Chapter 271: Discerning

?The moment I did that, a current suddenly rushed through my entire being.

?"I’ll be damned!" I cursed.

?It felt like my entire mind had sank into water. Just as I was getting used to the surreal or perhaps, high feeling, a soothing voice echoed in my mind.

?[What type of blessing is it that you seek, child of Nahaar?]

?’Before we come to that, is it alright if I ask you some questions?’ Realizing what voice it was, I composed myself and asked.

?[...]

?Hearing no answer for the next few moments, I went ahead and asked my question.

?’Are you the consciousness of the divine tree or the consciousness of Nahaar? Or is it that you’re one and the same?’

?A few seconds passed, and just as I thought it wasn’t going to answer, my answer came.

?[I simply am... the divine tree, Nahaar has no real consciousness, only a will.]

?’I see, so they’re completely different.’ I inwardly mused to myself, not directing my intent at it.

?’What do you mean by only a will?’ I asked once more.

?[Nahaar’s will influences everything and every creature in the world. It grants the status screen to sapient beings to enable them to understand their abilities, and it also protects the planet’s body itself when high ranked beings clash.]

?’Grants the status screen huh?’ I thought with a wry smile. It would be a lie to say that I haven’t thought about the origins of the status screen that documented the abilities of every aetherial.

?’You said it protects the planet’s body when high ranked beings clash, what does that mean?’ I asked.

?[When high ranked beings clash, Nahaar’s will reduce the effect of attacks that would cause severe damage to the planet’s body, if not, the planet would have long perished.]

?’Wait, does that mean if we’re out of Nahaar, we’d no longer be able to see our status screens, and high ranked beings would be much more dangerous?’

?[Yes to the first question. As for the second, if it’s on another planet, the planet’s own will would probably be doing the same. But if it’s in space, or in some other area, then yes.]

?’I see.’ I nodded in understanding.

?[I ask again, what type of blessing it is that you seek, child of Nahaar?]

?’What type of blessing I seek huh?’ I thought to myself. To be honest, I hadn’t really thought of that at all when coming here.

?In the novel, Alistair had said power, and the divine tree blessed him with power, on the path he had been walking on. He awakened his will before stepping into the realms of the Delta rank.

?But that wasn’t for me. At the pace I was going, I’d eventually get to the Delta rank and unlock my will the natural way, there was no rush, even if the world was particularly going to go through some rough shit starting from today.

?’Man I really have gone mad, haven’t I? No, I’ve always been insane, I just slipped deeper into it.’ Here I knew that shit would be starting today, and here I was rejecting strength. What had the world turned into.

?I settled down my mind, and thought carefully about what I probably need the most at the moment. I was plenty strong among the younger generation, so it wasn’t strength.

?The future? Nah, I already knew plenty.

?I thought of love next and almost burst out laughing, how absurd. who the hell would waste such a blessing for love?

?As I thought more and more, it came to me. What I needed wasn’t strength, not the future, cause I already had some semblance of that, and definitely not some stupid notion called love.

?Instead, what I needed was knowledge, knowledge about that son of a bitch who brought me back to life, and knowledge about how this stupid crescent mark on my face.

?Once I decided that, I extended my intent towards the divine tree without hesitation, as for how the blessing worked when knowledge is seeked, I’ll only know after I try.

?’Knowledge, what I seek is knowledge.’

?[Very well, you shall be blessed with knowledge.]

?The next moment, my status screen sprang up, even though it was in my mind, it was clear as always.

?[You are receiving the blessing of the divine tree!]

?[You have acquired the trait, Discerning eye!]

?The moment I saw that, heat rushed into my eyes, for a moment, I thought my eyeballs were melting, but the heat came and left just as quickly.

?[You have successfully received the blessing of the divine tree!]

?’Whew! That was something else.’ My mind breathed a sigh of relief.

?[Good bye, human]

?I heard the divine tree’s soothing voice once more, before I suddenly found my consciousness back in my body.

?I removed my hand from the gold tree’s trunk as I opened my eyes, only to notice that the gold glow the tree had, had dimmed considerably.

?Not only that, I realized my vision has become exceptionally clearer, I could see even the most infinitesimally small mote of dust, and a wide paranomic and dynamic view.

?"Perhaps it was due to the blessing." I muttered.

?However, like a kid with a short attention span, my mind quickly moved away from that and moved to something else.

?Excited to see my new so called trait, I summoned my status screen, and quickly scrolled to the new ability.

?=======

?– Trait: [Discerning eye]: [Your eyes can see more details about the world than everyone else, and even more details about yourself. Though, powerful individuals might notice your gaze.]

?---------

?"Damn, this is basically inspection from every other system." I grinned wryly in realization.

?Well, it was better than nothing, I was the one who wished for knowledge. Plus it was a genuinely good ability. Even though I didn’t how it worked yet, I could somewhat tell, maybe I was discerning it without even knowing.

?Not to mention, I had come to know a lot today. In the novel, it was thought that the divine tree was the consciousness of Nahaar, but that turned out to be a mere myth.

?When that idiot came here in the novel, all he did was ask for the blessing, took the sap, and got on his way.

?Now then, I don’t have an exact timeline, but shit is set to begin any moment between now, to probably an hour. There was still that much time because unlike in this timeline, in the original timeline... No, what the fuck was I saying? This IS the original timeline.

?The other timeline was only a book I had read, so in retrospect, this was the original timeline.

?Anyway, back to what I was saying before I got sidetracked. In the novel, Alistair and Kaal were still battling it out during this time, but since I had quickly defeated Kaal, it bought me enough time to not witness pandemonium the instant I exited this place.

?Contemplating a bit on what to do, I finally decided to head outside. I began retracing the exact steps I had taken to get here, and soon, I felt myself pass through that invisible chasm once more, and I was back in the glowing tunnel.

?During the short walk back, I resummoned the gourd from my spatial storage, and not long after I was back at the edge of the groove.

?Father and Sevas were still floating a distant e away from the edge. The moment I saw them, the gourd snapped free from my hand, and almost immediately, my body was once again floating before Father.

?"How did it go?" He asked, getting straight to the point. In case you didn’t notice, he was a straightforward man with zero tolerance for nonsense.

?"It was pleasant." I replied.

?"As it should be." He said, and the next moment, I found myself standing on the floating platform once more, next to my friends.

?"Something has changed about you" Rose spoke from behind me.

?I turned to her, raising a brow.

?"You can tell?" I asked.

?"I’m not a rock." She replied dryly.

?"Do you guys sense anything different about me?" I turned to my trusted buddies.

?"Nah bro, you look the same as before you entered." Dion shrugged, while Aric simply shook his head.

?"What about you?" I turned to the redhead.

?"If we exclude the hidden sullen look on your gaze, then no, you still look the same." Sia replied.

?’This girl... So she can see that I’m not really as optimistic or cheerful as I sound.’ I mused.

?Before I could say more,

?SNAP!

?The world suddenly changed again. This time, we weren’t on the floating platform, but instead, inside the capital city of Valon.

?"Go rest for the day, you all will be rewarded for your participation today." The proctor’s voice rang out, addressing the gathered youths, moments before he disappeared.

?No sooner than he disappeared, the sky suddenly turned dark, even under the illuminating leaves of the divine tree as an impossibly large dark comet fell towards us from the sky with re-entry speed.

"Seven hells."

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