It was no surprise to Zoey that the Dark Star Manuscript was an amazing item. The first technique in the book was the Dark Star Vision, but that was only one of three. Every rank she achieved would unlock another technique! Since she was Rank 3 now, the book had produced three techniques for her. The first was the Dark Star Vision, then was a technique called Dark Star Control, and the third was called Dark Star Amp. By using her magic essence and forming a specific array assigned to a technique, she would gain new capabilities and abilities.

She had nothing better to do so she began to study the first technique. According to the book it was a way to improve her vision in a number of ways for as long as she could take the sensory overload. It was fairly straightforward and simple to activate, so Zoey tried it out as soon as she had a grasp on the array and how to construct it.

Closing her eyes, she focused her mind and drew her essence from her inner world and formed the array by tracing it into the air with her fingers. A faint gray mist was left behind in the air as she traced the lines of the array. It took her a few tries to get it right, but once she did, the lines she had drawn came alive with a magical glow and blinked for a moment before disappearing.

In the next moment Zoey suddenly felt that her vision change. Her eyes were already superhuman, but this was on another level! Before activating the ability, she could see about twice as far as a normal human could, but after the activation of the Dark Star Vision that distance was doubled. Not only that, she could make out extremely fine details wherever she looked. She could make out the individual facets on the eyes of the bugs buzzing in the trees over a hundred meters away. Zoey also felt like everything was somehow slower… not slowed down, but she could perceive things at a faster rate. This technique seemed to not only affect her vision but also how fast she was able to process the information.

The downside was that she could not maintain it for long. Only a few minutes after she activated the array she had to turn it off due to the pressure on her optic nerves. She also felt slightly dizzy afterwards, like she was dehydrated. She would have to practice a bit before she was able to use this effectively. Or, maybe she could create a way to use it without putting pressure on her nerves? After a moment of thought she had an idea about that, but it could wait till later.

The Dark Star Control was activated exactly like the first technique but the array was a different design and it was applied to items instead of herself. Once activated and applied to an item, she was able to freely manipulate the item as if she had telekinesis. This was not really taxing on her until she tried to apply the technique to multiple items at the same time.

While she was practicing the Control technique with her knife, she remembered the scene of her transformation when fighting the enemy on Gaia. In the video she had seen herself wielding two molten blades with a similar technique. Since her consciousness was suppressed at the time she did not have any information on how she had achieved it, but with this Control ability she had an idea of how it was possible. She wondered if the Dark Star Manuscript would eventually be the key to unlock her transformation ability.

She was beginning to be more and more convinced that it would be the key, especially after she checked out her third technique. The Dark Star Amp was a booster that could be applied to abilities before they were used. It would massively increase the power and effectiveness of the ability it was used on. With her current magical capability, she could only use it once before she was completely drained of power. That made the Dark Star Amp a last resort ability when she had no other options. At least until she increased her magic capacity. The array structure for the Dark Star Amp was strikingly similar to the array and runes that had shown up on her skin when her transformation had taken over.

With her head filled with thoughts and questions about her transformation and the Dark Star Manuscript, Zoey turned in for the night. She would learn for sure if the Dark Star Manuscript was related to her transformation if she unlocked more techniques by ranking up. It was only a matter of time.

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The hunter was scared. He had been lying on the ground motionless for the better part of the day praying to any god he could think of that his innate talent would conceal him for long enough. He had finally found his target, the girl that the Rellen family was searching for. The problem was she had him completely terrified.

He had come across the hut in the clearing earlier today when he had been following the girl's trail and had hidden himself to see if he could find any clues. Sure enough she had appeared just like the description he had been provided. Before he could sneak off and head back to his taskmaster to report his findings, he had been subjected to an incredible pressure that nearly made him pass out. This pressure had come from the girl testing out some kind of ability he didn't understand, and if it hadn't been for his Cameleon talent, he would have been discovered for sure. Thankfully he had been able to maintain the camouflage until the girl went back inside.

As soon as he had the opportunity he crawled away from the location and with all the speed he could muster started running back to the city. He wanted nothing to do with a girl that could almost kill him by simply opening her eyes and glancing in his direction. He did not know what kind of ability that had been, but those blazing, molten eyes would haunt him in his nightmares. As long as he could inform the Rellens that he had located her, he would never have to come near her again.