Hearing that it was because of someone's cryptic words again, he lost some interest in the topic.
He went straight to the point.
"How do I get the eye?"
[You don't have to do anything for now. Consider it the Ancient Gate's generosity for its successor. You will see the difference once you step out of this place.]
Victor curled his lips. Free things always come with a hidden reason. Still, there was no point arguing—things worked in his favor for now.
Shaking his head, he put it on the back of his mind.
"Is there anything else?"
[Yes.]
Mirage nodded, suddenly kneeling.
[As the successor of the Ancient Gate, you are my master. You are free to wield and use me to your heart's content.]
At this moment, a wisp of energy came out of his body. It was pure white, emitting a heavenly radiance.
When it tried to enter his body, Victor reeled back in reflex. Something about its radiance attracted him—as if it was something valuable.
But shiny things, they were the scariest.
[Successor, accept it. It is my spirit origin. It will grant you some part of my power, as well as power over my existence. If you so desire I vanish, then I shall.]
Hearing that, Victor calmed down. But before he accepted the wisp of spirit origin, he asked Mirage.
"If I accept this, won't you become my tamed beast?"
[Unfortunately, I cannot be your tamed beast. I can only wager this thing for our soul contract…]
Mirage shook his head. Victor immediately got his message. There was no need to insult each one's intelligence.
Victor couldn't trust Mirage, not yet—so the latter wagered its life for a contract.
He couldn't help but look at the wolf with wariness.
"Why would you do this? How is this beneficial to you?"
[Why...]
Mirage trailed off, looking at the Ancient Gate once more. His gaze seemed to pierce through the void.
[I'm hoping for a chance.]
***
Victor opened his eyes, seeing the familiar white walls. He was back in the real world.
He moved his hands to check if there was anything wrong. Then, his legs and head.
Miraculously, he was feeling better than ever. At least, significantly better compared to when he first woke up in the lecture hall.
"Mirage?"
[Master.]
Victor sighed in relief internally. Okay, good. What happened earlier wasn't a hallucination.
"Nothing."
He remarked, looking all over the room to check if anything had changed while he was away. He caught a glance at the clock, seeing that only a few minutes had passed.
"Does time move differently in the Ancient Gate's place?"
[Yes, but not in the way you're expecting. It's your mind that is moving faster, not time itself. It's similar to experiencing a lifetime in a single dream.]
"A dream..."
Victor thought about it for a moment. One of mankind's greatest minds once said, 'time is relative' which holds true to his situation now.
He saw that the door was still closed, and after a moment of analysis, he quickly concluded that no one had entered while he was asleep.
Looking at all the stuff in the room, Victor was quite expectant of his new
eye.
He thought for a moment and had the idea of appraising himself first.
He focused his mind, thinking of his own self.
'Appraise.'