Lucien slowly poured his guiding into the injured Esper's body, only to gasp as his energy was drained in mere moments.
As an A-rank, this was a first for him!
Unlike when he guided others and felt nauseous from clearing their corrupted energy, he felt a rush of euphoria as his wavelength purified the Esper's energy.
Without a doubt, he could tell their compatibility was extraordinary.
What really ticked Lucien off was that the jerk had the nerve to pull him into a tight hug and rub his damn face all over him!
The Esper was mumbling something, but Lucien couldn't understand a word. He just tried to get the oversized puppy off of him.
"Help me—"
Lucien's words were cut off mid-sentence when, suddenly, the protagonist intervened, prying open the hands of the man clinging to him before swiftly tossing Lucien aside.
Lucien cursed under his breath at the pain, but his annoyance vanished when he saw Erick hugging the Esper he had just saved.
"What the..."
His jaw fell as he noticed the worry in the protagonist's golden eyes for the unknown Esper, who had fallen unconscious. Then, Erick spoke, and Lucien's eyes widened.
"Zephyr, is that you? Zephyr Wales?"
At that moment, Lucien finally turned and got a proper look at the Esper he had just guided. Silver hair, like moonlight stained with dried crimson blood. Sharp features, and an old scar on one of his earlobes.
It was Zephyr Wales—the side character who appeared in the early chapters of the original novel. Quiet, average, yet the most handsome classmate—the one Erick was never able to get close to despite having a cheerful and extroverted personality.
And, of course, his first crush...
Wow.
Things just got a whole lot messier.
Right?
Lucien hadn't planned on using the 'Gaya Sight' skill. Really. After all, using the Gaya skills came with a huge price, which was revealed at the end of the original novel.
These skills were different and far more powerful than normal Esper abilities, and only one skill was granted to one person.
As a transmigrator, he was granted a Gaya skill, just like the protagonist and few other chosen ones, upon arriving in this world.
It was called the 'Gaya Sight' skill.
How did he know? He found out because the 'Gaya System,' the entity responsible for the dungeon appearances in this world, had spoken to him just like it did with Erick, the protagonist, to inform him about the Gaya skill—though it disappeared soon after.
It was somewhat useless—but essentially functioned as a scan, displaying the stats and ranks of others like a status window.
The protagonist's Gaya skill was different from his. Only a select few knew about the Gaya System in this whole world. Erick was one of them, and Lucien was second.
But the current circumstances?
They left him with no choice.
He had to use the Gaya skill.
Lucien's blue eyes shimmered like crystals as he stared at the unconscious Esper in Erick's hands. The next second, text began to appear at the corner of his vision.
______
Name: Zephyr // Age: 27
Status: Newly Awakened
Rank: SSS-Rank Esper (1)
Strength: SS // Agility: S
Intelligence: D // Willpower: S
Charisma: SS // Mana: SSS (1)
Newly Awakened Abilities:
1. Corrosion Manipulation (SSS-Rank) — The powerful ability to corrode and erase everything of lower rank from existence.
2. ??? // 3. ??? // 4. ???
5. ??? // 6. ??? // 7. ???
Gaya's Skill:
1) Absolute ??? Domain (???) — ???
Blessings:
1. The Goddess of Erosion
2. The Goddess of life
3. The God of Death
4. The Goddess of Silent Night
5. The God of Void
6. The God of Corruption
7. ??? // 8. ???
9. ??? // 10. ???
Special:
Gaya's Favored Child
About:
The most pitiful Chosen One, destined to die at the age of 27—yet survived. ???
______
Lucien's eyes scrolled down… and down… and further down. The more he read, the more dazed he got. This side character—Zephyr—was the first and only SSS-rank?!
He knew this because of the (1) displayed next to the SSS-rank in Zephyr's status.
Why the hell had Zephyr never appeared in the original story after a brief period in the beginning—if he was this damn powerful?
…Oh, right. He died in this dungeon.
With that realization, Lucien fainted.
The toll of having his guiding wavelength completely drained had finally hit him.
Still, he had to talk to… Zephyr.
Maybe hire him—if he was willing to.