Returning to Elmerton felt like a breeze. The quiet town was no longer just a refuge; it was his workshop, his training ground. Vlad's impending visit against Amity Park was a clock ticking in the back of his mind, fueling a relentless drive.
His days fell into a precise rhythm, each hour dedicated to a single goal: becoming undeniable.
Mornings were for physical exercise. Before dawn, Kael pushed his body through a brutal regimen: a five-mile run through sleeping Elmerton, followed by relentless sets of calisthenics and weight training in his home gym. This was his test of endurance to ensure his human form could withstand the demands of his ghostly power. Each burning muscle, each drop of sweat, was a vow to make him stronger, faster, tougher.
At school, his brilliant persona was getting more realistic. He didn't just win the state science fair; he dominated it with a flawless presentation on "Applied Energy Field Resonance," a paper so theoretically sound that it earned a quiet nod of approval from a visiting college professor and a write-up in the local paper. In chess club, his victories became lessons in brutal efficiency; he wasn't just playing opponents, he was deconstructing their strategies until they learned to see the board his way. He was building a reputation, brick by intellectual brick.
Afternoons were for the body. His sessions at Master Feng's dojo evolved from learning forms to applying them. He practiced until the motions were instinct, until a block and counterstrike were a single, fluid thought. He began incorporating his ghostly knowledge—anticipating an opponent's move not just from their stance, but by reading the subtle tension in their muscles a half-second before they moved, a faint echo of his Temporal Perception bleeding into his human reflexes.
In the evening, he would practice his ghost abilities. There was substantial improvement after his injury was recovered. He was nearing to the high end of C tier.
Nights were for the hunt and the making of his suit. In the basement workshop, Project: Hunter became a functioning system. The Ecto-Reactor core glowed with a stable electric blue light, its hum a constant companion. The wrist blasters, now mounted on reinforced gauntlets, could cycle between a low-power sting and a concentrated bolt that could scorch concrete. The hoverboard was his hardest-won achievement; after three weeks of frustrating failures and minor explosions, he achieved stable, controlled flight, allowing him to zip through the forest behind his house in silent, blue-tinged arcs. At this stage, the hoverboard's cruising speed stabilizes at 150 km/h (2 hours on a full reactor charge), allowing for sustained high-altitude pursuit. Its boost function can temporarily unleash a burst of 250 km/h (one third of the original time), enabling lightning-fast intercepts or rapid disengagement from superior threats, though it places a significant strain on the ecto-reactor's energy reserves.
The suit itself was a masterpiece of pragmatic design. Unlike Valeries Suit or Skulker's hulking armor, it was a layered system of dark, flexible polymer plates over a shock-absorbent undersuit. The HUD goggles, when lowered, painted the world in data streams: energy signatures, distance markers, and a constantly updating threat assessment fed from the network of sensors he had secretly deployed throughout Elmerton Wood and the cemetery.
These monitoring stations were his new warning system. Small, weatherproof boxes hidden in tree hollows and behind headstones, they constantly sampled the ambient ecto-energy. He'd already contained three minor, spontaneous ruptures of E-tier "Echoes," which his automated net captured even before they could even fully form. He was building his control around here.
Kael had lost his sample in the previous fight with Skulker. But these new samples had given confirmation and help in many aspects:
Core & Aura Principles
Examination of E- ghosts confirms that every ghost possesses a central ectoplasmic core. Strength scales with its stability: weak cores flicker, strong ones resonate with consistent energy. Aura range directly reflects core output. E-tier ghosts project only a few feet, while higher tiers expand more.
Technique Refinement
Using E-tier ghosts as controlled opponents, Kael tested his ghost fire techniques. Weak cores provide minimal risk, allowing calibration of energy output. He learned to modulate Inferno Strike's ignition without exhausting his reserves, and measured Ghost Fire Projection's knockback against unstable auras.
Behavioral Traits
Lower-tier ghosts exhibit simple, instinct-driven behaviors: hunger for ectoplasm, fear of stronger entities. Aggression appears situational, with flight preferred over combat. This simplicity makes their attack predicted and easy to handle.
Weakness Mapping
Key vulnerabilities include destabilization under loud frequencies, and exhaustion after limited power use. Kale used this information in his Spectral Database's information to increase his control over ghosts.
Three months had passed his return from Amity Park, Kael stood in his workshop, fully suited. The armor was heavier than his ghost form, a tangible weight of new role he had. He powered on the systems. The HUD flickered to life, displaying optimal status. Reactor: 100%. Systems: Nominal. The hum of the suit was a symphony of potential.
His ghost core, now settled at a solid mid C-Tier, thrummed in harmony with the technology. He was far from the raw power of a B-tier predator like Skulker, but he was no longer prey. His abilities had crystallized into a reliable toolkit:
Ghost Fire Projection was no longer a desperate, concussive blast. He could now shape it into a focused wave, enough to stagger a charging opponent or create a temporary barrier of flickering blue flame.
Inferno Strike crackled around his fist as he practiced a punch on a reinforced dummy. The impact was followed by a sizzle and a small scorch mark.
His Temporal Perception had sharpened into a constant, low-level instinct. He could sense the "flow" of a fight, anticipating an attack not with precognition, but with hyper-calculated probability, making his human-speed reactions seem preternatural.
And flight—also gained significant improvement. He wove between the ancient oak trees at speed, his turns sharp and precise. He practiced hovering perfectly still, then exploding into a short, precise burst of acceleration. He drilled dodging imaginary energy blasts, his Temporal Perception flaring to guide him through the tightest gaps in the branches. It was a daily practice to own his speed. He had an Agile combat flight of Car speed (60–100 km/h.
Kael experienced an overall growth in every aspect of his life. He's ghost form and human form-both became more refined through practice. He was a hybrid now, a fusion of spectral power and human ingenuity. A C-tier ghost in a suit of armor that could challenge B-tier threats.
He put down the suit. The silence of the basement returned, but it was no longer the silence of solitude. It was the quiet before a mission. Vlad Masters was coming. The Fentons were unwittingly in the crosshairs. But they weren't the only players on the board anymore.
Kael Veyne was ready. Not as a phantom in the shadows, but as a hunter in the light. The hunter was armed.