Unholy Player Chapter 506 Awakening a Bloodline Talent

Have I truly become so transparent?

Adyr maintained a subtle smirk, his composure stable enough to deceive any onlooker, even as a sharp mixture of astonishment and curiosity surged within him.

The way Dalin had characterized him—as if she could peer straight through his facade—was an outcome he hadn't anticipated.

It was undeniable that he was transforming. He sensed it in the minor lapses, the slight hesitations, and the instances where his performance, once flawless and natural, now faltered. He was no longer as skilled at concealing his true nature behind a mask. The effortless charade he once maintained was becoming impossible to sustain.

Nevertheless, he was confident that his newly acquired bloodline ability would compensate for whatever finesse he had lost.

Nihil: What significance does existence hold before the scion of vacuity? No eye possesses the strength to perceive you, and no mind has the breadth to encompass you.

Absence: A shapeless manifestation that defies description or definition; a void existing beyond the grasp of fate and destiny.

He reviewed the details once more. According to his interpretation, this should provide a passive defense against the scrutiny of others, acting as a subtle shroud that blunted the sharp traits people usually detected first.

Was my understanding flawed?

The uncertainty had only just surfaced when his attention was drawn to the figure before him.

Dalin’s expression shifted abruptly. Her gaze widened and her brows arched, as though she were fixated on a phantom screen in the air, interpreting a message visible only to her.

"Did a system notification just pop up?" Adyr asked with a light laugh, deducing the situation from her face.

Judging by her intense reaction and behavior, it was clearly more than a standard talent recognition from the system. It was something far more jarring, catching her too off-guard to mask her shock.

"My Appraisal talent... it has..." Dalin’s bewilderment intensified as she shifted her focus from the empty air back to Adyr. "It has evolved into a bloodline talent."

"Is that so?" Adyr replied, allowing a hint of genuine surprise to color his tone. "You have my congratulations."

"Thank you." Her response was terse and strained. To her, his reaction seemed entirely too casual compared to the storm of emotions brewing in her heart.

Securing a bloodline talent should have been a monumental event, yet Adyr offered nothing but a simple congratulation. He didn't even bother to inquire about its nature, which prickled at her pride.

Realizing he wouldn't ask, she decided to reveal it herself. "The talent is called Omnisight, and its primary ability is Gaze."

Her confusion returned as she knit her brows together. "The description doesn't make the ability's function clear. I suspect I'll have to register it to truly grasp what it does."

She seemed indifferent to speaking the names aloud. Since she couldn't decipher their meaning, she doubted the surrounding STF members—who weren't even Practitioners—would gain anything from eavesdropping.

Adyr, however, knew exactly what those terms signified the moment he heard them.

She unlocked Omnisight through Appraisal? How curious, he mused.

It was the very same talent Adyr had unlocked long ago, though his had originated from the Observer talent, resulting in a different nomenclature.

Upon reflection, the connection became obvious. Both base talents shared the fundamental pillars of observation and evaluation.

In his mind, Adyr revisited the description of the bloodline talent.

Omnisight: You perceive beyond the temporal shroud, where destiny manifests and secrets resonate, wielding a vision that warps the infinite thread.

Gaze: A timeless vision that shreds the veil of time, exposing both hidden potencies and lethal weaknesses, granting the wielder the power to dictate the course of destiny before it even begins.

The fact that Dalin awakened this specific bloodline talent merely by evaluating Adyr’s potential confirmed a theory: identical bloodline talents could be reached through various developmental paths.

Letting his intrigue show, Adyr questioned her further. "Does the description, or any part of the notification, mention it being a Genesis talent?"

He needed to confirm if her talent was a perfect match for his own.

Dalin gave a shake of her head. "No. Why do you ask? Are you familiar with this talent?"

Adyr didn't offer an immediate reply. Instead, he requested a pen and paper from one of the STF personnel and passed them to Dalin. "Write down the descriptions here."

Dalin complied with a nod. She understood the need for discretion; such details were secrets that shouldn't be shared within earshot of ordinary human soldiers.

Once she finished, Adyr took the paper and scanned the text. It was a perfect mirror of his Omnisight talent and Gaze ability, save for the missing Genesis classification.

He returned the note to her.

The moment Dalin’s fingers touched the paper, it spontaneously ignited. The parchment shriveled and disappeared so rapidly that not even a trace of soot remained.

"Well?" she prompted.

She was already certain Adyr possessed knowledge about this bloodline talent. In fact, she began to strongly suspect that he held the power himself. "It is a remarkably potent and practical talent. However, before you register it, ensure your Sense stat is high enough to handle the strain. It needs to be at least 600," Adyr advised, drawing from his own initial encounter with the power.

Gaze was an ability that became permanently active the moment it was registered. It would fragment one's vision into multiple panels, incessantly looping the next ten seconds of the future—a relentless cycle of reality repeating in unforgiving bursts.

To process and adapt to that overwhelming sensory input, the [Sense] stat had to be elevated so the brain could manage the constant stream of data, especially since there was no way to turn it off.

Adyr had relied on his [Resilience] to weather the mental toll, as that stat bolstered both the mind and body. But since Dalin focused primarily on [Sense] and [Physique], focusing on [Sense] was her most viable path.

"I appreciate the advice," Dalin said, her gratitude genuine. She was thankful for the warning and for the fact that she had awakened the talent through her interaction with him.

A score of 600 was a daunting target for her currently, particularly since her points were mostly in [Physique]. Nevertheless, with a bloodline talent now in her possession, her motivation to train and earn more stat points was higher than ever.

As the first among her peers to achieve such an awakening, she finally held a trump card to use against Selina.

"Make sure to recount your experience to the others. It might provide the spark they need to awaken their own," Adyr remarked as he rose. He felt the hoverjet decelerating, signaling their arrival. He waited for the hatch to slide open before spreading his wings and leaping into the air. He began a controlled glide toward the massive, black, monolithic structure that loomed like a giant coffin against the skyline below.

Dalin stood by the open door, watching his retreating form as her crimson hair whipped about in the gale.

She let out a weary breath. "Once again, he drops a bombshell and just walks away like it’s nothing."

The spark of excitement in her eyes had faded, replaced by a look of profound pity.

This was the exact reason she had docked a point from his potential rating: she feared that despite Adyr’s many strengths, he was missing something fundamental.

To Dalin, Adyr seemed hollow, devoid of any sense of what might bring him true fulfillment.

It appeared as though he desired to live, yet had no concept of how to do so, clinging desperately to anything that might prove he was more than a mere vessel that simply existed.

Adyr touched down on the expansive rooftop of the headquarters, under the watchful eyes of numerous STF guards.

Upon seeing him, the soldiers recoiled, startled by his altered appearance. Fortunately, the fact that he arrived via hoverjet and possessed those unmistakable black-and-white wings allowed them to recognize him.

As he headed toward the elevators, he offered a thin smile and a nod, acknowledging the salutes of the men and women on duty.

He inquired with a guard near the lift regarding Henry’s whereabouts. Armed with the location, he entered the elevator and descended to the office level.

He traversed the long hallway with measured strides, returning every salute with the same polite nod and smile, until he reached the entrance of a spacious office. He pushed the door open without bothering to knock.

Two men were waiting inside. One was Henry Bates, and the other was Rhys Graves. Both were standing, clearly expecting his arrival. "You’re going to be the death of me one day, Henry muttered, exhaling sharply as he looked over Adyr’s new form before sinking into his leather chair as if completely drained.