“Can you elaborate?” Anya asked.

Liam rehearsed the points he wanted to explain and launched into a well-prepared speech.

"It is difficult to explain the ability in its entirety. I will explain how it progressed so you have a better understanding of what I can do. Initially, I used it to sense danger in my surroundings. If I find any footprints in my surroundings, I can tell when the person or beast passed through. Also, I gain a rough understanding of its dimensions. The results are better when I have more information. I can easily track someone or check to see if a place is secure.

"As my ability grew, the things I could analyze grew alongside it. I was also able to gather more information from smaller clues. Later, I was able to analyze spells and runes and understood what they can do."

Anya frowned. Compared to his friends, his ability was underwhelming. Summarizing his ability, it helped him track things and he could understand spells. It couldn’t be the full extent of his abilities. "Is that all?"

“More or less.” There was a lot of emphasis on less, but she didn’t need to know that. “If you don’t believe me, let me show you what I can do.”

He pointed two fingers at the inn’s wall. “Let’s hope the street’s empty.”

A rotating ball of fire the size of an apple appeared on his fingers. It compressed, becoming smaller till it was half the finger’s width. He fired it at the wall. The initial collision was lackluster, but the fireball rapidly expanded and exploded with a force that rattled the entire inn. The wind buffeted the tables and chairs, haphazardly tossing them everywhere.

“Are you crazy?” Anya shouted. She searched the surroundings and relaxed when she noticed no one was injured. Being late into the night, the inn was empty except for the shellshocked owner and barmaid. The street was the same, with some occasional drunkards, unsteadily walking down the path.

The explosion disturbed the peace of the night. A lot of angry people gathered around the destroyed wall but stopped short when they noticed the army insignias.

“A small accident destroyed the wall and we’re trying to repair it. Please go back to your houses.” She tried to disperse the crowd to no avail. They moved back, but none of them left. Many whispers like ‘army is tyrannical’ passed among themselves.

She passed three gold to the owner. “Keep it for the repairs and any loss of business the damage might cause.”

“Nice bribe!” a rough voice mocked. “Are you going to pay everyone here to stay silent?”

Understanding that she couldn’t easily change the people’s minds, she brought her squad away from the place. When they were far enough, she faced Liam and growled. “I hope you have a good explanation for your actions. Do you think fusion spells are impressive? It may be unusual among the common evolved, but I have seen more people than I care to count. If you wanted to impress me with the display, suffice to say you failed; miserably.”

Liam shifted his eyes from the stranger present among the group. He had two objectives when he used the fancy spell. The first reason was to explain his ability and the second one was to find the person who verified his words. He met both objectives.

Grinning, he pointed at Caleb who had a confused look on his face. Everyone shifted their attention to him, forcing him to voice out his thoughts. “The spell he used is similar to the enchantment present on my gun.”

A shocked silence surrounded Liam.

“You can unravel and copy spells,” Anya said, understanding the reason behind his display. “Can you copy Rift abilities?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

"They have no triggers and I have nothing to base my analysis on. It just .... happens. Even if I can somehow understand how they work, the six elements can’t support the use of such spells. Can you think of a single way in which you can create my ability using the elements?”

She nodded in understanding. “You can copy any spell?”

“If I know the chant, hand signs, or runes.” What he said wasn’t completely true, but he phrased it in a way that didn’t make it false. Mana vision was a part of his Rift ability, and it could see the changes in mana, making it easier to copy spells.

“So, if I hide my weapon from your sight, you won’t be able to copy its enchantment?”

“No,” Liam said. If you can conceal it from mana vision that is.

The sheath couldn’t protect the sword’s enchantment from his eyes.

Deception was a game he had to play from the moment he fell into the Rift. Anya was way out of her league in front of him. If she thought ferreting out his secrets was easy, she had another thing coming.

“Is that why you visited the store?” The edge in her voice hardened. “To steal the enchantments on the weapons?”

“Yes,” Liam unrepentantly answered.

She glared at him through the mask but didn’t dwell on it for long. “What’re the limitations of your ability?”

“Time, mana, and knowledge.”

“Am I supposed to understand that?”

“It takes time to understand spells. The more complex a spell is, the longer it takes. I can’t do it on the spot. The second problem is mana. Just because I can understand a spell doesn’t mean I can gauge the amount of mana it requires. If I miscalculate, it’ll drain me dry and kill me. Finally, I’m limited by the amount of knowledge I have. Learning any spell requires knowledge and it is the same with my ability. While the restrictions are a little loose, I can’t completely get around it.”

He hid a large part of his abilities functions, but what he told her should be enough to satisfy her curiosity.

Anya didn’t know how to take the information. She was suspicious of the forthcoming attitude in which he answered questions, but there wasn’t any indication that he lied. His ability to unravel spells wasn’t impressive in battles, but the more he fought, the more spells he gained. All the fights he had been through in the Rift should’ve given him a wide variety of spells.

The limitations on his ability sounded binding, but it was only when he was young and lacked knowledge. Over time the situation would change and would find it easier to copy spells.

Even in its nascent stage, the advantages provided by the ability were insane. His future would be something to look forward to.