Shadow Author

Chapter 17 1.5.1

?Next, I pocketed the chapstick before turning my attention to the black box that was hiding in the corner. When I picked it up it felt incredibly light and I also realized just how small the box was. It looked to be about the size of a box that engagement rings came in.

Unfortunately, when I went to open it I realized that it was locked. But when I was the size of the hole for a key I knew exactly what would unlock it.

Grabbing the pair of keys I flipped to the smallest and held it up to the box, it was a perfect fit.

Although I could have easily broken the box I decided to use the key since I had it.

Putting the key in I turned it and with a click, it unlocked.

I pulled out the key and then opened the box only to be filled with shock.

The moment my eyes locked on to it my mind broke.

"There's no way… impossible!"

My hands began to shake as I held the box and I felt like my head was going to explode.

Resting inside the box was a tiny white pill.

The pill would look ordinary to any other person and it didn't release any pressure that indicated how much of a treasure it was.

But I knew. I knew just how world-toppling of a treasure it was.

I was the author. I better than anyone knew the capabilities of the pill because I was the creator of it.

But for that same reason, I was utterly dumbfounded. How in the world could Lucas have it?

There was only supposed to be one in existence and it belonged to Elijah.

Ignoring the fact that a second one can't exist, how is it that nobody, and extra, could have it?

It made absolutely no sense and for the life of me, I could wrap my mind around it.

The white pill that released no pressure, looked ordinary and could be mistaken for an everyday pill, was the Talent Breaker.

A terrifying pill that honestly should have never existed.

This pill was one of the three things that made Elijah the main character.

The first is his ability which allowed him to steal and use others' gifts and skills.

Then the second was this very pill that was now in my hands.

The pill came into creation during the first book back when I was a novice writer. Back then I gave Elijah a bunch of game-breaking things that truly made him overpowered.

But now that I look back on those days I can't help but cringe. I don't even understand how the readers found the first book entertaining. It was full of cliché scenes and plot armor.

The Talent Breaker which should have been limited to one was consumed by Elijah before he came to Griffin.

That was chapter two in the book and the worst time for Elijah. It was the day his parents were killed and his sister was kidnapped.

In chapter one Elijah got his most powerful power, the third and final thing that made him the main character… a system.

A system that was the opposite of how the world worked. Instead of points and numbers to understand someone's power the system worked through letters and ranks. [F] was the lowest and weakest rank while [SSS] was the absolute strongest.

This system gave him rewards based on the merits that Elijah completed. One of these rewards was the Talent Breaker.

During the second chapter after his sister was kidnapped, he was issued a mission by the system to rescue his sister. After spending the entire chapter getting strong enough to do so the third chapter was all about him facing enemies and defeating them to save his sister. After nearly dying he manages to save her and is rewarded with the Talent breaker.

Just recalling what happened makes me cringe. How could Elijah become strong enough to save his sister when only at the pinnacle of [F] rank? Then he nearly died? Yeah right, he had plot armor, there was no chance of him dying.

I was truly a noob at writing back then. But because of it, Elijah got an overpowered item.

The Talent Breaker is a pill that as stated in the name breaks the limit of talent.

After consuming the pill the destiny of the person who had done so is forever changed. They are no longer restricted to [SSS] but rather can go higher to something humanity has never seen before [R] rank.

That's why I am currently shaking while holding this pill. If I consume it I will no longer be bound by the restrictions of humanity but instead can follow Elijah and become something greater.

"Haa"

I didn't know what to do.

Although power would be amazing I was actively searching for it. I just needed enough strength to survive this cruel world that I created. With my knowledge of the future, there would be no problem becoming strong enough to survive until the end of the series.

But what about after?

Will there be more difficulties in the future?

Ignoring the future, what will happen to me? What is my purpose?

I was forcefully brought into this world. I don't know why or how but based on the fact that my watch is telling me to become an important figure in the book there has to be some sort of reason.

So many questions stormed through my mind.

'Should I just take the pill? If I do, should I become a hero? Elijah is already destined to be the hero of the world so what is my destiny?'

While thinking this another set of questions came to my mind.

'Should I give the pill to someone else? Someone just as good-hearted as Elijah that way humanity will have more hope?'

No matter what thoughts swirled in my mind there was one overarching question that terrified me.

'How will this affect the rest of the story?'

The future I was once so confident in was not being completely changed and I haven't even done too much to cause a butterfly effect. I only brought up a problem with training rooms that would have been found later on.

'If I take the pill my role in the novel will change, if I give away the pill that person's role will change. If I toss the pill in the trash what are the chances of someone finding it and a garbage man becoming someone that could rival Elijah.'

I shuttered at that last thought. I couldn't have an extra pill and if I gave it to a different main character it would change too much of the storyline.

Thus, with no other choice and no wanting to take the risk of someone finding out about the pill nor wanting to destroy something of such significance I rose the pill to my mouth plopped it in, and swallowed.

-gulp

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Nine seconds.

Time continued to pass but I felt no changes in my body. This confused me because back in the novel after Elijah consumed the Talent Breaker he went through immense pain.

Yet even after a full minute passed nothing happened. I was beginning to think something went wrong.

I didn't know if the pill was faulty or something so in order to clarify I opened my smartwatch and tapped on the app which had recently self-downloaded. Then I tapped on the section titled information.

'Why didn't I feel any pain after consuming Talent Breaker?'

Immediately after asking, a response came.

[Because your talent has already been broken.]

"Huh?"

What did it mean when it said my talent was already broken? Does that mean that my talent was already above what humanity deemed that pinnacle or had the last Lucas already consumed a Talent Breaker?

Thankfully my questions were answered.

[Lucas has consumed four Talent Breakers making his talent [Z] rank.]

"W-what?!"

"How is that possible?"

Unfortunately, no answer came from my watch and I was left with even more questions than I originally had.

'How is it that five Talent Breakers existed in the world when I made sure to only create one? Not only that, how is it that someone like Lucas got four?!'

My mind was seriously going into a stir as I desperately tried to understand the impossible situation.

Eventually, after a long time passed I was forced to give up as there was no logic to what was happening.

But then another terrifying thought crossed my mind.

'Are there more Talent Breakers?'

[Yes.]

Right after I asked, a notification appeared on my smartwatch and I could only read it in horror.

'How was it that something which should have been limited to one was now above six? This most definitely was not part of the series. Also if there are more than that means a garbage man can find a Talent Breaker.'

I was truly going numb at these realizations so I asked another question in the hope that it wouldn't be as bad as I thought.

'How many Talent Breakers are left?'

[One.]

'One?'

[Yes.]

"Haa…"

Letting out a breath of relief I was glad that there wasn't a bunch scattered all over that random people could find.

But just as I was satisfied a devious thought appeared in my mind.

'Could information know where the last pill is?'

[Yes.]

My heart began to race.

'If I could get a fifth Talent Breaker just how much stronger could I become?'

This thought haunted me but I first decided to see if I could locate the pill before I got ahead of myself.

'Where is the last Talent Breaker?'

[Unknown.]

I half expected this but it was still a disappointing discovery. Had I known where the last pill was, who knows how strong I could become?

But then another thought crossed my mind. If I've already taken four Talent Breakers just how far has my talent risen?

'What are the ranks of talent?'

[F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, R, Ex, X, Z, (Infinity)]

'Is that an infinity sign? Just what does that mean.'

But I got no answer to my question which didn't annoy me too much since there was a chance I would never reach it.

When I looked back at the ranks I couldn't help but smile as I saw that I could become stronger than any other human.

Now all I had to do was not die.