Chapter 157 - A Competition

After Aile satisfied Fynn's initial curiosity by answering his questions, he begged to taste the food. But Aile did not give in, he asked him why did he make him protect Violet not long ago? And what did he mean by she will be useful to him?

Aile's relationship with Violet was complicated now.

On the one side, he found her beautiful and interesting, but knowing that the attraction might just be an exaggeration of his emotions made him question his thoughts. From what he learnt, the state he was in was due to his body and age. To put it simply, his emotions were on overdrive due to his dark element. So the feelings and his desires could not be trusted, as they were somewhat distorted.

On the other side, his rash action made Hazel sad, and that is not something he wanted to repeat. While emotions could be discounted as he could not solely rely on them, thinking about it from a different standpoint might shed some light on the situation. The first step would be to hear the reason Fynn was adamant about saving her. If he gets an answer from him, looking at the situation from another angle could help Aile resolve it. Depending on his response, his relationship with Violet could be decided.

"Oh her, she has a unique physique if you marry her, your light element will improve faster..." replied Fynn in an uninterested way.

Aile knew Fynn by now and was sure that there was more to it, after all, how could he use his request on saving her, if it was just this. Fynn did not see her apart from that one time through his senses in the past. So he could not have formed any sort of affiliation or attraction towards her. Therefore, there was something that Fynn knew and was hiding, and Aile was going to find out. So Aile said, "Oh just that, then never mind, if the light element cultivates too quickly, it will definitely ruin the balance I have created. After all, I have plenty of people already." Aile threw the bait, and he was waiting for Fynn to bite.

Fynn's erratic replied came soon after, "She is beautiful, better looking than most and-and likes you, I think. Doesn't she match every criterion you are looking for?"

Aile was smiling internally, he had succeeded in riling him up, and now he had to get the information out of him. "Well, she is related to the White Clan, I will not go through the trouble to get close to her and risk being found out, it is not worth it. Oh, your time will be up soon, so let me eat." Aile then nonchalantly started to eat. Fynn did not see his interaction with Violet, so he was unaware of any progression in his relationship with her. This allowed him to pressure the answer out of him.

"No... you can not ditch her, they will take her from you, and you will lose on the competition." Aile was surprised to hear Fynn prioritize their talk over eating, something that he had always cherished. What was even more surprising was seeing him act so emotional.

"What? Who will take her? and what competition will I lose?"

"That is irrelevant now, just make sure you take her and don't let her be alone..." Aile knew that Fynn told him some secret and something that would take more effort to unravel, based on his reaction.

"If you are not going to tell me what is the point of me risking my life and pursuing her."

"I promise you it is important... if you become close to her and show me that you are close enough, I will tell you everything. Just do not let anyone take her from you." Hearing the begging Fynn Aile knew that there was more to this story that he needs to unravel. His current method would no longer work to get more information out of him.

"Alright.. ok... ok... but if I do not get a satisfactory explanation after getting close to her. I will stop sharing my senses with you. The time is up for today anyways, goodbye."

With this, Aile knew that Violet had some important role, and there was more to the secret than the possible help with his light element. Since the 10 minutes was up, Aile stopped the body's original soul from sharing his senses.

Aile then pulled Hazel close to him, and she was not happy, as she leaned on him. Hazel remembered what he told him not long ago and had no intention of treating his blunder lightly. She did not want him to repeat.

She had been annoyed with him from before and even more so now that she figured out his mistake. Aile had to kiss, coax and feed her until her new outer shell cracked a little. She had been neglected in a sense, and while Aile directed his attention onto her, she felt better. Just when he leaned for another kiss, he saw the cute spirit. Aile and Hazel had not seen her for a while and were surprised to see her again. The next minutes passed, trying to decipher her communication and respond to her. Aile thought she needed to get ready or busy absorbing the people he brought. But it seems the bodies will not be absorbed they had some other use.

Soon the 30 minutes passed, and Aile started to go for the hunt again. By now, Aile had perfected his sales pitch and could bring the strong in search of treasure with ease. The weak were used as test subjects for using his light and dark element. Both elements could help him in his stealth, the light element coating allowed him to bend its particles and turn him invisible. The dark element coating hid his scent, energy signature and trace. Therefore he was trying to utilize both and achieve better stealth but maintaining opposite elements that would clash with each other was much harder to control. After many more attempts, Aile got somewhat of an elementary balance between the two. Now if he were to sneak on someone, he would have a much better chance.

When he kicked the old man back into the dark element barrier. He had to use Hazel as a visual distraction and the dark element to hide his trace to sneak attack the old man who had his concentration elsewhere. Now he would be more confident in his action, and luck will have a lower effect on the outcome.

While Hazel and Aile paid more attention when the last two 6th stage cultivators entered the barrier, nothing like last time happened when the old man from the White Clan escaped.

After a few more rounds of gathering the remaining people, Aile had succeeded in getting rid of most people now it was time for the reward.

Aile arrived in front of the dark house, and the humanoid figure appeared. She nodded and said, "Ok, the first part is done, now I will need your help with the next part."

"What next part?"

"The next part is your reward, but you also have to do something for me."

Aile was not happy that he had to do something he did not agree with initially. Noticing his annoyance, the humanoid person in darkness chuckled, "I know you will be looking for masters to help with her condition. They will not be satisfied with normal things, so I will tell you the location of interesting things in this tomb and also a method to exit from the back door. I bet you do not know that."

Aile was looking to get some extra advantage, so he immediately smiled and agreed.

"Hehe, I was right, you are just like us. Tell me would you have helped if I had not put the extra rewards."

Aile nodded, telling her that he would have helped either way.

"Why?"

"I want to help the little girl... Tell me something, why is she so indifferent to killing people...? Do not tell me the both of you are not humans." Aile said this because there are groups of beasts and other humanoid creatures that treat humans as pets and food. He did not care how they treated people, but learning a little about them would only be beneficial. From the little kid's behaviour, Aile did not see any hesitation in absorbing people.

"She does not know that she slays them when she absorbs them."

"Oh... So what do you want me to do?" Aile recognized the deflect and decided not to pray if she does not want to tell. After all, learning confidential information from more powerful people is never the correct approach. Because if they realize they told you more then they should, it could only lead to death. Even though Aile has an escape method prepared in the worst case, there is no need to take such a risk.

"I want you to create a body for her first." The amalgamation of darkness pointed at the spirit kid. She had been told not to come close and watch everything from afar. She was curiously looking in their direction to guess what was happening.

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