I Can Copy And Evolve Talents

Chapter 1064: Raven - Lore [part 1]

Because of the catastrophic damage to the ship’s starboard beam, Northern had no choice but to switch to floating mode, letting the Tower repair itself while their speed toward the Central continent was drastically reduced.

All around them, vicious and spine-chilling sounds would periodically pierce the sky and die seconds later. These were proof that Bairan was annihilating the monsters that could have posed a tremendous obstacle to them.

Northern at some point even lost count of how many Belials Bairan had slaughtered. Had there always been so many Belials in these waters, or was this something Koll had orchestrated for them?

There were too many mysteries and unanswered questions about Koll’s ability and why he could command monsters. If he was a Tyrant, what was his Tyranny—Insanity?

It wouldn’t be out of place for him to be a Tyrant of Insanity like his master had once been, and that would explain why the monsters obeyed him so readily. It was similar to what had happened in the Red Mine rift.

Northern was convinced of it—Koll had to be a Tyrant of Insanity. But the flaw in his speculation was that not all the monsters that approached him were insane. In fact, none acted insane.

There was a calculated precision to whatever the monsters did. So there had to be more to it. Northern already knew how he could tear open rifts, but still—was it really supposed to be that effortless?

And Ul was doing nothing.

Suddenly Northern frowned and glanced at Raven.

’Right... of course.’

He knew it. Ul wouldn’t remain idle.

Terence’s disappearance had to be connected to all of this. If Ul had somehow made Terence vanish, then did that mean Ul planned to manifest herself?

Terence would make an excellent vessel for the goddess—or whatever she was—to descend.

’She could be an Origin as well. But what I don’t understand is why she needs a vessel from here. She could just materialize or something.’

Either Ul’s power was far more complicated than anyone understood, or she was incredibly weak.

It had to be one of the two.

Northern sighed and stared ahead. They had long passed the middle of the sea and could now see the jagged family port of Luinngard Empire looming in the distance.

Northern looked at the port with a wistful expression, then glanced back at Lynus.

’The bastard is finally back home after months away. He must be ecstatic.’

Lynus meanwhile wore a perpetually vexed glare, so Northern couldn’t tell if he was furious or elated. But one thing was certain—he had changed since they’d last left here.

Even though he had grown more arrogant and overbearing.

Northern found himself looking forward to seeing his mother again. However, he also didn’t know if he could afford such a luxury.

He needed to find Koll quickly—or Kryos even faster—and contain the situation before it escalated. Because with an Origin on the verge of release, it was destined to.

The ship, despite floating on water, moved with breathtaking speed. It was as though some engine was propelling it with relentless force. Well, there was an engine powering everything on the ship—only it was simultaneously more primitive and more advanced than what they used in this modern era.

Raven stepped closer to Northern as he stood at the ship’s bow. He didn’t look at her, but asked in a measured voice:

”I never asked—how did you manage to break free from their prison? I heard you became some Knight Leader.”

Raven stared ahead impassively.

”Is this really the time for that?”

Northern looked at her and chuckled dryly.

”We might triumph or we might perish. Do you want me to die without ever knowing how you cheated your way into becoming a Paragon in just four months? Perhaps you might even be more interested in letting me know who the fuck you are, although I am not quite optimistic about that.”

Raven gazed forward and smiled slightly, but her expression quickly turned blank as the smile faded.

”I’ve been a fraud since the moment I was born. I awakened my talent when I was five years old. It was also my first death.”

Silence hung heavy in the air.

”However, I never experienced my second awakening to complete the awakening process of a Drifter until I was fifteen. But that was also problematic because I awakened another talent instead of achieving a second awakening.”

At that point, Northern’s facial muscles tensed and he raised a brow, bewildered.

”What do you mean?”

It was bizarre enough that she had awakened at five—which should be virtually impossible—but she had awakened another talent at fifteen?

And what did she mean by her first death? By now, he understood very well that the Kageyama girl could cheat death, but when she said ”first,” he was curious exactly how many times she had died and returned to life—and how precisely that talent of hers functioned.

”My family was not pleased with my existence. And the Kageyama clan was a clan of people trained to be violent, immoral, and cruel killers. Them not wanting you to exist was a truly terrible thing.”

She paused... Northern thought he heard her voice tremble for a brief moment, but her face remained as blank as ever.

”Their first successful attempt at eliminating me happened when I was five, which triggered the awakening of my first talent and my first True Name—Child of Light. Ever since then, I have been kidnapped and killed in several horrific ways. They tested the limits of my talent so relentlessly that they killed me whenever they grew bored. My brothers and sisters murdering me became quite routine for me... I never even knew it was wrong...

”If I went three days without dying once, and all of them weren’t out on missions, then I’d begin to feel something was terribly wrong. I craved the agony of death every day—I loved it... until my second awakening.”

Northern stared at her.

”My first talent made dying effortless, but also made resurrection effortless. My second talent made both dying and resurrecting excruciating and difficult.”