I exited the cave and went into hiding. I waited there in case someone from the cult will come to check on them. And they sure did.
After three hours waiting, someone came and enter the cave to check. Well, I'm sure that he will only think that the Giant Mantises are much stronger than average since both the examiners got killed by me who imitated how the mantises kill their prey.
After a while, the man who entered the cave leave. Probably to tell his comrade. I'll wait for them here to memorize their faces. If they are people in high position or powerful, there's no chance for me to defeat them.
And indeed, the one that guy called over was someone whose strength far above me at present. I don't know his name but he's a summoner just like me. And his summoned monster is the one that killed me in my previous life. Some kind of mutated monster.
As a summoning mage, we can only contracted to just one monster. Unless that monster died, the summoned can't contracted to other monsters. That's why most summoning mage are either strong from the start or stay weak forever. If not for Blobby and my Aura ability, I will be the latter.
And I guess that man kill his own monster to make contract with a new and much stronger monster. Or maybe that's the same monster as his starter, but he did some experiment and modified its feature to be a much stronger monster. Both seems possible as they are a cult that did many evil. Which means there's possibility that they have a lot of those modified mutated monster.
I know it was him because of his scar. He had a large scar on his left hand from between his index finger and middle finger on his palm, and it's reached his forearm, just near his elbow. That is most likely because of some kind of surgery he went through. I know because I'm familiar with scar from bladed weapon and surgery.
Actually in my previous life, as I have no strength, I wanted to gain money by becoming a doctor, so I saved money and I finally entered medical school at the age of thirty. Everyone there is almost half my age.
Actually, after introductory school in this life, I wanted to go to medical school again. Although in my past life I'm still poor even after I became a doctor, this life will be much better. I still have all the knowledge about medicine, but to be a doctor I need a license. Back then I finished school in eight years, but this time I will shortened it.
Well, that's not important right now. The Scarred Palm guy is too strong for me and I don't know where his monster is. I decided to run away.
I escaped the forest to the direction of my house in the village. I need to pack some of my things because I will live in the brothel from tonight. I don't have much, but I need some clothes. Especially underwear. It's disgusting to wear the same one for months. Yes, I've experienced that before. That's when I thought of having Blobby turned into pants.
…I guess that's why Victoria never come out in my previous life. Let's keep it secret from her. Forever!
Soon I reached home safely. I took a breather for a minute and then… I felt a surge of power within me!
"It's Aura! My Aura is finally awakened!"
I shouted in joy after feeling it. In just one month, I gained Aura! Although I can't defeat the Scarred Palm guy yet, I can defeat advanced level mage directly. What I did in the cave is because I planned cautiously so I could defeat advanced mage. If I directly fought against them, I would lose. Maybe I should use Blobby as an armor. That way my defense is greatly increased.
Then suddenly I heard a voice from under me.
"Not yet. You're still not even halfway to being a real Aura user."
It was Victoria. She suddenly spoke to me.
"So there's something stronger than this?"
"Oh? Instead of being down after I told you, instead you become more spirited."
"Of course! It means that I can still grow more!"
"So you're an optimist."
"No. it depends on the situation. Sometime I can be a pessimist as well. You just need to know that I have a twisted personality."
"Whatever. Now I will explain some things I haven't told you yet about Aura. As usual, listen carefully. Although since you have become stronger and this slime also become stronger with you killing many today, I have a little bit more time than before.
"So each time you got stronger you will gain more time."
"That's right. Now I will tell you about what you need to do to become a real Aura User."
Hmm… seems like there's more to Aura than I expected. It was much more than increase in physical ability. That's what I thought as I listened to Victoria.
To summarize, I have just able to see a door to Aura. I haven't even touched it. Let alone opened it.
To enter the realm of Aura user, I need to fight some kind of monster. What monster is it? Not even Victoria knows. At least she told me to find that monster myself. The clue she had was just that the monster's ability is something that I needed for my desire. I have to kill it on my own, without any magic or support. That means I can't even use her as weapon. I need to pick my own weapon.
And after I killed the monster, I will gain ability that fit my desire. Not ability that I desire. What it means is like my reason to live, not what I want at the moment. For example if someone loves music, they will gain ability to improve hearing, or maybe to make their voice louder. For that person, they need to defeat an enemy that has sound type attack, or a good hearing.
Another example is if someone wanted to be a powerful mage. They can gain another magic with using Aura as its medium. And sometime, what they needed to kill is not monsters. It's human.
As for me… I think what I really want is to defeat the Evil God Cult. That's what I thought in my mind. But Victoria said that each person's Aura, knows more about the person than the person himself. So even if I thought about getting stronger, my Aura might decide that it's not what I want. That's why finding a monster that I need to kill will be difficult.
But when I found it, I will feel some kind of connection with the monster from my body. That's what Victoria said. So it means I will have to go on a journey alone until I find that monster. Or at least I can have Blobby/Victoria with me until I find that monster. And when I found it, I need to drop her somewhere until I finished killing the monster.
So I asked Victoria a question.
"What about you? What did you fight? How did you find them? What ability did you gain?"
"Back when I was still a human being, I was helped by my master. She watched me growing up from a baby so she knows about me. That's why when she found monsters that might be the correct ones, she would cage them unless they are a common monster. That's how every Aura user gain their new ability."
"…That's cheating."
"For me, I fought a flying-type monster. It was the 7th monster my master caught. And then a pair of wing grown on my back."
"So you wanted to fly? But isn't Aura user can run on air once they got stronger? You did say that before."
I remember back when Victoria talked to me for the first time. She said that after I got Aura, if I trained more, I can run on air. So I think that ability to fly is not that good for an Aura user.
"You're right. But once I tried to fly, I was actually much faster than those who has practiced Aura for decades. I became the strongest fighter in the sky."
"But you still got killed."
"…the enemy is a smart one. He took innocent people hostages and told us to let him go if we want the hostage to be safe. When we let down our guard, who can tell that he has allies that attacked us from behind. I guess that's how he eradicated almost every Aura user back then."
That's one serious story. If her speculation about the one who killed her being the Evil God is true, the cult might ended up doing something much worse than that. I thought I can get by and defeat those crazy bastards if I just practice my Aura even if it's not perfect. Now that she has told me about it, I think that even after I gain new ability and able to run on air, I might still lose.
So basically Aura is the shape of my own will. It knows about my desire that I never knew about. To realize what I truly desire, I have to fight many kind of monsters. Or maybe humans. I hope it won't be a difficult one.
I think it would be better if I could gain new ability as soon as possible. I should tell Angela and Kayla first that I would leave for some time before I go since we're a party.