"Well, that’s good, but are you sure you want to go with two paths? I would’ve picked only the Arcane path, but I wanted to see what the Literature one would do." Caelus replied.
"It’s not simply just for aesthetic reasons, Caelus, it’s for me to be able to defend myself if range doesn’t work."
Caelus took a second, realizing Resonant was mostly to support. "Ah... Sorry about that. I was overthinking that, well, that makes sense." Caelus softly laughed to himself.
"It’s great you’re more open now. I would’ve thought you’d stay quiet the entire time. I was concerned you were actually a spy." Sol replied, the smile still there, though more genuine. "Well. I’ll be going now." Sol stopped in his tracks. "I need to make a few new techniques and train with Arjuna on the Martial Path."
Caelus waved as Sol disappeared, faster than Caelus could see. "Hope he has fun training as well then." Caelus was happy they were getting stronger, but he was hesitant about actually getting attached before... "I thought this place would’ve been generic, where I had to defend everyone I knew."
Reaching a quieter area, Caelus climbed up the hill in front of him, blocking the pathway. Reaching the top, he noticed something weird here.
[New Mission!]
[Defend yourself against Three Assassins!]
[Bonus Mission - Interrogate or find out where they’re from]
[Reward - Open Sky (Ocular Ability), 117 Gold]
[Bonus Reward - 1,000 Gold]
"Okay, what- ASSASSINS?" Caelus was surprised, but he first suspected it was the Church; they did want him gone, probably since he was growing fast.
"...Oh ha, very funny, 117 gold, so my amount is even." Caelus noticed it just barely, finding it amusing. He knew the Ocular ability was there, but he’d focus on it later.
A blur through the trees as Caelus’s eyes moved to the side, only to look to the other side, noticing the heat signature and... Launching forward, grabbing the person’s head, holding them up with their legs unable to touch the ground, only for him to let go, it looked way too much like he was about to crush their skull. Instead, he made his Mana go down and wrap around the person, tying them up.
"...That was easy, well, OH FU-" Caelus was sent flying back, catching himself as his legs planted into the ground, seeing the other assassin who held a bunch of needles. Seeing one fly towards him, it hit his skin... And pierced it, but slightly only.
Even then, he noticed it was trying to disrupt his Mana, but it didn’t even come close to hitting any of his organs, so it couldn’t do much. Pulling it out, Caelus held it and yanked it, causing the assassin to fall forward. "...They are way too clumsy." Caelus was suspicious.
And then he remembered the Mission said Three, assassins, this was only two. Caelus turned and looked behind, but saw no one. As soon as something flew towards his eyes. A wire, just barely grabbing it in time, he held in place; yet it wiggled out, and he could trace it back to where it came from.
The entire area, except for people, turned red, so he noticed the one hidden like a sore thumb, moving faster than they could see... He could tell everyone here was a Virtuoso, jumping up, he grasped them as they finally turned after seeing him behind them. Holding them, he flew down, slamming onto the ground near the other two assassins, causing smoke to form.
Finally letting go, Caelus moved his Mana to wrap them up completely. The Horizon step was finally deactivated. "...So tell me, why you’re even here." His voice, still calm though lower, somewhat serious, he didn’t fully take this seriously.
The ones he dealt with easily didn’t speak, while the one he used Horizon step on looked at Caelus, noticing how different he was from a Wyvern, realized it was not that, and it couldn’t be a Drake due to how long his tail was.
"...A Dragon? I thought they went extinct, there was a counter in the Temple... I was not hired to deal with a Dragon." A sigh from their mouth, though still restricted, their entire face covered. "This is way out of my grade of pay, the one who sent us was the Sky Temple of Tianyun Peak, though they were hired by the Yun Clan... Though if they really wanted you gone, they could’ve picked someone better..."
Caelus listened. "...Huh, not the Church, well, I guess they would send someone better. Seems like the Yun Clan is losing money with how much they rely on others. Makes sense for their belief system." A small exasperated sigh. "Just don’t go after me, nor reveal anything about me, and you can leave."
Caelus removed the Mana, getting the information he wanted. These people were clearly just doing the job they wanted... Even if it were an assassination, he wouldn’t kill those. Dusting his hand, he turned away, disappearing almost instantly from them. Teleporting back to the entrance of the Forest area.
"They probably followed me into the forest for a long time and left due to Sol and came back... Hmmm, the Yun Clan is still after me... Just not directly. That’s a problem." Caelus spoke to himself, though now in Russian, so no one could understand.
The dirt below him scraped slightly, almost making him slip, though he noticed the clouds, or at least the edge of rainclouds, one covering the Empire.
"...Ah, it’s raining, I should get back." As Caelus began to walk, he watched the ants, the grass, and even the plants, wondering for a second-
[Mission Complete!]
[Rewards Granted - Open Sky (Ocular Ability), 1,117 Gold]
[Open Sky - An Ocular ability which is a passive, making your Mana work with 70% more efficiency, wasting even less Mana, Stage One out of Four, Open Sky cannot be turned off and does not give any other benefit but this for right now.]
"For right now? Hmmm, makes sense, I probably have to get the rest myself." Already noticing the difference... Caelus thought, from earlier, about the plants... He took a moment to change his own body; for a second, he saw a flaw, and fixed it just as quickly, changing more and more until he was done.
[Ooooh, so no more wasting gold pieces for food, though kinda boring.]
"...Yes, but this is more efficient, doesn’t mean I can’t, just means I don’t need to, plants learned that really early, huh..." Caelus thought, finding it incredible.
Reaching the Empire, near the entrance, he felt the raindrops fall on him, hitting his scales, hair, and horn. He’d clean it out and his clothing later, but he loved going in the rain, especially before.
Bumping into someone, Caelus looked back, seeing them walk away. He waved as they did, not needing to apologize. He’d noticed it earlier, seeing they didn’t really say sorry, but just let it go, unless it was something worse.
"I should develop another technique... Maybe the Literature Path, so I can do something defensive with that and make it Stronger and better, hmmm, something which helps... But what?"
He needed something that would help his own allies and friends, but he couldn’t really think of anything. He was creative with attacks and defense... But otherwise, not really, with support, he also needed something for mid-level damage.
"...Erosion, something which gets stronger over time and more effective too, something which degrades what it hits, exactly as the name suggests. I’ll test it out in a fight later, but that’ll work for some damage, and they’d stop it before it gets to the level of Burning Temptation probably."
Caelus walked through the empty street while it was raining. For a moment, he stopped, realizing he could test out Equilibrium right now, making it look inconspicuous. Mana flowed around his body, almost like a barrier, but things could go through it, unless he didn’t allow it, like a layer of clothing around his entire body, including his horns.
The Water from the air slowly slid around him, not touching his body. Seeing as everyone was inside, Caelus found it way quieter, other than the occasional cat which ran into alleys to hide from the rain.
"Hmmm, Tellus must be home, probably Minerva, Sol, and Elysia too. I would expect Arjuna to be out, maybe I could talk to him again, but I don’t really have much to say." Caelus rambled to himself, wondering if he should talk with anyone right now.
Bumping into someone, Caelus looked ahead... It was the lady at the jewelry stall. Though she didn’t attack, she looked ready to, only for Caelus to put his hands forward. "Whoa, Whoa, WHOA-, okay, calm down, are you not gonna hear me?"
"Why should I hear you- Wait... Talking?" The lady spoke, confused, wearing common clothing that looked like rags, and it was wet. "But Dragons don’t talk... Did you lie about being one?" She continued, suspicious.
"...No? Why would I, especially with a reaction like that, I wouldn’t just risk my life like that, but I’m actually a Dragon, it’s just... Maybe don’t trust everything the Church people say?" Caelus continued.
"...What?" She looked at Caelus, not surprised, confused. "But I don’t, I’m one of the Holy Mothers...?" She continued. "Ah, I haven’t introduced myself. The name is Theresia."
"...What- WHAT????" Caelus was clearly surprised; even his eyes widened from it. Taking a second to recognize that. "So you must be one of the people Tellus spoke of?"
"That young girl, indeed, I am one of them, I’m only here because the Yun Clan has been causing trouble with Tellus and Sol." She spoke, a little embarrassed.
"But I do need to ask, Lady Theresia." He only called her lady to show respect. "Why did you stop to listen to me?" Caelus was genuinely confused as to why, since she could’ve killed him so easily right now.
"Well, I do have to listen at least first, final worlds, but... You’ve intrigued me, an intelligent Dragon? Well, all the others are gone, so this is the second time I’ve seen one. Though the last time was when I was twelve and that was two thousand years ago..." She rambled for a bit.
"Slow down for a bit at least, I need to hear you properly, but I get most of it." Caelus sighs. She spoke incredibly fast for someone who looked shy. "Indeed, dragons are intelligent, just don’t steal their gold or Eggs, I guess," Caelus spoke.
"T-That’s it?" Theresia listened, though still skeptical of Caelus; she couldn’t fully trust him.
"Mostly it, some of them had egos, so they went overboard... But most of them were calm or just trying to mind their own business." Deadpan, Caelus continued.
Seeing he was so relaxed while speaking, she could see some merit, but she also believed Dragons could become deceitful... She wasn’t fully sure. "Ugh, well, just don’t cause any Chaos in the Empire, and you’ll be fine."
"Does teaching Princess Elysia, Cultivation create Chaos...?" Caelus asked. He wasn’t going to hide something like that, even if revealing it was dumb.
"...Oh." She spoke. "...Is that why we had to release the information we had on that and let Scholars study it?" She sighed once more. "That’s gonna be a lot of chaos... And paperwork." Theresia looked around to see if anyone was nearby.
"...Makes sense, she’s very chill though, probably more open-minded than the rest of the Church, but still a part of it." Caelus blinked once, ready to reply.
"Hmm, you’re Mana... Weird, it’s incredibly efficient, only those of the same realm as mine would be even close to that... And the one above us is Nyx-"
Caelus tilted his head, "Yes, I know, Nyx, you don’t need to say her name when she’s stronger in some aspect, make people assume it without saying her name, so you don’t have to."