Aurelie's life soon settled down into a set pattern. Everyday, after breakfast, she patrolled the marketplace with Farn. Then, after lunch, she went with Mellana to the library, and studied Martial Techniques. With her memory and control over her body, she was able to master the all the techniques within three days, after which she held classes outside the library where she taught people how to use techniques which they had picked up, doing things like correcting postures and hand positioning. When her help was added with the fact that she was a very approachable and kind person and had no arrogance over her abilities, she instantly became a star in the village, on the level of Farn and Mellana.

Even people who were just passing through town and adventurers came to her for help with Martial and Cultivation Techniques that they had found on their travels and had trouble with using. This expanded not only her own, but the Lejus and Fadan families' knowledge.

The Cultivation Technique that they used now was a low-tier Rare level technique. The gap between levels was huge, and Aurelie was able to tell that from the very first time she attempted to cultivate with the new technique. It increased the amount of World Energy that she gathered exponentially, and the energy that was gathered was already very pure and extremely rich. Aurelie quickly grew to the second stage in the Master Realm, and Farn and Mellana grew to the third stage, and began preparing to attack the bottleneck. Kadaras also began to prepare for a closed door cultivation in which he shut himself off from the world and focussed on nothing other than cultivation, though he did say he wouldn't do it until the matter with Gradas Meir was resolved.

Every night, she cultivated until midnight, then snuck off to Meir Village, putting her plan into place, and arranging backup plan after backup plan. After around four hours, she would head back to Lejus Village and cultivate until she was called down for breakfast and started the entire process all over again.

During the very rare spare moments she was alone, she sent a text to Zane, an update as to what was happening. She knew that there was no way he would be able to read them, but at this point it was a habit, and it was a habit she had no wish to break.

A week after she had come to the village, she made a decision. After breakfast, she told Farn to go ahead as she had to talk to his parents about something. Worried, Farn looked between his confused parents and his serious friend before slowly nodding and leaving. After using her Spirit Energy to make sure he was gone, she turned to Kadaras and Danadie.

"Please call whichever one of Mellana's parents that isn't on library duty, as well as Mr. Kando." She told them. Kando Lejus was Farn's uncle, and an adventurer who had returned to the village just three days ago. Suspicious and worried, Danadie got up and moved so fast that Aurelie couldn't track her with her eyes. Kadaras and Aurelie settled into their chairs, each watching the other.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

~~~~~~~

Mellana found Farn right after he finished talking to a few of the regular shopkeepers. Surprised to see her, as she usually spent all morning cultivating, Farn asked her what she was wrong. She put her hands on her hips.

"I came to ask you that. You're mom just came and asked my dad to come with her to a meeting."

Farn paled. "Aurelie said she had to tell them something this morning. She hasn't come to the market yet."

Mellana dropped her hands as dread settled onto her face. "Do you think that something happened?"

Farn set his jaw. "Worst case scenario, Aurelie is working for Meir and she called our parents over to come clean about it. But that's just worst case. Personally, I don't think that that's what happened."

"Well, we can't do anything about it." Mellana said, looking grim.

"Yeah." Farn sighed and both of them looked anxiously at the Village Hall.

~~~~~~~

Aurelie looked at four of the most powerful people in the village. They all exchanged looks and nods and whispered among themselves. There had even been a time when Padan Fadan had run back and forth from the library to get his wife's opinion on affairs. The four nodded to each other one more time, then Kadaras stood up to deliver the verdict.

~~~~~~~

Aurelie jumped from roof to roof, watching the villagers of Meir. It was night, but half of the village was up, preparing for the ongoing war. There was a freezing cold anger within her veins as she saw all the weapons being prepared and all the training being done in preparation to kill Lejus' Villagers. She had to hold herself back from going down there and wrecking everything she saw. 'It's all just a waste of materials anyways.' she comforted herself. Her thoughts switched back to this morning's reunion with Farn and Mellana. They had looked at her like she was about to disappear, and then interrogated her when she assured them that nothing was wrong. She grinned at the memory. They had obviously assumed the worst...

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't realize that one of the roofs was... strange. It looked slightly different, more haphazardly built, but she had been doing this for a week. Humans are creatures that instinctively let down their guard if nothing happens after a while, they can't always be vigilant. Aurelie knew this, so she was selectively vigilant. She was hyper aware of her surroundings on the ground, but relaxed attention on the roofs, working on her previous principle of 'people never look up'. But she had forgotten that this was a world that operated on the law of the jungle. Everyone was more aware as a principle than they were on Earth. Someone must have noticed her silhouette and reported it, because the next roof she stepped foot on gave way under her feet and she plummeted to the floor ('What is it with me and falling? Probably Phil and Carter. I hate them so much.' She thought to herself on the way down), landing on her back with a thud. Immediately, she was surrounded by spear tips pointed at her. The last thing she saw was Gradas Meir's smug face, and then a swift kick to the head rendered her unconscious.