Back in his room, Edward was free to check the two manuals he had just obtained at a steep price. I don’t have that many runes left that I want to trade with Gobéliard’s families. Let’s see if this investment was worth it. He opened the first manual on the aura manifestation power. Aura manifestation was the ability to manifest one aura physically. It was a fearsome power, and so was the monster it belonged to.

Said monster was called a Mare Irae, it was a mix between a humanoid and a squid. The top part was humanoid, although its face was more elongated than a human and was featureless apart from two black eyes. The bottom part looked like a squid with various tentacles that the monsters used to swim or fight. It was bigger than a human, with the torso part alone being already the size of two meters, if the bottom part was added, the monster was five meters in length. There were few mentions of his habits and habitat, only that such monsters were rarely encountered and that they usually lived in deep water. With no location of their habitat, Edward wouldn’t have been to hunt one even if he wanted to.

If this power is a specialty of the Vega family, I bet that they have secret hunting grounds not mentioned in this book. Otherwise, there is no way they can obtain this power regularly.

The power part of the monster was more detailed, it used its aura mostly to protect and empower itself. Its aura could be used as armor, able to block hits on its own. If used offensively, to empower its tentacles or claws, it strengthened them enough to pierce straight through the hull of a vessel, even when it was reinforced with steel. On top of that, the monster seemed to have some mental ability, even awaken could be unnaturally frozen in shock upon its appearance and take time to recover. A time that could be fatal while having to face such a monster.

If this monster is so fearsome, I wonder how they hunt it. There is no mention of the monster using range abilities so maybe they harm it at a safe distance. But it lives in deep water, so this tactic shouldn’t be useable either. There must be a trick to hunt it that they are keeping for themselves. Maybe a lure? It could explain how they manage to find such monsters. Then they only would have to put the lure in a trap prepared beforehand.

From how no long-ranged attacks are mentioned I feel that I’m right. This monster’s power is only the strengthening of one’s aura. If I can strengthen my aura through other means, in theory, I should be able to send aura blades without wasting a power on that.

When I met Quintus, I felt the pressure he was emitting. I thought it was due to his predator status, but maybe this was due to the Mare Irae power.

Let’s check the other manual about aura training.

The second manual was focused on ways to stabilize and gained control of one’s aura. It wasn’t explaining how to boost it, but rather how to gain finesse in one’s control. The end goal was to be able to send it as blades from a weapon. Those methods and exercises are not useless, but they won’t help me to increase my aura to the level where I can use it physically.

Wait, Marc was able to project his aura as an energy blade while he was still an awaken even though he was still having difficulties doing it. When one breaches the next level one’s aura increase a lot. If I reach the predator level, I may be able to use that technique, although it will be weaker than Quintus who has a dedicated power for it. I still feel it is worth it to gain another power if I can still use aura manifestation even as a downgraded version.

I wonder if there is another way than killing monsters to boost one’s aura. After all, one can boost one’s mana with a mana crystal even if it is somewhat risky to do so.

After checking the manual, Edward decided to focus on the message he needed to send to Leyla. By the time it would take for the message to reach her and for her to go back to Gobéliard, Edward would have enough time to train and improve his aura control with the new techniques he had just obtained.

I have already traded the block, durability, wind, and water runes. All those runes need to be included in the booklets Leyla will spread. I’m still not at the predator level, I need at least one more expedition to reach this stage. So, that means one more rune to include.

After thinking about it, Edward decided to add a rune with the growth signification. It would help the farmers without being especially dangerous. And, if monster activities were more frequent, outside excursions would be compromised for ordinary people, which could lead to a food shortage. This was a way to circumvent the problem before it even happened.

Now, how to convey that message? It will be easier to make a note that Charles’ group of adventurers will have to give to Leyla. I just need a spot to hide the message and to tell him where to pick it up. All of that without being seen as making any suspicious action by the guards.

If I hide the message in a random spot in a street there is the possibility that somebody else may find it, or that it gets damaged by water, or who knows what. I need to store it in a safe place.

The best place to store paper…is the library, I guess. I can reserve a book for later, hide the message inside, and let Charles pick it up later. Sounds good to me.

Edward wrote the message for Leyla, telling her to make ten copies of booklets with the runes he had chosen to reveal. In two weeks, she will spread them through Gobéliard. It couldn’t be faster than that taking into account the travel time between Gobéliard and Agripin, and the time needed to write the booklets.

Then, he meditated, waiting for the evening and increasing his mana by a tiny amount. Meditation was the safest way to increase one’s mana even though it was quite slow.

Once the time had come, Edward left the town hall to go to the library and deposit the message for Leyla. He went to the same library he visited some time ago when he searched for information on Murlocs. His monthly registration was coming in handy. The guards accompanying him weren’t surprised either to see him go to this place. While I’m here I should see if they have any information on the surge of monster activities. Several people told me that they happen regularly, but Cornelius seemed concerned. I should check if they have records that I can compare with the present situation.

Edward coursed through the shelves in his search. He managed to find a surprising number of books mentioning such a rise in monster activities. However, he was disappointed by the quality of the information. Most books only mentioned an increase in the monster activity but without quantifying it, making it impossible to compare with the current situation. It was as if a monster surge at regular intervals was something normal and to be expected, nobody bothered to record it in detail.

He did find several scholars’ books reflecting on the subject. But even then, they didn’t quantify the phenomenon and were more interested in its cause. The most prevalent hypothesis was an astrological cause, the alignment of planets supposedly changing the mana flow of the world and leading to the monster’s surge.

If they didn’t mention more details than that on the surges, I doubt it was that difficult to deal with. But from what Cornelius told me the effect should only increase during the year and even if we are at the start of the year right now, we already have to send expeditions to cull monsters before they become dangerous. Something strange is definitely happening.

Edward decided to store the message inside one of those tomes. It would bring Charles’s attention to the subject so that he became more careful in his trips chasing monsters.

He brought a few tomes to the librarian including the one with the message.

“I know I’m not allowed to bring those tomes outside, but could you put them aside so that stay available when I come to study them later? I might ask one of my friends to take a glance at them,” Edward asked him.

“As you wish but don’t dally too long. I can’t restrict book access to all the other readers.”

“Sure, thank you, I will tell you if I’m not able to put aside the time to study them.”

With this task done, it was time to meet with Charles and the company. Once he reached the guild, Edward inquired about what they had been up to.

They told him they had taken a contract to protect a local farmer and repel any monster incursions for the day. Their service was indeed required as they had to fight several harpies. Edward hadn’t met those monsters yet, but from what they told him, they were quite similar to what he had imagined, a fusion between a human and a bird, their whole body was covered in feathers.

They were human-sized, and although their wingspan was impressive, between four to five meters, it wasn’t enough to let something of this size and weight fly. They were relying on wind magic, making them faster and their trajectories hard to predict. Their attacks were either fast dives from the air or hurled wind blades. Since they were flying and didn’t fight in close range, they were annoying to deal with. Thankfully, with three long-range users, Charles’ group was well equipped to fight such a threat, and they didn’t have problems fending them off.

Edward contacted Charles through telepathy. ‘I need a service. I got a message to deliver to the smith at Agripin across the Vipin Forest. The message is hidden inside a book at Gobéliard’s library reserved in my name. If you understood order a round of beers. I will pay for the drinks.’

Charles indeed ordered drinks for everybody to Edward’s relief. Of course, he refused to let Charles pay, and he instead used his own money to offer the drinks.

Phew. That’s one task done. I hope everything goes well. I have cleared the way, so there shouldn’t be that many monsters on the way. Charles group can hold its own anyway. Now I have to focus on my own task. I have to reach the predator level before Leyla comes back with the runes booklets. I would feel bad if everyone was ready but me.