Chapter 70: 70 | Selene’s Second Awakening
"What?"
"I can see you..."
Selene repeated, her voice shaking as she spoke.
"It isn’t clear..."
"I can’t see colors..."
"Everything is black and white. But... I can see..."
She didn’t try to wipe the tears in her face. She didn’t even notice she was crying at this point.
Her hands reached forward, and they accurately touched Mira’s shoulders.
She knelt beside the wheelchair and she gently cupped Mira’s face with trembling hands.
Her fingertips slowly traced Mira’s cheeks. The curve of her jaw. The bridge of her nose. The softness of her skin.
As she touched each feature, the blurry outline in her strange vision became clearer. The combination of touch and vibration created a more detailed image than either sense alone.
"You’ve gotten much thinner. Since the accident."
She smiled through her tears. The smile was raw and completely unguarded. It was the most honest expression Selene had worn in years.
"You’re beautiful regardless."
Mira remained speechless. Her mouth opened slightly but no words came out. Her eyes glistened. She blinked rapidly, as though trying to hold back her own tears
She had never seen Selene cry this much before. Not even after the accident.
But today...
She cried like a little girl.
Lyra quietly walked to them, watching silently. Her smart glasses translated what was been said rapidly to texts for her.
Her lips pressed together tightly as she was stunned when she read what was been said.
Selene sensed another familiar presence. The new sight was fully 360, unlike normal sight, so she could see behind her as Lyra approached.
She turned toward Lyra.
Although the outline was slightly blurrier than Mira’s, she could still make out the young woman’s figure. Her slender frame, her glasses, and the way she tilted her head when observing something.
She reached out.
Selene gently held Lyra’s cheeks. Her trembling fingers carefully explored every contour of her face.
A smile slowly appeared on Selene’s face.
"You look so much different now."
Lyra’s eyes became moist. She blinked several times. A single tear escaped and rolled down her cheek, touching Selene’s fingertip.
She couldn’t hear Selene’s voice. She hadn’t heard a single word spoken in the kitchen.
But even without the glasses, she could understand from her lips.
She nodded gently.
Selene chuckled softly.
"As time went on, my senses lost their perspective, and my memories weren’t what they once were. Everyone’s faces gradually got lost, and I thought I would never see your faces again."
She looked at the two girls with a grin. "Now I can see your faces."
The two girls faintly smiled at her.
Several minutes passed before Mira finally broke the silence. She cleared her throat softly.
"...Tell me, what exactly happened?"
Selene took a deep breath as she thought back to it with furrowed brows.
"I have no idea either. The cabinet was falling, I heard your voice and thought there was an assassin, and then..."
"The entire world suddenly opened."
She closed her eyes.
The strange perception didn’t vanish instantly.
"It doesn’t work with my eyes," she murmured as she covered her ears.
Suddenly, the strange perception diminished but didn’t disappear.
"When I close them, it reduces..."
She closed her ears again. Then opened them. Closed. Opened.
Each time, the vibration-sight appeared and disappeared.
"It feels..."
She searched for the right words. Her brow furrowed in concentration.
"...like I’m hearing vibrations."
"I don’t see light."
"I don’t see colors."
"I only see movement."
"The stronger the vibration..."
"The clearer it becomes."
She pointed toward the refrigerator. "That’s the clearest thing in the room. Because it’s always humming."
Then she pointed toward Lyra. "You’re the blurriest. Because you barely move. I think it’s due to your shadow talent."
Mira’s expression gradually became serious. Her mind was already working. Her eyes widened as a thought struck her.
"A talent..."
Selene blinked in confusion; so did Lyra, as they looked at her curiously.
"A talent?"
Mira nodded slowly as she remembered what happened to her.
"I think you’ve awakened a second talent."
The room instantly fell silent.
Second awakening.
Those two words carried enormous weight.
Throughout the entire city...
Double Awakeners were almost nonexistent. The probability was so astronomically low that most people considered it a myth. A fairy tale told to young awakeners to give them false hope.
The chance of awakening a second talent was less than one in a hundred thousand.
Many people with low talent spent their entire lives hoping for such a miracle. They risked their lives in dungeons searching for items that might trigger a second awakening.
Most died without ever experiencing it.
Yet...
Selene had just awakened one. Sitting in a kitchen and catching a falling cabinet.
Mira stared thoughtfully at her. Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"If I’m right..."
"It should be an A-Rank sensory talent."
"A talent that allows you to perceive the world through vibrations."
Selene slowly nodded.
"It does feel like that..."
"I don’t use my eyes..."
"I use..."
She hesitated. The sensation was still so new. So foreign.
"...everything around me."
Lyra suddenly began typing rapidly on her phone. Her thumbs flew across the screen.
A second later, the AI speaker spoke in its mechanical voice.
"Like a bat?"
Selene blinked.
Her eyes slowly widened.
"...Yes."
"Exactly like a bat."
"I send something out..."
"And it comes back."
"That’s how I can see."
Mira tilted her head, and she thought of a talent that fits the description.
"...Echolocation."
"The talent is called Echolocation."
"It’s a rare sensory talent. "
The three girls exchanged stunned looks as the information settled on them.
Suddenly, Mira closed her eyes and then two orange spectral arms emerged from behind her. Even Selene could see those arms as they floated in the air.
The two girls were shocked.
"W-what is that?"
Mira inhaled and replied. "I also awakened a second talent yesterday. I call it mana arms."
Lyra and Selene were really surprised. "You awakened yesterday, and now Selene awakens today. Which means I might awaken a second talent tomorrow."
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