Shane felt overwhelmed due to the mourning atmosphere, as he nodded his head and gulped down his saliva uncomfortably.
"Thank you for the offer, but I only need to establish my own bloodlust, as I already have a killing intent!"
Hearing this was astonishing, but definitely not more shocking than Shane having attained a perfect mortal state physique, which none of them had.
In total, there were only two individuals in their entire group who were able to solve a [Mythic] mission. One of them was Frer who had a perfect Apprentice physique, and the other was Aisha who had a perfect Expert physique.
While Shane and Aisha were raised to become a strong pillar for humanity, Aisha's childhood was still filled with joy, free time and friends, unlike Frer, who was an orphan that she had met one day, many years ago.
Due to Aisha's special condition, she couldn't touch others without feeling weird, uncomfortable or even disgusted, which mostly happened with males, while only five people so far had felt different to her.
When she came in contact with her parents, she felt only slightly uncomfortable, while the same was the case with Uncle Lars who took her in, after her parents died in order to protect humanity from a large-scale beast tide within the Intermediate Dimension.
Protecting the shelter and Dimension Portal from massive damages and casualties, they sacrificed themselves, which Aisha couldn't understand when she was young.
Not being able to understand why her parents were not there anymore, she blamed Uncle Lars for several years, thinking of him as the purest evil on Igra before she finally understood that it was not his fault.
Frer was one of the two remaining people, she felt comfortable around, and there was not a single negative feeling she got when the two were in contact with each other. The two were always together since Aisha had taken Frer in and raised her partially.
Frer's existence was a ray of hope for Aisha who felt lonely for not being able to be comfortable around other people.
This also caused her to be labeled cold and distant, which she wasn't.
The only thing she acknowledged to be, was strict because she trained the Valkyries with her best effort in order to prevent them from dying.
Nobody wanted to lose someone close to them, and the Valkyries could be called sisters in arms because they would sacrifice their lives in order to save their sisters, even if they were sometimes quarreling, thirsty or even fighting with each other over trivial matters.
The fifth person who she felt somewhat comfortable around, or even attracted to was Shane. He spread a strange warmth and radiated calm around him, a fact she would have never expected to be possible.
However, after today, when he touched her hands, she could feel not only warmth but also comfort and amity towards Shane, which allowed him to hide behind her as the Valkyries approached him with improper intentions.
Otherwise, she would have never allowed a male to hide behind her in close proximity, thinking that they might come in contact.
This was also noticed by the other young women and even Frer was interested in knowing what exactly was going on with Aisha that made her behave unusually.
Rather than feeling worried, Frer was happy about this, because she was completely aware of Aisha's problems which was also the reason to offer Shane help, after finding out that he wanted to build a perfect foundation.
Normally, she, the Valkyries and even Aisha would have tried to talk Shane out of it, but once they understood that he had already attained a perfect mortal physique, which was a rare occurrence, Frer and Aisha could immediately tell that Shane was aware of all benefits.
Not only was the physical difference of a perfect physique to a flawed physique huge, but the value of [Supreme tickets] could only be described as phenomenal.
With enough supreme tickets, they could purchase planet-destroying weapons, which was however not something anyone would waste their tickets on.
Rather, one would increase one's cultivation aptitude, improve the combat prowess or even change certain body parts in order to turn them superior.
As such, both Aisha and Frer knew that Shane would try to attain a perfect foundation, and without being able to talk him out of it, they would have been forced to help him, in order to reach their own goals.
Aisha felt an amity towards Shane and didn't want him to die and Frer figured out that it would be bad for Aisha if Shane were to die, which was her only reason to offer her help.
**
Shane noticed that Frer was definitely serious with her offer to help him build his bloodlust, and when he looked around, he also sensed the other Valkyries' behavior change, as he could see their seriousness, which was somewhat astonishing.
'These girls don't even know me? Why should they try to help me?' He asked himself, apparently confused at the sudden change in their behavior. Unable to find an answer himself, he straightforwardly asked Frer.
"Why are you so adamant in helping me out? It's not like I'm someone you have known for years? To be honest, we are simply strangers with the sole connection being Aisha….And even that is of little importance because we barely know each other!"
His clear and confident voice made Frer retreat a step. She let out a little squeal of panic and ducked behind Aisha, who patted her head, while saying "You did well! I've never seen you talk so much with a stranger...good girl!"
Hearing this, Shane couldn't help himself and frowned as he waited for an answer, only for the other Valkyries to throw in all kinds of answers.
He could barely understand anything and Shane felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people talking at the same time.
First, they thought he was handsome, which was a fact and second, the Valkyries seemed to think that his bond with Aisha was already reason enough, even if it was shallow because it was hard for strangers to befriend her.
They didn't state a reason for the latter but Shane nodded his head, as he remembered a few articles about Aisha wherein she was labeled a cold, unapproachable prodigy or something similar.
'Well, it's better for them to have a reason to help me than doing it without ambition or a reason.'
With this in mind, Shane shifted his attention back to Aisha and Frer, as he asked with excitement and determination.
"Frer, can you demonstrate your Slaughterer's Path? I doubt that my understanding will exactly be the same, but it may help me in order to find a few similarities to the Dimension-sphere's visualization. Maybe you can figure out a good way to start establishing your bloodlust!"
Peeking out of Aisha's hug, Frer gazed into Shane's eyes only to notice them overflowing with the desire to start, his ambition to become stronger and to comprehend bloodlust in order to establish his own.
Gulping down her saliva, she gathered all her courage, and stood up, faintly saying
"Y-You have to stand in front of me….c-can you please go to the center?"
Somehow, Shane found it amusing to see Frer switching from her extremely shy behavior to a serious demeanor when they talked about attaining a perfect foundation.
However, as he looked into her eyes, he noticed that she had gathered enough courage to demonstrate the Slaughterer's path technique in front of her sisters, who she was relatively less shy of.
Taking a few deep breaths, she summoned a curved longsword, causing Shane to wonder if everyone who practiced the technique bought one as he did the same.
Summoning his own Crimson Yaeli longsword, he immediately walked towards the circle's center, the Valkyries had created. He went into his combat stance, disregarding everyone around him, except Frer, who he focused his attention on.
Even if they hadn't even sparred against each other before, Shane wanted to feel the little girl's strength head-on, while witnessing her own comprehension of the Slaughterer's Path.
Barely standing ten meters away from him, she suddenly whispered, "Take care!", before her whole demeanor changed, as she released a thick blood-red killing intent, leaving Shane dumbfounded. She released her killing intent together with the bloodlust, without the need to intertwine them, which increased her combat prowess to a great extent.
Her blond hair fluttered in the radiating bloodlust killing intent, as her eyes seemed to turn bloodthirsty, without any hesitation or shyness in her whole demeanor, as she firmly gripped her curved longsword.
Shane knew that he would die the next moment as he involuntarily took a step back. The ground below Frer cracked when she pushed herself from the ground.
His eyes could barely perceive anything and he was about to lift his longsword to parry hers, as Frer's face appeared in front of him.
Upon feeling the bloodlust killing intent, his whole body stiffened. The only bloodlust he imagined to be even worse, was that from the bloodlust thunder wolf, when the beast was still several hundred meters away.
Goosebumps covered his whole body and before he was even able to deflect her attack or do anything at all, she slashed through the gap below his armpits.
"Dead!" She nonchalantly announced and there was not a tiny trace of shyness in her voice, as he stumbled backwards, only to fall on his butt, staring towards Frer whose demeanor changed back to her usual self.
She was worried to have overdone it and was about to ask how he was doing when she noticed that she had almost killed Shane.
However, this seemed to be unnecessary, as Shane shook himself in order to regain control over his trembling body. He jumped up to rush towards her and impatiently said
"Another time, please!!!"
Seeing Shane's gleaming eyes, Frer was unsure of what to think about the youth in front of her while the other valkyries who were spectators to their little spar couldn't help but mumble
"Is he a freak? How can he already stand, as if that was nothing…"
"I couldn't control my body for more than an hour when Frer showed me that!"
"He just forcefully regains control over his body, as if it was nothing!"
"How can he act as if Frer didn't almost kill him?! I was scared for several weeks for the first time!"
Aisha was also astonished, and her eyes widened, but instead of saying something, she smiled, thinking that Shane was not as ordinary as she had thought earlier, even if he was John Stella's son!
It was obvious for him to have received a unique tutelage, but that was still not enough for Aisha to accept Shane's enthusiasm and determination that vibrantly gleamed in his eyes.