Alnea Oathkeeper was faced with a great dilemma. He was a normal human. No, he was even worse than a normal human. He was abandoned by the Origin Sea, and hence, had no Aspects. His enemies though, were Master Attuners, the third Rank of Attuners, at the very least. Even if he had his Oathkeeper Arts, at best, he could only deal with Novice Attuners. If his luck was great, which seldom was, allowing him to catch his enemies off guard, then he had confidence in dealing with even Adept Attuners. Mostly those who had just recently been promoted. Master Attuners though, were a completely different matter.
On the path of Attuners, each Rank of Attuners was divided by a huge gulf, determined by how many Aspects one had, and the degree to which they were Attuned with their Aspects. The greater the degree of Attunement, the greater the strength they would have, and the greater the number of Aspects, the greater the means they would have. After gaining their Aspects, if people could Attune with their first Aspect to a degree where it could begin to temper their bodies, then they would be called as Novice Attuners.
Novice Attuners did not have much advantage over normal people in the beginning. At best, they just had stronger bodies. But as they progressed in their Rank, getting more Attuned with their Aspect, with the Origin Sea, they would then gain approval of more, and more Aspects, which would then work with their other Aspects to temper their bodies. At the same time, these Aspects would also work together to open up an Aspect Ocean within their bodies, which would store all their Aspects, and nurture them. And this Aspect Ocean was the dividing line between Novice Attuners, and Adept Attuners.
Having opened up their Aspect Ocean, Adept Attuners had command over much greater numbers of Aspects than Novice Attuners, and at the same time, also had a greater degree of Attunement. Even their bodies were tens of times stronger than normal humans, and this was when they did not even use their Aspects. Furthermore, having tempered their bodies with their Aspects for years, their bodies also gained certain properties, and special abilities, depending on their Aspects, and the affinity of those Aspects.
However, it was only when one gained mastery over their Aspects, earning complete control over them, along with the ability to summon them out of their bodies, that they earned the Rank, and title of Master Attuners. Master Attuners had complete understanding of their Aspects, and the special abilities of their bodies. They could even deliberately temper their bodies with different Aspects to gain different special abilities. Their most powerful, and most reliable method of attacks though, was still the direct usage of their Aspects.
Summoning Aspects into the world, and letting them wreak havoc around them certainly drained the Master Attuners of their strength, and will, and even had the risk of the Attuners submitting to their own Aspects, becoming Enthralled. But even the Novice Attuners carried that risk to some degree. After all, just by tempering their bodies with Aspects, Attuners initiate an intrinsic change within their bodies, that separated them from normal humans. So, if the Attuners were afraid of getting Enthralled, they would not have become Attuners in the first place.
Thus, what Alnea Oathkeeper had to face was not just some dumb people who only had strong bodies, not knowing how to make proper use of their enhanced strength, and speed, but people who could call forth the might of the Aspects into the world. Sneaking an attack on such people would be useless. Their Aspects would warn them long before he could get close to them. And even if he could somehow get close to them, their bodies would be tens of times stronger than his. Though the Oathkeeper Arts could help him strengthen his body, without the aid of Aspects, its effects were limited.
But he still refused to give up. What they had taken was his salvation. His… He had already made an Oath. He would save her, no matter what. Even if that meant facing Master Attuners, or even stronger Attuners. And so, Acolytes of Origin or not, Alnea Oathkeeper did not care. He held his sword, and pointed it at the black cloaked man in front of him. A master Attuner.
“Where is…”
Before Alnea could see his namesake complete his question, he felt the memory fade away into darkness, as he himself, opened his eyes to a world of darkness. It was not the darkness of his Spirit World, or his Domain, but the darkness of Night. Faint shadows casted from the soft light of Enn—Enn did not have soft lights. And there were no faint shadows in the place he was. Only a darkness, that was being held off by a stream of soft light making its way through the small opening, just enough space for a human to squeeze through, at the top of the giant canyon.
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Giant canyon… With walls standing more than two kilometers high, with just as much width between them, calling the canyon as giant would be understatement. And in such a big space, the only source of light being the few rays of light making their way through the small opening at the top, made it natural for the canyon to be enshrouded in perpetual darkness. Or rather, in a state of perpetual night. And it was just one canyon. There were many other such canyons. Thus, their name, the Night Canyons.
Adjusting his eyes to the little amount of light escaping into the canyons, barely illuminating his surroundings, Alnea stretched out his arms, and legs, as he got up from the cross legged position. Removing the leather pouch by his waist, he splashed some of the water within it on his face, before untying the leather bag on the ground to take out his brush, and tooth spices. Though he was currently in a Forbidden Area, he refused to live like a savage.
By the time he was done with his morning chores, the water in the leather pouch was almost finished. Gulping down the last trickle of water from within the pouch, Alnea packed his bag, and hid it in a small crevice on the dark walls, before walking into the wonderous world of the Night Canyons. Separated by just a metre or so at the top, the distance between the walls at their base could range from a couple of kilometres to tens of kilometres. At a few places, where the branches of canyons merged with each other, this width could even reach nearly a hundred kilometres.
In a way, the Night Canyons were like a world of their own, with their own rules, and regulations. They even had their own ecosystem, and food chain, ranging from the smallest of plankton to the most ferocious of Beast Lords. Of course, the greatest danger to the people, or rather, to the Wanderers braving the unique world of the canyons, was not the Oren Beasts, but the canyons themselves. It was as if the canyon did not wish for Wanderers to venture into their land of treasure, and opportunities. Or maybe, they lured the Wanderers by the allure of natural treasures, and resources, before trapping them in, using their lives to enrich themselves. In either case, the end result would be the same.
Yet, Wanderers still came rushing into the canyons, seeking their own fortune, and opportunities. Of course, they had to get through the barriers of the Orthodoxies first. Still, as long as Wanderers promised to pay a part of the fortune they gained in the canyons to the Orthodoxies, the latter did not make things difficult for them. Besides, unlike the Bright Light Forest, where the resources were found as veins in mountains, the resources found in the Night Canyons were rather scattered, and often accompanied by endless dangers. If the others were willing to brave the dangers for them, what did the Orthodoxies have to complain about?
Such Wanderers were not common though. And the canyons were quite large, to say the least. Spread over thousands of kilometres, crisscrossing with each other, creating a vast network of labyrinths, they covered quite a bit of area in the Ost, Rian, and Eun province. And that was just in Rianra. Around half of the canyons were located beyond the borders of Rianra, in the country of Numein. All enshrouded in the perpetual darkness of night.
Alnea, at the moment, was in living in one of the outer branches of the canyons, the smallest of its kind, with a width of only a kilometre or so. The treasures and resources that could be find in these smaller outer branches did not mean anything to the Wanderers who were capable of venturing into the Night Canyons. Thus, it was only natural that he did not meet with anyone as he made his way to the stream.
It was a stream only in name though. With a width of nearly ten metres, and an unknown depth, which Alnea did not dare measure, the stream was nothing short of a small channel of a river. He called it a stream only because he had seen the true terror of the Night River, running across the Night Canyons. Recalling the time when his master had taken to him view the Night River from above, Alnea could not help but shudder. Compared to that giant behemoth, which could drown even True Wanderers if they dared to step in, the small, calm, and serene channel of water in front of him could only be called as a stream.
Shaking his head to rid himself of the lingering fear, Alnea stopped by the side of the stream. He did not rush in to collect water though. Instead, picking up a few stones from the ground, he threw one of them into the stream. The stone, barely the size of his thumb, did not cause much disturbance over the serene surface of the stream. Except the ripples, of course. And when even those ripples faded away, Alnea threw another stone into the stream. And then another. And another. Until he had thrown roughly ten stones into the stream. Only then did he nod to himself, and squatted down by the stream.
Plunging his hands into the stream, he let the cold travel from the water into his veins, before scooping some of the water, to let his throat also have a taste of the cold. It was sweet. Probably from all the minerals dripping down from the walls of the canyons into the stream. The tangy, and metallic taste though, was from something else. Something, which was clever enough to not fall for his earlier trick of throwing rocks into the stream.