At least ten years, until the next tier!
It was far too long, and Christian wasn't prepared to wait for that.
He intended to go around the problem in another way.
And he also intended to free up one idle slot for the technique for his sister anyway, so it worked out just fine.
While going through the many thoughts in his mind, Christian found himself standing in front of Eva's room.
And so, without knocking or saying anything, he entered.
… It had become a habit, considering how close they were now.
But when he saw Eva turn her head to the side with a small chuckle and say, "You're here?"
He couldn't help but pause.
Because he noticed how she tried to hide her face.
… And how she had actually been crying.
Christian felt like an idiot in that moment.
He should have gone with her from the very beginning.
No matter what, being told she wouldn't be able to train in essence… when she had clearly been waiting with all her might for the chance, was bound to have a huge impact on her.
Everyone around her turned out to be able to train in essence.
Only she remained… an ordinary human.
There was no way she was okay.
So how could he have not thought of that?
Why didn't he go with her from the start?
Christian felt his head go blank from the flood of thoughts that came and went.
But even so, his body didn't stop moving.
He went toward her and hugged her tightly.
As he felt her body, which trembled slightly at his touch, he wondered—
When it actually wasn't?
Christian, who had not uttered a single word since entering the room, finally found the perfect words for this situation.
"There's a way for you to become stronger through essence," he said, "even if you're unable to train in it yourself."
Christian had decided to give Eva a solution instead of offering comforting words.
Because really, at the end of the day, what did essence techniques directly give the one who trained in them?
They extended the life of the one using them while making them stronger.
So, he would give her a way to obtain that.
But, while Eva's eyes widened slightly at his words, she still didn't give any response.
And Christian not minding that, adjusted his sitting position, moved Eva gently in his arms, and continued speaking.
"Actually, I planned to say all of this to you earlier… but you just had to go away."
He exhaled softly and turned Eva's head toward him, making sure to meet her eyes as he spoke. Then, he kissed her brow before continuing.
"How do you think essence techniques work?"
"And I mean, how do they extend the life of the one using them?"
Christian watched her expression closely… her reddened eyes, the embarrassed look on her face, and how she was clearly clueless about the answer.
So, he answered the question himself.
"It's actually more like a side effect, due to the presence of essence in the body."
"The essence nourishes every fiber of the body with its existence. So, the cells that would have died after a certain time, otherwise… they work longer. They become stronger. Their lifespan increases."
Of course, there were still many, many other things that essence did.
And even this theory of his wasn't a hundred percent correct—or even complete.
But the direction was right.
"So, if you can't use the essence technique yourself," he said, "then you just need someone else to introduce that essence into your body."
Eva, who had finally caught on to where he was going with this, had her eyes sparkle as she asked, "And you would be able to do that?"
Seeing how even just this much had lifted her spirits… and how she didn't even doubt his words, Christian felt a warm feeling inside.
He couldn't help, but lean closer and began kissing her.
From her eyes, and the trail of her dried tears, down to her cheeks, and then her lips.
Christian did that for more than five minutes, and he was hungry for more.
But in the end, he restrained himself, and pulled his head away.
He stared at her glistening pink lips, wet from how he had sucked on them. Then shook his head, hardened his heart, and said, "I wasn't able to explain your exact situation with details before, so I'll inform you of it first."
"Maybe you heard from Olivia already, since I asked her about it once. Back then, I thought you might have a unique talent regarding a specific attribute, so the normal testing methods couldn't detect it."
"But after I tested you myself today… I came to know that your situation is more than that."
Christian, who wanted to be transparent about everything concerning Eva's condition, took a moment to observe her heavy expression, but not letting it affect him, before he continued.
"The essence I sent into your body earlier, during the test, actually disappeared as soon as it came into contact with you."
"It vanished entirely, and your body didn't give any reaction."
"I had to try many more times just to get the essence to enter your body at all, but even then, I wasn't able to find much, and the essence would vanish eventually."
"So, where is the essence disappearing to?"
"And why is there no reaction?"
While Eva had a peculiar expression, as she truly didn't know what to think of the situation, Christian exhaled and continued.
"... Putting the problem of where the essence is going aside, there's another issue."
"It's that you have an attunement to essence so high, so off the chart, that I actually doubted myself."
"… But you have zero affinity."
"And that's actually impossible!"
Christian was someone who possessed an Expert Human Biology skill. He was also someone who had achieved the difficult feat of being able to test a person's talent even while unranked. And he was certain.
It's impossible to have a high attunement without any affinity.