Transcendents, as the name implies, were individuals endowed with extraordinary abilities.
*Where did their extraordinary abilities come from?*
The answer was simple.
In this world, a mix of steam machinery, swordplay, and magic, their powers naturally came from the Divine.
Thus, Transcendents could also be referred to as Divine Givers.
Generally speaking, to become a Transcendent, one first needed to choose a faith and join the corresponding Divine's Church. Then, one could proceed to the cathedral for an aptitude test.
The test distinguished ordinary people from those with the talent to become Transcendents. Those who passed were elevated to Candidate status.
When the timing was right, the Church would gather the Candidates and organize the Divine-bestowment ceremony.
During the ceremony, the probability of success significantly increased for those with deep and devout faith.
Once you completed the Divine-bestowment ceremony, you would face a trial from the Divine. *These trials were usually tied to one's Rank.*
The lower the Rank, the simpler the trial to complete.
For instance, to become a First Rank Transcendent, the trial was often something straightforward, like pleasing the Divine, perhaps requiring merely the offering of precious treasures.
As the Rank increased, however, the difficulty of the trials escalated exponentially.
Take, for example, the Empire's renowned warrior, Beo the "Dragon Slayer" from the Holy Dragon Family. His trial to ascend to Fifth Rank Legend required slaying a living, breathing giant dragon!
Once all trials were completed, one could initiate communication with the Divine and pray for an upgrade to the next Rank.
Upgrading one's Rank undoubtedly brought massive benefits.
You not only gained new extraordinary abilities but also ignited more divine-given factors, harnessing your powers to create stronger effects.
However, typically, the type of ability a Transcendent awakened correlated with the Authority of the chosen Divine.
Consider, for instance, former believers of the Heavenly Principle Church.
The deity worshipped there was the Lord of Billion Stars, so Transcendents commonly awakened abilities tied to airflow, gravity, weather, or even magnetic fields.
Once you chose a faith, you could never align yourself with another belief.
Thus, in this world, Transcendent abilities were often limited or relatively singular in focus.
*Very few people ever simultaneously mastered the extraordinary abilities of multiple faiths.*
*In fact, no prior instance like that had ever been recorded.*
From here on out, Lynn would become that exception.
Though his divine-given factors had been stripped away and his faith scattered, the presence of the system solved everything.
By increasing the role deviation points of original characters, Lynn could continuously earn system points to extract or enhance extraordinary abilities.
According to the system, he could even ignite divine-given factors by sheer willpower!
*The implications were nothing short of astounding.*
But to be fair.
*Raising others' role deviation points didn't seem to be an easy task.*
To achieve a mere 0.01% change, he had nearly been killed by that villainous Imperial Princess!
So now, as he stared at the rapidly spinning embossed disk before him, Lynn felt a rare surge of unease.
*What would be the first ability granted by the system?*
*To him, this was a matter of life and death, directly determining whether he could survive this experiment.*
Under Lynn's gaze, the spinning speed of the disk began to slow, eventually coming to a halt directly in front of him.
The pointer rested on an unfamiliar and strange symbol.
The symbol was abstract and intricate, resembling a crying jester or perhaps a puppet manipulated by strings.
[Congratulations on obtaining a First Rank Ability – Lie Swallowing.]
Lie Swallowing?
Lynn sharply inhaled.
"Well done, Treacherous System."
*He had hoped to draw abilities like physical enhancement or perhaps something akin to Morris' shadow-integration and intangibility powers.*
*Frankly, anything that allowed him to escape from here would have sufficed.*
*And yet, the system handed him a concept-based ability instead.*
With a stiff expression, Lynn opened the skill description and skimmed through it.
[Name: Lie Swallowing]
[Rank: First Rank]
[Effect: Lies spoken from your mouth become easier to believe. Conversely, lies spoken from others become effortlessly detectable by you.]
[Activation Condition: None]
[Upgrade Cost: 10 points]
Sure enough, it seemed to be a slightly underwhelming ability.
*While it might occasionally provide surprising utility in daily life or combat, it didn't appear to address Lynn's current predicament.*
It seemed likely that the effects would grow stronger only after upgrading the ability.
For now, it was just a basic skill befitting a First Rank Transcendent.
And besides that, he couldn't discern which faith it belonged to at all.
Resigned, Lynn decided to test the ability.
The next instant, layered ripples suddenly appeared before his eyes, and the scene of the underground laboratory vanished completely.
Replaced instead by an entirely different setting.
*Where is this?!*
Lynn suddenly felt as though he could move freely again, blankly rising to his feet.
Yet his gaze halted at the eerie sight before him.
Stretching endlessly into view was a void—and yet it was not merely a void.
Beyond the emptiness and desolation, threads seemed to break through the confines of time and space, traversing from the void itself.
They wriggled with strange motions, like slender worms, unified in their purpose, pouring ceaselessly toward their destination.
Thousands of threads merged into a vast ocean, ultimately converging at a certain point high above.
Lynn lifted his head to look.
Suspended in the air was a thin, humanoid shadow tangled in those threads, pulled into a twisted cross-like shape.
Its arms were particularly engulfed by the threads; the figure's expression appeared agonized, its eyes tightly shut.
Yet even so, the threads surged forward like rivers and seas, endlessly tormenting the figure as if deriving joy from its misery.
"Prisoner...of...Destiny..."
For reasons unknown, Lynn found himself softly uttering the name.
In the next moment, layered ripples once again swept over him, and an intense sense of distortion jolted him back to reality.
"What are you daydreaming about?"
Milani waved her hand firmly in front of him.
"Oh, nothing,"
Lynn answered nonchalantly.
Nothing, my ass!
*In truth, his mind had already erupted into turmoil that refused to settle.*
*What did that scene mean?*
Lynn's mind felt blank; his mouth dry as parchment.
"If it's really nothing, then let's get started on the experiment." Milani blinked.
Oh no.
*He almost forgot the most critical matter at hand.*
Driven by his survival instinct, Lynn temporarily suppressed his shock and confusion, shifting his focus toward the young girl before him.
He took a deep breath.
Then, under the effect of Lie Swallowing, he calmly said, "Lady Milani, I have something to tell you."