The Paintbrush

After hearing the words of the strange voice, everyone started concentrating on its words even harder. Most people had still been wondering what the fuck was going on, where they were, were they going insane, crying for their Mommy to come and comfort them, or suffering from a headache until they heard the voice start talking about the Talent, especially because of the grave tone it used.

Kairos was one of the people who was paying the most attention. After all, the whole EX grade Talent had been on his mind this whole time. While he already had some expectations, he was waiting for the strange voice to confirm them.

It would be good to mention that even though so much information had been laid out till now, no more than 10 seconds had gone by. This is due to the fact that the voice was speaking inside their mind, and so, much more information could be conveyed. Of course, this had the detrimental effect of making the heads of the people with low INT and AGI suffer from a major headache and a minor fever from their brain overheating. For people with higher INT and AGI, like Kairos, it only served as a severe annoyance and a minor headache though.

Even then, even the people with the worst headache still decided to forget their pain and listen to the next part carefully. Instinctually, they understood that what was about to be said was going to be incredibly important.

{Listen well! Even though you're currently in The Tower and not on Planet Earth, you would have still been considered as just mundane humans... had it not been for your Talent. Now, each one of you is something more, something greater! Your Talent is the result of The Tower seeking the deepest, most important, most core part of you that is normally inaccessible to any living being, bringing it to light and giving it Its blessings. Just know, your Talent is the most important part of you, it's even more important to you than your own life!}

{Each talent has a grade, starting with the worst kinds of talents at F grade. If you look at your Status and see that your Talent is at F grade, my condolences. It'd take a constant string of miracles for you to be able to do anything meaningful in your life, or even for you to survive. Though of course even the worst F grade Talent is better than a Talentless mundane human. At least in the eyes of The Tower~!}

{Next grade is E. Barely better than F grade but still at least somewhat useful. Your future won't be bright, but at least you still have a good enough chance at a future, as opposed to people with F grade Talent.}

{Next is D. This is basically the average. For sure most of you, probably more than half, are a D grade. You're nothing special really, and it would take a herculean amount of effort for you to be able to rise above your fate of being mediocre.}

{Now for C. You're above average. Above the mediocre man. As long as you work hard and you're lucky you wouldn't struggle with living, and you've got a very small chance at being able to achieve great things.}

{B grade! Finally rising past the trash, the mediocre men and the slightly better than average ones! The difference between C grade and B grade is gigantic. You've got a great chance at doing great things. You're part of the elites.}

{A grade. The cream of the crop. The highest possible grade your Talent can be while you still remain a normal person. Your future shines bright, you just have to work a bit for it to become a reality.}

{S grade... It isn't even fair to put S as a grade, to put S and all the other grades under the same label. The difference between A and S is multiple magnitudes larger than the difference between F and A!! S grade existences are special beings no matter where you go in the universe and The Tower. S grade existences are destined for greatness.}

{SS grade. No matter what I say it wouldn't matter, you people simply don't have the knowledge to comprehend what SS grade Talent signifies. You cannot overestimate an SS grade Talent. Just know that the difference between SS and S is like the difference between Heaven and Earth.}

{SSS grade. The End. The Paragon of grades. Beings that cannot fail even if they wanted to. It's harder for an SSS being to fail or Tower forbid die than an F grade existence taking over the universe. Well, I don't even need to explain it, not a single one of you here will ever in your meager pathetic lives ever need to understand what SSS grade is, you all are universes apart from SSS..}

Everyone felt chills running up their spine once they heard the strange voice's speech and tone. It wasn't even as if a human talking down on an ant, it was more like a God talking to a single atom. Everyone there could sware they almost tasted the disdain and pity in the voice.

Kairos was thinking about something else though.

'SSS is the top...and F is the bottom. What about EX? Is it maybe a secret grade right above SSS? Have I really struck gold? Do I really have the power to make all the fine maidens a part of my harem? AM I THE PROTAGONIST OF THIS WORLD??!?!?... Is what I would've been thinking with my whole being had I still been half-asleep like a bit ago... and also had the name of the Talent been a little more cool-sounding. EX should be something like "Omnipotence", "Omniscience", "Immortality" or "Regression". Not "Paintbrush".'

'I did honestly think I got the secret EX grade OP Talent but that's simply because it was right after I woke up. Ugh, I really hate this quirk of mine where my brain barely works after waking up. It's already been too many times where I've spouted some incredibly cringy or non-sensical things after waking up.'

'To be honest with that kind of name it sounds even worse than F grade. If I had to guess F grade might be something like "Minor Taste Enhancement", "Higher Piss Pressure", "Longer Nose Hairs", "Increased Body Odor" or "Minor Affinity To Gender Studies". Somehow "Paintbrush" sounds even worse than all of those.'

Quite a few seconds passed in silence as everyone was engrossed in their thoughts. While it might have been a short amount of time, due to the strange and stressful situation, the revelations from the strange voice, and especially due to the speed at which the whole speech had taken place, these few seconds felt like a painful eternity to all of the people in the village.

{Well,anyways~~! Now then, onto your Talent level! Those who have bothered to check the Talent part of your Status must have seen it. It is currently level 1 for all of you. While it might share the same name as your Level of existence, it's an entirely different thing! The level of your Talent, while not as important as its grade, is something that is changeable as long as you work hard!}

{Raising the level of your Talent is something I recommend all of you focus on, as it's one of the most important things about you. Though, there isn't something like an EXP bar as if it's part of a game, nor is there a universal method to do it. And in most cases, it isn't as simple as just repeatedly using your Talent. Rather, every Talent has its own way of raising the level. You can check the way to raise it, as well as a description of what your Talent does if you put all of your focus on the [Talent] part of your Status. I recommend all of you do that right now, though it's only you who would be losing out if you don't do it. I will let you guys have a few minutes-long break to check your Talent and to relax your brain before we move on!}

The moment those words were heard by everyone gathered there, it was as if a weight was released from their shoulders. They all slumped down and breathed out heavily. Kairos, without caring about what anyone else was doing, immediately focused on his Status.

[Name: Kairos Fausta]

[Lv:1]

[Age:16]

[HP:20/20] [MP:30/30]

[STG:10]

[END:10]

[AGI:10]

[INT:15]

[LUK:100 (Anchored)]

[SP: 0]

[Skills: None]

[Talent: Paintbrush (EX) Lv:1]

Ignoring everything else- after all, he had already checked it out and knew what it did- he immediately focused on the [Talent] part. The moment he fully did so, it was as if everything else faded away and the only thing left in the world was his Status panel, which opened up a new panel showing the description of his Talent.

Finally, his question about what "Paintbrush" and "EX" are supposed to mean is going to be answered...Right?

Though rather than answers, the only thing Kairos would be getting is only more questions.

[Talent: Paintbrush (EX) Lv:1]

[Description: The World is a canvas. Our story, our life is merely what kind of colors we add to this boundless and already full of colors canvas. Every living and non-living thing starts on this grand canvas, paints its own part in its own colors, and then leaves, the colors bright in the beginning only to fade away and be repainted by the newer generation. You, however, are different. Uniquely so. Your colors are neon, striking and dazzling to the eye. But your colors are not the only ones you paint with. You have access to the whole rainbow, from one end to another. Your spectrum stretches from the lowest to the highest frequency of light. You are not merely some colors to be painted on a minuscule part of the infinite canvas and then be repainted over, no, you are The Paintbrush itself.]

[Level 1: Predetermined Strokes: The strokes with which your colors are painted on the canvas aren't random and chaotic, like other existences. Your strokes have a grander purpose, pulling in surrounding foreign colors and allowing you to paint with them in the direction you wish.

Effect: Your LUK stat is anchored at 100, meaning that it cannot be raised or lowered under any circumstances.]

[Level-up Condition: Make a mistake and stray away from one of the Predetermined Strokes.]

...Kairos expected many things. In a small, childish part of his heart, he even expected that "Paintbrush" would mean something along the lines of "Whatever you draw becomes reality", basically something like reality bending.

What he got was...far weirder though. At least it explained the reason for his weird LUK stat, so that's something.

Though it only left him with even more questions. First, the effect of his Talent. He hadn't exactly seen what a Talent should be like before this, so he didn't really have a point of reference, but even then he felt that his Talent was weird.

Rather than granting him some ability, like a Fireball or whatever, or making him a master swordsman, or even increasing one of the more normal stats, it just had to increase his LUK. It wasn't like Kairos was someone who absolutely denied the possibility of luck actually existing, but he was a modern man from modern-day Earth who believed in science, so he at least had some skepticism as to whether luck even exists.

Although he did somehow end up in the middle of a medieval village, he heard some strange voice in his head, and he was seeing a strange screen in front of him, so who knows, luck might just exist.

Plus, it wasn't like he could even check if it worked. If it increased AGI or something like that he could try to run and see if he was faster, or STG he would check if he actually got stronger, END if he got tougher, even INT while a bit harder, he can still check if he got smarter.

But how would he even go about checking LUK? Flipping a coin? What would a "lucky" coin flip even be like? Maybe see if it flips heads 20 times? Thinking about it, that did sound like a good test. While not impossible, it is very improbable for a coin to flip heads 20 times in a row, especially if he only flipped it 20 times in total. Sadly, he did not have a coin in his pocket right now. He didn't have the habit to sleep with his money after all.

Someone from the strangers around him could have a coin, but frankly, he didn't really want to go ask if someone had a coin on them right now, especially with how scared, concentrated, panicked, or worried the people around him looked.

The second thing about his Talent, its description and the description for the Level 1 part were... eccentric. He didn't expect it to be so philosophical and metaphorical in nature, while at the same time being super vague. Other than the part where it said that his LUK was anchored at 100, which he still did not exactly know the effects of, everything else just looked as if someone just ripped a page off of a poorly written poem written by a child and put it right in front of his face.

The last thing was the Level-up condition. Frankly, he just did not have any idea what he had to do. Kairos would've preferred if he just got a Talent that was something like "Apprentice Swordsman" and the Level-up condition was just "Swing your sword downwards 1000 times". It would be extremely repetitive and boring, but he would've at least had an idea of what to do. Just swing your sword, and then boom, level up.

What exactly does "make a mistake" in this context mean though? Also, he had zero idea what these "Predetermined Strokes" were so how could he stray away from them? His Level 1 ability did share the same name but its description didn't exactly give away any hints.

'It does say that my strokes are "not random and chaotic". If I have to make a mistake, does that mean I have to make random and chaotic strokes? What, do I just have to act in a random manner? So let's say I have to make a decision and I have 3 choices. Do I just leave it up to chance which choice I make? BUT WAIT! My LUK is 100, so doesn't that mean that the choice I make will "luckily happen to be a part of the so-called Predetermined Strokes"?' Only when he reached that conclusion did he feel like he got a hint as to how to level-up his Talent. It did not sound easy at all.

Understanding a bit of what the condition meant, Kairos idly thought about luck and chance, waiting for the strange voice to return.