Chapter 42: Chapter Forty-Two: Drawback
Chapter Forty-Two: Drawback
Staring at the four colours the pillar radiated didn’t only shock the onlooking Evolvers; even Valen’s brows shot up.
Radiant white signified the Sight Path, while brownish-white signified the Speed Path. Green was for the Sound Path, and crimson was for the Strength Path.
Didn’t that mean the white-haired young man possessed four Evolution Paths?
Although this didn’t necessarily mean his synchronisation rate with the Elemental Power Suits would be high, possessing four Evolution Paths was already impressive enough.
This revelation was incredibly stunning, immediately making the young man the centre of attention.
Not minding the stares of the others, he calmly returned to his previous position and silently waited at a corner.
Valen began to feel slight trepidation. He was a Six-Path Evolver after all. Since all the young man’s Evolution Paths had been displayed by the pillar, wouldn’t his own also be reveal?
It took a while for everyone to snap out of it before they, too, excitedly went to test themselves.
Unlike the white-haired young man, who hadn’t obeyed the instruction to go in groups, the other Evolvers present weren’t so gutsy. Five Evolvers at a time went to test themselves, and since it only took a few seconds, the queue quickly decreased.
However, there were still thousands of people on this floor, so the process consumed a lot of time.
The surprising thing, though, was that not everyone managed to light up the pillar, even though they were clearly Evolvers.
From the conversations of some well-informed Evolvers, Valen picked up a bit of information.
As it turned out, only those with a synchronisation rate of 60% or above would light up the pillar. Otherwise, even if it was 59.99%, it wouldn’t light up.
Naturally, this caused a lot of despair among the failed Evolvers. They all wanted to try again, but having already been warned once, they didn’t dare.
Soon, it was Iron Wraith’s turn, and this drew Valen’s attention.
He watched as Iron Wraith touched the pillar, causing it to light up in crimson.
Valen felt happy for him. After all, they had once been party members.
Another person whose results Valen looked forward to was the luminous-haired teenager who had set alarm bells ringing in his mind. Sure enough, he didn’t fail.
He lit up a green light, revealing his identity as a Sound Path Evolver.
Realisation dawned on Valen’s face.
So the teenager had been observing the flow of the wind. That was how he had noticed Valen’s glance.
No matter how minuscule, a person’s movements would always send signals through the air. But latching onto such signals when there were thousands of people in one place was more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack.
Soon, it became Valen’s turn to test his synchronisation rate, and his heartbeat couldn’t help but speed up.
His grandfather had revealed that the Twilight Gene was an "open secret."
If he were to test his synchronisation rate right now, wouldn’t it reveal his Six-Path Evolution? For the first time, Valen felt genuine fear.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he approached the pillar alongside four other Evolvers.
Worst come to worst, he’d simply flee and become a fugitive.
Aaliyah was even stronger than him, so she could take care of herself. His grandfather had already gone to the Abyss, so there was nothing holding him back.
He would rather run than remain behind to be a lab rat or someone’s puppet.
The reason he was carrying out the test anyway was to satisfy his curiosity and also use the shock from his six-path revelation as an opportunity to escape.
During the white-haired young man’s test, everyone had been stunned for quite a while, and that had only been a four-path revelation.
With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Valen pressed his right hand against the pillar.
Aside from a faint vibration beneath his palm, he felt a slight tingling sensation spread through his fingertips, as though countless tiny currents were dancing across his skin, tracing the pathways of his nerves before disappearing as quickly as they had come.
Moments later, bursts of light erupted from the pillar. But they weren’t for him. They belonged to the other Evolvers beside him.
After waiting a few more seconds, Valen’s heart began to sink deeper and deeper.
Hadn’t this also been the case for that young man?
It had taken quite a while before the pillar erupted in radiance, right?
All of a sudden, two lights shimmered into existence from the massive pillar, illuminating Valen’s face.
They were silver and crimson.
A shocked look flashed across his eyes.
’Just two?’
But then, as though struggling against something, a third light appeared and gradually rose in intensity.
It was green.
As the third light stabilised, everyone turned to look in Valen’s direction.
The eruption of two lights had already become "normal" in their eyes, since dual-path evolvers weren’t rare.
But a strange thing had happened in Valen’s case. It had initially been two lights before a third joined in.
After the white-haired young man from the Outlands, Valen became only the second person to light up three lights.
As he returned to stand at a corner, Valen didn’t feel the joy of having overcome danger. Instead, he felt curious.
What did lighting up three lights mean?
It meant that only those three Elemental Power Suits had met the synchronisation requirements.
So did that mean his other Paths were below the required synchronisation standard?
Just as this thought surfaced, his System Lenses glowed and a screen appeared in his vision.
---
[Name: Valen]
[Results:]
[Fire: 88%]
[Metal: 91%]
[Wind: 60.01%]
[Light: 59.99%]
[Ice: 59.99%]
---
Valen observed his results with a thoughtful look on his face.
If he hadn’t seen the matching 59.99% results for Light and Ice, he wouldn’t have fallen into deep thought.
But there had to be something he was missing.
He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but 59.99% in both categories sounded far too coincidental.
Suddenly, he winced in pain after raising a hand to stroke his chin.
It was then that he remembered he had been wounded the previous night. Immediately, his eyes blazed with realisation.
The key to the puzzle lay in his injuries.
The pillar tested synchronisation rates with different Elemental Cores based on specific criteria.
The Fire Elemental Power Suit observed neural patterns optimised for powerful force output, making it more compatible with Strength Path Evolvers.
The Metal Elemental Power Suit tested for stable and resilient neural patterns, making it more compatible with Endurance Path Evolvers.
Sound Path Evolvers excelled at processing vibrations and frequencies, making them more compatible with Wind Elementals.
Sight Path Evolvers processed information rapidly, making them more compatible with Light. The same applied to Speed Path Evolvers, as light represented the current pinnacle of speed.
Blood Path Evolvers possessed exceptional internal regulation and biological control, making them more compatible with Ice.
The reason Valen thought through all of this was because the pillar tested for those signs within a candidate.
But what if his injuries had hindered his processing of vibrations and frequencies?
What if his ability to process information rapidly had been impaired?
What if the injuries had also affected the factors related to his speed?
Then there was the Blood Path, which had been circulating continuously to heal him.
When all those clues were laid out and examined carefully, it was no wonder he hadn’t managed to light up more than three lights.
As for the cause, Valen suddenly remembered the description of Quantum Perception, which he had used the previous day.
---
Quantum Perception: Temporarily increases your perception speed, reaction timing, and spatial awareness. (One use per day).
---
Perception could be related to Sight.
Reaction timing could be related to Speed.
And spatial awareness was probably related to Sound.
With Quantum Perception forcefully enhancing those aspects, it would naturally place them under strain afterward.
That strain had likely hindered his ability to process vibrations and frequencies, impaired his information-processing capabilities, and weakened the factors related to speed.
To either stop or reduce that impact, his Blood Path had been circulating nonstop, leaving it as drained as the others and preventing it from meeting the synchronisation requirement of the Ice Elemental Power Suit.
He probably hadn’t noticed these details because his strength had risen too quickly, making the differences difficult to detect.
Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t felt much change after advancing to Level 6.
If he hadn’t checked his profile, he wouldn’t even have known his level had improved.
Was this the drawback of Quantum Perception?
His hearing had probably been the least affected, which was why it had barely managed to reach a 60.01% synchronisation rate.
Valen developed mixed feelings at that moment. He didn’t know whether to feel relieved or disappointed.
He stared out the large glass window at the purple-hued horizon, unable to put his feelings into words.
In the end, he could only sigh and think:
’Is this fate?’
