Omen and Understanding

[Omen Mission: For a transcendent World

Mission introduction: The great age of change has come. By the covenant of the five grand skies, the Moons and the Dark will soon make their advent. However, the Coloured Gods will not stand idly by as new powers seek to topple their throne. War is inevitable. You, however, are different. End the strife and suffering, and usher this world to a great age.

Mission requirements: Neutralise all current Bearers of Destiny

Moon-aligned Bearers of Destiny neutralised: 1/3

Dark-aligned Bearers of Destiny neutralised: 0/3

Colour-aligned Bearers of Destiny neutralised: 0/7

Mission rewards: Enhances your authority level, unlocks <Omen Mission: ??????>, 3000 years of lifespan, 5 Fragments of Fate

Additional remarks: This mission is only open to you, the Omen. If <Faction Mission: For the Glory of the Gods> is completed and turned in, this mission will be invalidated instantly. You can take on other faction missions, but harming that faction's Bearers of Destiny will fail the mission immediately if not complete.]

"Wow." Claud took a deep breath. This particular mission was a bit insane, but considering the rewards, this was somewhat expected. Since it was a mission that was clearly open to only him, there was no point in not accepting it. He could just reject it later anyway, if push came to shove.

Some parts of this mission didn't make sense to him, though. Why would this mission be in conflict with the Coloured Gods? From the earlier missions, he could tell that it was possible to act as a double agent of sorts — for him, he would just need to complete the Dark-aligned missions first, and then deal with the Bearers of Destiny of that faction. Second, there were nine Coloured Gods, but only seven Bearers of Destiny. Why didn't two of them have their own bearers?

"Yeah, no." Claud chuckled, but his laughter was bereft of any humour. The whole thing with lifespan and whatnot was nice, but he had only taken out the Third Bearer of Destiny because the latter decided to come early too. Claud knew that if he didn't have certain specific skills or didn't take certain skillstrips, such an abrupt victory wouldn't have started.

Or was it karma for the Third's vile deeds? Claud didn't know, but either way, he didn't want to have anything to do with the whole thing. It wasn't his fault that all these things abruptly started, and there were so many things he didn't know about either.

He took a deep breath, and then stared at the boxes that announced the two passive skills he had obtained. Other than the name, there was nothing else—

[Skill: Omen

Skill effects: This skill is awarded to the first person who kills a Bearer of Destiny. The skill owner is made a Bearer of Destiny, if not one yet. The skill owner can access the Omen Missions. The skill owner will be shielded from divination, prophecy and prying powers. The skill owner's Bearer of Destiny and Omen skill are hidden from all other viewers.

Additional remarks: Upon the skill owner's death, this skill will be transferred to the killer.]

Claud opened his mouth, and then closed it. He didn't know what to say about this really eerie event. After all, the terms on one's status screen weren't explained on the spot; people found out about their skills only after research and asking the right people.

He looked at the last skill.

[Skill: Understanding

Skill effects: The skill owner can interpret their own status screen]

It would seem that this paranormal event was due to this simply described skill, and Claud took a deep breath. This skill was both valuable and useless at the same time. For those with odd skills, skills whose knowledge was obscure or lost, this skill was probably a lifesaver. For those who walked on the straight and proper, this skill was just a neat decoration.

"There are so many things that I'm feeling a bit giddy now." Claud stared at the two boxes, and then dismissed both notifications, clearing his vision of boxes. "But I must soldier on, right? Status."

Name: Claud Primus

Lifespan: 292 years

Active Skills: Presence Nullification (8), Flight (5), Binding Order (7), Cleanse (6), FiBoD;A??? (0), FiBoD;A??? (0)

Passive Skills: DiL???C, Mana Organ, Omen, Understanding

Mana Circuit Superimposition: 1.36

Mana Control Proficiency: Intermediate

Comments: <Skill: Omen> detected. Adjusting in progress…

Naturally, the first thing that caught his eye was that fact that his lifespan had shot up by an unbelievable number. His lifespan was now nearly three times of his original, and Claud couldn't help but take a long, long breath. How many people could claim to have this much time?

Not many, that was for certain. Furthermore, if he did complete the faction missions available to him—

Claud extinguished these thoughts on the spot. It was one thing to let the other Bearers of Destiny fight amongst themselves, since he had a feeling that they too had received their own faction missions. It was another, however, to actively participate in the fighting, since he was bound to be the weakest one in their ranks.

If the White Church's Holy Daughter were already a tetra-folder, how strong would their Bearer of Destiny be? A penta-folder? Claud didn't know, and until he knew more things about what was to come, it would be infinitely preferable to stay hidden in the shadows. In fact, his Omen skill was even implicitly encouraging that — apparently, no one would be able to discover his Absolute One skill from now on.

He quite liked the idea of letting everyone fight. As a thief, one of the easiest infiltration methods was through the hearts and minds of people. The right nudge, the correct whisper, and things would fall into place. This didn't seem all that different from his extra-special mission, and more importantly, there was apparently no need to actually deal the killing blow.

The other Bearers of Destiny just needed to die; whether he participated or not wasn't the point.

"Time to check the other odd skills," Claud muttered.

[Skill: Absolute One (Awakened)]

[Skill effects: Grants immunity to all injury and abnormal effects for ten seconds. User gains access to an endless source of mana at the same time.

Awakened bonus: Mana Control Proficiency is raised by two ranks for the same duration. This increase can transcend limits.

Evolution requirements: Acquire 2 Fragments of Fate.]

"The gift that keeps on giving, huh." Claud looked at the description of his ultimate trump card, and then rubbed his nose. It was scary how powerful this skill was…and how specialised it was for killing. This also explained his finer control over his mana a few hours back, and now that he relived the sensation, Claud had the feeling that he could actually bring that impossibly devastating attack to greater heights.

After all, an increase of two ranks in Mana Control Proficiency was not a joke.

He was about to examine his other skills when someone knocked on his door.

"Claud?" Risti called out. "Schwarz is calling for a meeting. Can you come down here?"

"A meeting?" Claud frowned. "What happened? Oh, Holy Daughter Clarissa came back with the prisoner? And we're the hosts for this round?"

"Huh. How did you guess? I didn't think our discussion was this loud."

Claud frowned. After chatting with Lily, the rest of the time had been spent examining his true gains from the battle with the Third Bearer of Destiny. Not too much time could have passed, so how did the Holy Daughter finish the battle and then arrive this quickly?

"Alright," said Claud. "Got it."

"Schwarz tells you not to force yourself, though. He doesn't want you to break down from fear or stress, so if you don't feel up to it, you can just stay in the room," Risti added.

Claud muttered a single word and rolled off his bed at Risti's sentence. Without much ado, he left the room and followed her to the living room, which had seen some…changes.

He quirked his eyebrow at the bundle in the middle, which had been wrapped up in some white cord, and then looked at Schwarz at the others. The bartender, who had been watching him closely, shrugged helplessly at Claud's quizzical expression, and then winced as the bundle coughed out some blood.

"Everyone's here, then," said Caroline. "We caught the murderer…or so I would like to say, but the murderer fell unconscious after that overwhelming blast. We can presume that the Third Bearer of Destiny is dead. As a result, the Third's Thralls have been released."

"Who killed the Third?" Schwarz asked.

Holy Daughter Clarissa, who had been standing on the side, said, "That, I do not know. What I do know was that the killer boasted of incredible might. Hasn't there been a particular personage of such power stalking your Licencia in recent days?"

A bad feeling crawled up Claud's spine.

"Oh. Are you saying that the Thief of Time did it?" Caroline asked, an enlightened expression on her face. "That's actually quite possible, right? But what should we do about Tot?"

"Capture, interrogation, and if necessary, execution." The Holy Daughter closed her eyes. "The White Church will assume that the Thief of Time is one of the older Bearers of Destiny and act accordingly."

Claud, who was busy exercising self-restraint, could only curse in his mind.