Chương 32: Interlude II

Eran Eran awoke with a start, his chest heaving as he sat upright. He immediately became aware of the changes within him. Unwittingly, his palm moved over his abdomen, where he could feel a spherical form of power radiating warmth through his body.

"You're awake!" A voice called from his left, and only then did Eran turn to find Arilyn sitting beside his bed. Eran blinked. He was in his room, on his bed... Finally, he remembered what had transpired. Blighted ashes, I was so pathetic, he cried inwardly, hiding his face with his palms. I cannot even endure my own awakening.

"Are you feeling alright?" his best friend asked. Worried, Arilyn stood up and turned to call someone for help.

"Wait," Eran stopped him.

"Let me see my gift first. I want to surprise them if it's any good. And I'm feeling fine." There was a little headache crawling around his skull, but Eran ignored it with his bountiful eagerness about finding out what gift he had awakened. After the sheer amount of essence his awakening had drawn from the divine Stele, he was bound to awaken something powerful. Something, perhaps, that would help him progress further along the path and not just be left behind by his best friend.

Taking a shallow breath, he turned his eyes to his left palm, to the wheel mark there. It looked almost the same as before, though now there were distinctive red bars on the wheel, hinting at the Augmenter path. Honestly, Eran wasn't surprised at being an Augmenter. He had been fairly certain he lacked the talent to be a Shaper and made peace with it long ago. In fact, he rather liked the idea of having a stronger body, and the Augmenter path would grant him that.

The illusionary script appeared in his mind's eye, along with the voice of the Spell echoing into his ears. [Profile] Eran Stonecutter Path: Augmenter (Common Class) Honours: U/A Attributes [6/8]: (Unallocated Points: 6) Fortitude (Advanced): +32 Focus (Elementary): +10 Cognition (Elementary): +6 Alacrity (Elementary): +15 Body Coordination (Elementary): +8 Agility (Elementary): +25 Gift:???

Ways: In progress: Meditations V (156/250) | Essence Sense II (17/25) | Hunting III (28/50) | Duelling III (27/50) | Quarterstaff II (104/1000) | Swordsmanship II (567/1000) | Armed Combat II (238/250) | Balance III (1515/10000) | Ambidexterity I (41/1000) | Swimming II (356/1000) | Education III (1758/10000) | Sneak II (297/1000) | Evasion III (2132/10000) | Music I (17/100) | Painting I (87/1000) | Cultivation III (1587/10000) | Cooking I (45/100) | Carpentry I (73/100) | Archery III (2725/10000) | Pain Tolerance I (1/10) | Self-Mastery I (1/10) | Perseverance III (29/50) Before the Spell's voice reached the halfway point, Eran already noticed what he was looking for as a deep crease crept between his brows.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Why was there a question mark in his gift section?

"What is it?" Arilyn asked, leaning closer. His eyes held that trace of green glint as if he could see the Profile, even though the Spell allowed only the owner of the profile to see it.

"What gift have you awakened?"

"I don't know," Eran said, rubbing his temple, feeling more of the lingering headache now.

"It shows as question marks in my profile." Arilyn blinked, sharing his astonishment.

"Question marks? Does that mean the Spell doesn't recognise what kind of gift it is?"

"Surely the Oracle would know the answer," Eran muttered.

"But the Spell is not the Oracle," Arilyn supplied.

"Merely a divine manifestation of her power." He hesitated for a bit, watching him with that sharp glint in his eyes.

"Maybe you should trigger it, and let us see what it does." Eran nodded, having the exact thought in mind. Sitting upright, he steeled himself. He closed his eyes, concentrating on his gift to manifest. Nothing happened.

"You look like you have constipation." Eran scrunched his nose and opened one eye to look at his friend.

"You aren't helping."

"You aren't able to activate your gift?" Arilyn narrowed his eyes.

"Usually, it's like second nature, like blinking or stopping yourself from hearing something."

"I don't think the second thing you mentioned is a second nature."

"Well, it's like a new magical organ that you can turn on and off. The trigger is usually around your Essence Seed."

"My Essence Seed..."

"Concentrate there, and you'll see the switch."

"Switch?" Although the term felt weird, Eran got the idea of what he needed to do. Closing his eyes once more, he settled into a meditative state. He had practised this enough over the last season to have a decent grasp of it. It did take a couple of minutes for him to visualise his Seed, though that was mostly because he could somehow still feel Arilyn's intense stare directed at him. A round sphere of reddish energy pulsing steadily in his centre, thin strands of essence threads radiating from it.

In tens of numbers, they weaved, but as for the switch, Eran became immediately aware of what his friend meant. Instead of all the thin strands of essence, there were only eight that were fully formed, woven into something intricate and beautiful that flowed towards his left arm. That is the switch, he thought. Now how do I trigger it? Most Augmenters had trouble drawing their essence threads within their body in the beginning.

Only someone who had advanced to the Noble or Prestigious class could move it through their body at will. Still, he tried. To his surprise, his essence thread shot forward in a twisting path, faster than he intended it to. A sizzling sensation washed over him, bordering on being uncomfortable. He wasn't sure if that was meant to happen, but at least there was a reaction. As he carried on with the process, an impaling sensation pierced his abdomen and spread throughout his left arm, where the weave had flown.

But Eran held on, clenching his jaw, until the essence in his Seed felt a pull so terrible, he suddenly let out a piercing scream, his Essence Seed twisting and contoring, tearing at his insides.

"Eran? Are you alright?" His focused state was already broken, as he was yanked back to reality.

"You..." Arilyn stared at him as though seeing someone entirely different from the person he knew.

"I don't know what happened, I was..." Solas, why does it feel so damnably agonising?! Only then did he notice his dark skin was now mottled with angry red and purple patches, mostly around his abdomen and left arm.

"What happened?" His scream had brought his mother rushing into the room, her eyes widening in horror at the sight of him. Although no blood had been drawn, his skin looked as though he had been brutally beaten.

"Eran, how did this happen?" his mother cried, coming closer to examine him.

"You weren't like this when I brought you home."

"I'm fine," he gritted out, though he could no more convince her than he could himself. What happened to my gift?

"My gift," he still tried.

"I don't know what happened. When I tried to trigger it, all I got was pain and... this." Soon, his father arrived, followed by Arilyn's parents. One by one, their faces changed as they looked at him and heard about what had happened.

"Question marks in the Profile," Aunt Ashlyn said thoughtfully.

"That's something I haven't heard in a long time." She exchanged a glance with Master Jinn before turning to her son.

"Mum, you know about these question marks?"

"It's extremely uncommon, though not completely unheard of," she said, and hearing it relieved him somewhat.

"Ashlyn, can you tell us what is wrong with my son's gift?" his mother asked.

"I can't say for sure, but sometimes unique gifts manifest upon awakening, ones the Spell cannot categorise in their elementary form." She paused, gazing at Eran.

"Let me examine him and see if I recognise anything familiar." Everyone gave way to her as Aunt Ashlyn sat beside him, placing her palm on his chest. A trail of warmth flowed into him, but other than that, nothing else happened. He watched her face intently, noting no sudden shift or any sign of her expression changing. Finally, she shook her head.

"It appears far more complicated than an elementary form of a gift should be," she mumbled.

"Even some Prestigious class Augmenters didn't have such complications in their weave this early."

"Is that good or bad?" his father asked.

"It depends on how you look at it." She hesitated.

"I can't be certain, as this isn't exactly my field of expertise, but if I'm theorising right, then his gift couldn't manifest because his body was too weak to bear it."

"So, once I have a stronger body, I can use it properly, right?" Eran asked. He did have six unallocated points, though he didn't believe only six points would solve the issue. Aunt Ashlyn was uncertain to give the answer he wanted to hear.

"It could take as little as a season... or years... or perhaps never. I can't be certain, but all you can do is persevere if you want to continue on the path."