Redd continued sleeping for a few more hours before he finally opened his eyes. He had slept for almost 10 hours because of pure exhaustion.
"Ouch!" As he was about to stand up, he felt sore all over as if he was beaten up to a pulp yesterday. Well, in a sense, finishing 1,000 punches was already a huge challenge, not to mention the side effects of continuously using Aether even if it seemed limitless at first. He barely started learning how to use it yesterday so his body was not fully accustomed to it yet.
In any case, Redd benefited greatly from that training. What he discovered after punching for that long is that although he can use Aether for an extended amount of time, that doesn't mean he can do it forever. At some point, his body started rejecting Aether or simply sending pulses of pain to Redd's brain as a sign that he was reaching his limit.
Luckily for him, by the time he started feeling that way, his 1,000 punches were almost over so he was able to clench his teeth and simply continue.
'Ugh, it was a long night. But, I think I grasped it.' He thought to himself. Then, closing his eyes, he channeled Aether through his body and then to his hand.
When he opened it again, he saw that the blue Halo around his hand wasn't as spiky and chaotic as before. Now, it looked tranquil, sharp yet also even. It flowed like a beautiful and calm river of water.
"Hahahaha…" Chuckling to himself, Redd stood up slowly and made his way inside the house. "I'm hungry, I'm hungry."
Inside, he found Lodra, sitting on the couch, reading newspaper silently.
"Hey! Lodra! What are you reading?" Redd asked as he approached the old man.
"An old newspaper from the Hunter's Dream I found by coincidence in my old belongings."
"Woah! Really? Can I see?" Redd asked as he peeked from behind the old man.
"Sure."
Redd nodded his head and tried to read through the newspaper, only to end up stuck on the first word.
"Why are the words so small? I can't see anything."
"They aren't small, they're blurred. It's because you didn't inject some Aether into the newspaper. This is a mechanism to stop people who try to take a peek like you."
"Huh? That's so unnecessary! Why do all of this over a newspaper!"
"It's… Well, I certainly don't know why they do that, myself. But, if I have to guess, it's probably to keep everything that happens in the Hunter's Dream a secret from clueless people. The reality is, that people who can't become Hunters are the most fragile existences. They lived their whole lives outside of that land so they have no idea about it. And even those people who were born in the Hunter's Dream and lived their lives without becoming hunters, they can become a hindrance that could easily be avoided if you took all possible sources of information from them."
"That's… Cruel. So those who were born in the Hunter's Dream and didn't become Hunte-"
"We call them 'Regulars' by the way."
"Yeah, those Regulars, how do they even know what is happening in the world?"
"They don't. And even if they do, it's a monitored thing to keep them at bay. If there is one thing worse than killing a Hunter, it's killing thousands of innocent people simply because they know too much."
"Isn't that like robbing them of their freedom?" Redd asked with a frown.
"Sigh, I get what you want to say, Kid. But, they aren't trying to put innocent people under an illusion for no reason. As I said before, the Hunter's Dream is a very dangerous place. The sheer amount of things that happen on an everyday basis there is just... Sigh, look here for example."
Saying that Lodra held the newspaper up so that Redd could imbue some Aether into it. When he touched the piece of paper, he did exactly like coating his fist. The moment the kid did that, the words started magically morphing and changing into comprehensible sentences.
The process surprised him a little. Eventually, the blurred words turned into comprehensible sentences.
"Oh…"
"This newspaper is at least 20 years old so keep that in mind. 'Eldermire, a small village up north, had been attacked by a stampede of 'Mind Seekers' yesterday. The whole village has been eradicated. From what we have seen, it seemed that the village people had been hypnotized into attacking each other before dying and then ate each other's flesh.'"
The story was horrifying with a small image of an eradicated village filled with corpses and blood. It was a sight that even the old state of the newspaper and the colorless nature of it didn't reduce its terrifying effect on Redd.
Redd's face crunched for a second as he asked. "Mind Seekers?"
"They're an abomination that can control minds and turn targets into their puppets. For people, these things are lethal. But, do you want to know something shocking? Mind Seekers are considered an awfully weak species of monsters for Hunters. Even you can kill one without thinking twice. Those same monsters were able to snap a village out of existence just like that. Do you understand how panicked people would feel if they knew that fact?"
"..."
"Well, at the very least, by keeping their information monitored to hide the things that could create chaos and keep the things that don't, everyone would be able to avoid unnecessary wars, protests, and a mass panic."
"That's just…"
It didn't sit well with Redd how things worked there. People were being robbed of their right to know whether they were in danger or not selfishly.
But, at the same time, he knew that ignorance is also a blessing for people who can't protect themselves.
In such a case, morality doesn't matter anymore. What's good and what's bad blur together, making it hard for anyone to determine what should be done. Redd was no righteous hero and he never wanted to be one either so his opinion was in reality, not even that resolute.
Lodra noticed that conflict within Redd so he sighed and closed the newspaper.
"Sigh, don't overthink it, kid. Such matters aren't of concern now. If at some point in the future, you end up facing such a situation, then you can determine which side you're going to stand on. The most important thing now is to work hard to keep yourself alive."
"I… Know." Redd murmured as he turned around and walked toward the kitchen.
Lodra watched his silhouette and shook his head. He could see that the kid was trying to discern whether he really was right or wrong for feeling that the freedom of people comes above their lives.
After that, Redd made lunch before he ate it.
"I think I get what you mean, Lodra. I'm still too weak for my opinion to have any weight behind it. I have to focus on getting stronger first."
Lodra nodded his head before he turned around and grabbed the spear and gave it to Redd. "Now, go eat something and rest. After that, 1,000 slashes with the spear and 1,000 slashes with the sword! I want them finished by tomorrow!"
"I understand!"
***
A day and a half passed quickly. During that time, Redd continued training like a complete maniac.
Swinging the sword turned out to be rather easy. It didn't require too much effort from him and imbuing it with Aether also turned out to be very easy. However, the same couldn't be said for the spear.
Redd could easily see that it required way more technique, footwork, control, and many more things. Even coating the blade with Aether was even harder than the sword because of the long nature of the spear. However, for better or worse, Redd was able to learn how to swing with it sluggishly. Not the best result but still better than being completely clueless.
Lastly, and finally, after a long week, the day Redd was waiting for has finally arrived. He was finally going to leave the island and embark on his journey. However, before he can do that, there is one more thing he needs to do.
"Lodra! Fight me!"