White and black talent

Inside a humble hut, a young boy sat cross-legged, his small hands delicately cradling a pristine white flower. With closed eyes, he focused his thoughts. After a moment, he carefully plucked the petals from the flower, one by one, and reverently placed them into his mouth, swallowing each with care.

If a more experienced cultivator saw him, they would be absolutely horrified by what the little boy was doing. It was something a sane person with even a modicum of knowledge wouldn't attempt. The little boy was forcefully awakening his aperture by consuming a rank 1 material.

As the young child finished consuming the flower, initially feeling no effect, the petals began to undergo a transformation. They morphed into a viscous, almost sticky substance that coalesced and gathered in a particular location.

'Focus...'

A moment later, he suddenly felt an itch in his abdomen. This feeling was extremely odd, as he had done this only behind a screen at best. There was a large difference between reality and expectation.

'There it is.'

A pure white light began emanating from his belly. This was the manifestation of a newborn aperture, the first step and the beginning of his cultivation journey.

Focusing on his abdomen, he could vaguely perceive his aperture. It was not very big, perhaps the size of a pea. Yet something was unexpected. Even if his mind was always calm, he was truly surprised by the formation of his aperture. It wasn't because of the foreign feeling of having an aperture but because of ... its color.

'An absolute and pure white aperture...' Elias did not need to think much immediately to understand.

'It can only mean a single thing: perfect potential.' he thought with a frown on his face.

In Forgotten Games, every character, including the player, has cultivation potential. It is extremely difficult to cultivate without high talent as it determines one's speed of cultivation. 

Talented people will have an easier time advancing each rank as their aether gathered inside their aperture would be purer. Not only this, but their fighting potential would be much higher. At least, this would be the case only if the cultivator managed their manifestations carefully.

'If I remember correctly, it should be a chance in a billion to have a perfect potential.' thought Elias without any expression.

As he was lost in his thoughts, the pure white sphere inside his abdomen began to shake... and its surface cracked like glass. The pristine white aperture slowly darkened, shifting to a pitch-black hue, the darkest possible color.

The transformation of Elias's aperture from the purest white to the deepest black signaled a significant shift in his potential. This change indicated that his talent had plummeted to rank 0, the lowest possible level.

The difference between talent can be explained easily. Someone with a higher talent would have a bright and vibrant aperture, and the aether gathered inside would be pure, while someone with a lower talent would have an aperture with darker colors and have impure aether inside their aperture.

In short, the brighter the aperture, the purer their aether would be and the higher the talent.

If someone was born with a light yellow or light blue aperture, then it was one of the highest tiers of talent. On the other hand, a pitch-black aperture meant a bottomless abyss or a complete lack of talent.

Coughing several times, the child found a few drops of blood trickling from his mouth as he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen because of the shattering of his aperture. Yet he did not react much and only frowned a little.

In an instant, he went from being godly talented to utterly devoid of talent. Such a sudden and drastic change would be enough to crush the spirits of most cultivators.

Usually, if someone forcefully awakens their aperture, their talent will be greatly affected. Yet, even if he forced an awakening, it wouldn't normally result in such a drastic decline in talent.

However, Elias was not panicking. He was expecting this and was rather relieved.

Elias forcefully awakened his aperture, disregarding his own talent, fully aware of the consequences. This was a familiar scenario from his countless experiences in the Forgotten Games. Each time, he would try to awaken, his talent would be obliterated by his rune, the rune of the end.

'The rune of the end... Even after completing the game, I still don't have much information about it,' thought Elias as he gently stroked his abdomen.

Elias was not the least pained to lose his perfect talent. The rune of the end would grant him a unique way of growth anyway. Talent was irrelevant to his future prospects. Moreover, if he truly had kept the perfect talent, he would have died sooner or later.

As Elias was about to open his eyes, he noticed something strange about his aperture. The crack was slowly shrinking, or so it seemed at first. But upon closer observation, he realized that his aperture was attempting to repair itself, only to be continually destroyed by his rune. It was caught in a loop of deterioration and regeneration, unable to fully heal.

Seeing this, Elias was a bit perplexed, but after some thought, he soon understood what was happening as he remembered the characteristics of all people with perfect potential. As suggested by the name, they had the highest talent possible, meaning their aether was the purest possible.

With a purity this high, it was almost impossible for them to even fully use their aether. It was akin to having a limitless supply of aether, which is why a perfect potential is considered the best and rarest talent. Their growth would be extremely fast, too, as they wouldn't have any bottlenecks in their cultivation.

Yet, the world is fair in its own way, as they were cursed, and none could live long. Their bodies could not tolerate such pure energy. Although they could use an unlimited amount of aether, their aether was too pure, and the energy inside their aperture would slowly kill them from within.

Progressing in ranks would make everything worse as the quantity of their aether would increase, accelerating their own death. It was also the reason why they were not really a threat to higher ranked as they would die before being able to even reach them.

Once they discovered their own talent and fate, some attempted to voluntarily reduce their talent or even destroy their aperture to survive, but somehow, their apertures would heal themselves at an inhuman speed, rendering their attempts futile. It was as if their very essence resisted any alteration, determined to maintain its state of perfection, even if it meant their demise.

'What a peculiar situation. The rune of the end is trying to destroy my potential, while my perfect potential is trying to fix the damage. It has never happened to me in the game before, as the chances of having such talent is too rare.' thought the child.

However, he soon noticed he was stuck between two extremes. He needed a destroyed aperture to use the rune of the end, and because of his half-destroyed aperture, he couldn't use his perfect talent either.

Despite all of this, Elias' mind was extremely calm.

'I need to find a way to suppress one of them.'

Opening his eyes, he found his mother already awake, her gaze fixed on him with a concerned expression. Glancing outside, he noticed the sun was already beginning its ascent. He had "cultivated" all night.

"You're already awake? Hum, Are you okay, my son? You are pale," she asked while holding his hand.

"I am fine." answered the boy.

"Well, you seem a bit tired. Do you want me to do your share of the work today?" the woman asked with a smile.

"No, I can do it. You don't need to worry. Let's eat," Elias answered.

His mother sighed as she handed him a piece of dry bread and a small bowl of water. She wanted him to rest but knew he would not listen.

After finishing his meal, Elias started to head out of the poorly made hut, but he was stopped by his mother. Taking something out from her side of the bed, the woman handed him a beautiful handmade horse sculpture. The wooden figure was well crafted, and its design and texture were pleasing to the eye.

"Happy 4th Birthday, Elias!"