Aaran stood in nothingness, looking calmly forward. There, a white silhouette fully bound by golden shackles struggled against myriad colorful Essences. Each Essence had an origin of a higher order than the previous one, to the point that even the strongest experts from the human kingdom would perish just from witnessing the weakest of them.
'It was almost a year since the last dream from Sanskrit's senses. Just a few days before I left for Royal Capital, I got a warning about fate. I wish I could get more details, but to the best of my knowledge, fate is just one of the mysterious powers people of this world can't comprehend at all. It's already over the top for ability in the Abode tempering realm.'
While looking at the scene before him, Aaran didn't feel any malicious intent, and thanks to his historical knowledge from his previous dream and his past life's knowledge, he deeply understood what was going on.
'It's me from the past who struggles against fate. But no matter what, it always ended in a draw. Every life you... I spent, just for this one to have a chance to be free.'
After watching the tremendous struggles before him, he turned around and moved forward without looking back.
'I got the message, so there is no need to stay. After all, I won't let myself fail this time.' Full of confidence, Aaran slowly drifted away, leaving the commotion behind.
...
The next day, in the forest clearing, Ying was lying on the floor, heavily breathing.
"How is it possible that even after a whole year of spars, I didn't make you tired once? And even when I used my abilities, you could shut me down without using yours. That's just unfair!"
With his ever-present warm smile, Aaran looked at his friend.
"For someone so tired, you are awfully talkative. How about another round of sparring, then?"
"No! I mean, I have a lot of things to do today, so even though I want to, I really can't!"
"Oh, right. Today is your first date with Charlotte. So what romantic attractions did you prepare?"
After their first meeting in the arena, Ying was heartstruck with Charlotte. Luckily, she chose the same major he was planning to take, so he used it as an excuse to get to know her better, which led to their current situation.
"What date? We are going to train, obviously!" as Ying said, he was already walking so fast that it almost became run. His straight face showed the results of his training with Aaran, but alas, his red ears gave him up. Aaran just shook his head and didn't think much about it.
...
Soon, almost a whole day passed under Aaran's daily cultivation. After getting ready to head back, Aaran felt the familiar presence behind him.
'My senses are getting sharper with each day. At this point, maybe I can fully feel my soul before even reaching the second major stage.'
Focusing back on the guest behind him, Aaran turned towards her.
"Did you get stuck again on something with your technique?"
When Sheela heard his question, she promptly left the Shadow with an almost visible pout.
"Young master, it's not like I'm stupid; it's just that this technique is so weird. And couldn't you pretend at least once that you can't find me? I'm starting to lose faith in my skills."
After spending so much time together, Sheela started acting more freely with Aaran.
'It's always good to see the results of your hard work, whether in cultivation or social relations.' Thought Aaran full of satisfaction.
"I never said you were stupid, and your skills grow every day, so don't feel disheartened. If I couldn't even sense you, we wouldn't know if you were improving, right?" Aaran answered smoothly.
After taking a deep breath, Sheela explained why she was present today.
"Attendant of Her Highness delivered the message that everything is ready, and tomorrow, a car will be standing ready under the gate in the morning."
"Thanks. Make sure to pack us before night."
"For how many days will we be staying there?" Although they had permission only for a week with her Young Master, no one could know for sure.
After contemplating briefly, Aaran answered.
"Pack everything. It won't make much difference with your dimensional vault, and I feel we might need it."
With Sheela's current cultivation, she could hide all their luggage in the dimensional vault. Still, she always carried a few suitcases just for ruse. Although there were rarely any criminals between humans, and beasts so deep in the human kingdom wouldn't usually have intelligence enough to gather complicated knowledge. The fact that humans can be deeply understood by just knowing their abilities makes such small distracting habits quite common.
Without looking deeply into her Young master's reasons, Sheela casually nodded and went to get everything ready.
Looking at the sky where the sun was already hidden behind the tree crowns, Aaran exhaled deeply and set his thoughts straight.
'Fate's gears are already in motion, but with the resources I prepared, and if Zoe didn't fail, it should probably be more than enough for anything that can happen. Ehh, everything would be much simpler with some quality resources.'
As Aaran slowly walked around the forest, he revised many possible scenarios. Soon, he made his way to the dorms in a much more relaxed state.
...
The next day, early in the morning, Aaran decided to say goodbye to his sparring partner before going to an appointment.
Knock knock
After waiting for a few minutes interwoven with knocking on doors, no one opened.
'I thought he had just a deep sleep, but he stayed in her room for the night, huh? That's fine, too; he deserves some relaxation after getting beaten every day.' Aaran shook his head with a small smile and decided not to waste any more time.
'There is no one else to say goodbye anyway.'
...
After explaining his reason for leaving and showing documents to gatekeepers, Aaran proceeds through the gate.
Upon leaving, his eyes quickly spotted a car parked closely. Sheela was standing before it, waiting for him with their luggage.
Unlike when he was coming to school in a limousine almost a year ago, this time, an SUV was waiting for him. Instead of the simple gray book representing the Sirius family, a detailed golden dragon holding a silver pearl now graced the car's doors as the symbol of a royal family.
"Everything is ready, young master." Sheela's cold voice resounded next to the car.
Aaran nodded and followed her into the car. To his surprise, he found not only the things Zoe had prepared for him but also the princess herself.
"Hey, I didn't expect you to go back to Royal Capital with us."
"I have some things to do there anyway, so why not travel with you and make good use of this time?" After so much time spent together, the silent princess acted much more carefree when interacting with Aaran.
While Aaran checked the content that Zoe had prepared for him, he continued the conversation casually.
"You decided to try to simplify the Poison Heart technique, right? So, shouldn't you focus on studying more various poisonous beasts? I don't think you can find many new examples of them in Royal Capital."
Not in the slightest against the Aaran's digging-in topic, Zoe explained.
"I told you that my older brother is ill, right?"
"Yeah, and you decided to pursue alchemy solely to find a solution for him. Does something happened?"
Zoe shrugged. "Not really, just my father summoned me for some party, and I can use that as an excuse to check on him. You know how hard it is to leave the academy without good reason, even for me."
'How can you say leaving the academy is hard when you just got the leave because of some party?' Aaran shook his head but didn't continue with the topic.
After finishing checking the briefcase's contents and seeing that every material was of decent quality, satisfied, Aaran broke the tranquil silence that had been hanging between them for a few minutes.
"What's with your project then? You know how young Berks hates when someone is late with homework."
Moving her gaze from outside the car back to Aaran, Zoe answered with a breathtaking smile.
"I told you we have good use for the travel time."
Glimpsing a subtle smirk in her grin, Aaran smiled back in his usual, tender style.
"Let's talk about it later and focus on cultivation for now."
Seeing that everything worked as she imagined, Zoe closed her eyes and started meditating.
Unlike the usual style of Aaran's cultivation technique, most techniques in human repository involve manipulating Essence with either the senses or the body, rarely both.
'Cultivating like that will diminish the results of my technique, but it's not like I can run around a car.'
The Royal Capital was almost a fourth of the human kingdom away from Academic City. Because of the limited human population compared to their territory, there were many wild areas between cities. Often, traveling by car takes longer than on foot, but the comfort and leisure it ensures are more than enough to compensate for it.
Soon, only the sound of a car engine could be heard between the three.