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And so, Erin recounted her tale to Aedan as she devoured her meal without the slightest trace of elegance. Aedan was only nodding and shrugging through her tale. She was slightly irked at his lack of response but she was so occupied and hungry that she did not bother to retort. However...

“Is there something on my face?” Erin asked as she hungrily wolfed down the sandwich Aedan gave her.

“No,” Aedan answered with a smile on his face. “I see you have gained more tails. This is truly… curious.”

“But you don’t seem all that surprised.”

“You’re a manifestation of the unexpected. What’s there to be surprised about?”

Erin rolled her eyes and resumed her meal.

But Aedan’s stare stayed on her.

“What is it?” annoyed, she asked.

“Nothing,” Aedan said, shrugging with a smile.

“Then why are you staring at me? You even have a creepy smile on your face. Are my unsightly actions that amusing?”

“On the contrary, you’re quite endearing.”

Erin stopped chewing. She frowned and stared at Aedan as he had just insulted her ancestors.

His eyes bounced between her twitching ears and her bloated cheeks. “You look like a chipmunk, you know, stuffing your cheeks full. Well, maybe a rabbit will be more suitable considering your ears.”

Before swallowing, Erin took large swigs of water to wash it all down. “I will pretend that I didn’t hear that.”

“Are you sure you’re a man in your past life? You seem so… adapting, I say?”

Her tails and ears stood straight as she glared intensely at Aedan. “Continue that line of thought and I will smash this bottle into your face.” Considering how she spent most of her days in solitude as Argon Raze, there was no one close enough to point out her quirks. Now that she thought about it, she had no notion of how others truly thought of her but only her own assumptions. Of course, there was no way she was going to tell Aedan this.

“Alright, alright,” Aedan said with his hands raised in resignation.

Erin turned away from him and continued chowing down on her meal.

The two were sitting on a boulder in the midst of this vast and dark cave. Erin could only rest easy and fill her stomach since Aedan was with her. She didn’t need to be too vigilant of her surroundings and could focus on getting her energy back. The silence between them was quick to turn awkward.

“That Spatial Magic of yours… what is it exactly?” she asked to break the stale mood.

“You mean this?” Aedan stuck his hand inside a small space that split apart at his will. “It is, as you see, a Spatial-type storage spell. It allows me to store objects in a personal subspace.”

“Neat trick. Can I learn that?”

“If you have the affinity. But mind you, an affinity for Spatial Magic is one of the rarest. Even if you do have that affinity, a single spell alone under Spatial Magic is difficult to learn.”

“What are the chances of having this affinity?” Erin asked, hopefully.

“One in a million and that’s only having the affinity. Even if you do manage to acquire it, controlling it properly is also another matter. There were quite a few Spatial Magic practitioners who ended up destroying themselves as a result of losing control of their magic. Gruesome stuff. These incidents caused many to distance themselves from Spatial Magic.”

Many saw this story as a warning but for Erin, she viewed it as a challenge. She now had a new goal in mind, albeit of low priority. Still, Spatial Magic sounded too handy to pass over.

Aedan could tell what Erin was thinking, going by the faint grin she had, but he decided to not touch that subject. Reprimanding her would only make her more enthusiastic.

“Why didn’t you come sooner?” Erin asked.

Aedan raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know what’s happening above?”

“I don’t. I have been fighting from morning till now.”

“Well then… don’t be surprised when I tell you this.” With that as the pretext, Aedan began to explain the circumstances above ground to Erin who was listening and eating earnestly.

“That sly bastard...” Erin cursed as Aedan finished recounting the situation. “I knew he had an underlying scheme but...”

“You don’t need to worry too much, Erin. Green Scar is safe and secure now. The Paladins are rushing back to Maven’s Creek as we speak. With Joshua and Iris present, Quinteburgh won’t fall that easily. But I still don’t understand. You’re naive at times but I didn’t think you would take on The Singularity alone.”

“The Necromancer… he did something to Celia and only by killing him, could Celia be cured completely of her affliction. I couldn’t wait any longer. So I rushed to The Singularity by myself.”

“Hmm… I would call you an idiot for doing things alone but for this case… you made the right decision.”

“I did?” Erin’s brow was raised by her question.

“As far as I know, no one in this territory would last in The Singularity, except for you and I. I’m sure you already know why. Level difference matters little here unless you’re talking about a difference of more than twenty levels.”

Erin nodded. The real danger of The Singularity wasn’t the nature of the peculiar monsters nor was it their levels but the environment. The Fog was dense and the average person would have their sight limited to only a few feet in front of them. It was only due to Erin’s heightened senses that she survived the incessant onslaughts.

“But I do have half a mind to reprimand you for exploiting Lust Deviant.”

“How do you even know about that?”

“When the mark I put on you was erased, it was erased without any resistance, which means you let it happen by your own will. Still, I’m surprised you managed to find a way to activate Lust Deviant on your own accord. And going by your current situation, it’s not that hard to figure out why you had done something like that.” Aedan said all that with a complacent smile.

For obvious reasons, Erin found it annoying.

“But how are you planning on returning?”

“Run,” Erin answered as she took a swig from the water bottle. “As fast as I can.”

“What if there’s a monster who can run faster than you?”

“...I would kill it then.”

Aedan sighed with a smile. “You have no proper plan, do you?”

“Didn’t have time to make a proper one,” Erin retorted. She violently downed a few gulps of water before continuing. “I got tired of waiting. That’s all politics had ever amounted to, waiting, waiting for things that might or might not come. I’m done waiting.”

“What if you failed?”

“I won’t,” Erin said, resolutely.

“Why do you think so?”

Erin sneered. “I have you. You aren’t going to let a Fae die, are you?”

Aedan stared blankly at the smirking Erin. “I see you have finally adopted some of your kin’s characteristics.”

“Well, I’m a Fox-kin.”

“That you are.”

After a few more minutes, Erin finished her sandwiches and downed the whole bottle of water down her throat. She gasped with satisfaction. “That sure hit the spot.” She wiped her mouth in a manner disregarding any grace.

“If Nivia was here, she would faint,” Aedan muttered. “Here, wear this.” Aedan took out a set of clothes from his subspace.

It was only then, Erin remembered the state of her garments. Red once again filled her cheeks. She accepted the clothes with a face filled with indignance. The clothes were a set of robes. At a glance, it looked out of place to be worn on a battlefield but appraising the material, Erin was impressed. More than impressed, she was curious about where Aedan got such a material. A normal knife or blade would never be able to leave so much as a faint tear. Even fire couldn’t easily burn through it. It was a rare material, that went without saying and the price was eye-widening. Erin wanted to scream but now wasn’t the time for such trivial matters.

She decided to save her questions for later after she concluded her business here. She had Aedan turned around before stripping herself of the ragged apparel she had been wearing all this while. As she put the clothes on with haste, her face contorted with questions. The clothes were strangely fitting to her size and figure. She cast a dubious glance at Aedan.

“What?” Aedan asked when he felt a pair of eyes piercing him.

“These clothes… may I know why they fit me so perfectly?”

“It’s Fairy Silk, my dear Erin. It is tailored perfectly to the wearer, provided the wearer possesses Spirit Magic.”

Erin raised her brows. She read the description from her Appraisal again but she found no mention of such a function. “Strange,” she said. “My Appraisal spoke nothing of such a feature.”

Aedan chuckled. “Appraisal isn’t almighty, Erin. If Appraisal shows every last minute detail about an object or subject, you would be reading a book.”

Erin accepted his reasoning without further complaints, not to say she completely trusted his words. It wasn’t an impossibility that he weaved a set of robes specifically for her but saying this out loud would really paint her in a conceited light. So she let the matter go.

“You did well making it this far,” Aedan praised.

“You sound surprised.”

“I expected to find you half-dead but you were in a much better state than I expected.”

“Thanks for the confidence,” Erin muttered dryly.

“You’re welcome.”

Erin clicked her tongue. Her eyes then fell to the pulsating and glowing symbol on the back of Aedan’s left hand. “What’s that?”

“Oh, this? This is the seal responsible for suppressing my power. This pulsating glow signifies its limits at suppressing my power.”

“Meaning?” Erin asked with a foreboding feeling.

“I’m at my limit of using my magic. Any more will only destroy the seal. It will be a few days before I can use any magic again.”

Erin’s jaws dropped. “So… you’re useless— ouch!” Erin shrieked. Aedan had flicked her forehead before she knew it.

“Sweetheart, lest you aren't aware, I still have my strength and speed.”

Erin clicked her tongue again, caressing her forehead which was left with a faint red mark.

“But be at ease, I can still use a few spells that don’t require much Mana. My storage spell is one of them.”

Erin sighed. She could feel her blood vessels popping from having a conversation with him.

“Now, before we proceed, do you require any further assistance?”

It didn’t take long for Erin to think of one. “Actually, I will be in need of a new sword.”

“What’s wrong with the one on your waist?”

“This?” Erin drew the rusted iron sword. “As you can see, it ain’t going to cut anything.”

Aedan stared, bemused.

“Aedan?” Erin waved.

“Do you know what this sword actually is?” Aedan threw an expected question.

“I know this sword isn’t actually what it seems but I do not know how to dispel the seal.”

“May I?” Aedan asked in a gentle tone that shook Erin’s nerves.

She hesitated but her curiosity overtook her dubious nature. She handed Aedan the rusted iron sword.

“Hmm,” he mused as inspected the sword of every edge and corner. “I don’t know the true identity of this sword. This spell is strong. It won’t be easy to dispel it.”

“Even for you?”

“I’m not an expert with seal-related Magic Arts, though I do have some knowledge. This spell… It's intricate. Twilight Veil is quite a simple spell, relatively speaking but whoever cast this, they made it into something else.”

“So… this sword might be some legendary cursed blade or something?”

“Could be. I can’t imagine someone going through so much trouble just to hide some insignificant object from the world.” After finishing his inspection, he tossed it back to Erin.

Erin gave a confused expression. “That’s it?”

“I can’t dispel it and I don’t have any use for it. Since you are the one doing the travelling, who knows, you might meet someone who will be capable of dispelling it. But… you do need a sword right now. So...” Aedan reached into the small space that split apart before him. He pulled out a sword after rummaging for a few seconds. The sword was a familiar sight to Erin.

“It’s that—”

“It’s silver-steel. And yes, it’s made by Sven.”

The sword in Aedan’s hands bore many resemblances towards her sabre but this sabre was longer. It was as long as her height. Though it looked the same, aside from the length, Erin felt a slight but significant difference.

“This was forged in Sven and Geron’s hometown with flames that had been burning for centuries. So to say, this steel is of a higher grade than the ones you had been using,” Aedan explained and handed Erin the sabre.

“And you’re just giving it to me? Just like that? No charge?”

“Consider this as your upfront reward for purging the evil that has been plaguing Green Scar and Maven’s Creek.”

Erin eyed the grinning Dragon-kin dubiously. She was beginning to understand why Iris and he were an item.

“Besides, I’m sure my father will definitely give you this as the reward if you defeat the Necromancer.”

Erin gave up on retorting. She had wasted enough time to regain her strength and stamina. If she questioned Aedan’s motive further, this would never end.

“You’re all set?”

Erin cracked her knuckles and neck. “As ready as I can be.”

“Splendid then,” he said and pushed her away.

Before she could question his abrupt action, her Sixth Sense warned her of an imminent danger. A rock flew past in front of her and smashed into the walls, sending the tunnel into a tremor.

She caught her footing and managed to stand upright. “What the fuck was that?!”

“We are about to find out,” Aedan muttered.

From the path that stretched out far into the darkness in front of her, a large humanoid figure slowly emerged. A figure composed of many bodies of various species clumped into one single being.

“A Flesh Golem?” Erin read out the Appraisal in a gasp. She even fought the urge to vomit.

“I hope you have a strong stomach, Erin.”

“I hope that thing has a strong stomach too,” Erin said, drawing the silver-steel sabre that spanned the length of her height. A lengthy weapon was ill-advised in a confined space but fortunately, these tunnels were vast. “Because I’m going to cut it wide open,” she declared and went into her stance.

Erinthea - Faerie-kin: Five-Tailed Fox-kin

Level: 30 | Status: Mild Exhaustion

Might: 22 | Arcane: 35 | Finesse: 30

Magic Arts

Spirit Magic Lv. 8 | Arcane Edge Lv. 5 | Arcane Armor Lv. 10 | Lightning Magic Lv. 10 | Arcane Aegis Lv. 7 | Mystic Tail Arts Lv 1

Combat Arts

Sword Art Lv. 8 | Fleet Foot Lv. 5 | Brawler Lv. 5

Innate Skills

Appraisal Lv. Ex | Night Vision Lv. Ex | Sixth Sense Lv. Ex | Toxin Resistance Lv. 8 | Lust Deviant Lv. Ex | Mana Harvest Lv. 1 | Lightning Resistance Lv. 1

Unique Talent

Mystic Blade Lv. Ex | Revenant Lv. Ex

Level Progression: 0%

Remaining Skill Points: 0

Remaining Ability Points: 10