CHAPTER 263: GOD’S ILLEGITIMATE CHILD?

"Adyr, if you don’t start speaking clearly, I’m going to assume you actually have a plan to subdue Collossith," Liora said, her expression a tangle of disbelief and suspicion.

The idea was absurd—ridiculous, even. A Rank 2 Practitioner subduing a Rank 4 Spark? Still, something about it stirred a strange, quiet curiosity in her. After all, this was the same boy who had managed to repel Collossith while he was still Rank 1.

But pushing a monster back and subduing it were worlds apart—heaven and hell divided by a line no one crossed.

"I actually do," Adyr admitted after a moment of thought, voice calm but thoughtful. "Though I’m not entirely sure it’ll work. I recently awakened another bloodline talent... and I think it might help you."

"You did what?"

Liora shot to her feet, all composure gone. Her wide eyes locked onto Adyr’s unbothered face, completely stunned.

She’s really short.

Standing, she barely reached his eye level while he remained seated. He almost laughed. Even by Velari standards, she was unusually small—practically a dwarf among dwarves.

"Is it that strange?" He fought back the urge to grin.

"Strange? Just having one bloodline talent in the first place was absurd, and now you’re telling me you’ve awakened another? What are you—God Astrel’s forgotten child?"

The words slipped out before she could even consider how blasphemous they might sound. Her shock had overridden everything.

Adyr stared at her for a beat, slightly amused. What if I told her I don’t have just two... but four?

Of course, he had no intention of doing that. Especially not now.

Malice—one of those bloodline talents—was something he couldn’t afford to reveal. It belonged to a different path entirely, one that clashed violently with the Astra persona he was currently projecting. Revealing it would blow his cover instantly.

"I’m not sure what I am," he said with a shrug. "But do you want to see it? I really think it might help you when the time comes to fight—and maybe even subdue—Collossith."

He spoke so casually, so disarmingly, as if he had no idea how insane the suggestion sounded. His face carried the look of someone who genuinely didn’t understand common sense—and wasn’t even trying to.

"Of course I do. Show me."

Liora stepped in closer, her eyes wide, locked onto his with an intensity that left no space between them. Her delicate nose hovered just shy of touching his, and her breath was warm against his skin.

"Uh—okay, but calm down first."

Adyr placed a hand gently against her chest, trying to create space between them. Her body, smaller and closer than he preferred, yielded under his touch—soft, warm, and unmistakably real. It felt less like pushing someone back and more like pressing into a pillow.

Only after regaining enough room to breathe did he release the Grace.

It emerged in silence—slow, seamless—like the breath of something eternal stirring in the stillness.

Liora felt it instantly.

The sunlight pouring through the windows shifted, ever so subtly. Time itself seemed to slow. Beams of light hung in the air like tangible threads, as if heaven had cracked open above them and was bleeding divinity into the room. It wasn’t just visual—it was felt, in her skin, in her chest, in her bones. A warmth seeped into every fiber of her being, not over the surface, but into the deepest chambers of her body.

"This..." she whispered, her voice trembling. Her knees looked ready to give out beneath her. Her composure, so firm just moments ago, had dissolved completely.

"Is this... God’s Grace?"

Adyr blinked.

"God’s Grace?"

The ability was simply called Grace. There was no god in its name, no divine branding. And yet, the way she said it, with reverence and awe, gave it a meaning far beyond its system-defined title.

Liora didn’t respond immediately. She closed her eyes, her expression peaceful, bathed in a glow that no longer seemed natural. It was as if her entire body was basking beneath an otherworldly sun, a divine presence too gentle to hurt yet too powerful to be ignored.

Then she whispered—not to him, but almost to the light itself:

"Out of the chaos was the first form wrought by His gaze, and to the formless was given the law of shape."

The verse slipped from her lips like a sacred memory, as if recited from some long-lost scripture.

When she opened her eyes, there was no trace of shock remaining. Only serenity. Her body looked lighter, her mind clearer—no doubt a result of Grace’s mental and spiritual restoration effects already taking hold.

"My natural regeneration... It’s almost tripled," she murmured, voice soft and distant. "But that’s not all. What I feel—it’s more than healing."

Her gaze lifted to Adyr, eyes warm and glistening with something between reverence and emotion.

"It feels like the power the old books and tongues called the God’s Gaze. Not just recovery... but rebirth. Like something shapeless being given form again."

Her words weren’t just words—she was feeling every inch of it with her body, her breath, and her soul.

Not even Mirela, a Rank 3 Practitioner whose healing skills were praised by her, had ever made her feel something like this. The sensation was overwhelming.

Invisible wounds—ones she hadn’t even known were there—were healing. It was as if every cell in her body had been brought back to life. She could feel herself breathing, feel her blood moving, as though her entire being was being rewritten from the ground up.

And the most unsettling part... it wasn’t just physical. The same rebirth was happening inside her mind—her emotions, her spirit. All of it.

Adyr stood just as stunned.

When he had used Grace back on Earth, it had produced miraculous results, even pulling someone out of a coma. But this... this was something else entirely. Liora was a Rank 4 Practitioner, and according to her, her natural regeneration had just tripled.

That alone was already hundreds of times stronger than his own regeneration baseline.

I may have underestimated this bloodline talent. The thought settled over him like a quiet revelation.