Rising Pond pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation and said in defeat, "We need to talk about your next test. A fight?"
Eiran came to a sudden halt. "A WHAT?" he shrieked.
His shout resonated with her blood, and she quickly explained, "I know you are strong, but it's a rule that any new candidate must prove himself before other candidates. At least replicate what one of them did or surpass it."
"But I'm weak!" Eiran shouted. His sudden burst had forced his mind to process faster, which brought some fatigue to his body. "I'm hungry too. Any food?" He went and sat down below the stone, resting his back against it.
"Food will be brought shortly," she said as she came close. 'It's like I'm dealing with a very small boy.'
She knelt gently before him, her long sleeveless gown spreading on the floor—something she used to hide her misaligned body.
"At the beginning of the night, the arena will open. I need to prepare you!" she said gently. "You might be competing with each other, but there is a need for cooperation among yourselves."
"I'm hungry. I can't think of anything now!" Eiran said. He was trying to have hyper-focus, but his stomach was fighting him back. Being a baby was great—others would time his meals, and that's how it should be now too.
"Let me accelerate the food delivery!" She brought out a communication device and sent some messages.
Minutes later, some food flew into the chamber. "Please sit on the stone!" she pleaded, and Eiran did.
She arranged two plates before him and began to serve him. He recognized some dishes but not others. His nose twisted at some, and some brought no reaction.
"I don't like this and this and this!" He went on to remove most of them and proceeded to grab the rest with his hands, pushing them into his mouth and swallowing, which stuck in his throat. Lack of oxygen made his face pale.
She gently tapped his back and the food passed through. "You need to chew. And why are you using your hands? Use the spoons. You didn't even wash your hands..." Frustration laced her tone.
Eiran became thoughtful. Scenes of grown-ups eating came to his mind, and he looked at both hands, which were filled with stew. They looked messy.
"Feed me!" he said. He folded his hands, closed his eyes, and opened his mouth.
Rising Pond stared at the boy in surprise. "Feed you? That's not part of my job. What are you going to ask me to do next, bathe you?"
"Of course you will bathe me!" Eiran said in a serious tone. That was his truth.
"Haha!" She laughed and made some clapping gestures without sound—a tribal indication of hilarious and surprising events. "You are lazy, I see."
"Well, I never did anything by myself. People do it for me!" he said innocently. Eiran could learn, but the child in him didn't find it important enough to bother with that.
"I will feed you, but you will listen as I explain. Okay!" Rising Pond was trained specifically to cater to brats like this. She was ready for some unreasonable demands and behavior.
"But I will not bathe a grown-up brat. That's too much!"
"Grown-up!" Eiran exclaimed, and he checked his body again. "Oh. I forgot. Haha."
His reaction now made her confused, but she proceeded to take a spoon and feed him. He watched her movements to learn. As a grown-up, he should learn.
With a towel, he cleaned his hands and then pulled out the book he had read about talent categories.
"What talent do you have?" Eiran asked curiously.
"Never ask someone their talent. But you can ask about their category."
Eiran could deduce why, but she continued to say, "My Talent is Rising Pond."
"Isn't that your name?" Eiran asked.
"Yes. I thought you knew the basics. Chamberlains introduce themselves with their talent."
"I didn't know about this competition until just yesterday."
"Oh." She stepped back as she stared at the boy before her and asked, "Weren't you trained since birth for this?"
Eiran stared back with an innocent smile. He looked big now, but he was actually a baby. "Haha!" He giggled at her. His deception worked well.
She sighed and shook her head, continuing to feed him. Knowing her job had just gotten harder with an ignorant candidate, she proceeded to explain her talent—something he needed to know according to the rules.
Rising Pond was an unusual talent that grew unlike other talents—it evolved continuously. When she awakened six years ago, the name of the talent was Little Puddle with B Rank Potential.
After rigorous training, it evolved into A Rank: Rising Puddle. Then it evolved again into S Rank: Pond, and now it was Rising Pond at SS Rank Potential.
"You are elemental. Controlling water?" Eiran asked as he read about the categories from the book.
"It's a misleading name indeed, but it's under Power. The puddle to pond indicates my power level. Rising indicates I'm at a stage of passive growth, and if I push myself, I can reach unimaginable levels!"
Learning more about subcategories, Eiran was curious about her. He didn't get to ask, so she answered, "More Scripture Power than Symbolic Power. My Beastial and Sculpture are on the weaker side!"
The way she explained confirmed that those under Power touched upon each category, but one or two would be higher than the rest. But one new name was introduced.
"Scripture?"
"Ah. Yeah. It's something that our family discovered. Usually, evolving talents like mine fall under it." She became thoughtful—perhaps not easy to explain.
"It's like Sculpture, but the mindset is sharpened toward devotion to a person, objects, or a cause."
"That sounds like Symbolic," Eiran said.
"Yes. Symbolic has conviction to become something or to surpass something. They also have freedom to change mindset without problems. Scripture is like devoting to a cause, and in doubt, it reflects on what you can do. In confusion, our power falters, and if the cause we pursue turns out to be false, we lose great amounts of what we built."
"Sounds like restrictions?" Eiran commented, staring at her.
"Yes. But we have some perks too. Limitations always bring out certain benefits." She explained. Eiran nodded. The grown-up body he had now came with blood creation limitations.
"Number one perk is, we are best at training Powers. We can help Sculptors, we can aid Symbolics, we can enhance Bloom, we can detect Chosen ones. And we can reason with Beastials."
"You are hired!" Eiran said, amazed by what she could do. This made her smile, knowing that was his way of saying she was amazing.
"But who has more raw strength between the categories?"
"Good old question." She chuckled gently as she pushed a spoon filled with food into his mouth. His gaze, though, was on the book. "I will say Sculptures. Because they aren't limited by some symbols they can surpass. Their training is slow, but once they grasp their core, they become unstoppable. What makes them also terrifying is their precision and mindset."
Eiran expected it would be Symbolic or Chosen One.
"However, the truth is it all comes down to how far one pushes themselves and how they apply it. Power is the hardest talent to develop while being very easy at the beginning."
Eiran gazed at the Enhancer category. "What is the fight all about?"
The explanation was simple—just to prove oneself and reveal some talent abilities.
SSS Rank Potential
Talent: Celestial Blood
Borne Traits: Essence Vessels
Brand Skill: Healing
Brand Bind: Forge Form
—Bind Link: Small Palace
Brand Skill: Blooming [A temporary enlargement of the body brought from Forge Form and Bloom for effective utilization of physique.]
It was not stated here, but he needed to consume Celestial Blood Essence to achieve the sudden growth. Also, at this moment, he couldn't conjure blood outside his body.
Another limitation was he would easily get hungry.
Now that his stomach was full, Eiran was thinking of pushing forward for the next preparation, which would be the spearhead of what he would show the world.
He looked at Rising Pond and asked, "What is your real name?"
"Nyara Dume from Dume Clan of Peace Alliance," she said proudly.
"Nyara is a beautiful name." Eiran smiled and said, "I have never fought in my life. But I'm a fast learner. Can you help me train a little?"
"You don't know who Dume Clan is, right?" She sighed, disappointed at his zero reaction to her clan name.
"Are they popular? Haha!" He giggled. "Treat me like someone who knows nothing about the world."
"Fine. Training is one of my specialties, Prince Eiran. What do you want to learn?"
Eiran shrugged. "I don't know. Never fought in my life."
Nyara sighed, her shoulders slumping down as she stared at the boy. She almost didn't know where to begin.
"Do you want a weapon, or will you be using your talent?"
"I'm like Power and Enhancer for now!" Eiran said.
"Ah. That makes things easier. Do you blast force or energy?"
"None!"
"Then it's not ideal to use fists. You need a weapon. What type of weapon do you like?"
"I don't know!"
"Alright. Show me what you can do first." She needed something to base her coaching on.
Eiran was thoughtful before he said, "Let me create it then!"
She facepalmed. Things were getting harder by the moment, but she was enjoying it.