Lucius’s life became exceedingly worse under Master Zhang. The first problem was the 50 kilogram ankle weights he was forced to wear at all times. They were not removed when he trained, slept, ate, or even bathed, meaning every movement he made carried the additional weight.
As if that wasn’t enough, Master Zhang had a seemingly endless collection of exercises designed specifically to make his life miserable. One of the more frequent exercises involved Lucius taking two weighted buckets attached to opposite ends of a long metal rod, carrying the entire contraption to a distant stream, filling the buckets with water, and then running all the way back with them.
His objective was simple: fill a massive empty basin.
Another exercise required him to carry heavily weighted rods while standing on narrow wooden platforms suspended hot coals burning beneath them.
Losing his balance meant falling into the scorching coals, while failing to maintain the required posture meant starting the exercise all over again.
Every exercise looked less like training and more like an elaborate attempt to take his life, and the worst part was that Master Zhang expected him to do it every single day without exception.
Lucius eventually walked out of his bathroom with a pronounced limp, every step reminding him of the punishment his body had endured for days.
Lia was sitting comfortably on the bed, a biscuit held between her lips as she watched him approach. She had learned quickly that there were moments when Lucius was better left alone, especially after returning from Master Zhang’s training sessions.
Unless he complained about something directly, she had stopped asking questions, knowing that even a simple "Are you okay?" could earn her a tired stare from a man who looked as though he had just survived a war.
Lucius dropped onto his chair and leaned back, letting out a long, exhausted sigh. His entire body felt as though it had been smashed repeatedly with sledgehammers, and despite his extraordinary regenerative abilities, the pain had not disappeared.
Apparently, his regeneration was much better at dealing with external injuries than the internal damage caused by days of brutal physical exertion. His muscles felt torn, his bones ached, and even his joints seemed to protest whenever he moved.
"Huff..."
Lucius exhaled heavily several times before reaching toward the nearby table and picking up a book titled Talent. He heard the sound of the room door shutting behind him, but he paid it no attention, too exhausted to care who had entered or left.
According to the book, Talents were gifts from God given to humanity to defend itself against the horrors of the new world. They had emerged at a time when mankind needed them the most, allowing humanity to survive the catastrophe that had nearly driven the species to extinction.
The book described Guardians almost like divine champions chosen to protect the helpless and preserve civilization, and the further Lucius read, the more exaggerated the descriptions became.
"This author seems more like a fanatic," Lucius muttered, rubbing his chin as he stared at one particularly dramatic passage.
He had spent most of his life being treated as disposable labor, so the idea that Guardians were universally noble protectors felt almost laughable to him.
His phone suddenly lit up on the table, drawing his attention away from the book. Lucius picked it up and checked the notification, his eyes narrowing slightly when he saw that the message had come from an unknown number. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
{Hailey Lotus’s Concert this weekend. Are you in? - Silver}
Lucius stared at the message for a few seconds before rolling his eyes. He had no idea who Hailey Lotus was, nor did he particularly care about attending some concert. He turned off the screen and placed the phone back on the table before returning his attention to the book.
According to the book, there were five categories into which all Talents fell. The first was the Enforcer type, which consisted of Talents that enhanced the natural physical abilities of the user’s own body, such as increasing strength, improving defense, enhancing speed, or granting regenerative capabilities.
"Now it makes sense why they always compared me to Enforcer types," Lucius mumbled silently as he continued reading.
He could already understand why Bruce had classified him that way despite his actual Talent being something entirely different.
The second category was the Transmutation type. These Talents allowed users to alter the properties or qualities of their Aether and transform it into something else, allowing them to mimic elements and phenomena such as fire, water, wind, ice, or other substances.
Lucius paused briefly to consider the possibilities before continuing to the third category, the Emitter type.
These Talents allowed users to control and detach Aether from their bodies, enabling them to project, shape, or fire it as long range attacks. Unlike Enforcer types, whose power remained primarily within their bodies, Emitters could turn their Aether into weapons capable of striking targets from considerable distances.
The fourth category was the Conjuration type. These Talents allowed users to create physical objects out of pure Aether, with the complexity and durability of those creations depending on the user’s ability and reserves.
Some Guardians could apparently produce simple weapons, while more advanced users could create elaborate structures or specialized equipment. Lucius found the concept interesting, but his attention quickly moved to the final category, the Specialist type.
The Specialist category was described as the rarest and most feared category because Specialists possessed Talents that did not fit neatly into the other four categories.
In many cases, they were combinations of multiple categories, while others possessed abilities so unusual that attempting to classify them under a conventional category was pointless.
"Then my Hand of God and Devour Talents should be Specialist types?" Lucius rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he considered the implications.
Possessing one Specialist Talent was already considered extraordinary, but possessing two was practically absurd. He couldn’t help wondering whether his evaluation would have been even higher if he had exposed the true nature of his second Talent.
’However, I gain more from keeping my Devour Talent a secret. I can steal Talents and have a whole second identity, and no one will notice a thing. I can just keep accumulating Talents until I become the strongest and reach the point where I don’t need their country anymore... Then I’ll make them pay for everything they put me through.’ Lucius’s fingers slowly tightened around the edge of the book, his fists clenching despite the calm expression remaining on his face.
The thought of accumulating enough power to stand above the system that had once treated him as worthless gave him a strange sense of satisfaction. For the first time in his life, he possessed something nobody could take away from him.
Thud!
Lucius’s train of thought was broken when Lia placed a small tray on the table beside him. A glass of warm milk and several cookies sat neatly on it, and the simple gesture immediately pulled some of the tension from his expression.
"I’m going to bed... I brought this just in case you get hungry," Lia said quietly. Lucius glanced at the tray before looking up at her with a faint smile. "Thank you." Lia nodded and walked back toward the bed, leaving Lucius to return to his reading. You are reading on novelping(.)com, the official source.
’Don’t be fooled into believing Talents are boundless. All Talents run on Aether charged cells of a Guardian. Each time a Talent is used, a portion of that energy is siphoned. And once that energy is drained, the Guardian is left defenseless.’ Lucius read inwardly, his eyes moving steadily across the page. ’The Aether reserves of each Guardian are solely determined by how much Aether energy their cells can retain. This leads to the vast difference in Aether reserves that can be found between each Guardian.’
Lucius slowly sat back, genuine shock appearing in his eyes. Until now, he had assumed that Talents could essentially be spammed without consequence as long as the user was strong enough.
The realization that Guardians had a finite supply of Aether changed his understanding of the entire power system.
A powerful Talent was useless if its user exhausted their reserves too quickly, and even the strongest Guardian could become helpless once their cells were depleted.
As he continued reading, Lucius came to understand another major weakness of Guardians. The Aether required to recharge their cells was dangerous and poisonous when absorbed in large quantities, meaning Guardians could not simply draw in massive amounts of Aether whenever they needed it.
Instead, they had to rely on their bodies gradually restoring their reserves from the Aether rich environment that now surrounded the Earth. Depending on the Guardian and how severely their reserves had been depleted, recovery could take considerable time.
"But with my Hand of God ability, I’m not limited to this. I can directly absorb Aether and recharge my cells," Lucius mumbled thoughtfully, his eyes narrowing as he considered how much of an advantage that gave him.
[Correct.. In addition, your Xenovian genes makes it possible for your cell to hold thrice as much Aether as human cells. Your Aether reserves is much as the average Guardian.]
Lucius froze.
He stared at the words for several seconds before slowly lowering the book. Even he couldn’t deny that he was ridiculously powerful compared to the rest of the world.
His body was already stronger and more durable than an ordinary human, he possessed extraordinary regeneration, his Hand of God could absorb matter and Aether without suffering the usual consequences, and his Xenovian genes allowed his cells to hold three times as much Aether as ordinary human cells. All he needed was time to grow.
Knock! Knock!
Lucius frowned and turned toward the door. The sound immediately caught his attention because it was unusual for anyone to knock on his room door. Lia was already inside, the maids had been dismissed, and Skull rarely bothered with formalities. He slowly pushed himself out of the chair and walked toward the door, his muscles protesting with every step. When he opened it, he found Skull standing on the other side with a visibly disturbed expression.
"I apologize, but you have visitors I could not refuse, and they demand to see you personally," Skull explained, his voice carrying an unusual amount of caution.
Lucius’s expression immediately hardened as his thoughts returned to the strange message he had received earlier. He stared at Skull for a moment before asking,
"It’s Silver and his friends, right?"
Skull slowly nodded.
Lucius’s eyes tightened even further. He had barely spent any time in the academy, yet someone had already decided to seek him out personally. Whatever Silver wanted, Lucius had no intention of allowing anyone to drag him into something he didn’t care about.
"Alright... I’ll deal with this myself," Lucius hissed, a cold gleam appearing in his eyes.