In the early morning, within a dense forest nestled at the base of the mountains, a young man with black hair and a deeply concentrated expression sat in a meditative pose. By his side lay a monkey-like creature.

This young man, Tom, was once again preparing to manually control the output of the etherium he was emitting in an effort to diminish the presence he projected.

He visualized his etherium and tentatively attempted to manipulate it. This action caused several ripples in the etherium flow, but Tom's mind wasn't focused on that; instead, he was determined to reduce his aura.

Unfortunately, as with all his previous attempts, he failed once more.

"DAMN!" exclaimed Tom, his frustration reaching its peak. Nearby, Mooglie raised his head to look at him before returning to his resting position. He had grown accustomed to his master's outbursts and didn't pay much attention.

"Why isn't this working? What am I doing wrong?" Tom wondered, frustrated. Over the past few days, he had even stopped training his time-based astralum to concentrate on mastering this technique, so his repeated failures were incredibly frustrating.

To calm himself, he assumed a meditation posture, letting the etherium flow while visualizing the aura he emitted.

After several minutes, and feeling more composed, Tom pondered, "Should I give up and focus on training my time-based astralum... No, I can't give up after all this effort."

"Why did I even want to learn this technique in the first place?" he asked himself finally. "Originally, I just wanted to catch those elusive rabbits, thinking I could do so if I could silence my footsteps," he thought, casting a glance at Mooglie, who lay nearby. "But is it really necessary to learn this technique now with Mooglie around?"

As he contemplated the reason behind his decision to learn this technique, Tom had a dozen ideas and decided to put one to the test.

Since he was already visualizing his etherium aura, Tom decided to give it another shot, attempting to control his aura and reduce it. However, unlike his previous attempts, he didn't try to control his entire aura but focused solely on the etherium emitted from the lower part of his body, particularly his feet.

Slowly, he concentrated and began to take control of the aura he was emitting until it was lower than the aura emitted from other parts of his body.

However, Tom didn't jump for joy at this achievement. He had been frustrated too many times to get excited about a potential success, but deep down, he also knew that he had accomplished something.

Tom rose slowly and began to walk ahead.

Nothing

He paused for a moment before resuming his stride, this time with more force in his steps.

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Still nothing, he made no sound as he walked.

"I DID IT!" he exclaimed, making Mooglie jump to his feet, instantly assuming a combat stance, thinking they were under attack. However, after a moment and seeing no visible threat, he turned to look at Tom with a questioning gaze.

Meanwhile, Tom was over the moon; he had finally succeeded in mastering that elusive concealment technique that had taken him over a month to learn. So, in his excitement, he thought that his shout wasn't nearly as loud as it should have been.

Without wasting a second or trying to explain the situation to Mooglie, Tom took off towards the area where the rabbits usually ate.

Arriving at the spot where the rabbits ate, Tom sat down in a meditative position and activated the concealment technique once again. Just because he had managed to use it once didn't mean he was suddenly an expert; therefore, he needed to concentrate before activating it once more.

After a few minutes, Tom succeeded once again in concealing the etherium he was releasing, particularly from his feet.

Without a moment's hesitation, he got up and approached a couple of rabbits that were leisurely hopping about.

20 meters... 15 meters... 10 meters... 2 meters... 1 meter...

Usually, at this distance, the rabbits would have sensed danger and bolted, but here Tom was, right behind them, and they didn't even notice him.

With a triumphant grin, Tom crouched down and scooped up the two rabbits in his hands.

"I've finally caught you, you tricky rabbits," Tom said to the rabbits in his hands.

Proud and delighted with himself, he began to make his way back to the tree, whistling a tune.

Upon arriving at the tree where he had taken shelter with Mooglie, he got up and found Mooglie still lounging around. When Mooglie saw him returning with rabbits in his hands, he stood up and looked at Tom with a surprised look.

Tom grinned and said, "Today, I'm the one bringing the food."

***

As they ate, Tom decided to question Mooglie about his tribe. Now that he had learned the concealment technique – even though he was far from mastering it – he thought it might be time to gather more information about the tribe he intended to conquer.

As expected, their tribe functioned through a hierarchy, with the strongest being the leader and the others as subordinates.

He also learned that it was thanks to his clan's presence that there were no monsters on the mountain except for the rabbits they left behind, as they were intended to be food later.

He also found out why Mooglie had descended from the summit of the mountain. It turned out that Mooglie was part of a special unity squad that descended from time to time to check for intruders on the mountain and eliminate them if necessary.

That was precisely why Mooglie had attacked Tom as soon as he spotted him. Apparently, because Mooglie was part of this special unit -which he seemed proud to be a part of given how his eyes lit up as he explained it to Tom with gestures- he had no master.

In this unit, members were highly respected due to their strength, so they always acted alone, even though they had subordinates.

Hearing such news, Tom thought, 'This is good for me; it means I can attack them without anyone interfering in the fight.'

"Where do you rank in terms of power in this special unit?" Tom asked.

Mooglie proudly raised two of his fingers and showed them to Tom.

"You're the second strongest?" Tom asked, quite pleased with this revelation. After all, if Mooglie was the second strongest, that meant his future battles might not be too challenging.

However, contrary to his expectations, Mooglie shook his head in disapproval.

"Huh, you're not the second strongest, then why are you holding up two fingers?"

Hearing Tom's question, Mooglie climbed down from the branch, gathered some stones, and returned. Upon his arrival, he stacked the stones on top of each other, creating a stone tower or a ladder. He then pointed to the second stone.

However, the second stone he pointed to wasn't the one on top but the one below, indicating that he wasn't the second strongest but the second weakest!