Chapter 164 – Dual Talents
"Here, little Charles, try this. I remember it's your favorite."
…
In the main world, inside the dining hall of the Cranston Estate.
At the dining table, seeing his wife enthusiastically serving food, the fat count seated at the head of the table cleared his throat.
"Don't give him meat. Charles hasn't been feeling well lately. Meat isn't good for him right now."
"Really?"
The plump lady blinked at her husband, then looked at Charles in confusion. Though puzzled, she didn't question it further. Smiling, she quietly removed the plate of roasted bacon she had just placed in front of Charles.
As a housewife, Madam Cranston didn't understand much about the affairs of spellcasters. In fact, many nobles in the Kingdom of Dulin were like her.
For example, even Charles himself—before stepping into this world of mysticism—had known absolutely nothing about such matters.
Allen, sitting nearby, seemed to have a vague understanding of what was going on. But sensing the strange tension around the table, he didn't dare say much and simply kept his head down, quietly eating his meal.
Charles felt rather helpless about the situation.
The so-called instability period had already passed long ago. At this point he had no dietary restrictions at all.
Still, he didn't bother arguing.
Instead, he politely thanked his stepmother and calmly drank his water.
His first breakfast after returning to the main world was relatively quiet.
After the meal ended, Allen prepared to leave for the Royal Academy, while Madam Cranston began arranging another day of social gatherings with her friends.
The fat count also dressed for work, preparing to start his day.
But before leaving, he cast Charles a deep, meaningful glance.
The things Charles had said at the table earlier were not something the count could simply ignore.
Yet Charles merely shrugged in response.
Those remarks had been deliberate.
They were partly retaliation for the vague hints and games his cheap father had played the previous night—and partly another test.
"Well," Charles muttered under his breath, "you brought it on yourself with that hug yesterday."
With that, he turned and walked upstairs, his brow slightly furrowed as he thought.
The words his father had spoken the night before still lingered in Charles's mind, leaving him uneasy.
Unfortunately, whenever Charles tried to press for details, his so-called cheap father refused to elaborate, which left him rather frustrated.
"Still… it doesn't look like I'm some cliché adopted child."
Muttering to himself, he pushed open the bedroom door and walked to the window, watching Count Cranston depart below.
"And he even seems to care a little?"
That realization puzzled him.
If there was some genuine affection there, then why had the man sent him to Pita City as bait?
"Was he really that confident that creepy old man could keep me safe?"
…
The matter was difficult to untangle.
Charles's newly gained ability only revealed things the target was doing or had done, rather than information related directly to himself.
Still, he didn't dwell on it.
Sitting in the chair by the bedroom window, Charles began thinking about the Gate of Traversal instead.
"That meteorite was sacrificed during the ritual, but the world's reality didn't react… which means the thing should still be there."
"Looks like I should go check as soon as possible."
"Although… when I left, the underground area was about to collapse."
Remembering that, he quickly stood up and walked to the bedside cabinet. Opening the drawer, he saw the crystal necklace lying inside.
Charles let out a quiet sigh of relief.
The necklace had been given to him by Archbishop Ferriji of the Church after he advanced to the Second Ring. Its purpose was to suppress the unusual aura surrounding him.
When he entered the Gate of Traversal earlier, he hadn't worn it.
He had been worried the necklace might contain some form of tracking magic.
Even though the Eye of Reality had not shown any warning, Charles wasn't willing to take that risk.
"But now I have no choice. I'll have to wear it when I go back."
Muttering to himself, he hung the necklace around his neck and resumed thinking.
The necklace contained a spatial transfer spell, meaning even if the underground area had collapsed, he wouldn't have to worry about being buried alive.
"The only problem is… how do I explain the necklace breaking?"
"I've been wearing it inside the estate the whole time and haven't encountered any danger…"
Thinking about it, he absentmindedly picked up a book from the windowsill and began flipping through the pages.
The Church's arrangements…
The fat count's mysterious remarks…
The secrets surrounding him…
None of them mattered to Charles as much as the Gate of Traversal.
That was the true foundation of everything he had.
Everything else was secondary.
After all, the gate was tied to the secret of his transmigration.
If he wanted to find a path back home, his focus had to remain on that.
…
Time passed.
Aside from the sound of turning pages, the bedroom remained silent.
The old butler passed by once and knocked lightly on the door. After realizing Charles was quietly reading, he said nothing and left.
Servants occasionally walked through the corridor or made noise while cleaning, but none disturbed him.
His stepmother—who had been so overly enthusiastic at breakfast—left the estate soon afterward in a carriage without even saying goodbye.
Charles wasn't surprised.
Her earlier behavior had clearly just been for show.
By noon, the estate contained only Charles and the servants.
In the afternoon, Madam Cranston returned in her carriage, and soon after that Allen came back from school.
…
Outside the window, the green lawn carried a faint sense of melancholy.
The breeze flowed endlessly past the window.
Everything silently hinted that summer was ending and autumn was arriving.
Security guards continued their patrols.
Gardeners diligently tended the grass.
The estate bustled quietly with ordinary life.
Watching it all from the chair by the window, Charles suddenly felt a strange sense of peace.
"Too bad this kind of life doesn't suit me."
He murmured softly.
Then he lowered his gaze.
His status panel appeared.
---
Name: Charles Cranston
Age: 16
Health: Full of vitality
Life Rank: Second Ring
Spiritual Rank: Black Iron Throne
Talents:
• Eye of Reality
• Child of the Sun
• Lord of the Long Night
• Walking Fate
Skills:
• Necromancy
• Holy Light
• Fire Magic
• Ritual Magic
• Item Crafting
Gate of Traversal: Fully charged
Remaining time: 1 day 0 hours 3 minutes
---
Charles stared at his current state and fell into thought.
His three disguise spells, together with the Seven Gods' mark, had been devoured and fused by that mysterious power.
The result was a completely new talent.
A talent that felt… powerful, yet hard to grasp.
---
Walking Fate
Fate has opened three doors for you: one to the past, one to the present, and one to the future.
Trait 1:
By touching a target, you may capture their current fate and form it into a card.
You may also use this card as a spiritual medium for curses or other spellcasting.
Trait 2:
By merging with the Spirit Medium talent, you may weave a target's soul into a spirit card, sealing a spell within it.
Trait 3:
No one can see the true form of your spirit.
Trait 4:
You are immune to divination and fate-based spells.
You cannot be detected by tracking or detection magic.
Trait 5:
Soul-targeting effects such as oath backlash, curses, or possession are automatically redirected into your Wraith Ring until its stored resentment is depleted.
Trait 6:
You can faintly sense the flow of your own destiny.
---
Charles studied the panel in silence.
He had already experimented with capturing fate earlier.
The spirit card ability was new, though. As he read the description, the method of using it naturally surfaced in his mind.
The remaining traits mostly originated from the three disguise spells, though they now seemed more refined.
The ability to resist tracking and detection in particular made him grin slightly.
But when Charles reached Trait 5, the rest of the abilities faded from his attention.
"So it can be charged…"
After pondering for a while, he shifted his gaze to the second talent he had gained from advancement.
---
Lord of the Long Night
Under the veil of night, what you bring is only cold and death.
Trait 1:
Your gaze can freeze a target's body and mind.
The effect depends on the difference in spiritual strength.
Trait 2:
Under the cover of night, you may cast necromantic resurrection spells instantly, without incantations or sigils.
Trait 3:
You can summon the coming of the Long Night.
---
Compared with Walking Fate, this talent had fewer traits.
But that was normal.
The first trait essentially gave him a hidden attack method. Though he didn't know its full strength yet, it was unlikely to be weak.
The second simplified several of his spells.
At the moment, he knew two resurrection spells:
• Bone Resurrection
• Corpse Resurrection
"What exactly does that imply…"
Charles murmured as he looked at the final trait.
"Summon the Long Night?"
His brows furrowed.
He suddenly remembered the drawback of his Child of the Sun talent—the inability for undead to approach him.
And now he possessed a power perfectly compatible with it.
"Fate…"
He repeated the word thoughtfully.
It was hard not to connect these developments together.
How had these changes happened?
The first thing that came to mind was that card.
When he advanced in the Church's ritual space, what he obtained in the end had not been the Sun God's Flaming Medal.
Instead—
it had been a gold-edged card.
"So… a fate card?"
"Why was I the one who activated it? Because of that thread of fate?"
"And why did it also bring the Sun God's medal with it?"
The whole matter was like a fog.
Vague.
Impossible to see clearly.
In the end, Charles shook his head.
There was no point dwelling on questions he couldn't answer.
Taking a deep breath, he stood up from the chair.
Leaving the window behind, he gripped the crystal necklace tightly and began calling for the Gate of Traversal in his mind.
Testing his talents.
Learning new spells.
And most importantly—
obtaining World Reality.
All of it required entering the world beyond the gate.
And Charles had already waited long enough.