'Agh… I still can't believe that I fell asleep!' Ain shouted inwardly.
A day had passed as Ain sat in the library, waiting for Core to make good on their promise and find that book about the Mirror God.
During his little playdate at the park, he ended up overusing both his stamina and his Mana. Just as they left the park grounds, he fell asleep while still standing!
An amusing sight for others, Ain couldn't possibly be more embarrassed!
'Thinking about such pointless things won't help… I should check on that egg while I still have a chance.
Quickly, Ain entered into his Innerworld. It looked… Mostly the same.
That impossibly contorted tree had healthier colors, but that was about it. Ultimately, it was still a white space with cracks that allowed some kind of black goop to seep in.
'Yeesh. I knew it wouldn't naturally heal, but it's already been 2 years. At this rate, I probably won't be able to repair my soul for another… 50 years? If I could find some magical artifacts I could hasten it a bit, but anything meaningful is a little unrealistic.' He lamented.
With a soul this damaged, he was very limited in what he could do. Even having too much Mana could cause the container that was his body to explode. He had ways around this, but what he didn't have ways around was the upper limit on spells he could fast.
Spells, all techniques that used Mana, were categorized into tiers. The higher the tier, the more complex and mana-intensive a spell was.
You could increase the mana cost of lower-tiered spells to strengthen them, but the higher tier, the more powerful or complex, was the general consensus.
But by Ain's calculation, if nothing changed, by the time he was 10 years old, he wouldn't be able to use a Tier 3 spell.
Not including originally created spells, there is no licensed offensive spell below the 3rd Tier. He couldn't cast Fireball!
"Something needs to change… All I can really do is place my hopes in this thing working miracles after hatching." He hummed as he walked toward the trio of objects that his Innerworld housed.
His Soul Vessel was much the same as the rest of the world. Technically healthier, but negligibly.
The two gemstones were… Existing… The blue gemstone that gave off a pulse of Mana was slowly growing stronger. He wanted to pour Mana into it and see what would happen, but he was at least 70% sure he'd end up killing himself.
He is strictly making sure he doesn't touch anything related to the World Law before his Kindred hatches. However, it grows harder to justify as time passes.
"No! Don't touch you dumbass. Quell your foolish curiosity!" He shouted out himself.
Finally, he turned his attention back to the egg.
Unlike the others, which he could only keep track of while actively peeking into his Innerworld, he constantly felt the life force of the growing.
It was too early for him to tell, but he was relatively confident that it'd hatch the first time he went to the Kindred Awakening Ceremony.
"But it seems to use Mana as its lifeforce. Or at least as a catalyst to promote its own growth. If I injected a little bit of Mana into it, I could probably awaken it early."
Or you could probably die.
He looked at the egg for a short 10 minutes before deciding against the risky option. In addition to the very apparent risk, there was simply no reason to stand out more than he already did.
Seeming mature because he didn't know how to act like a two-year-old appropriately was one thing. Intentionally destroying all potential normalcy and becoming a dangerous outcast was another.
In his travels, he's seen one too many geniuses suffer because people didn't understand their abilities or quirks.
"Ain!" A voice boomed through his ears, forcing him out of his Innerworld.
"Eh! Yes! Here!" He frantically looked around, only to see Core holding a book.
"Ain. I've been calling you for the past 5 minutes. Are you okay?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I was just thinking."
Core raised one of his metallic brows.
"What could you be thinking about so deeply?"
"Uhm… How strong you are! Kian talked about how grades and existence levels worked, but they also said he's the strongest."
"And what do you think about that?"
"I think you're much stronger." Ain nodded.
Core paused for a few moments before laughing at Ain's words.
"Regarding potential, that boy's Kindred Zenos has more latent potential than me. We share the same grade of Epic, but I am a rare case. I used to be a Rare grade, but one of my evolutions miraculously increased my grade." Core explained.
"Eh? You're only Epic?!" Ain acted dumbstruck.
"I thought you'd at least be Radiant!"
"Radiant? Not Legendary?"
"Well… Since Legendary is the highest, I thought only the Gods would reach that rank. So if you're not a God, then you should be Radiant, right?"
Core was dumbstruck. A few words spoken on the playground were all it took for Ain to assess that the Legendary grade was the realm of the Gods.
'Ain's potential as a scholar… Few will be able to compare to him if he applies himself.' Core thought.
They were biased because they loved Ain like a grandchild, but they did believe that Ain would be a fantastic scholar if he were this bright at such a young age.
"It's a good assessment, Ain. But there hasn't been a Radiant grade Kindred in over 300 years. A few aspects of that power have shown up, but none have been tamed. As far as the Legendary class goes… We're not sure if new Legendary grade Aspects can be born." They explained.
Ain tried to draw a probable conclusion as to why Legendary and Radiant Aspects or Kindreds were born, but the only one he could think of was the most obvious.
They're graded by rarity, so the chance of one being born could just be astronomically low.
For a moment, he considered asking how babies are born. Or rather, how their grade is determined, and if it's at birth or not.
But in a rare moment of clarity for Ain, he realized that a 2-year-old child asking how babies are made would be the single most bat-shit insane thing one could ever possibly hear.