Chương 4: Seal of the Eye

Li Ting became entranced by the phantasmic crack of darkness in the sky. Golden lights coalesced around the vertical fissure's inky body, resembling an eye in a simple pattern that lacked depth and life.

Compared to the constellations in the sky, Ting felt like the eye above was staring back at her. Its unpleasant gaze pierced into her, causing tingles in her mind to creep up as hairs on her arms and legs stood up.

It was almost as if she wasn't supposed to look at it.

A fleeting feeling sprouted in her gut, but Ting couldn't tell what it was. She remembered how her parents constantly warned her about beasts. Apparently, they were everywhere outside Jade City. Peasant farmers who worked outside would constantly complain about damaged crops and harvests and a gobbled-up child or two–as if they didn't have plenty to spare.

Though the eye-like being didn't resemble a beast, her intuition still murmured at her immobilized body to move.

Worrying about a mirage was certainly a funny thing. Ting dismissed her overthinking as her eyes grew heavy.

"It must be near-death delirium."

Ting thought about the family she would leave behind. She would miss her mother's elegant smile and her homemade chicken soup. Despite being the lady of the clan, her mother would personally take care of Ting every so often. The soup was one of the few foods Ting could always deign herself to eat, especially since it was soft and warm enough to swallow without chewing.

With such comfortable thoughts to soothe her, Ting could feel the unrelenting pains over her body start to disappear. She was ready.

Unbeknownst to her thoughts, the Eye continued to look down at the creature with marred skin and tangled hair.

It was the first creature that didn't turn its eyes away from his gaze.

The creature below had eyes that contained a serene blend of light brown and hazel. Within the chestnut-brown irises, hints of amber flickered while specks of coppery light scattered around the pupils.

Besides a lesser blackness in the creature's pupils, it was a display of color that the Eye hadn't seen before.

When the creature's eyes began to slowly close, he glared hard with the intent to soak up all of the detail he could see.

However, a phenomenon that would normally transpire when he examined his own appearance in the mountain's puddle now occurred. He felt the familiar sensation of information streaming into his mind.

[Being]: Adult Human

[Description]:

Humans are extremely weak creatures. In spite of that, their high intelligence enables them to excel at learning skills. This human is a poor specimen, but it does store specialized trade knowledge.

[Age]: 16 years

[Abilities]: Null

[Skills]: Null

———

"This creature is known as a human."

The Eye did not immediately go through the details. A hint of joy flashed across his mind when he realized the fruit that staring into a creature's eyes would bring: Knowledge.

Previously, the Eye had only examined his own information. Although he had made many attempts, the creatures below had never allowed him to take a long look at their eyes.

The Eye switched his attention back to the human's particulars, quickly skimming through. There was nothing of note besides its knowledge regarding the human practice of trade.

The human was a slight disappointment to the Eye when he found out that it did not store any unique abilities or skills.

"Are abilities that special? Or is this human simply not? From the info, it looks like this type of creature should easily be able to gain skills–"

The Eye stopped contemplating when he noticed a blood-red countdown suddenly overshadowing the rest of the human's information:

[60]…

[59]…

[58]…

With that 60-second countdown in place, the Eye became moderately perplexed. What does this mean? Is it dying? The Eye looked around, finally connecting the trail of red to the red that was silently streaming out of the human's chest.

The Eye wondered what he should do when he remembered the new ability he had gained: the Seal of the Eye. Although he was unsure whether or not it could properly help, he was somewhat eager to test it. The Eye searched inside his being until he felt a release of something inside of him.

[Seal of the Eye]

The Eye could instinctively tell that the ability had activated when he became somewhat dizzy. It was far from an onslaught of exhaustion, but it did make him feel slightly fatigued.

To better understand what was happening, the Eye swiveled his gaze toward the pond on top of the mountain.

The Eye then noticed one of his orange wisps fall away from the others, frantically spinning around in an off-kilter pattern before zooming into his black pupil.

A moment passed before a red wisp popped out of the abyss and joined the procession of the Eye's 20 orange wisps. It was unable to keep up with the orange wisps' speed, frequently falling behind and having to change courses.

The Eye turned back to the human, but nothing changed besides the counting down of the red numbers.

[45]…

[44]…

[43]…

However, the Eye noticed a black wisp falling down, apparently having also come out from his pupil.

When it neared the human, it hovered just above its right eye. A black tendril grew out of the wisp, tenderly lifting the eyelid of the unconscious human before slowly retracting back.

The brown-colored eye looking out of the human's head was lifeless, idly staring out into the distance and wholly unaware of what was going on.

In stark contrast to the human's eye, the black wisp shook with eagerness and excitement. As it did so, five new tendrils grew out of the wisp, reaching the edges all around the human's eye. When they secured a firm hold, they tunneled in.

It could have been a fortunate thing that the Spirit Eye could not hear. If not for that, he would be listening to squelching sounds as the black tendrils dug deeper and deeper.

After the wisp's tendrils burrowed into the human's brain and stabilized whatever life it had left, the black wisp revealed extremely sharp teeth-like protrusions growing at its center. They were perfect for carving out and devouring a creature's eye.

The wisp neared closer to the human's defenseless right eyeball before chomping down on it and the other fleshy stuff inside.

Luckily, the human was still unconscious from being on the edge of death; otherwise, it would have screamed its lungs out from the intense pain. Or, maybe the wisp would have already manipulated the nerves in the area to make the scrumptious meal a more pleasant dining experience.

Before long, grooves began to form on the wisp, morphing it into the shape of the human's previous eye. However, it wasn't able to replicate the former's colors.

Nonetheless, the new resident of the human's right eye socket successfully completed its task of situating itself in its fresh abode. Blood and remaining matter that had splattered around from the previous ordeal had already been swiftly swallowed up by the eye.

It was as if the human's eye had never changed, except for the glaring fact that the new eye was entirely onyx black—including the former whites and the iris.

More importantly, the Eye determined that the ability's activation was successful. The blood-red countdown that had stopped at "10" faded away.

He looked over at the human, noticing the new black orb of an eye that lay on the right side of its face. It contrasted greatly with the delicate eyelid of its left eye, which was softly closed and hiding a pristine eye.

Not noticing any other abnormalities or emergencies with its physical form, the Eye checked the human's information for any subtle changes and to identify what exactly his ability did.

[Being]: Human Connection

[Description]:

This human specializes in mercantilism, although it is no longer truly alive due to its dependency on a foreign entity.

[Age]: 16 years

[Abilities]: Null

[Skills]: Null

[Refinements]:

1. Mind's Eye: A connection with a Spirit Eye.

2. Superimposed Being: Inability to truly live or die until the connection with the Spirit Eye is lost.

———

The Eye fell into deep thought. The changes were somewhat unexpected, but at least the human was no longer in danger of perishing.

It was slightly disturbed that the provided info mentioned that the human was no longer "alive," but it couldn't be helped. He was, after all, just a Spirit Eye.

What the Eye was more interested in were the two new 'refinements' that the human had gained: Mind's Eye and Superimposed Being.

Mind's Eye formed a bond between the two, but the Eye was unsure of what that exactly meant. It could mean communication or presence sensing.

That aside, the Superimposed Being description further confirmed that the human was no longer a simple human anymore. The human could no longer die until it lost connection with him. The Eye didn't know how the connection could be lost, but he conjectured that it had something to do with that… seal.

The Eye didn't dwell on the seal nor the refinements that appeared to be effects imposed on a creature by another existence.

His thoughts instead circled back to exploring what the 'connection' was all about. So, he tried to focus on a formless connection that trailed between him and the human, straining his mind hard to focus.

Compared to activating his abilities or peering into worldly secrets, trying to feel for the connection proved to be significantly more difficult. A few hours passed before the Eye's slight agitation made him think from another angle. Maybe it wasn't a matter of looking inside but out.

When the Eye focused on the sleeping human with the black orb of its new eye agape, he thought back to its information, which revealed that the creature was now a "Human Connection." So, he immersed himself in the thought that the human itself was his 'connection.'

Almost immediately, he felt his vision drifting, and he was now… looking up. He could see the stars in the sky. He tried to swivel his vision around, but he quickly realized that he was not able to. He could only look up.

It wasn't long until he recognized a being in the sky with 20 orange wisps and 1 red wisp dancing around it. The familiar sight, which was in better clarity compared to when he usually looked down at the puddle, was him. He was looking up at his own form.

Realization dawned on the Eye as it understood that it was now looking from the place of the human's right eye–the seal that forged the human as the Eye's first connection.

The Eye's vision changed angles. He was now looking down at two slender arms, their beauty marred by dried blood caked together with dirt, grime, and all kinds of plant life.

His view changed again to look down at the human's chest. No more blood came out of the gaping hole that was slowly closing; in fact, the flesh was growing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"What is this? What's happening to me?" Sounded a voice faintly in the Eye's mind.