⟦A▮▮▮▮r▮▮▮ o▮ Origin: Immutable⟧

Adrian stared at the broken letters that had appeared on the shard’s reflective surface.

’This...’

He turned to Sir Joran, intending to ask about the strange letters, but Sir Joran answered before he could even speak.

"I know what you want to ask. Sadly, I have no answer to give you. Much like how it is with the visions, these letters appear this way no matter whose ability it reveals. And we don’t know why that happens or what the original words were supposed to be."

Adrian closed his mouth as his brow furrowed.

’This is getting strange.’

Origin abilities seem to be shrouded in a lot of mysteries. And he did not like mysteries because they meant uncertainty, which made him uneasy.

He stared at the broken letters, trying to guess what the original words were supposed to be. But after a few moments, he simply sighed and turned away. That was pointless as well.

Not because he couldn’t guess the original words, but because he had too many guesses. There were a lot of words that could fit there, words with different meanings and different implications.

So it was better for him not to speculate instead of poisoning his own mind with paranoia.

’Well, now what?’

He got the name of his ability, which was supposedly Immutable, but that alone didn’t tell him anything about his ability itself.

"Sir Joran, the shard did reveal the name of my ability, but how will I know its nature with the name alone?"

Sir Joran smiled as he lifted the thick book in his hand and began shaking it in front of Adrian’s face.

"This is going to help with that."

Adrian tilted his head.

"Is this book also a fragment relic?"

The burly knight simply shook his head.

"Not really."

’Then?’

As if understanding his confusion, Sir Joran began explaining.

"You see, Origin abilities tend to reappear in the world after their original bearer dies. Which means the ability you awaken, others may also have awakened it in the past. So the imperial family made a law that one must document their experiences related to their Origin ability. And all those experiences are compiled into a single book."

He stopped shaking the book and pointed at it.

"This is the book, we call it the Compendium of Origin. A new volume comes out every generation, and this is the one that was only recently released."

Adrian took a better look at the book.

’I see...’

This was not what he was expecting. He thought that Origin abilities were something unique to an individual, but it seems that wasn’t the case. The empire’s law made it so that the understanding of an ability could be passed down through the generations.

This will help ‌future bearers better understand the nature of the ability they awakened by borrowing the experiences of its past bearers.

More than that, his explanation reminded him of a memory, a piece of information he had obtained five years ago from his sister.

’The power of immortality has finally reappeared.’

If it was what he was thinking, then...

"Sir Joran," He asked, "Is there an Origin ability that makes one immortal?"

The burly knight’s easy smile widened.

"So you have also heard the rumours, huh? Yes, apparently so. Though it isn’t recorded in the compendium. The power of immortality was mentioned in legends about a supposed immortal who existed far in the past. Most believed it to be nothing more than made-up stories. Well, that was only until the power actually reappeared."

He let out a light chuckle.

"To tell you the truth, I was also among such people. I used to think that it was made-up nonsense, oh, how wrong I was."

Adrian didn’t know what to say.

’Is that... even fair?’

Someone just happened to awaken a broken power like immortality? Without even working for it? How was that fair?

Well, the world had never been fair. And nothing would change even if he complained about it, so he could only sigh.

Seemingly not knowing what was going through his mind, Sir Joran leaned in and opened the book.

"Young Master Adrian, are you ready to learn about the ability you have awakened?"

Those words brought him out of his thoughts. He quietly turned to Sir Joran.

"Hmm, let’s see," Sir Joran’s eyes scanned through the contents as he slowly turned each page. "Immutable... Immutable... Hmm... Ah! Found it! It looks like two other people have awakened this ability in the past."

Adrian leaned in, wanting to listen further.

"The first person to awaken it was a merchant. Uh? There’s not much from him... He awakened this ability during his early thirties, and two years later, he was sentenced to death by hanging for... misrepresenting himself as a member of the royal family? Seriously, what kind of lunatic would do that?"

Sir Joran’s expression was utterly bemused.

"Oh! There’s more here. Wait, it was added by someone else? Apparently, when he was being hanged to his death, the merchant barely reacted. There was no sign of fear or anger on his face. Until the moment life faded from his eyes, his face was utterly expressionless."

Adrian frowned.

’Is that something you’re supposed to read to a child? Huh, it feels pointless by now.’

Describing how someone was hanged to their death and how life faded from their eyes was something that would even make some adults uncomfortable, yet Sir Joran had read it to Adrian as if it wasn’t anything significant.

Well, he had become almost numb to their strange treatment of him by this point.

Meanwhile, Sir Joran continued.

"The second person who awakened this ability was a legion commander of the imperial army. He mentions that he had awakened his Origin ability while he was in a life-or-death battle with an enemy soldier. After awakening this ability, any mental attack spell or something that had to do with minds simply stopped working on him."

Adrian’s frown deepened.

"It helped him greatly during the war." Sir Joran continued. "He was able to retire safely with a significant amount of merit. He also mentioned that his mind remained clear even when he felt extreme pain or shock."

Sir Joran turned the page, focusing on the letters.

"After retiring, he married his childhood friend after meeting her again and realising his feelings." He paused.

"...But since the moment he realised his feelings, things turned strange. His childhood friend’s face began appearing different in his eyes. Sometimes, her face appeared as that of a monster, while sometimes, her face looked the same as the faces of people he had hated. He felt as though something was intentionally trying to make him hate her."

Sir Joran’s expression began twisting in discomfort.

"Yet he didn’t give up and decided to marry her. But when he woke up after spending their first night together, he saw someone else lying beside him. It was an enemy soldier who had killed several of his comrades during the war. Only half-awake, he acted instinctively and broke the enemy soldier’s neck. But then, the soldier’s face suddenly changed."

He paused once again. But this time, the pause was much longer.

"...It was actually his childhood friend–now his wife–whom he loved. He had broken her neck and killed her after mistaking her for an enemy soldier. Unable to handle the weight of those actions, he killed himself three days later."

Sir Joran glanced at Adrian briefly.

"...There is a note here, too. Apparently, when the man’s body was found, his face was utterly expressionless..."

Sir Joran raised his head, facing Adrian quietly. He, too, stared back without speaking.

In the now silent room, time continued to pass as both of them remained motionless. But that was not the end. Adrian could see that there was one more passage on the page. Sir Joran must’ve known that too.

After a long stretch of silence, Sir Joran began reading the final part.

"This is the conclusion about the ability. It seems like a power that makes one completely immune to mental disturbances. It matters not if that disturbance was caused by a spell, pain, or emotion; it suppresses everything and keeps the mind stable and calm."

Sir Joran released a breath.

"...And it seems to be able to interfere with the bearer’s mind to fulfil the ability’s function."

After speaking that last part, the burly knight went completely silent.

Adrian was silent as well, though his thoughts weren’t. He pressed his temples with both hands as he let out a heavy sigh.

’I really don’t know whether to be thankful for this ability or simply curse it.’

Basically, it did nothing more than make him immune to mental instability and was essentially useless to him since he needed a more... tangible power. Essentially, this Origin ability was useless to Adrian.

But on the other hand, he had survived the life-threatening incident moments ago because of this ability. He remembered how his mind no longer felt chaotic during the last moments, which allowed him to close the door to the dimension.

He just happened to awaken one of the few powers that could’ve saved him in that situation. More than that, although the ability was flawed since it suppressed a person’s emotions, Adrian had never been a very emotional person to begin with, so that flaw was not very crippling for him.

On one hand, he awakened a useless ability with a big flaw. On the other hand, he was saved by the ability and would not pay the price someone else would’ve paid if they were the one to awaken Immutable.

’More importantly, I finally understand why I suddenly saw the vision related to the memories of my past life.’

It was almost certainly caused by this ability.