As if sensing the newcomers, the man in black, Salazar Blackwood, looked at both Annie and Damian approaching from behind.
"Ah… little Annie, thank you for bringing the kid here.
Now off you go~"
He made a gesture for her to go back to her duties.
"Master! Now that you are about to get a new disciple, you don't appreciate me anymore."
Annie pouted but still turned around to leave.
"See you later, junior brother. From now on you will have to call me Senior sister since we have the same Master."
"..."
Damian only now realized that Annie was Professor Blackwood's disciple.
'No wonder I was told to report to her.'
"Alright kid. Come here and show me your gun.
I heard you have been involved in some incidents requiring you to use it."
Salazar placed his own sniper gun to the side and extended his hand towards him.
Damian didn't say anything and removed his gun from the holster and gave it to him.
"Hmm… nice weapon indeed. But it's quite outdated.
It still requires bullets to be inserted. Leave this gun with me later on, I will make some changes to it.
No disciple of mine will use bullet shells."
"... I am your disciple?"
"Hmm? You are here to learn my weapon art, are you not?
That itself makes you my disciple.
Though, only time will tell if you really deserve it.
From your information that I have gotten, your potential seems to be quite poor?
But your progress makes no sense if that's the case.
Maybe your potential seems to have improved later on but I don't care…
As long as you keep progressing."
"Now show me your status data through your watch."
Damian felt quite speechless at this request. Status data was never to be shared with just anyone.
It was a matter of utmost secrecy.
"... Why are you looking at me like that kid?
If I wanted to harm you, no one in this world can save you other than SS ranked awakened.
Now share the data with me. I want to know what I'm working with here."
'Sigh… now I get why Adrian was giving me such a look.'
"Here."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Damian Valcor
Age: 15
Rank: E-
Talent: S
Core Attributes:
Strength: 31
Speed: 33
Stamina: 33
Vitality: 31
Aura: E
Will: 145
Skills: —
Shooting: B+
Hand Combat: B
Telekinesis: E+
Aura Control: D-
Weapon Arts: —
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"..."
Damian waited for a long time as he was also looking at his data, but seeing NO words come out from Professor Blackwood, he looked up at him.
'The hell!?!'
Salazar Blackwood was staring right at him with stars shining in his eyes.
His eyes carried so much intensity that a black Aura started to release from them.
Sudden release of his Aura put a great pressure on Damian as he started sweating a little.
'... So strong. Just a little bit of his Aura is making me feel like I'm being eyed by a beast.'
Salazar took a deep breath before trying to calm himself down.
"Phew… Kid, don't show your status screen to anyone.
Don't you know it is your greatest secret?"
"... You forced me to."
"I will be teaching you my art. Stand by my side and look at what I do.
Try to learn as much as you can.
Focus on how I'm controlling my Aura and will power."
Salazar picked up his sniper weapon again, pointing it at a tree in the distance.
Damian focused all his attention on the man.
He noticed how his Aura started to fill the gun and charge it slowly.
It kept on getting concentrated till it became so heavy that even the Aura present in air started to get sucked towards it.
"... Omega Point."
And then it was released.
"Boom!"
"..."
"Did you see that kid?"
Salazar turned towards Damian to see his stupid face, feeling a bit proud.
"... Yeah. When you released that bullet. It started to attract more and more Aura from the air and became more powerful by the time it reached the target.
It became at least 10 times more powerful."
"... Right. You managed to see that? Not bad. My bullet's speed is even faster than normal.
What you saw was only the most simple application of my art.
If I were to put levels to my art, then it is level 1."
Salazar led Damian to sit down in front of a digital board.
"Tell me, Damian," he said calmly, "what happens to Aura once it leaves the body?"
Damian answered without hesitation. "It disperses. Unless anchored by technique."
"Correct. Aura is obedient, but only near its source." Blackwood flicked a bit of his Aura out to see it getting dispersed.
"Omega Point Weapon Art exists to violate that rule."
Damian's crimson eyes narrowed slightly. "By anchoring it to the bullet instead."
Blackwood smiled faintly. "Not to the bullet. To the Will inside the bullet."
He tapped his temple.
"Aura follows power. But power follows Will."
He drew a small spiral diagram on the digital board - a dot at the center, lines converging inward.
"In advanced Aura physics, we define something called a Will-density gradient.
Where intent is concentrated, energy gathers. Most techniques spread Will across the body.
Omega Point compresses it into a moving seed."
"A seed…" Damian repeated.
"Yes. At the moment of trigger pull, the user performs a micro-breath cycle and injects a directional Will imprint into the round.
That imprint becomes a convergence command."
Blackwood pointed to the center dot.
"The bullet is no longer just propelled forward. It is desired forward."
"And Aura responds to that desire," Damian said quietly.
"Exactly."
Blackwood swiped the board. The spiral became a moving cone.
"As the round travels, the ambient Aura senses higher Will pressure and collapses toward it.
The projectile grows stronger the farther it flies. We call that Aura Convergence Accretion."
"Like gravity," Damian said.
"Like hunger," Blackwood corrected.
Silence lingered for a moment.
"Why doesn't everyone use it since almost everyone can use a gun?" Damian asked.
Blackwood laughed under his breath.
"Because most minds are too unstable to hold a traveling command."
He leaned forward slightly.
"If your Will fluctuates mid-flight, the convergence reverses."
"Backflow," Damian said.
"Yes. Neural shock. Aura burn. In rare cases it even leads to identity fracture."
Damian didn't react outwardly. "How many Levels are there?"
"Five recognized ones," Blackwood said. "Most never pass the second."
He raised a finger.
"Level One - Seed Shot. Basic Will imprint. Minor Aura attraction."
Second finger.
"Level Two - Convergence Shot. The bullet feeds as it travels. Distance becomes power."
Third finger.
"Level Three - Channel Shot. You maintain mental linkage after firing. Slight trajectory influence."
Fourth finger.
"Level Four - Singularity Round. Rotating Aura shell. It devours incoming energy."
Then he paused before the last.
"Level Five - True Omega Point."
Damian watched him silently.
Blackwood's voice lowered.
"At that stage, the shot stops being motion. It becomes inevitability.
Defense layering fails because the Will command outranks resistance."
"Has anyone reached it?" Damian asked.
"No."
"It is only my theory."
Blackwood smiled thinly. "Anyone who manages to reach it will be like a walking nuclear weapon."
He slid his sniper gun across the table toward Damian.
"Your Will stats are abnormal. You are a suitable candidate for achieving this level."
Damian picked up the gun. It felt heavier than it should.
"One warning," Blackwood added quietly.
Damian looked up.
"Omega Point does not tolerate hesitation. The bullet carries your intent exactly as it exists at the moment of firing."
"And if the intent is unclear?"
"Then the shot is weak."
"And if the intent is absolute?"
Blackwood held his gaze.
"You will find out when it happens. Also, I saw you already have telekinesis skill.
You must have practiced moving your bullet mid-air.
But those were normal bullets. It won't work on Aura made ones.
You will need to keep on increasing your telekinesis skill and will power.
The more powerful they are, the more you can do with this art."
"It would also be better if you can get an eye skill that lets you see far if you don't want to depend on scopes.
Also get a moving art. A Sniper's biggest weakness is letting the enemy come closer to him.
So you will need to constantly move in a battlefield to avoid that situation."
Damian sat there listening to every advice he got, taking note of everything in his mind.
"Alright, now you can carry on with your things.
I will fix your gun and send it back to your room.
Details of the art are already sent to your hologram watch. Practice it regularly and find me whenever you need guidance."