Chapter 169: Slow and steady

Frer was not really surprised about Shane's request after she heard his first question, asking if she would be able to demonstrate to him her bloodlust without any emotion turned off through the unique ability she had.

As such, she just nodded her head while trying to avoid his intense stare as she remembered something.

"Shouldn't we go further away from the shelter or do you not mind others perceiving that you absorb an astronomical amount of mana?"

What Frer said was certainly true and Shane nodded his head in response.

Packing up their stuff after lunch, the two of them jogged for more than an hour before they finally stopped.

"That should be enough" Shane replied after looking around at the spot they had arrived. Frer only nodded as she took out her curved longsword.

Without wasting much time, she showed him her bloodlust without switching off emotions.

Afterward, she used several different configurations one after another to show Shane how emotions affected her bloodlust which caused his eyes to gleam brightly.

In his opinion, both bloodlust and Frer's ability were extremely interesting and Shane couldn't help but gape in wonder.

He was awestruck to see Frer's demonstration and kept his eyes trained on her, observing everything intently.

Only five minutes later, Frer dissolved her bloodlust with a deep sigh before she stopped exerting her unique ability.

Back to her normal, shy, and easily frightened self, Frer only noticed Shane staring at her with a dumbfounded expression which caused her to feel embarrassed.

Unfortunately, there was nowhere to hide and she had to endure his gaze when he suddenly asked.

"To summarize everything, while releasing bloodlust, emotions can affect the bloodlust's effect both positively and negatively? Even if that is the case, the foundation still remains the same…Is your bloodlust like this right now because Aisha isn't around or because you don't have to protect anyone?"

Nodding her head at Shane's short summary which was correct, she froze for a moment, when she heard his last question.

Seeing that she acted weirdly, Shane just added.

"Was that a secret? Sorry, but I already noticed a few differences between the first time you showed me your bloodlust, and when you released the Slaughterer's Path technique inside the crystal cave.

The first time, your bloodlust was already strong, but not extremely complex compared to the second time.

Now your bloodlust is even less formidable than before and the only difference I can think of is that Aisha and the Valkyries are not here or that there is nobody who needs your protection, as was the case in the elemental crystal cave."

Squinting her eyes at Shane's explanation, Frer couldn't help but feel that Shane was either extremely good at guessing or that his perception was better than she had estimated.

Either way, it was not an extremely unique fact which she had to hide, and she said

"My bloodlust's foundation was established with the desire to protect the people around me, with the main priority being my loved ones, and Aisha is one of them. This desire only adds fuel to the bloodlust if someone was in need of help, and is nothing special among bloodlusts. In the end, the desire to protect my loved ones allows me to defeat my opponents, even if they might be stronger if I'm desperate enough."

Pondering over her words, Shane continued to ask several more questions until he was satisfied with the influx of information he received.

Trying to process everything took a while, and Frer could hear him mumbling for several minutes before he finally stood up.

"Ok...I think I got it. If I want to create a stronger bloodlust, my desires and ideals have to be intertwined with it, allowing the bloodlust to become stronger as long as I hold on to these ideals...It might even allow me to reveal an intensified bloodlust when I'm in a perilous situation if the desire to defeat my opponent is strong enough, right?

On the contrary, my bloodlust will become weaker once I lose or change my ideals, which means that I have to decide on something I'm confident to maintain until I die, at best.."

Frer only nodded her head and answered him with a faint "Yes" before she added

"If you want to establish a perfect foundation, you'll remain in the Basic Dimensions for several more years. As such, just take your time and try to find your ideals instead of rushing!"

He was already up on his feet and only mumbled.

"Slow and Steady?"

Shaking his head to clear his mind, Shane thought that Frer was right and that he had more than enough time left to establish a bloodlust.

With that in mind, he wanted to tell Frer that they could continue to spar with each other when a system notification popped up in front of him.

He didn't expect to receive any messages, but after reading what was written in the notification, Shane couldn't suppress his smile anymore.

"Did my plan really work? Hahaha."

Apparently, the Elemental race, also called Elus, was thankful for his enormous contribution in elemental crystals that amounted to more than 4.6 million in total.

If that was the only case, Shane wouldn't be as happy as he was right now. but not only was the Elus race thankful for his help but it also seemed as if they thought that they owed him a favor.

This was unexpected and more than he had planned to receive from his contribution of the elemental crystals he sold to the Elus merchant.

Initially, he had only wanted to be on good terms with the Elus race which was another reason for him to make the deal with the whole expedition team about the elemental crystals, however, it seemed to have worked out several times better than his expectations.

Nevertheless, even if it was a surprise to have gained an favor from a foreign race, it was more than welcome at any time.

Frer noticed that Shane was positively beaming about something, but she didn't want to intrude into his privacy more than she already did.

Even if she was curious, she would never be able to gather enough courage to ask him without using her unique ability.

As such Frer decided to remain quiet, as she patiently waited for Shane to speak to her again.

'What should I do with this favor? For now nothing, but I wonder how much this favor is worth….Can I request everything?'

He asked himself and mentally slapped himself for thinking that the small favor he received would give him the right to request everything.

'It's not like I saved their whole race!' Saying this to himself, Shane calmed down in a matter of seconds, allowing him to think more clearly.

'Let's not bother about that for now.'

Turning the notification away, he took out his Crimson Yaeli longsword before he changed into his combat stance.

Without further ado, Frer, who controlled her strength to be roughly on par with Shane's, released her intertwined bloodlust-killing-intent to envelop her curved longsword before she charged at Shane.

Her speed was much faster than his, even after restricting herself, but Shane couldn't care less about that at the moment, because his mind was turbulent with the thought

'What are my ideals? Why do I strive to become stronger and what are my desires?'

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