Chapter 16: Quiz The Newborn Day

Sophia's eyes widened even further, and she leaned in eagerly, intrigued by her brother's words.

"Build something?"

She repeated, her voice laced with excitement, the gears in her brain perceptibly working in overdrive.

Her breathing grew shallow and ragged, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she struggled to keep her composure.

A look of fear flashed across her face, followed by a deep sense of uncertainty.

Chronos rolled his eyes at the absurdity of the situation, shouldn't he be the newbie asking for knowledge and guidance in this new world??!

He looked innocently at his Grandmama, who let out a stifled laugh and wagged her finger.

*THUD*

Athena fell back into her chair, by this point, it felt like she was already used to it.

Grandmama proceeded to tease,

"Why don't you take a guess? Sophia, Athena, Little Chronos looks like he's about to cry so why don't you try first?"

" Hey... I'm not going to…. "

Chronos whined.

Sophia interrupted him, perceptibly deep in thought,

"I've found it strange too," she said.

"I am at the supposed peak of cultivation but I still have very little control over my gift of foresight. My Principles are Space, mainly gravitational control which I think I have reached the Pinnacle of, but the Principle of Time is so profound..."

" Honestly, I feel like I barely broke through into the Principle Stage for Time, more so due to natural-born talent and intuition than actual mastery"

" I had always assumed that the next steps are to perfect every Principle, but little Chronos makes sense… Build what… hmmm"

Athena interjected,

" You're blabbering off your own train of thoughts AGAIN… well unlike you freaks I only have one Principle - Space."

" I've always focused on teleportation for combat purposes, honed my martial skills, and augmented my body to deal damage, but I've always envied other Sigil owners for being able to form various attacks and spells."

" For the longest time I thought that there was no way the Principle of Space could be used as a direct form of attack… until I saw Grandmama creating a black hole in her palm the other day…"

" So, maybe the next stage is to build some sort of attack or weapon?"

Athena hugged Grandmama's arm, batted her long eyelashes and acted as cute as she could,

" Am I right? Will the bestest grandmama in the world teach her cute granddaughter her cool black hole skill?"

Grandmama rolled her eyes,

" I wonder how you even managed to reach the Principle Stage, even before the Core stage cultivators can form attack skills and weapons with dimensional energy, don't overlook common sense just because the Sigil of Space and Time are unique!"

Athena was about to ask another question when Grandmama chided,

" I'll teach you when you give me a great-grandchild!"

Athena deflated onto the table mumbling under her breath.

Sophia slammed the table, lost in her own world.

" Building blocks … controlling dimensional energy… foundations… I GOT IT!"

She exclaimed.

" A Zone! If Principles are building blocks then using them to build an area around me I control should be the next step!"

Sophia grinned proudly as she looked back and forth between Grandmama and I.

Grandmama lightly nodded and asked Chronos,

" What do you think?"

" Sophia makes a lot of sense but the zone she described seems to still be within the constraints of the Principle Stage, perhaps that might signify the Pinnacle instead?"

Chronos replied.

Sophia whipped her head in his direction, opening her mouth to argue, but the words eluded her.

She stood there rooted to the spot, her mind racing as she grappled with the implications of what she had just learned.

Her thoughts were a jumble of confusion and disbelief, as she struggled to reconcile the truth with the reality that she had known until now.

As the shock began to wear off, Sophia's expression softened into one of sadness and regret.

She had always prided herself on her intelligence and her ability to see through the façade, but now she realized that she had been blind to the truth all along.

Athena's interest piqued, and she blurted out,

" What? I'm at the Pinnacle but have never heard of a zone before!"

Chronos shook his head lightly and replied,

" I don't know if you were able to witness our parents face off against the higher power right after my awakening, but they have definitely superseded the Principle Stage Sophia described earlier…"

" It's either they have managed to evade the detection of the laws that govern Tertius and have surpassed the Principle Stage or that they are truly at the Pinnacle."

"Besides... there was no 'Zone' in sight, that's probably just one of out of the many ways to manipulate energy."

Grandmama sat nodding with approval with a bright smile,

" Explain to your sister why you think that the zone Sophia spoke of is still within the Principle Stage and nothing special."

She said.

' What is this... quiz the newborn day?'

Chronos quietly grumbled in his mind but continued to explain,

"Well… a zone appears to be still manipulating Principles just to a greater degree, seems to me like it's more arranging and expanding than building something entirely new?"

Grandmama's eyes shone with a spark of admiration as she praised Chronos,

"Well said my dear! Now, if a zone isn't the answer, what do you think is the next step?"

Chronos pinched his chin lightly with his thumb and index finger, contemplating for a moment before continuing,

" If Principles are the mastery of a type of building block, the biggest clue to what's next then is what the building block is already a part of, not what it can possibly build…"

Sophia audibly gasped.

Just as Chronos was about to continue, Grandmama stood up and walked toward him. She bent down so that they were at eye level.

Patting her beloved grandson's head, Grandmama peered deeply into Chronos's eyes.

For the first time, Chronos noticed that they had the same whitish-silver and purple bi-colored eyes.

She shot him a caring smile and posed a question,

" That's enough about that for today, I know it might be too early to ask this but you seem to be a very smart boy, so I'm curious… What do you want to achieve in this life?"