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Chapter 21: Specter hunting II

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Instead, he lifted his left hand, on which a triangle rune could be seen. The rune seemed to gain light as Val uttered the words of the world. Nether Words.

The words were vague, seemingly resonating with surroundings, and they were nothing like the common language of Solus' inhabitants.

Sometimes they sound low and other times high pitched, or even barely audible.

Those many words translate to two simple words, "Ice Hands." And indeed, from the triangular runes flew a stream of blue energy that started shaping itself like hands.

It quickly gained form, becoming indistinguishable from ice. The ice hands launched themselves to all the arrows under Val's meticulous control.

They carefully pulled the arrow stuck in the ice and the one in the forest wrinkler's head. The hands were then retracted until they were within an arm's distance from Val.

He lifted his other hand, which had the same triangular rune, and started casting another art, this time a water art. "Water Stream."

A gentle stream of water flowed from the triangular rune and engulfed the arrows, cleaning each and every part of them.

The Ice hands then put the arrows in the quiver before dissipating just like the water art, seemingly reuniting with the ether.

The problem with those two arts is that they're not offensive arts. They're extremely slow and need meticulous control, so they're usually used for things such as that.

Also, the only different thing about the casting of the two arts is the needed Nether words and the triangular rune of which the ether can exit.

The triangular rune is extremely necessary for the process, and usually, it's empty but depending on the art, one needs to control part of their ether to shape a specific rune in its middle, and there are numerous such runes.

'It feels like reality gives expecting a return. It's like we seekers are an investment. We absorb the ether when we're weak, and return it when casting ether arts.

We can regenerate out ether without absorbing it from the world, thus every art we cast is replenishing and even strengthening reality... That's quite interesting.'

Val pulled the reins, guiding the horse to start galloping through the road, leaving the bodies to rot even though he knows it's always recommended to burn or destroy dead bodies.

'A convoy should be passing by here either today or tomorrow, and they're responsible for taking care of such things, so it shouldn't be a problem.'

A frown surfaced on Val's face, 'I feel like I can cast only two more arts of similar level. Seekers are really quite restricted in the first sequence.'

That's something he thought of quite a lot as despite meditating every day, he has only reached this level... A level only peaks second sequence seekers can achieve.

His greed is truly boundless. He has yet to even reach the second sequence, yet he's able to cast four ether arts at a time.

Seekers can barely cast one similar ether art at this point, so the focus at this point is physical and weaponry combat.

The ones he had cast are called free arts for a reason, one can control them as they liked, and their potential is boundless in later sequences.

However, now they're useless because of their enormous ether consumption and their harsh requirement for accurate control. That means that he can cast much more ether arts if he used the restricted kind.

Val made his way towards the closest town which happened to be his destination. He has traveled for about two hundred miles and passed by a few towns but only chose to enter one now by sunset for more reasons than one.

The farthest away from cities the more dangerous the environment, especially at night and he doesn't want to deal with that now.

So he followed the roads and made sure to check his map from time to time. That's a mistake that can take one's life.

"Aliversta, one of the rising towns that's on its way to becoming a city, most importantly, it's a town that houses one of the two associations, one of the very few that does."

Val murmured to himself as his sight picked traces of civilization close by, and soon came the view of the town walls.

Soon he reached the town gate, noticing not many people around. By this point, most people are either home or within the town, rarely do people hunt after sunset.

There was however a small line of people waiting to enter. He ignored the line and headed towards the gates, Val noticed the first in line handing one of the guards a triangular object.

The guard took it and placed it within the ember tablet in his hand, a square artifact with a vacant triangular spot at its center, and as expected, the triangle fits perfectly.

The guard carefully looked at the tablet as it blinked twice with a faint light. He then took off the triangle and gave it back to its owner.

That's the checking method for most towns. Cities of course have more advanced and complicated methods.

The number of blinks signals something, and the guards respond based on that.

Two blinks for triangles coming back to the same town. Three blinks for foreign triangles, and one blink for investigation, for quick response time. Of course, there are other signals for other purposes.

The sound of the horse hoves stepping on the ground reached some of the guards as one of them called the lead guard.

Val brought a hexagonal flat ember from his pockets. The object was exquisite, with a carefully engraved inscription on it. The most striking thing about it however is a crimson lion symbol.

The guards immediately bowed upon seeing it. That's the symbol only high-ranking personnel of the Helious family possess.

And so, he was allowed passage without the slightest trouble. They saw the snow horse, which is a bit expensive. They saw the prominent hilt of his rapier with a crimson gemstone on it.

They were so many other clues, their craft thought them how to behave and who not to offend.

"Sir, would you like me to guide you to the best Inn in town?" The lead guard asked respectfully, keeping his eyes down.

Val nodded at the proposal and allowed the guard to pull the reins while he remained comfortable on his horse.

Val couldn't help but let out a small laugh as he remembered something.

'Rhys did try to fit in with commoners to see how it's like to be normal... Louis said he got into a lot of trouble, and somehow, trouble followed everywhere.

Now that I think about it, shouldn't trouble also follow me? Nothing too peculiar has happened so far... I must be getting conspired by gods who look down on such methods.'

Val completely ignored the strange looks he's getting as he was letting small laughs from time to time, lost in his nonsensical thoughts.

Those small laughs took nothing of his charm and elegance. He only got his bearing back when he heard the guard's words.

"Sir, we're here."

Val turned his attention to the Inn's signboard, Bright Ice's It says. He dismounted the horse before saying, "Take it to the Inn's stable."

The Inn like most inns had guards, and there are ones responsible for taking the travelers' horses to the stable.

Val let the lead guard take care of that and went into the Inn, seemingly not noticing the disappointment in the guard's eyes.

'Sorry, but I really have a lot of money... Wait, that doesn't make sense? Hmm, I will be kind and give him a bit of money when I leave, but is it money that he desires or skipping ranks?'

Val then booked the inn's best room and placed his backpack and the large bag in it before heading to the Inn's diner.

He looked through the menu before ordering what he liked. Then while waiting for his meal, he started observing the diner, 'No one special, just merchants and slightly rich travelers... Why is nothing happening?'

Val started stroking his chin as he crossed his legs, his face with a never-changing smile.

'Am I just that paranoid? I feel like fate should have a lot in store for me, a messy journey filled with tribulations. I never believed in coincidences, so my transmigration in such circumstances is certainly the doing of someone or something.'

"This is no fun. I guess I have to start things myself and make things more entertaining." He murmured to himself as his meal reached his table.

He ate his fill before leaving the Inn and heading towards one of the establishments in this world that never sleeps.

An association that can be found throughout the entire world, Specter Hunters association. That is another reason why he came to this specific town and ignored the others.

This one has the association he seeks while the others had other associations such as monster hunters and beast hunters or none at all.

Specter hunters and monster hunters have the sole mission of extermination, simply eliminating their targets, no questions asked.

Beast hunters have many responsibilities, which include beast taming. Ether beasts in general are too useful. Furthermore, they're edible and are quite helpful to seekers.

Val easily noticed the division between the association and other establishments.

It was quite isolated from non-seekers' houses and establishments and is in fact built in an area specifically made for seekers.

The reason is obvious to all. The disturbance in the ether was uncomfortable for non-seekers, and it only gets more uncomfortable the closer one gets to the Specter Hunters association.

Val could clearly sense the massive movement of the ether all around. He was however used to it.

There are thousands of seekers in the Helious estate, so that was never a problem for him. While most of the time, the formations keep the ether calm, there are times where it gets deactivated.

Val made his way to the largest building in the area, a lively grey building that could elude one from what it is for.