After harassing the shop owner for 5 hours, Adam was satisfied with his terrorism and left. He didn't actually take anything or kill anybody, that was just part of venting his frustrations.
Adam caught up with Seren after that. She had finished her investigation and sadly didn't discover anything of value.
After inquiring how much longer she would like to investigate, Seren simply shook her head and smiled self-mockingly.
"I've investigated this town for around two weeks now, if there actually was a Fae conspiracy of any kind I would have at least picked up a mana shortage in some places. But there is nothing unordinary about Abbotsham."
"I actually subconsciously knew all along, the report was not supplied by official Royal Military or SIS officials. It was just by a group of adventurers who claimed they discovered unusual dark energy in the area."
"If this area wasn't so close to the border with the Fae, then the Knights Order would not have even sent a Gold-class like me. Forget it, I will leave tomorrow."
Adam comforted the slightly depressed young lady and reassured her that opportunities will always arrive, and that with her dedication and character he was sure that she could reach the Platinum rank. Even though he had no idea what the Knight ranks in this world represented specifically in practice at all…
He didn't go overboard though, as he understood there was an important reason that Seren so desperately wished for a promotion in the near future.
Some problems were best left for individuals to solve themselves, and others should respect their privacy.
They had a pleasant dinner together and strolled through some of the streets together while randomly chattering.
After a while, a fresh, ardent breeze signified the arrival of sunset, urging the duo to call it a day.
They reached an inn at the outer edges of the town, which Seren explained that she had stayed at for the duration of her investigation at the town.
It was a cozy residence. Seren was right about it being minimalistic in design, the whole building was made of light brown acoustic wood, with some uncolored limestone emphasizing its features. However, the basic furnishings were complete and sensible, the dark yellowish beds were also plump and large, they looked comfortable enough to Adam. Overall, he was satisfied with this lodging; relatively speaking, as this was a poor to average looking small town.
They paid three silver pieces each and departed for their rooms to relax for the night.
Adam's room was situated at a corner of the inn, the double windows would provide more total areal exposure of the night sky towards himself. Which Adam intended to exploit to increase the speed of his cultivation, as he did read that the
As night arrived, Adam sat cross legged at the center of the room and initiated his cultivation technique.
Once again, strings of energy began entering his body. This time, the energy was slightly different than from his cultivation session inside of the Fae's forest. One of the string types was a light turquoise, lukewarm frequency that had a faint minty flavor to it, it was lively but much better tempered than the energy within the forest, dancing within Adam's veins and muscles like a joyful loli after consuming sweets.
The other energy was far less friendly. It was much more distinct and prominent, going straight into Adam's bone marrow as it entered. The energy was freezing cold, definitely below 273 Kelvin, and moved like a steady silvery wave, direct and uncompromising. Adam was genuinely concerned that he might freeze to death under prolonged exposure to this energy that was now entering his body in fairly large quantities.
Adam was about to cancel the cultivation session, as he felt that he was close to entering hypothermia. But then the familiar and powerful furnace awoken again in his abdomen. The heavy silver energy was strong and resisted its pull, but the furnace seemed to be a power on another level, and swiftly dragged all the silvery waves and the minty loli- I mean strings, into it.
The furnace worked quickly, only after a second or two, it once again began emitting the warm and friendly energy that seemed to synergize so perfectly with Adam's body. It entered his veins, muscles, bones, and organs, and refined them in a comfortable and painless fashion. As a familiar wave of Qi and relaxation ran through Adam's body, he began to drift slightly into his subconsciousness as his cultivation gradually increased.
…
*Rumble*
…
Adam was awoken by a fresh jolt of lightning and thunder. He looked out the window to observe that a large storm had picked up outside.
The storm had blotted out the night sky and made the midnight environment essentially invisible besides for when the sporadic flashes of lightning occurred.
It completely drowned out the lustrous early summer moon, and when Adam closed his eyes to check inside his body, he realized that the powerful, silvery waves had almost completely disappeared, and the only energy still consistently entering his body were the minty little strings.
The soft, green frequencies were lively and fun, Adam felt like he could probably absorb them without the void furnace's refinement if he truly wanted to. He assumed this was the passive natural energy for humans in the western world, specifically the "mana" that Seren was referring to and used for her holy arts.
But its quantity was far too small for Adam, he could feel cultivation steadily increasing when the moonlight was still present, but currently the pace was so slow that Adam probably wouldn't even notice his cultivation moving unless he attentively observed it. He felt like he was trying to carve up an entire mountain with just a pickaxe.
Adam sighed and decided to cultivate some other day, this speed was far too slow to be meaningful. He would just sleep for tonight.
He hastily closed the blinds to his windows, to at least slightly dim out the annoying lighting flashes (Adam was beginning to regret choosing a corner room with two windows), and got onto bed.
He had just closed his eyes momentarily when he heard a familiar voice.
"Hey Adam? Are you awake?"
It was Seren's voice, Adam remembered that her room was directly beside his own. He felt a guilty sense of relief, it looks like he wasn't the only one who was having trouble falling asleep in this storm.
"Yeah, I am. You also can't sleep?"
"Mmh, this storm is unusually large for this time of year, my guess is that the energy turbulences in the grasslands have reached an epitome somewhere."
"Sucks for the residents here then, having to experience garbage weather now and then, due to living on the border of a battlefield." Adam also continued the mindless chatter.
"Say Seren, besides the Fae, are there other intelligent creatures in Britain?"
…
"Seren?"
"Oh sorry, I must have wandered off." Seren's voice replied again.
"Yes, there are other intelligent creatures in Britain, that is for certain. But the Fae and us humans are the only ones to have established civilization. The other species are quite rare and prefer solidarity."
Adam was quite interested in this topic, and proceeded to ask. "Are they strong? Are they also able to use mana?"
Seren's voice replied once again. "They are all quite powerful beings, otherwise it would be hard to survive by themselves. They can use a variety of different energies; our energy shouldn't be an exception."
Adam nodded in the dark and then realized how stupid that was.
After chatting for a while longer, Adam believed it was time to rest, as much as one can in this weather, "I think we should try to get some sleep. It's already late and tomorrow will be a busy day."
"Alright."
…
Just as Adam had momentarily closed his eyes again, he heard Seren's voice again, but this time it was slightly different, it sounded more serious and urgent.
"Adam. Who are you talking to?"
Huh? Adam was confused by this statement.
"Umm Seren? Were you talking in your sleep previously? I mean if you're already experiencing Parasomnia like conditions, I think you're stressing out way too much, I told you you'll reach the Platinum rank eventual-"
"No Adam, shut up. I never talk in my sleep. Answer me, who were you talking to just now?"
The urgency of Seren's voice finally registered within Adam. He realized that something abnormal was happening.
"I thought I was talking to you. You asked me if I was awake, and then we proceeded to chat for a while. I assumed that we were just both being kept awake by this loud weather."
…
After a slight pause, Seren's voice spoke again.
"Adam, listen. This is very serious. You have to follow my instructions very clearly. There is likely a creature called a mimic in your room, it is an exceptionally powerful creature that is very hostile to humans. Do not make any sudden movements, I repeat, don't move."
Adam was already in a cold sweat the moment he heard the first part of that sentence. If he did not have far increased awareness and self-discipline from his cultivation, then he believed that he would not have been able to follow the instructions in the second part of it. He wanted to jump up and get out of the room immediately.
"Adam? Are you still there? I don't hear any movements, good. Now listen closely…"
Adam replied with a panicked voice while remaining as still as a statue on his bed, "Seren, please help me. I don't want to die. What do I do?"
"Alright, Adam, take a deep breathe and listen. The mimic is powerful, but it has weaknesses. It can only move within a certain amount of darkness, and will damaged by large amounts of light. Secondly, it can see in the dark but it has very poor vision, as long as you don't make any large sudden movements then it cannot see you."
Adam took a few deep breathes and replied, "so should I just wait it out until morning then?"
"No, even if it can't see you, it is persistent. If you don't move, it will take a long time to find you, but it will still eventually find you if you give it a few hours."
"So what do I do?!" Adam was on the verge of crying.
"Adam, slowly get out of your bed, and then gently walk over to your window's blinds and open them. The flashes of lightning outside should be bright enough to threaten the mimic enough and drive it out."
Adam gulped "might?!"
"Well, lightning is very brief, but it will give you a better chance than you have now. After you open the blinds, get out of the room."
"Okay."
Adam rigorously followed her instructions. He very slowly moved out of his bed.
He looked around his room in a curious attempt to spot whatever was in his room, but the room was too dark, or perhaps the mimic hid itself very well. Adam could not see anything.
As he slowly inched towards the windows in his room, a chill immediately ran up his spine as he once again heard the first "Seren" that talked to him at night.
"Adam? Who are you talking to? I thought we were going to sleep."
The voice was also undeniably Seren's voice, but now that it was contrasted with the much more stern and serious voice that had warned him, Adam could notice that there was something unusual about this one. The voice had a non-human attribute to it, it was too smooth, monotone, and had an overt feminine attribute to it that Adam realized did not belong with Seren's tomboyish style.
Adam immediately paused and scanned the room again. There was still nothing.
He continued toward the window while calling, in a voice as steady as he could muster, "Seren, the mimic, it's talking to me again, what should I do?"
"Ignore it, it isn't able to track you by your voice. But mimics are very sly creatures that might try to psychologically manipulate you."
Then the other more feminine and gentle "Seren" spoke again, "Adam, what mimic? I'm scared as well, those are very dangerous creatures, is it talking to you? Please don't do what it says, just go back to sleep and wait it out. If you ignore it for a while it will just go away. I will report this to the Royal Knights Order once we get back, a mimic is not something you and I can handle…"
Adam chose to trust his instincts for once, the gentler "Seren" voice sounded far too deceptive. He chose to trust the more urgent voice.
Adam crept up to the window slowly, and he reached out towards the blind.
"No! Adam, please don't open those blinds! I'm begging you, please!"
A fresh wave of fear washed over Adam, had the thing spotted him? How else did it know that he was at the windows.
Adam quickened his pace and placed a hand on the curtain.
The voice cried out again, this time louder, closer.
"Adam don't open those blinds please! I'll leave! Please I'll leave! I'm sorry!"
The voice was now pleading him, but at the same time it was getting incrementally closer to Adam.
Opening the curtains seemed to be a genuine threat to the creature. Adam was slightly taken aback by the gentle voice pleading for him to stop, which now had a hint of fear within it. But he couldn't be sure that this was not just a deceptive trick of the mimic, Adam did not want to take any chances and die in a world that he had just woken up in a day ago.
Adam muttered under his breathe "sorry," and ripped open the blinds just as a flash of lightning cleared his vision.
What the streak of lightning revealed to Adam genuinely paralyzed him this time.
A humanoid face was plastered against his window. But the only thing human about this face was its outline. Perhaps from a distance this could be mistaken as the face of a young woman.
But Adam was currently directly in front of this… thing, there was no flesh on it. The entire face was just a thick, gray, muddy substance, its "hair" seemed to be made of the same material, simply extended decorations of the glob.
In the place of orifices, the thing had holes. Its eyes were two gaping black abysses with no pupils or whites, and the "mouth," was an even larger hole, opening up to a chasm that seemed to be an endless tunnel of darkness.
Adam simply stared back at the thing, perplexed and speechless.
The thing's mouth then began rapidly contorting and widening again as a voice perfectly emulating Seren was emitted from it.
"Did you forget that Acoustic wood is soundproof Adam?"