He tried to mentally move this second image feed to look around himself, but it didn't budge. Suddenly, the image changed and turned upwards and startling him.
Immediately after he was startled, it returned to the previous position.
He noticed that it occurred around the same time that he began to form the thought to raise his head.
Blight gained an understanding.
'It knew that I was about to raise my head, but then my thought process was interrupted due to the knowledge of this future vision, and so I no longer thought to raise my head. I changed what would happen in the future.'
The future was not absolute, it was showing him possibilities based on what his next thoughts and actions may be. He could infinitely change his next course of action if he did not like what the future held.
It also only took into account what would be if he didn't hold knowledge of the future. It could not predict that he would be startled and no longer form the thought to raise his head.
If he did not have this image of the future, he would not have been startled, there would not have been any changes to his thoughts and he would have raised his head like it originally predicted.
It seemed that the ability to predict the future could not account for the fact that he could predict the future.
It was an odd feeling when he focused on his own actions because he would see a position that he hadn't consciously chosen yet.
Once again, the image was raised, and he could see the wall in front of him. This time, he tried his best not to interrupt himself.
But once his brain processed the change in the image and he became confused by the other image, his thought process was then again interrupted, and he jerked, then the image began to flicker between bobbing up and down.
The future image changed again. This time, it looked like his head was shoved to the side. He understood and then punched his own head.
A few moments passed in silence, and then the image moved left. This time, Blight quickly registered this new information but tried to keep a clear mind, and did not interrupt himself, but he could not create the thought to turn left now that he was expecting it.
Since the prediction was based on the fact that he would not make any changes based on his knowledge of the future, if he wanted to replicate the original prediction, he would need to follow it manually.
The thought to turn his head left appeared in his mind, and he acted on it and turned his head left. His 'normal vision' now lined up with the image he saw in his mind.
It was an extremely strange experience. It was like having two thoughts at once, what was happening now and what would happen next.
Sometimes, after he saw the change in the image, he would form a thought to replicate that movement, but his brain was already forming a thought to act on the initial movement, and when he did, the image would constantly flicker.
He was not made to think like this.
Blight was still in a daze, but deactivated his legacy ability for now.
He looked at the etchings of writing in his mind.
[Ether Core]
Rank: [Awakened]
Ether Fragments: [0]
As far as he knew, and in all the books he had read, the maximum ether fragments an awakened ether core could absorb and be strengthened with was 1,000 and they would need to ascend before they could absorb any more, but his description did not indicate any limit.
It seemed as though his boon really allowed him to absorb ether fragments infinitely.
He quickly recognised another very important fact, that was: under no circumstances could he tell anybody about any of this. He needed to think of a cover-up, and fast.
The first thing he needed to know was if there was any visual changes to his eyes manifested by [Gaze into the Abyss].
Blight scoured the entire room before finally finding a small oval mirror adorned in white inside one of the study drawers.
When he saw the image of his eyes, he could not help but be startled, but he still turned to look into the mirror.
He could not help but gaze at the reflection of himself for a long time.
His mind emptied of all thoughts.
He looked like a ghoul.
His first thoughts then were, 'my abilities needed to be weak, unassuming, and should not be possible to disprove. At the same time, they needed to reasonably explain or substantiate the change in the appearance in my eyes.'
'There are the descendants of darkness, the Shadowcast, but they are a large clan just like the Red Legion, and it's possible that should they make contact with them to return me to them, it could be possible to disprove that I am one of them.'
Firstly, they would not know his parents, and secondly, they might have abilities that could recognise the power of darkness, which he didn't wield.
He then thought of the god of death, the Witherbind. It was said that his descendants were mostly exterminated when the Horrors were first unleashed, and there were few remaining descendants today.
In addition to this, many of their abilities did not have any physical manifestation, so it would be perfectly explainable and not suspicious.
Upon returning to the main hall, after a short speech and explanation from the instructor, it was eventually Blight's turn, and he was called to the stage. Despite trying not to, he moved stiffly and looked strange, but all the same, everybody was acting like they were uncomfortable.
The instructor's gaze was solemn as he looked at Blight's eyes, which were now a pool of black. They were consuming, unfathomable as if behind their surface lay something vast, something unknowable and waiting to consume the world, and he felt a chill run down his spine.
"Sir, I inherited an uncommon lineage of the death god. My first lineage ability allows me to see the lifeforce in beings, and my boon is that I like the taste of rotting flesh."
The instructor looked at him strangely. While it was useless and a bit peculiar, it made sense to him.
Many lineage and boon abilities often had little use. The changes to his eyes matched the description of his abilities, and while the descendants of the death god were all but extinct, there were some remaining scattered as refugees in other settlements, mostly in the middle fortress.
He said nothing but nodded to him and waved for him to go back.
Blight also said nothing else and a few seconds later, nodded and walked back to his seat.
He was tempted to test his flaw for the first time on the instructor, but felt reluctant because he did not know if the person who was having their thoughts read could recognise what he was doing.
Instead, he would try it very briefly on a random trainee from as far as possible and test to see if they made any reaction.
The ceremony proceeded normally. Those who obtained powerful abilities felt slightly better than those who obtained useless ones, but for the most part —
The hall was silent. There was no jeering, no mockery, everybody was silent. Their gazes were solemn, and for the first time ever, they truly felt the weight of the world on their shoulders.
Growing up in the clan and witnessing the sacrifice of countless warriors every year, they were no strangers to hardship. But seeing and experiencing were not the same thing.
Even if they watched their entire family die before their eyes, it was only when it was their turn to fight and risk dying that they really understood.
When they looked around themselves, they found that they had now grown up, and reality hit them. They were now all awakened. It was their turn to join the fight.
This too, was just the beginning. Many of them would not survive the next year, and even fewer would survive once they joined the military at thirteen.
The two he was paying attention to were also called to the stage after him, and as everybody was expecting, they both obtained two powerful lineages, but what everybody was not expecting was that they would be of the legendary rank!
Eldrich had obtained the ability to summon a physical manifestation of a giant battle hammer to strike down from above, and his second ability was to summon and blow a battle horn that healed himself, acting as a regeneration ability.
Flonecia, as it turned out her name, obtained a kind of physical manifestation of a battle will that she could use to reinforce herself and her equipment. Her boon allowed her to absorb a portion of ether from the horrors she slayed.
The first time Blight tested his flaw on a short kid at the end of the hall, he began to hear voices in his mind and recognised that these were the thoughts of this kid, the longer he gazed into their eyes, the more he understood.
He quickly looked away, only occasionally glancing at him momentarily to gauge any reaction, but the boy looked completely oblivious, like he had no idea that his mind had just been read.
Blight also tested his flaw on a few other random people in the hall. In the beginning, he felt it was interesting and that his flaw was overpowered.
How could this be considered a flaw? It was basically a second boon!
But soon he understood, and by the end of it, he felt disgusted.
These children's thoughts were so convoluted and hypocritical.
They were so illogical, not realising how all their beliefs and desires contradicted one another.
In addition to this their insecurity, pride and jealousy would make him shudder.
He made a conscious vow to avoid using his flaw as much as possible, otherwise he would hate the entire world if he continued like this.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, everybody clapped and cheered, but the mood was clearly dampened. Their awakening, while exciting for many, marked the beginning of a perilous period in their lives.
They had to come to terms with this, and it left them with a bad taste in their mouths.
Most people returned to their rooms, some left the main building to look around the barracks and all the different outbuildings. The training would not begin until tomorrow, but at night, they were instructed to return to the main hall for dinner.
Blight chose to retreat to his new room for now.