Nilus who was calmly listening said: “What’s the deal with reaching the divine stage?

“It is not something you should underestimate. You know that King Alek will turn 467 this year. It is because he acquired a divine body a long time ago. His own weapon also reached the divine stage before his body. No one knows what stage his aura has reached, but it is likely that it is of the divine level as well.” Cale retrieved a bone dagger and threw it to Nilus who caught it. Cale continued: “That is one of my bone daggers that I’d been feeding my aura with for fifteen years and it is still at the 3Rd stage. The 12th stage is the divine stage. The process of getting to the next stage for any area is a nightmare. Each stage demands at least ten times more aura than the last. Know that with a divine weapon the king can make an entire city disappear with just a simple swing. It is the only reason why the creatures of the dark do not dare show themselves inside this country. Every new king inherits that divine weapon for the sole reason of keeping up appearances and maintain their reign. It is a huge deterrence against many problems. The nobles and organizations all over the continent have been trying to create such a weapon but they do not have the time nor the numbers of aura crystals required to get there. The only organizations that can rival the king are the Assassin Guild that has been elusive for thousands of years all over the continent. No one knows who wields their aura weapon or if it has reached the divine level, but we know that it can contend with divine weapons. The royal family of the nearby Northden country was assassinated overnight the same day an assassination contract appeared.”

Nilus was more interested in the dagger in front of him than the information Cale was sharing. He played around with the bone dagger and said after Cale finished his speech: “If I am not mistaken, to create aura weapons is to continuously feed it with your warrior’s aura. I can see a miniature core inside this bone dagger of yours. It is exactly like the core inside my soul.”

Cale abruptly looked at Nilus only to see green eyes glowing over his bone dagger. Cale immediately tried to take it away from him but realized that he was so slow that Nilus’s hand swiftly evaded him.

Seeing that Cale only feared him absorbing the more than a decade old aura he had slowly fed his bone dagger, Nilus smiled and said:” Relax I am just looking. Nothing will happen to your precious dagger. How about this? Lend it to me for a few days for research and I promise to give it back.” Nilus suggested.

“What? You have no idea since you are not an aura wielder yourself but no one leaves the side of his aura weapon unless he is dead. It is like an extension of yourself.” Said the drunk Cale as he fought like mad to retrieve his dagger from Nilus’s hand.

“Tell me what is the use of an aura weapon anyway? No one ever taught me because of my disability.” Asked the curious Nilus who was thinking: “Looks like I have some similarities with aura weapons. We both have a core and absorb energy to strengthen ourselves. Interesting. I wonder if there is something more to it.”

Cale tried to answer: “Aura wielders that choose to strengthen an object instead of their own aura or body, they do it because they want a reliable way of killing and defending themselves. The longer an aura weapon is fed, the more it is physically enhanced. Eventually, it becomes more resilient than a regular weapon. As it reaches later stages, it can start emitting an aura that can be easily turned into anything just like aura enhancers do. When it reaches the 12TH stage which is the divine stage, it gains a special ability...Reaching the 12Th stage in any area grants you a special ability….” He had fallen asleep.

Nilus was thinking about many things. During his experiments, he had discovered that his body was the main beneficiary of the energy that he absorbed inside from the souls of his victims. “I can easily pass for a body enhancer. They use their aura to nurture their bodies, I just do it in a weird and faster way. I cannot emit aura like they do but the souls that I eat have plenty of energy inside of them.”

He looked at the dagger in front of him and thought:” I can also be considered an aura weapon as well. We both have crystal cores. Fundamentally, I should be considered a living aura weapon. It's disturbing. That guy had already an ability to pass through objects or to interact with souls. It was weird but he could take the souls of the bodies of his victim with his hands by using that weird power of his. I, however, must beat people to death’s door before I am able to seize the soul by inhaling it before it dissipates. Does this mean that he gained that ability by reaching the divine level? It is the only reasonable answer. Then, how many souls did he eat to get there? From what Cale just said it takes hundreds of years for an aura weapon to reach such a level or enough aura to be inputted inside or a less amount of time depending on the number of aura crystals you have. Either way, it takes a lot of time and resources to reach the divine stage.”

“I saw that guy turn into young man my age from a middle aged man. It must mean that he’s been doing this for decades if not centuries without getting caught. His own body should’ve reached the divine level that way which explains his weird ability. It is insane to even think about a body as strong as that."

" For now, I am strong enough with all the amount of souls I ate. I just do not know how strong I am exactly. Right…those two assassins that I killed last time were both at the S rank…I took a bit of time to kill them but being considered an S rank shouldn’t be far fetched…”

” I should think about making an aura weapon later on. It will help me move around and fight without revealing too much of my inability to emit an aura.”

“Cale did say something about aura weapons being able to emit aura in the last stages. Maybe I will be able to do the same. By then I will not be forced to hide.”

“The only reason I have to disappear right now is because I cannot explain how I have this strength without the aura that would’ve nourished my body to this extent.”

“If I reveal my strength, I will be forced to be part of the knight corps by my father. I will also have to supply my yearly quota of aura crystals to the king. The collectors are stringent when it comes to aura crystals of noble origin since our aura is a bit different.”

King Alek had long left the throne to his son, Wayne Achard, who in turn left it to the current king, his son, Elizar Achard. After each king reaches a divine body, they leave the throne for the next to do the same. The whole royal family receives their share of aura crystals but it is the king or queen in power who receives more.

“There is a possibility that I might be considered a dark creature and killed or hunted until captured and killed.”

As Nilus thought to this point, it was obvious that he had to leave the city as soon as possible. It was a better alternative than finding himself in a situation in which he had no answer to give to explain his recent rise to power.

Cale slowly woke up. As he held his head with one hand and the other lifting his upper body up he said: “From what you said about you and my dagger having a core, then, in theory, you should be considered a human aura weapon. You should be able to manifest your aura at the 5th stage. We will come back then.”

Nilus was surprised: “If we are caught together before I can emit an aura, it will be considered as colluding with a dark creature. I will hide my identity and take missions from the Assassin guild.”

“You should use your identity as Silent Owl to register in the assassin guild. You will be immediately promoted to an S rank assassin. They will give you the title of Shadow Master and a membership card. If they ask you who referred you just tell them it was Holy demon. You do not have to show your aura, just tell them that you are an aura body enhancer and spar a bit with the Shadow envoy that supervises the Assassin branch of this city. He will certainly be the one to gauge your strength if he hears that the Silent Owl himself came to apply to the assassin guild. Hehe, he will have more respect for me when he finds out that I was the one who referred you.

Oh…note that you must hide anything that can identify you. Anything. The Shadow envoy doesn’t care if he finds out who you are, but the others will definitely try to kill you for the reward on both your heads. You are the main attraction in this city now. Many high ranked and hungry assassins came here to kill the Silent owl as well as Nilus Hornraven. For the former, be prepared for teams coming after you. As for the latter, even Shadow initiates think that they have a chance at killing you. For them, you are not even worth a D ranked mission, but the reward your father offered is enticing enough.”

In the Assassin guild, each member was ranked SSS, SS, S, A, B, C, D according to his strength. The recruits, the Shadow initiates were ranked at the D rank. They were followed by the Shadow knights at the C rank and the Bone crushers at the B rank. Those three only did missions according to their level and received their rewards.

From the A rank to the SSS rank, they were given a membership card to enjoy the benefits of the assassin guild for free. B ranks and below had a discount compared to the non-members who had to pay the full amount for those services. Those services included access to intel about anything that was needed for a mission or just for perusal. There was also a bank and a storage service that could be accessed at every assassin guild branch. There was a mail service as well as a service to transfer your belongings to your next of kin should you die on a mission.

The Assassin guild's leader was a known wielder of an aura weapon bordering the divine stage. Nobody really knew how he had acquired such an aura weapon or how many successors there had been ever since the creation of the assassin guild. It was also a mystery how the assassin guild supplied aura to feed an almost divine level aura weapon. The kings in every country did it openly because they had no choice in the matter. Some even suspected that the Aura weapon of the assassin guild was already at the divine level and did not need to be fed with aura anymore.

“Fine, I will go to the Assassin guild tomorrow morning. I still have to properly say goodbye to Lora.” Said the smiling Nilus.

“Good, I will be waiting at the forest entrance five miles east of the city with horses.” Cale said before he went to his backpack and retrieved a black cloak. He said:” You can use this cloak when you leave here tomorrow. How do you usually cover your face when you are fighting crime at night?” Cale asked.

“I just cover my whole face with a black cloth to confuse everybody about my green eyes. They cannot be hidden when I am eating even under the cloth.” Said Nilus as he took the cloak and asked:” How do I prove that I am the Silent Owl?”

Cale contemplated for a moment and said: “ Just give them an account of what you did and where you did it. They have a weird and effective way of gathering intelligence. It will be the only test they will give you. That and the sparring.”

“Good. See you tomorrow then.” Nilus said before darting out of the room as if he was on fire.

Cale slowly left as he muttered to himself: “You better pray that the Shadow envoy doesn’t realize that Nilus Hornraven is under the mask of the Silent owl. He will be happy that you join the Assassin guild, but when he finds out that you are the useless Nilus that his daughter likes. You will be in for it. Hehe…he will make you suffer now that he is not against a useless cripple. He let you live because he found you too pitiful to kill and because of me and his daughter pleading for you to keep your life. He must be laughing right now as the assassins are coming your way because of your own father that now gained respect from him. Haha…this is going to be funny. I better be in the front rows when they spar.”

Present

Nilus had just finished covering his face with a black cloth that he tightly laces at the back of his head and wearing the cloak. He sheathed the bone dagger that he took from Cale on his belt. He was planning on seeing if he could create his own aura weapon faster by experimenting with the bone dagger first.

He looked at himself in the mirror and saw that there was nothing left that could betray his identity of Nilus Hornraven.

He looked at the snoring and naked Lora on the bed for the last time. He inwardly sighed, left a note that he had prepared beforehand on the breakfast cart and left the room by lightly closing the door.