As soon as the light faded, Michael found himself back at the church, staring at the statue of the Goddess he just had a conversation with.
A golden aura suddenly came down from the domed ceiling above and shot a ray down toward Michael’s feet.
The priest, upon seeing this, felt his hair stand up on end. His eyes widened, but even that couldn’t express the surprise in his heart.
Whenever a kid underwent their Talent Awakening, a ray of light would always come down towards the child and give an indication of what talent they awakened.
He was used to seeing a dim red light, indicating a fighting talent, a blue light indicating a talent for magic, or a green ray to show a talent for production.
However, he had never seen a golden ray of light before. He almost couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Golden…golden! That’s the rumored…Supreme Talent!” the priest declared, his voice trailing off from surprise. “Your son has a Supreme Skill!”
Lylia and Bart gasped. His mother expressed surprise, but she wasn’t shocked. It was as if her greatest wish had been fulfilled. Bart, on the other hand, couldn’t close his jaws after hearing the priest confirm the world-breaking talent awakening.
“I knew it!” Lylia immediately grasped her son into a tight hug. “My son is a genius!”
“Do we know what kind of Supreme Skill it is?” Bart asked the priest calmly, with his tapping feet betraying his true excitement.
Everyone looked at Michael, who simply shrugged his shoulders and uttered the truth.
“My talent is called Harbinger of the Future, the Supreme Skill: Gift Bestowal.”
Everyone looked at the priest for some kind of explanation, but the man was none the wiser. After all, the world had only seen ten people with Supreme Skills, and all of their wielders were extremely secretive about their true powers.
And even then, Michael’s Supreme Skill could be completely different from the other Supreme Skills.
“We don’t know the true extent of that Supreme Skill, only the Goddess knows that. Michael will have to discover it by himself,” the priest explained.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s a Supreme Skill! I’m sure that it would only propel my son into heights greater than the world!” Lylia gushed. She couldn’t help but smother Michael with love as she tried to reign in her excitement. All her bragging about her son’s genius was vindicated at last.
“Son, if you need any help. Any at all. You can come to us at any time,” Bart said, ruffling his hair.
But Bart noticed that Michael wasn’t as excited as he should be after getting such an amazing talent. His son seemed troubled.
“What’s wrong,” he asked Michael.
“There is one thing that I need help with, Dad,” Michael said to his parents. “The Goddess told me that a plague would come to Kingsbridge unless the problem with the river Dames is fixed.”
Bart, Lylia, and the Priest all looked at Michael with a strange expression.
“Son, you…you spoke to the Goddess?” Bart’s said, with a mix of worry and surprise.
“That’s impossible,” denied the priest. “Us mortals are not worthy enough to speak to the Goddess. All kids who undergo their Talent Awakening recall different things from their childhood. You must have been dreaming.”
“It’s true. I spoke to her,” Michael said with a straight face.
And just as the priest was about to lecture Michael about how bad it was to lie about such things, the candles placed on the walls were suddenly extinguished by a non-existent gust of wind, covering the entire place black.
After a few seconds of pure darkness, flames re-emerged from the wicks, enlightening the church interior.
The priest opened and closed his mouth, unable to bring any words out of his tongue.
And before he could explain it as nothing but a coincidence, a loud CRASH came from a thunderous roar of lighting in the heavens.
If that wasn’t a sign from God, then what is?
“Ha..haha….I guess things are different when a kid is given a Supreme Talent, hahaha…I gotta go!”
The priest immediately bid goodbye and imprisoned himself in his quarters. He wanted to spend the entire week praying to the Goddess for forgiveness.
If Michael was special enough to receive a Supreme Talent, then it should have been obvious that he was favored by the Goddess. The priest forgot that and almost offended the kid.
Back to Michael and his family, Bart questioned his son about this supposed plague.
“Are you sure about this, Michael? A plague?”
Michael nodded. “Yes. Disease spreads because people are drinking water from the polluted River Dames full of human waste.”
“But the Mages make sure that the river water is clean. They always filter the water for any waste.”
They probably don’t know about microscopic diseases, Michael though. Even if the entire river is boiled, it won’t be sanitized to drink.
“It’s not enough,” he said. “We need to build a sewer system.”
Bart’s eyebrows lifted, curious as to what his son was cooking up this time. “Is that the same thing as the one you installed in our home?”
“Yes,” he replied. “Here’s my plan…”
Michael raised his hand and cast a simple 2-star spell called [Rock Bend].
Stone particles emerged from the Earth mana stored in Michael’s cores, and floated on top of his hand. Slowly, these rock particles molded themselves into a miniature figure of the River Dames, the bridge that crossed it, and even the buildings surrounding the river.
Michael’s proficiency in his magic spells reached enough mastery to allow him to command the stones to recreate Kingsbridge City with accurate representation.
With a simple 1-star [Water Ball] spell, he showed how the sewer system would work in the River Dames, and how everything connected throughout the City.
Bart’s eyes showed surprise and astonishment at the ingenuity of his son’s plan. If this worked as Michael planned it to be, then it would negate the need for Mages to cleanse the river every week.
There could even be a time when people could swim in the river!
“This…this is brilliant!” Bart uttered in complete amazement.
“Oh, my dear Michael is so talented yet so kind-hearted! You’re the perfect boy!” Lylia hugged him again.
Where else would anyone find a boy with a Supreme Skill, a genius mind, and a kind heart but her son?