Master, Is There Still Hope for Me?

Sart naturally caught the half-joking, half-probing intent behind Aaron's words. He gently shook his head and said, "My lord, your soul... is very pure."

He chose his words carefully before finally speaking slowly.

"Pure?"

"Yes. It means that you seem never to have come into contact with extraordinary power before..."

Aaron froze for a moment, then quickly understood and nodded instinctively.

Nonsense. Where would my original world have gotten extraordinary powers?

Oh, I heard that if you stay single for too long, you'll turn into...

Sart frowned almost imperceptibly, a trace of surprise flashing through his eyes.

Although advancing through extraordinary powers in this world required a price, without relying on the Chariot or the Tower Organization, it was difficult for ordinary people to obtain extraordinary power—or even come into contact with traces or auras of the extraordinary.

What was more, even if someone happened to encounter an extraordinary aura, without prior preparation, it was still difficult to control that extraordinary power. In the end, they would become slaves to it.

Power was never gained without a cost.

In fact, quite a number of Heretical Cult believers came to be that way. That was also why they could never be completely eradicated.

But Aaron was no ordinary person.

No matter how much of a bastard his father was, no matter how destitute the Albert Family had become, they were still nobles of the Yagrant Kingdom.

In the Yagrant Kingdom, nobility was not merely an exalted status. It was also proof of power.

Since Old Albert had retained his noble status, he should have been an extraordinary person. Had he not prepared any extraordinary aura for his descendants?

Something seemed off here...

"You have never witnessed an extraordinary phenomenon?" Sart asked tentatively.

Aaron searched his memories carefully, then shook his head with certainty. "No."

Not only had he not, there was nothing of the sort in Aaron's memories either.

Seeing Sart's hesitant expression, he asked curiously, "Is that strange?"

"For an ordinary person, of course it would not be strange. But for you..." Sart did not know what to say for a moment. "Judging from your answers so far, you do not even seem to know much about extraordinary power?"

His "do not know much" was merely a polite understatement.

In truth, he could now confirm that Aaron had never encountered or even heard of extraordinary incidents. That was why his soul was so pure.

Yet the strange thing was that Aaron had clearly survived the Rat-Faced Cult's Descent Ritual not long ago, and his body still carried a strong ritual aura.

In other words, he had not only witnessed but personally experienced an extraordinary incident, yet his soul had not been contaminated?

That was absurd!

If extraordinary aura were compared to water stains, then experiencing an extraordinary incident was like swimming in water.

No matter what, once someone emerged from an extraordinary incident, they should at least be a little wet, right?

Yet Aaron had clearly jumped into the water, but after coming ashore, he was not merely dry—he seemed as though he had just emerged from the Qila Desert!

"What exactly is the extraordinary...? Something beyond mortals?"

"'Extraordinary' is difficult to explain. In fact, many people have given it different definitions."

"Then what is your understanding?"

"...A kind of perception that surpasses ordinary people," Sart said hesitantly, then added, "That is what my teacher said."

Aaron nodded thoughtfully and murmured, "Perception...?"

"Or rather, extraordinary people can view the world from perspectives different from ordinary people and gain power from it. For example, as a prophet, I can foresee things that may happen in the future. That is how I was able to find you by following the prophecy."

Aaron silently digested those words. After several seconds of thought, he finally asked tentatively, "Then... do you think I can become an extraordinary person?"

A hint of hope unconsciously appeared in his eyes.

Master, is there still hope for me.jpg

If his family had mines and he could be a lazy freeloader who ate and waited for death, then of course he would choose to lie flat and live a wealthy life while spending away the family fortune.

If this world were not a high-magic world, he believed he could rely on his shallow, unsystematic scientific knowledge to create some little inventions. Perhaps he could even lead everyone toward technological ascension.

Or he could rely on all those familiar stories, music, and the like in his head to become a literary plagiarist in this world and give himself the flashy title of "Yagrant's Greatest Scholar"...

But unfortunately, Aaron knew none of that was very likely.

He had started out penniless. Forget bare walls—his family's ceremonial sword had even been sold off for wine by his pig-headed predecessor!

From the information he had gathered so far, this was a high-magic world. At least in the early stages, technology offered extremely poor returns. What was more, he had no fief and lacked even the capital to peacefully farm.

And becoming a scholar... that was even more of a joke. The Yagrant Kingdom had been founded through martial strength. The so-called status of a scholar was nothing more than an amusing topic for people to discuss over tea.

Most importantly, he had been targeted by Heretical Cult believers!

He could not be sure whether the Rat-Faced Cult's believers would come after him again, nor could he be sure whether he would experience similar extraordinary incidents in the future.

The series of events he had encountered from the very beginning—being trapped in a spider cocoon, the bizarre black smoke, and the old comrade's ambush—remained vivid in his mind even now.

He needed power!

When that thought arose, he inexplicably felt a kind of pleasure and affirmation from deep within his heart.

Was that the lingering will of the original Aaron?

"You want to become an extraordinary person...?" Sart hesitated.

Extraordinary people of the Gold Coin Path had always borne the title of "Enlighteners," able to help others sense extraordinary aura.

Moreover, Aaron had not only already sensed extraordinary aura—he had even personally experienced an extraordinary incident.

One had to know that when ordinary people witnessed or personally experienced extraordinary incidents without any preparation, their endings were usually tragic. At best, they would go mad or become idiots; at worst, they would die on the spot.

Yet Aaron was not only unharmed, he had not even suffered any effects.

In other words, his talent was exceptionally good.

But if that was the case, then the problem became even more serious.

Since Old Albert had been able to become a noble, he had to have been an extraordinary person. Then he could not possibly have failed to notice Aaron's talent.

Yet Aaron truly knew absolutely nothing about the extraordinary...

In other words, had Old Albert deliberately prevented Aaron from coming into contact with extraordinary power?

What was even more perplexing came afterward: Sart's prophecy had indicated that Aaron could help him advance to Silver.

Could the ordinary Aaron help him advance to Silver, or could Aaron only help him advance to Silver after becoming an extraordinary person?

Sart could not help but feel a headache coming on.

This question was extremely important, and it was also the greatest difference between prophets and seers.

Seers could sense certain scenes in dreams that were destined to happen in the future, while prophets could only glean information from between the lines.

If Aaron were not the Player of the Strings of Fate, then everything would be easy. Sart knew that no matter what decision he made, it would ultimately lead to his prophecy.

However, his prophecy had come first. It recorded Aaron's fate before it had been changed...

This situation was truly rare. The books had not mentioned it, his teacher had not taught it, and he did not know!

Looking at Aaron, the ever-cautious Sart finally made a bold decision.