Leor relaxed his own will and allowed Alina free reign over his body. It was difficult to not defend himself out of instinct, he felt the strong urge to gather his own will to block access to the intrusion. However, with a deep breath, Leor suppressed that natural urge. He trusted Alina implicitly. The young noble girl of the realm of light could have taken his life in a thousand different ways if she had ever wanted to over the years. She was of a powerful noble house, afterall, and Leor was a simple orphan. It wouldn't even be much of a scandal if she openly slew him. The public would assume that he had earned his own death by her hand. Such was the difference in rank and class between them.
The process lasted no more than a few minutes. Leor could see Alina's pupils moving around rapidly beneath her tightly shut eyelids. Then, all at once, she withdrew her will from his body and took a deep breath into her lungs, like she had just come back to the surface from a long dive underwater.
Leor could already tell that she had seen something, just by the way she was staring at him so intently, with a gaze like one might have when they found a clue. She must have seen something important this time, because instead of sharing it with him she instantly fell deep into thought. Leor could almost see the gears spinning in the young woman's mind as she stepped away from him and lowered herself back down into her seat.
He waited patiently for Alina to speak, but when a full five minutes had passed without a single word his curiosity finally overwhelmed his patience.
"Well? Out with it. What have you seen, Alina?" Leor questioned.
Alina trembled slightly at his words, as if being awoken from a trance. She seemed to come back to reality all at once, putting away her deep contemplations and returning to the discussion with a wide smile.
"Well. I'd say congratulations are in order, Leor." She spoke teasingly, forcing him to wait a few more seconds for the revelation that she held. "I was right. What you did on that hill was impossible. For a normal initiate at least. But it's not impossible for you, not anymore."
She paused to let the words sink in for a few seconds, enjoying the confused look on Leor's face before finally explaining herself. "You've awakened a unique talent!" She beamed with a look of pride as she spoke, "I always knew you were special, Leor! Now I have proof."
Now the look of confusion and anticipation morphed into pure surprise on Leor's face. He couldn't help but stare at Alina with a hint of doubt, wondering if she was playing some cruel joke on him. The longer he stared into her eyes, however, the more assured he became that it was the truth.
"You're serious? I've awakened a talent? When? What is it?" He began to throw out questions rapidly one after another, hardly giving Alina the time to answer.
She was forced to raise her hands to motion him to settle down, only then did she begin to explain more.
"It must have happened the moment you fought off the corruption, back when you first stepped foot out of the portal. In addition, it was likely a subconscious instinct about your own blossoming talent that prompted you to attempt to cleanse the Twisted one. Your seemingly suicidal behavior, attempting to cleanse a defiled one entire tier higher above you, was actually guided by a quite rational instinct." She explained.
Leor was nearly on the edge of his seat by now, hanging on her every word. "Yes, yes I understand. What is my talent though! I haven't felt anything different about me. How can I have a talent that I don't even know about? It must not be an active talent, right? Is it some passive mutation?" He guessed.
Alina's smile faded away, replaced by a stern expression as she looked Leor straight in the eyes and responded. "It is a passive mutation, yes. However, to be quite honest I am a bit stunned. It's one of the most rare and valuable talents I have ever seen. Nothing like this exists in the records of the realm of light. I have been briefed on just about every unique talent known to humankind as part of my leadership training. Leor, your willpower has undergone a unique mutation, allowing it to act like a natural antibody of sorts against defilement and corruption. It probably happened the moment you stepped foot in this fallen realm, like a desperate response from your body and will to the presence of so much corruption all around it."
A lightbulb seemed to go off inside Leor's mind as he listened to Alina's explanation. "I see! That explains why I was unable to resist the corruption when I first arrived. I was undergoing a talent mutation!"
Alina nodded her head with a knowing smile as she heard his words. "That is my guess as well. The process of mutation puts a great deal of strain on the body, mind, and willpower. That is almost certainly why you were nearly consumed by defilement the moment you stepped into this realm. However, because of the incredibly unique and potent nature of your new talent, your willpower was able to overpower the defilement, even after falling so deep into its foul embrace!" she explained, pausing for a few seconds before she looked up at Leor with an excited expression. "Leor, do you have any idea what this means, how important your new talent is to all of humanity? Probably to all the realms battling corruption!?" She exclaimed, almost wild eyed in her excitement.
Leor's brows furrowed as he listened to the later half of her statement, growing a bit bewildered by her seemingly misplaced enthusiasm. "Not really, no. Aren't you exaggerating quite a bit, Alina? Right now I'm just an initiate trapped in a fallen realm, who might not even survive to return to the realm of light. It seems like my talent will allow me to have a bit of an upperhand against stronger Defiled, and maybe survive easier in areas with high corruption, but other than that I don't see the great benefit you're imagining."
Alina shook her head in exasperation at his lack of insight into the implications of his own one in a million talent. This time however, it was Drelk who spoke up. The ancient dark elf had been sitting quietly during this entire exchange, but when he learned about Leor's talent, his face almost took on a frenzied appearance.
"A willpower that acts like an antibody against defilement! This could change everything boy. It unlocks a multitude of pathways that did not exist before. My realm itself might not have fallen if we had possessed such a thing!" Drelk interjected, his expression flashing hints of regret as he spoke about his world.
Leor's brows remained tightly knitted together as he listened to the old elves' words. "I just don't understand. Explain it to me step by step. How does a single talent that is a bit more potent against defilement change anything on a larger scale?" he responded.
Alina thought for a moment at how to best respond to Leor's doubts, then she motioned to Drelk, who seemed to get the message. He hastily stood up from his seat and collected a leather sack from one of the many drawers that lined the large room. When Drelk stepped back over to the table, he turned over the sack, gently emptying its contents in front of Leor.
Leor looked at the strange assembly of items on the table before him. The first thing he noticed was the heavy stench of defilement. Then upon closer look, he saw that the items on the table were a series of spiritual plants of different shapes and sizes. All of which had succumbed to defilement because of the nascent natural wills inside them.
"All of the most powerful herbal spells and training methods I possess require the use of high grade spiritual herbs. However, because of the thick corruption invading this world, these herbs have all been defiled. Normal methods to remove the defilement would destroy the valuable spiritual energy within them. My own willpower, for example, could easily attack the corruption in these herbs, but not without destroying their spirits along with it. They are not like conscious beings who possess a strong will of their own, so using willpower to force out the defilement is useless." Drelk explained, before selecting a herb that looked like a large golden orb from the pile of defiled spiritual plants. "Here, try to gently inject some of your willpower into this bulb of the golden light flower."
Leor glanced at the orb for a few seconds before shrugging casually and placing his fingertips against the large golden bulb.
Before Leor could start, Drelk seemed to grow nervous and gave Leor one last instruction, "Remember to do it carefully! You mustn't inject too much will. There are only a few of these bulbs left in existence. The higher class spiritual plants cannot reproduce after they have become defiled, so the number of seeds has steadily dwindled over the years. They are priceless treasures, even in their defiled state. Simply for the hope that they might someday be redeemed."
Leor nodded firmly at old Drelk's warnings, then turned his attention back toward the plant. With the greatest care that he could muster, Leor allowed his willpower to trickle forth from his fingers like a gentle mist. Then he quickly pulled back his hand to avoid overdoing it.
The three stared intently at the golden orb, the old elf seemed to be holding his breath as he squeezed his hands together nervously. However, one moment passed after another with no change. After a full minute had gone by, Drelk let out his breath in a defeated huff. It appeared now that his hopes for Leor's talent might have been too great.
"Hmm. Oh well then. Thank you for trying. It was too unreasonable for me to hope that a single young human's talent might turn back the painful extinction of priceless spiritual plants that has taken place upon my world. Let's try something else t—"
Just as Drelk was about to reach down and clear the items from the table, a subtle golden glow began to emanate from the bulb of the golden light flower. At the sight of the glow, the leather bag fell from Drelk's fingers onto the floor as the old elfs jaw nearly dropped from his face, his thin and wrinkled fingers trembling nonstop as he reached forward to gently stroke the glowing bulb.
As Leor observed the sudden changes on the spiritual plant, he felt a warm breeze begin to spread through the room, along with a smell like a meadow during springtime. The bulb that had been sitting lifeless, stinking of corruption just a moment before, began to release an almost cheerful golden glow from beneath its skin. Leor could also feel what appeared to be an extremely subtle sensation of willpower coming from the plant.
A smile spread across Leor's face at the revelation that his talent had indeed been effective. Glancing up at Drelk to check the elfs reaction, he realized that the old creature had been overcome to the point of tears. The ancient dark elf name Drelk was staring down at the revived plant with bloodshot eyes, and two thick streams of salty tears flowing down his wrinkled face.