Chapter 252: Giant Worm

“You know, I have to ask… why didn’t we use the horses, I mean whats the point in walking?” Kade blurred out, annoyed that Aether had left the horses behind them and decided to go on foot towards the city, even though he knew that it was dangerous.

“Simple, I don’t know how to ride one, do you?”

Kade looked confused at him. “I don’t, but you also didn’t know how to drive a boat, and you figured it out, so why didn’t you try it with the horses?”

Aether stopped in his tracks and turned to Kade, only to flick his head. “There is a difference between using something that isn’t alive and something that is; the boat wouldn’t stop me, the horse would, plus, they know who their masters are, they wouldn’t let us ride them.”

Animals can get really attached to their masters, and when that happens, it is extremely hard to get them to see another human as their leader. They didn’t have the time to do that.

Aether went back around. He pointed out one more thing before continuing to walk. “Plus, this forest doesn’t have any monsters, so were save until were out.”

Kade followed. “And when we’re out.”

Aether smiled. “We’ll just have to kill them, didn’t you say you wanted to get stronger? Plus, it would allow me to test… a new toy.”

…

[Whispers of the Lost]- When everyone else has left, only the Lost remain; their whispers show memories of past warriors, revealing their techniques and instincts for the user to borrow. Your blade pierces those who have let you down. This skill enhances your reaction speed alongside the speed of your thrusts, and sharpens your instinct, but only when using a rapier.

He has finally got it… he has mastered Kael’s style… but was it really his style, or just one he had created himself… it was hard to know. Kael wasn’t a reader; he was a normal person in a book, so he couldn’t have any skills, and so even if he had been given clear instructions on what to do, the Codex would still create him a skill instead of giving him Kael’s skill, since it didn’t exist.

Well, whatever it was, it was an amazing skill. Pairing it up with his mantle, if he were to fight in the shadows, he would be very fast, and maybe his reactions would be on the level of a Beast.

All its advantages were made for the style, faster thrusts made it so he could change his decisions and catch people off guard, and the sharpened instinct and increased reactions allowed him to come up with ideas in the middle of defeat, when the blade is next to his neck, he could figure something out.

He was glad… since he had spent a lot of time training to get it… If he actually thought about it… Ever since he entered this book, all he has done is train.

And there were results; he had gotten a lot stronger.

Eden, his mantle, and now this skill were all strong additions that helped him a lot.

Yet he has spent a lot of time getting all of them.

Eden had been extremely hard to get, yet it was something that he needed to climb back up to Layer 0. To defeat Denial. He spent months just getting the first variation of it, months during which he spent every night training. And after he finally got it, he didn’t stop, he continued, he got beaten up multiple times to evolve the ability, calculating things some wouldn’t even mind that much, the distance between a human and their shadow, who would know thatl plus, he was the only one who could even do it, since he saw shadows another way than others do.

And to finally evolve the skill to Eden, he had to combine two of his worlds; it was not easy to come up with the idea and actually do it, after all, not even the Abyss had done it…

To get his mantle, he had to fight Anger and come back from the arena. Only then did Kael give it to him.

But it was one thing he didn’t know he had been getting so at the same time, you can’t really say he had spent time getting it.

But for Whispers of the

Lost… he had gone into the arena to get this skill specifically, he had killed for it, he had destroyed the Arena for it, and he had spent day after day training alone in the abandoned arena until there was nothing else to do… and yet he had yet to get it.

So then… came the question, why had he got it now, after protection Kade?

What was he missing that he got after the interaction with the bandits?

…

Was it because he had taken responsibility for the boy, or was that what he was missing, something to use the skill for? But didn’t he already have a goal, that being to get stronger and avenge his rebellion… so then why did taking accountability for the boy do it…

The Codex was really complicated, especially when it came to giving skill, which is the one that determines what mastering something means.

How and why he got it didn’t matter now; what did was that he got it… and really… he had come into this book with one skill, that being talking to rocks… and now he had three; he had gained two skills, he had mastered two things… while it didn’t mean that much on paper.

For him, it did… until now, he felt as if he knew many things, yet never mastered any of them, so finally doing it, and twice, through hard work, truly… warmed his heart.

Aether suddenly stooped.

The forest stopped; in front of them, a giant green field revealed itself. It was completely hollow, no trees or flowers… just grass… and animals?

He walked onto the grass, seeing how warm it was, and the ground too, it bent to accommodate his feet… and strangely it felt as if it was empty under him.

’Is there something und-’

“A cow!” Kade said, rushing to the animal.

Aether sighed, the boy really didn’t know what danger was… but I guess… he was also a bit excited to see the animal, it had been a long, long time since he had seen one, alive. Back in his childhood, he had seen many, but after getting to the Withered, he hadn’t even heard of one, at most their meat, but even that was rare. The closest thing was in Frozen Crown, but they were frozen in that book, so it was the first time since childhood that he had seen a fully living one. A fully living animal at that.

Until now, they were either already meat or frozen.

Aether followed Kade, watching as the boy petted the animal. He must really love animals; it made him wonder what the history of Veyr’s lowest island was with animals.

“We should probably leave.”

Aether said to Kade, touching the soft fur of the animal.

“Huh? Why?” The boy blurred out, confused.

But then the ground shook under them, and from below, a giant worm appeared, its long body ascending in the sky. Its back was covered in black, made out of obsidian. Yet below them, its flesh didn’t look any weaker, plus, inside it seemed to rest smaller worms, ready to hatch any time.

The giant monster turned to them, its mouth parting in three ways as it opened it, the inside filled with sharp teeth.

’So this was it…’

He knew there had been something under the ground, after all, the ground seemed to soft and sunken for it to be normal, so he figured something was under them, and had made passages under the ground, plus, look at this place, it was perfect for something to live under, there wasn’t anything in this place but grass and animals. It was easy to find something to live under, plus it had food up top.

Aether grabbed Kade, who had frozen in place, and started running. As the worm entered the ground, it started to chase them.

“What on earth is that thing!” Kade screamed.

Aether summoned Voidpiercer as the worm emerged from the ground below him. Luckily, because of his reaction speed, he was able to step out.

“I mean, it looks like a worm.”

“I can see that! Just that… forget it, what do we do?”

Aether looked behind him, seeing the monster go back under the ground, back in its home.

“Well, we’re either going to have to run to the next city like this, or until it gets bored of chasing us, after all, to it, were just food, so if we run, it would realize it’s a waste of time when it can just eat the animals, which are also bigger than us.”

…

“So uh… just keep running.”

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