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nThe next morning, Dyon was happy to have consolidated his sovereign path at the 3rd level of demonic will. Before, he had been struggling to understand what to do because he couldn’t integrate anymore of the sage essence without the proper treasures; but, thanks to Ri’s stimulation and the gift left by her mother, Dyon had finally found a path. In fact, he thought he might have found two. Although initially he believed he had found a singular sovereign path. As he pondered, he realized he had muddied the sovereign path and the battle path. The truth was that his demonic will was a layer of the two.

nHowever, when Dyon thought about how useful this secret place of Ri’s was, he couldn’t help but speculate on her background. But, for such a carefree and fiery girl like her to be unwilling to talk about it, despite her knowing that Dyon was trust worthy, meant that it cut deeper than she was willing to admit. So, Dyon decided to not pry into the topic.

nHe subtly watched Ri sleep, but the sight did nothing to help Dyon refrain from gulping.

nRi might not have been an exceptional beauty, but her appearance had an innocent cuteness to it that made her inviting. It almost seemed like she was only 1 or 2 features away from being the reason overlords destroyed entire kingdoms for her, and that was on top of her body and skin being immaculate.

nShe lay to her side as the soft sound of her breathing filled the air. The flickering ice and snow gently coated her light blue-silver hair, giving her an ethereal feel. Her kilted skirt had hiked up in her sleep, revealing leather that clung tightly to her ass, causing a raging storm to build up in Dyon.

nHer chest wasn’t ample, but her cropped armor held them loosely, slowly moving up and down with her breathing. With the armor not being flexible, it had been pulled ever so slightly downwards during Ri’s night of rest. Dyon almost felt as though if he peaked up on the tips of his toes, he might see a sight that would send him to heaven.

nThe demon qilin blood within Dyon thrummed, but it was even over taken by the raging sage essence. Dyon immediately closed his eyes, trying to calm the tower that was threatening to make him lose control.

n“breathe… breathe… think of Madeleine… wait, don’t think of Madeleine… think of rainbows and unicorns… sweaty men… smelly bathrooms…. Breathe…”

nAfter 10 minutes of talking to himself, Dyon finally felt that the raging essence within him had calmed, so he slowly opened his eyes.

nDyon started. All he saw was a pair of clear silver eyes, staring at him intently.

n“haha, it seems like you’re awake now,” laughed Dyon awkwardly.

nRi didn’t reply, looking at Dyon with a raised eyebrow, “did you really need to take off your shirt? Also… you have quite interesting… tastes.”

nDyon could only smile bitterly. It seemed like she had heard what he was saying.

n“Maybe if you didn’t look so sexy in your sleep, I wouldn’t have to calm down like this. Didn’t you ever learn to not sleep by strange men?”

nRi reached forward an pinched Dyon’s arm hard, causing him to wince, “I knew you weren’t pure. To take something as innocent as sleep and blame me?!”

nDyon only playfully laughed as Ri chased him out of the cave, “I’m taking a bath now! Don’t come in or I’ll chop it off!”

nDyon chuckled, but obediently waited outside until Ri came out. Although he was a bit surprised that you could bathe in the lake of purity left by her mother, it wasn’t unbelievable. But, what Ri said about it afterwards caused him to ponder about her origins again.

n“By the way, I made the mistake of not warning you about the cave yesterday, so I would be an idiot if I made the same mistake again. You can never swim or touch the actual lake, you’ll freeze into an icicle regardless of whether you’re pure or not.”

nDyon nodded. Keeping his inquiries to himself.

n“So! Where to Madame?”

n“As much as I’d like to take you to the formation guild or even the alchemy guilds now, it’ll probably be best if you register at the academy first. The new calendar year just started, so the period of acceptance is about to close. But, my father happens to be the school head, so even with a late application, you should be allowed to take the test. That reminds me, how old are you?”

n“uh, you said the new calendar year just started, so I should be 15 now.”

n“ah, so your soul only needs to have reached the lower second stage and your innate soul has to have been at the lower first stage to be accepted. I’m pretty sure you meet those requirements considering your aurora, so we can just head there now.”

nDyon smiled, he was going to brag in his usual arrogant fashion, but he was trying to keep his flirtatiousness to a minimum. He was failing miserably, yes, but he was trying nonetheless.

n‘this essence blood nonsense is no joke… I’m going to either have to find an outlet, or find an essence powerful enough to counter the sage essence…’

nWhile Dyon was thinking, Little Black had walked up and licked his palm, causing Dyon to reflexively stroke his head.

n“what kind of beast is that? I’ve never seen one before… scales… fur… those white swirls on him are beautiful…”

nDyon scratched around the white scale on Little Black’s forehead, causing Little Black to growl in pleasure, “I’m not sure either honestly, but he’s been my only companion for a while now,” Dyon said with a smile.

nThe one thing about Dyon was that while he had no qualms about putting himself in danger, he could never do the same for his friends. He could scream at the top of his lungs that he was the successor of the Celestial Deer Sect in the face of an enemy, but he’d never admit that Little Black might be a supreme level beast or beyond. With Little Black’s appearance not matching up with that of any other beast, no one would make the connection anyway.

nRi didn’t find this to be odd as she strapped her thin sword to her back. Dyon tried to stop himself from watching her perfectly proportioned hips sway with her hair as he followed silently behind her. Dyon had no idea why he was so infatuated with Ri’s appearance. Even Delia and Meiying hadn’t made him look at them this often. Dyon could only assume it was the essence within him, so, he changed the subject to distract himself.

n“are you ever going to tell me how you manage to remain perfectly silent when you move like that?” Asked Dyon in curiosity as they made their way through the forest.

nRi smiled an adorable smile, “it’s not easy to learn even if I did tell you. My father specializes in illusory type techniques. In fact, he manifested his soul using a unique type technique. In the end, his soul manifested itself as a mist. It allows him to understand people intimately and find the best way to manipulate their senses.”

nDyon had an astonished look on his face, ‘To understand people and then manipulate them? What an OP ability…’

nBut, Dyon pushed this to the back of his mind, he was even more interested in something else.

n“How do you use illusion techniques to be soundless? And if this was your father’s ability, why do you have it?”

n“remember how I told you using a unique type technique means you have to forge your own path? Because my father’s soul manifestation was ranked so highly, and he was very intelligent with his cultivation, he took a seemingly straight forward ability and branched it into countless techniques. These techniques may be used best by my father, but it doesn’t mean others can’t use them as well.”

n“I see… so forging your own path also means innovating your own technique… no wonder only geniuses do it by choice.”

n“right. Even when someone has no choice but to choose a unique type, usually they use stock techniques that could work with almost any soul manifestation of their type. Imagine one person manifests as a lion and another as a bear, they would both have access to strengthening generic abilities.”

n“Interesting…” Dyon was trying to soak in everything Ri said.

n“In terms of how the technique actually works, it sounds simple, but it’s hard to grasp. Illusions are all about slight of hand. Well, low level illusions anyway. My father is powerful enough to literally distort reality, but, I think that’s only possible if you have his manifestation type and become powerful enough.”

nAll of a sudden, Dyon’s ears twitched as Ri took a step.

n“See? It’s not that I’m not making sounds. It’s that I’m not allowing those near to me to know I’m making a sound. There are frequencies of sounds that the human ear just can’t hear no matter how powerful you become. I’m distorting the sounds I’m making into a frequency that you can’t hear. The issue with this technique is that beast can hear me. But, without my father’s manifestation, this is the best we can do.”

nDyon began mumbling to himself, “so, illusions of the eyes are about seeing things that aren’t there, or not seeing things that are. Illusions using the ears are about not hearing things that are there. The way Ri’s father’s technique works is by playing with the frequency of the sounds… I could probably cheat and create an array that can do that, but a flash of gold would give me away even if I was silent…. Hmm.”

nThey continued to walk forward as Dyon thought.

n“I AM SUCH AN IDIOT!”

nRi was startled into looking back towards Dyon, but to her surprise, he was no longer there. And when she strained her ears, her mouth gapped when she realized she could hear nothing.

nConfused, Ri was about to turn back when she felt a hand lightly pick up her hair.

nRi jumped forward, pulling her sword from her back, ready to attack.

n“you’ve already tried to attack me so many times, are you really going to do it again?” Dyon said with a chuckle, “your hair is amazing by the way. So soft and it smells like spring and clear water. I could get used to that…” he said absentmindedly.

nDyon didn’t seem to notice Ri’s shock, but his hair comments seemed to snap her out of it, “would it kill you to not be a pervert? Smelling my hair? You thought that was a good line? You sound more like a serial killer, rapist, or a mix of the two.”

nDyon held his hand to his chest, feigning a hurt expression, “milady Ri, there’s no need for such harsh words. I was only appreciating the finest nature has to offer.”

nRi’s face distorted when Dyon called her milady, but she responded with a kick and changed the subject. She just wasn’t used to people, especially in the Elvin Kingdom, calling her beautiful. In fact, it was often the exact opposite, ‘whatever, he’ll see the difference between me and them when he reaches the city…’

n“How’d you do it so quickly? There’s just no way… My father had to directly teach me the method and that required understanding the illusion path of my water will…”

nDyon was surprised to hear what she had to say, but he made a mental note, ‘don’t underestimate people because they only have one will… there’s a good chance they’ve understood multiple paths…’

nIt wasn’t that he was sure that Ri only had one will, it was more so the fact that even a simple elemental will like water could be so versatile. It made sense for water to have an illusion path with how well it did in distorting reality.

n“You may not know this, but my music will is already at the peak of the 9th level and I’ve already understood a path to near perfection within it. In fact, I believe I’ve found the true essence of music by realizing making music with your body is the root of all music. I’ve simply applied what you might also call an illusory path to distort the sounds I make into another frequency. In fact, although other wills may have limits to this and be caught by beasts, because music will is so firmly tailored to sounds and frequencies and manipulating people with them, I can reach frequencies even Little Black wouldn’t hear.”

n“a maxed level will… at 15… Why do I even bother with you, hmph,” in a fake rage, Ri began to walk away.

nDyon smiled and followed behind her, enjoying the swaying of her ‘hair’.

n**

nFurther ahead, unknown to Dyon and Ri, a little girl was trembling with her back against a tree.

nThe little girl was truly beautiful for lack of a better word. Her hair was such a light shade of pink that it was nearly white. Her eyes shone the same color, almost like small pink diamonds twinkling as her eyes watered. She held her little hands to her chest while she slowly backed away.

nHer clothes were a ragged grey and her pure jade-like skin was matted with patches of mud and scrapes of greenery. It was clear she had been through a lot and her day was only getting worse.

n“what are you doing out here little girl?”

nA young man sat on the back of what looked like a white tiger. Its teeth were crystalline and its striped were a striking gold. It stood at 2 meters tall and was 4 meters long, allowing the young man to sit cross legged on its back.

nThe young man himself had bright red hair, his eyes shining the same color. His build was robust and large and his ears were long even among the elves. He had a massive battle axe strapped to his back with a handle as thick as his large wrists.

nThe little girl was too afraid to respond. Her shivering only increased when she realized a tree had stopped her from being able to back away any further.

n“It would be a shame to let a little girl with such potential slip away to the Norville family. Come. I’ll bring you with me. I’ll care for you and raise you. Once you’re old enough, I’ll take you as my concubine. Isn’t that much better than living as an orphan?”

nThe little girl shook her adorable head. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but she couldn’t say anything. Even her sobs were caught in her throat.

nShe had just found out that she had lost her parents. With no one able to support her living under them, she was forced to return to her village. But, with no one to protect her on the way there, she had stumbled around and ran into this situation just when she thought she was finally close to home. Yesterday was supposed to have been her 5th birthday, but instead, it was one of the worst days of her life.

nShe fell to the ground, pulling her knees to her chest as the young man and his beast slowly walked towards her.

nSuddenly she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. She shuddered, looking up in a pair of hazel-green eyes. She couldn’t help bunch jump towards the first source of warmth she had had in years, sobbing uncontrollably.

nDyon held onto her, letting the girl cry and ignoring the confused young man behind him. He was a bit surprised that the small girl had trusted him so easily, but he refused to let anything more happen to her.

n“It’s okay, I’m here,” he said softly, picking the little girl up into his arms.

nRi stood off to the side with tears in her eyes. It wasn’t the first time she had seen a situation like this. War Orphans were becoming more and more common place in the Elvin Kingdom. What hurt Ri the most was that there should be laws put in place to help the families of those who lost their lives fighting for peace… but instead, orphans were treated as nothing better than slaves to be sold and traded. Whether that be because they had powerful potential and could boost the strength of a family, or because they were extremely beautiful or handsome and could warm their beds.

nDyon turned around, holding the sobbing little girl and gently rubbing her back. But, despite his delicate actions, his eyes were filled with fury.

n“Because you’ve decided to be a slightly less than absolutely disgusting creature, I’ll give you 5 seconds to leave this place immediately. If you test my patience, I will kill you. If you speak, I will kill you. If I see you in my line of sight after these 5 seconds, I will kill you. If I can hear you after these 5 seconds, I will kill you. 5….”

nRi was stunned by what she heard. She knew perfect well which family this young man was from, and the Grimbold family didn’t take kindly to threats. But, despite what she thought was going to happen, the young man’s tiger shivered, feeling Dyon’s sovereign air. His will was obsolete.

nThe tiger, against the wishes of his master, immediately turned tail and sprinted away, disappearing in a blur of white light. Maybe it was because the young man never had any intention to fight, or maybe it was because he himself was embarrassed by his actions, he made no move to stop his beast from running.

nDyon didn’t blink an eye at this as he focused on comforting the little girl. Soon, the little girl stopped shivering. She felt a gentle flow of will enter her. Dyon mixed his aurora and celestial will to give her a comfortable feeling, allowing her emotions to calm.

n‘you can use your aurora like that too?…’ Ri was surprised, but this allowed a small smile to grace her lips.

nThe little girl looked at Dyon with her adorable little hands resting on his broad shoulders. Her eyes blinked, with a purity that you couldn’t help but smile about.

nDyon smiled, “what’s your name?”

n“L- Lyla…”

n“Do you have somewhere to go?”

n“N-no… my parents…” the girl was threatening to start crying again.

nDyon gently wiped her tears with his thumb, holding her steadily, “my parents died too,” he said softly, “I don’t have family either, do you want to be part of my family?”

nLyla looked at him with her large blinking eyes. Her little arms wrapped around Dyon’s neck, “yes…”

nDyon smiled, “okay, from today on, you’re my little sister. I promise to protect you like a big brother would, okay?”

nLyla’s small voice echoed in Dyon’s ear, “big brother, what’s your name?”

n“my name is Dyon Sacharro.”

nHer next words made Ri break down in tears, “okay, from today… I’m Lyla Sacharro.”

nDyon held the little girl in his arms like he was holding the most valuable thing in the world. Tears threatened to come out of his eyes, and in the end, they did.

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