CH16 SS-Class Gift?
***
"Is it possible that the physical training he underwent is responsible for this?"
"It is... plausible. In fact, it is the best explanation. The Mana pathways were useless in his body anyways so his body eschewed them for something more useful.
"That does seem a reasonable assumption."
"So that means he is forever unable to use Mana?"
"By himself, yes. But he can use it another way. Are you really pretending not to understand, Uncle Rowland?"
"What are you talking about?"
"He has a Primal Flame in his body. He can at least use Mana through the flame."
"Wait, what?! He has a Primal Flame?"
"Didn't you give it to him? He has even mastered the Flame. It has completely fused with his Soul. I can't believe a teenager was able to achieve such a feat."
"..." Rowland's breathing shot up a notch before quickly regaining his calm.
"Although he wouldn't be able to use the flames to fight as a Hunter, he could become a competent Artisan. You are surely aware how advantageous having a sentient Flame you can control with your mind can be to the major artisan professions, don't you?"
Rowland heaved a sigh, "At least, he will be able to follow in his parent's footsteps."
-
Leo quickly cut off the energy flow and separated the new energy back into Physical and Mental Energies that couldn't be sensed.
Meanwhile, his back was soaked in sweat as he felt naked to the woman his uncle was speaking with.
She pretty much figured out the condition of his body.
It reinforced his decision not to expose his combined energy.
The door opened and Rowland walked into the room with a young lady.
Leo's eyes flashed a look of surprise when he saw the lady. She was hands down the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
The lady looked to be in her early to mid-twenties. She had long blonde hair with a pair of soul-sucking sultry blue eyes, and rosy succulent lips with a dainty beauty mark just by the bottom.
Then, there was her body.
The maids in the War King Palace had nice bodies, with a number of them having endowments which caused Leo to unconsciously stare at them due to the influence of the Space Pirate King's memories, and well... puberty.
However, the maids seemed to pale in comparison to this woman.
This lady was not only beautiful, she also had a very voluptuous body, boasting endowments both in her front and back ends.
Leo almost felt tempted to reach out and squeeze them to... test their elasticity.
Suddenly, Leo felt a cooling sensation run through his mind.
His eyes cleared immediately.
He blinked multiple times as he couldn't understand how he had almost lost himself to his primal instincts.
Although the lady was gorgeous, it was abnormal of him to have behaved this way.
'Did she do something to me?' Leo wondered.
He looked towards Rowland with confusion and an asking glance but Rowland didn't seem to notice anything wrong.
'Maybe I was wrong.' Leo shook his head.
The lady couldn't be stronger than the War King so Leo didn't believe the lady could have done something to him right under Rowland's nose without him noticing.
If even the War King didn't detect it, it was unlikely he would've been able to.
What Leo didn't realise was that when the cooling sensation ran through his mind and he 'woke' up from his lust, the lady's eyes flashed a look of surprise.
With a seductive teasing smile on her face, she said, "You have been staring at me for a while now. Am I that beautiful?"
"Very beautiful." Leo affirmed with a nod. But then he shook his head, "But that wasn't the reason I was staring. I was lost in thought trying to figure out who you were since I hadn't seen you before."
The lady's smile widened further.
"This is Navia Armstrong. She is a Tier III Expert Healer. I called her to check on you after you fainted earlier." Rowland explained.
Leo nodded in understanding.
"For you, you can call me, Big sis." The lady winked.
Leo didn't know how to respond.
"You are not going to say anything, little brother?"
"I am okay with you calling me anything, but please don't call me little." Leo responded.
"Ah yes, that's understandable. You are far from little, especially for your age."
"Yours are not bad yourself, probably the best I have seen." Leo replied while staring appreciatively at her chest.
Navia was stunned by his blatant response. And more so by the fact that he still didn't have lust in his eyes while doing so.
It was clear he was just retaliating to her comment.
"Cough..." Rowland faked a cough. "Can the two of you not pretend like I am not present?"
Navia chuckled while Leo jolted back to reality. He realised he had unconsciously responded according to the Grand Space Pirate king's whims.
"As you can see, there's nothing wrong with him. I will be taking my leave now. If he agrees to my proposal, he can reach out to me. I would be more than happy to show him the ropes."
The lady bowed before taking her leave.
After she left, Rowland turned to Leo.
"I am sorry, Leo. Because of the way I pushed you, your path to mana has closed forever. That might be why the awakening ceremony went awry." Rowland said guiltily.
His uncle's reaction caused Leo to feel a little guilty as well.
The truth was, the man's actions actually did him more help than harm. The situation with the awakening ceremony had nothing to do with Rowland.
Unfortunately, he would have to reveal his secrets in order to explain all of that.
It was not worth it in the teenager's eyes.
Instead, he chose to do something else to salvage the situation.
"Uncle, your method wasn't wrong. The awakening ceremony was successful." Leo stated.
"What are yo-? Leo, your eyes...!" Rowland was stunned.
Leo recalled the last reward from the Fated Misfortune event he hadn't checked.
The mutation to his eyes that allowed him to develop Ocular prowess.
He decided to reveal his Ocular prowess to his Uncle as his unique Gift.
In the process, Leo hoped to vindicate the man's efforts for him over the last five years and ease some of the guilt Rowland placed on himself over his sister's and her husband's deaths, as well as Leo's condition.
However, he didn't expect Rowland's reaction to be so exaggerated.
Rowland immediately activated a portable Isolation device he had on him for emergencies.
"Uncle, what-?"
"Listen carefully, Leo. Never show anyone else your eyes." Rowland said gravely.
"Huh?" Leo was confused.
"Do you know the colour of your gift?" Rowland asked.
"No, this is the first time I am activating it."
Leo looked for a reflection nearby.
His eyes widened in shock when he saw his eye colour through the reflection.
He turned to his Uncle and smiled wryly.
'Indeed, no good deeds go unpunished. I shouldn't have revealed my eyes as a Gift.' The teenager mocked himself inwardly.
The colour of his eyes was Red-gold.
The same colour as the strongest class of Gifts now believed to be a myth.
Leo had unwittingly laid claim to possessing an SS-Class Red-Gold gift.
'This is why it is better to keep things a secret.' Leo cried in his heart.
(To be continued...)