’Alaric’ stopped his musing, then sat up straight, looking at the two individuals in front of him. The aura around him intensified with malice that promised only destruction that would scare even the most hardened of mortal men away. Sadly for him, though, the two in front of him were far from ’ordinary’. The only mortal was 70 meters away and still slowly retreating.

With a malicious grin, he said. "It’s you again, old man." The chill in the air was becoming denser around them.

Tian drew closer, his face forward with his eyes scanning every part of his body. The change in Alaric’s physical form was something that wasn’t present the last time this happened. He looked normal at the time, if not for the malice he was radiating at the time, he would have mistaken him for a normal person.

’I wonder what has happened since the last time that has brought this change. Could it be that every time he gains access to young Alaric’s body, his influence increases, or is it something more intricate than that?’ He thought, still leaning towards the abyss-born while scrutinizing him. ’This could get troublesome in the long run. Thankfully, I don’t think this flaw will last that long at all, and the benefits outweigh the loss by a long shot.’

"It’s me again, sadly. I was hoping I wouldn’t have the misfortune of seeing you again, which would save me a lot of trouble. I guess life is not so simple."

’Alaric’ stared into Tian’s eyes for a second, also analyzing the situation, when his breathing, which had once been calm and steady, suddenly became more erratic. It started from his nose, which twitched slightly, before blood gushed out with great force, staining the surrounding area. Then, blood came from his mouth, then his ears, before his eyes rolled back and bled too. Pools of blood burst out from all his orifices; the amount was a lot more than enough to kill any mortal from blood loss, but the two experts present just stood there and watched, unbothered.

"It will take him a while to recover from that," Oliveria said lightly.

"Indeed, it will. The injuries sustained from what he just did are severe; even with his adaptability and natural regeneration, it should take him up to a few minutes to fully heal. That should teach him to control that gaze of his." He paused before continuing. "After witnessing what just happened, what are your thoughts about this situation?" He asked.

Instead of replying immediately, she continued staring at the young man in front of her. Despite being knocked out cold, he still sat there, his head facing Tian. It was almost instinctual. She carefully observed his condition and saw that, despite being in disarray, they were slowly putting themselves in order and healing. That isn’t quite right; they were not just healing, they were being reinforced, becoming stronger.

This scene made her breathing hitch a little. One of the greatest disappointments about training a mortal to break their physical limits is the inability to strengthen their internal organs. This left them with no choice but to ensure they were in peak health, which the heavens seem to accept without issue, but seeing this...

"He is talented. I believe he is worthy of forming a celestial contract with Eva; his flaw is a danger to us all, but it is also a blessing if we take advantage of it properly. He could be the key to finally defeating those abyss-born creatures. Before long, that flaw would stop being a problem after he broke his mortal limit. This is the first blessed I have seen or heard of that has such a manageable flaw. The heavens must really love him very much."

’That’s the problem, I think the heavenly dao may have plans for him, and this flaw of his is not that simple.’ He thought.

Yes, his flaw was very dangerous, but it was only in the early stages. After a practitioner breaks through their limiter, they would need to sleep less and less. At the peak of the very first realm of cultivation, they do away with the need for sleep entirely. This would mean his flaw would stop being invasive, and he could choose whenever he wants to let his ’darker’ side manifest.

’I don’t trust this; my intuition tells me not to relax. I will need to prepare in advance, just in case.’

Without letting those thoughts out, he replied to her, "I know all that, it is a massive advantage to him, but is it just an advantage to him alone or to the two of them? I fear a situation where he has access to young Alaric’s thoughts and memories. That would be very troublesome."

Her expression turned solemn. She hadn’t thought about that; it would need careful consideration. One reason the human realm has always had the advantage over the abyssals is development. When it comes to raw power, they are far more powerful, but when it comes to skills and profession, even martial arts, this realm is far more advanced than the abyssal realm. It could even be considered a desolate realm. So if an abyssal has access to gain that knowledge, it could even the playing field or even tilt the advantage in their favor.

If this had happened with some talentless practitioner, it wouldn’t be much of a problem, but Alaric was far from talentless. With such a talent to learn things intuitively, he would soon become a vault of knowledge, and if an abyss-born took advantage of that, it would be a disaster for the whole realm.

Seeing her so lost in thought, Tian shook his head. "Let’s not conclude yet. For now, we can only watch and hope that it doesn’t turn out to be so. Besides, if it turns out that way, we would notice before anything significant can happen."

’I really shouldn’t have done that.’ It couldn’t be helped; his curiosity got the better of him, and he metaphorically dipped his hand into hot oil. It was a painful experience, but he would do it again even if he were told what would happen. It was an inevitable event. As one who could adapt to anything, any normalcy to sensing danger has been converted to excitement, because more danger means more power. If it wasn’t strong enough to eradicate him, he would only grow in strength.

Ever since opening his eyes and adapting to his situation, he noticed something about the body he has ascended into. At first, he thought the young human was nothing but an average meat bag, but he soon realized that the boy was very special, no, not just special but very dangerous. His very existence shattered everything he knew about the workings of the heavenly dao, not that it was much to begin with, but still, how could it allow such talent to exist...?

On opening his eyes to this beautiful realm, the first thing he noticed was how vibrant it seemed to him.

He hadn’t been to this realm before, so he just thought that was normal. What was not normal was the range of that perception. Being able to perceive every detail within kilometers of distance, including the smallest of particles and behavioral patterns of atoms, certainly wasn’t normal even for practitioners. The amount of spectrums he could perceive was overwhelming to deal with; if not for his strong mental capacity and adaptation, he would be dizzy just perceiving them.

The most absurd part was the information. Everything around seems to contain information of itself, and I was very eager to feed it to him. Knowledge about everything around started pouring into his head in tidal waves; if he had the mental capacity of a mortal, he would be dead the moment he came to be. Thankfully, that was not the case. How had this mortal boy managed to survive? That just increased the boy’s natural talent in his head, simultaneously increasing his threat level.

’Something is wrong.’ He thought confusedly, ’Am I being influenced?’

He was not usually calm, as an abyssal, he was a being born for destruction and progression, so he was usually not so tame, his blood always boiled for action, and he found it rather difficult to stay in one place, but ever since ascending to this body, he did nothing but think. His usually chaotic emotional state was now suppressed, and he felt smarter.

Abyssals were known for their strength, not their wisdom. He, too, fell in that category. He was proud but not insolent enough to think he was this smart before this, nor did he think he would suddenly be blessed with great wisdom.

’Must be the side effect of this boy’s talent. Anyway, I should be safe for now; I can deduce their thought process from the little I can gather. This boy seems to hold some importance, judging by the way they tolerate my presence,’ he thought carefully. ’Seeing as how my adaptive trait followed me to this body, I can guess what they could be planning. They would use this to make the boy powerful, and since I only seem to manifest when he is unconscious, they could just use me until he doesn’t need sleep anymore. By then, combined with his innate talent and his adapted physique, he would be mad powerful.’

Additionally, his talent doesn’t seem to originate from his eyes. I can practically feel it; even if I pulled out his eyes and crushed them, I would still perceive the world the same. It seems to be embedded in his very nature.’ ’If they want to use me as an advantage, I will use this boy’s talent to my advantage too.’

But first, he has to wait for his healing to finish. He made the mistake of using his information-gathering ability on the old man, and it almost killed him. It was an abominable act for a mortal to use such an ability on a higher lifeform. If it were anyone but him, even the body’s original owner would be dead from that one act.

Earlier, Alaric was spared such suffering by Oliveria, who warned him that, despite appearing harsh, she had saved his life back then.

’I am completely healed now,’ he mentally grinned.