Chapter 9: The Fox's Game
Kairo remained motionless in the deep shadows of the second-floor landing. The heavy footsteps of Tiberius faded, but the silence he left behind was louder and more threatening than his shouting had been.
He replayed the last thirty seconds in his mind, the cold analysis of the Founder's Codex providing a perfect, detached clarity. The close call with Tiberius. The sudden, convenient appearance of Ren Inabi. The lie about Prince Leo. And finally, the smirk and the nod.
It wasn't a coincidence.
Ren Inabi, the Lazy Genius, the Fox of the Court, did nothing by coincidence. His feigned apathy was a weapon, a cloak of invisibility far more effective than any shadow. To him, the world was a game of favors and information. He had just handed Kairo a favor, a significant one, without being asked. And he had made sure Kairo knew it. He hadn't just saved a little boy from a bully; he had protected an asset, observed a new player, and initiated a silent conversation.
He knows, Kairo concluded, the thought as sharp and cold as a shard of ice. He doesn't know what I am, but he knows I'm not what I seem. He saw me at breakfast. He saw the act. He saw a mouse that didn't behave like a mouse.
The implications were staggering. Ren was now a dangerous and unpredictable variable. An ally of convenience? A future rival? Or simply a spectator waiting to see which side would be more profitable to back? Kairo filed him away in a new mental category, separate from enemies like Tiberius and allies like Liana. Ren Inabi was an unknown quantity. He was to be watched.
This entire event, from the breakfast ambush to the chase in the library, hammered home a single, brutal truth. He was weak. His plans were brilliant, his knowledge from the future was a priceless weapon, but his body was a liability. His Aether pool was a joke. His new sight was a flickering candle in a hurricane. He couldn't afford another close call like that.
He needed power. Not in a year. Not in a month. He needed it now.
His resolve hardened into something adamantine. He retreated from the railing, his Aether-Sense mapping a path deeper into the labyrinth of shelves on the second floor. He found a small, dusty study carrel, even more secluded than the one below, tucked away behind tomes on the ancient territorial laws of the Great Primordials. It smelled of decay and forgotten knowledge. It was perfect.
He didn't waste time. He sat, cross-legged, on the floor. He ignored the gnawing emptiness in his stomach and the throbbing headache from the mental strain. He had a new Quest. [The Mother's Aegis]. To fulfill it, he needed to show tangible improvement. He needed to look healthier, more vibrant. That required a stronger body and a deeper well of Aether. The two goals were perfectly aligned.
He closed his eyes to the blackness and began to cultivate.
In his first life, trying to cultivate had been a unique form of torture. He would feel the rich Aether in the air, a cool and promising ocean, but his poisoned, blocked channels were like a sealed bottle. He could feel the water but could never drink.
Now, his channels were open. Scarred and raw from the elixir's purge, but open. He reached out with his mind, his will a focused hook, and pulled.
A single, shimmering thread of ambient Aether detached from the stillness of the library and drifted towards him. It was a slow, clumsy process. But as it touched his skin and was absorbed into his core, he felt a flicker of warmth. It was a start.
He remembered the lessons from his tutors, dry words that had once been meaningless. "Feel the Aether," one had said, a man whose face he could no longer recall. "Do not simply pull. Sense its quality. The purest streams grant the greatest nourishment."
It had been useless advice then. Now, it was a practical guide.
He didn't just pull blindly. He used his impossibly high CTL stat, a gift from a lifetime of theory. He focused his mind, visualizing the ambient energy not as a uniform sea, but as a vast tapestry of individual threads. Some were dull and grey, tainted with the dust and decay of the ancient books. Others were brighter, a purer silver-gold, humming with a clean, potent energy.
He ignored the dull threads. He focused his will and gently tugged on a single, pure strand. It came to him more easily, sliding through the air and sinking into his core with a satisfying warmth. He pulled another. And another.
He was not just drinking from the sea. He was selecting the finest drops. The process was still slow, but it was incredibly efficient. Hours melted away. The grand clock chimed the late hours of the evening. His Aether-Sense felt Marius, the lone guardian, finally rise and shuffle out of the library, plunging the entire space into a deep, profound silence.
Kairo was alone. He pushed himself harder.
He visualized not just pulling the threads, but weaving them. Guided by his innate control, he began to gather three, four, five of the purest strands at a time. He used his will to twist them together into a single, denser cord of light before drawing it into his body. The effect was immediate. The warmth in his core intensified.
AET: 7 -> 8 ... 9... 10...
The numbers on the Codex panel were a reward, a drug. Each point was a victory. His headache faded, replaced by a feeling of growing vitality. The gnawing hunger in his stomach lessened, nourished by the energy he was absorbing. This was the true power of a Conduit. Not just a weapon, but a self-sustaining engine.
He lost all track of time, lost in the intricate, silent dance of weaving Aether. He was so focused, so deep in his trance, that he almost didn't notice the change.
A new resonance stirred within him. That golden, ancient power. The Founder's Echo. It was not the violent, emergency takeover from the night before. This was a quiet stirring, a hum of approval from the depths of his soul. It resonated with the Aether he was weaving.
As he pulled another cord of energy towards himself, the golden will seemed to reach out. It subtly adjusted the weave, tightening the threads, altering the frequency of their vibration, showing him a pattern he never could have conceived on his own. It was the difference between a student carefully following instructions and a grandmaster effortlessly creating a masterpiece. The new, golden-laced cord of Aether hummed with an entirely new level of potency.
He drew it in. The energy didn't just fill his core. It ignited it. A brilliant, clean fire roared to life inside him, a hundred times more powerful than the simple warmth from before. The absorption rate skyrocketed.
AET: 11... 13... 15...
It was intoxicating. This was a shortcut. A secret path shown to him by the ghost in his machine. He eagerly reached for more, following the Echo's divine instruction, weaving another golden cord. The power was addictive.
As the new cord of energy surged into him, the Founder's Codex flashed violently in his mind, its golden runes sharp and urgent.
[SYNERGY DETECTED BETWEEN HOST AND FOUNDER'S ECHO.]
[ANALYZING NEW CULTIVATION METHOD... METHOD UNKNOWN. CROSS-REFERENCING ANCIENT DATA...]
[WARNING: This technique places extreme strain on immature Aether channels. Continued use may lead to permanent damage.]
[...ANALYSIS COMPLETE. NEW INSIGHT UNLOCKED.]
The warning flashed in his mind, stark and severe, but Kairo barely registered it. The surge of pure, refined Aether was too intoxicating. All he felt was the exhilarating sensation of his shallow core finally filling, the promise of power overwhelming the distant threat of caution.
The new insight solidified in his mind, not as a choice, but as a defined, fundamental truth.
[Insight Gained: [The Founder's Weave] - Grade: ??]
[Description: An ancient and forgotten art of Aether cultivation. By weaving ambient Aether in accordance with the Founder's Echo, you can achieve an absorption rate and purity impossible for modern techniques. This method allows for the cultivation of all three Aetheric Attributes (AET, OUT, CTL) simultaneously. Warning: The inherent potency is extremely dangerous for undeveloped channels.]
For the briefest of moments, he felt a flicker of fear. He was playing with a fire he did not understand. A fire that could consume him. But the fear was quickly extinguished by the cold, ruthless pragmatism that now defined him.
Danger is irrelevant, he thought. Results are all that matter. I need power. This is the fastest way.
He ignored the warning and pulled again, his entire being focused on the new, divine technique. He gathered a dozen of the purest strands this time, the Founder's Echo guiding his will, twisting them into a thick, brilliantly glowing rope of golden light. He drew it into his body.
The impact was like a physical blow. A tsunami of pure energy slammed into his tiny Aether core. It wasn't the agonizing purge from the elixir; this was different. This was the feeling of trying to pour an entire river into a small cup. A violent, overwhelming pressure that made his senses flare and his bones hum.
AET: 18... 22... 27!
He had more than doubled his Aether pool in a single night. It was an unprecedented, terrifying rate of growth. But the strain was immense. He could feel his Aether channels, still raw from the purge, stretching and groaning under the pressure. It was a good pain. A pain that meant growth.
He was about to pull again when a new and unexpected notification flared from the Codex.
[The Mother's Aegis - Quest Update:]
[Sub-Objective Generated: A Grand Display. Displaying minor improvements is not enough. Your mother's worry is deep-seated, and Tiberius's scorn is a constant poison. You must deliver a public and undeniable shock to the system. You must prove your worth in a way that no one can ignore or dismiss.]
[New Objective: At the upcoming Rite of Covenant, achieve a result so spectacular that it shatters all previous records and forces the Archduke himself to acknowledge your existence.]
[Sub-Objective Reward: 20 Bonus Stat Points upon completion of the Rite.]
Kairo stared into the blackness, his mind reeling. The Rite of Covenant. The yearly ceremony where the noble children of Balor placed their hands on the great Heartstone to have their Aetheric potential judged before the entire court. It was a day of triumph for prodigies and a day of ultimate public humiliation for failures.
In his first life, it had been his darkest memory. He remembered the feel of the cool, smooth stone under his small, trembling hand. He remembered the suffocating silence of the great hall as everyone waited. And he remembered the result: a pathetic flicker of golden light, so faint it was barely visible, before it died completely. The Heartstone had pronounced him a dud. He could still hear the snickers of the other children. He could still feel the crushing weight of his father's disappointed gaze.
Now, the Codex was telling him to turn his greatest humiliation into his ultimate stage. To not just pass, but to shatter all expectations. It was a terrifying, audacious, and utterly perfect plan.
A slow smile spread across his face, not the innocent mask he wore for others, but a true smile. A serpent's smile. Cold, sharp, and full of predatory intent. He finally had a stage. He had a goal.
For the rest of the night, he alternated. An hour of the grueling, mind-bending practice of his Aether-Sense. Mapping the room, then the corridor, then attempting to "see" through the floor to the level below. Followed by an hour of the dangerous, intoxicating cultivation of the Founder's Weave, pouring power into his straining Aether Core.
Pulse. Map. Hold. Drain. Rest.
Weave. Absorb. Strain. Repeat.
By the time the first faint rays of dawn began to warm the library's high windows, Kairo was a different being. He was exhausted, every muscle aching, his mind a thrumming, over-strained engine. But he was also stronger.
KAIRO AKASHI
TITLE: Aether Initiate LEVEL: 2
AETHERIC RESONANCE INDEX (ARI)
Physical Attributes
STR: 19
DUR: 28
AGI: 29
Aetheric Attributes
AET: 35
OUT: 28
CTL: 61
AVAILABLE STAT POINTS: 5
He had leveled up. The single level-up from a night of cultivation was a feat that would have taken any other initiate a month of dedicated practice. He immediately allocated the five new points, three to AET and two to CTL, reinforcing his greatest strengths.
His Aether-Sense was still crude, but the drain had lessened again. He could now hold the wireframe map for almost twenty seconds per point. He could distinguish between the echoes of different types of wood, between iron and steel.
But as he made his way silently out of the library in the pre-dawn gloom, a new problem presented itself. He had a goal for the Rite, a year away. He had a training method. But the bottleneck was obvious. His AET pool was still pitifully small. At this rate, it would take him months to build a core large enough to truly begin practicing advanced techniques.
He needed a catalyst. A way to accelerate his growth.
His mind, a library of forbidden knowledge, immediately offered a solution. It was a dangerous, half-forgotten recipe from the Age of Terra. An alchemical elixir designed to temporarily but dramatically expand a Conduit's Aether Channels, allowing for a massive influx of energy.
The Elixir of the Aether Core.
The formula was complex, the ingredients rare. Most were difficult to acquire. One was almost impossible. A fresh, beating heart of a high-grade beast, a creature whose own Aetheric pathways were robust and powerful.
A cold, calculating gleam entered Kairo's mind as he slipped back into his neglected chambers. The hunt was not over. It had just begun.