Chapter 7: A Hug

  Inside Are Veil, Anira was holding rad's hand from behind as if they were oy standing iernal darkness fes. rad's eyes were shining, seeing some progress.

  So this is Brahman. Really, there is nothier than a good—no, an excellent teacher.

  rad felt a sense of happiness inside him. This was the first time he felt this much joy after ing to this dangerous world. There was a sense of excitement and achievement he felt deep within his heart. Theiced something that made him a little unfortable.

  Clearing his throat, he said, "Ahem, Anira, you let go of my hands now."

  "Yes, my lord." She waited an additional few seds before letting his hands go.

  Ihe space that was darker than night and rger thay, rad and Anira were the only two beings standing there in pure silence.

  "Anira, this space, how do you like it?"

  "Huh? I don't uand, my lord."

  "I mean to say, do you like this pce?"

  "Do you like this pce, my lord?"

  "That is unfair. I asked first."

  "I don't have any likes or dislikes. Now it's your turn, my lord."

  rad gave her an odd look and replied: "Holy, this pce is a little lonely. I 't live here forever, or I will go crazy just from the emptiness. Also, there is only mist everywhere. Nothing iing to look at."

  "I try to summon something, my lord, if you wish."

  "Oh, you do that also? Please summon something!" rad's eyes grew bigger iement.

  Two empty thrones appeared in the middle of the pce, surrounded by dense mist. A long crimson carpet y before those thrones, extending to infinity. Along both sides of the carpet were six chairs.

  What is this? It looks like a throne room. Is it from the past? Is there a king for this pce? Wait, Anira said it was a gift from me. Am I the king of this pce?

  rad's thoughts were rag when he heard:

  "This is based on one of my past experiences while traveling throughout the world. I saw this p a little boy's house."

  Little boy? rad thought to himself.

  "Who was that?" rad asked with anticipation.

  "He was a ceous little kid who always cried. He was one of the few who could see me. I don't remember exactly, but I think his name was..." Anira paused for a moment, then opened her pale crimson lips.

  "Alexander Gustavo."

  rad's eyes widened. Sweat formed on his forehead as if he had heard something forbidden.

  Fuck! Who are you?

  rad didn't hide his surprised and horrified looks from Anira. Frankly, he couldn't hide them—that would be the better way to say it.

  Alexander Gustavo was the most powerful man in the Fifth epoch, known as the Age of querors. He single-handedly unified eight dynasties at that time. The Northern and Southern tis bined made up most of the world's ndmass, and it was ruled by just one person: Alexander. He never lost a fight in his entire life. It is said he died not in battle but due to an unknown illness. He died at least 6,000 years ago. Wait, Anira called him a little kid. How old is she?

  "Ani...ra?"

  "Yes, my lord?"

  "How old are you?"

  "My lord, it's not proper to ask a dy her age, right?"

  rad was stuo hear this. He hought a girl like her would say such things.

  A smile appeared on her face. "I learhis statement from an old dy."

  "Old dy?" Knowing her, it will be some a being.

  "Yes, my lord. She couldn't see me, but she could hear me. She told me I would meet my end when the vision of destiny came to me."

  "Vision? You mentiohat before. What is that?"

  "It primarily happeo people from the spad time domain who have the mind domain as their sed domain."

  Why do you always talk in cryptiguage? I don't get any of it. But that's okay for now. I'll keep that in the bay mind.

  "Anira, erase this throne room. Let's focus on training."

  "Yes, my lord."

  Mist that was swelling around like a liviy shook and boiled as they engulfed the thrones and six chairs. To an outsider it looked like all the objects were dragged into the abyss by some entity that shouldn't be seen by anyone. World's most taboos were hidden ihose darkness only separated by a dense mist.

  "My lord, Brahman is fixed inside our body as it is the very thing that maintains our existence. But we lose sciousness if we stantly use it; each activity involving Brahman expends some of it. Generally speaking, how much Brahman we have at any given moment is fixed, but it grow or shrink depending upon age and current physical dition. Some people in this world do have a huge quantity of Brahman, but it's not by a rge margin. Essentially, it's the effi how we use Brahman that matters most. We , in theory, use all our Brahman at once doing a simple task, but that would not be very effit."

  She tinued, "My lord, you must remember this one rule: Brahman efficreases as scale decreases."

  Mathematically speaking, it's an inverse proportional retion,rad made a mental note.

  "Yes, I uand that's also written in the book, but my question is: Anira, what should I practiext?"

  ", you should calcute how much Brahman you have."

  "How?"

  "There is no definitive answer as we know it ges depending upouation. Usually, people test this for a year or so and average out their total usage, but if you permit, I use a faster method."

  "Faster method? Yes, let's use that. We don't have a year to just figure out how much Brahman I have."

  Anira hesitated for a brief moment. Then she vanished instantly to appear right before rad. rad was surprised for a brief moment when he felt something toug him.

  What the...

  His back felt slender gloved hands on it. His ski a little warm ihe captivation of two arms. A head was resting close to his heart, hearing a growing thumping sound. Anira was hugging him with her eyes closed. rad's hands were hesitant but then started to move toward the beautifully exposed back of the dy who embodied the darkness arouhe mist danced around them like children holding hands and pying a game of encirclement.

  In an instant, rad's mi numb as if he had lost trol over his thoughts. The Brahman that was around him disappeared. He was gasping for air, but after a few seds of struggle, rad—no, Anira—opened her eyes, holding her body in her arms.

  Ability: Entity possession

  "Mist Sword," Anira's voice, spoken through rad's mouth, was a deep male voice filled with dignity. Blue eyes were sharp enough to pierce through the sky. Holding her own body, she extended her hands outward.

  Anira in rad's body looked like a mage who had a profound uanding of the world and dignity of a nobel Prinbsp;

  A dense mist started to shake. It ulled upward towards her hands. A sword as dark as a starless night materialized, its hilt crimson as blood. A silver made of mist hung from the sword's hilt. It was a katana of the most refined quality.

  Ability: Mist Sword Yoru (artifact level - unknown)

  Just as the sword touched her hands, Anira swung it to cut the surrounding mist in a downward otion. Then she pushed the sword to her side. It floated in the air as if following her elegance.

  She walked slowly toward the infinite distanside the eternally quiet Are Veil.

  At 2:00 AM, rad woke up suddenly, finding himself in a pce surrounded by darkness. His mind was disoriented as if he had experienced a long nightmare but couldn't recall it. His gaze shifted around with lingering fear in his eyes. A pair of deep crimson eyes looked at him with a solemn, worried face.

  "Are... you alright, my lord?" Anira asked worriedly.

  "What happened?"

  "I used one of my abilities that possess living beings."

  Holy fuck. You've got to be kidding me. No, this is extremely dangerous. How would one fight it? I didn't get any ce to react at all. I 't let my guard down for a sed.

  Remember rad: 'In a fight between Essentarii, never let yuard down.'

  rad made a mental note.

  "Okay..."

  "Are you feeling alright, my lord?" Anira repeated the question.

  "I am fine. No worries. I may not look like it, but I am strohan other men around me" rad said, raising his arm to show his biceps.

  "So did you figure out the total quantity?" rad asked calmly.

  "Yes, my lord. It's 198 BU," Anira replied.

  "That doesn't sound so high. I was hoping maybe at least over 9000 or something."

  rad mused. Then he asked seriously, "Anira, what's your total amount?"

  "It's 200 BU, my lord."

  Holy cow! That much. Wait, I am also close. Right. What is the average in this world?

  "Anira, what is the least and most you have entered till now?"

  "My lord, I haven't entered maies in my travels as most of them couldn't even see me, but I did fae who were extremely powerful."

  She tinued, "Regardless, it's almost impossible to guess aotal BU if it's not recorded or explicitly stated by the person themselves. I did use entity possession ability on two people to gain some insight on them as a favor for helping me in the past"

  "One of them was Alexander?"

  "Yes, my lord. He was just starting out on his journey back then. He made a bet with me that if I could guess his total amount correctly. He wrote a tract stating that if I lost the bet, I would have to go on a date with him or something like that, and if he lost, he would give me his most prized item."

  "Let me guess—you won."

  "I lost, my lord."

  "..." rad was left speechless for a moment.

  Alexander really was amazing. To win against Anira in anything is a miracle.

  "My lord, after some careful thought, I would suggest not taking all of these cepts at once, rather focus oep at a time."

  Anira is right. I was just thinking of defeating an Oddity when I'm not even a trained Essentia. I was just overestimating myself. I'm not some protagonist that has a cheat ability and master the unnatural fuals of this world that were crafted through eons in just one or two nights. It will take me years before I'm anywhere near Anira.

  Sigh! Reality really does hurt. All the novel heroes are cool from the get-go, and here I am just starting by learning cepts theoretically.

  "Anira, what do you think I should practiorrow all day?"

  "My lord should start with core principles of tier 0. It is said to be the ohat is the same for all beings. This stage works as a foundation that will shape future development. Principle number one includes sensing, eling, and maniputing Brahman. These should be your priority. Remember to practice to increase effiot scale."

  "Okay the's end here. I'm already getting sleepy."

  "Oh, Anira..." rad called out, wanting to ask something.

  "Yes, my lord?"

  No, I was just going to ask her if the hug was necessary to activate that ability. But I guess it must be, otherwise she wouldn't do such things.

  "Never mind, let's go home.”