After arrival, the Frost family went about their business… sometimes dragging Leon along, other times just letting him be as he prepared for the auction.
The venue was picked and he had personally brought the painting from America to here. His identity was anonymous so it was best that he be the one to bring it; otherwise, they were very sure that the painting would have been stolen by now.
"So whatcha doing?" Grace asked in a high-pitched tone that made him smile.
"We're going to deliver the painting to the auction site," Leon replied calmly as he continued doing his drawing.
He didn't know why but he had a gut feeling that something bad would happen during the auction. Normally he would ignore it but he was now someone with quantum intellect.
His gut feeling might as well be a warning to a very likely outcome—hence here he was, with a normal pen in hand, Leon was making a simple tattoo on his hand.
"Aquila, what ability would that grant?" Grace asked immediately, recognizing it.
"We'll find out soon," Leon replied as he put the final touches on the temporary tattoo.
Immediately he felt a massive wave of energy leave his body that nearly threw him to the floor. His body and mind felt weak but at the same time, he could feel a certain level of power rising within him.
His eyes burned with a fury unknown and his body glowed with near-divine power. He could feel a high degree of strength surging within his small frame.
However, despite it being his first time wielding such immense powers, something felt off. He had a high degree of control; he could feel every detail of his power. It was an absurd feeling and thought considering that he had never bestowed powers of this level to anyone, not even himself.
"So how is it?" Grace asked curiously as she grabbed his arm to check.
The tattoo remained present but it seemed to be slowly fading away. This was the first time she had ever seen a temporary tattoo of his fade this quickly which meant that the level of power it granted was immense.
"Don't tell me—did it give you the powers of the Emperor of Mankind?" Grace asked excitedly for some reason.
Hearing her, Leon nodded but continued staring at the small tattoo. It was fading very quickly and for the first time in a while, he noticed that the qubit tattoo was fading as well—but both had different meanings.
For some reason he could tell that the qubit tattoo was fading because the power granted by it was slowly changing from something granted to something that he had naturally; it was merging with him, not fading.
The Aquila tattoo on the other hand was fading away… the power it granted was too much for it to be a temporary tattoo.
The Emperor of Mankind was a character he had recreated in this world. It was from the Warhammer franchise and considering how well his 'imagination' depicted things, the character was as fleshed out as he could be. His origin was highly unknown but what is known is that the very universe itself favors him.
Born a Perpetual, a species of humans that live forever literally, and what they called a psyker… essentially a person who could use a restricted form of psionic abilities.
The Emperor was deemed the most powerful psyker in history, his power magnificent and great enough to match even gods. He could unmake and make if he wished but his flaws were numerous.
He leaned too much into the future rather than the now, which made sense considering his position but it also did nothing to prevent the dangers he saw.
His powers and longevity put him at a pedestal so high above that he might as well be another god—but rather than accept that as inevitable, he chose to squash religion, trying his best to create an atheist society when he could do that with religion.
In a twisted way even atheism could be a religion—a religion that believes in the power of humanity and all such nonsense. The Emperor was a great leader but for a precognitive person, he made a lot of terrible deals.
The creation of the Primarchs was one such stupid deal… he didn't need to disturb the Chaos Gods, he could have simply fired all of humanity into an age of controlled science… if artificial intelligence is an issue then use mind scans to create digital intelligences.
It would be smarter and Chaos-free. In-universe, the Emperor is termed the greatest battle tactician but his Great Crusade proved that he was not… He was a good general but the leadership aspect was skewed due to his detachment from humanity.