42 Breakthrough (1/2)
Arnin walked out of the library with Elidia following him from behind. She was quiet while they walked, making for a stifling atmosphere. Arnin ignored her presence and was contemplating what he read in the library. He learned about the different elemental cultivation manuals and how they worked in the body in conjunction with the orb. He found the idea to be simple, however he would need some time to create his own. Although his goal was to create a cultivation stone and start to improve his control over the saber, he decided to put that on hold. He didn't want to cultivate a random manual anymore since it could impact his future cultivation.
Elidia didn't say a word and continued to look at the floor. The agonizing screams of Torne and Kurse kept replaying inside her head. The sounds they made and the looks on their faces horrified her. This may have seemed like a bad thing, however there was a small benefit. She now understood that things would not go her way and that Arnin was not under her or Lilise's thumb. She lifted her head slightly to take a look at Arnin's back.
Arnin suddenly stopped and turned around. Elidia looked up at him with surprise before looking back to the ground. She didn't want to talk to Arnin, as she found him to be a repulsive person who really was a bad guy. Arnin smirked when he saw the way she was acting.
”How did you like the show? You seemed to be enjoying it quite a bit while sitting comfortably on that chair.” Arnin spoke with some mockery in his tone, however Elidia wasn't able to catch it.
”I wasn't sitting comfortably! You did something so I couldn't move. Just wait until I get home. I am going to tell Lilise everything that I saw, let's see what happens then.” Her pearl white teeth clenched together while she spoke with seething hatred. Her beautiful, sky blue eyes were shimmering with coldness, however Arnin faintly smiled towards such a glare.
”Go ahead, tell the little Lilise. She is so little, it isn't like the news is going to hurt her and make her extremely sad, but that is up to you. I know that you want to make your sister sad, so go ahead and tell her.” Arnin spoke without much of an expression. Elidia went silent after hearing him, she didn't want to make Lilise sad, but she didn't want her to think Arnin was good either.
”Why didn't you stop? Why couldn't you let them go?” She consoled herself, but she began to rethink about the scene in the library. She hadn't seen anything major like that before and the aura Arnin was giving off really frightened her.
”I don't know why are you asking such dumb questions. Keep this in mind, everything that happened inside was because of you. If you didn't agree to their request, they wouldn't have been beaten.” Arnin continued to taunt her without caring about her reaction. Elidia couldn't take it anymore and sat on the ground in fetal position. She buried her face in her legs as her body trembled slightly.
The sound of sobbing was heard in the building; it was heartbreaking. Arnin glared at Elidia's childish actions. He would have killed her on spot if he wasn't bound by the contract. Arnin didn't care if others hated or disliked him. The only people in Afloria that he truly cared about were Nekaia and his parents, and although he cared about the latter, it was only to a certain extent. He wouldn't harm them, which was why he had left, but he wouldn't sacrifice his life for them either.
Elidia, who was crying in front of him, was neither Nekaia, nor family member, so he only felt annoyed at her tears. ”Get up!”Arnin glared at her as he spoke with some annoyance.
”No! I don't want to!” Although individuals matured faster in Afloria than normal people, Elidia was still a child. She would cry like a baby when she was upset or sad; it was normal.
”If you don't get up, then I don't mind showing Lilise the same things you saw today.” Arnin threatened her. He wasn't planning on being a good guy, nor did he want to be one. He himself knew that he was not a good person, but that fact didn't bother him.
Elidia quickly got up and wiped her tears. She glared at Arnin before stomping off in a fit of anger. ”I hate you Arnin!” She ran off towards the exit with tears appearing in her eyes once again. Arnin ignored her reaction and looked towards the ceiling.
”Stop hiding, I know you are here.” Arnin was glaring at the dark ceiling when a figure jumped from the top and landed in front of him. This time, it wasn't Xillar, it was Fae.
”You are such a bad guy. How could you make such a pretty girl cry?” Fae showed a hurt expression when she looked at Arnin. She then looked at the running figure with pity.
”Why are you following me?” Arnin ignored her question and struck her with one of his own.
”Well, I heard you were looking for some cultivation manuals to study. I have a few here that might interest you.” She smiled brightly before taking out a dozen or so books from a ring on her finger. ”These here are some of the books that I have collected over the years, take a look.” She handed them all to Arnin.
Arnin placed them onto the ground and began to look through them very quickly. Blood, space, darkness, and shadow were only a few of the many types of elements . These books talked about rare elements that he wasn't able to find on the first and second floor of the library. These books were extremely helpful for him since they discussed some of the main elements that he wanted to focus on.
He got off the ground and looked at Fae with some confusion and suspicion. After thinking for a moment, he smiled wickedly towards her. ”What do you want in exchange?” He knew that these would not be given freely. There was a catch, and it most likely something difficult.
Fae's eyes brightened before she spoke as well. ”You catch on quick. Well, at the moment I don't need anything, but remember to keep that page I gave you close by. You will know in due time.” She giggled cutely before vanishing into thin air, however she dropped a small bag before leaving before leaving.
Arnin frowned. He didn't like owing someone anything without even knowing what he needed to owe. However, he felt that the day the page had a reaction, things might become more interesting. Arnin picked up the bag and slowly inspected it. He was surprised to find that it had the properties of space revolving around it and knew right away what it was. Just like the ring that was on Fae's finger, it was a interspatial bag that could carry many items without increasing their weight. He inserted his threads into the bag to inspect the interior and found that it was empty. He smirked before placing all the books into the bag.
The interspatial bag was deep black and gave off a mysterious aura, however the space inside of it was not too great. At most, he would be able to fit twenty or so more books. Still, it was better than not having anything at all. Arnin tied the bag onto his waist and continued his way towards the the residential area. He wanted to quickly break through into the next realm. Arnin believed that he should be able to have a breakthrough now, especially since he had absorbed enough essence into his body and had even separated some of it.
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Fae appeared inside an unlit room where a few figures were barely distinguishable as seated. She quickly got onto her knees.
”Did you give him the items?” The voice was very soothing, almost numbing. The voice was very charming and seemed to belong to a woman.
”Yes, I gave him the cultivation manuals and the interspatial bag.” Fae smiled her usual smile, the one that Arnin found to be disgusting and annoying.
”Good. He had probably figured something out already, but it doesn't matter. Let's see what he does when the page finally reacts.” The woman snickered in the dark.
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Arnin was oblivious to Fae's meeting with the unknown woman, however he already felt that something was happening in the dark. It didn't seem like it was going to be anything good, however he didn't care much. As long as he benefited, he could care less about anything else.
He finally approached his home as the sky was slowly darkening. He didn't plan on sleeping because he wanted to see the difference in the essence of night and day. He got inside his house and found that Vilis was already napping in the corner. He didn't disturb him, and sat down in the middle of the house, and began his cultivation.
He had the sabers come of this body like the last time so that he could absorb essence at a faster rate. His body glimmered in a dark light and when the essence finally made its way inside his body, Arnin began to inspect the essence components one by one before absorbing them. He separated them slowly to see if he could find any more time components, however he couldn't. It seemed that time was extremely rare. Arnin sighed before continuing with his inspections. He found darkness, earth, water, and even an ice element. Arnin knew that this was probably because of the high amounts of Yin in the air during the night. There were some fire essences, however it was an extremely small amount. Arnin decided to absorb the darkness element into his body while he took the other elements and spread them throughout his body for normal absorption. There was a difference between the types of absorption that one could conduct. Usually, only an Essence Manifest cultivator was capable of this because of their ability to separate essence, however Arnin was an exception.
The essence that went directly into his orb as a component would alter some of the threads and force them into having similar characteristics to the component absorbed. In this case, Arnin absorbed the darkness component directly into his orb, which would allow some of his threads to have some of its characteristics, albeit a very minimal amount. The other absorption method that went through the threads first created energy. That energy would just increase the overall essence inside the person, not changing anything in the process.