Bab 13: White Fang
-= Thirty minutes later. The entrance to the White Fang base =-.
A security guard in a tight suit and sunglasses stood in front of the entrance to the building. He stopped us with his hand, removed his glasses and looked questioningly at Blake with his arm bandaged.
- Albert, let us through..." The girl began to babble.
- Let us through. We're here to see Adam. We've got an appointment. - I interrupted Blake and looked the guard in the eye.
Attention! The Puppet Master effect has been successful...
The guard nodded and stepped aside, letting the three of us pass into the building.
- Blake, do you know Adam? - Stopping by a table, I asked the girl.
- Yes, he should be in his office. Follow me, and I'll show you in!
- Daddy-daddy, wait, you need medical help. Tell me where to go, and we'll find it there.
- No, no, it's ok now. My arm doesn't hurt anymore. Here, look! - Blake pressed her lips together tightly and wiggled her hand a little.
*Sigh* Strong girl, she almost got raped recently and had her arm broken, and she already says she's "fine." Hmm, maybe...
- You're strong, Blake. Look, do you want me to... Activate your Aura?
- W-what?! B-but you only activate an Aura..." Blake blushed.
- I don't care. Again, you're strong. And you're much more robust with an Aura. - I interrupted the girl. - You don't want me to worry about you, do you? I do...
- B-but why would you want to worry about me? This is the first time we've met..." Now she interrupted me.
- I liked you. - I told her. - Or you can consider it a reward for today's adventure. So what's up?
- Brother..." Diana put her hand to her eyes and shook her head.
'No, why? She's nice and strong. And I like nice and strong. Heh-heh-heh-heh...
- O-okay, I agree..." Blake whispered.
- Close your eyes and concentrate...
I need to concentrate too, ok, now start filling her body with my Aura and say the vows...
- For through this, we attain immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory. To rise above all. Unattainable and inseparable by death. I release thy soul and offer my shoulder for protection...
A black-and-white haze hit Blake in all directions, enveloping her body.
Phew... What's up with the mana... WOW! 200 mana as in... Yeah...
Congratulations! You have gained the Aura Disclosure skill (active)!
Aura opening (dynamic): 200 OM.
Extra-Level.
- For by going through this, we attain immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory. To rise above all. Unattainable and inseparable by death. I release your soul and offer my shoulder for protection...
- The Hunter's Oath.
When used on another living being:
Unleashes the soul's inner power.
Attention! The title "Talented Teacher" has evolved into "Talent Revealer"!
"Discovering Talent."
You've proven that you're a masterful and talented teacher... And now you've proven that there's no such thing as untalented. There's just dormant potential...
+10% to the learning rate of other creatures.
The probability of unlocking a student's dormant talent is +10%.
To evolve the title to "Teacher of Everything," you must train or reveal the talents of 7 more creatures.
To evolve the title to "Incubus has something to teach too..." you must seduce 10 more apprentices.
- How does it feel? - I asked a girl who was looking at her hands.
- I... I feel great... It's like being born again and... And my arm no longer hurts! - Blake described how she felt. - Thank you, Kohl, in the eye.
- It wasn't Kola in the eye. It was Kel'Gos! - The girl blushed thickly and squeaked, "Sorry." I haven't laughed like that in a long time. It paid off for all the disclosure... Never mind, Blake.
- I-I was going to take you to Adam's, so let's go! - Blake's running away, red as a crayfish.
- So, shall we go after her? - I asked Diana, to which she nodded, and we followed the girl.
Should I explain what was going on between me and Diane in the first place? Well, for starters, after two months of studying, she had solemnly allowed me to speak to her by her first name all the time.
Which isn't really that strange. When you wake up under the same roof every day, eat at the same table together, train together, and so on, you will or will not get closer. So we did.
At first, it was extraordinary - two such different personalities. How can they get along together? But both humans and fauns are creatures capable of adapting very quickly. Here we are, hehe, adapting...
Diana is an excellent teacher. If I didn't understand something or couldn't repeat it, she quickly chewed it up - found perfect explanations and repeated it as many times as it took for me to understand.
One day, in my third month of study, I asked: what did she want to see the world for? Her answer stunned me: it turned out that she knew practically nothing about the world. She knows how to kill, cook, sew and clean. EVERYTHING. Then I wondered: where does she get her food from?
It was explained that the Priestess extracts the Red Juice and exchanges it for food in a village near the outpost. Also, a lot of people go to this temple. Lots of humans and fauns. They bring food and different things as gifts to the Spider Goddess. Do they even know who Llos is? Obviously, Llos is neither warm nor cold. She accepts sacrifices and jewels.
In fact, from what I gather, having interviewed a couple of the visitors, they bring it all for Diana - she often cleans the woods of Grimms and other dangerous creatures, so the village can exist in peace. And what more do intelligent people need than a warm and safe home?
Many humans and fauns also came trying to recruit Diana, but she turned them all down, and the particularly stubborn ones... Anyway, they have yet to hear from them again, yes. Adam came too, but Diana threatened to kill him, so they had a bit of a... A fight...
So, I corrected this misunderstanding in the form of a lack of knowledge. In the evenings, after my training sessions, I was already describing the world around me to Miko: what, for what, and why. She was a pretty diligent student.
There were, of course, many mishaps and other situations. Diana often walked around the temple naked. I didn't care at the moment, as my beast was still asleep... Ehhh... Of course, I explained to her that she shouldn't do that, especially in front of boys, why she shouldn't do that and so on. She said if it was me, she was ok with it. Anyway, I was getting my mind blown without Akasha.
Akasha... Akasha still has yet to come back. Inter-world problems are no joke. Worlds with Gods keep disappearing. There's still no telling what caused it. At least they explained how to send messages to the other personalities in the order. At least this way, Akasha and I can talk to each other and share the news.
I should also add about my achievements! I had trained up to two hundred percent... and it had paid off... all of my stats were up to sixty or seventy, and my level had only gone up twice.
Ho-ho, but most importantly... I got and raised the Demonic Silkworm Style to level twenty...
Demonic Silkworm Style (Rare) (Passive).
Level: 20
I'm going to slice you all up, ladies and gentlemen!
Effectiveness of thread manipulation +20%.
Damage to threads +10%.
Thread speed +10%.
Warning! Speed and damage of threads depend on many factors, such as length, weight, material and others (to see the complete list, click here), so they can vary.
"Thread manipulation" disappeared after getting the style and moved to the new skill. Uh-oh... What a torment I went through while learning thread manipulation... I can't tell you how many wounds and almost severed fingers there were. Once, I cut my throat, but Diana quickly stitched the wound up... All in all, it was difficult, but I have no regrets. I learned a lot and will learn even more in the future.
I also learned another equally valuable skill:
Ambidextrous (passive.)
Extra-level.
You are equally proficient with both right and left hands.
Free use of both hands.
My second significant achievement was Diana's smile. It was challenging to get the Priestess of Llos to open up, but with proper persistence (with my natural charm), more feats are possible! Why do I believe she really feels that way (after all, she is the Priestess of the Spider Queen, and that's intrigue and so on)? Well, for one thing, she has allowed me to use Explore on myself, and secondly, I have reached level fifty in Explore and can now see the emotional background of living beings. Of course, she may be mimicking emotions... But I want to believe the best...
Yeah, there's Blake, so we're here...
- This is his office. - Blake said.
- Well, it's time to pay my old friend a visit. Blake, come in with us. I have a proposition for you.
- H-okay.
We opened the door and walked into a dark room with three lamps illuminating a table at the end of the room. Adam was sitting at the desk, writing something down without paying any attention to us.
- Hello, Adam. - I decided to start a conversation.
- Who the hell are you... Artorias?!" Adam exclaimed in surprise.
- Yeah, what, you didn't recognize a pretty boy like me?
- You've... Changed... And this is... Diane. Can't say I'm happy to see you, Diana. - Taurus said coldly.
- Likewise. - Simply replied the Priestess.
- All right, people, stop spewing murderous lust into the air. And yes, Adam, you know Blake, right? - he nodded. - I awakened her Aura. You can feel her power, can't you? Can you find her a teacher?
- *Sigh* Artorias..." Adam began.
- Sorry to interrupt, but can you call me Kel'Gos while we're here? - I asked him.
- Why do I have more work to do every time I see you? - The man rubbed the bridge of his nose. - I'll find a teacher for her. Ar... Kel'Gos, why have you changed so much?
- I had to drink special elixirs and rub ointments... the secrets of the Diana family. - I lied without blinking.
- Right. You're... Ok. You were crazy enough as it was, and this makes you even easier to take. - Adam laughed.
- Adam, I've wanted to tell you this for a long time, but I didn't want to offend... You're an ass, Adam. - He rolled his eyes and snorted again. - Ok, Blake, are you ok with the teacher?
- I-I don't mind, do I get stronger? And once I'm stronger, no one else can hurt me. - The girl firmly clenched her healthy hand into a fist.
- Kel... You don't mind if I call you that. - I waved. - Kel, how did you meet Blake, and what happened to her?
- Not much... Bad people attacked her, broke her arm, and decided to..." I glanced at Blake. - And tried to do bad things to her, and I, as a higher-up in the organization, found out about it and decided to save her.
Adam looked at me incomprehensibly, to which I blinked my left eye at him and moved my gaze to the girl demonstratively slowly. He nodded and muttered, turning to Blake:
- Blake, I'm glad you're all right. Can you take this magazine to Oris? - He picked up the book he was writing in.
- Of course. - The girl came over, took the book and ran off, banging the door loudly.
He pointed us to the chairs on the opposite side. After waiting for us to sit down, Adam continued:
- *Sigh* What have you gotten yourself into already, Kel?
- Diana and I were walking beside each other, and I heard someone scream. I thought I'd check it out. Can you imagine my surprise when I saw eight snouts attacking a girl and about to rape her? Long story short, I stood up for her.
- How about long?
- If it's long... It'll be long before their body parts are all over the alley. - I grinned my head off. - Adam, can you cover me in case anything happens?
- Of course, I've got your back, and you're good, but... Couldn't you have done it cleaner? - rubbed the bridge of his nose again, Taurus. - Or hide the bodies?
- Adam, they're pedophiles, and it wasn't the first time. They gave it all away to me... *Sigh* - having calmed down, I continued. - They were looking for little faun children... Four children... I made them suffer. Killing them was too wasteful, but I hadn't yet mastered torture... I would have broken their vocal cords but hadn't learned to do it without killing them.
Adam pressed his hand into the table, causing it to crack.
- Fucking people! - The table couldn't take it and collapsed. - Thank you, Artorias... You were saying something about you being the superior of our organization? Well, I found a document that says so in black and white. *Kel'Gos, right?
- Thank you, beast. - Adam waved his hand. - All right, enough of the bad stuff! Will you tell me the latest?
We talked for another thirty minutes and then parted with firm handshakes.
To sum up all the information, it could have been better. The current Head of the White Fang is trying to find a peaceful solution to the faun and human conflicts, but he's not doing a perfect job...
"White Fang was created about thirty or forty years ago, after the three-year "Faunal War" or "Faunal Rights Revolution." I didn't know about it. I couldn't even read about it anywhere. Adam explained that it is taught in the Schools and the Academy*. And since I'm an ignoramus *rolled my eyes*, he'd tell me.
The fauns fought hard for their rights after the Great War, but... The result was an attempt to exile all fauns to an island called "The Menagerie"... This was the beginning of a three-year conflict, the "Revolution for Fauns' Rights."
Naturally, we were outnumbered, but the fans also had their trump cards, such as night vision. The fauns were not losing only because of constant sabotage and night raids. But the turning point of the conflict was the third year, namely the 'Battle of Castle Fort.' The general of the human army - Lagoon- decided to attack the fauns' army at night, thus trapping them in their sleep. But he was inexperienced (or just plain stupid) and didn't think the fans could see perfectly in the dark. The result was the defeat of a larger human army and the capture of General Laguna.
Had the fauns won? Absolutely, but what has changed? Yes, we live together with humans, but fans are still considered second-class citizens and animals, and there is constant discrimination...
Adam thinks that soon, in the next ten years, this will all escalate into a new conflict. I agree with him on this point...
Adam also tells me that my younger sister is actively mastering his style, "Iaido," a katana fighting style. In it, each series of ultra-fast attacks begins with a swift sword exposure followed by a blow or series of disappointments. By "very fast," I mean really, VERY FAST.
I once went with my sister to visit Adam. We were told to go to the training room. He was "warming up" there. We went into the gym, and Adam was standing in front of a mannequin with his hand on a sheath. He noticed us, smiled and moved away from the dummy, and the latter fell apart. In three pieces. Was that cool? Yeah, it was pretty damn cool. At that very moment, that style won Alice's heart. One day, Alice would be the third master of this style...
Saying goodbye to Adam, I proceeded with Diana to the base exit. The next point on our journey was my home... This was going to be tricky. Will I survive meeting my sister? I hope so...
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone