Happenstance (II)

  The physician’s declaration was well on its way to summoning another crushing wave of silence, but Miller easily swatted it all away with his next statement.

  “I know what you’re all thinking, that project wasn’t the most humane thing in the world, but we have to discuss it for the sake of relevancy right now. Cyril, do you mind?” he asked, glancing dubiously at his patient

  “Its fine. Go ahead, I want to hear this.” The woeful looks plastered across the faces of the two S-ranks spoke volumes, but none could refute the boy's resolve.

  “The aim of that project was very simple.” Miller asserted calmly.

  “It was an attempt to create an artificial saint—a way to upset the balance of power they’ve always maintained. Saints possess incredible abilities, but for some reason, there have never been more than five at a time. So the most effective method was to use the blueprint of one of the originals—your guardian, Alice Severin, a former saint. What truly sets saints apart from most other deviants—even S-ranks—is their unnaturally high Indexes. That’s the defining trait of a saint. The goal of the project was to replicate that by implanting the cognitive signature and thought patterns of a saint into the body of a normal deviant."

  Miller turned his desk chair to glance up at the monitors information from the side.

  "Subject 0577—Cyril Severin. You were chosen because, despite your low index, you had high combat prowess, exceptional intelligence, and shared the same class as your guardian, Alice. On top of that, the subject needed to be a child, since developing brains can adapt and accommodate changes much faster than adults. You were placed under her guidance to foster a deeper understanding between the two of you, because the idea was that the closer you were, the easier it would be for you to acclimate to her thought patterns. But that’s where we went wrong..."

  “Hm? What exactly do you mean by that?” Wilhelm pressed; his tone bemused

  "Remember what I said about skills earlier? They’re born from a deviant’s deepest desires, hardwired into the subconscious and shaped by the brain’s Index. Implanting Alice’s thought patterns into Cyril was a slow but steady process. If his brain successfully replicated those signatures, his Index would’ve increased dramatically. But we overlooked one crucial detail—along with Alice’s thought patterns, we also transferred her subconscious desires. Over the next few years, Cyril’s Index did rise, but something else changed too. Alice grew attached to him—so much so that she began to see him as family."

  Wilhelm and Olivia slowly shifted their heads, both looking in the same direction. Cyril —the focal point of the entire discussion was staring in awe. His eyes had gone wide and glossy, but the fluid never flowed. He simply lowered his head, patiently waiting for the physician to continue.

  “When Cyril’s index failed to make any significant increases after an extended period, the project was deemed a failure and shut down. But now, I’m beginning to understand what really happened. Essentially, Alice’s subconscious desires that were ingrained in her thought patterns began manifesting within Cyril while the project was still underway. Based on the functionality of the skills he disclosed, we can infer that her influence on his index was strongly oriented toward protection, and in response, his brain developed two passive unique skills— [Counter Stop] and [Life Surge]. These abilities were likely born from your guardian’s deep-seated desire to keep you safe. As for the [Mobius] skill, it seems your mind somehow managed to replicate it directly and integrated it as an extra skill. Normally, extra skills are only acquired through monster cores, but since this process involved mimicking a cognitive signature, it was able to manifest after integrating with your brain over time.”

  “....Then you mean all this time Cyril has been stuck as a D-rank because of those passive skills he has?” Olivia interjected; her expression still stupefied.

  “Technically, yes but that also requires a bit of explanation.” Miller added knowingly, he raised a finger and slowly rattled off the surprising answer to her question in a matter-of-factly manner.

  “Cyril’s case is a bit strange you see, in the first place...skills cannot be passive. They are a byproduct of conscious will and thought, which therefore means that they require intent to activate, however, things are different in Cyril’s case. Since Alice’s desire to protect him was ingrained into his brain, her potent desires retroactively forced his index to prioritize his protection rather than his development as a deviant, and as a result, the exponential boost in his Index that should have occurred was prematurely halted, and instead used to develop those passive unique skills he has.”

  “I see, so his development wasn’t a failure per se, it's just that Alice unknowingly influenced the process and forced his brain to create automatic defense skills for him instead of simply boosting his magical capacity...is that right?” Wilhelm asked, curiously raising a brow.

  “Yes, exactly.”

  “Oh, I see, that would explain why his Index is so high for a D-rank, but there’s something else I would like to confirm. You said skills can’t be passive, but what about Mobius? Isn’t that skill always active for saints?”

  “Heh...” The question evoked a weak chuckle from the physician. He wasn’t particularly amused, but more so surprised that Wilhelm had beaten him to the punch. “I see you’ve made that misconception as well chairman.”

  “A Misconception...you say?”

  “I’m afraid so. That’s why I brought it up at the beginning—it really goes to show how little the world truly understands about saints, aside from their absurd strength, of course. Strictly speaking, [Mobius] can't be classified as a skill in the traditional sense; it’s more of a condition unique to saints due to their exceptional affinity for mana. [Mobius] is the foundation of sainthood. It grants saints a level of perception beyond that of normal deviants, allowing them to directly perceive the information stored in manites and interpret micro-alterations in mana before they manifest as macro effects, which is what they use to preemptively read and predict spells. Cyril doesn’t have the natural aptitude to fully wield [Mobius], so I think what his brain developed is an inferior version—based on Alice’s schematics.”

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Inferior… in what way, exactly?” asked Olivia. The shock on her face was still plain as day, but her curiosity had clearly overtaken it.

  “Well, I’m fairly certain Cyril can’t actively read spells, or use any Archetype magic, so there’s that. Besides limitations like range, I think his version only makes him a bit more sensitive to manites and allows him to detect when he’s being targeted by a spell—but not necessarily what the spell is going to do. If nothing else, it would explain why he has such a knack for finding rogue gates on a whim.”

  Before the strange silence could once again take hold, Miller asserted his point once more, this time beginning with a bit more vigor in his intonation.

  “To sum it all up, Cyril’s passive skills have been constantly drawing from his mana reserves and thereby reducing his total output, hence his long-standing assessment as a D-rank. But beyond that, even though his brain has somewhat acclimated to Alice’s thought patterns, his body was too fragile to handle the increased output it would bring. In retrospect, the entire project was flawed from the start, so none of the blame falls on him. Normal deviants simply don’t have the capacity to withstand the cognition of a saint—it’s like trying to insert a supercomputer’s hard drive into a standard desktop.”

  “That really does explain quite a bit Miller, do you perhaps have any explanation for his newest abilities, that Juggernaut skill he has and whatnot?” Wilhelm's demeanor and expression had both shifted from professional to anxiously strained, his usual composure faltering as his fingers nervously tapped against his bicep even more relentlessly.

  “Yes, about that.” Miller swung his chair around once more.

  "Only saints have ever shown the capacity to possess more than one skill, because their high indexes should allow them to handle the cognitive burden that comes with it, but to my knowledge, that’s never been done before. While extra skills are a little lighter on the mind, it’s still impossible for an ordinary deviant to possess more than one, because those abilities stem from the minds of monsters. Attempting to integrate more than one of their cognitive signatures into your brain would lead to either death or insanity in an instant."

  Miller stood up and pointed to the figures on the monitor, a collection of examination results all tailored to the boy in question.

  “In Cyril’s case, he possesses more than one skill because his abilities originate from the mind of a human rather than a monster, sparing him from the usual detrimental effects. His skills [Life Surge] and [Counter Stop] are the only known examples of truly passive abilities, created from the imprint of another person’s will being transferred into him. These skills were designed to protect him, but that directive was taken to such an extreme that they now operate constantly and cannot be deactivated. As for his active unique skill, [Juggernaut], I’m honestly not sure how it manifested. Granted, Cyril’s Cognitive Affinity Index is high—but it's also peculiar. It’s been gradually increasing over time.”

  “So then these results are from the past few days, right?’ Olivia stepped forward to peer up at the large screen.

  “That’s correct. Before the Phantom Purge incident, his index was 4.772. After I examined him in the Special Assessment Ward, it had risen to 4.994, and now it’s climbed all the way to 5.314. It seems his body has started to undergo rapid development after all this time. Honestly, I’m not sure what to make of it. I can’t even begin to guess how many more skills he might acquire.”

  “None.” Cyril's voice returned.

  He slowly lifted his head from its downcast position and equipped a neutral, slightly somber expression.

  “Are you alright Cyril?” asked Olivia, her voice tinged with concern.

  “Completely. I'm completely fine.” He responded, waving his hands around erratically. “It was a lot to take in but I'm slowly coming to terms with it.”

  For him to suppress his emotions on command like that spoke volumes about how much practice he must have had with it. Nobody said anything, but the adults easily saw past the boy's facade.

  “Cyril how are you sure you won’t end up with anymore skills?”

  "Hmmm..." He folded his arms, deep in thought, his pupils swirling as if caught in a vortex. He mulled over the chairman's question before finally speaking. "How do I put this... I just know this is my limit. It’s like—if I push any further, my head might actually explode."

  Olivia chuckled from his reaction, a gesture that managed to lighten the mood quite a bit.

  “In any case we know one thing is clear.” Miller remarked, his voice steady despite the uncertainty hanging in the air.

  “Ever since the Phantom Purge incident, your body has been in a constant state of stimulation and development. Two of your skills, in particular, have provided some answers to questions the Chairman and I have been grappling with: [Mobius] and—what was it? [Life Surge], yes. You’ve been subconsciously using those two abilities this entire time. It might very well be the case for your other skill [Counter Stop] as well, I have a feeling they aren’t ordinary skills considering that they developed under the influence of a saint’s mind. I’ll need to make some more observations to draw a conclusion, but for now, I suppose we’ll have to make do with the answers we do have about your condition.”

  “My, it certainly took us a while to get to this point. There was a time when I originally thought he must have had some kind of skill based on good-fortune.”

  “Principal...” Cyril perked up sheepishly “...I don’t think you can count getting sent to the hospital so often as fortunate.”

  For the first time since the discussion began, laughter filled the room. Miller—the ever-astute physician was the first to collect himself.

  “Well, in any case, it’s undeniable that your powers are bound to grow stronger in some capacity. This might be some kind of delayed reaction from the project, but at the rate you’re developing, Cyril... you might just end up fulfilling the very aim of that project after all.”

  Miller took a moment to glance over at the stoic expressions of the two adults present, both seemingly in tune with his intent. Cyril hadn’t said anything, but the determined look in his eyes was more than enough to dispel the need for any words.

  "This is just my personal hypothesis, Cyril, but as things stand, you're approaching the upper limits of deviant potential. Project Lamplight has effectively restructured your Index to resemble that of a Saint. Of course, there are still significant limitations—you have too much of a deviant's body, and not enough of a Saint's mind, to be considered the real thing. And in terms of power, you're nowhere near the originals. But based on current data..." The physician's voice tightened, steady and stern. "...for now, you're what we’d call a second-class Saint."