104. Talent

"So? Want to give it a try?"

Zane just frowned at him. Elias rolled his eyes. "It's not a trick question. Yeesh." Zane could feel he was telling the truth.

"Here." Elias held out the crystal. "Let me show you."

Once he grasped it firmly, a little scale flickered up in front of it—a wispy illusion. It looked like a thermometer. At its bottom, there was a display. It read, "F0."

"All the crystal does is circulate a little pure essence through you. It's like taking in a normal vial of essence, except it goes all the way through and back! It tests how much your body absorbs. Starting now…"

The crystal started to glow. At the same time, a pure white light shot up from the bottom of the scale. It passed 1, then 2, 3, and 4 in quick succession. The display reflected it—F1, F2, F3, F4.

When it hit the top—10—it broke the top of the scale. And reset. The new display at the bottom read, "E0." The light kept shooting up.

"This thing cost me a minor fortune, you know. Not sure why it's calibrated so low, though," said Elias. The scale kept shooting up. It hit 10 again, then reset—D0 was the next grade.

"Nobody I've tested, even your average Joe off the street, gets less than a 'C0' on this thing. Anyway—it's coming up now…"

Past C, Past B—at A the scale finally started to slow. "A's the highest grade, by the way," said Elias. "Here it comes!"

The light hit '8'. And halted there. The display at the bottom shone bright.

ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕋𝕒𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕕𝕖𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕕

𝔸𝟠

"That's me!" said Elias cheerfully. "Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. And now for comprehension."

He picked up the tablet, and a similar thing happened. A little scale popped up with a display. Except this time, the picture on the tablet shifted—it called out to the soul. It felt like a Skill tome or a Law recording; there was a vision hidden in there. Elias closed his eyes. His brow furrowed in concentration.

The gauge started shooting up, broke past the top, reset. F…E…D…

About half a minute later—

ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕙𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕕𝕖𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕕!

𝔸𝟟

"There we are!" crowed Elias. "That puts me roughly about… oh, one in a few million for soul talent? And one in a few tens of millions for cultivation talent! Pretty solid, I'd say. Around average for the Rank-20 to 30 range. Just having double A-ranks—even A0's—puts you in World Ranker territory."

"Ooh!" gasped Evan. "Can I try?"

"You sure can!" said Elias.

Zane didn't feel any sinister intent coming from the man—it did seem to be just a talent gauge. He frowned, but he didn't stop Evan. The boy ambled forward and put his hand on the crystal.

It shot up fast, even faster than Elias' had. Soon it breached A-grade. It just kept climbing. It didn't start slowing until it got past A7. Then A8… A9….

It settled at the very top of the scale.

ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕋𝕒𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕕𝕖𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕕!

𝔸𝟙𝟘

"Sheesh, kid!" cried Elias. "You know how many A10s I've tested? Two! And they're both Top 7 in the world."

Evan beamed.

Next up was soul talent. This one also shot up pretty fast. Slower than cultivation talent though. When it stopped the display read:

ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕙𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕕𝕖𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕕!

𝔸𝟠

"Whew." Elias shook his head. "Nuts. Just nuts. We'll see you in the Top Ten pretty damn soon, I expect."

He eyed Evan with new interest. "Although…if you want to get there sooner rather than later, maybe we can help each other out. Say, how'd you like to—"

"He doesn't," said Zane firmly. Almost in a growl.

"I don't!" said Evan cheerfully. "I trust Zane. Whatever he says goes."

And Elias held up his hands, grinning helplessly. "Alright, alright… and how about you, Zane? With how fast you're growing, I'm sure you'd do very well. The highest guy I've tested is Eze—straight 10s. A10 cultivation, A10 comprehension. Same with Yui Urabe, Japan's #1—World Rank six or seven right now? I'd guess every one of them—Dos Santos, Hastings, Land, Shi-Ming, Hall, Volkova, Walker—all perfect double-10's. They're the only one's who've broken the bottleneck, by the way…"

He paused, then gave Zane a little side-eye. He was feeling a little mischievous. "That's the other Walker I'm talking about. Jason Walker. Ranked four right now. Zane Walker, Jason Walker, and you're both top Rankers… something tells me that's not a coincidence. You're related, aren't you? A cousin of yours?"

Zane stiffened. "Brother," he said coldly.

"Ah. Well, I haven't tested him personally, but a little birdie confirmed he tested perfect too. How'd you like to know how you measure up?"

Zane knew he was being baited. Even so—"Fine."

"Excellent!" Elias handed him the talent crystal, and he grasped it firmly.

He felt a tingly string of essence trickle through the base of his palm. From there it cycled through him...

Up shot the meter—past C, past B, past A… Once it hit A4, it started to slow.

Elias frowned. It hit A5, and it was struggling now. It hit A6, climbed a little farther, and came to a rest somewhere between A6 and A7.

ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕋𝕒𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕕𝕖𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕕!

𝔸𝟞

"…Ah," said Elias. "Hm. Hmm." Zane sensed his disappointment. Elias thought it'd be higher. "Well," he said at last. "I suppose that's a testament to your hard work, eh? Keep it up! A6 is still nothing to sneeze at. Still one in a million!"

But Zane could feel that Elias just lost a lot of interest in him. "Good call on skipping the Gala tonight, by the way." Elias winked. "It's not your scene anyway."

Zane's main feeling about it was, eh. All it meant was that it'd take more essence for him to Level than the elites of the world. Essence requirements only ramped up with Levels. He'd have to work that much harder to keep up. Oh, well.

He wasn't very invested in hitting any particular World Rank anyway. It just kind of happened. As long as he grew fast enough to keep having fun fights, he didn't care much either way.

It wasn't surprising to him he was less talented than Jason. It was a little disappointing, sure, but that was how it'd always been between them.

"Well," sighed Elias. "What do you say we check your Comprehension, eh? Just to finish things off."

He brought out the stone tablet, and Zane focused on it. The squiggly carved lines on it started to shuffle; it settled. They started suggesting a picture to him. The more Zane stared at it, the clearer the picture got. The tablet called out to his soul. And Zane slipped into it with ease.

It was a simple vision. Just a bald man in loose monk's robes throwing a punch. ...That was it.

Zane got it. He was a little confused—what else was he meant to comprehend? It just seemed a simple punch to him.

The scene faded away, and he was left blinking at the real world again. What had that been--five seconds? Less? He saw the gauge shooting up. It was at C, then B, then A.

It hit A4, then A5, and A6—it still wasn't stopping. A7… A8… A9…

"Goddamn!" said Elias. It hit A10. "Best in class!" His interest in Zane just shot back up. He was grinning again. "Oh, forget that A6. For combat strength, Comprehension's much more important. Dude, this is great news! If you just—"

He frowned. The light was still going. It went past the midpoint of 10 before it started to slow. Then it hit the end.

And the light fizzled out. The whole meter blanked out. Elias frowned at it.

Then something new popped up on the display at the bottom.

ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕙𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕋𝕒𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕪𝕠𝕟𝕕 𝕞𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕒𝕓𝕝𝕖 𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕤

ℙ𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕖𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕖: 𝕊

No number next to it. Just S. They all stared at it in silence.

"Huh," said Elias at last. "That's… never happened before. I didn't know that was possible, actually. …What the fuck?"

He gave Zane a curious look. "Say. How many Major Laws do you have again?"

Zane wasn't even sure. "Eight?"

"Shit!" There was a new light in his eyes as he looked at Zane again. "I'll be damned! Zane Walker. Well, well. What do you know? I always believed you were special. Always!"

"Right."

Elias rubbed his hands giddily. "Yes… about that Gala—you sure you don't wanna come? Each sip of one of those alien wines is like taking in a B-grade Vial of Elixir—hell, you can be the Guest of Honor!"

"I'm good," said Zane flatly.

"Suit yourself," chuckled Elias. He was getting ideas—ideas that were getting him very excited. "Oh—and once you get your housing, I'll have those B-rank treasures I owe you delivered. You know what? I'll even throw in an A-rank Vial of Essence, free of charge. Damn! When you learned Rising Sun Slash that fast… I should've known. Should've known!"

"I'm not signing anything," Zane said, eyes narrowed.

"Oh, please. It's not like that. It's a gift!" Elias raised a finger, grinning too-white teeth. "It's an investment, rather. This Comprehension of yours… this changes everything. See, once you get a couple of Legendary Skills under your belt—or heavens, a couple Elemental Laws… well! You'll make much better use of the essence than the other rubes I've signed. You could be clearing A-rank dungeons in months. Maybe S-ranks! I'm not putting fuel into a Prius when I could be putting it into a Lambo—you get my drift?"

"…"

"So your Level grows slower. But when we factor in Law and Skill growth, your combat strength growth… now that's a different matter altogether, isn't it?"

"…"

"We don't need to get into the essence math. But trust me. When you're clearing elite dungeons, you'll pay me back soon enough. I'll be watching. Do well, and you can expect more 'performance bonuses,' shall we call them? I expect great things from you, Zane Walker. Great things!"

He snapped his fingers, and a black maw of a portal opened up behind him. Still chuckling, he stepped on through; he was gone.

***

The lady at the front desk—who looked pretty frazzled now—gave Evan and Zane a wristband treasure. It was the standard issue kind of the Beacon made—it made them 'guests' of the Silicon Coven. Their wristbands were gold for VIPs. It let them use all the special Dojos and Law treasure areas and cultivation centers—really everything pretty much, for free. Except that Asura Hell Array thing, the lady said. That they still had to pay for. The rate was 20 high-grade essence stones per use. Because of his soul contract, for Zane, it was at cost—5 high-grade essence stones per use.

Some of the Dojos, especially the popular ones, were booked up days in advance. But Zane's contract meant they were also obligated to hold a free slot open for him.

…God. Reina was just great.

The wristband would also let them access their rooms. As World Rankers, they got suites in the highest of those spires--a hotel called 'Minas Tirith' with 24/7 catering. All food had the equivalent essence to a B-grade treasure.

They also got a pamphlet with an event schedule on it. There were events every day—things like 'Zen Garden Meditation' in the mornings, in some special garden that was apparently so chock-full of essence just breathing in the air could help Level you up. There was

'Master Class: Elemental Wind,' taught by 'World Rank #6 Yui Urabe' at noon. Or 'Panel Discussion: Balancing Power and Responsibility' with Keynote speakers:

World Rank #12 Somsak Srisuwan—Leader, Bangkok Top Team

World Rank #9 Cain Hastings—Leader, Knights Templar

World Rank #17 Isabella DiAngelo—Leader, Nova Roma.

Zane wasn't particularly interested in any of them. The first thing he wanted to do was scout out that Steel treasure area. It was supposed to be an A-rank Treasure Area, wasn't it? Then he'd take a nap or something—he was almost fully recovered by now, soul-wise. Tomorrow morning, he figured, he'd make his big push there.

After that, maybe that Hell Simulator thing could be interesting…

He stilled.

He felt something coming up behind him. Something sneaky, with bad intentions. It was preparing to strike—

He whirled around, fist raised.

And Avery shrieked. She flailed and fell on her ass. Then she pouted at him. "Dangit! How'd you know I was coming?"

"…"

"Pfft." She blew a strand of hair out of her face and grinned. "…Anyway. Hey hey, long time no see! How've you been, you big lunk?"

"Good."

"Mm. Me too. Better than good, actually. I've been great. Man, I've got so much to show you—"

At that point, Evan emerged from behind him. And Avery gasped. She was feeling something like—awwww what a cute puppy!

"Oooooh!" she said. She came up close and inspected him, squinting, and Evan blinked.

She looked up at Zane. "Where'd you get him? Can he talk? Does he do tricks?"

She winked back at Evan. "Just kidding."

Evan was quite confused.

"Hi!" said Avery brightly. She held out a hand. "I'm Avery."

"I'm Evan!" said Evan.

She turned back to Zane. "Can I have him?"

"...Sure?"

"Awesome." Her grin turned mischievous. To Evan—"You're coming with me. I'm gonna give you a makeover. How's that sound?"

Zane sensed she wanted to take Evan under her wing, kind of like he'd done—something about Evan made people want to take care of him.

Evan still wasn't sure what was going on, but he just went with it. "Okay!"

She looped an arm over the boy's shoulder. "Alright!"

To Zane—"You go get settled, check out the place. I'll give him back around dinner—there's a grill going on in Golden Park. How 'bout we catch up there?"

Zane shrugged.

"Seeya then!" She dragged Evan off.

"…"

What just happened?