I WAS The Rank–1 Hero

It's been several minutes since Ylthea granted me her full Authority.

I felt a significant surge in my powers. But despite that, something felt off.

Why?

Because a massive screen was hovering right in front of my eyes.

_______________________

『Title: Child of Ylthea』

『Authority: Paradox』

『Stigma: Mark of Ylthea』

『Skill List』

>〘Distortion〙

>〘Elemental View〙

>〘Paradox Invoker〙

>〘Ruler〙

>〘Immortality〙

>〘Appraiser〙

〘More...〙

__________________________

It was transparent, purple in color, with a few words written on it.

Its borders were glowing and fading continuously, sending fluctuating ripples across the screen.

It's similar to that [Skill Monitor] Ruby once gave me.

But that's not my main concern...

The funny thing was— I wasn't even wearing a skill monitor.

Then how?!

Why am I seeing so many familiar skills?

'Heck, even some skills are new!'

I turned to Ylthea, million questions racing through my mind.

Ylthea stood still, tilting her head before speaking.

"Why so shocked? Did something happened?"

Yeah, many things happened!

I patiently collected my thoughts before asking her.

"Goddess Ylthea, what did you do to me?"

Ylthea tilted her head, "I unlocked your full potential."

'That I can see...'

Sigh.. I took a long sigh.

"No... I mean, there's a strange screen floating right in front of me," I said pointing my finger at the screen.

Ylthea chuckled, "Yes, that's one of the perks you get, as my Apostle..."

She explained.

The screen which I was seeing in front of my eyes, was called 'Fate's Interface' created by none other than God of Fate, Kairos.

Apparently, 'He' got this idea from one of his Apostle.

'Heh. That Apostle of 'his', must be a gaming freak.'

This 'Fate's Interface' keeps track of one's skills and achievement, from birth till the day they die.

Truly it's like a Wheel of Fate.

Due to Ylthea unlocking my Authority, I got new skills too:

_________________________

>〘Paradox Invoker〙

>〘Ruler〙

>〘Appraiser〙

_________________________

My [Quantum Manipulation] skill got upgraded to [Paradox Invoker]

And it seems, I even gained two whole new skills.

Not gonna lie, but, this [Paradox Invoker] sounds badass.

There's so much more I can do alone with the help of [Quantum Manipulation], now I wonder what's it's upgraded version will do.

How do I check it?

Should I click it?

I tried clicking of [Paradox Invoker], but my fingers just went right pass through it.

No luck.

Maybe if I focused on the skill—

I concentrated my eyes on the skill, and suddenly the skill expanded.

______________________________

★〘Paradox Invoker〙 [EX-rank]

«Breaking Cause & Effect: Events can occur without a cause or the cause can be erased while the effect remains»

«Reality Overwrite: Grant the user to choose the most favorable outcome»

«Temporal Paradox: Rewrites past events»

«Absolute Conceptual Control: Make reality unstable in users presence or allows user to bypass fate»

________________________________

After reading my skills ability, both my eyes went wide open.

"This...!" I was lost for words.

Quantum Manipulation was powerful in itself, but this upgrade was rather too much—way too much.

"This is insane!"

It's too much.

"~Heeehee, I'm glad you liked it." Ylthea giggled, as she covered her lips.

Gulping hard, I asked her.

"Isn't this skill way too powerful, to give to someone like me?"

Not to forget I'm still 17, thought I got my birthday coming in few weeks.

Ylthea explained, "You are correct, this skill indeed is powerful, but it has its own huge side-effects."

I flinched.

"What is that?"

My Quantum Manipulation skill had 'Instant Death' as it's side effect at first, but due to my Immortality it got reduced to 'None'.

Will this have something similar? If so then, my Immortality will pretty much handle it.

But Ylthea's answer got me worried.

In this world all the skills are ranked from E-rank to S-rank for the normal mortals, but for Authority holders it changes.

For them, there exist a rank above S-rank called EX-rank.

This rank was only held by the Authority holders, who got blessings from their respective gods.

"Whenever an Authority holder activates their EX-ranked skill, its presence is instantly detected by all other nearby Authority holders."

A dead silence.

That's its side-effect.

It won't kill me, but it may harm my lively hood.

I have to use it cautiously.

She continued.

"Do keep in mind, as a new Authority holder, your powers are weak compared to others."

She paused and looked at me as if scanning my expression.

"Your skills are weak compared to them, so try avoiding other Authority holders for now."

'She' was correct.

I felt it, on that underground city, I didn't even noticed when I got caught in that Dream Authority's skill.

Compared to them I'm just a new born.

I have to grow stronger.

But how do I refine my Authority skill?

Before I asked 'her', she already gave the answer.

"By absorbing their Essence."

"Ah—"

By that one line from her, all things clicked.

I now deduced—

Why my body absorbed the Essence explosion.

And, why only after absorbing it, I met my goddess Ylthea.

My Authority might got triggered by that explosion, and subconsciously my body absorbed all the Essence.

Everything finally made sense.

That demon who teleported us in the Demon Continent must be a Dream Authority holder.

During teleportation 'it' didn't realized that another Authority holder got caught in the teleportation.

And that's why 'it' lets it's guards down when I traced backed my brains neurons, hence a sudden fluctuation triggered the Essence explosion.

"I understand now," I mumbled.

As I said those words, the world around me cracked, fragmented like a shattered glass.

I flinched, "What is ha—"

But before I could speak, Ylthea clapped her hands, drawing my focus toward her.

"It's time now," 'She' spoke, "We'll meet again some day, and one more thing..."

"!"

Starting from her hands, 'she' now disintegrating, turning into small light particles.

"Please wait!" I requested.

Ignoring my plea, she said her final words.

And what she told me, send a shudder through my spine.

"Your skill, Immortality, wasn't a gift from the gods..."

"What...?"

All hairs on my hands stood up.

"That skill was given to you by him..."

'Him?'

Slowly she was turning into light particles just like my surroundings as she continue to speak.

"He is lost..."

I just listened to her.

"But he can still be saved..."

I was trying to make sense of her words, but I failed to do so.

"If you ever meet him, please tell him this—"

The light particles dimmed, and now half her face remained.

"Goddess Ylthea was always on his side..."

"She will never abandon him."

And with that—

Everything vanished.

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I found myself floating in an eternal darkness.

My eyelids felt heavy.

'I'm so... tired...'

Somewhere beyond that silent a voice called out.

"....ne!"

Who...?

The voice was faint.

Where am I?

What is that voice?

"Za... ne!"

Someone was calling me.

"Zane!"

It sounded... familiar.

Who is it?

"Zane!"

Again...

"Sniff... Zane!... Sniff.. please.."

Why is she crying?

"Zane, please wake up!"

A loud voice echoed and my eyes shot opened.

Staring at me was two beautiful crimson eyes, swollen, red and moist with all the tears, her crimson hair glittered under the moonlight.

She was trembling, her hands holding me tightly.

Looking at her worried face, made my heart ached.

"Sniff... Sniff... Idiot...!"

The first thing I saw upon waking up, was her.

Truly a blessing.

Slowly, I reached out to her, my fingers brushing against her cheek, wiping away a stray tear.

She flinched slightly at my touch, but she didn't pull away.

A small exhausted smile tugged on my lips.

I spoke her name softly.

"Ruby..."

End of Chapter.

[A/N]: The Chapters from 42 onwards will be locked within 48 hours.