Tailana felt her breath catch in her throat as she once again read the words on the screen in front of her.

  Tier 1 Talent determined.

  Things you touch deteriorate into ash.

  Secondary Effect: Your attacks deteriorate things they touch into ash.

  Tertiary Effect: Anomaly detected…

  …

  …

  …

  Anomaly Processed.

  …

  Anomaly Resolved.

  Body incapable of gathering essential elements of life through normal means.

  Tertiary Effect: You are able to sustain biological functions off of ash.

  Quaternary Effect: You are only able to use ash affinity skills.

  Tailana didn't currently have the mental capacity to process those words. Instead, her gaze was fixed on a different line of text.

  Talent quality determined – Detrimental.

  Tailana felt her chest heaving as her mind was filled with panic and fear.

  Her talent was Detrimental, it was Detrimental.

  When Oliver found- no, he would already know. Now that she had a Detrimental Talent what would he do to her? If she was lucky he would kick her out, if she was unlucky…

  Tailana felt the panic encroaching on her mind as her body struggled to take in the air it needed to survive.

  She felt her gasps growing even more panicked as she realized that it was fear that was preventing her from breathing but something stuck in her throat.

  Tailana stumbled out of the chair as she reached for her throat trying to force what ever was inside of it out.

  As she stumbled forward, Tailana watched as the demon that caller herself Tailana's mother stomped over to her.

  "Get up and stop making a scene. You've already wasted all of the credits we spent raising you I don't need you embarrassing my furthered." As Holly finished speaking she reached out and grabbed Tailana's arm. Her finger nails broke skin as the older woman's higher tier cultivation over powered the newly awakened girls durability.

  Seconds later Holly's arm shot back as she screamed in pain.

  ***

  Cole watched as his nephews daughter stepped off the chair with a massive smile on her face. Atop her right hand a stream of fire spun.

  He and the rest of the family members stepped forward to congratulate her when a scream rang throughout the room.

  Within moments Cole had identified the source of the screams and he, along with half a dozen others T15 plus were floating above her.

  It was a strange sight. The screams can from T3 woman clutching her hand as it turned to ash. The woman looked to be in her late twenties to early thirties. Next to the woman was a small girl who look like she couldn't be any older than thirteen. The small girl was covered in ash the was sluffing off her body as she grabbed at her throat clearly trying to breath.

  Moments after he and the others had arrived a T19 healer went to help the older woman as a T17 healer went to heal the girl.

  As the healers delt with the two, Cole had his [AI] pull up the footage of what had happened. Ten seconds

  Cole watched as the girl was awakened, the moment it was done ash started to appear around her. Moments later, after the girl had read the words on the tablet, she started to panic. Cole watched as she stumbled out of the chair panicking and clutching her throat. He heard what the older woman said to the young woman and saw her fingernails dig into the girls arm. Finally, he saw the woman recoil screaming as her hand started to slowly crumble to ash.

  Cole shook his head, he would be every credit he had that the woman's treatment of the girl was just as bad if not worse when at home.

  Looking over what had happened in the last fifteen seconds, he saw that the woman had been mostly healed but the girl was still struggling, if not as badly.

  Stepping down next to the T17 healer he asked. "What's happening?"

  The healer glanced at him before responding. "Her Talent seems to turning any air that gets to close to her into ash making it so she can't breath. The thing is, it seems she also doesn't need to breath anymore. The only problem is she needs something to take the place of air and I don't know what that is. I also don't have any skills that could calm her long enough for her to tell us."

  As the T17 healer finished speaking the T19 healer appeared next to them and cast a skill. Moments later the girl stopped panicking. Kneeling down next to her the healer started speaking.

  "It's ok, your going to be ok sweetie." The healer said, he voice soft and soothing. "I need you to think about your Talent and anything it might of said about replacing air."

  "Ash" The girl managed to squeeze out as she tired to suck in breaths of air.

  "It has to do with ash?" At the girls nod the healer scooped up a pile of ash that had gathered around them and put it in front of the girl. "Ok, I need you to-"

  Coles attention was drawn away from the girl when he noticed something. The back of the girls shirt, the part that was most touching the girl was almost completely replaced with ash.

  Cole cranked his perception up to T18 levels and processed what he saw. It didn't take long before his [AI] agreed with his conclusion. It looked like the girls Talent turned what she touched into ash. It perfectly explained why the older woman's hand had started turning to ash, why she couldn't breathe and everything else.

  With a flick of his hand, Cole used [Cast Illusion] to create some clothing over the girl.

  As he finished that, Cole turned his attention to the screaming woman.

  "That little bitch attacked me! I want her arreste-"

  In a blur of movement, Cole appeared before the woman. "I've already reviewed the footage. Not only did you attack her, but you also attacked down a tier. I will ask you to leave now."

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  "Wh-what do you mean I attacked her? Did you see what she did to my ha-" The woman's shouts died off as Cole narrowed his eyes and flexed his concept the tiniest amount.

  After that, the woman quickly retreated, but not after shouting a few more choice words that Cole decided to ignore.

  Turning to look back at the girl and the healer helping her, he saw that the girl was now drawing in quick and slight unstable breaths of ash.

  Walking over and seeing that the healer didn't look worried, he offered his hand and greeted her. "The names Cole, second in command of the local playpen. Is the girl going to be, ok?"

  The Healer returned his handshake. "Greta. The girl should be ok, her Talent seems to have replaced most of her biological functions with the need for ash. Other than that she seems to be ok." Greta glanced over at the illusory clothes and then where the older woman had previously been. "Well, as ok as she can be."

  ***

  Tailana breathed in and felt the ash entering her throat. It was a strange feeling initially, but once she realized it wouldn't choke her it felt almost natural. As she stabilized her breathing and got used to taking in ash to support her biological functions, she realized how bad of a position she was in.

  Her mother had left, and she knew there was no way that woman would allow her back in. She was only thirteen with no savings or a job. And on top of all of that, she had a Detrimental Talent that turned anything she touched into ash.

  Where was she supposed to go from here? She didn't have any other family she could turn to. Her Talent didn't lend itself to helping her with any job and would in fact make it harder for her to get pretty much any job.

  For a second the thought of becoming a delver flashed through her mind before she snorted at the ridiculousness of that thought. She didn't have any training. Even if she did have training, thanks to her Talent, she wouldn't even be able to use a weapon.

  Tailana felt tears gathering in her eyes as she realized just how hopeless her situation was. Before the first tear could even hit the ground, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her and pull her in.

  For a second she allowed herself to be pulled in, then she remembered her just what her Talent did and instantly started trying to push them away. Her efforts were about as effective as a newborn attempting to move a mountain.

  "Hey, it's ok, it's all going to be ok." The healer said, her voice soft and soothing.

  "I'll hurt you." Tailana said as she continued trying to push the healer away.

  "It's ok sweetie. Your Talent is a dozen tiers too low to harm me."

  Tailana hesitated for a moment before accepting the healer's words and allowing herself to be comforted.

  A couple minutes later, she had gotten control of herself, and the healer loosened her hold on Tailana.

  As the healer's hold was loosened, Tailana a man with fiery red, and coal black hair standing next to them. The man was tall, with a body that looked like it had been sculpted.

  Tailana felt her face heat up at her thoughts and quickly ducked down so that her face was hidden. As she felt her mind starting to stew in her embarrassment the healer and man began to speak.

  While they did speak, all Tailana was able to make out was a garbled flood of sounds as the two of them spoke faster than she could listen. Moments after they had started talking, they stopped, seemingly having come to some kind of agreement.

  The healer knelt down next to Tailana. "How about we go somewhere more private?"

  Tailana hesitated for a moment before nodding.

  The healer scooped her up and the world around her blurred. A shield of light blue mana appeared in front of her, blocking the wind and anything else from hitting them.

  The two of them arrived in a fairly small but by no means Detrimental looking house in a nice neighborhood near the edge of the city. Setting her down. the healer guided Tailana into the house and into what a small living room.

  The healer sat her down on an extremely plush couch while sitting across from her on an equally plush chair.

  "My name is Greta, what's yours's?"

  "Tailana." Tailana said in response, her voice quiet.

  Greta clapped her hand. "Tailana." she said as if tasting the name. "That is a lovely name." Her face became a bit more serious losing a bit of her previous levity. "Know, that you never need to speak on anything that you do not wish to. Be it your Talent or your family or anything else, just tell me and I will never push. Do you have any family that you can go to whom will treat you with the respect and care that you deserve."

  Tailana shook her head. "They wouldn't let me back anyway."

  Greta smiled at her sadly. "I'm sad to hear that but know that you will always have a place here in my house should you so desire." Greta's eyes darted to the ash falling off of Tailana's body, hesitation clear on her face.

  Tailana glanced down to where the ash was falling and realized that she was making a massive mess. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'll clean this up." Tailana started to say, her voice only slightly louder than before.

  She started to stand up Greta waved her hand, and the ash vanished.

  "That isn't anything you need to worry about sweetie, I've dealt with far larger messes than a little bit of ash." Greta shook her head. "That wasn't what i was worried about. I was trying to figure out if and how I should ask you about your Talent, but it seems that in this case I'll ask bluntly."

  "Oh." Tailana said and then shrugged. "It isn't anything special. It basically does what you see. Anything I touch becomes ash. Anything my attacks touch become ash, and I can sustain my biological functions off of ash. And I can only use ash affinity skills" Tailana said uncaring of divulging the details of her Talent that would normally be a private thing.

  Greta's face went through a range of emotions, shock at her sharing the details so freely, pity at its restrictions and then contemplation, though Tailana wasn't sure why.

  "You should never share your Talent so easily. Even if the effects are obvious, but what is done is done and this will help me help me. The limitation to only ash skills is the only truly bad thing about your Talent. You touch turning things to ash will be problematic but will likely be fixed upon reaching tier 3. Other than that, it's all positives."

  Tailana looked down at her hand, at the ash falling off of it, at the clothes that were slowly turning to ash. Tailana blinked, her face started turning red, and she grabbed her knees drawing them up to herself.

  Her clothes were turning to ash. By the looks of it, in another ten minutes she would be naked. She felt her face burning up as she tried to hide behind a curtain of brown hair. Suddenly, there was a slight disturbance in the air and a blanket settled over her.

  "You won't have to worry about that blanket being destroyed by your Talent. It was made using wool from a t13 sheep. It would take you thousands of years to destroy it at your tier if your Talent even can." Greta said. When Tailana peaked out of the blanket, she saw the healer smiling at her.

  Eventually, Tailana pulled the blanket around herself and nodded. "What now?" She asked, her voice just as quite as usual.

  "Now, I ask you what you want to do." Greta said. "So, what do you want to do with your life."

  Tailana ducked her head. "I don't know. I don't have any family to turn to, and I doubt there will be many if any willing to hire me with what my Talent does and my Talent isn't useful enough to make up for its short comings."

  Greta reached out lifted he chin so that she was looking at the healer. "Sweetie, I didn't ask you what you can do, I asked you what you want to do. The gift of cultivation is that, given enough time we can accomplish anything. All we have to do is set our mind to it. So, tell me, what do you want to do."

  Tailana hesitated, she wanted to say that it didn't matter what she wanted, she couldn't do anything. After all, what Holly and Oliver had said but her being useless was true, her Talent had proven that. And even if she could achieve what she wanted she didn't know what she wanted to do.

  Images flash through her head. Movies they had watched in school about Duke Water, Legion, Titan and Wraith, and Light and Shadow. She thought of the news articles they had gone over about their exploits. One movie in particular stuck out to her. It was about Torch and Quill when Wraith had been at the bond academy. A corrupt noble had been keeping a someone with and essence stone creation Talent caged up. The two of them managed to free the man and then fought off the noble despite her being multiple tiers than themselves.

  "It doesn't matter." Tailana murmured. "I don't know how to fight."

  Greta let out a sigh. "Tailana, sweetie, I told you not to think about if you can do it but what you want to do."

  Tailana finally gave in. "I- I want to join the path of ascension." The moment she had spoke those words she shrunk in on herself.

  Greta's smile didn't drop, instead it even grew a little. "And why couldn't you say that from the beginning?"

  Tailana pulled the blanket up higher, covering her face with it. "Because it ridiculous. I can't hope to become an ascender. "

  "How is that ridiculous? The path of ascension was created to give those at the bottom a chance to ascend to the top. You managing travers that path even a little bit would a completion of its whole purpose. As for you not knowing how to fight. While that is more problematic, it is fixable. You have until 16 to reach T2. Your what, fifteen, fourteen?"

  "I'll be fourteen in a couple months."

  Greta blinked in shock. "Your that young?" She asked in shock. "How are you already being awakened?"

  Tailana shrugged. "Oliver wanted to figure out if I was worth the credits feeding me would cost or if he should kick me out. Apparently someone owed him a favor and got me in for an awakening."

  Greta nodded her head. "That explains it but why wouldn't he have you taught even a but of combat?"

  Tailana shrunk back into her blanket. "Its easier to sell a defenseless doe than a fighting cat."