"We're too fleeting."

"So you don't want to get attached?" Ginn asked.

"I don't mind being attached. In the first thousand years, everything was fine. But I'm pushing my luck right now."

"And your prior experiences don't make this easier."

"To be fair, you make it sound way worse. But outside a couple of events, my life has been very boring. And I'm grateful for that."

"The seeker of boredom."

"I don't want it, but I need it," Ben said as he took his shirt off and exchanged it with another from inside the box.

"Are you leaving soon?"

"I plan to go to the Myriac Ruins. But, first, I'll help your faction a bit and then take Syd to a safe place."

"Do you need help?"

"Probably not. Just stack everything and help me later with my breakthrough. I haven't done enough to pay for that, and you can't help with that right now. But maybe someday you will."

"Okay, but if you need anything, just let me know."

"Alright. And about that place, I'll tell you after if you should visit it or not."

"There are already a lot of places I need to go. But I wouldn't mind putting it on my list."

"It's not worth going right now, though. You need to keep the momentum here."

"I agree, even more lately with the ongoing war. By the way, I visited your pet two weeks ago, and it didn't like me at all."

Ben's face showed interest and then slipped into thinking.

"Maybe it felt your presence in Eloise, and that's why it was so careful."

"She did mention that."

"I don't know what Syd is feeling, though. But it's not surprising he acts like that since you're weird in more ways than we can count. The only surprise is that he's sensitive enough to notice it."

"I thought it was funny how similar his carefulness is to yours."

"You may find it funny, but I've spent too much time in the wild. So maybe that is indeed where I learned to be extra careful. Since there is always a predator in the shadows."

"And, unfortunately, I don't even think that's the wrong move."

"Anyway, are the battles going well?"

"We've been careful since they're acting too confident, weirdly so."

"Who did you poke?"

"There are too many to count. It could be anyone, you know. Some people act for minor stuff."

"They're wasting a lot of your time."

"Maybe that's what they're aiming for, but nothing I can do if that's the case. This war isn't a game."

"Others are likely lining up to bully you, too. That's what they do when someone grows too fast."

"They think we're an easy target. And until we prove otherwise, those kinds of people won't stop. It should take us 50 to 100 years."

"Then I'll leave you to work on that. And while I'll stay around for a bit to help, we should keep our contact minimal due to the weird flow."

"I'll do my best."

"That's plenty. And I'm already noticing it since I don't feel as suffocated right now."

While their conversation was short, Ben didn't hesitate to leave.

---

The next few days Ben spent interacting with the faction.

Ben reallocated into the neighborhood of his last place after Dinna worked so hard to make that happen.

The days passed in a blink of an eye. And it soon became weeks.

Ben's assimilation into the adviser position happened smoothly. And although his advice was always from a weird angle, the ones that received it were more than satisfied.

However, as Ben worked with this faction, he slowly noticed some of nature's inquietude.

Maybe he was too occupied before that he didn't notice the change in the atmosphere since it was so minimal. But once he did, it felt like welcoming a disease inside his body.

As the days passed, his discomfort grew louder and louder. Yet, no one else seemed to notice it.

And because of that, Ben's worry reached new heights.

---

Almost three months later, Ben was now observing one of the battles.

He didn't feel well, but there was nothing else he could do.

The Dragons were unable to discover anything. And while he could try walking away, he felt like he would regret it.

"This could be the last one, right?" He asked Eloise, who was at his side watching.

"Very likely. Even if there are more, since we finished the preparation, those will happen on the Creak Sect grounds with Ginn leading the attack force."

"It's weird how we couldn't find anything."

"We did our best, but no one could pinpoint the atmosphere change. And outside us three, no one else can even perceive it. And I wouldn't even have noticed it if Ginn hadn't explained it to me."

"I don't get it," Ben said.

He looked into the distance intently as if trying to pierce through the haze.

"Your sensitivity amazes me."

"I don't want it, but it's here. Anyway, don't you need to take notice of the ongoing battle?"

"To be fair, me being here is useless. Everything is ready. My friends only put me here so I wouldn't jump to the front lines with Ginn."

"They know you well. If you have this position, you can't move without killing more than half of your forces."

"Yeah, so smart, right?"

"Yes. Since this also means that it becomes quite unlikely for the formation to fail. You don't kill yourself, and the others likely don't die. A win-win situation."

"For someone who can read the situation so well, you're quite easygoing."

"To be fair, I'm not worried about you. It's weird, but it's true. Even less since Ginn is finally ready to join. But I fear for myself since those people are insane."

"Being so attuned has its downside."

"Outside of living longer, there is no upside."

"Yet, a lot of people would envy you."

"But they wouldn't want to give up what they had either. It's easier to say otherwise once you've lived through everything and are confronting death. At that point, there is nothing more to lose. But that's not hindsight. Instead, it's fear."

While talking, Ben noticed his inward twisting. The pain he felt was as if his whole inside slowly ripped apart again and again.

His head became more cloudy due to the headache.

'The cause seems to have arrived. If this keeps up, I'll drown. Yet, this doesn't feel the same as that ritual. What changed? And what is everyone else doing to let those guys get this far? Given the rhythm, it shouldn't be only here.'

Eloise asked something, but Ben didn't listen.

"Did you notice it?" Eloise asked a second time, but louder.

"Your yelling doesn't make this more comfortable."

"What is this?!"

"I don't know, since I never felt this before. Well, at least not to this extent. But like I said before, it's indeed similar to those rituals. I'm sure of that since I had the privilege of seeing two of those before."

As if the increase in pressure was a cue, the whole battle stance of the faction changed as the Dragons entered defensive mode suddenly.

"Ginn noticed it too," Ben said.

"Whatever they're planning won't be a success, right?"

"Unlikely, given that Ginn is on the ground right now. But my soul may leave me."

"Shouldn't you leave then? Are you truly okay?"

"Nothing you can do, so focus on there and don't blink. I'll be back soon."

"Wait, where are you going?"

But before she even finished her sentence, Ben was gone.

"Lucas, which direction did he go?" Eloise yelled behind her.

"I don't know! I lost signal the moment he stopped talking! But, Eloise, the battle!"

"I know! Push back. Burn half of our reserves. I'll sit down and control it."

On the battlefield ahead, the people who entered defense mode were slowly losing their vitality. And a few of the weaker ones began passing out.

But while the defensive formation oscillated, Ginn and Matt initiated an attack alone after Ginn finally pinpointed something.

---

The darkness of the night created a weary atmosphere.

The Creak Sect didn't understand the sudden change from their enemy, but they also didn't want to lose the opportunity.

However, what they thought was a rabbit cornering in fear was instead a monster ready to bite back.

They lost a lot of personnel trying to stop the defensive formation. Yet, it was to no avail. So they could only sit and wait for further orders.

However, they saw another surprising change when they noticed two people running toward them. They didn't know how to react at first since their actions were insane.

---

Under the veil of the night, Ben melted into the shadows.

He was covered in his tattoos again, but it was slightly different this time.

A thin layer of a deep black substance covered his whole body and clothes.

It didn't look natural.

Ben was a walking silhouette. His body showed no presence. And with his eyes closed, he didn't breathe.

His choice was unrestrained. But that was because while he knew the people behind him could protect themselves, he couldn't hold back on the issue regarding the unique response from his refined soul.

'I never felt my inside wanting to unfold out like this. I may cease to exist.'

Ginn's influence felt like a breeze compared to this force wanting to melt him.

'I hoped that the kids could uncover it. Unfortunately, Spirit isn't reacting to it. But why? Did someone develop something new? But how could even the janitors not realize this?'

Ben was sure he shouldn't be the first to notice something like this level of world refinement. It shouldn't be his time to act since others had always protected the world firmly.

He wasn't blind. He knew that in addition to all the danger he could find randomly, he could also find strong cultivators holding this society together.

'Nature was also quite chill until it turned completely crazy. Maybe the harvesters did something terrifying.'

Knowing the urgency, Ben burnt his life away so he could easily flow through and infiltrate the backlines without being noticed.

'This is going to impact my breakthrough, but whatever. If the refinement is this close, there will be nothing to hold. And I'll be the first to die then.'

Since he was going all out, his infiltration was a success. But seconds felt like years.

Ben eventually found his way outside of a specific tent. And there he felt his head wanting to explode even more, so he knew he was at the right place.

After getting closer, he also noticed that it wasn't a ritual triggering this reaction but a person. Someone inside was his walking antithesis.

After finding his target, Ben stayed there upright in the shadows.

The people passing around couldn't notice him.

Ben also heard people inside while he focused on emptying his mind. But he didn't take notes about their conversation since all his mind focused on being ready to kill.

In this deep state, his mind became blank, and he concentrated on his target.