After breaking up with Ralph, Sai looked at Aoi and said:
"Be more careful when you're around that boy, there's something wrong with him... Something I don't understand."
Aoi was surprised and was about to speak but stayed silent.
They got into the car that was parked nearby and drove away in silence.
Ralph took a taxi to get home.
The city was busy as usual, almost all streets were well lit and busy.
But then, the driver entered a deserted street, which should not have taken the route that Ralph knows.
The driver suddenly made a sudden movement and steered the vehicle into a narrow alley.
Ralph frowned and was alert.
"What are you doing?"
The driver did not respond and just kept driving until he reached the end of the alley. It was a dead end.
Ralph didn't hesitate and activated his ability.
He did not become invisible in the eyes of others. He created a fake Ralph and made the body itself invisible.
The real Ralph got out of the car and looked around.
There were figures quickly approaching.
He was not armed, as he left the gun at home for fear of attracting Aoki Sai's attention.
But he had brought two small knives.
He wielded his knives and acted quickly, but the figures were armed and fired at Ralph, who was invisible.
Since the alley was narrow, Ralph was in imminent danger.
He undid the fake Ralph since it was useless and acted quickly.
With all his willpower, he created a sonic wave, in an attempt to burst the eardrums of the enemies.
~ Boom
This stunned enemies, but did not disable them. Despite this, Ralph gained enough time to approach one of the figures.
He was wearing a black hood and was clearly a man, who looked uncomfortable.
Ralph slit the throat of the man who tried to defend himself. But although he could feel Ralph's Aura, he couldn't read the attack.
After cutting the man's throat, Ralph used his body as a shield and took his gun.
He was already feeling a sharp pain in his left arm, he had been hit.
-Damn.
Ralph, with bloodshot eyes, created a sonic wave a little more powerful than the previous one and more lasting.
It was as if explosives had been detonated in the enemies' ears, and everyone put their hands to their ears with an expression of pain.
At that point, the body Ralph used as a shield was full of holes.
Ralph took aim at the enemies and fired quickly while also creating a bright flash in an attempt to compromise their vision.
This worked, and the enemies were very confused, but only for a moment.
One moment was all that Ralph needed and he had already passed them and hid behind a trash can, he was no longer trapped.
In addition, he managed to hit one of the bandits on the head.
Ralph was hit in the forearm area, and was bleeding badly.
The enemies didn't take long and tried to surround Ralph again, but he didn't give them that chance and kept shooting.
Ralph had an advantage in battle, and slowly undermined the number of enemies, which dropped from six to just two in a short time.
Ralph had also reached the exit of the alley, but he did not plan to escape until he killed his enemies. They would come back more prepared if he left them alive.
Ralph took a deep breath and used the smell factor.
The human sense of smell captures molecules in the air and surfaces and translates them to the brain as the smell sensation.
There are molecules in nature that are toxic in nature to humans, and that can incapacitate an adult quickly if in high concentrations.
The reason Ralph had such a hard time with this skill factor is precisely its complexity.
- Hydrogen sulfide.
Ralph concentrated.
In high concentrations, this can kill quickly.
As it is an illusion, the molecules are false, and therefore they deceive the organism, but this does not prevent extreme reactions and even death.
The remaining two enemies smelled a strong rotten egg smell and frowned, they wanted to escape, but Ralph was blocking the exit of the alley while shooting in their direction.
There was something wrong, they knew it, and the feeling of impending death panicked.
In a minute, they were on the floor, unconscious.
Ralph went to them while he perspired and breathed heavily. This factor is probably the most difficult to control and use, with the mental and energy cost being extremely high. He needs high concentration to achieve the desired effect, and it cost him a lot.
The reason he didn't use it from the start is that it would open up loopholes and create opportunities for enemies to kill him while he was concentrating.
Ralph shot the two remaining enemies in the head and blew out a breath. But then, he frowned and looked at the end of the alley.
-The driver ... He's probably alive, maybe I can get some information.
Ralph thought but then looked at his arm. It was bleeding a lot ...
Ralph clenched his teeth and decided to at least kill the driver, as he was a witness to the battle.
He walked quickly and arrived at the car, which was full of punctures.
The driver, however, was alive, sitting and shivering in the car.
Ralph opened the car door, startling the driver, who couldn't see anything due to Ralph's invisibility.
Ralph changed the illusion and became visible again, only with a different appearance.
"Who are you?" The driver asked in a panic.
Ralph first punched the driver in the face and then put the gun to his head.
"Answer my questions if you don't want to die."
"Who sent you?"
"I do not know." The driver responded with tears in his eyes.
Ralph shot the driver in the ear, leaving him a little stunned.
The driver screamed in pain.
"Who sent you? This is the last time I ask, I guarantee it."
The driver ground his teeth and said:
"I ... I swear I don't know, I really don't know!"
~ Bang.
Ralph shot the driver in the head with a disappointed look.
"Idiot."
He left the alley bleeding and exhausted.
He was still away from home, and it probably wouldn't be safe to go to a nearby hospital, he doesn't know who wants him dead.
After hesitating for a moment, he made a call.
"Hello?" Akira spoke on the phone.
"Mister Akira ... I need your help." Ralph spoke in a hesitant and tired tone.
"... What is it? Okay?" Akira asked in a concerned tone.
"Heh, I got shot."
---
"Brat, how did you end up getting shot?" Akira asked while supporting Ralph by the shoulder.
After Ralph's call, Akira drove to where he was and took him to Ralph's apartment.
Akira wanted to take him to the hospital or home, but Ralph vehemently refused the idea.
After putting Ralph in his bed, Akira asked:
"What did you get involved in? Why don't you want to go to the hospital?"
Ralph smiled bitterly and said:
"I'm bleeding, get the first aid kit under the bed."
Akira took the kit and opened it, there was everything needed to create a dressing, and since the projectile had gone through the arm, there was no need to remove it.
"It looks like you were prepared for something like that, what are you doing with your life?" Akira spoke in an irritated tone but started to make a dressing.
He cleaned the wound and applied an antiseptic, he had stopped bleeding so much, but he was still bleeding.
He pressed both sides of the wound with gauze along with a medication and then tied it with a bandage.
"This will be over for now, there should be no infection. Here, take this painkiller."
After a few minutes, Ralph finally seemed to feel the pain subside.
"Now, can you explain to me?" Akira asked in a serious tone and somber expression.
Ralph laughed bitterly and said:
"It's not that I don't want to say that to you, but that is just inappropriate at the moment."
Akira hit Ralph on the head with the palm of his hand when he heard this and said:
"Little bastard, I took you out of the hole and watched you grow up, do you really think it's inappropriate?"
Ralph swallowed his own spit and closed his eyes.
He just didn't want to make up a lie.
"Listen ... Mr Akira. At the moment it is impossible for me to tell the truth. So, do you want to hear a lie? I can make one up." Ralph spoke slowly with a fake smile and looking directly into Akira's eyes.
Akira contorted the corners of her mouth and was about to curse but stopped.
After looking at Ralph for a moment, he left the room and then the apartment in silence.
Ralph sighed bitterly when he heard the apartment door slam.
After an indefinite period of time, the pain started to return and Ralph had to take another painkiller.
Time passed quickly, the sun lit up the cracks in the apartment door and the small backyard. There were some small plants on the balcony that Imamoto had grown before, but they died from Ralph's lack of interest.
The small backyard had a view of the horizon made difficult by other buildings nearby.
Ralph managed to get used to the pain and got up when it was time to go to school, but he would not go in that situation.
He called the school and said he was sick and could not go. As he was the only one who paid the school fees, they could not complain.
After that he went to the backyard and looked at the small dead plants.
Incredibly, there was a small bud that had survived after all the time without water.
Ralph cleaned the pots with dead plants and then looked at the little bud.
If he is not mistaken, it must be a bud from a tree called Acer Palmatum.
Imamoto was enchanted by the beauty of a bonsai tree and bought a seedling of the plant. The tree had a light gray bark
and red leaves.
Due to Ralph not irrigating the plant, she died, but miraculously there is a small bud left by the dead tree, at the side of the dead trunk.
Ralph took a glass of water from the kitchen and watered the little sprout.
After that he sat on the chair and looked at the bag and book on the table.
He was in no mood to read the book due to pain, so he took the small stone from the bag.
According to Aoi, this stone can help him in practice, but he has no idea how, he should have asked.
Ralph held the stone in his hand and tried something.
He channeled his inner Aura into his hand and got a reaction.
The stone began to emanate an almost imperceptible green color.
In addition, Ralph felt something different in his body, as if something warm was running through his entire body.
It felt like the vitality of the stone was being transferred to his body.
Ralph took a deep breath and then realized something shocking, his wound started to heal quickly, and he didn't feel as much pain as he did before.
Ralph opened his eyes wide and took the bandage off his arm.
Indeed, the wound began to close at a high speed. But before Ralph could be happy, he heard a sharp sound from the stone, it was starting to crack.
Without hesitating, Ralph tried to stop the vitality from going to his arm, easily succeeding, as if his Aura had complete control over the vitality.
The stone then stopped cracking and Ralph blew out a sigh of relief.
"This is incredible! Even if it cannot be seen in practice, the healing property is surprising." Ralph murmured.
He then drank a glass of water and went to his bed, and sat down with his legs crossed.
Now that the pain had subsided considerably, he was able to concentrate on the practice.
He closed his eyes with the stone in his hand and began to circle the Aura.
He focused vitality on his head, almost instinctively.
He felt the heat rise to his head, but he felt comfortable rather than warm.
His thoughts cleared, and his breathing became calm.
-Now ...
He then began to focus on the region of the brain responsible for his taste while tasting his own saliva.
Vitality seemed to react to this and tried to follow the flow to his tongue.
But it didn't stop there, the vitality also went to another region of the brain, the region responsible for the sense of smell.
Ralph suddenly understood something.
-Smell and taste, are connected by one thing, the translation of molecules into sensations.
The sense of smell translates the molecules in the air into a smell. The palate translates molecules in the mouth in taste.
It's all about molecules.
He then stopped sucking the vitality of the stone, which was clearly more affected, almost collapsing.
He raised his hand and brought it to his mouth.
He repeated the process with the smell factor, but with his finger on his tongue.
He concentrated and tried to reproduce the sensation of taste.
Minutes, hours ... Time passed, Ralph was not very successful, but confirmed his theory. Smell and taste are closely connected.
It was already noon when he took a break and decided to eat something.
After having lunch in the refrigerator, Ralph lay on his bed and thought:
-I didn't think this Life Stone could help me so much, or is it just like that for me?
He has his illusion ability to help you, so it is obvious that he moves faster than the others.
-If I had already merged the sense of smell with my Aura, I probably would not have this success with taste.
Vitality followed a natural path when he stimulated his taste buds, and that must have been due to his progress with smell.
In other words, most likely any Aura Master would have this rapid advance with taste or smell, with the mastery of at least one of the two senses.
After resting for a while, Ralph went back to practicing.
He had already found his way into that factor of skill, smell. Even without synchronizing the other four factors.
When he masters this factor, he will probably be able to merge that sense with the Aura itself.
Once while he chewed something to stimulate his own taste, his progress began to accelerate.
He was already able to create simple tastes, sweet or bitter, but they were not complex tastes.
He started trying to imitate the taste of what he ate.
When night came, he managed to create the taste of a simple candy.
Ralph stopped for a moment when it was time for dinner, and after eating, he resumed practice.
Time passed quickly, and the wound no longer needed much care.
After three days at home, he finally mastered the taste factor.
And obviously, it didn't take long for him to merge his sense of smell with his Aura.
Ralph blew out a happy breath, it was already night and he planned to go out to celebrate.
[Aura Fusion, lv3.]
[Illusion, lv4]
The level of Aura Fusion increased to 3, but strangely the illusion continued to 4.
He thought that by mastering the smell factor he could reach level five, even without synchronizing the factors, but that is not the case.
-Now I just lack the feeling of touch, touch.
Ralph thought with a determined expression.
What is tact? Ralph has some theories.
Perhaps touch is something like a union of the previous factors.
The reason is simple, everything affects the touch, even if what a person does not notice.
Light is radiation, radiation can affect the skin, and therefore the touch.
Sounds can affect the skin, like waves, and consequently the touch.
Smell and taste are based on molecules, which also affect touch.
Perhaps ... To achieve this factor, he needs to synchronize the other previous factors...
But how difficult will that be?
Ralph sighed and left the apartment for a cafeteria nearby.