Bab 12: Suspicion
'..My movements after I woke up degraded. Why, after all the fighting I've done, is my body unaffected?'
'Come to think of it...' Aria looked over to her status and reviewed the [Tempered Body] skill. The first and only skill she received straight from the System straight away.
Her status was wiped clean, she started from the very beginning, except for this one skill that stood out to her.
She could only think of one thing that must've caused this to appear.
Tempering.
The Unity Flame that burned her to no ends.
True enough, if she didn't make any changes even after being burned for that long, it'd be weirder.
Her body felt purified right now. Even fresher than back then, when she was at her prime condition.
It was like she was reborn. Released from any restrictions.
If she wasn't wrong, the prowess she showed earlier was also affected by this skill. Even if she used to be able to perform huge feats, she had been stagnant for thousands upon thousands of years, her lack of practice should have made the skill be rusty.
And yet, she was able to perform to such a high level right off the bat.
'It was subconsciously activated.' It was the only conclusion she could draw.
A passive skill of sorts.
Before fighting, she still felt a strange disconnection between her mind and the movements she made, but the current her had perfect synchronization.
She had never thought of tinkering with that skill, but her actions were affected.
'Then, that so - called <Adapter> power..' Aria didn't know what the other thing did.
'It must've had some kind of effect mid battle, though.'
<Adapter>.
What did it mean?
Literally adapting to situations?
Was she granted that title because her body literally adapted to thousands of seasons? Went through the trials of time, which was known to be the trial one dreaded the most?
One thing that she knew was that although she did adapt to the pain and loneliness it brought, it didn't mean that she won over the trial.
She was still left with a long-lasting impact from the events. It scarred her permanently as far as she was concerned. If there was a time in the future where she was able to separate herself from the events, it would be after she underwent a huge changed.
Then again, even if the source was determined...
What was the power it served?
Perhaps her ability to retrieve her fighting prowess without much drawbacks was due to this <Adapter> title?
Aria was silent as she continuously thought about it.
"..Thank you, savior-nim. Here is the money. I just want to apologize in behalf of our trio for not adhering to the association's rules.. By the looks of it, savior-nim seems to be experienced with helping foolish Hunters like us. I.. will stop being a Hunter."
Aria was still unaware on what a Hunter was. She knew the word and its meaning, but not the weight it carried in the modern era.
"If any of us dies, the rest won't follow, but their status as a hunter would die. It was something that we promised when we started our journey." Il-hoon emptied his small magic pouch, clearing it from his personal items, leaving only money inside, and handed it to Aria.
He decided that giving it all to Aria would do him better in coping over the losses and moving on.
A logical promise. They've worked together forever, suddenly losing a member would be too painful to continue on like always.
"..I wish you the best of luck on whatever you will do after this." Aria said, earning a tired smile from Il-hoon.
Aria escorted them to the exit, but did not show any plans on following them to the outside world. She wanted to stay inside and peer into the dungeon deeper.
She thought that she would be left alone inside this dark cave.
But after the others left, the child nicknamed 'Bastard Yoo' didn't budge and stood in front of Aria.
"Are you not going to follow them?" Aria asked.
In her mind, the child might be shocked from all the things that happened. Someone dying tragically, partly because of him since he was the one who told them about the dungeon gate in the first place.
However, after some observation, she found out that it wasn't the case with the child.
The child was delighted.
Aria raised a brow, wondering what he was thinking.
"Miss seems to be a strange one." The child said. His expression warped to that of a cheeky spawn of evil. "You use magic, as seen from your enchantments. You can wield the sword like an expert. You summoned a spirit and borrowed its spells. How peculiar. Makes me wonder what you're classified as. A Warrior? A Controller? Sorcerer?"
Aria couldn't answer. She didn't know what he was saying.
Yoo Jin coughed once before continuing awkwardly.
"I was waiting for you to say that your powers came from runes, but it seems to me that you don't even know about it. Miss, where exactly did you come from?"
It gave off a creepy feeling, like he was trying to pierce through Aria just by staring.
"..Runes?"
"Do you really not know?" This time, Yoo Jin was genuinely surprised.
He thought that she knew about it.
He guessed the reason to be something like: she was too wealthy that she didn't need to scour for one, or that she was too strong that she no longer needed a C-ranked rune.
But that, in essence, was nonsensical.
In this day and age, no one didn't know about runes unless they were kept in captivity for the entirety of their lives. Information about runes were everywhere.
Aria's features were exquisite.
Her skin was as smooth as pearl, although slightly pale. Her hair was silky smooth and looked healthy. Her facial features were endearing and pleasing to look at. Although she was on the skinny side, the power she showed was unbefitting of her physique. She did not look like she went through the harsh trials of life.
Yoo Jin's first impression was a wealthy young lady.
Such a person would naturally have a good access towards runes, no?
Hadiah
-- Hadiah diterima Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone