Talent S-018: All-Seeing Eye

Talent S-018: All-Seeing Eye

Suren made his decision and walked onto the altar with a calm expression.

Hesitation had never been part of his character.

The moment he had decided to follow the trail here, he had already made up his mind.

Having come to such an interesting fantasy world, being timid and overly cautious would be truly boring.

Suren stood atop the altar, his feet on the intricate engraved runes, and examined them carefully.

He had previously seen Baldhead use this kind of "Alchemy Array." That guy had created a suit of metal scales with nothing more than a Hexagram Magic Array.

But the array carved into this altar was clearly far more complex.

"Blood stains the Ouroboros. The array activates."

Following the prompt on his retina, he tore away the simple bandage around his palm. Then, with a slight squeeze, he ripped open the wound, and blood ran down between his fingers, dripping onto the Ouroboros carving of the magic array.

As the blood soaked into the Ouroboros, its crimson color spread on its own.

The stone-carved snake gradually turned ruby-red and gleamed brightly.

In the blink of an eye, all the altar's runes lit up. Golden light blazed forth, so dazzling it nearly made him unable to open his eyes.

"The array is functioning normally."

Suren muttered to himself, a trace of delight in his voice.

This was a good sign.

If the array could operate, then the method deciphered from Isaac's Alchemy Manuscript was very likely correct. After all, no one would go to such lengths for such an elaborate prank.

Once the array lit up, the next step was the "sacrifice."

The information on his retina stated that all Alchemy in this world followed the principle of Equivalent Exchange. To obtain that Talent, he had to offer an equivalent price.

What he had to pay now was one of his own eyeballs.

"Haa..."

Suren slowly exhaled and raised his right hand toward his left eye. With self-mocking amusement, he thought, Of course. My body is excited by pain. Even if I'm digging out my own eye.

Gouging out an eye might have been bloody to others, but it was not unfamiliar to Suren.

During his first year in juvenile detention, when his illness acted up, he had done exactly that to a prison bully who had bullied him. After that, the other inmates called him "Madman."

Later, after thoroughly studying Human Anatomy in juvenile detention, he learned how to kill, injure, and beat people with precision.

Fear came from the unknown. Suren knew exactly what he would face by gouging out his own eye, so he remained calm.

He did it without hesitation, as coldly as if the one suffering were not himself.

A sharp pain. A piercing, heart-wrenching pain.

And the fear brought by losing sight in one eye.

Blood dripped from his eye socket onto the altar.

The intense pain covered Suren's forehead in cold sweat, and his face turned frighteningly pale.

After taking several deep breaths, he held that crimson mass in his hand and placed it into the left hanging pan of the stone-carved "scales."

At that instant, as though some specific condition had been triggered, the scales at the center of the altar suddenly burst with dazzling red light and swallowed the eyeball. At the same time, among the five stone statues beside the altar, the one carved with the "" symbol was surrounded by a layer of spiritual light. A wisp of green energy, like a tiny snake, silently flowed into Suren's bleeding left eye.

This was an extremely complex Alchemy Conversion Ritual.

This high-grade altar, sealed away for countless centuries, seemed to connect different times and spaces at that moment through the catalyst. An ancient, majestic presence descended into the Secret Chamber.

Suren noticed nothing, but his limited senses still allowed him to touch upon a fraction of the mysteries of this wondrous Alchemy. It felt as though he had traveled through an endless starry sky, then casually plucked a brilliant star from it and fused it into his body.

The process went even more smoothly than expected. Nothing that could be called an accident occurred.

Suren had no idea what had happened. His vision was entirely red.

Soon, he clearly felt the pain in his eye fading, while light returned to his left eye.

"It worked."

Suren roughly guessed what had happened and abruptly let out a sigh of relief.

That tingling, itching sensation was the sign of muscle tissue regenerating, and it was happening unbelievably fast.

The entire process lasted around three minutes before the red light of the magic array finally faded completely.

At the instant the red light vanished, the statue bearing the "" symbol cracked with a sharp snap.

Suren's left eye slowly focused. It was clear and radiant, gleaming with spiritual light like that of a newborn infant. On closer inspection, a silver "moon" rested within its golden pupil. With a flicker of light, the moon's shadow disappeared into the depths of the pupil.

It was a marvelous experience. The altar before him was clearly the same one as before, yet it now seemed like an unfamiliar "new world." Everything had become incomparably clear, like an unfiltered high-definition original image, down to the finest details. Even the dense, spiderweb-like cracks on the statues were clearly visible.

"So... what Supernatural Ability did I awaken? Enhanced Vision?"

After confirming that the ritual was complete, Suren looked around, then lowered his head to inspect his own body.

There did not seem to be any change in his appearance. His eyesight just seemed much better. Even in dim light, his field of vision was incomparably clear.

If that was all, then it was far inferior to Baldhead's Tempered Skeleton.

But just as Suren was grumbling inwardly, a strange sensation arose.

He carefully examined his body. As he stared, as though trying to see clearly through a fog, a strange line of text appeared in his vision.

Suren (Fick Regardie)

Dark Spiritual Energy: 233/1130

Charm: 9

Strength: 6

Agility: 6

Constitution: 5

Perception: 4

Skill: 8

Mental Power: 26

Talent: Talent S-018: All-Seeing Eye

Skills: Heigam Breathing Technique, Beginner Firearms Mastery, Advanced Combat Beginner

Overall Combat Rating: Unremarkable

For an instant, time seemed to freeze.

Suren said in surprise, "A data panel?"

When that string of data appeared on his retina, he felt as though he were playing a game again.

But when he saw Talent S-018: All-Seeing Eye on the panel, realization dawned on him.

"So this is the Supernatural Talent awakened by the sacrifice ritual? It doesn't seem that impressive."

Suren muttered to himself, understanding why the required sacrifice had been one of his own eyeballs.

So that was what Targeted Awakening meant: trading an eye for an eye.

Suren's thoughts jumped quickly. He would not dwell on things that could not be changed, and instead began grumbling about the evaluations on the panel.

His fighting skills, which had allowed him to take on ten people by himself on Earth, were only "Advanced Combat Beginner"?

That was one thing.

But the marksmanship he had developed by spending most of his savings at the shooting range was only "Beginner Firearms Mastery"?

What would advanced firearms mastery even be like? Could bullets turn corners?

And also!

Overall rating: unremarkable?

"Heh. Compared to Baldhead, I really can only be considered 'unremarkable.'"

Suren propped his chin on his hand and mocked himself inwardly.

Looking at that evaluation, he gained a rough understanding of this world's power levels.

That inexplicable Heigam Breathing Technique was probably a "passive skill" learned and mastered by the original owner of this body.

Suren had previously felt a strange energy flowing through his body, while his breathing naturally followed some specific rhythm. It was something like muscle memory, almost instinctive.

As for Dark Spiritual Energy, it was probably similar to the internal energy cultivation techniques from his previous life.

But when he looked at his attributes panel again, a trace of confusion appeared on his face. The other values were understandable enough, but the "26 points" of Mental Power stood out far too much.

Suren propped his chin on his hand and pondered it, but before he could think further—

Suddenly, an unexpected change occurred!

At that moment, the altar, whose light had already faded, lit up once again.

This time, it was not golden light but cold light shrouded in Gray Mist. It was as though a passage to hell had opened, and he felt an aura that made his soul tremble.

"What's going on? The Alchemy Array activated again?!"

Suren was deeply puzzled, because the information on his retina had not recorded any such Anomaly occurring during the ritual.

But he made no move, because this scene was very similar to the previous awakening.

After the magic array flashed, the last statue, the one with the "" symbol on its cloak, began to glow. A faint black radiance spilled from the statue.

This conversion process was much, much faster than before.

"The Talent has already awakened, so why is it happening again? I didn't make another sacrifice."

Watching the familiar process, Suren was utterly baffled.

At the same time, he felt as though something invisible had been pulled from his body, leaving him inexplicably lighter.

Not long after, the light of the Eight-Pointed Star faded, and that statue cracked as well.

Now, none of the five statues remained intact.

Suren also clearly felt that the mysterious, awe-inspiring sensation those statues had previously given him had suddenly disappeared. They had become five ordinary stone sculptures.

Suren looked at the panel again, wanting to know what had happened to his body.

Then he saw that something had been added directly beneath the Talent section—Talent S-004: Death Reaper.

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