Chapter 45: First Unlocked Ability.
Levi focused on the sea of red leaves, knowing that each leaf represented a mastered ability.
Without further ado, Levi floated towards the gigantic nanogon flower, feeling like he was standing before an endless library of abilities.
Instead of overwhelming him, Levi felt more excited than ever about his path as he could see just how insane its potential was.
While it was impossible to unlock all abilities through his evolutionary path, it didn’t really matter since he could learn them on his own.
Those rewards were simply acting as instantaneous power-ups, which didn’t take away from his ability to learn them on his own.
"Since you are still Tier 1, does this mean I can choose abilities from this entire lineup?" Levi inquired as he stood before the dimmest lineup of leaves at the very bottom of the flower.
"Yes, if you want the central abilities, you have to reach the appropriate power level to wield them." Ash’Kral replied calmly, "Otherwise, it will be the same as owning a useless brick."
"True." Levi nodded in understanding.
While this might be disappointing to some, Levi understood that it was much more effective to own low-level abilities that matched his current power than to be greedy for the strongest one on the wall.
After all, abilities cost energy depending on their complexity, effects, and results.
If someone was capable of casting a storm-based ability, their energy reserve must be deep to afford it. Otherwise, by the time the storm manifested, it would fade away just as fast.
"Before you pick, I will give you a small tip to limit the randomness," Ash’Kral said while flying towards the leftmost side of the nonagon.
Then, he pointed his wing toward it and explained to Levi that each side of the nonagon represented one of the Nine Senses. The side he was indicating stood for the Sense of Smell , and every ability locked along that section, from the base up to the midpoint, was linked to that particular sense.
"I see." Levi raised an eyebrow in surprise. "This helps a lot."
Levi knew that picking abilities randomly from the nine senses wasn’t effective at all. After all, he was told that he couldn’t wield three unique senses at his current level, which meant if he were to unlock abilities related to them, he was screwed.
Even abilities related to sight were going to be limited immensely since he was missing his eyes, and his spiritual vision was considered a unique sense on its own.
But now, he could pick a path and focus on it until he got decently good at it before deciding to choose abilities from another side.
After Ash’Kral finished showing each side and its related sense, he went to sit on top of Levi’s shoulder.
"You have the sense of touch, smell, hearing, and taste to pick from. You can even choose the spirit sense, but I highly advise against it at the moment." Ash’Kral shared, "Unlike other senses, the spirit sense consumes spiritual energy exclusively to use any kind of ability or technique."
"I understand." Levi nodded, "While I have a decent spiritual energy source, if I chose the spirit sense, I would be locking myself in a psyche path."
"Bingo." Ash’Kral tapped him on the head.
Levi could be considered a gifted soul when it came to psyche specialization, as no one at his age dared to dream of owning such immense spiritual vision.
Since spiritual vision could be used only if one possessed the necessary mental prowess to wield it, the fact that Levi was able to wield it continuously for an entire day meant that his pool of energy was unmatched.
However, choosing this path at the very start wasn’t ideal...Especially for him, when he had other options.
"Pick wisely, the moment you make your choice, it will be your primary sense for the first rank," Ash’Kral advised.
"Does that mean I won’t be unlocking any other ability from the other senses?"
"You can, but it’s most effective to pick the first rewards from one side until you build a decent fighting style. Then, you can start freestyling with your senses until you perfect it." Ash’Kral added, "My previous partners each chose their primary sense and made a stance out of it."
"Stances?" Levi inquired.
He knew what it implied, but he wasn’t too sure when it came to Ash’Kral and his dead gang of partners.
"You can consider them as Battle Arts: there is the Echo Keeper Stance(hearing), Phantom Touch Stance(Touch), Essence Seeker Stance(Smell), Soul Taster Stance(Taste), and Truth Visionary Stance(Sight)." Ash’Kral clarified calmly, "Each stance uses one sense primarily while reducing its weaknesses with the powers of other senses."
"Of course, each stance has its preferred style of weapons."
"Interesting." Levi rubbed his chin thoughtfully, understanding that his current choice would determine a decent part of his journey.
Still, his perfectionist tendencies kicked in, and he couldn’t help but ask, "Will it be possible to master all stances and learn the same amount of abilities as you?"
Ash’Kral chuckled, but he wasn’t being sarcastic. He looked at Levi and smirked, "Why ask if it’s possible when a living example of its feasibility is standing before you?"
"You’re right." Levi smiled back.
Although he knew that the Three-Body Problem was going to be the major obstacle stopping him from fulfilling such an achievement, Levi didn’t allow it to kill his dream.
He never compared himself to others, and this made him want to learn from the past partners of Ash’Kral, but not take their choices as his.
He felt this way in dealing with the Three-Body Problem and their lifelong progress.
Levi floated in front of the side with auditory-based abilities and said, "My hearing has become my primary sense after I lost my eyes. I don’t know about the others, but I know choosing auditory-based abilities in the early stages will help me in the long run."
Levi could be said to have trained his ears to quite a supernatural degree compared to the average human.
He was able to pick up on the faintest whispers amidst the noise and even hear other people’s heartbeats if they were close.
He didn’t know if this was related to his Radian bloodline empowering his ears after he lost his eyes or not, but he always felt his ears to be special...Much more special than the average blind person, as they were also known to have their senses attuned after losing their sight.
"Smart choice." Ash’Kral approved. He also wanted Levi to choose this path.
Although Levi didn’t need Ash’Kral’s approval, hearing it had set his heart at peace with his choice.
Without further ado, Levi reached out with his hand and picked one of the dimmest scarlet leaves on the auditory sense section.
The moment he touched it, the entire nonagon flower collapsed into the still ocean underneath him.
Levi glanced at it disappear for a moment with an eager smile, seemingly incapable of waiting until the next time he summoned it again.
For now, he switched his focus to the leaf in his hand. Taking a deep breath, Levi turned the leaf slowly, knowing that the ability’s name and its details were written in Ilthorien language on its back.
When his spiritual vision landed on the name and its details, he couldn’t help but gasp in astonishment.
// Echolocation : It’s an ability that detects objects and surroundings by sending out or receiving sound waves and interpreting the echoes that bounce back.//
"Echo Location...To unlock this as your first ability, your luck isn’t too shabby." Even Ash’kral raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"This, this, is massive!" Levi exclaimed in delight, "Doesn’t this mean I can paint a new world in my mind through bouncing sound waves?"
Levi understood that this ability was vastly different than simply being able to hear better. The ability to bounce sound waves and interpret their echoes was massive for someone blind, as it enabled him to manifest a similar copy of our world through sounds.
It was more or less a vision through sound.
"Boy, aren’t you looking down on me?" Ash’Kral sneered, "That’s the simplest utilization of Echolocation, which was mastered by other nightcrawlers with similar ability."
"Do you mean?"
Levi felt his heart skip a beat at the sudden realization of what Ash’Kral implied. Ash’Kral didn’t hesitate to spell it out for him.
"Every ability I have learned was mastered to perfection." Ash’Kral smirked, "In simpler terms, your unlocked Echolocation is nowhere near the same quality as similar abilities."
"Can you tell me of one example?" Levi asked excitedly.
"Tap the leaf on your forehead and you will absorb all the knowledge related to the ability." Ash’Kral waved his hand lazily.
Remembering that he had the answers in his hand, Levi swiftly placed the leaf on his forehead and watched it melt into his skin, breaking into light particles.
After it disappeared fully, he felt a slight tingle of pain, and then a wave of knowledge assaulted his mind, filling his spiritual vision with thousands of images and letters.
In less than a second, the images disappeared, and Levi’s vision returned to the Ancestral Rooted Plane.
As he turned his head to Ash’Kral, Levi couldn’t help but utter from the bottom of his heart.
"You are a true monster..."
"I know." Ash’Kral chuckled, "Now, let’s choose your first signature weapon."