Alex felt the warmth rush through his entire body. Starting at the tips of his fingers where they touched the Silver Pearl, they flowed through his arms. Once the warmth had reached the end of his arms and flowed into his chest, it split in two directions. One strand shot down to his legs while the other followed his shoulders, through his neck and into his head. Warmth mirrored on both sides of him, spreading through his arms and into his body with perfect symmetry. Reaching the tips of his toes, the warmth that dropped to his legs shot back up while the stream that went to his head dropped back down simultaneously. In the end, all four streams settled in the same spot, all reaching the center of his chest, right around his heart, at the same time.

  He had closed his eyes as the warmth flowed through him; the feeling bringing a sense of peace to his mind. It felt comforting to feel the warmth permeate through his body. As it settled, he slowly opened his eyes again. He hadn't heard the voice speak up yet, but the window floating in front of him held the answer he was seeking.

  At that point, Alex didn't care anymore what power he would get out of the Pearl. It had worked. The voice scraping at the back of his skull was gone. Even the final message had been visual and not the usual painful auditory one. Permanent didn't mean the Pearl was his, though. It meant it was self-sustaining, a source that filled on its own without him needing to drain every artifact he came across. That this Pearl was only temporary didn't bother him. According to the contract, they would only need to give this one back once they had gained a new one of their own. Which meant he would have a new permanent power source to replace it.

  It was over. He would no longer have to fear draining every artifact he touched. His new life in this world could finally start without the extra complications. Still, there was something aching. Like part of him was still missing. The initialization was complete, but he did not feel complete. Like there was a socket still waiting for the right key. He would need to bring that up to his inner circle once his classes for the day were over and they had another check-in at Miss Philaxter's quarters.

  Now that the worry about the voice in his head was gone, he could focus on the powers the Pearl would give him. They felt like an added bonus to the whole ordeal. The window still floated in front of him. All other windows, the broken quest one and the ones requesting connection, had either gone away on their own or by him selecting an option. Since this one wasn't going away on its own, he guessed he needed to dismiss it somehow.

  Could it be as simple as mentally dismissing it? It had worked for selecting the option buttons on the connection requests. He focused on the window and held thoughts of dismissing it in his head. It worked. The window closed in on itself by shrinking down to a single line before disappearing altogether. A second later, a new window popped up in its place.

  Option B: Predator's Dilation

  Stretch the moment

  Beneath a header saying what the window was about, it split into two halves, each representing an option for the Pearl's Power Manifestation. Both of them had a brief description of what the power would be about, but neither said exactly what it was. Alex had hoped for a bit more information before choosing one, but they both had a single button beneath the brief description, only allowing him to select that one.

  His first option was a power called Throwback Blink. From the little information the window gave him, it sounded like a power to let him see back in time. Which sounded amazing. It could allow him to look back on things that happened and analyse them again. Which, in a completely new world, was amazing. No longer would he have to wonder if he had missed something. He could just go back and look at it. That was if that was what the power actually was. Why did it show him so little information?

  His second option for a power was called Predator's Dilation. He didn't really like the sound of the name, but the brief description once again sounded amazing. Stretch the moment; that sounded like he would be able to slow down time. Though slowing down actual time might be a bit too much for a Sight Pearl. Maybe it would slow down his perception of time? Which was basically the same, wasn't it?

  Still, his eyes got drawn back to the Throwback Blink. It wouldn't help him in a fight like Predator's Dilation likely would, but there was something about it that drew him to it. If it were what he thought it might be, it would be immensely useful. Not only in making sure he missed nothing, but there were so many other applications for it. It would be the closest he would get to taking a picture with his phone ever again. He could take a shot of an item he would need to study for class and look at it whenever he wanted. Heck, he could use it to cheat on tests if he wanted.

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  His mind was made up. No matter how useful the Predator's Dilation would be during combat lessons, the Throwback Blink sounded infinitely more useful. Like he had done with the connection request window, he focused on the Select button at the bottom of the Throwback Blink pane of the window. Once again the window squished in on itself and a new window opened up.

  This new window showed a diagram of a humanoid body, similar to the one Professor Elderwind had drawn on the blackboard. Like in the drawn diagram, a circle was drawn where its heart would be. The circle in the window's diagram was filled with a silver color. Alex immediately knew it stood for the Silver Pearl he had just slotted into his mana network. He had felt the warmth spreading through his body in that exact spot.

  He tried to see if mentally clicking on the circle would give him more information on the power he had just gotten. And more importantly, how to use it. He had expected to instinctively know how to, but that didn't seem to be the case. Instead of opening a new window, a panel slid out of the side of the existing one, and his mind got flooded with the information he needed to use the power.

  The panel showed some general stats of the power, but the most important information, what it was and how to use it, got sent from the Pearl straight to his mind. He was slightly disappointed as the power wasn't what he had initially hoped it to be, but it still sounded useful. Instead of moving his sight back in time, it moved it back in space.

  He could save a single snapshot of a location in his mind. When he activated his new ability, his vision would be transformed as if he were still standing in that location. His body, however, would stay in the same position. If anything, he could use it to check that nobody was in his room while he was away. There probably were other uses, but his mind was blanking on them right now.

  Instead, he was drawn to a line that was showing in the new side panel. It said the power was Rank F. Did that mean it was just considered a bad power? It didn't sound like a bad power. Or did that mean it could rank up and grow more powerful? Professor Elderwind said you would lose the proficiency gained with a power when you removed the Pearl from your network. Did the rank stand for your proficiency? Maybe F was not a failing grade, but rather the potential to grow.

  Now that he could fully grasp his new power, or at least as fully as he could before talking with Henry and Miss Philaxter, Alex closed the window in front of him. The metal holder on his desk that had previously held the Silver Pearl was now empty; the Pearl simply gone. Had it actually physically slotted into his body? He had presumed it was just a way of describing, but the Pearl was gone. His hands swiftly moved to his sternum, checking to see if he could feel the Pearl, but his chest was still as flat as it had been before.

  The fact that he couldn't feel the Pearl on his body somewhat relieved him. But it just being gone worried him. Had someone stolen it? He glanced around the room and saw other holders were empty as well, though the students behind those desks didn't seem worried. They acted as if the Pearls being gone was normal. And maybe it was. There was still so much about this world he didn't know. Them being so calm settled his own nerves, at least a bit.

  Though calm might not be the right description. The students in the class were displaying all kinds of emotions, though none seemed worried. A few were calmly chatting with their friends; others were laughing with joy. There was even one student proudly displaying his new power with a massive grin on his face. In his hands danced a small horse made of light, which Alex could only presume to be some kind of illusion. Making an actual horse of light didn't seem to fit a power that one would gain from either a Sight or Auditory Pearl.

  Alex continued to look around the room, taking in the reactions of his fellow students. Some were still in the process of slotting their Pearls, their fingers still grasping at the Pearl in front of them. One of those was Hyntia, but from the smile on her face, it seemed to be going well. Ghel next to her was looking all around the room, not at the students, but at everything else. Alex wondered what he could now see.

  On the other side of Alex, Rin was lounging back in her chair, her feet propped up on her desk. Compared to the rest of the students, she didn't seem too happy with her power. A soft smile appeared on her face when she spotted Alex looking at her.

  "What did you get?" Alex asked.

  "Darkvision," Rin shrugged her shoulders.

  From his conversations with Aro, Alex had gathered Kahrn could already see in the dark like a normal cat could. So when he heard that her power was something she could basically already do, he scrunched his eyebrows.

  "Can't you already do that without a Pearl?"

  "Kind of, yeah. It is slightly improved now, but I had hoped for something better."

  "What's different?"

  "We normally require at least a bit of light to see. With this power, I require no light at all, but when is there going to be no light?"

  "I'm sure it will get some use," Alex tried to reassure her. Being able to see in the dark would have been a gift if he had gotten it, but for someone who could already do it. It made sense that she was disappointed.

  "It's alright. Doubt I'll be sticking with this Pearl long. My Pride already has some Pearls set aside for both me and my brother. We just need to pass the first Academy test before we get them." She placed her feet back on the ground and turned to face him. "But more importantly, what did you get?"

  Her sudden eagerness, which made him suddenly wonder whether he should keep his power a secret, took Alex aback. There was power in knowledge after all. Still, he trusted her. He hadn't known her that long, but she had helped get Ghel out of his trance. She also, apparently, came from an influential family, and having those on your side was always a good idea.

  "I got Throwback Blink," he said, deciding to trust her.

  "I don't think I've heard of that one," she leaned in further. Her curiosity was definitely peaked, though Alex wasn't sure if that was a good or bad sign. "What can you do with that?"

  "Uhm, kind of hard to describe. Short version of it is that I can move my vision to someplace I've been before, but there are some limitations." He tried his best to explain his power. If it weren't for the information download his brain had gotten from the Pearl, Alex doubted he would have fully understood at first.

  "That sounds way more useful than my Darkvision. You're definitely joining my team." A massive grin appeared on her face.

  "Team?" Alex asked, confused.

  Before she could answer, Hyntia started laughing on the other side of Alex. Both of them looked toward her to see what that was about. The Pearl in front of the green-haired Fairy was gone, so her slotting was over as well.

  "Are you alright, Hyntia?" Ghel asked, having also turned toward his friend.

  Hyntia's laughter slowed down as she turned to her childhood friend to answer his question. "Sorry, yeah, I'm fine. It's just... the rush. It was even better than I had imagined. And the Pearl was so nice too."

  "Nice?" Ghel raised one eyebrow, not understanding how an inanimate object could be nice. Like Alex, Ghel must have received the power and the information more analytically, as Alex had.

  "Yeah, she and I talked for what felt like hours. She explained how everything worked and how the power would work. You didn't talk to your Pearl?" Ghel shook his head.

  "So, what did you get?" Rin asked her the same question she had asked Alex.

  "So, what did you get?" Hyntia responded back in Rin's own voice.

  "Oh, you are also definitely getting on my team." Rin had an even bigger smile on her face now.