68 Lyla Saccharo 2

While Dyon was thinking, Little Black had walked up and licked his palm, causing Dyon to reflexively stroke his head.

"what kind of beast is that? I've never seen one before… scales… fur… those white swirls on him are beautiful…"

Dyon scratched around the white scale on Little Black's forehead, causing Little Black to growl in pleasure, "I'm not sure either honestly, but he's been my only companion for a while now," Dyon said with a smile.

The one thing about Dyon was that while he had no qualms about putting himself in danger, he could never do the same for his friends. He could scream at the top of his lungs that he was the successor of the Celestial Deer Sect in the face of an enemy, but he'd never admit that Little Black might be a supreme level beast or beyond. With Little Black's appearance not matching up with that of any other beast, no one would make the connection anyway.

Ri didn't find this to be odd as she strapped her thin sword to her back. Dyon tried to stop himself from watching her perfectly proportioned hips sway with her hair as he followed silently behind her. Dyon had no idea why he was so infatuated with Ri's appearance. Even Delia and Meiying hadn't made him look at them this often. Dyon could only assume it was the essence within him, so, he changed the subject to distract himself.

"are you ever going to tell me how you manage to remain perfectly silent when you move like that?" Asked Dyon in curiosity as they made their way through the forest.

Ri smiled an adorable smile, "it's not easy to learn even if I did tell you. My father specializes in illusory type techniques. In fact, he manifested his soul using a unique type technique. In the end, his soul manifested itself as a mist. It allows him to understand people intimately and find the best way to manipulate their senses."

Dyon had an astonished look on his face, 'To understand people and then manipulate them? What an OP ability…'

But, Dyon pushed this to the back of his mind, he was even more interested in something else.

"How do you use illusion techniques to be soundless? And if this was your father's ability, why do you have it?"

"remember how I told you using a unique type technique means you have to forge your own path? Because my father's soul manifestation was ranked so highly, and he was very intelligent with his cultivation, he took a seemingly straight forward ability and branched it into countless techniques. These techniques may be used best by my father, but it doesn't mean others can't use them as well."

"I see… so forging your own path also means innovating your own technique… no wonder only geniuses do it by choice."

"right. Even when someone has no choice but to choose a unique type, usually they use stock techniques that could work with almost any soul manifestation of their type. Imagine one person manifests as a lion and another as a bear, they would both have access to strengthening generic abilities."

"Interesting…" Dyon was trying to soak in everything Ri said.

"In terms of how the technique actually works, it sounds simple, but it's hard to grasp. Illusions are all about slight of hand. Well, low level illusions anyway. My father is powerful enough to literally distort reality, but, I think that's only possible if you have his manifestation type and become powerful enough."

All of a sudden, Dyon's ears twitched as Ri took a step.

"See? It's not that I'm not making sounds. It's that I'm not allowing those near to me to know I'm making a sound. There are frequencies of sounds that the human ear just can't hear no matter how powerful you become. I'm distorting the sounds I'm making into a frequency that you can't hear. The issue with this technique is that beast can hear me. But, without my father's manifestation, this is the best we can do."

Dyon began mumbling to himself, "so, illusions of the eyes are about seeing things that aren't there, or not seeing things that are. Illusions using the ears are about not hearing things that are there. The way Ri's father's technique works is by playing with the frequency of the sounds… I could probably cheat and create an array that can do that, but a flash of gold would give me away even if I was silent…. Hmm."

They continued to walk forward as Dyon thought.

"I AM SUCH AN IDIOT!"

Ri was startled into looking back towards Dyon, but to her surprise, he was no longer there. And when she strained her ears, her mouth gapped when she realized she could hear nothing.

Confused, Ri was about to turn back when she felt a hand lightly pick up her hair.

Ri jumped forward, pulling her sword from her back, ready to attack.

"you've already tried to attack me so many times, are you really going to do it again?" Dyon said with a chuckle, "your hair is amazing by the way. So soft and it smells like spring and clear water. I could get used to that…" he said absentmindedly.

Dyon didn't seem to notice Ri's shock, but his hair comments seemed to snap her out of it, "would it kill you to not be a pervert? Smelling my hair? You thought that was a good line? You sound more like a serial killer, rapist, or a mix of the two."

Dyon held his hand to his chest, feigning a hurt expression, "milady Ri, there's no need for such harsh words. I was only appreciating the finest nature has to offer."

Ri's face distorted when Dyon called her milady, but she responded with a kick and changed the subject. She just wasn't used to people, especially in the Elvin Kingdom, calling her beautiful. In fact, it was often the exact opposite, 'whatever, he'll see the difference between me and them when he reaches the city…'

"How'd you do it so quickly? There's just no way… My father had to directly teach me the method and that required understanding the illusion path of my water will…"

Dyon was surprised to hear what she had to say, but he made a mental note, 'don't underestimate people because they only have one will… there's a good chance they've understood multiple paths…'

It wasn't that he was sure that Ri only had one will, it was more so the fact that even a simple elemental will like water could be so versatile. It made sense for water to have an illusion path with how well it did in distorting reality.

"You may not know this, but my music will is already at the peak of the 9th level and I've already understood a path to near perfection within it. In fact, I believe I've found the true essence of music by realizing making music with your body is the root of all music. I've simply applied what you might also call an illusory path to distort the sounds I make into another frequency. In fact, although other wills may have limits to this and be caught by beasts, because music will is so firmly tailored to sounds and frequencies and manipulating people with them, I can reach frequencies even Little Black wouldn't hear."

"a maxed level will… at 15… Why do I even bother with you, hmph," in a fake rage, Ri began to walk away.

Dyon smiled and followed behind her, enjoying the swaying of her 'hair'.