The rest of the dinner with the family of three went pleasantly after that. Athelei was able to learn more about exactly what he had to do, and his preparations would start the next day.
Those preparations consisted of interacting with Aria to get a feel for her personality, lessons on noble etiquette which he would attend alongside Aria, as well as studies of language, music and the arts... also with Aria.
Most of what he would be doing was the same thing Aria was going through, as it lends aid towards him acting as her. If he knew the things she knew while being familiar with the way she acts, then Athelei would have no problem at all. He could be the young lass' phantom without a hitch.
But all those things were still plans.
When Athelei made it back to his room, he made a mad dash towards the study. But only after lighting the campfire that sat in the middle of his suite-like room. Although the sea was nearby, the nights still got quite frosty on this hilltop.
Especially when one wasn't in the company of Evolvers. Those people were basically living heaters.
Opening "Penmanship, Colours, and Muscle" by Scholar Vill again, Athelei relaxedly sighed as he got to memorising its contents. He created a blank book in his mind library and proceeded to jot things down, word for word, line for line. With every paragraph he finished copying inside his mind, a soft, brass-coloured breeze would flow around his body, flipping the pages of the physical book he was reading.
Athelei was turning his studying into a combo package of learning, meditation, and visualization. He was striving to refine his gold-stained Tangible Will and dye it in his own colours. Only then would it truly be his.
For now though, according to the theories that Scholar Vill had proposed, his Tangible Will would exert its strengths only if he did things the way Irene would do them. He had to be somewhat greedy in his use of his Tangible Will.
After a good two hours of intense studying, Athelei then went on to practice his Mystic Patterns. He did so with newfound motivation because during dinner, he had used his chance to ask Lady Karire about being an Artist.
From her, he learned that to properly set himself on the path of being an Artist, he had to engrave a Mystic Pattern into his mind. It was the defining characteristic of being a full-fledged Rank 0 Artist.
Going past that, if Athelei wanted to reach Rank 1, then he had to learn enough Mystic Patterns and become capable of drawing sequences, aka a chain of patterns all woven together.
When Athelei heard this, he noticed that Artists seemed to have subdivisions in their Ranks. Those subdivisions were simple: Artists with and Artists without the special engravings in their minds.
As for what those engravings did, Lady Karire said that Athelei could already guess what it was.
"Instant casting?" Athelei had asked, and it had earned him a nod from the noble lady.
After his nightly training and all those thoughts, Athelei then went to bed. A near-invisible grey fog spread from him as per the routine.
"...I need to get my stuff back. I hope nobody found my secret stash," Athelei muttered to himself as he appeared as an angel high up in the clouds.
FWOOSH!
With a flap of his wings, Athelei zoomed through the night sky. He was now boosted by his brass-coloured Tangible Will and he flew twice as fast than without it.
It felt great to have the wind in his hair for spreading his wings was therapeutic. Even as a Denizen of Infinity, he was fond of having wings. Being able to grow as a mortal and struggle through having to feed his wings supplied him with an ecstasy that Infinity could not give him.
It didn't take long for Athelei to make it to the alleyway near Small Salt Inn. His fog-body churned as he took on the identity of Nikiri Mist. He donned his blood-stained clothes and retrieved the riches he had left behind.
'Thankfully I hid them well enough,' Athelei thought just when he felt a knife stab into him.
Athelei spun a swift 360 as he lept away. He distanced himself from whoever had attacked.
When he saw the face of his aggressor despite the dim light, he committed it to memory: Scarred, blind in one eye, shaggy brown hair, and with a face that should've made him pretty good looking.
"Who are you and what problems do you have with me?" Athelei growled, stepping back into the depths of the alleyway.
"Who am I? Haha. Who am I?" Athelei heard the man speak as the stench of alcohol invaded the air, "I don't know! HAHA!"
Athelei squinted as he noted his predicament, 'A drunkard just stabbed me out of nowhere...'
Athelei debated whether or not he wanted answers to the few questions that had popped into his mind. He then thought about the stuff he still had to do and his heart told him to mostly ignore whatever happened.
It was just a stab into his heart, after all. Athelei could easily ignore a little mishap.
Thus, upon seeing that the drunk man had continued to laugh at himself and bite at his bloodied fingers, Athelei swiftly drifted into the darkness. He vacated the area and went on with what he had planned to do.
As he left though, the drunk man was suddenly consumed by an eerie calm.
With a flick of his wrist, the knife he used to stab Athelei disappeared into his old garb. He produced clean bandages from Libra only knew where and wrapped his bloody fingers.
"Weird guy," Gusche muttered as he leaned onto the wall of the alley. His single healthy eye was tranquil as he looked towards the main street where lights were abundant.
"You're here," A youthful face suddenly appeared, walking into the alleyway without a care in the world, "It's an honour to meet the great One-eyed Harbinger. Here's what you ordered, my good sir."
The teenager produced a box three feet in length and a foot in width out of an orange Cosmic Interface.
"Pleasure doing business with you. Do contact us again~!" The teenager spoke as she placed the box in Gusche's hands and left the alleyway with the same carefree footsteps that brought her there.
.
.
.
"Weird guy," Athelei muttered from a few streets away as he pulled back the remnants of his consciousness. 'One-eyed Harbinger, eh? Curious.'
If you thought Athelei left just like that, then you were obviously mistaken. His curiosity prevented him from leaving things totally unanswered. If something interacted with him, then he would feel absolutely compelled to figure out more, even if it was just a pinch extra.
Athelei was now knee-deep in his learning addiction. But he did not wish for omniscience. No.
That would spoil his fun.
'What's more interesting though was that teenager... An orange Cosmic Interface, and what seems to be the Tier I Skill, Shop.' Athelei thought as he walked towards Avina's harbour. He was wondering if Apple was going fishing again and he wanted to see if he could extract some info from the man.
While his footsteps slowly drummed against the pavement though, he recalled Shop's skill description.
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
Tier I Skill: Shop
- [Active Effect] Shop allows User to sell and buy items from the Information Network regardless of location. Item Discounts increase per level.
- [Passive Effect] Shop materializes or dematerializes items bought or sold on the Information Network. Speed of phase change increases per level.
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
It was another simple skill, but it had one too many applications that Athelei felt his Tangible Will develop just by thinking about it. The ability to ignore trade routes and instantly deliver items was magical. One did not have to worry about lost or damaged goods and country-dependent taxes at all.
It took Athelei about half an hour, maybe more, of walking until he finally made it to the harbour. There, he scanned the hundreds of ships that lay silently on the calm evening sea. Unfortunately, he could not spot the familiar sight of Apple's fishing boat.
Instead, he spotted a face that his fellow Adventurers had admired. She had a head of short black hair and a slender body that did not look flimsy in the slightest. Strapped to her waist was a long and thin rapier as she stood on the edge of the wooden docks.
'C-rank Adventurer, Cammille?' Athelei asked himself in intrigue as his footsteps brought him to the valiant-looking woman.
"Hello, miss Cammille?" Athelei spoke as he approached, "Might you be here to hunt starwhales once again?"
The lady in question, who had been looking out into the distance, heard Athelei's voice of balanced femininity and masculinity. She still had a mission to complete so she was about to ignore whoever approached her, but she was surprised to see the person's grey face out of the corner of her eye.
"...You," She scrunched her brows, "An Undead Remnant?"
"A what?" Athelei pricked his ears up, "I beg your pardon?"
Cammille stepped back as she tried to stabilise the sudden bubble of nervousness she felt inside her. Her hand had already found itself on the pommel of her rapier despite knowing that a Remnant showing up in the middle of Avina city was simply impossible.
And even more impossible was the fact that it looked like a human and could speak.
"N-Nothing," Cammille said while she strived to take back her calm state, "I was just startled by the fact that you're... colour grey."
"Ah," Athelei laughed lightly when he heard that, "I get that a lot. I'm sorry if I startled you, miss. I'm Nikiri, by the way, and I couldn't help myself to ask about what has brought you here once again. I hope it isn't too much of a bother."
"I see, I see," Cammille awkwardly said, "Don't worry, don't worry. I wasn't uh... You did not startle me at all."
She scratched her cheek as she looked for the words she needed, "Hello, Nikiri... er, I'm Cammille, but I guess you already know that. I'm actually here because of a few rumours about an underwater relic. Do you know anything about it?"
Athelei's eyes glistened when he decided to play with his words a little, "An underwater relic? Wasn't that a hoax? The relic is said to be hidden somewhere on the beach, under the sand, right? How can it be underwater?"
"What?" Cammille looked at him in confusion, "No, no, it should be underwater. One of my party members discovered a few old records that confirmed it to be near something called an underwater volcano."
"Oh," Athelei nodded before continuing, "It seems like the rumours I had heard were the hoax instead... Bummer."
Athelei then sighed dramatically as he turned to leave, "Thanks for enlightening me on my mistakes, miss Cammille. Good luck with your search."
And with that, his footsteps brought him away from the docks and into the city once more.
It left Cammille in a slight daze, while Athelei grinned. The light of his Mystic Pattern, Sway, was now dimming as he blended with the crowds.
'More proof to back up my thoughts... Sway really amplifies the emotions a person already has, even if said emotions are far from the charming feelings it was initially made for. Is this what Scholar Vill was pertaining to? Is it because of my style?' Athelei inwardly laughed to himself in delight as he thought, 'I wonder what kind of relic miss Cammille is looking for?'