"Well, the time has come..."
It was the moment of truth, to see what his body really was. He stepped forward with a firm stride toward the orb.
"Wait there, little lizard! I want to see what this Cazzy thing is. Then we'll settle the score."
"Hmph!, it's not worth lowering myself to your level anyway. I'm also curious about my subordinate. Maybe he has semi-dragon lineage... not as impressive as mine, but still dragon."
"Big words, but he's stronger than you."
"He's not! I've never faced him!"
"Yes, he is, and—"
"Enough! No more fighting!"
Valeriane could no longer stand it and looked seriously, warningly, at the two noisy women.
Celestine, faced with that look, said nothing more, while Naelune—who was more interested in what would come out of Cassian—also fell silent.
Cassian, who had climbed onto the podium without hesitation, thinking that whatever it was, he was ready for it, would not be lying if he said that he harbored a certain resentment toward that skill.
That skill had caused him to be called a monster his entire life. It had left him isolated, almost completely alone, and had also prevented him from achieving his goal.
But, for better or worse, Cassian thought that, in reality, nothing would change by knowing.
With so many things happening and changing that day, what he felt now was more curiosity than anything else. As the others went before him, he had time to realize that it didn't matter if what came out had a positive or negative connotation: it didn't matter.
The past would not change, and he would go ahead with what he had planned. So he placed his hand on the concentrated sap.
[....]
But the moment Cassian did this, something that no one saw was that, for a moment, the eyes of Plouthys' projection glowed, and the concentrated sap just before Cassian touched it glowed a little brighter. Even so, it showed the following screen
_______________________________________
Affinity: None/None
Compass of Desire
[Skill / ■■■■■ / Spiritual]
"!#!"$ perceives the location of treasures, valuable artifacts, rare materials, or beneficial areas, #$"$"%3!.
▬▬▬, capable of detecting objects of great material or magical value, even if #"$%%$"
▬▬▬▬ accuracy increases proportionally ▬▬▬.
Perfect Body
[Skill / Unique / Physical]
Every bodily system—strength, speed, balance, senses, endurance, regeneration, and mana—operates without deficiencies and at maximum functional capacity.
Possesses precise and continuous control over all physical functions. Every action is executed with the minimum effort necessary and the maximum possible performance, without interference .
["PERFECT!"]
Plouthys' sudden shout echoed through the room, interrupting Cassian. He was just beginning to understand what his skill information meant—especially his "perfect body"—when he saw the name, and he felt it clearly: relief.
He was telling himself that it didn't matter what would come out, but when he read it, he was really relieved. He felt again that he was relieved of a weight he didn't know he had. He felt that now, knowing the origin of everything, he could see things more clearly and objectively than before.
On the other hand, now everyone, including Cassian, looked at Plouthys with questioning faces.
[Ahem! It's nothing. It's just that... it's really the first time I've seen a skill like that. Which surprised me a little. I mean, that name and what it does sound a bit unique. That 'perfect' in its name is something new to me, ahem, anyway, it looks like there's one more. Let's see what else you've got?]
Plouthys quickly explained the reason for his exclamation, ignored everyone's puzzled looks, and concentrated on what followed, at the bottom of Cassian's screen. That's right, Cassian had a third skill, which showed the following...
₳⨓ɘ⁘ Ᵽ■ɘ■■■■- мïภd
[𒀱 / UͷiC / MΣN■ⱯL]
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
_______________________________________
That was what was shown...Cassian's skill. It wasn't just a few things like before, now basically almost nothing was understood. It was an illegible text.
[But what happened here? Did I mess it up? But I had done it before, so why is it showing less now? Hmm... let's see... how strange.]
Plouthys seemed unsure of what had happened, and suddenly the pedestal of concentrated sap was absorbed back into the ground, and immediately, not long after, Plouthys could be seen holding it on the screen; he seemed to be examining it.
"...."
Cassian didn't know what happened. He already found it curious that his 'perfect body' skill was clearly displayed unlike the rest, but now it seemed that the other one—which he had no clue what it was—received all the errors that the other one didn't have.
But more importantly, it seemed that he had damaged the artifact that Plouthys himself had said was not easy to find, which Cassian thought was equivalent to a super rare abject, which was equivalent to something very expensive. He didn't want to get into debt with a god.
[Try again.]
And just as he was thinking that, Plouthys seemed to finish examining it, and the sap reappeared in front of him along with the pedestal. A little hesitant, Cassian placed his hand very gently on it, and the following appeared—
_______________________________________
𝔸𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕕𝕒𝕕: None / Non∃
Compass of 𝕎𝕒𝕟𝕥
[𝕊𝕜■■𝕝 / ■■■■■ / Sρ!rιvityℓ]
█!#!"$ ████ █████ ████ ██████ ██████, #$"$"%3!
▬▬▬ ██████ ████ ████▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
PɘЯ𝔣𝕖𝔠𝔱 B๏dƳ
[𝕊̴к̷¡łł̴ / 𝕌η¡ｃᴀ / █████]
████████████ ██████ —█████, ██████, ███████, ████████, ██████████—
█████▬▬ ▬▬▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
₳p ₳ƥƔ χ Ᵽ x Ᵽ■ɘ■■■■r мïภd
▒ ▒
[𒀱 / Uͷ ¡ Ç / M Σ И ■ Ɐ L]
[𒀱 / Uͷ ¡ Ç / M Σ И ■ ▒ ▒]
[𒀱 / Uͷ ¡ ▒ / ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒]
[𒀱 / ▒ ▒ ¡ ▒ /▒ ▒ ▒ ▒
▓▓■▒░▓■▒▓░▒▓■▒░▒▓■▒▓░...Ω
_______________________________________
"..."
[Yes, I think it's broken! Something so expensive, ugh! Well, we were almost done, there's no point in thinking about it... hmm, there were two left, and its shine is... well, there's nothing we can do...]
I damaged it.
Now Cassian was sure he had ruined it, and that they would be in debt. He didn't even know how he would begin to pay a god. But before he could ask anything, Plouthys—who seemed to still be reading his mind—said.
[By the way, kid, don't worry, things like this happen sometimes. It's a shame, but we've seen enough. Besides, this isn't over. If you think knowing about you is enough reward, you're wrong. I'm generous and... well, there are more chests for you. Good luck out there, the goal is the big tree. I'll see you at the end.]
Plouthys spoke, and despite what had happened, he was in a good mood. And just as cheerfully, he said there would be more rewards and left without warning.
..
.
"Was it my fault?"
When he stepped down from the podium and rejoined the group, that was what he asked. He really wondered about it, even though Plouthys said not to worry, he didn't deny that he was to blame.
"...You didn't squeeze it or anything, did you?"
Naelune asked him, just in case, since Cassian's strength was capable of that.
"Mm, no, I just put my hand on it. Oh! Chests!"
Cassian, who went from being a little worried about what he did to suddenly sensing something and turning his head. Seven chests, with seven colors, had appeared. It really was a good skill.
...No, wait.
"This... Lys, Ling-Ling... hm, I'm sorry. Because of me, you couldn't see your skills and stuff."
Yes, he couldn't be distracted by the chests. Those chests reminded him of something even more important: only five of them had seen their skills, and two were missing to claim that reward.
Plouthys himself said it was a great opportunity and that it was important to know. He himself knew how good it was to discover his skill and what he really was. Now, he had taken that opportunity away from them, making him feel really guilty.
"It's not okay, Cass... I don't care."
"..."
"But still /_ \ , I feel like I have to make it up to them."
Although both of them had said they didn't care—even Ling-Ling said she was more grateful to him and that it didn't matter to her, which he didn't understand, since as far as he could remember he had never helped her—Cassian still felt he had to do something to make up for it.
"Hey, Cazzy, how about you become their servant? You know, for a day. They'll do whatever they want with you, like using you as a chair or touching you as they please."
"Hmm... sounds reasonable. Is it okay if I'm their servant?"
Hearing what Naelune said, he thought it wasn't such a bad idea. In fact, he wouldn't mind it much. Because of him, they lost a great opportunity to get to know themselves.
Not to mention that, one day, he could become their servant for as long as they were in these trials, or even longer, and he was prepared to even give his body as Naelune said...
"...n-no need. You helped me when I was in trouble before... we're even."
"...."
"Hmmm... well, if you put it that way... I guess it's okay."
But in the end, Lys refused. Cassian thought about what she said, and well, if she put it that way, there would be no problem.
Although he didn't really know if things could be balanced so easily. Ellys seemed like she was going to refuse anyway, so he agreed.
"Well, Ling-Ling, I'm in your care. Why don't we go and open the chests? Do you want to climb on me? Do you want to touch me?"
The same went for Ling-Ling, who did accept the proposal.
Yes, Cassian was now a servant of the silent Yeling.
"..."
"Oh, I see. Okay, let's go."
Yeling refused to climb on top of Cassian or touch him. Instead, she just asked if he could hold her hand, to which Cassian agreed, and they both headed toward the chests.
Leaving the others—who hadn't expected that—a little bewildered.
"…This… Yefi, your sister?… Did she just make Cazzy her servant?"
Seeing Cassian and Yeling leave, Naelune questioned Yefeng, a little incredulous. She really didn't expect something like that, since she said it as a joke to tease Ellys, who—from what she understands of her—wouldn't accept something like that.
She didn't expect Yeling to take advantage of her joke and make this happen instead.
"Ye-yes... I mean, no!... I'm going to talk to her."
"Well, it's a little enviable... but Cazzy doesn't seem to have any problems, she seems happy... does she have some kind of fetish?... and your sister seems happy too, hee~. By the way, little angel, your expression doesn't seem so happy, what's wrong? Is it regret? ... Is something causing you remorse?"
"Shut up!"
"Oh! Such aggression! Your angry face makes me want to squeeze your cheeks. May I?"
"No!"
"hehee~"
"Stop bothering Miss Ellys.... More importantly... Sir Yefeng, about your sister..."
"Yes, I think I know what you want to ask, but go ahead."
"She was with us the whole time, wasn't she? Why didn't I include her in...? Hmm... Sir Yefeng, I want to ask you about your sister... besides her inability to speak, there's something else, right?"
"Haah~ Yes, as I thought. Well, she rarely becomes the center of attention like now... Well, since it's an opportunity, before it passes... I'll tell you. The doubts you have about her now are possibly what I now believe to be her skill."
"Oh, that's right, if she's here, she must have something like us, even though you can't tell because of Cazzy. But what does she do? Does she disappear or something?"
"Yes... that too. But besides that, I think she has the skill of... haah~ being forgotten."
..