Chapter 13 : Results
Sal doubted his ears.
‘I can use the core inside the machine instead of my essence?’
That ant removing the only limit that had restricted his ability.
There was no need to hold back anymore.
“Excuse , student?”
Only then did Sal realize he was holding his breath.
“Sorry… it looked too good.”
“Haha, everyone does that.”
The staff laughed and started manipulating the device's input.
“Use it with your best effort. I’ll give you a signal.”
A mont later, Sal felt a sponge-like grip wrapping around his arm.
It wasn't an unpleasant touch, but it was unfamiliar.
Suppressing the instinct to pull his arm out, he tried hard to focus.
The staff raised three fingers, and the countdown began.
Looking past those fingers, Sal saw a familiar figure looking at him from afar.
Upgrade.
Two fingers remained.
Sal gritted his teeth and focused his mind.
Now wasn't the ti to worry about Upgrade.
When one finger remained, Sal wondered for a mont if he should apologize to her.
He looked at her.
Surprisingly, her expression was one of cautious fear, not curiosity.
Sal’s gaze turned forward again, and the mont the last finger folded, it felt like ti stopped.
It was different from the speed ability he used in the past.
This ti, it felt like being in a space where no one else existed but himself.
In his vision, there was only the space where his essence was stored.
Sal instinctively knew he could draw all that power, but the amount was too overwhelming.
Sal unconsciously wondered how much essence he could use before ti ran out.
The threads inside were craving essence, and for the first ti in his life… Sal didn't hold back.
His eyes flashed, and his father’s ability activated first.
Essence flowed straight from the core into his eyes, but there was no pain.
The core was testing him.
His eyes were sending warnings that the procedure was scheduled to end soon, but Sal couldn't accept that.
There was still too much power left.
Sal deployed his mother’s ability.
The power of restoration surprised the core, and the core paused for a mont before letting more essence flow.
The threads Sal elaborately wove were gradually growing into solid ropes.
Since Sal was used to controlling them, there wasn't a single knot even in the final stage.
The core seed reassured again, and at this, Sal recalled Upgrade’s ability he had newly morized.
The threads beca thicker, and Sal’s eyes reacted imdiately.
With fear and restrictions gone, the ability was perfectly compatible with Sal’s eyes and will, and Sal could instinctively know.
It was an exceptional situation, but there was an even bigger problem.
Threads in the form of different abilities occupied so much space that they almost completely filled Sal’s whole body.
The core was shaking as if contemplating whether to end it here.
Sal’s body seed to have no more space, and there was no way to make that space either.
Sal instinctively looked at the bundles of threads.
The forms of different abilities looked very inefficient.
Sal felt an indescribable craving to continue experiencing this new power.
It felt like soone who had been scooping water from a puddle all his life suddenly fell into the ocean.
He absolutely didn't want to let this go.
Sal began rearranging the threads.
The threads weren't tangled or knotted, but his eyes told him that those threads could overlap, layer, and be woven harmoniously.
Excitent wrapped around Sal’s entire body.
His new bundle of threads integrated all abilities, yet left room to add more abilities in the future.
Sal pulled the essence even stronger.
Then essence flowed in like a river.
But soon the flow decreased, and resistance arose.
However, the threads wanted more power for completion.
Sal continued to squeeze the core.
He could feel the core scraping the bottom now, but Sal didn't care.
He was almost at the completion stage.
Sal desperately hoped for just a little more, just a little more… hoping the core that seed like it would end any mont would hold out a bit longer.
Then, power burst out from a completely new source.
It was essence more powerful and abundant than before.
As the threads completed perfectly, Sal cheered inwardly.
The craving for overwhelming power also subsided, and the new threads spun and settled stably inside his body.
He couldn't know what he just created, but whatever it was, it felt like an ability that fit him perfectly.
The source of the new essence quietly withdrew, and this ti Sal didn't force it to stay either.
What he could do was finished.
A shock passed through Sal’s body as if electricity flowed, and he woke up from the daze.
Both legs were stretched forward, and a staff mber in charge was supporting his upper body with an arm under his left shoulder.
Sal looked at his arm with blurry vision.
Blood was trickling down.
Hearing was gradually returning, but it was difficult to focus his mind completely.
Students of his cohort were looking at him with gazes mixed with fear and awe.
Sal tried to focus on where Upgrade was, but she wasn't visible.
After blinking a few tis, his vision beca a bit clearer, and Sal discovered Divinity being restrained by staff at the front of the crowd.
“Sal!! Can you hear ?! Are you okay? What happened!”
A voice rang out.
Sal frowned in confusion. A blurry voice ca from sowhere.
“You, weren’t you Salvatore?”
He turned his head toward where the voice ca from, and saw Upgrade in her suit standing right in front of him.
Her arm was transford into a chanical arm form, embedded into the side of the machine.
Sal sighed and tried to focus, but everything was spinning.
Genuine worry was embedded in her face, and Sal swallowed hard with difficulty.
Suddenly, words he had to say ca to mind.
“I just left earlier… I was sorry.”
And at that mont, everything was swept into darkness.
***
Sal blinked his eyes open.
He was lying in a bed, his head resting on a pillow.
His luggage was still unpacked. He wondered why he fell asleep again without even unpacking.
“Oh, seems like you’re opening your eyes. You’ll hear the answer soon.”
Quest laughed and refilled a teacup.
The Headmaster looked opposite the bed and held up the teapot silently, and Sal heard Upgrade refusing the tea.
Quest tilted his head and looked straight into Sal’s eyes.
“How is your condition, Mr. Argento?”
Sal blinked once or twice and woke up completely.
He expected his whole body to ache, but surprisingly… his body condition was extrely good.
He opened his mouth to answer, but saw an unfamiliar door at the end of the room.
Instinctively activating his eyes, instead of the usual appraisal result, countless suggestions on how to improve the door poured out before his eyes.
Sal breathed slowly and deeply to calm his pounding heart.
Sothing was strange.
He was used to analyzing details and obtaining information with his eyes usually, but this ti it was too detailed.
“It would be better for you to explain this part yourself.”
Quest advised gently and brought the teacup to his lips.
Sal turned his body in the bed and looked at Upgrade sitting on a chair.
She had her arms crossed and was looking at Sal with an expressionless face.
“Right now, wherever you look, you see blueprints, right? Plans to improve sothing or change it more efficiently?”
Sal exhaled deeply and nodded.
His mind was confused.
‘How did they know I see these things? Is this part of the Upgrade ability?’
As if answering the question himself, Sal shook his head and opened his mouth.
“This isn't my ability… I never even tried to use it.”
Quest put down the teacup and smiled.
“I think I can explain that part.”
He leaned toward Sal and pointed to his right arm.
“Your skill registration was perfection itself. Nurous elents fit exquisitely to create the best registration result. Except for one thing, that there wasn't a core powerful enough to withstand your demand.”
Quest put his hand in his coat pocket, rummaged for sothing, and took out a tal plate.
“This is your final Q-Card. All registered abilities are organized. There were a few unexpected items, and one of them seed to need help.”
He smiled warmly and genuinely, placing the tal plate on the blanket where Sal could reach.
“I told Upgrade that you probably stole her ability at the workshop. Was I right?”
Sal looked back and forth between the two, not knowing if he should be ashad or not.
He didn't want to deceive others, nor did he want to lie.
So he nodded.
Confused emotions rose on Upgrade’s expressionless face.
“Among all those skills… why was it mine of all things?”
Maybe it was because he just woke up, or maybe because Quest and Upgrade already knew too much.
Sal decided to just confess honestly.
“In the future, I picked this among all the skills I saw at Quest Academy. I trusted that guy’s choice.”
Upgrade’s eyes narrowed.
She glanced at Quest.
“Is he really okay?”
Quest waved his hand ignoring her question and stared piercingly at Sal.
“You’ll have to tell about that in a bit more detail.”
Sal shrugged.
“I t Divinity. She had the ability to see the future. I told her about the premium stands, and we found and drank a beverage called Sleeping Tiger... ah, Purple Punch. She told . Thanks to that, the registration result would be good.”
He observed the two’s reactions and continued.
“Originally, I intended to register the physical-type ability used in the first assignnt. But the more I thought about it, that wasn't the direction I wanted, so I made a plan to find an ability that fits well.”
When no questions ca, Sal concluded.
“So I decided to tell her the ability I liked the most every week… and Divinity scanned the future and found the ability I was most excited about.”
He turned his head and pointed at Upgrade.
“That was Professor’s ability.”
Upgrade shook her head.
“This ability has many downsides too! Material consumption is big, energy exhaustion is severe… there are plenty of better abilities!”
Quest looked at the card on the bed.
“I heard about what happened at the workshop. Your father’s appraisal ability fell short of your level, and so did your mother’s restoration ability. That ans….”
Quest looked at Sal, pointed a finger at a specific spot on the card, and looked up at Sal.
“Skill Master. This ability must be the reason you can exceed the general limits of the skills you replicated.”
Then he lowered his finger and smiled brightly.
“This is no simple matter. In all my years working at this Academy, I have never seen this ability even once. Nor has this ability ever been registered with the Guild Alliance.”
Quest paused for a mont and looked back at Upgrade.
Then he made an expression that looked sowhat excited.
“It might not be… but if my hypothesis is correct, you might have created a new ability this ti.”
Upgrade’s hardened expression crumbled completely.
She looked at Quest with eyes of disbelief.
“But he said he’s seeing blueprints right now! That, that’s my ability, Upgrade!”
Quest lifted the card plate and showed it to Upgrade, saying.
“Although not directly written on the card, there are many parts that match your ability. Sal definitely possesses your ability, but that is only a part of the skills Sal possesses.”
While Quest and Upgrade were conversing, the scene from the registration flashed in Sal’s mind.
He recalled the mont he started weaving threads to create more space.
Then he contemplated his body with his ability… and was speechless.
The beautiful pattern flowing inside him was closest to perfection among all abilities he had seen so far, and filled with infinite possibilities.
Appraisal, Restoration, and Upgrade abilities were all woven into a single thread, and what was more surprising was that the thread was operating unconsciously.
When Sal let a little essence flow into the thread, that energy flowed along the thread at a ridiculous speed.
His eyes gradually adapted to the room, and all objects around seed to hold trendous potential.
Fantastic blueprints began to float naturally in the air, and he felt an impulse to make all of that a reality.
Upgrade’s gaze was fixed on Sal, but her question was directed at Quest.
“Is it a good ability… can we confirm?”
The Headmaster smiled and asked back.
“How are creator grades divided?”
Upgrade didn't seem very excited about Quest’s inducent to guess, but forced a smile and answered folding fingers of her left hand one by one.
“Common Crafter, Uncommon Crafter, Rare Crafter, Epic Crafter, and Legend Crafter, right?”
Quest pointed at Sal and grinned.
“And now, a Mythos Crafter to be recorded in official docunts for the first ti in our Academy is right before our eyes.”
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