Ms. Selena looked him in the eyes.
They were all alone now.
When the last student left the study hall, her gaze softened, and she put one leg over another, her sitting posture getting more relaxed.
The previously dramatic air softened, and his teacher spoke.
"Caecus, I am very curious about how you use your soul essence, and would be very happy if you'd indulge me with your knowledge and experience." She took a notebook, and flipped a few pages. Then she clicked a ballpoint pen.
"O-oh of course I can tell you Ms. Selena, it's just a little hard to explain… may I ask what sparked this curiosity?" Caecus rubbed the back of his head, and smiled awkwardly.
"Well, I am very curious when it comes to soul control, and studied it a lot, as you can probably see by the fact that I am teaching soul control. I think a new perspective would help a lot, and it's just curiosity about my passion." Her face shifted into a smile, that was as innocent as a newborn.
'That is a surprising shift in personality. I suppose she let her guard down around me because I'm blind.'
"Well… first of all, my soul control usage has deeper meanings." Caecus inhaled, sucking in the fresh winter air that was warmed up due to being inside. "When I advance, my enhancements, that would otherwise go to my sight, all go to my other senses, and my comprehension speed. This allows me to do things that other people my rank would not be able to replicate without using soul essence to enhance their senses."
Ms. Selena held her cheek on her hand, resting her chin on her palm, while supporting herself on her elbow on the table in front of her. Her gaze was distant, as if not completely here.
"That is… interesting. I think we have a major lack of knowledge when it comes to advancing with disabilities, like blindness. Majorly, because it was deemed 'too dangerous' for people like you." She began massaging her temples with her thumb and middle finger.
"So… what I do is that I augment my bracelet," Caecus showed her the metal bracelet he wore around his wrist, his corpora bracelet on the other. "and when I do, I let it vibrate at a certain frequency. This produces a sound in a pitch that only I am able to hear, or you are able to hear if you augment your ears. I think people who have undergone metamorphosis may be able to hear it too, but I'm unsure. A-anyways…depending on how long the waves take to return, I am able to estimate distances. Because of my enhanced comprehension speed, my nervous system adaptations are boosted too, and I am able to do it subconsciously now, and notice even small things."
After saying all that, Caecus gasped for breath, because he explained it all in one go, and then looked at Ms. Selena, with heat rushing to his face.
'Why did I say it like that!'
Ms. Selena on the other hand, was still deep in thought, having listened to everything Caecus said closely.
The blind boy felt himself receiving a message on his soul phone, but decided it would be better to look at it after the conversation ended.
"I understand… that makes sense, so you are not able to sense anything like whiteboards, or signs from afar because it is too small for your echolocation to sense it?" she didn't move an inch after saying that. "And you basically constantly train your augmentation when you use it. May I try something?" Her gaze shifted back into reality, and Ms. Selena looked into the eyes of Caecus.
"Oh y-yeah anything."
'No not anything! What's wrong with me?'
She raised an eyebrow, and continued.
"I'll recreate the test from the exam, this time without commando though." , she handed him a device, which looked like one of the metal balls he had trained with, but smaller, around the size of a tennis ball.
"Just augment it with your soul essence."
Caecus followed her instructions, and felt his soul essence speed from his abdomen to his palm. Then he augmented the ball as quickly as he could, and he didn't feel any resistance.
"That was easier than expected…" he said.
The teacher on the other hand was lost in thought again, taking out her soul phone and looking at something on there.
"Just as I thought…" She looked up at Caecus again, but this time there was something else in her eyes… admiration.
"You.. you really are a wonder. Let me explain."
She moved her Chair closer to Caecus, and wanted to show him something on her phone, but then she froze up, realizing.
"Oh– sorry, it's quite easy to forget with you, even if it's the topic of conversation…"
She put her phone back into her pocket, and her gaze was on him again.
"Simply put, as you said, your body's nervous system adapts much faster than a normal person's. This is true for everyone with a ranked soul core, but in your case the effect is incomparably greater. I am curious to see what your metamorphosis will look like... but back to the topic." She inhaled. "Because your nervous system adapts so quickly, actions that normally require conscious effort become subconscious and automatic much sooner. For you, things become quite literally as easy as breathing. As for soul control, you're constantly training it through your echolocation. Combined with your accelerated neural adaptation, that allows your control to improve at an exceptional rate. And your time was 0.15 this time."
Caecus stayed silent for a moment, taking in the information she told him, and then stared into empty space, thoughts clearly somewhere else.
"You said I was fourth last time, what place am I at now?" He asked.
"Funnily, the top three were also the top three from the rankings, Julius had a time of 0.17, so you beat him by a fraction of a second, so yes you're place 3 now, technically."
'Wow! I wonder… if Father had known about this, would he still have restricted me..?'
The black haired boy felt an emptiness in his stomach, like a vacuum, sucking everything up.
'Better not think about them.'
"And by the way…" Caecus moved his eyes in the direction of the person who was in front of him when he heard her speak. "Julius recently reached the manifestation stage. If I were you, I'd look into it."
The blind boy's pupils widened, and after a second, a little smile, small as a ray of light peeking through the stormy clouds, escaped him.
"I will. Thank you for the advice."
"Of c–"
The door opened, and a boy way too big for his age entered, with a worried look on his face, which shifted into relief with a tinge of disappointment when he saw the boy too small for his age.
"Caecus! Why didn't you reply to my messages– oh…"
Titus just now noticed the person sitting opposite of Caecus, and got embarrassed.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know he would converse with you Ms… Teacher. I apologize for interrupting" He immediately said when he saw her, and suddenly it looked like he found his shoes very interesting by the way he was awkwardly looking at the floor.
"Don't worry, we were about to wrap this conversation up anyways. I assume you're here to pick him up? Navigating without the signs as a first year must be very hard." Her kind attitude that was completely different to her strict one in class still hadn't faded.
"Yes. I am here to pick him up, I told him to wait here for me, so when I saw that his class ended a while earlier than mine I got worried, and messaged him, but he didn't reply… and yeah." He scratched his scalp gingerly.
"Ah… don't worry I see that you were only worried for your friend. Anyways Caecus, I'll be seeing you in exploration class next." She said, and then stood up, packing her things.
"Goodbye Ms. Selena!" the boy said, walking away contently after that conversation.
"What did you talk about?" Titus asked, as they walked out the classroom.
"Secret~"
"Huh?"