Two people, one male and one female, watched the dome being set ablaze as they waited for the opportunity.

Of course, the fire itself couldn’t be sustained for long, as it would take too much mana.

The young woman knew this and used her blood sabers to attack from a distance.

Sometimes she made a slash similar to his own air slash, but it was made out of mana. Other times, she just threw the sabers, and they flew on their own, slashing the dome, then returning to her hands.

Illyan was incredulous at her magical abilities and sabers. In truth, he felt the temptation to take these sabers for himself.

But he knew it was a worthless endeavor. The lady was much stronger than she had shown. The acolytes would use all their mana only during hopeless situations. He would probably end up in a very bad state.

Considering they didn’t have a grudge against each other, it would be too foolish.

Not to mention…

When Illyan looked at her face, he didn’t feel the emotions that other men would feel. The only emotion that flashed inside his eyes was a kind of discomfort. Remembering the little girl in the forest, he shook his head.

‘So foolish…’

Instead, he focused on her saber arts.

While she was using the breathing technique, Illyan saw that she didn’t use any flow or aura during her entire fight. Instead, her battle was fueled solely by mana, and mind power was used as auxiliary power.

Just then, a loud crack came from the magic dome as one of the thrown sabers managed to pierce through it.

She didn’t hesitate as she charged forward.

Once she got closer, she held the other saber closer to herself as she took a deep breath.

Then, she widened the crack with a forcible strike.

Crackle.

“Phew…” She gritted her teeth as the backlash caused heavy bleeding from her seven apertures as she jumped through the opening of the dome.

Havren, who was already listless, saw her and immediately threw something at her.

At that time, his eyes shone with hints of madness but mostly resignation.

Then, he channeled even more of the mana inside the scroll, thus mending the hole and casting another barrier magic that was barely enough to cover his body.

The young woman’s eyes shone as she stared right at the thing he threw.

It was another activated dark stone. But this time, it stopped midair, being suspended by her mind power for a second.

She drifted right past it and jumped above Havren’s makeshift barrier.

There was no escape, as the barrier was sealed even from inside, so she could only run as far from the dark stone as possible.

Boom.

The explosion rang out behind her, but she was already behind his mini barrier, which shielded her from the most grievous injuries.

Unfortunately, the barrier didn’t last, as it cracked immediately after throwing Havren back.

She, on the other hand, made an incantation with her hands as she took out a blood-red dagger with ornamental symbols covering it and cut her own wrist.

Her voice started to melodiously chant as the blood flowing from her wrist began to rise, forming a very thin, almost translucent membrane in front of her.

Then, she kneeled and hoped for the best.

Illyan, who watched all of this, didn’t show much reaction. Instead, he felt that the woman didn’t make the right choice and that if she died because of it, then it was her fault.

Since she had her flying sabers, she could have kept attacking the crack from afar, but she decided to attack personally, falling into Havren’s trap.

It was one thing to do this when you have the ability. For example, Illyan was jumping into enemies’ traps often, as he knew he could endure the onslaught and turn the tide of the battle thanks to it.

But he was still careful. Depending on his ability, too much damage would still be the end of him.

Of course, she could be the same as him and just as confident in that magic of hers as he was in his regeneration.

Or… she was actually not that experienced in fighting.

When the dark stone exploded, the entire dome shook as numerous cracks appeared, covering it. Fortunately for Havren, the attack was done from inside, which nullified any backlash it could cause, saving his life.

Illyan narrowed his eyes as he used his spiritual perception to look inside the dome.

But… never would he have expected that just as his perception invaded the dome through the cracks, he felt some kind of energy crossing his path.

The energy was familiar but at the same time different. It was much stronger than his own.

When his perception clashed with the said energy, as if lightning fell and thunder cracked, Illyan saw lights inside his mind as unbearable pain coursed through his head.

“Ugh…” He grunted in pain, as this kind of pain was felt by him only when his astral body was almost destroyed in the Spirit World.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What was that?” He muttered to himself.

At the same time, his acute hearing registered the slight feminine noise of confusion inside the dome and then the sudden sound of steel slashing through flesh.

Seconds passed.

The dome finally collapsed, and the dust from the ground and vapor from the snow disappeared as she walked out unscathed with a straight back and her hair waving behind her.

In one hand, a saber; in the other, a dead body.

She took the pouch and even the barrier scroll and threw it at Illyan.

“Just as promised.” Her voice was cold, but Illyan could feel that she didn’t like looking at him as she quickly averted her eyes.

‘Is it because of the scars?’ Illyan thought. But he didn’t care that much as he prepared to leave as soon as possible before she changed her mind.

‘Wait… Now that I think about it, how did she know about me in the first place?’

This was definitely something he cared about. He looked at her.

It could be a worthless endeavor or even cause animosity between them, but his curiosity won him over.

“Wait a minute, miss.” So, he called out to her.

She knew he was still here, so she could guess he wanted something. Thus, when she turned around, she didn’t look surprised to see him.

“How did you notice me? I was pretty confident in my technique. I can even pay. With money or bodies,” Illyan asked calmly.

Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him. Their eyes connected, but both were looking at something much deeper behind the eyes.

“I could feel your ugly foulness the moment you arrived at the camp,” she uttered calmly as she stared at him.

Now, Illyan furrowed his brow. Was she insulting him? For what reason?

“Not your outer appearance. I can see from the angles of the scars they were self-inflicted. With your strong regeneration and some ointments, it should be easy to heal into a pristine state.”

She smirked as if she could read his mind.

Illyan’s pupils dilated when he heard her words.

She inferred so much information just from this short fight. In Illyan’s eyes, she turned into quite a big threat, but he didn’t act on it yet as he saw that she hadn’t finished.

“You are very strong. As a matter of fact, I think you could fight me on equal terms even with all my powers. We both can fight level three acolytes, but we are fundamentally different. I am a mere level one acolyte if we compare raw power. But my foundation is impeccable, thus elevating my power. But you… you are imperfect in every way. And I can feel these imperfections. You built your foundation on sand and constructed your unsteady tower from glass. It is high, but it is also fragile. That makes you look like a lamp during the night to me.”

After saying that, her smirk disappeared from her face.

“The mortal is just a blank slate. But it is from that point when people can start to build their foundation, excavating the potential of the body. Then people reach the Novice stage where they adapt to the mana and mind power or any other magic energies. Their affinity and perception are refined, and their bodies are fully saturated with that mana. Only then do they start to create the mana sea.”

Illyan remained silent as he listened to her words and absorbed all the information she shared in a matter of seconds. Even though she still didn’t explain what he asked about, he still felt that he benefited.

“Even then, you need to build the mana sea with care and fortify the mind power. But you… your body is full of imperfections. It feels almost unnatural. The only people like that are the ones crippled for life or with birth defects. But you are not one of these. It is actually quite peculiar. Your body must have gone through quite a hard time, I guess. The same goes for your mind.”

When she looked at him as a whole, she could see the cracks in his mind and the blemishes on his body. She was actually quite shaken when she noticed him for the first time.

“I also sensed that you used spiritual energy, which isn’t common on this continent. But if you don’t defend your perception with fortified mind power, you could end up with a completely shattered mind. Realistically speaking, you are at the beginning of the Novice Stage at most.”

She shook her head in disapproval at first but then stopped as she sighed.

When Illyan heard that, he opened his eyes wide. Not because he didn't expect this, but more because this was exactly the same conclusion Kaoran had. He never talked about this perfection or whatsoever, but he always talked about himself as a novice, despite the fact that his raw power was much higher.

“Don’t take it personally. Actually, your foundation is quite good for a loose practitioner. It’s just… in front of perfection, no blemishes can remain.”

She scowled in discomfort as she turned around and took a rope to tie the corpses.

“No, your words actually benefited me a lot. I appreciate that,” Illyan acknowledged as he made a polite bow to her.

“I see that you still haven’t started with mana absorption. You actually don’t need mana to continue practicing magic, but it is still the most orthodox path of magisters. Before absorbing mana, try to just course it through the body to let it adapt, and then saturate the body with mana. If you can find similar techniques like the one you used for mending your body that would fortify the mind and weave the inner mana properly and continue training in it until the absolute peak, you will have a sturdy foundation.”

“By the way, it is quite impolite to ask other people about their abilities. Other acolytes would turn hostile, so don’t ask others carelessly if you want to survive.”

After saying that, she disappeared from his view as she held the end of the rope, carrying away the bodies.

Meanwhile, Illyan just stood there in a daze.

He just asked a simple question, but she made him question his entire journey so far.

Illyan clenched his hands until blood appeared.

He didn’t feel anger. Not at her or at himself. Just a disappointment that he hadn’t progressed as much as he thought.

But at the same time, he felt determination coursing through his veins. He was glad that he heard her advice on how to continue on his path.

‘Since I am not talented, I need to work on my foundation so that it won’t collapse. This was something Degres beat into me since I was small. But now, I heard the same words again. She told too many things about me nobody should know, so she was definitely not talking nonsense. Whether it was harmful or not is another question…’

Illyan shook his head in denial. Even if it was nonsense, it wouldn’t harm him in any way. He would just waste some time. That was a sacrifice he didn’t mind, and at the same time, he was aware that she had no reason to do this.

Illyan decided that instead of standing here in the middle of the barren camp, he should leave as soon as possible and return to his manor.

He took all the pouches, the scrolls, some of the good quality weapons, and leather armor from the guards before jumping at the closest tree and disappearing from the now completely empty camp.

Only the corpses of the guards remained, and the crows were prepared to feast on them for quite some time. The moment Illyan went away, they descended and started to peck the soft tissues…

…….

‘I need to first identify the technique she talked about.’

Illyan wondered what she meant. The technique that mended his body.

He didn’t think she was talking about [Blood Feeding Technique]. In fact, this technique could even be the reason why he had so many blemishes. But he guessed these were the small flaws his regeneration left on his body over time. After all, it wasn’t perfect…

Illyan narrowed his eyes. In the end, he couldn’t fully understand how she could feel him. She just said she could feel his imperfection. He didn’t know if it was true, but if it was, then it was a freaky ability. But considering she could see so many things about him just from looking at his body…

‘If it wasn’t [Blood Feeding Technique], then it must have been [The Way of the Body].’

After all, this technique was meant to fully master the body. All kinds of stretching, body workouts, running, climbing, and all kinds of different disciplines were applied to fully train this technique.

And once someone fully mastered their body, there was no way they wouldn’t notice the blemishes and systematically remove them through training, medicine, or other means.

Illyan smiled.

He knew the next few months would be arduous as he would need to find a way to get stronger as quickly as possible.

But that was exactly what he was excited about.

Because training until he could barely breathe was something he came to enjoy after years of training under Degres’ tutelage.

Illyan’s mind was filled with nostalgia as he ran across the beautiful snow-covered landscape, reminding him of distant childhood memories…