Chapter 8
"Arrgh-!"
He clutched his eyes as if wanting to pull them out of their sockets to stop the terrifying pain, but to no avail.
He cried hysterically; the pain was heart-wrenching, and he was unable to endure it without prior preparations.
He rolled on the ground as his wails continued; tears soaked his fragile skin.
No one came to check on him either; he lived pretty much alone, and only maids came to clean his house or deliver food. He was technically isolated from the rest of the clan.
"Huff… Huff… Huff.."
After what seemed to be hours of continuous pain, his cries finally dimmed down.
He was sprawled on the grassy floor, not even having the strength to get up, and he felt extremely tired.
He could not even open his eyes, and he didn't know when, but he fell asleep.
It was soon night, and he finally woke up and found himself still laying on the ground where he had fallen asleep.
"Ugh…" he let out a groan as he mustered up some strength to get himself up.
Slowly, he opened his eyes; the world before him was momentarily blurry before it started to clear.
What he saw before him surprised him. Not only was his vision extremely clear, he found out that he could make out even minute details of his surroundings, from the veins on the leaves to the textures of tree branches even in the dark.
'More importantly, I can see it..'
He thought as he saw numerous colorful particles in the air densely filling up the air; these particles were the source of an exorcist's powers.
Espera.
The source of all supernatural power that exorcists and demons have in common.
Something that also determines the power of an exorcist. It is present everywhere, and those who could wield it could do anything.
The more espera they have, the stronger they become.
When Oliver was declared useless, it meant that he didn't have the talent to properly harness or utilize espera.
Of course, this did not also mean that he was just an ordinary human with no compatibility with it.
That was not possible since the blood of Mystic Purge Clan flowed through his veins, so naturally, he was born with some espera.
But when Ophelia said that he was useless, she meant that he was unable to satisfy even the minimum criteria to be qualified as an exorcist.
He had a very poor aptitude for being an exorcist overall.
"I can see why she said that I was useless now…" he thought as he looked at the countless espera particles revolving around him, but only a very tiny portion of them actually came to him.
'Haah… so useless.' He shook his head in resignation.
"Anyways, I will eventually get the talent too. I need to be patient."
He felt excited as he obtained a 10x stronger version of the Abyss eyes.
"In the novel, the Abyss eyes were one of the 4 mythical eyes and were extremely powerful. There were many benefits Nadia abused, such as,
Providing dominion over the void and shadows, manipulating darkness to create portals, induce fear, and drawing power from the abyss.
It also gave some mysterious and formidable set of abilities tied to the darker elements in the later parts."
Oliver recalled the events and thought speechlessly, he was already content if he just received the same abilities but now he had a 10x stronger version.
"System, display the ability obtained.'
[The Cosmic Void Gaze]
[Ability 1: Dominion over Cosmic Voids]
[Description: Provides control over not only darkness but the vast void between cosmos. Superior form of darkness element—Void unlocked.]
[Ability 2: Master of Interdimensional Portals]
[Description: Possessor no longer limited to the same dimension anymore. Portals can be used for instantaneous transportation. Depends on the level of mastery.]
[Ability 3: Enshrouding of Death]
[Description: Has the power to induce overwhelming fear on a grand scale, affecting entire battlefields or even entire legions.
Fear is no longer a psychological aspect anymore but a tangible force that weakens target and strengthens the possessor.]
[Ability 4: Circuit of the Abyss]
[Description: ???]
[Ability 5: Planar Imprisonment]
[Description: ???]
[Ability 7: ???]
…
Oliver was quiet for a while after looking at the cheat.
"Fuck." was all he could say.
'Calm down, me. Calm down.'
Oliver wanted to shout that he had finally become a cheat character but forcefully suppressed it. If he made too much noise, he would draw the attention of the clan guardians undoubtedly.
"There are some abilities that have no description. It seems I would need to train this to unlock more information… and there are even more abilities."
Oliver was riled up now; he finally had something to do while he spent his time alone. He was not allowed to leave the clan at any cost, nor was he allowed to use the special training facilities.
He was just too miserable in the clan. His teachers wanted to nurture him into a battle-strategist and make him serve his siblings in the future, and it seemed the supervisors responsible for training the direct children of the clan also agreed.
While his other brothers and sisters were learning powerful weapon techniques and exorcism skills, here he was learning theory and schemes.
'Well, I have the system so I have no complaints.'
Oliver got up and whistled as he made his way back to his courtyard.
But he forgot one thing in this whole scenario.
The awakening of mythical eyes always triggers a lot of disturbances. And he, who had awakened something 10 times stronger was bound to make a tremor.
This meant that such an anomaly happening inside one of the strongest exorcist clans was hard to go unnoticed no matter what.
It was one of the major places in the world that no one dared to easily step into. A place where the most crazy and insane exorcists of the generation lived and practiced their bloody techniques.
And now, such a huge disturbance had occurred.
"What was that?"
A figure in the dark exclaimed…
Chapter 9
"What was that?"
A dark figure floating in the sky observed Oliver down below, who was going back to his courtyard.
As moonlight fell upon the figure, the full body was revealed.
It was not a human but a white-colored kitten.
"I came here due to the large amount of espera disturbance, but this is…"
The white kitten spoke human language perfectly. She glanced at the spot where the boy had just been and landed there gracefully.
"What was that ominous power just now? A demon? No, a demon's espera cannot even compare to this… what exactly was it, and why was it coming from that boy?"
The cat mumbled as she dazedly glanced at particularly nowhere.
But in fact, she was witnessing the espera particles in front of her being slowly disintegrating as dense black and purple particles collided with them.
She seemed to see even more details than what Oliver could see.
After all, she was no ordinary kitten or cat…?
She was the clan guardian of the Mystic Purge Clan.
Each of the five great clans had their own clan guardians. These are the entities that their founding exorcists had formed contracts with, and these contracts were always changed whenever a new patriarch or matriarch assumed the throne of the clan.
"This is interesting. If I am not wrong, this is the one that the Ophelia girl said was useless at birth… it stirred a storm at that time that someone from our lineage could be born with no talent for exorcism."
The cat stretched as she wondered.
"And here we are, what has this boy awakened? It was ominous enough to make me on guard. Me, the great me? If I tell this to Ophelia, she would probably make a good expression. Hahaha."
The cat laughed as she jumped on a nearby tree.
"But unfortunately, both of them are out at the moment, or they would have reached here by now. Is it fate that this was not to be seen by them?"
She had a questioning look in her eyes as she stared at the sky—as if staring at strings of fate.
After a moment, she shook her head. "I can't see the fate; this boy's fate seems too complex for my level. Should I ask that person to read his fate? No, I better not, or it will create trouble… but still, what to do now?"
She had a thoughtful look on her face as she calculated the next course of her actions.
"Ah, I need to keep him under my supervision. Whatever the power he had awakened, it is not something he could handle at his level. Plus, I need to observe him and understand how did that Ophelia was unable to see his potential?"
She jumped from one tree to another; her direction: Oliver's courtyard.
"That boy clearly has immense potential, more than that Nadia girl. If he is not put on the right path from the beginning, he might turn astray. Or who knows he might have already started bearing a grudge against the clan… well, can't blame it on him either. The clan has developed some weird policies,"
Her speed was normal, just like that of a cat, and she was about to reach his courtyard.
"I think I would need to take on the role of babysitter myself… I cannot trust anyone else with this."
"Has it already been a few centuries since I had to raise someone?" A look of sadness flashed through her eyes as she remembered something while jumping, but it disappeared as quickly as it arrived.
"But that boy sure is phenomenal, to be able to conceal his emotions and expressions for so long and act so composed. This is indeed something for someone his age." She smirked.
It was as if he had not awakened that terrifying power from before at all and was just a bystander.
She did not know about Oliver being famous for being a genius for his age. She hardly paid attention to things that did not concern exorcism and demons.
And not only her, most of the major figures in the clan did not care about such things; Oliver, at most, was only a little famous among his maids or some servants.
The clan believed in power; intelligence is necessary but as a tool only. As long as you are intelligent enough to properly use your immense powers, you can crush someone who is extraordinarily smart easily.
As long as one meets a certain threshold of intellect, they are enough. The rest depended on their power and exorcism skills.
"As for the elders… It seems I would need to make up a story to satisfy them, huh. Well, they are just kids anyways." She mused as she thought about the worried elders of the clan who had also sensed the ominous espera before, but she took the initiative to investigate.
She did so because she knew that the sudden ominous espera was threatening enough for her to act. Sending the elders was not worth the effort. Albeit the ominous espera was only there momentarily, it still was something to worry about.
But now that she knew about the cause, she had to handle it her own way.
She cannot leave this matter to the current patriarch and his cold wife.
"If I leave it to them, they will probably try to turn him into a killing machine like they are doing to Nadia. Haa, these brats won't listen to my warnings."
She thought about their nature and values; she did not know when but somehow she had neglected how the clan head's were being raised considering it petty things and before she knew, the clan had turned like this.
Considering this, she had also failed a bit as their guardian. Although it was not her duty to interfere in their way of parenting or raising their children, she should have paid attention occasionally.
But Oliver was an entirely different case; she cannot leave him to them at all. If he was raised wrongly, it would not only be harmful for the clan but could even impact human society.
Demons were cunning and vicious, and there were cases when powerful exorcists in the past had betrayed humanity for demon-kind and caused inhuman destruction.
She had to observe Oliver herself; if he was bearing a grudge against his useless parents, she would try to help him and give care, but if she determines that he can no longer be corrected and has gone truly astray…
…Then she would have to kill him.