15 - Confrontation

Ake chuckled as he took a look at the squiggly Arms. If anyone from Earth could see the Arms right now, they probably would think they looked like the ghostly version of Dr Octo’s.

The four [Ethereal Arms] were a lot slimmer if compared to the genius doctor’s robotic appendages, but two of them were already more than enough to carry him around. Sadly there wasn’t a suitable stage to test their limits.

Theoretically, the combination of the Arms and the [Ethereal Sense] should skyrocket his chance of survival in almost any situation. The only problem he could tell was the mental effort needed to keep them active as it felt like he had a few limbs too many.

He knew that he would get used to it eventually, but at the moment, even walking around was hard if he tried to maintain more. If he wanted both abilities active at the same time, the best he could do was two [Ethereal Arms] and only one [Ethereal Sense].

He didn’t know how to overcome this other than pure practice. The only source of information he had was out on a quest, but he didn’t think she would know anything helpful at the unique abilities level.

At the same time, he rather not reveal these abilities of his as it could potentially cause more nuisance than he wanted. He would rather be a background character than being the number one choice being sent to the frontlines. The last thing he would do was be forced to deal with somebody else’s problems once again.

What he thought he could afford to present was probably the [Arcane Flesh]. The high mana cost ability boosted both his speed and strength based on how much mana he decided to spend on them. Using only his base mana, he could probably one-punch the horned rabbit easily but every bit of mana would probably be spent with that one punch. It was essentially a high-cost and high-reward kind of ability.

The combination of [Thread] and [Flesh] was based on the muscle fibers. These microscopic fibers were the building blocks of the vertebrate muscular system. The [Arcane Flesh] basically empowers each of these muscle fibers with an amount of mana, increasing its capability dramatically, he imagined, without neglecting control.

The only thing he disliked about the ability was the glowing lines that appeared every time he activated the skill. They looked like glowing spreading tattoos which grew brighter with the amount of mana poured into the ability.

Ake activated the ability when he had made up his mind. It would be the piece of fresh meat he would use to dangle in front of the girl.

The stalker gasped loudly before she fell to her back and made some noise.

“Who’s there!?” Ake yelled and rushed out of the door to confront the perpetrator.

Of course, he already knew she was there all along, but he needed a valid excuse to find out about her. He just hoped the dark would help with his poor acting skills.

“Oh, it’s just you,” Ake said while faking surprise.

He shook his head and deactivated the ability.

The alarmed girl breathed in relief and was able to get back on her feet.

His deliberate action had reduced the tension as he had expected. It took her quite a bit of time before she stopped gawking at him.

“Wha- what was that!” the girl demanded.

“What was what?” He acted oblivious.

“The glowing lines on your body, you glowed,” Sila said while pointing at him.

“I did? Are you sure about that?” Ake chuckled.

Her reaction to the [Arcane Flesh] was a lot more than he had expected. It was flattering when it came from her.

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Her big eyes narrowed to a slit, “you have just crystallized an ability, don’t you? That’s why you have been meditating all this time.”

Ake shrugged. “Shouldn’t you be more worried about Liara than wasting your time stalking a man and spying on him? She has been good to me and I would rather not see her heartbroken,” he joked.

Sila scoffed, “What does the ability do?”

Ake sighed in response.

Of course, whatever he said was ignored while she acted like he owed her an explanation and her action didn’t even surprise him. Most people were unreasonable, whether they realized it or not, he had long understood this.

“What it can do should be none of your business,” Ake replied deadpan. “Well, unless you give more consideration to what I’ve to say, that should be fair, right?”

The tall girl gritted her teeth and clenched her fist, “fine,” she spat.

“If you are worried about Liara, the quest she had taken was sponsored by me, to get her away from you,” Sila revealed her part in this. “The Guildmaster agreed with this, but he suddenly abolished the watch for whatever reason the man had in mind.”

“I see,” Ake said. “He probably did it because he realized the truth about me.”

“What is this truth about you?”

“You see, the man called me an ‘Initiated’. He must have realized that I am a lot closer to a scholar than a fighter,” Ake explained. “The Guildmaster already figured that I wouldn’t likely be able to cause a problem even if I wanted to. The ability I’ve just crystallized, for example, is based on my knowledge about the human body. But to be honest, even with this ability I would rather stay in the safety of the walls than risk my life for a few coins.”

‘At least, for the moment,’ Ake continued inside his head.

He would be out there, experiencing the world when he was sure it was safe enough to do so. Maybe after he had a reliable, defensible mobile home, that would be perfect. He knew almost nothing about the world he was currently living in, and as a modern soul, he would always advocate for safety first.

Stating a common point had worked. Her tense shoulders relaxed and Sila stood a little straighter as she dropped her fighting stance. Her hand slipped off the sword handle before it met with its other pair, fingers to fingers. She was probably thinking about how to turn this awkward situation around in her favor.

As he had thought, half-truth was the best approach to this situation. He was technically a scholar by trade but that didn’t mean he could cause havoc if he wanted to. The good old Doc was a prime example of this.

“I- I understand,” Sila's muffled voice said as her feet brushed the ground. “And I’m sorry for spying on you. I shouldn’t have done that, but-”

“Let me guess, you’re still curious about what the ability can do,” Ake chuckled and shook his head at the gall the gal had in her.

“Please, you must understand. Everyone knows that a crystallized ability is worth more than mere gold slates,” Sila said with a much softer tone as her fists tightened. “It opens up the chance to leap above others as it will also unlock a [Class]. Most of these abilities will even become a family’s heirloom, no matter how basic. And all these years I’ve never heard of any kind of [Ability] that causes glowing lines to appear and it only means-” the girl bit her lip to stop herself.

‘She is saying that every ability, well except the few common ones, is precious. It makes an unheard-off ability simply priceless,’ he continued inside his head.

Ake tried not to show it but he was taken aback by the girl’s rapid-fire revelation.

Luckily, it was already past midnight and there were very few light sources around or she would probably notice his dropped jaw.

“Okay, that explains a lot,” Ake chuckled.

“Yes, for us, discovering an [Ability] is like discovering an untapped gold mine, so you must understand why I feel this way. I just need to know what it does, and, and-” Sila snapped her mouth shut.

‘And learn how to crystallize it,’ Ake filled in the blank.

“I understand, but we can’t talk about it out here in the open,” Ake reasoned.

His meat-dangling for a peace treaty had worked, but it might have worked too much.

Sila, the stalker, straightened up when she heard that. He could tell that she was thinking about something before she decisively walked into the house.

Ake gave it a few minutes gathering his thoughts and nerves before he followed her in. It would be bad if she saw him shaking for whatever reason he was.

He was surprised to find an unarmoured youthful beauty, kneeling on the floor waiting for him. The gorgeous blond’s proportions were beyond her age, and combined with flawless snow-white skin, it had probably made the wolves howling like crazy.

The cloak and cover-up made a lot more sense now. Give her a few years and she could probably be more than a match for the Guildmaster lady assistant.

And this voluptuous beauty glared with her large golden eyes while kneeling in front of him. Any man would have wanted to teach her a ‘lesson’.