Espers?!

[Hey everyone, it's Dark_Triad here. I'm not gonna try to explain my absence on this site, just know I'm really sorry. Also please check out my other book. It doesn't have that many chapters yet, but it's still developing @ The Demon Lord Is Human?! Please like, vote and leave a comment. It really motivates me to keep going thanks.]

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At the edge of the field behind the orphanage, a few feet away from the woods, Cern sat on the grass cross-legged as he stared blankly into space.

Of course, this was what it looked like to the kids who were playing, but Talen, Vinnie and Gale knew that he was training his spiritual power.

Considering it was an inferior level technique, Cern had made considerable progress as compared to everyone in the village. Of course, his progress couldn't be considered as genius in the larger cities.

Gale stared at the 6 year old in front of him. Growing up, he always paid attention to Cern. For no particular reason other than the fact that he couldn't speak. Cern was quiet, but witty and he always seemed so unfazed by things.

Gale wanted to be like Cern and he wanted Cern to notice him too. So he worked hard and tried to get closer to Cern. He didn't understand what that feeling was called until the first time Cern saved him when they were 4 years.

Cern had wandered off into the forest behind the orphanage and Gale had noticed him. He secretly followed behind and that was when he first witnessed Cern killing a wild toad.

Gale had loved how ingeniously Cern had trapped the toad, and so he went to try out the method on some other toads. Unfortunately, unlike Cern, he didn't understand the toad's habits and got the timing wrong.

Eventually, he was assaulted by toads and Cern had come to his rescue. They hid in the swamp for a long time, until Gale ran out of air and passed out. Cern then risked himself by going to the top to get air and then transferring it to Gale using mouth-to-mouth.

When Gale awoke, Cern was just bringing his mouth in for another pump, causing Gale to freeze and his face turned bright red afterwards. Since then, he sometimes followed Cern out into the woods, while Cern would educate him on some tips to use for survival.

Gale was stunned by how much Cern knew, and made it his life's mission to follow Cern wherever he went.

Now as he watched Cern quietly circulate the inferior-level breathing technique, he didn't notice the tips of his ears or his cheek turn bright red.

Swoosh!!!

A shrill sound rang out in the air as it travelled towards the kids from the forest. Cern, who was deep in his meditation quickly reacted, sprinting towards the trio behind him and pushing them down to the ground.

Looking down, he realized he had landed on Gale, whose face was now burning bright red as he noticed their faces could almost touch each other. Cern, obviously a single dog, misunderstood this reaction as pain.

He quickly rolled Gale around to check if he had been hit, but upon discovering that he was fine, he began to wonder if his fever from the night before came back.

'Shit! Worst timing, Gale'

Quickly stuffing Gale into Talen's arms, he pointed in the direction of the orphanage and made a "come with me" to Vinnie. In the short while of the attack, he had discovered the weapon to be a short dagger.

He quickly concluded that the intruder was a physical expert and as such would be weakened when facing elemental attacks. Sprinting towards the forest, he spread his mental power out in the air, staying alert.

He soon received feedback, but what he received made his blood go cold. He had made a misjudgement. The intruder this time wasn't a physical expert.

The weapon of assault was a dagger, yes, but upon inspecting it with his mental power, he discovered tendrils of a foreign mental energy emanating from the dagger, meaning the intruder was an esper with techniques mostly related to assassination.

The problem was that espers had abundant mental strength that can be used to defend against elemental attacks. If anything, they were weaker against physical attacks.

Considering that this ester was an assassin type esper, he would be weaker against knights and warlocks, as compared to mages.

Thankfully, Vinnie was still present.

[Detected assassin-type esper techniques, would host like to reverse analyze?]

'Yes!'

[Analyzing... Reconstructing... Reconfiguring...Model established... Analysis successful.]

[Host has received 'Illusive String Technique']

[Illusive String Technique:

Condenses mental energy into strings to control weapons from a distance.]

'Alright!'

Looking at the short introduction to the technique, Cern tried to put it into practice, but his efforts were futile.

'Why can't I make use of the technique?'

[Host's mental energy isn't strong enough. The technique requires an intermediate mana breathing technique and prior knowledge of some other techniques at the very least.]

'What?! What grade is this technique?'

[High grade]

Cern expression contorted into a frown.

'Why would an amateur esper attack an orphanage?'

Running at full throttle through the forest, while keeping his center of gravity closer to the earth, Cern made his way towards the source of the foreign energy.

Putting enough power into a jump, he leaped over a few shrubs out into a small clearing. The foreign energy source came from this small clearing. At a small corner of the clearing, a man's figure was laying underneath the shrubs and peeking through the mud.

'Shit! It was all for naught. I'm doomed if I get caught.'

A hand appeared covering the small. hole with which the assassin used to see and breathe. With his source of air blocked, the man circulated his mana to withstand the passage of time.

With all available signs of life withdrawn, he seemed dead. In fact, he couldn't be discovered. Unluckily for him, his opponent wasn't a regular esper. Using his analysis, Cern could clearly see an introduction of the assassin;

[Name: Minaru Oren

Title: 'Fleeting Shadow'

Age: 24

Level: ??

Profession: Esper

Skills: Proficient in assassinations (+)

Escaped from Faloria after being discovered while on a mission.

For more information, tap to collapse*]

Cern didn't expect to be able to analyze all these, especially since he could see the reason the assassin was here in the first place.

Still, he didn't know if the attack was on purpose after discovering a mage amongst the group. He knew the attack target was Gale, but he couldn't understand why.

Mentally clicking the 'tap to collapse' option, a new menu popped up, with more detailed information on Minaru.

[Name: Minaru Oren

Age: 24

Race: Human

Level: Player (??)

Title: Fleeting Shadow

Profession: Esper

Attributes: Null

Techniques:

Mana Breathing - Intermediate

Nine-Cycle Soul Devouring - Advanced

...

Skills:

Mental Fortitude, Farsight,...

Equipment:

Sword, Stealth Cloak, Twin daggers,...]

'Hey! Why can't I see his stats?'

[Target's level is far beyond host's, therefore, host cannot view target's stats.]

'Well at least put it there with some question marks instead'

[System had deemed that to be unnecessary. Since host is too weak, the information will not matter either way.]

'Tch! Cheapskate'