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Chapter 20: Chapter 20- Abnormal On Abnormal

Talon noticed that change in her expression and could only ask in confusion. "What\'s wrong? Is there something off with my status window?"

"Something off?" Acrypha finally raised her eyes and stared at Talon. "This... Do you even understand what this is?"

"How would I understand?"

Acrypha rubbed her forehead as she closed her eyes. Her mind was in complete shambles at that moment. She didn\'t know what to think or do except for simply standing there.

\'I knew that he was special... But this... This is far more than I expected... This not something that should exist!\' She thought to herself.

The first abnormal thing Acrypha noticed was obviously the Aetheris stat which was standing at a ridiculous 95 points. That was almost 10 times the normal amount a new ranker should have. In her entire life, she had met many geniuses and prodigies that would shake the Core Dimension itself, and none of them had this high Aetheris at the start.

\'Why... What makes his body so naturally compatible with Aetheris? No, far from being compatible. It\'s as if he\'s blended with it.\' She thought to herself.

Aetheris is a natural energy that exists in every dimension that gets linked to the Core Dimension. It\'s the sole way someone can activate their skills and it\'s also a crucial part of potion-making, blacksmithing, and even enchantments at the highest level.

Someone with this high amount of Aetheris would be a treasure so enticing that every single powerhouse in the Core Dimension would be frothing their mouths wanting to take them.

Yet, it doesn\'t end at that.

\'His main skill... What is even this?\' She asked herself.

\'Dimension Harvester\'. She read the name again and again trying to remember if she heard it before and yet she failed. Almost 99% of all skills in existence have been documented. They were the common skills that the majority of creatures get when they are connected with the Core Dimension. They are called \'Common Skills\'. The 1% left are called \'Special Skills\' and they are skills that are unique and have never been seen before which makes them even more precious.

However, even the Special Skills fall under one of the categories that the common skills are found under. However, no matter how much Acrypha tried to categorize this skill, she failed. It was just too unique.

\'To be able to connect with other Dimensions and take knowledge from alternate versions of himself... How absurd is that? Even at a base level, it\'s already monstrously strong.\'

Acrypha remembered how Talon was able to beat that level 5 Dimension Walker even though he was clearly losing. Just two single moves were able to kill it, simply because he activated this skill.

\'If he develops it... I don\'t even know what could happen...\' Her eyes wandered to the confused Talon. Everything she assumed about Talon changed and even the light she looked at him through shifted.

This normal human... This average university student... He was far from average...

"Acrypha?"

"Huh? Ah." Realizing that she had been staring at him for too long, Acrypha inhaled a deep breath before she looked at him.

"Listen to me, Talon. No matter what happens now or in the future. You have to promise me one thing." She said in a very serious tone which made even Talon instinctively straighten his posture.

"What? You\'re scaring me with that look."

"Never show anyone your status window, no matter what. If you don\'t want to end up dead or in a far worse position. Never ever even entertain the thought of showing anyone your status window unless I\'m aware of it at least." She said.

"Why? What\'s wrong?" Talon asked as he tried to understand what was going on. Acrypha\'s grave tone really terrified him. He was talking to someone inconceivably stronger than him.

He was sure that Acrypha had seen more abnormal things in her life than he could even come to understand and yet that same girl was telling him that he would be in danger if showed his status window to anyone. Naturally, he felt scared.

"You don\'t have to think about it. Just follow what I said and you\'re going to be fine."

"... Again with that?" Sighing, Talon gave up on persuading the beauty to tell him. He knew how stubborn Acrypha was.

"Ah, fine, I will do what you said. I don\'t want anything bad to happen to me. Sounds good?"

"Good."

"I will start training then," Talon said as he turned around and carried his spear toward the exit of the warehouse.

Acrypha watched him from the back with a complicated gaze. No one knew what was going through her mind at that moment specifically.

\'You\'re too much of a treasure, Talon... Almost too enticing... The wrong eyes might fall on you. I will have to protect you no matter what.\' She thought to herself.

If she wanted to reach her goals. If she wanted to go back \'there\' and get what she wanted then Talon was going to be her ticket. He was the fuel that would flare the flame of her dream.

***

Outside, the weather was very cold. Abnormally cold in fact. Although it was the middle of the summer, it was still as if they were living in Antarctica. Talon shivered slightly from the cold but didn\'t really feel too frozen.

"I wonder if this is the effect of my stats... My body is resisting the cold a little better." He said as small clouds of steam came out of his mouth.

"Yes, it is. With time, your body will start being immune to weather in general." Acrypha confirmed his suspicion.

"Good."

The night was very dark and the stars were nowhere to be seen. However, Talon could still see because of the light coming from the huge gate. Its glowing center was ominously pulsating and ringing.

Using it as his guiding path, he started jogging around the warehouse to warm up.

\'It\'s good to train in such a cold weather... Makes me warm.\' He thought to himself.

After a few minutes of running, Talon finally stopped and started stretching his limbs.

"Ok, now let\'s begin." He murmured as he grabbed his spear and aimed it forward. His eyes sharpened as his mind recalled all the knowledge he gained after leveling up his spearmanship to level 2.

Although that increase helped him a lot. He still felt sluggish and awkward when using the spear. Perhaps because even though he had the knowledge, he still lacked actual practice in real life.

That\'s why, he wanted to cut that gap between his knowledge and what his body can actually perform.

Taking a deep breath, Talon closed his eyes for a moment to calm his thoughts and his heart. His body naturally took a fighting stance. Then, suddenly, he moved. Using his arms as he saw in his head, he stepped forward with one step as he slashed down.

The veins on his arms flexed for a moment as he groaned loudly.

*Swish*

The spear made a line in the air as it stopped as it almost made contact with the ground. Looking down, he shook his head with a serious expression.

"No..."

Walking back, he took position again as he slashed forward. However, he shook his head again.

For the next 20 minutes, Talon kept repeating the same move again and again and shaking his head in disappointment as he repeated. He was certainly getting better, but the improvement was so slow and miniscule each time that it might as well be ignored.

\'I know what I have to do but my body refuses to do what I want.\' He thought to himself.

Acrypha watched silently as Talon continued doing the same thing. After a while, she finally spoke.

"You aren\'t really putting your whole body into applying what\'s in your head." She commented.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You\'re only focusing on two things, your feet and your arms. Did you take into consideration the other body parts that get into doing the perfect spear slash?" She asked.

"..." Her words struck Talon\'s brain as he realized what she meant. Indeed, he was making that mistake.

He focused on the main aspects of the move and forgot to actually look at everything else. Closing his eyes for a second, he imagined the slash in his head as vividly as he could, noting down every small detail he could see and making sure to memorize them.

Then, he finally stood in his position again and focused.

*Swish*

He slashed forward swiftly and the result was... a failure.

Talon\'s feet slipped and he ended up falling to the ground.

"Ouch." Standing up slowly, Talon fell into deep thought, ignoring the whole fall as if it were nothing. Never in his mind did it occur to him that realizing what he was doing wrong meant that he could fix it instantly. There was still the whole part of actually learning how to integrate the correct moves.

\'I felt it there... I was closer to a better slash than before. I\'m on the right path.\'

Acrypha noticed the look in his eyes and a faint smile appeared on her face. His eyes were completely focused, not caring about anything else except for learning and perfecting the single task he had to perform.

\'Yeah, that look. That\'s what you should have, human.\' Her eyes flared with excitement.

Perhaps, at that moment, she was witnessing the birth of a monster that would take every Dimension by storm. A monster that was yet to awaken truly, but was slowly hatching from its egg.