Chapter 13 - Changes (Part 1)

Alan gradually regained consciousness. Opening his eyes, he glanced around, but everything looked blurry. The bright light present in the room burned his eyes, forcing him to close them. He didn’t know where he was, but it wasn’t the training grounds. It wasn’t loud and noisy. Instead, he heard the whispers of people talking around him and their hustle and bustle as they went about their jobs.

When he tried to move, sensations returned to his body, and along with it, an excruciating pain. After a few unsuccessful attempts, he gave up and focused on the conversations happening around him.

“This is the second time the young lord has been injured.”

“I’ve never seen Her Grace that angry. I thought she was going to murder Maur on the spot. It’s a good thing Lord Consort is present, or I shudder to think of what would’ve happened.”

“Stop moving your mouths and focus on your hands.” The head maid’s crisp voice interrupted the discussions. “This is one time you don’t want to test the Duchess’ patience.”

He didn’t hear any useful information, so he shifted his attention to the conversations happening outside the room. Unable to hear anything, he gave up and resigned himself to waiting when another thought struck him.

System.

Just before he lost consciousness, he discerned the red notifications it displayed. The system suppressed the skill and saved his life. He didn’t know what it wanted or how it came into his possession, but it had more information than he did and it would be unwise to neglect it.

Overseer System

Name: Alan Ross

Class 1: Trainee (Knight path) [40%]

Attributes:

Strength: 5 Agility: 5 Constitution: 4 Intelligence: 11 Wisdom: 15 Energy: 1

Health: 40/40

Stamina: 2/50

Ki: 10/10

Type

Skills

Passive

Danger Sense Precognition

Unattributed

Identify Inspect Search Pulse Thrust

Attributes

Shadow

Increase Pain Night Vision Shadow Claws

Holy

[Supressed]

Variant Type

Skills

???

Shutter Eye ??? [Locked]

[Features Unavailable]

It appeared different from what he remembered, and there was a lot of new information. His base stats showed an improvement, though he couldn’t be sure if it was due to advancement in the knight path or some other factor.

The appearance of the new attribute utterly baffled him. The presence of Ki should be related to it. He overcame the restriction of becoming squire before gaining the aptitude for Ki. With his limited knowledge, he had no way of knowing if it was good or bad.

He didn’t waste any time making conjectures and gazed at his full health, unable to understand how it was possible. While the lack of stamina explained the weakness, it didn’t explain the waves of pain crashing through the body. Either the stat didn’t represent his overall health, or he was missing something.

I wonder how long it’s going to take for my stamina to replenish itself. He wanted to see if any physical changes happened to his body.

[Stamina: +1 per 3 minutes]

The notification was timely and he gladly welcomed it. Doing the math, it took an hour to recover 20 stamina and about two and half hours to completely recover. Knowing it helped him a lot and his appreciation for the system increased. Ignoring everything else, just the ability to digitize his stats made it incredibly precious.

He didn’t know how much stamina he had to recover before regaining the capacity to move, but he resigned himself to staying in bed for at least an hour.

He skipped the skills and moved to the variant section. It had the only red-colored ability on the entire screen. There’s wasn’t a lot of information he could get as the name was locked. He focused on [Shutter Eye] and a pop-up opened, explaining its functions.

Skill: Shutter Eye

Description: Objects at two times the maximum visual range are clearly discernable. Increases sensory perception, allowing you to view scenes at 0.9 times their max speed.

Cost: 1 Ki per second

Ability upgrades not possible. Advancing to squire increases skill effectiveness.

The ability acted as a bare-bones camera with Alan’s brain taking the place of a storage device. He expected it to be costless, but he was being too greedy. Even basic movements required stamina, so using powerful skills without any price wasn’t possible.

Going over the description a second time, he read the part about increasing sensory perception. If all five of his senses became enhanced, then it could result in increased reaction speed. It would become an immense advantage in battle, and he had to test it as soon as he could.

His eyes hovered over the red-colored ability wondering what it did when a pop-up opened.

??? [Locked]

The ability poses a danger to your body. Please refrain from using it before becoming a grand knight.

The comment both surprised and shocked him. The red display made the dangerous part obvious. What surprised him was the second part of the message. From the way it was phrased, he could use it even after the system locked it.

The door opened, interrupting his examination. A palpable silence fell in the room betraying the identity of the person who arrived.

Sure enough, his mother’s words followed. “Did you notice any changes while I was away?”

“Your Grace. There are no changes to report, but ……. the injury hasn’t improved either.”

Injury? Isn’t the health bar full? He got more confused by the second, and the system’s reliability in his eyes dropped by a large degree.

He tried to speak, but the lack of energy and pangs of pain made him drop the attempt. It had been five minutes since he regained consciousness, and he recovered two stamina. Four points should be more than enough to talk, but he didn’t feel any improvement.

The door opened again, breaking the silence that pervaded the room.

“I’ve talked to the healers, and they tell me it’s not an injury,” Kayden said. “It’s like ….. that thing’s a natural part of his body.”

“Those incompetent fools! I’m surrounded by worthless people!”

“Cut them some slack. The royal family’s healers said the same thing. It neither harmed him nor did it affect him in any way. Apart from the marks, there’s nothing wrong with Alan, and he should be waking up soon.“

From the gist of their conversation, Alan realized the system wasn’t wrong, and he was completely healthy. Something happened to him, but It didn’t affect his well-being.

Alaya wasn’t satisfied by those words. “There’s nothing normal about his situation! Have you heard of anyone becoming a variant all of a sudden? They are born with their abilities, and Alan’s test came out negative. All of a sudden, he becomes a variant, and the ability harmed him! How can I stay calm when I don’t know what to expect?”

Kayden sighed. “Let’s wait for him to wake up. We can do a comprehensive test and make note of any changes.”

“Too dangerous! What if the ability harms him again?”

“I’ll take every precaution I can. I don’t like it anymore than you do, but we don’t have a choice.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Alaya clapped her hands, summoning someone. The person who appeared didn’t speak, making it difficult to identify him. “Bring me a list detailing the abilities of every one of our ancestors. We can shortlist potential matches and figure out what we’re dealing with.”

Stunned silence filled the room.

“That’s your desperation talking,” Kayden said. “There’s no way it’s achievable, and you know it. Even my father will hesitate to release the information to say nothing about the imperial family.”

“Not if I have something to say about it.” Alaya stormed out of the room.

Kayden sighed, and his footsteps moved towards the door, following her.

Their conversations gave Alan a lot of things to ponder over. He never knew variants were always born with their abilities. He focused on the system’s missions, wanting to check something

[Advance in the Knight Path] [Master of the System]

Disregarding the first one, he focused on the second mission.

Quest: [Master of the System]

To gain complete control of ???, finish absorbing the key.

Rewards: [Unlock Hidden Functions] [???]

Progress: 9%

As expected, he absorbed a part of the key. He couldn’t confirm it but was willing to bet the ability came from the ‘key’. Though he had no clues, he had to figure out its identity and understand its relation to the system. As it gave him an ability related to the eye, that’s where he would start.