The black patterns surrounding my eyes gave off an ancient and mysterious appearance, while the rotating X symbols within my pupils created a faint sense of pressure even to my own perception.
Most importantly, I immediately noticed the absence of the feature that had made Lacome so recognizable.
The mask was gone. The strange black construct that had permanently covered his eyes did not exist on me.
Instead, the Talent had merged directly with my own eyes.
I smiled.
"This is far better."
And infinitely more practical.
I dismissed the reflection before focusing inward once more.
"Let’s see what you can do."
The moment I activated the Talent, the patterns surrounding my eyes began emitting a faint glow. The rotating X symbols accelerated inside my pupils, spinning faster and faster as a strange pressure gathered within my consciousness.
Then my Soul Force began disappearing. My expression immediately changed.
The drain was absurd.
A vast amount of Soul Force vanished almost instantly, as though a bottomless abyss had suddenly opened inside me and begun consuming everything it could reach.
Only then did I truly understand why Lacome had used the Eyes so sparingly.
This Talent wasn’t expensive.
It was monstrous.
For ordinary Saints, a few careless questions could probably drain them dry.
Fortunately, my reserves had long since surpassed those of ordinary Saint-level existences. Although the consumption was alarming, it remained within my ability to endure.
Deciding not to push my luck, I settled on the simplest question I could think of.
No hidden secrets or ancient mysteries or inquiries about Varylux.
Just a straightforward question.
What is Steve doing right now?
The instant the thought formed, the All-Knowing Eyes responded. The darkness of the Null Realm vanished.
My surroundings dissolved into nothingness before an entirely different world emerged within my consciousness.
Everything appeared in black and white. There were no colors. Only information translated into imagery.
The vision expanded rapidly before stabilizing into a complete scene, and I immediately recognized what I was seeing.
A battlefield.
An enormous void stretched beneath a storm-filled sky while violent battles raged across the horizon. Dozens of Transcendents clashed against one person, their attacks shaking the space and splitting apart the clouds above, yet despite the scale of the conflict my attention was instantly drawn toward the familiar figure standing near its center.
Steve.
The idiot looked exactly as expected.
A wide grin stretched across his face as lightning erupted around his body like a living storm. Arcs of electricity danced through the air before converging toward the sword held in his hand, wrapping themselves around the blade until it resembled a weapon forged entirely from thunder itself.
Then he swung. The moment the blade completed its arc, a colossal crescent of lightning exploded across the battlefield. The attack crossed several kilometers in an instant, tearing through the storm-filled sky before crashing directly into three Transcendents at the same time.
The resulting explosion illuminated the monochrome world like a second sun.
Even through the monochrome vision, I could clearly see the three Transcendents’ defensive techniques collapsing beneath the attack. Layers of protection shattered one after another as the lightning blade carved directly through them, leaving devastation in its wake before finally dissipating into the distant horizon.
My gaze naturally shifted away from Steve and swept across the battlefield.
North immediately caught my attention.
Unlike the chaos surrounding him, she stood perfectly still, her eyes closed and her expression calm, as though the violent battle raging around her had nothing to do with her whatsoever.
The pressure radiating from her was astonishingly restrained, yet even through the vision I could sense the terrifying power gathering around her.
Whatever skill she was preparing, it was clearly not something intended for ordinary opponents.
As my attention continued moving across the battlefield, another familiar presence soon entered the vision.
Vivi.
’What the...’
Sure enough, she was causing just as much destruction as the other two.
A gigantic phoenix dominated the sky above the battlefield, its enormous wings stretching hundreds of meters from end to end.
Although the vision possessed no color, I instinctively knew the flames engulfing its body were the same violet fire Vivi had always favored. The phoenix descended from the heavens like a falling star, crashing toward a monstrous bull.
The beast responded with a furious roar. The phoenix answered with a deafening cry of its own.
A moment later the two collided.
The impact distorted the surrounding space as violent shockwaves erupted outward, sweeping across the battlefield and scattering combatants in every direction. Even without sound or color, the sheer scale of the destruction was impossible to miss.
The gigantic bull staggered backward beneath the assault while the phoenix relentlessly pressed forward, tearing into its opponent with a ferocity that left little doubt regarding who held the advantage.
The battle continued unfolding before me for several more moments as information.
The All-Knowing Eyes were not showing me every second of the conflict. Instead, they were delivering exactly what I had requested and nothing more. Locations, conditions, circumstances, and general context flowed naturally into my consciousness, allowing me to understand what Steve and the others were doing without forcing me to personally witness every detail.
The answer had been obtained.
The Eye had fulfilled my request.
Almost immediately afterward, the vision began to destabilize.
Tiny fractures appeared throughout the monochrome world before rapidly spreading across the battlefield, the sky, and every figure within the vision. Moments later the entire scene shattered into countless fragments and dissolved into darkness.
I found myself standing within the Null Realm once again.
The rotating X symbols within my pupils gradually slowed while the black patterns surrounding my eyes faded back into dormancy. More importantly, I could clearly feel the amount of Soul Force that had been consumed.
It wasn’t crippling.
But it certainly wasn’t insignificant either.
And that realization alone was enough to make me reconsider the countless possibilities that immediately came to mind.
This had been an incredibly simple question.
A question involving Steve, someone with whom I shared a close connection and whose location wasn’t hidden by powerful laws or ancient authorities.
Yet even that had demanded a noticeable payment.
If I attempted to locate Verilux, uncover the secrets hidden behind the Lords, or investigate mysteries connected to the Null Realm itself, the price would undoubtedly increase by several orders of magnitude.
A weaker Saint might be drained dry. An impatient Saint might kill themselves. And an idiot asking the wrong question could very well die without ever receiving an answer.
The thought should have been concerning. Instead, it only made me laugh.
The Talent was dangerous.
Ridiculously expensive.
Potentially fatal.
And yet the excitement rising within me was impossible to suppress. I had obtained a Talent that genuinely deserved its reputation.
The All-Knowing Eyes.
A power capable of seeking answers hidden from the rest of existence itself.
And unlike Lacome, who had spent years using it within the limitations of an ordinary Eternal Saint, I possessed advantages he could never dream of.