Science/Magic 79 The Dreamer 3

...

"I see…" Bloed fixed his sight in the girl sleeping in the capsule. "It was [Precognition], huh."

[Precognition] was once of the most common abilities related to the future, although it was uncommon to see one of such a high grade.

In truth, what [Precognition] shows was not truly the future. The future is something that is not written yet, so seeing it is impossible.

Instead, it shows the [Possibilities].

In other words, the possible futures.

Of course, the number of possible futures is countless, and many futures differed from others only in small details. Besides, the longer the period of time you want to predict is, the more variables will exist and the less precise will be the prediction.

Due to it, [Precognition], like most predictive ESP abilities, only shows futures relatively certain and that will occur in a short span of time. For example, when Gina predicted Bloed and the others coming to the city, it was only two weeks ago, and only after Bloed and Regina decided to leave the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p and come to Calice city.

Moreover, such predictions are often limited by the information the ESP ability is able to get. Thus, a [Precognition] user will probably not detect than a meteor is about to crash on the planet unless the meteor is just about to hit or the user tried to predict specifically about the topic.

Of course, a powerful [Precognition] ESPer can use this ability to search between the countless futures for the future he needs, however, it's very hard to do so, and most of the time it's not successful.

But even with all its limitations, [Precognition] is a very powerful ability. In the Human Confederation, every ESPer with prediction abilities was treated like royalty and strictly safeguarded. After all, knowing the future is a great advantage.

"SS-Grade [Precognition]. In the Human Confederation, someone like her would have been a celebrity."

"… Unfortunately, not everything is good news, master." Regina suddenly said.

"Mm?"

"Look at this." Regina then showed something to Bloed. Bloed looked at the words on the screen and furrowed his brows.

"… I see. This is not good, huh."

"Young master Bloed, did something happen?" Sara asked worriedly when she saw Bloed frown. "Besides, what is it about SS-Grade, precognition, and Allure. I don't understand."

Bloed sighed. "Let's wake Gina up first before explaining the situation."

Sara thought for a moment before nodding in understanding.

…

Half an hour later, the group of five was seated around a table.

Bloed and Regina had pensive expressions, and Sara and Gina had anxious looks. Only Liu Ying seemed relatively normal, but even she was a bit uncomfortable with the atmosphere.

Finally, Gina broke the silence.

"Bloed, is anything wrong? Could it be that there is something wrong with my dreams?"

Bloed smiled softly when he heard Gina's anxious look.

"Don't worry, there is nothing wrong with your dreams. In fact, it's great. To be honest, it's so great that I'm surprised."

"Seriously?"

"Yes." Bloed then explained to her about her abilities.

Of course, neither Sara and Gina nor Liu Ying knew anything about ESP abilities, so Bloed explained them as abilities with the same origin as mana. It was not exactly true, but it was not exactly wrong either.

"… Are you saying that my sister has the potential to become a demiG.o.d?" Sara was surprised.

"She does." Bloed nodded. "If she trains her [Precognition] ability, she probably will manage to become a DemiG.o.d in ten or twenty years, maybe a bit longer. It's because a higher psychic power, or soul power as you call it, will allow her to control more mana. Of course, she needs a special method of training to achieve this."

Gina's face brightened. Her smile was so wide and bright that it was blinding.

"Do you hear that, sister? I will be able to protect you this time!"

"Mm!" Sara nodded. Although she was feeling a bit complicated, she could not deny that she was happy.

But–

"However, there is a problem."

"Huh?" Both Gina and Sara were startled. The sisters looked in Bloed's direction asking him to explain himself.

Bloed smiled wryly.

"Gina is very talented, too talented to be exact, but all that talent is not necessarily good."

"What do you mean?" Sara frowned.

"… You told me that Gina has always had a weak body since she was a child, right?"

"…"

"... This is the reason behind it. The nature and strength of her abilities cause them to overflow and hurt her body."

Sara and Gina fell silent.

Bloed continued. "If I'm not wrong, you have been using some kind of medicine on her, right? That medicine is certainly effective, but that did not treat the problem.

"Sara, Gina, I will be frank with you. Gina's abilities are too strong, so strong that they are causing a burden in her body. According to our exams, she only has five years of life."

"!!!"

The two sisters turned pale.

Gina's face turned ghastly white, and Sara opened her eyes wide. They were unable to process Bloed's words.

But one second later, Sara's face turned red.

"You…! What are you saying!? Do you want to die!?"

Bloed sighed and did not reply. Seeing that, Sara turned even angrier.

But–

"Sister, stop."

"Gina?"

"… Actually, I already knew."

"Huh? Gina, what are you…"

"I can see the future, sister. So it's normal if I can see my own death."

Sara was stunned. She looked at Gina as though she could not believe her words.

"I didn't want to tell you, but… I guess there is no point in hiding it anymore."

Sara bit her lips. "Gina, you, why…"

Gina lowered her head. Tears started to form in her eyes, and she clenched her hands. "I-I j-just didn't want to worry… I-If you knew, I-I d-don't know what you would have done…"

Bloed and the others, who saw that scene, sighed. They could imagine how the sisters were feeling now.

Sara had lived her entire life protecting her little sister and trying to give her a safe home, but in the end, she did not know that her little sister was going to die, and she was hiding it from her.

As for Gina, she preferred to hide the truth from her sister and endure alone the pain of watching her life vanish little by little than make her sister suffer.

Bloed heaved a sigh. "… In truth, there is a solution…"

"Really!?" Sara jumped towards Bloed and grabbed his neck. "Quickly, tell me!"

"Stop!" Regina stood up and grabbed Sara's hand. "Do you want to die!?"

"S-Sorry, I'm sorry… I was a bit excited." Sara quickly apologized and took a few steps back. She then looked at Bloed with a mix of fear, hope, and despair.

"Stop it, Regina." Bloed smiled at his servant before looking at Sara. "The solution is very simple. She must become stronger. The stronger she is, the lesser will be the burden on her body and the longer will be her lifespan. If she reaches Rank before she dies, she will be cured."

Sara's expression turned excited. But soon, she frowned. Rank? How much would she need to become Rank?

Moreover...

"... Even if you say so, normal training methods don't work on Gina. She had tried before, but her strength has stagnated in the E-Rank."

Bloed nodded. "I told you just now. Gina's talents are very special, so she needs a special training method to become stronger... To be honest, I have a training method suited for her, but..."

"But?"

Bloed looked at Sara and Gina with a wry expression.

"To be honest, I don't know how much I can trust you."

Sara was startled. She opened her mouth to say something, but in the end, she was unable to speak.

Sara understood Bloed's meaning.

In the end, she was serving to Bloed's enemy. Why would Bloed help his enemy?

In truth, there was a much simpler solution to Gina's problem. Bloed just needed to perform a body enhancement surgery on her and problem solved. With a stronger body, Gina would not have to fear her powers burdening her body.

But in the end, Bloed was not sure about if do it or not. Although the prospect of having a friend with [Precognition] was tempting, if Sara and Gina decided to stay with the city lord, he would be creating an enemy able to see the future.

That was obviously not a good idea.

"… Let's end this talk here. I think all of us need a bit of time to think." Bloed finally said with a sigh.

Sara could only nod.

As for Gina, she stared at Bloed as though she wanted to say something, but in the end, she said nothing.