Chapter 258: Awareness

Lucky thing this wasn’t the Great Harbor, since they wouldn’t be able to last a lot in that place with the money they had now. To sleep at the Inn, it was five embers per person, which was half of what the one in the harbor was asking for.

Plus, this city didn’t have a daily living fee.

So in the end, living here was cheaper than in the harbor by about fifteen embers, which was a lot, and only for one person, if he counted Kade, it was thirty embers difference, which was more than half the amount of a boat.

For one day!

’Outrageous,’ Aether mutured under his breath, lying on his bed.

Kade was fast asleep, but they had walked a while, so he understood the boy.

Unlike him, he wasn’t used to this lifestyle.

Of sleeping little hours.

And it wasn’t like he had gotten used to it quickly, no, it took him years inside the Withered to do so. Night, he had to stay awake, either for his safety, or to find the perfect time for one of his master’s little schemes.

And it’s not like it got any better after.

In Frozen Crown, he was walking with Elpis an Avrie day and night, to the point his feet were burning from the inside out.

And not even after entering Demon of Dread had his sleep schedule gotten better, after all, while trying to get Eden’s first version, he had been training every night for months.

Only now had it gotten a bit better, since he had to give Kade rest, and so he also went to sleep, since he couldn’t continue without the boy.

But he did have to say it was a waste.

With his new mantle and skill, he was stronger in the shadows, and at night, all the Lost revealed themselves, making him almost impossible to spot.

It was advantageous for him to travel at night and fight at night. But he knew that the boy couldn’t. Not only did he not have any of his advantages. But he also couldn’t see; he didn’t have Eden.

He could try to teach him, but there were many things that held him from doing so, the first being that he wasn’t even sure he could do it, since he wasn’t part of their world, and he had no idea how their bodies worked, if they had cores, and how their souls worked. Since he saw in his dream just how different he was from the others.

But even if he could, it was going to be extremely hard to do so; after all, he spent months himself, and he was able to do it because he had Shadow Speech, which gave him a hint and a starting point.

Kade didn’t.

So it was probably just a better idea to train the boy in the day, not in the night, even if he was weaker; either way, he wouldn’t make the boy fight powerful monsters he couldn’t take on himself.

Speaking of it… he did need to start the boy’s training. After all, if the shard was indeed in the hands of a monster, and underground, it was good to have him fight with him, and it wasn’t even just about this shard; it was going to be a lot easier if he had somebody fighting with him.

But the question was how?

He had never thought of anyone before; he had always been the student, leaching of others, so he wasn’t even sure what he was supposed to teach him. His style? Fighting with a rapier wasn’t easy, though, and even more with his style, it was insanely dangerous, the training too.

He was able to do it because he was used to pain. The boy had probably not been stabbed by a blade before, plus, it was a style that needed fast reflexes and good instinct when fighting; the boy had none, and he only had the reflexes because of the Codex and the Knowledge system.

So if he couldn’t teach him Eden, or his style… then what?

…

He wasn’t going to teach him anything… he was going to make the boy teach himself.

A lot of the reasons why he couldn’t teach the boy anything was beacause he lacked experience in the basics… he was going to make him stronger in the same way he did. With his life on the line, after all, the battlefield is the best place for someone to improve.

Of course, his life won’t actually be in danger; he was going to be there.

…

Aether stood up, taking a glance at Kade.

’I guess I’ve got nothing better to do, I’m not tired… so let’s find some monsters…’

…

…

…

Reaching the gate of the city, Aether noticed the guards; they would probably question him if they saw him… but looking at them, he could see they were clearly tired, hardly having their eyes open…

It made him wonder if they could even see him.

He took a step forward, walking past them… and nothing happened.

It was as if they never even saw him approaching.

’Huh, interesting.’

He had not known that his ability to blend into the shadows had gotten this good.

But I guess it should be expected that some lowly guards wouldn’t see him when his powers, mantle, and skill made him harder to notice in the shadows.

There was no point in trying to find a monster in the city, however.

’I think I already know where to go to find some monsters.’

Aether chuckled, looking at the mountains they had come from.

He hadn’t noticed any in the day, but maybe it was just because he was paying much attention, due to his dream, plus, they might just have been lucky not to cross paths with one.

The mountains were the perfect zone to try and search for one, which was why he didn’t waste time trying to see where he should go, and headed right towards them.

Yet as he reached them and climbed up the road, he noticed… well, nothing.

There were no monsters nearby, even after a lot of walking, he saw nothing.

Eden should have told him if he passed by one, so it wasn’t that he missed them. There just wasn’t any nearby.

But why?

It was so confusing.

If Stormfell was such a dangerous place, why had they already crossed two zones without any monsters, that being the mushroom forest and these mountains?

Aether put his hand on his chin, trying to figure out where else he could find any monsters, without venturing around too much… but there wasn’t any answer.

Yet… as he was deep in thought, he suddenly noticed something jump towards him. And it was fast, very fast, if it hadn’t been for the fact that it was night, he wouldn’t have been quick enough to react.

It was surprising to see just how fast they were.

Aether watched as he saw the creature that had tried to jump onto him fell onto the ground. It was a lizard, it was bigger than the length of his hand, and as big as four of his fingers.

So, definitely the biggest lizard he has seen in his life.

The lizard quickly moved towards the rocks… where it disappeared.

Which made Aether stagger.

“Huh?”

’What is that thing?’ Aether asked the Abyss.

“A lizard, duh.”

…

’I know that! I mean, what… forget it, how strong it is.’

Aether looked around, trying to find where it had gone.

“Its as weak as a Reader Fragment can get, you didn’t even have to step out of its way, it wouldn’t have done that much damage either way. But, as you can see, its good a very powerful skill that makes it good at hiding… well, for you, I can see it clearly… seems as if your Eden isn’t as good as the original.”

’You’re just jealous your vessel was able to evolve one of your skills and make it stronger.’

Though it was a bit concerning, if the Abyss was able to see it, it meant the problem was Eden. But why, he was confident in his ability to see things in the dark, he thought that he could even see better than the Abyss, but it seems not… yet he was also comparing himself to a God.

“Its not the ability, you dumbass, it’s you. Eden is not a might ability that shows you everything; if your awareness isn’t good, then the skill will also not be able to see monsters hiding with their abilities. Let’s say it was day, and you tried to find a camouflaged animal. If you just looked around with your eyes, you wouldn’t be able to see it. You have to concentrate.”

Aether sighed, a bit embroiled.

But again, it was right. He was quick to put the blade on his ability.

’So its because of my awarness huh…’

Aether squinted his eyes, looking at the rocks, trying to find something.

…

That was when he finally noticed the white outline of a lizard on one of the rocks…

And it wasn’t the only one.

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