Chapter 1850: A Heads-up

[You know, you’re quite the reckless person.]

As he began to read through their messages, the young man noticed that the first one to talk to him was the Fifth Administrator, Eve.

[Did you not even give the entire thing a bit of thought? Did you not even take into consideration that there might be something more to the skill you received than meets the eye?]

’How would I know that I’d have to endure that kind of pain just to get it?’ Valyr could only give the questions a wry smile in response. ’It’s not like Zenith gave me any heads-up about it beforehand.’

Continuing to think about how one-sided her messages were, the young man faintly entertained the thought of [Mark of the Fifth Administrator] to give her a piece of his mind.

But, after thinking about it, the young man quickly set the thought aside as he took in a couple of deep breaths.

’There’s no point getting that mad over it,’ thought Valyr to himself. ’What’s done is done. I already got the skill anyway.’

’At this point, Eve’s messages are more of a reminder to myself for the future rather than a warning of what the skill is.’

With that thought in mind, he decided to skim over the next messages she sent to get an idea of what she might talk about.

Getting the feeling that she would eventually talk about what he wanted to know, he set his other thoughts aside once more as he returned to reading.

[If you weren’t keeping track, this is the third time you’ve caught the attention of the Apparatus.]

[The first time was when you obtained ’Eyes of the Sagacious One’.]

[Back then, you fell unconscious so you didn’t know that you had caught the attention of the Apparatus. In any case, since it was the first time it happened to you, it was easy for me to return things to normal.]

[On the other hand, the second time took a bit more effort.]

[Of course, I’m talking about the incident involving both you and Ataraxia.]

[In terms of returning things to normal, it took far more effort to fix things this time around. After all, I even had to enlist Adam’s help just make things smoother.]

[However, in terms of whether it was intentional or not, I’d say it’s like your first time where you didn’t know it would happen. Then again, even we didn’t know that would happen the moment you and Ataraxia encountered each other.]

[With that in mind, that brings me to the third time. The thing that happened just now.]

[Considering the circumstances behind the entire thing, it would be best to describe it as something where you knew what you were getting, but didn’t know the process that came along with it.]

[I won’t get into the details of why I say this. I believe that you already have an idea of what I’m trying to tell you.]

[But as to why I mention that you didn’t know the process that came along with it... well, the experience you went through speaks for itself.]

[For that, all I can say is that accepting the skill of a Creator comes with a lot of pros and cons.]

[And for you who has already obtained two of them, be mentally prepared if you ever decide to obtain a third one... if you ever get another opportunity to get one, that is.]

’...’

By the time Valyr was done going through Eve’s messages, the young man fell silent as he gave her words a lot of thought.

Though, out of all the messages that he went through, it was the final two that made him think the most.

’The skill of a Creator...’ muttered Valyr to himself in his mind. ’I don’t know what that really means just yet, but from Eve’s words, it seems like that was the cause behind the Apparatus’ attempt of removing it.’

’Since that’s the case, then that means [Eyes of the Sagacious One] is the skill of a Creator as well.’ As these words came to mind, the young man briefly fell into pensive thought.

’...But what about them makes them the skill of a Creator, though?’

Keeping the question at the back of his head for now, Valyr soon shifted his attention towards the messages Adam, the Third Administrator, sent him.

Fortunately, unlike Eve’s messages, the latter more or less got straight to the point right away.

[For a while, we deliberated on whether or not we should have you experience the trial to keep the skill. After all, as long as we pay a slightly bigger price on our end, we could have the Apparatus turn a blind eye to it.]

[But in the end, we decided to proceed with having you experience it.]

[Of course, it’s not because we didn’t think too deeply into it. Rather, it’s more so the fact that it would give you an idea of what to expect in the future, especially if you’re lucky enough to get your hands on a third skill from a Creator.]

[At some point, facing a trial from the Apparatus becomes inevitable the more you obtain those kinds of skills, so we thought it would be for the best if you could experience it while it was still weak.]

As he read Adam say that the trial he went through was somewhat weak, the young man could not help but be reminded of the vast difference in their perspectives.

[In any case, I’m quite surprised that you got your hands on another skill from a Creator. Just so you know, the chances of getting your hands on one in the first place is already rare in itself. And yet, through a series of timely coincidences and circumstances, you got your hands on another one.]

[Usually, owning two of them is a bad thing since you never know whether or not the Creators behind those skills have bad blood. But in your case, the Creators behind your two skills have a relationship that... let’s just say their relationship extends beyond just being on good terms.]

[...What I’m basically saying is that the two skills you got will bring you to greater heights. And no, I won’t tell you what I meant when I said those things.]

[Anyways, make sure to be careful if you ever get your hands on a third one.]

[Remember that without thorough preparation, the Apparatus sees all.]