Above Your Head

Vol 2. Chapter 12: Talent Identification (5)

Fwoooosh!!

'What!?"

One of the flames ignited with a fierce momentum. For a moment, its size was almost comparable to a torch.

"I command you in the name of the agent. Smother!!"

Along with a loud shout, the sound of cracking glass resounded and everything in the surroundings was grayed out. It was the power to silence everything in the vicinity. However, the candle was not affected in the slightest, continuing to burn while showing off its distinct presence without care.

Fwoo!

As the candle reduced to half its size almost instantaneously, the dizzying scent of apple filled the entire room. I stood still while observing the flames.

"It's the lowest color. Red."

"No, this is… This is."

Yul frowned as he collected his breathing.

"This is something different. Even if it is red, the size of it is…"

Pat!

The color of the flame changed in an instant. Orange. Yul's face turned pale.

"The color… changed? There's a change in the middle of the verification?"

However, the color of the candle kept changing without caring about his reaction. Yellow, green, blue. Navy, blue, and finally.

"What color is this? White? No, should I say it's silver?"

"You, you, what is…"

"Ah, it's changing again. Is it gold this time around?"

I was fascinated that the color kept on morphing, but that was it.

Pat!

The candle snuffed out. After growing to an enormous size, the flame had burnt through the entire candle, including the wick. Only the scattered wax over the table was remaining of the candle.

"Hmm, was that the candle of divine power?"

I was not surprised. There was no reason to be. Assuming that the function of this candle was to read divine aptitude, divine aptitude was clearly defined as the level of talent required to control divine power and the compatibility to act as a god's vessel.

'Normally, the talent that this candle assesses is the spiritual gift that allows one to embrace the power of a God. But…'

But didn't I possess a high-rank Divine Spirit and a low-rank Status of God? I would naturally smash apart anything that attempted to gauge my ability to channel divine power. I quickly lost interest in the natural results and looked at the next candle before praying.

Psssh…

Psh!

"Oh, I knew it. I didn't think these two would work."

The candles of mana and qi did not burst into flames. Perhaps I was not fated to use magic or martial arts. Fortunately, the next prayer was effective.

Pat! Pat!

"Power of communion is green, the same as my physical strength… My spiritual power is at purple?"

I organized my thoughts. The Shin-Ma-Qi-Yoong-Eung-Chae could assess six different types of talents. Considering that I shouldn't train my strongest talent, divine power, my talents belonged to physical abilities and communion, which were green-grade, and spiritual power, which was purple.

"You."

After testing all the candles, I turned towards Yul. He was emitting gray energy from his entire body, and he looked pale as if he had lost all of his composure.

"Are you all right?"

"What are… you?"

From looking at his face, it seemed useless to feign ignorance or say that the candles seemed to be broken. I couldn't ask him the same question, pretending to be as confused as he was. I had no motivation to act like that either.

"A high school student."

"No, it's-!"

Yul tried to argue with an expression of absurdity, but I cut him off.

"I was born normal and lived as an ordinary student for tens of years."

I was telling him facts. The only thing that was different about me was that I had a unique ability since I was young, and that I went out into space this spring and became an emperor of an empire.

"If there's anything unusual, it's probably flowing in my blood."

This was a fact as well. I was aware that I didn't possess my current powers because I burnt with desire for them. They were only an inheritance of my biological father, Dekarma, the machine god, the one who had fallen from his throne of civilization and information.

"But how could the blood of the Great Witch possess divine power?"

Yul suddenly stopped talking. His face hardened, frowned, then turned pale again. His thin, black eyes widened and thinned repeated for an entire minute. Finally coming back to his senses, Yul spoke with an understanding expression.

"I see. I see. That must be it. Masterman wasn't human after all."

"…What?"

"Yes! That must be it! He wasn't human! Even if every investigation, every theory pointed to him being an ordinary human, his extraordinary prowess could not possibly exist if he was just a simple human. Yes! In the first place, it didn't make sense that the Progenitor God would fall for a normal human. Yes! So that's why…"

Yul kept muttering under his breath while pacing around the room like a madman. I realized that he knew of my father.

'No, dad. You said you were a normal person. Why are you famous here?'

It was quite strange and absurd, but that was the kind of person my father originally was. He was a person who shone brightly no matter where he was. A perfect person. No matter who you were, you could not underestimate my father. Just because he could not use any abilities, my father could not be underrated. The human named Kwan Il-han was extraordinary.

'Well, I guess that's why he is the Human Representative.'

I smirked while thinking back to one of my father's ridiculous title. Yul came back towards me in the meanwhile. The confusion of the situation seemed to have subsided to some extent.

"Phew… Sorry you had to see something so unsightly. It was just so unexpected."

He smiled bitterly and glanced down at the table. The wax-filled, messy table quickly became clean like magic.

"Is this the end of the selection process?"

"Of course not. Candles only give us an indication of your talent in the respective areas. For example, even if you have a talent for magical power, you can't be a wizard without sufficient intelligence. If you have high intelligence but aren't gifted with spiritual power, you can't become a sorcerer. There are uncountable variabilities when it comes to the process of selecting. Even if one is born with a very high level of divine power, if they are an atheist who lacks faith, they might be better off learning summoning magic than becoming a priest."

I pondered for a moment at his words before speaking.

"What would be suitable for me if we rule out the divine power?"

"Well, it's hard to offer a guide for divine power because no one has ever shown talent beyond the seven colors in the past before, so… Okay. The first things that come into mind are summoners and elemental summoners. With spiritual power and communion, you could use your powers to call an existence from the outer world and make a contract with them. If you are able to maximize your talent for spiritual power, you could aim to train your auras. If you are able to train your communion, you could aim for channeling. Moreover…"

"Hooh."

I whistled at the systematic, but numerous options. Genie and Ares also seemed amazed as they listened to the choices.

This is almost the same variety as the Empire. To think that a backwater planet like this would…

This is beyond the level of a planet with such a short history, especially with the surface world and the parallel divided completely. I think that Great Wizard must have accessed the Akashic Records.

But I don't understand why the Progenitor God would allow a download of this scale, even spreading the information to a lot of people.

They were mumbling amongst themselves, but I tuned them out and stared at Yul.

"Among them, are there any abilities that Yul-nim could teach me?"

"Selectors do not teach. Creating a new force would undermine the fundamental value of selectors. Instead."

"Instead?"

Yul put his hand on the back of my palm.

Woong!

With a light echo, a David's Star was engraved on the back of my hand.

"This is?"

"It is a type of license. It works as ID as well. Dae-ha-nim may not know, but the pattern contains quite a lot of information."

Yul seemed a little smug as he bragged about the mark. I looked down at the back of my left hand. The David's Star had a blurry texture as if it were painted with pastel. There was a purple glow on the fourth vortex, a green glow on the fifth and sixth vertices, and the number 27 was written in the middle.

'Is it proof of talent?'

I was glad that there was no mention of divine power. I wasn't sure if Yul had taken it out on purpose or if it could not be displayed within the confines of the system, but it would cause less trouble for me in the future to have it hidden.

"But are you saying one uses talents as proof and not actual skill?"

"Haha! Of course not. Only selectors and Dae-ha-nim are able to know the colors on the mark. From now on, the colors will also mark the achievements you make in the various fields as well. Of course, even that."

Pat.

Yul tapped the back of my hand, and the star disappeared.

"It will only appear on the surface when you want it to be seen."

I nodded at his kind explanation. Indeed, it was an obvious function when I recalled that no one in the Lee Family openly displayed such a mark on their hands. It would be strange if there weren't any selections in the Lee Family when 470,000 out of the 11 million were selections. It was likely that everyone was hiding it.

"Oh, of course. Dae-ha-nim's star is special even among them."

"Is this special treatment?"

"Yes. I have determined as a selector that you have the potential. You asked me earlier if I could teach you any abilities, right?"

Yul packed up his bag and then stood up. A subtle smile appeared on his face.

"That is my answer."

"……"

"Hahaha! You seem to think I'm talking nonsense. I had almost forgotten because of your calmness, but it seems that you truly are from the surface world."

'I can't believe you're only acting like this after receiving a double-digit star' seemed to be what he was thinking as he laughed vainly, but he soon took on a serious expression.

"Everything must be unfamiliar. To you who lived in the surface world… The parallel world must seem like a mess that can't be understood nor discerned."

It was as he said. Wasn't it only a little while ago when I encountered a bunch of idiots who tried to kill me just because I was being cheeky? For someone who lived in a society where law and order were prevalent, it was hard to understand nor be convinced about the mess of a parallel world, Another Plane.

"An ordinary person…"

Yul looked at me and continued.

"An ordinary person adapts to the new world, but the hero transforms and leads it."

"…Are you asking me to be a hero?"

"I think I can hope."

Yul's eyes narrowed into a gentle smile.

"Please do your best to protect mankind."

Click.

After Yul left, I sat alone in the room for a while. Even though Yul left, no one came to find me. However, I could see court ladies and ability users busily walking around outside. It seemed that something serious was taking place in the Lee Family.

"What am I supposed to do?"

I laughed vainly. I wasn't sure what I was doing in this place. Then suddenly, the back of my hand began to heat up and something appeared in front of my eyes.

- Welcome to the mission system

- Current rating: Tutorial

- Verifying numbers… Confirmed. 27

- Person in charge: Yul

- Currently accessible: Shin. Yoong. Eung. Chae.

"Huh?"

I jumped out of my seat with an involuntary groan at the sudden appearance.

Captain-nim? Is there something wrong?

"No, no… No, this is… Huh? What? This text…"

I became flustered and stuttered. I wasn't surprised just because something appeared in front of my eyes. I had lived a life that was far too rough for the past half a year to be startled by something like that. I was surprised because of something else.

"This is…"

I didn't care about the contents of the text. Rather, what caught my nerves was the color and the transparency of the text, as well as the spacing between the letters and the lines. All of them were all too familiar to me. I wasn't kidding. The format was something I had seen 24 hours a day, all of my life.

"Isn't this mine?"

They were the characters used in the titles I had seen throughout my life.