Chapter 132 - Ronin (3)

This was a time when Shin would have gone headstrong into the lineup to free up Ileana or anyone else, but that time isn't now. That time was not that long ago, of course, it was just before he got kidnapped, and getting beaten into rags.

Not after what he has seen. If it was just a week ago, Shin might have gone rashly after those slavers, since he had freed his mana, and recovered somewhat, but going rashly won't save anything. Unfortunately, no.

He or they have to find out a way to kill those slavers first. Yes, they killed more than a dozen of them just half an hour ago, but all of them were resurrected to their former state within two minutes to five minutes. Shin does not know why some take more time while some take less. It should be something to do with their strength, perhaps. The madman who was about to inject him with the potion took as long as five minutes, and then those slaves—dogs took two minutes mostly. For the superiors, it's mostly between the two.

The dogs were basically in the middlebrow of the stretch level, yet they resurrected first. That told him it was more complicated than the rank.

Sadly, the bad news did not end there. Even though the system was not in its place, Shin could feel growing strong from killing, though rather slowly. That should be the only good news, but there was a catch—a big one at that. As Shin was in deep meditation, he found out how big it was. There was something foul in his system, invading his reasonings, clouding his memory, though it was at a minimum level as he did not kill many. The story will be different if he did it. Moreover, the air seemed to be malevolent, heavy, looming like thin shadows of the night.

Things are far more complicated and dire than he could imagine—that was what he agreed. Perhaps fleeing away from here, as Ronin suggested, seems the best course of option, but Shin could not take it, knowing he would have to leave Ileana and who knows who others were kidnapped like him? Since they did not stop, knowing his parents were powerful people, they would probably take in large steps at once.

Shin woke up from his meditation and looked around to find it was darkening. Perhaps more than half an hour has passed, they would need to change areas soon. Flexing his stiff finger and muscle, He found out the healing worked far better than he had assumed. Though he was not on top of his form, he would not have problem-fighting.

His eyes drifted off two of the tow then, both of them were meditating silently. Like him, Feldan's would have healed far better, even though he was wounded just as badly. Perhaps being at a higher level than him was the reason. Yeah, most likely, Shin did not know the actual rank of Feldan, but the aura, the mana signature he felt from all their contact, told him he was off second order. Though the battle they shared, he could make out, Feldan was close to the level 60 margin.

Then Shin's eyes stared at the oldest of their group. Ronin seemed like in his early twenties, with a hard face that seemed to always hold a scowl even when he was meditating. He had short black hair, though bloody currently, a lanky body that should have been well taken care of if not for the ordeal they have faced. As for the level, Shin focused on the person to feel the aura, the signature left unconsciously from one's body even when they were not using mana.

It was something Shin took interest in the class. He had learned every mana user had a somewhat aura around their body that could fluctuate with any of their behavior. From a simple smile to killing someone, it fluctuates like that. The tool, the lie detector orb, Elior introduced to Shin was something that could respond to that aura, and more. The lie detector orb could potentially respond to the fluctuation of the soul. While Shin might be no good on it, he could make out a little from someone else's aura.

He only learned it because it could actually be the people surrounding them. Theoretically, a mana user could unknowingly affect a normal person if his mana was high enough, and he was less talented in control. Even with control, it was not possible to control it all. Though Shin had not tested it on his own, he heard some old news about it. There was a regulation placed on it, telling mana users to not directly or indirectly affect any normal person. Yes, it was a little casual on the indirect part, but there were some individuals who used their aura knowingly to get what they wanted—in those things did not just limit to sleeping with famous actresses.

Theoretically, a high-level user could affect level users, and it was why Shin was interested in this area. Though he did not have anything interest in doing something illegal, getting better at the end of some maidan did not seem bad. Unfortunately, he was not that higher level than Enna, so he only got cold stares from her if he got close to her.

Coming back to the topic, the moment Shin got in contact with the aura, he felt his spine grow cold. Something was very wrong with their person. Shin didn't even feel this kind of reaction when he went in contact with some of the powerful people. His mother was a third-order guardian for over ten years, but Shin felt something hidden in it, but this person looked like a bare dagger.

Even when he was in such a vulnerable position, he appeared like a weapon itself. The images of how Ronin cut, hacked the assailant came into his mind, and he felt something was off. Something doesn't add up.

Among the people he contracted with, Elior was best at controlling his aura. Most of the time it was only thicker than any normal person, but when he went serious, it swirled a little chaotically, but that was not the end. In some happenstance, Shin had come across when Elior's aura was all serene, there was no fluctuation of it at all. It was when Elior blasted off an arm of Renal—the dude who wanted to monopolise their first trial.

What alerted him here was that, Ronin was exactly the opposite of that serenity, moreover, there was something else. The aura he was feeling did not seem like a mana signature, but something else.

Then all kinds of things make sense to him. Why Ronin was still in such a state, why he did not help him break the seal of his mana, and most likely why the scowling face all the time?

"You can't use mana, can you?" Shin asked and found his voice was a bit louder than usual. Perhaps his new finding was the reason for it.

Ronin opened his eyes and gave him a look, the usual scowl in its place. "Congratulations, you have found out something half of the world already knows."

Shin frowned. "You seriously don't have mana," he said again. "How did you fight? NO, how did you even manage to kill so many of them without the help of mana?"

Ronin left his eyes off him, in no mood to answer, ever.

"You are him, aren't you?" Feldan asked next, waking up from his meditation after hearing Shin's shout. Like Shin, he had also checked the aura of the individual before him, and found it was true. That flashed a memory in his head. Something he only heard from his parents, and in news nothing, never thought to meet with his own eyes. Perhaps he heard it wrong, or the person Ronin was somebody else.

As Shin thought, Ronin did not answer his or Feldan's question, so he eyed the upperclassman. "What are you talking about? He asked Feldan.

Feldan acted as if he did not hear him, still staring at Ronin as if it was some kind of ghost he was seeing.

In response to their curious gazes, Ronin lifted his head with a thin line between his brows. "I don't want to hear anything about it," he said with a voice far stiff and colder than his usual to reinforce his order.

"Well, of course," Shin snorted, "why would you want to hear about it or make sure no complications come to our team? Would not it be best to act all mysterious and--" 

Just then, the ground shook and Shin's shouts were cut off, as he stumbled on the floor. It was only him who felt it, as he stood upright, he felt more clearly of the shaking. With a shared a look with everyone else, they planned it was not a sure plan to stay here anymore, even though the shaking appeared far abnormal than any enforcement coming their way.