Chapter 19: Third Talent Skill, Body Tempering Potion
Isaac remained silent. He had a thoughtful look on his face.
"Isaac, I know what you are worrying about. 'What if my skill information is used against me?', and it's a valid concern.
"I am not asking you to reveal everything to us. Just the important bits we need to create a curriculum suited to you."
Her face bore a serious expression.
"Think of this: you have a skill that needs an expensive material to be used. If you hide that skill, you will need to collect materials for it yourself.
"But if you tell us about it, we can procure it for you for free.
"Moreover, the professors here have years of experience. We can teach you the best way to enhance your skills and the ways to speed up your skill level ups.
"And if you don't tell us your stats, it will affect your training regime. You will be forced to hold back during training, and it will rob you of stats you could've gained after pushing your body to its limits."
Isaac had to agree with her.
He could get a lot of benefits if he revealed his stats and Talent skills.
The assassins might also return later. Isaac doubted they would let him go after a single failure.
He needed to seize this chance and grow as much as he could.
If he missed this opportunity, he could blame only himself when the assassins attacked him next time and he got hurt again.
'Still I can't trust anyone else completely.'
'I will keep my system and the skills I gained from others hidden. That way, even if they backstab me, I will have a trump card to overturn the situation.'
Isaac made his decision.
"My Class is SSS+ rank. I have three Talent skills that I gained at Level 1, Level 5, and Level 10.
"My Strength is 41, Agility is 60, Constitution is 35, Spirit Power is 66, and Mana is 71."
Eleanor, the Overlord-rank transcendent, was confused.
She wondered if she had heard something wrong.
"You didn't hear anything wrong. Those are my stats and class rank."
"O-oh?" Eleanor blinked. "An SSS+ rank Class? That's the first time I'm hearing about it."
She calmed down after a few seconds. Not that it reduced the shock she received.
"I'm one of the strongest humans. If I don't know anyone with an SSS+ rank Class, it's safe to say no one ever got it. You are the first person to have awakened it.
"Your stats are quite high too. They are at the upper end of Adept rank for mid-rank species.
"If we are talking about humans, your stats are already beyond Adept rank and have reached the territory of Elite rank," she explained.
"Mid-rank species?"
"Yes, species are mostly divided based on their inherent talent and abilities they get. Humans don't have anything other than Talents. We are low-rank species.
"Those who get bloodline abilities along with Talent are mid-rank species. The high-rank species have an even better starting point."
She added,
"The highest Talent awakened is SSS rank among all species. If we are counting only Farmer Talent, the highest-ranked one was an S-rank Farmer from the mid-rank species, Bloodhunter Stinger."
"It was not from a high-rank species?"
"A high-rank species might have a better starting point and have a higher average of Talent ranks, but that doesn't mean lower-ranked species cannot awaken stronger Talents. There have been plenty of such examples. You are one of them."
What Eleanor did not say was, since Isaac had high stats, he probably was not a human, and instead was a demihuman.
However, she had her own doubts.
Isaac was confused when he heared about demihumans, which proved he did not know of their existence.
It shouldn't have been possible, as a demihuman's species was written in their status page. He should've known he was not a human.
'He is either a good actor, or he is actually a human.'
A human with those stats? It didn't make sense. Eleanor believed it had to do something with him being the first SSS+ rank Talent awakener.
'If we can find why he awakened an SSS+ rank Talent, maybe humanity can finally make a breakthrough in its precarious situation.'
'I can only hope we find something useful. Because if nothing changes, humanity won't survive for long.'
Eleanor opened her drawer and took out two wristwatches and two vials with glowing red liquid.
"These wristwatches are your Cadet Devices. You can see the University's map and get announcements for your classes on it. If you want to call a faculty member, you can do it through the Cadet Device.
"These potions are Body Tempering potions. They can be used only once in each rank. Using them will improve your mana circulation and increase your stats by 5-10%.
"The improvement isn't much for Initiate-rank Awakeners, but it will be a huge boost for you two," she explained. "These potions are only given to top-performing students from normal classes.
"For special class students like you two, they are given to everyone."
She added,
"You can leave now. After you get some rest, mail me your Quest Advancement Details and skill details."
"Can't we give them to you now?"
Isaac was from Earth, and it made him worrry about things like hacking.
He believed it was best to not depend on technology where people had supernatural powers.
Who knew if someone had a Hacking Talent?
"If you want to do it now, you can."
Eleanor took out two sheets of paper from a file placed on her desk. She passed them to Isaac and Emily.
Isaac took a look at the skill he gained at Lv. 10 as he wrote the details.
Third Talent Skill: Sovereign of Land (Unlocks at Lv. 10 Initiate rank)
Skill Level: 1
Active Effect: Temporarily claim an area as user's personal farmland, making it hostile to enemies (roots slow enemies, ground drains their stamina). Beneficial to allies (natural healing, and recovery). More fertile (crops and plants grow at 5x speed while in this domain).
Passive Effect: The land the user has personally cultivated becomes an extension of himself. Control over territory, soil manipulation, and land empowerment become possible.
Cooldown: 24 hours
Mana consumption: Scales with the area of effect.
"That's... quite a useful skill."
Eleanor could not hide her surprise.
"Each skill is more useful and powerful than the previous one, but to have something like this at only Level 10, I guess this shows how powerful an SSS+ rank Talent can be.
"I am having trouble believing it even after seeing it with my own eyes."