Chapter 50

Three days had passed since Reid's first night in Shion village. The three days had been mostly quiet with Ashton nowhere to be found and Silva making packing other necessities and whatever it was old men in wheelchairs do.

The doctor has tried to confine Reid to bed in concern about his apparently 'healed' injuries. Any questions about his abnormal recovery was ushered away by Silva who wanted to avoid a death before they went on their way.

The batch of dust had yet to come so the young boy was left to his devices for the time being which lead to the current scene.

With his experience in aura transformation, it wasn't too difficult to apply it to another element.

Reid sat in the middle of the same forest he had previously fought the Grimm. The surroundings seemed to be even more damaged than before as burn marks and small embers of flames flickered

On the boy's palm was a puff of fire that danced over his skin. Though he had failed numerous times, he managed to get the skill on the first night.

•••••••••••

Fire Aura Transformation[Active][level 16]

•••••••••••

He had then spent the next two days leveling it up. Though, he had to be careful not to burn the forest.

Reid's eyes narrowed, leveling his palm to the side away from him as a blast of fire shot out of his palm through the air.

Its time of flight was less than two seconds as it made contact with a beowolf a few meters away. The fire sent the creature back a bit before it jumped forward less than a second later.

Channeling and compressing more of his aura, he released a decently powerful blast that tore through the Grimm's chest.

[*Ding!*]

[Fire Aura Transformation has leveled up!]

He had long since realized something crucial, he was a magnet for Grimm. The number of people that had aura in Shion could be counted on one hand so they had been safe so far.

Adding Silva, Ashton and his own large amount made a difference. After a brief comparison with the few people who had their aura unlocked, he immediately deduced that he had more than four times that amount.

They mostly used their aura for shielding so they weren't as bothered aura capacity as he was. To him, it meant how many skills he could use before he was backed into a corner.

He got off the dusty ground, making his way back to the village as the Grimm dissolved behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Is that everything?" Silva asked as Ashton pushed a heavy box into the airship.

"I don't think there's anything we haven't carried!" Ashton complained as Reid walked behind him calmly, a small bag on his back.

"Thank you for everything." Silva said, shaking the hand of the short man that Reid had seen with on the first day.

He was a pseudo leader of the village. They didn't have a hierarchy system but he gave orders and the others listened.

"How come you don't have to carry anything!?" Ashton screamed at Reid who blatantly ignored him as he walked past him.

Ashton was more or less back to his usual loud and boisterous attitude but memories don't fade that quickly.

Reid on the other hand didn't bother with him. His fascination with the older boy vanished with the boy being weaker than himself.

Silva quickly finished his conversation and pleasantries before wheeling into the airship. He briefly went towards the pilot's seat, pressing a button that closed the hatch and then proceeded to set their coordinates, putting it on auto pilot.

The engines of the ship ignited as the ship hovered for a moment before taking flight. The airship was big enough that they had space to move and Reid was keen on taking advantage of it.

With the being in the ship with a bunch of dust, he couldn't risk trying to level up his flames so he settled for something else.

Just before they left, he had visited a smith to peruse the weapons he had for sale. His sword had been lost in the explosion and he needed to a new and different weapon.

It didn't take long for him to settle on a dagger. The other options were a bit impractical to him such as a war hammer and a mace.

Holding the dagger in his hand, he used [Lightning Clone], another copy of him appearing beside him much to the surprise of Ashton who was now alert.

He ignored him as he and the clone went for each other with their eyes determined. Their inexperience was obvious with how they held the daggers but they continued.

[*Ding!*]

[You have gained 'Dagger Mastery'!]

'Thank god.' Reid thought as the dagger became slightly more comfortable in his hand, going for a shallow slash at his clone.

Just as his weapon neared the clone's neck he paused before retracting the dagger in exasperation.

'I really didn't think this through. If he pops by accident, I could end up sending this ship crashing.' He thought as he put his hand on the shoulder of his clone, the clone transforming into lightning as it was absorbed into him.

Instead, he decided to try something else he should have tried long ago. Using the same principle as [Lightning Clone], he split his aura in half to form another clone of himself.

[*Ding!*]

[You have gained 'Aura Clone'!]

'What if…'

He stared at his clone skeptically for a moment as a though popped into his head before deciding to test something.

He turned around with his back facing the clone, trying not to pay any attention to the clone for around a minute.

A long minute passed before he turned back to face the clone. With a simple thought, the clone dispersed, the aura returning to him.

'To think it would work the same way.' Reid thought with wide eyes as memories that weren't his own filtered into his head.

When creating this skill, he had briefly thought about the shadow clone jutsu. Specifically, the shadow clone's ability to transfer information after it had been popped.

Aura and chakra were different yet similar energy sources. The returning chakra carried along the memories of the shadow clone as it returned so in theory, the same might be possible with aura.

With this new discovery, he could speed up his grinding by a fair amount. He and the clone stared at each other with a mad glint in their eyes before they dashed towards each other, daggers brandished.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A black portal opened up as a near dead Vivian fell out of it. The wound in her chest was slowly healing but the numbing sensation hadn't left her.

Her body looked battered and bruised but it could have been worse as most of the injuries had already begun healing.

She had fallen into a dark room with a dirty white and black theme. There was a long table with chairs around it, indicating that it was a kind of meeting room.

Footsteps made themselves known to her ears as she struggled to get to her feet.

"To see you arrive in such a state. I must say I'm terribly disappointed." A calm female voice said, making her freeze in fear as she recognized the voice.

"I'm s-sorry your g-grace." She stuttered out in fear, her face not daring to look up.

"I don't want an apology. What I want are results. So tell me, what exactly happened to bring you to such a pitiful state?" The female voice asked as a white hand raised her face up to meet its owner.

Her eyes met a woman with a deathly pallor skin, with jet black sclerae in her eyes and glowing crimson irises. She bore dark purple veins that lined her face and arms, and a black diamond-shaped marking in the center of her forehead.

Her hair in a large bun with six offshoots wrapped together that suspended several obsidian-colored ornaments.

She wore very long, short-sleeved black robe that obscured her feet and partially dragged across the ground.

"Y-yes your grace." She managed to stutter out in pure fear of the being in front of her.