The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 589: Judge

Azure Dragon turned to Qilin. “Was he good?”

Back then, Black Tortoise had worked with Ghost Horse to steal twelve bodies from the Northbound Funeral Home, including body number 2, 4, 7, 21, Three Air, Blue Dolphin, Xiran, Dark Li, Xiuyi, Old Joe, Black Sparrow, and Yellow Butterfly. Among them, body number 2 alone was still missing. Although Azure Dragon had sent someone to look for it, he hadn’t paid particular attention to the matter.

Number 2 body had been there when Vermilion Bird and Azure Dragon joined the Qilin Guild decades ago. They didn’t know the senior member, or the man’s Talent.

And Qilin rarely mentioned him, simply referring to the man as an old friend.

Now that the old friend had been resurrected, though, Qilin had to take the matter seriously.

“His name was Luqi, one of my oldest companions. He died a year before the Guild was founded.”

“How did he die?” asked Azure Dragon.

“Suicide,” Qilin answered.

That took both Vermilion Bird and Azure Dragon by surprise.

“Luqi suffered from serious depression. He’d been a friend before he awakened, and he was my patient.”

Qilin continued in a mournful voice, “His condition improved and deteriorated in turns. When he finally chose to part from this world, my Eidos was level 3. Had I been stronger back then, perhaps I would’ve been able to help him recover.”

There was a moment of silence. Then Azure Dragon spoke up. “What was his Talent, Guildmaster? It seems powerful.”

“It’s not only powerful, but also special.” Qilin’s eyes glinted. “I even suspected Luqi’s depression as a side effect of the Talent.”

“Is it...” Azure Dragon had a guess. “Judge?”

Qilin nodded. “Judge, serial number 100, Miracle-type.”

“It creates a large realm, covering an area of fifty meters in diameter. And the realm exists passively with no need for activation. It’s easy for one to step into the realm without realizing it, and all things must be fair inside the realm.”

“And fairness...” Vermilion Bird’s expression darkened. “...is defined by the user?”

“Yes,” Qilin said. “He’s the judge, but not God. He cannot disobey the rules of fairness himself and the general perception of fairness. However, he can make use of the rules at his discretion. This afternoon, he gave Seven Shadow a random judgment that way, and there was a 50% chance for him to have killed Seven Shadow.”

“Seven Shadow got lucky...no, they both did...” Vermilion Bird broke into a cold sweat. Had she kept an eye on Gao Yang herself or sent anyone else, they would’ve lost one member.

Qilin sighed. “I didn’t bring up Luqi because he was my regret, and I didn’t trust you enough when you first joined the Guild. I didn’t want you to know how powerful Judge is as a Talent.”

Azure Dragon and Vermilion Bird nodded in understanding.

Vermilion Bird said, “But there’s something I don’t understand. Why didn’t Black Tortoise control Luqi when he first got his hands on the body? Luqi was obviously more powerful than the other bodies.”

“I thought about it.” Qilin turned to Vermilion Bird. “There are three possibilities.”

“First, Black Tortoise didn’t know how powerful Luqi’s Talent was. After all, it was a common perception that the lower a Talent placed on the list, the weaker it was. Perhaps Black Tortoise believed Judge to be a weak Talent and chose not to prioritize controlling the body. He could manipulate at most ten bodies at once, leaving Luqi’s.”

“That’s unlikely to be the case.” Azure Dragon shook his head. “It was obvious that Luqi’s body was hidden, which meant Black Tortoise saw great value in it. He knew Luqi was special, at the very least.”

“Yes,” Qilin continued. “There’s another possibility: Black Tortoise was going to keep Luqi’s body for a more critical time since there was a limit to how much use he could get out of a body.”

“Yeah.” Azure Dragon leaned toward the latter. “I believe the contracted bodies to be expendables that didn’t have unlimited uses.”

“I’ve guessed as much.” Vermilion Bird nodded. “I’ve always had a question: after an awakener’s death, their Talents would be acquired by other awakeners eventually, yet the bodies Black Tortoise controlled could still use their Talents. That’s inconsistent. We all know there are a constant number of Talents, and no Talent can be owned by two or more awakeners. Of course, Replicate and Shapeshifter are exceptions in a way, but Talents copied that way only last for a certain period.”

Vermilion Bird crossed her legs and adjusted her posture to get more comfortable. “Then I realized: although the manipulated bodies can still use their Talents from when they were alive, there’s a limit to the duration and number of uses. Once depleted, there’s no replenishing them. It works similarly to Replicate and Shapeshifter.”

“That reminds me of something else.” Azure Dragon narrowed his eyes slightly. “According to Seven Shadow’s report, Ghost Horse had lost Telepathy after coming back alive, leaving only Teleportation.”

“From what I know, Telepathy was already acquired by a young man from the Hundred Rivers Union then. He didn’t make it through the Crimson Tide, though.”

“Can I come to this conclusion then...” Azure Dragon thought for a moment. “According to the law of conservation for Talents, an awakener’s Talents will be comprehended by others sooner or later after their death. If no one has when they are resurrected, though, they will recover their original Talents; conversely, if someone does comprehend their Talent before their resurrection, the resurrected will lose the Talent.”

“I believe so,” Vermilion Bird agreed.

“I think so too.” Qilin slowly lowered his cup of coffee. “I’ll make another speculation. Level 4 Puppeteer may not be enough to control Luqi’s body. While Judge is the number 100 Talent, it is special, perhaps no weaker than the top 12 Talents.”

“Very likely.” Azure Dragon’s piercing eyes glinted. “Seven Shadow’s level 6 Replicate can’t replicate the top 10 Talents yet. While Black Tortoise’s Puppeteer is strong, it just reached level 4 at the time, and he might not have been able to control Luqi’s body. That could be why he had hidden the body for later use once his Talent leveled up.”

They came to a rough conclusion and fell into thought.

Soon, Azure Dragon broke the silence. “Has someone comprehended Puppeteer and controlled Luqi?”

Qilin shook his head. “The Summon Rune Circuit is in my hand. Even if someone did comprehend Puppeteer, it would be no more than level 3. If Black Tortoise couldn’t do it at level 4, one couldn’t do it at level 3.”

Vermilion Bird added, “Luqi was resurrected. That I’m certain of. The energy of a living person differs from that of a dead body. I can tell.”

She said with more gravity, “But other than me and the Spectres, no one can bring back a body. Besides, the Spectres can only bring back a body within 24 hours of its death. My Equivalent Exchange is the only way to resurrect someone without a time limit.”

“Can it be that someone among the Godbearer Cult can resurrect a body without limit?” Azure Dragon speculated.