Temporal Pearls
Chapter 41 - 41: Unexpected Downpour

"Welcome back, Maam!" The maid stood and bowed.

"How are they?" Nanncy asked as she observed her beautiful twins

"They're fine. But Samy threw a tantrum and refused to eat without you. I have to call Uncle Emanuel to help!"

"I see. When did he leave?"

"Immediately after they ate!"

"It's fine, tomorrow you can take time off. I will be home all day!"

Manuella turned around and left the kids' room while the maid started preparing to leave for her home.

'Why can't I be courageous and ask her to let me come? I don't mind living my whole life in this house.' The maid grumbled.

As a person who was barely a Class D citizen, working at a Class B citizen House was a big privilege.

On top of that, Manuella is a kind woman. She was never overbearing to her, not even when she made a mistake. There was always 'please' and 'may you' when she was ordering something.

The woman is just too elegant!

"Greet your mother for me, Marna!"

Marna, the maid, bowed and said, "Yes, Maam!" Before she left.

Marna doesn't want to overstep her boundary by asking Manuella too much, but she swore one day she will have enough courage to ask her.

Ignorant of what her Maid was planning, Manuella stared at the list of 15 people, she sighed, as she stroked away more than 8 candidates.

They are disciple requests for her for the next three boring months. Her pen hovered over a name, Seth Enoch.

"A newly risen Class C. He did have Talent. But I can see he is eating more than he can chew. Probably read a lot of articles and books about advanced art!"

She marked him pass.

******

"Seth, guess what…..You passed her test!" Anna cheerfully announced. It was at night during dinner.

"Wait, that lecture is a test?" Seth asked.

"Yep, it's now, I was told how she examines her students… most of the time she will just arrive unexpectedly and then begin lecturing, if one was enthusiastic and participated, then he stood a chance to pass."

"Here, look… I'm reading her criteria. She only takes students if he has two or three qualities…" Anna explained what she had found about Manuella John.

Manuella tests her probable students in three things: Passion, Dedication and Talent.

To her, anyone without a Passion for art, is not worth wasting time on, even if he was the best Talent there was.

A dedication was the second attribute she surveyed. That was why her questions always revolved around 'are you willing to' or 'are sure about this'.

The way one answers will inform her how convinced and dedicated one was. But the best way was the person to have workshops and a variety of art materials and how they organize them.

A Talented carefree person will have different attitudes compared to a Dedicated Person even if he was not as Talented.

Talent was the last criterion.

Manuella did believe that Art can be learned, but one has to have a certain level of Talent for her to take him as a student.

Without Talent, one can't improve beyond the threshold of learning mundane

If a person's Talent has not reached a certain threshold, he will be rejected by her, even if he has Dedication and Passion for Art.

How she judged Talent was only known to her.

....

At dawn, Seth's family cleaned themselves and ate their food before they dive into the game. At that time Seth found Adamina glaring at him.

He did nothing to her, but she seemed upset about him. He ignored her and lied in his cabin and shouted...

"Link Starto!"

Everyone, including Adamina, burst into laughter as they heard Seth make fun of the previous Head Gear game.

After diving, Seth opened his eyes, but his mind was cloudy as if he was still in sleep mode. Then he remembered before he logged out, he was in a newly discovered State of Sleep.

Now, after logging in, he was still in a state of sleep.

He will himself to wake up and notice the Soothing Gourd on the floor dripping water where he left it.

His Staff was at the door drenched in the dripping water from the Soothing Gourd, and his other materials were sprawled everywhere the way he left them.

He looked at the floating Womb and saw it had a full charge.

"Did my avatar stay behind after logging out?"

Whenever a player logs out, all his Personal Arms will disappear with him. Only Acquired Arms will be left behind. Only if the owner was holding them would they follow him.

And the moment the player logged back, Personal Arms like Seth Staff will appear at an arm's reach.

While other Personal Arms will be stored in the players' inventory.

There was an option for the player to set Personal Arms to always appear outside inventory.

Weapons like Seth Staff can't be stored in the inventory except if they were wrapped or stored in a storable container.

Seth organized his little room and checked the status of the womb, the seemingly most valuable possession after his Staff.

_____

[The Womb]

Status: Dormant and Empty

Stage: 2

Attribute: Distant Charging, Harsh Element Immunity

Health: Good > Better

Capacity: 1 Fetus

Stimulation Force: Charged(100%)

[The Womb is ready to be fertilized with a Dragon]

[Proceed To Stage 3 (Yes/No)]

[Mental Fortitude Requirements: 500 points]

[Activating the stages will give unexpected surprises]

[Note: Defeat a Dragon and throw the womb at it. The womb will be automatically fertilized.]

[Note: There will be a Mental Tug Of War between the Dragon and You. Win the War to successfully have Reign over the Fetus]

______

"I'm sure about it. After I logged out the charging should have stopped. But because I was registered to be asleep my avatar body never left!"

When Seth logged out the charging was barely 47% but now it was full.

"Proceed to stage 3"

Awe… Damn!

Seth cursed as he sat down with a dizzy head and headaches. He drank a mouthful of Soothing Water but nothing abetted.

30 minutes later Seth recovered.

He looked at the now charging Womb and he saw it was pulsing with light as if its status had elevated, and it was more alive.

Seth left it and walked out of the cottage and he…. Froze.

The sky was pitch black with dark clouds. It reminded him of the First trial where Dragon flew out from the dark cloud.

The difference was this one was cackling with multi-coloured lightning that illuminated the dark sky with each flash.

A second later a downpour of heavy rain began, amidst it was ice, the size of a fist.

What was more amazing and snatched Seth's attention was that the forest had become alive.

Every leaf raised and faced the rain. The flowers blossom and radiate with bright light.

The ground shook and the root tip of every tree protruded from the ground to have a direct touch of the rain.