Talent System: I Instantly Master My Opponents Skills
Chapter 146: Different, Yet The Same (3)

Chapter 146: Different, Yet The Same (3)

...

Outside The A-Dungeon

In a barren wasteland

It only took Hereon a few tries to realize the futility of his actions as all his attacks were stopped easily.

Too easily.

The difference between a rank 0 and a rank 3 was large, he knew that much, but now that he was actually fighting one – not training, but an actual fight where he could die – it started making more sense to him.

He put a hand over the gaping wound in his side and winced at the pain.

’I have no chance of winning against him.’

The realization came soon.

’Did he mean that?’

He looked over to "Only".

The man noticed his glance.

Hereon noticed something, a slight nod, it was barely a movement of his head but he could tell.

He was being given the go-ahead to use it.

Hereon turned back to his opponent, and proceeded to grin widely.

"What the hell is that look for?!"

Clark questioned as he sent a wind scythe at Hereon.

The man had not put much power behind the attack but it was enough for his opponent.

Hereon couldn’t dodge, it was too fast for him to dodge.

The wind scythe was aimed for his right arm, and in a flash, blood spewed out from the fresh wound.

His arm fell on the sand quietly.

Scarlet red blood sprayed out, like a faucet and blood fell on the sound.

It was colored red on contact with his blood.

Hereon reached for the limb only to touch air.

He was still for a second as the blood sprayed onto his hand.

Then, the pain hit him.

He fell onto his knees and clutched the part. The pain made him forget everything.

"Ha, is that all this brat got?"

Clark grinned savagely.

It was for this reason that he wanted to become a rogue.

Monsters didn’t cut it.

Humans were much more fun to hurt, for him.

"Hereon..."

The man’s voice was devoid of his usual warmth, the cheerfulness that he exhibited on a daily basis.

"...Get up."

His voice was devoid of warmth.

He was cold.

At his words, something seemed to ring in Hereon’s ears...

Not just his ears, but also his eyes.

The scene changed for him.

Hereon saw himself, back when he still had red eyes and blue hair.

There was also someone next to him.

It was his sister, she too had blue hair and scarlet red eyes.

Upon seeing her, Hereon couldn’t help but burst into sobs. The wounds inflicted on him weren’t enough to make him cry, but the sight of his sister was.

They seemed to be in a cave and they both walked side-by-side, they were conversing amongst themselves.

Hereon motioned for her to keep quiet.

They continued walking until they came across an opening in the cave, and next to it was a bloodied wolf monster.

Both of them went through it.

And when they could see again, they paused as they saw the sight before them.

Jason Hachiman.

He was one-armed, holding his blade in his left hand.

And was fending off the sub-boss; The Giant Arachnid Spider.

With just one arm, his left one at that.

’He’s stronger than me.’

The realization hit him harder than he expected.

After training with the organization for eight months he thought he had grown stronger, but now when he had lost an arm he couldn’t even move.

Yet, Jason was fighting all the same without an arm.

The scene before him changed, and he was back, on his knees on the sand, under the sun.

The man was close to killing him, it was clear that the next wind scythe would decapitate him.

"Won’t you help your little friend?"

The man, Clark, snarled at "Only".

"You could have finished him off since but you chose to toy with him, you’re not fit to be a rogue awakened.

That’s why you’re going to lose to a rank 3 awakened even though you’re rank 0."

The man in the fox mask stated calmly.

Even though Hereon’s state was pitiful, he had no doubt that the boy would be the victor of the match,

Slowly, Hereon raised his left hand up.

"Won’t you help your pitiful friend, I can kill him if you don’t want."

None of them moved to save Hereon.

And Hereon understood that he didn’t need any saving.

The boy dropped the mask onto the ground.

The only thing that hid his identity was the hat that still managed to remain rooted to his head.

"Clark."

Hereon called out to the man in the robes.

Clark turned to him and looked him in the eyes, he noticed that the mask that hid Hereon’s face was gone.

"So you can still speak?"

He squatted and looked Hereon, eye-to-eye.

Hereon only needed a moment, and it presented itself before him.

The process was instantaneous

There was a noticeable change in his eyes.

They became blue... Fully blue.

The color spread from his irises and enveloped his eyeballs fully.

It truly became blue.

Deep and mystifying blue.

Clark became confused and furrowed his brows, focusing on the boy’s eyes. He could have sworn that the very same eyes weren’t like this.

He was distracted and could no longer

The scene around Clark changed.

He was no longer trying to decipher the change in a boy’s eyes.

Clark was no longer in the presence of three others, instead, he was in his family’s personal training ground.

His father was an ordinary man, along with his mother. Their children were twins, born at the same time.

Both of them awakened at the same time.

Rank 0 and Rank 1.

Clark watched the events of his past, from the moment they were officially known as awakeneds...

To the point where he killed his brother in cold blood.

After that moment, he began to get a craving for human blood.

He went ahead to kill his retired parents.

His life replayed itself in front of him, all up to this point in time.

Suddenly, the world changed.

And he found himself in an unknown space.

...

"Only" launched fireball after after fireball into the air, piling them up at the sky. He was preparing to use it.

Hereon struggled to his feet and walked.

"When will it be done?"

The man questioned as he sent yet another ball of fire into the sky.

"I don’t know."

He estimated that it would be about 10 minutes or so before the man woke up.

’He’s disgusting.’

After having his eyes regrown and pulled out again and again he had awakened the Null eyes, but his was different from how the clan described it.

He could put people in the void, but before that he could see their memories from the point of their awakening to the present moment.

It allowed him to know their strengths, weaknesses and their past by watching their memories.

He had tried it before...

’He killed his own brother.’

"Die."

Hereon was awoken from his thoughts by a loud cry.

With his wounds he backed away slowly.

He knew what was about to happen.

In just a matter of seconds, large fireballs descended from the sky.

*Bang

Hereon’s body was blasted away by the explosion.

He was caught by his clothing by a hand.

All the fireballs landed on him, one after another in a continuous barrage.

Black smoke billowed from the spot at where the fireballs hit.

"He’s dead."

"Only" said, matter-of-factly.

He dropped Hereon carefully on the ground before going towards the smoke.

He gathered mana at his fingertips and waved his hand.

With a wave, a gust of wind blew away the smoke. It revealed a charred body.

Clark was not only dead, but he had been burned beyond recognition.

His hair had burned off, along with all the clothes and flesh he had on him.

What remained now, was just a charred body.

The man in the fox mask bent down and examined the body, then he placed a hand on it.

It caught fire in an instant.

"Alright, let’s go."

He finally said as the last of the ashes went in the direction of the sky.

He was simply disposing of the evidence that a body had died here, if someone came to inspect they would think that the other person was playing with fire magic.

That was if anybody would come to inspect a location in the middle of nowhere.

But even then, he would like to keep the happenings here hidden.

Hereon watched the charred body go up in ashes and smoke.

’He wasn’t using it to its full capabilities before.’

The pain numbed down as his skin stitched itself back quickly.

’If he did, I wouldn’t have survived.’

The difference between a rank 0 and a rank 3 were large.

Quite large.

’I need to get stronger.’

"Ms. Theia."

The man turned to her.

"Do you want to join our organization?"

He asked.

"Yes."

She nodded vigorously.

After witnessing the display of magic she would be a fool if she didn’t want to join, she knew that the person here was at least stronger than her.

And if she didn’t join, there was a chance that she could end up like Clark.

"Good."

He turned back to Hereon.

"Hereon, let’s go."

The boy in question staggered to his feet as he drank the mana restoration potion.

He nodded.

The man walked up to him.

"And, you won today."

He said quietly.

Hereon couldn’t help but grin at his words.

This was the first time the man had ever told him he won.

Then, he motioned for Theia to come closer to him, the woman quickly did so.

They disappeared.