Chapter 43: A Wall Climbing Session

Aden crouched behind the hedge with calm and controlled breaths. The cold wind blew harder and risked his silver hair flowing backwards and potentially exposing his location.

He found a small rope in the bushes and tied his hair in a bun.

’Ain’t no way I’m cutting my hair,’ he decided.

He closed his eyes once more to confirm the position of the Essence and sketched idly on the ground as he received the mental image.

“It’s in the North wing of this damned house. Two floors above what looks like a wine cellar.”

Placing a branch between his lips, he headed in that direction in effortlessly silent steps. He passed by a few guards who has already began showing signs of intoxication.

’Who drinks on the job? Fools, that’s who.’

Bypassing their weak defenses, Aden stopped in front of another large fence.

’How many fences does this place have? It’s not like anyone’s going to steal anything.’

A dissapointed sigh left his lips as he brushes his palms against the smooth wall.

’This again,’ he complained.

The wall was the same with the one at the front of the Manor. It was made of an Ivory–Quartz material with an even higher resonance boundary compared to the previous one.

He thought about using Glitch, but the overcautious part of him made him discard that idea. There was a possibility the scanners here were more sensitive towards energy compared to the ones at the gates, and in the event the Princess came here on her crazy vendetta against him, there was an even higher possibility of her finding out that he was here.

As his thoughts reached the topic of the Princess, he was struck by a heart–dropping realization.

’What if she senses the empty spot in the part where I Glitched through? No,’ Aden shook his head. ’No matter how sensitive the equipment she uses is, there’s no way it can pick up on a skill that takes milliseconds for its effects to take place.’

Aden sighed in relief at the won argument against himself and refocused his attention on the wall. Luckily, the guards in this area were fewer, else he would have been shot in the head during his spiral session.

He rubbed his hands against the wall slowly and felt the tingling sensation he experienced earlier, except this one was more pronounced.

His eyebrows furrowed. ’I have to climb, but I can’t use physical strength since there’s no opening I can place my hands on. Resonance is obviously out the equation.’

’Back to Void energy again…’

Aden was beginning to think he should just accept the first thought that came to his mind, rather than fight against it and still end up using it anyway.

Shaking his head with a wry smile, he infused an almost negligible amount of Void energy in his palms.

While he was working on his mask, Aden took the opportunity to try out diverse ways to use small amounts of his Void energy and still get noticeable results.

One of those ways was what he called ’Minor Glitch,’ and as the name suggested, it was basically Glitch on a smaller scale.

The idea was simple: instead of phasing his entire body through a wall, he focused the ’erasure’ only on the atoms directly beneath his fingertips. By deleting the microscopic layer of friction and the repelling force of the atoms, he created Void Adhesion.

A perfect, molecular vacuum.

Aden pressed his hand against the vertical Ivory-Quartz. It didn’t feel like stone, but more like wall of electric needles that whistled annoyingly.

To take his mind off the ringing in his ears, Aden activated his system.

_____

[Status: Minor Glitch– Adhesion Mode]

Energy Output: 0.02%

Effect: Molecular Vacuum Seal.

Duration: —

_____

Aden flexed his shoulder muscles (even though he was experiencing the illusion of weightlessness) and moved upwards in long strides.

’Didn’t know it would take me this long to climb Thirty feet. I feel like I’ve been climbing for three minutes now.’

The annoying whistling of the wall persisted, causing further irritation to show on Aden’s face.

“Just ten feet left,” he muttered.

Reasoning the distance was close, he decide to stop for a moment to catch take a rest. As it turned out, handling his Void energy with extreme precision proved harder than expected.

He shortly realized that he’d made a big mistake.

The displaced energy in the space between the wall and his palms suddenly rushed back into the cavity and threatened to fuse his hand with the wall with a cold violent mist.

His eyes widened and before he knew it, his legs were already gliding up the wall with primal urgency.

’Who’s getting Walled? Not me, not today!’

Aden didn’t dare stay in one position longer than three seconds. His hands and legs moved accordingly and his mind speedily controlled the fine tuning of his energy.

He reached the balcony of the North Wing, his fingers smoking with that strange, freezing mist. He vaulted over the railing and landed with the sound of a falling feather.

Through the heavy velvet curtains of the French doors, the room was bathed in the warm, arrogant glow of golden lamps.

Aden peered through the gap.

The room was a testament to the Baron’s narcissism. Gold-leafed books that had never been read lined the walls, and a massive desk carved from a single slab of obsidian sat in the center.

Baron Valerius was there, his face covered with a bloated, gold-plated toad mask with his head supported by his arm resting on the desk. His chubby fingers were swirling a vial of liquid that shone like a trapped sun.

’The Essence,’ Aden identified with narrowed eyes. ’My Essence.’

Then Aden’s eyes immediately shifted to the figure leaning against the bookshelf. Silver hair, blue eyes, and an expression that instinctively brew the urge to punch it.

’That snitch is here too?’

Veins formed on his neck as he surpressed the anger that was fanned with Kaelen’s appearance.

Inside, Kaelen laughed and pulled the cushioned seat. He placed his foot on the surface of the table and twirled a golden pen as he spoke.

“Is it truly worth it, Baron?” Kaelen asked, his voice echoing with a slight whine. “My wife is currently scouring the sewers for a ’Ghost’ while I’m stuck here watching you play with glass bottles. If the Inner Circle finds out you’ve been diverting shard-dust…”

“They won’t,” the Baron croaked, his voice thick with greed. “Because by tomorrow, I won’t be a Baron of a dying town. I’ll be an Exalted with a frequency so pure even your wife’s Eye won’t be able to track me.”

Kaelen scoffed. “My wife tracks everything. Just make sure the donation to the Redwyn house is doubled for my trouble.”

Aden, watching from the darkness of the balcony, felt a vein throb in his temple.

’My brother is selling out the town’s cure for a donation to a family that already has everything,’ he thought. ’How dumb is this guy?’

Aden truly couldn’t understand. How could someone with such a high standing lower himself to connive with a Baron of a nameless place like this to traffic goods that would be of no use to him or the Royal Family?

His eyebrows twitched. ’I’m going to punch his face in so hard.’

He reached for the door handle. It was locked from the inside with a physical bolt and a Resonance seal.

Aden didn’t hesitate. He touched the metal of the lock. He didn’t break it, he used Minor Glitch to delete the space where the bolt met the frame.

Click.

The sound was no louder than a snapping twig, but in the silent room, Kaelen’s ears perked up. He turned his head toward the balcony, his hand slowly reaching for the hilt of his sword.

“Baron,” Kaelen whispered. “Did you leave the balcony doors unlatched?”

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