"Haha, how long will you keep staring at him? You need to focus on yourself from now on, you know?"
Lia puffed out her cheeks after hearing her fatherâs teasing words and replied,
"Hmph! I was just seeing if he had left or not yet..."
As the car moved further and further, Rioâs silhouette faded away from the rearview mirror of the car.
Seeing that she could not see him anymore, Lia felt a bit sad right away, but the locket given to her by Rio gave her warmth that reminded her of his presence, so she managed to calm her reluctant heart.
âTo keep standing by his side... to not be a burden upon him, I must keep getting stronger; I canât always remain weak and reliant on him for everything...â
Lia was very self-aware from the beginning.
From the very start, she knew that Rio was a very talented person, and his talent shone brightly when he defeated Link time and time again!
Before Rio became famous as the âRising Dark Star,â Link, the son of the strongest man on the planet, was famous for being the most talented person in the younger generation.
But with time, Rioâs reputation skyrocketed like crazy, and even Linkâs popularity was suppressed by him.
By winning the âSupreme Talentâs Tournament,â Rio had already proved himself to be the most talented person among the entire younger generation of the entire world!
Thus, Lia had no doubt about the fact that he would definitely grow up faster and faster as time passes and the difference in strength between them will only widen.
After all, Lia was the most talentless among their entire group.
âSigh... to think there will be a day when even I will feel so slow and powerless...â
In Team Astra, Link, Riya, Rio, and Liam all had SS+ rank talents, and they were all masters of their own fields.
Each of them has managed to awaken a legendary skill, which shows how great their mastery over their respective fields has become.
Only Lia has been left behind.
Even Riya, who was the weakest in their group in terms of raw strength, has proved her usefulness and her strength in the Spire of Ascension!
Without her, both Ashtel and Jin wouldnât have survived, and Alverto wouldnât have been forced to sacrifice a part of his soul to forcefully teleport them away from himself!
Riya managed to force even Alverto into a corner, and Lia, on the other hand, could only stand on the sidelines and watch it all happen.
She couldnât even land a proper attack on Alverto and couldnât make him feel any threat at all.
Compared to Link, Rio, and Riya, she proved to be completely useless in that major fight.
âI am ashamed of how powerless I am...â
Lia clenched her small fist tightly as she looked at the outside scenery while leaning her head against the carâs window.
âI need a strength of my own... an ability that is unique to me alone...â
Just like Rio and others, Lia hoped for a âLegendary Skillâ; as a swordsman, her first choice was obviously sword intent, but she herself knew that it was near impossible for her to have that.
Lia did not seem to have much affinity with the âLawâ of âSwords,â and she wasnât naĂŻve enough to keep hoping for something that was never bound to happen.
She wasnât talentless; it was just that compared to her group, she was the least talented among them all.
In the original timeline, Lia was never supposed to awaken her suppressed talent due to miasmic corruption and she would have solely relied on miasma to reach rank S.
Even in the original novel, Lia was always less talented compared to the rest of the villain characters, but she managed to remain alive until the end stage solely because of her cunning nature.
The Lia now is nowhere near as cunning or crafty as she was supposed to be because she has no need for such things anymore.
After all, she has a powerful talent now, âAbsolute Precognition,â and a powerful skill, âSpiritual Ascension,â that grants her immense powers.
But even then, most of the power of her talents and skills is still in a locked state because of her low rank.
Absolute Precognition as more powerful abilities, but they are still unusable due to Liaâs being weaker.
And Lia herself knew that if she manages to reach rank S, she might be able to tap into that hidden potential of hers.
âI wonder how long it will take to reach rank S with my S-rank sword aptitude though...â
Lia shook her head in distress as she felt a bit distressed, but just when she was about to become sad, a familiar warmth radiated from the locket that Rio gave her, and she calmed down right away!
âErr... So you are telling me to keep working hard and not lose focus?... yeah, you are right... I canât just accept my defeat like this...â
âWhat if I am less talented than the others? I can just make up for it with my hard work!â
As if noticing her rising enthusiasm, her sword resting horizontally on her lap trembled with enthusiasm!
[Oho, I sense a newfound flame of passion burning in your sea of consciousness. are you ready to become strong and beat that arrogant stone-faced kid now!]
[I am ready! Letâs go! We will train hard and come back stronger than ever!]
[Rank-S is a major watershed for all awakeners! And for a divine spirit user like you, reaching rank S would bring a major qualitative change!]
[Your strength will multiply many times over!]
âHeh, I sure hope that is true... By the way, donât call him stone-faced, okay! Heâs definitely got a lot of expressions, you know!â
âItâs just you canât see them! You have to see them with the eyes of your heart!â
[Ahem, Forget about it... with how overwhelming his sword intent is becoming... I-I would rather not see him at all...]
While arguing back and forth with Kai, Lia Silver started one of the most important adventures of her life!