I Can Copy And Evolve Talents

Chapter 826: A Single Wish

Northern was silent for a few moments.

The weight of his stillness pressed down on the air like an imminent annihilation.

Seeing it, the shopkeeper nearly broke out of his skin. He scrambled forward, groveling at Northern’s feet.

”I swear! I’m not lying—I’m not trying to trick you!” he cried. ”It was right there! I had it on my tongue—I swear it just... left.”

His usual assured tone had crumbled into shameless desperation.

Northern cast an indifferent glance at him, then sighed, stepping back and pulling his foot away from the man’s grasp.

Straightening, he looked down at him again and asked,

”I presume your claim of having reached the Northern Continent was a fluke—something to enthrall me.”

The shopkeeper’s head jerked up.

”What?! No! Not at all, Sir Drifter!! I swear it wasn’t!”

His words spilled out quickly, frantic.

”It was why that person knew to come and meet me! I am one of the very few information brokers with contacts all across the world.”

He risked another glance at Northern—then added, voice dripping with desperation,

”If you take me under your wing, I can serve you. Please—just don’t kill me. I will give you whatever information you need.”

Northern studied him.

For the first time, there was a flicker of intrigue in his gaze. Beneath the mask, he grinned.

”Oh. Of course, you will serve me.”

His voice was amused, yet chilling.

”That was, after all, the reward I was supposed to receive for delivering your caravan to Lithia and returning, wasn’t it?”

His gaze sharpened.

”So, yes—you will serve me. And you will tell me everything I need to know about the blockade.”

The information broker swallowed hard. Fear glimmered in his eyes as they met Northern’s.

”Yes, sir. I will tell you everything I know.”

Northern nodded.

Extending a single finger, he traced a slow, deliberate circle in the air.

A rift tore open before them, slashing through the darkness with eerie brilliance.

The shopkeeper recoiled, his body trembling. He had no words for what he was witnessing—only a raw, unexplainable fear clawing at his insides.

Before he could process it, Northern grabbed him and stepped into the rift.

The spatial tear sealed behind them instantly—leaving no trace.

***

The shopkeeper staggered, disoriented.

The scenery had changed entirely.

Darkness stretched in all directions, vast and suffocating like a shroud. Colossal pillars loomed around them, vanishing into a ceiling that was too far above—if a ceiling even existed at all. It was as if these pillars anchored certain parts of the darkness, preventing it from collapsing.

Yet despite the oppressive blackness, strange azure lights flickered and danced in the distance, casting both a regal warmth and a bone-chilling cold over the air.

The shopkeeper shuddered as unseen pressures crashed over him.

A wave of emotions—foreign, overwhelming—slammed into him.

His mind couldn’t comprehend where he was standing.

Northern paced in front of him, moving back and forth in a short, linear stride.

Then—finally—he stopped.

His azure gaze pierced through the man’s trembling form.

”Now,” Northern said, his voice quiet, unwavering.

”Go on. Tell me everything about the blockade.”

The shopkeeper trembled, his entire body barely holding together beneath the weight of Northern’s gaze.

It was the look of a predator—sharp, unrelenting, ready to rip him apart at the slightest provocation.

But that look demanded answers.

There was no escaping this. He had to start talking.

He swallowed hard, fear not only in his eyes but woven into the very tremor of his voice.

”The blockade... it’s more than what it appears to be,” he began, his words quivering.

”On the surface, it looks like a push to awaken the nations—to force them to see that the military is serious about the revolution.”

He paused, inhaling shakily.

”But in truth, that’s not the goal. In fact, the nations remaining oblivious and skeptical... works to the military’s advantage. That’s what I was told.”

He hesitated.

”The one leading this entire operation... I hear he’s a rogue from the government. A Paragon.”

Northern’s eyes narrowed.

”And?”

The shopkeeper licked his dry lips.

”I also heard that not only is he a Paragon... but he has six Ascendants following him. Each one of them commands a cohort of four Sages.”

Northern’s gaze sharpened.

”What did you just say?”

The shopkeeper flinched and stammered, ”I said—”

”No. I heard what you said.” Northern cut him off. ”That was rhetorical.”

The shopkeeper swallowed hard, but Northern was already lost in thought.

’Four Sages? Under each Ascendant? And six Ascendants?’

That kind of force was overwhelming.

Even he wasn’t sure he could handle all of them—at least, not without his summons.

’Maybe... with my clones.’

Even then, it would be tough. For others, it would be impossible.

But if this Paragon—whom Northern had a very good idea of—was planning to push the Ascendants into Paragons and Sages into Ascendants, creating a chain of command...

Then the scale of destruction would be catastrophic.

The Central Plains had no idea what was coming for it.

’That damned Dante... he really thought this through, didn’t he?’

Northern exhaled slowly, steadying his thoughts.

Then he glanced back at the shopkeeper.

”Well? Go on.”

The man continued, his body trembling—whether from the pain in his hand or the sheer terror of the being standing before him.

Or perhaps both.

”I hear he’s using this time to grow his forces,” the shopkeeper stammered. ”I hear he’s won the hearts of the military, and even those in the government who oppose him... they’re powerless. Completely powerless.”

His voice quivered, nearly breaking.

”That’s why he’s begun a purging. Right now, the government is a silent mess. The higher-ups are dying... and the only person who cares enough to stop him—the only one who would dare stand against the Paragon—is trapped in Lithia.”

Northern’s eyes widened in realization.

’Paragon Raizel.’

The Paragon had been right all along.

The blockade was designed to hold him back.

But now, Northern saw the full picture.

Dante did perceive him as a threat. But not an undefeatable one.

He was pinning the Paragon down in Lithia, to ensure no one could interfere while he purged the government.

’And what happens once he’s done?’

The answer was chilling.

He would unleash the full force of the monsters... and crush Lithia.

Even Paragon Raizel might not be able to save the city—not against hundreds, perhaps thousands, of monsters lurking at the edge of the horizon, waiting for the final command.

Northern exhaled slowly, running a hand down his face.

Everything had scaled up in an instant. The weight of it—the sheer level of devastation—it was finally settling in.

And yet...

He owed the very Paragon orchestrating this destruction a single wish.

His face drained of color.

”Fuck.”