"I see," Rion replied. He recalled when he saw a message about some Demon God or something like that. He didn't understand what it was then, but now he knew.
She looked at him for a bit and then kept walking, stepping out of the building. "There is a town you can consider a starter town not too far from here. We might be on the road for a day or two, but that's short considering the size of the domain.
I am headed there. If you are interested, then come with me," she said before walking off.
Rion watched her walk off and then followed behind. He ditched his suit jacket and tie as he left, picking his spear and following her, leaving the destroyed city and onto a small path.
"So, how do I use my ability?" he decided to ask as they walked.
"That's a you problem," she stated, and then formed the chain blade in her hand. "My ability is this, the ability to manifest these chains. It's not all it is, but it is the first form before my ability evolved.
Whatever your ability is, you are the one that knows how to use it. You have to recall the feeling from when you first used it. That's the point of the awakening trial," she explained. She spun her chain around a few times and then it vanished into her mark. She flexed her hands a little and then looked at him.
"Most people awaken their ability after a certain thing happens to them and they are in a particular emotional state. You don't get your ability when the mark shows; you get it when you go through the trial.
I'm sure they told you they can't really tell you anything, or you can't train your ability outside, right?" she asked.
"Yeah, it's like they wanted me inside the domain immediately," Rion replied.
"Because they wanted to. The only way for your ability to manifest is by the trial. If you are given any prior information about the trial or anything in general, it will affect your trial and generally sabotage everything for you," she explained.
'So that's it. It finally makes sense why most of the information is suppressed. I still have my questions, but it's making more sense,' Rion thought.
"So what was it?" she asked.
"What was what?"
"The feeling or state of mind that made you awaken your ability. Was it rage, the most common, pain, hunger? What did you feel the moment you awakened?"
Rion dropped his head. He stared at the dried grass under their feet. "What I felt that moment? I wanted to be happy," Rion replied. She gave him a confused look.
"That's the first time I've heard of someone using joy as their catalyst," she said.
"No, you got it wrong. I was in pain, have always been in pain—even before coming here. Just today, before all of this happened, I just wanted to die and rest. And when I was thrown here, the first thing I met was pain.
But I can't say the reason I used my ability was due to pain. It was because at that moment, I wanted to live. I wanted to ensure that before I die, I truly smiled at least once," he explained.
She looked at him. "Damn, you managed to make joy sad, that's a talent."
"Haha, I didn't mean it."
"Since you know what you want, you know what your power responds to, and when you need it, you can call for it," she explained. "That power is now your bloodline, under your control."
Rion lifted his hands. He stared at it for a few seconds, looking at the mark, and with a thought alone, the mark started spreading—the same burning sensation—but he quickly stopped it. He didn't want to feel that pain if he wasn't in danger.
She noticed it. "Seems you are getting the hang of it," she said.
"Yeah."
There was a lot he wanted to ask her, about how she came here, when, and a ton of other stuff, but they didn't know each other like that, and just talking about stuff like that wasn't something strangers did.
As they walked, she suddenly stopped, staring at the distance. There was nothing but the plains ahead, but from the distance a figure started forming, not just one, but two Black Lizards.
"Shit, they must be out to hunt. If they're working together, that means they have offspring, and that makes them a lot more agitated to find food," she explained.
Rion looked at the black lizards and he could already feel his heart racing.
"You are gonna have to be useful here. I can take them down, but their size won't allow me to do that two at a time, so you'll have to distract one," she said.
"Wait, what?" Rion asked.
"You want to live, right? Then earn the right to. That's how it works here," she said before dashing forward. She leaped high into the air, the chains formed from her hands as she spun midair and swung.
Whooosh!
The blade stabbed the ground in front of both black lizards and exploded. The force pushed both aside and separated them. Rion saw this and gritted his teeth, now or never. He lunged, throwing his spear at one with all his strength.
It made an arc in the air and went down fast. To his surprise, it stabbed right into the eye of the lizard, and it immediately let out a resounding screech.
It looked at Rion, rage overtaking it. It rushed at him immediately.
"Oh, fuck," he cursed and started running with all his speed, but the lizard was catching up at a crazy pace.
"Come on," he said and then looked in her direction, and she had yet to take hers down.
"Fuck this, I'm not waiting for anyone," he said, pumped the brakes and stopped before turning around. The lizard was only a few meters away.
He lifted the hand with the mark. "Please don't kill me," he said before allowing the power out. It spread instantly, covering his entire body and forming the armor all over him, and this time covering his head as well.