Talent.

Alan slowly walked in silence, holding Lee's hand. The latter already wondered whether his stepfather forgot about the question, when the man spoke, "One day you'll learn that life is complicated. Before my father, your grandfather, there was no position called royal healer ... Albert Green was the first one. I was born the same year as Valen was, I mean, His Imperial Majesty ... and so was General Strongheart, and Prime Minister Bates. While one was the crown prince at the time, the other two came from established noble families ... but the three accepted me into their circle and we became good friends."

Alan spoke, but to Lee it seemed the man was talking to himself, out loud, but deep in thoughts. He was clearly reminiscing about distant past, but it was hard to believe the old general, who looked over seventy years old, the prime minister and Alan – both looking they were closer to sixty than to fifty, and the emperor, who could be easily taken for a fit forty year old man in his prime, were actually born in one year.

"As the emperor said, we grew up together … practiced together." Alan continued, "But we were destined for different things. Fortunately, no matter how powerful the emperor became, he never forgot us … and we him. The true friendship between men is impossible to put in words, but it goes beyond anything else, women, families … everything. That is why it's a little bit sad you don't have a true friend ... but trust me, one day you will."

They continued to walk in silence again. Lee actually never had such friends, in none of his lives. The gang members didn't count. And, in fact, Lisa was the first person he considered a friend, but she was the love of his life … lives, so clearly the stepfather meant something else. He also talked about something entirely different from what Lee initially asked. It was annoying.

Fortunately Alan never really lost the train of thought. He continued, "Different people have different duties … and sometimes they have to make sacrifices. And when a man makes a sacrifice … he ages. That is why general looks much older than us … but the emperor … the emperor is very special …"

"Is it the spark?" Lee couldn't hold back anymore.

"Mhm." Alan instinctively nodded, but then stopped, looked at Lee and said, "But it's too early for you to worry about it. And don't bring up the subject with your mother … she'll be furious. Neither of us wants that."

"If you say so …" The request didn't go well with Lee.

He understood that the concept of how to become a superhuman had to be kept secret. He never found anything mentioned about the subject in Alan's notes. But he really, really wanted to know.

From the moment Lee met those guys in his first life, he realized that the world was more vast than most people had ever chance to comprehend. Obviously everyone knew that the universe was boundless and whatnot, but that didn't mean anything when you went to buy groceries. But if you could blow up buildings, kill truck sized beasts, run faster than wind …

"I promise." Lee said, but he couldn't resist the temptation, and decided to try and pester Alan in a cute way. He was a child and had to make use of his status. He asked, "But could you please tell me a little bit about sparks? A tiny bit? I won't say anything to mom!"

Alan looked at him, but for a moment couldn't decide whether he should play the strict parent.

In the end he gave in and asked, "What do you know about sparks?"

"They come from beasts, right?"

"Mhm." Alan nodded, "But not every beast has a spark. Random deer and wolves can never produce one. Only the greatest and strongest beasts have sparks, and even then not all. And even if one has it, it might be a useless one."

"So the older the beast, the better the spark?" Lee asked.

"You can say so. Our Emperor Valen Sunwell, for example, has an incredibly peculiar one …" Alan said.

"So that's why he's so young." Lee pondered.

"I guess you could put it that way ..." Alan said with a nod.

"And the princess?" Lee tried to be cute again.

"Hmmm … she's special … but enough about it. We made a deal, no more spark talks … and no telling your mother …"

Even though Lee would've loved to continue the subject for another month, he had to wear Alan out bit by bit. And he surely will force his stepmother to reveal more on her own – he only needed to show his genius. And the project Powel was perfect for it.

Lee didn't have many talents. In fact, besides the talent of getting in messy situations, he only knew how to draw. Another downside was that he didn't have a particularly developed artist's soul – at most he could draw something that already existed on a paper, and if the task was to make an exact copy, it was his time to shine.

This was what let him survive in the first life after his father threw him out. Obviously he didn't draw faces of people on a street corner, although there were fellow students who earned their pocket money that way. He did better than that.

During the first year in the art school he met a couple of American exchange students. They were two nerds that came to Hong Kong with hopes to pick up hot Asian chicks, but them being paupers from the chemistry department didn't help the cause.

After getting wasted together, one asked Lee to draw something and, purely out of fun, using a regular pen he quickly copied a fifty dollar bill, except what he drew was blue, but the original was green with a red turtle on it. Obviously Lee had no talent to actually forge money, but the two Americans had a better idea.

The next day one of them bought an overpriced ticket and flew home only to return a couple days later with a small stack of papers. But from then on Lee never had to worry about his financial situation again. As it turns out, to write, or rather – to draw, a fake check was piss easy, especially if he didn't have to carry the risk of bringing it to the bank.

The problems began when Lee sold his services to a local gang member. The guy claimed to represent a triad, but Lee didn't take it seriously … and then he had to run. Still, he remembered those times fondly. The fun ended when he took the shelter under the fat Russian's wing, but even though it guaranteed his safety, in the end it led to his and Lisa's demise.

This time it didn't have to be that dramatic. The project Powel involved him forging only a couple of letters. For that, though, he had to gain access to an unlimited supply of paper and writing utensils. In addition, to get the necessary samples of handwriting, he needed to use Alan's notes, and that led to another bonus – while on the project he could study characteristics of different plants and finally find out why Dale ended his life the way he did. The question was bugging Lee for quite a while.

Tess was thrilled that Lee's new interest didn't have anything to do with fighting or riding horses. During the expedition she was in a state of constant panic, but now, seeing her beloved son patiently drawing flowers, calmed her poor soul down.

Lee was annoyed though. He never imagined that not drawing for a couple of lifetimes would diminish his skill so much. What he didn't realize was the fact of him being a child also had something to do with it. And while during the first life he could pick up pencil of any size, the writing utensils he had now were basic and crude.

During the next month Lee patiently copied all the pictures of plants and animals Alan had in his notes. But while Tess was absent, he managed to find samples of Powel's handwriting. At first he thought it was important to pick the proper paper, but from what it looked like, in this world even nobles used what they could get. The other thing that he wanted to make authentic was the handwriting in the second letter, but in the end he realized that only the contents mattered – no one would care who wrote it after reading it.

In the morning before the next Imperial council, Lee sneakily red the two letters one more time and grinned to himself. The following day surely was going to be fun.