Chapter 362: Confusion

"Brooother!" Shattering the ominous silence that engulfed the bloodied battlefield, the desperate, woeful cry of Lily rang through. 

Already standing, with Sam and Biggy at her sides, she was running towards the direction Aiden was last seen, the still lingering albeit mostly dissipated cloud of smoke.

The white, gaseous thick fog remained, lingering over the originating point of the brutal explosion. No movements of any sort, no sounds could be heard besides the scared girl's scampering feet and her canine companions' limbs kicking the ground as they charged towards Aiden's last known position.

"Brooother! Where are you? Are you okay?!" She cried out again, tears already gathering and escaping through the corner of her eyes as she stepped over the charred carcasses without any care in the world.

A bit further behind, the royal siblings were also back on their feet by now. Their ragged, torn, dusty clothing, disheveled hair, and dirty, grime-covered faces transformed them into simple vagabonds. 

Still, they didn't care the slightest. Worry, mixed with the dread of their own dark thoughts was visible on their faces. They were also focusing on Aiden's direction. Although they didn't say a word, the tightly clenched fists on their sides were a telltale sign of their current mental states. 

They couldn't help but think of the worst. Whatever caused that explosion was incredibly fierce. The boy being at its very center, how could he possibly survive it? What made them even more puzzled was the fact that they couldn't even understand what happened. As they were all busy with the smaller, regular-sized sahuagins at the time, they could only steal vague, brief glances towards them.

What Drake saw was that the large, mutated shark-headed fish monster was capable of manipulating the water and use it as a medium to cast some spell. While this was surprising as such creatures were incredibly rare, it was not unheard of. However, how could a ball of water cause such a violent reaction?

Not to mention the inferno it released! The initial shockwave itself burnt the nearest sahuagins to a degree that it was hard to even make anything out of its charred remains.

Slowly looking through the field, Drake's eyes wandered into an incredibly gruesome scene. Almost everything was burnt to crisp, most of the creatures they were fighting just moments ago, were unrecognizable. 

As he looked at the one closest to him, suddenly another dreadful thought entered his and at the same time, Scarlet's mind. Their faces twitched, turning into something of utter shock and confusion, they looked at each other as they blurted out the question at the same time.

"How…?!"

"How are we…?!"

Yes. Even though they rather not think too deeply into it, they still couldn't understand how are they alive, and unharmed by the explosion?

Albeit it might have felt that it took longer, all this thinking took them barely half of a minute. Their eyes wandered on the back of Lily, without wasting any more time they stepped forward themselves as well, following behind the despairing blonde half-elf girl. Just like her, they also wanted to know what was going on with their friend.

—-

"Broother! Broootheeer!" Lily shouted for the third time. Since there was still no response, she was about to charge into the thick, milky white cloud, when suddenly her pleas were finally answered. 

Heavy coughing reached her and the royal siblings' ears a step behind, as the hazy, blurred silhouette of a familiar young man finally appeared as she sat up, on the ground.

"S-stop shouting, Lily!" Between the coughing fits, Aiden's grumbling voice could be heard. "My head is already splitting, quiet down a bit…"

The girl, however, couldn't hold back herself at all. Hearing the familiar voice of her beloved brother, she immediately charged into the barring white cloud, bolting towards the sitting silhouette. 

A moment later, a painful grunt could be heard, as the blonde rocket crash-landed on its destination. Two large-bodied canines closely following behind, surrounding their alpha, giving him a gentle, welcoming lick over his face.

"Argh! S-stop it! Let me go… Awww!" The boy tried to protest, albeit, without much success, his sister had already planted her face into his back, and was sobbing desperately. She was unable to speak, her body continued to tremble as her worry was slowly being vented.

Helpless, Aiden could only sigh and wait it out. As her sister was hanging over his neck from behind, his hands were free. To be honest, he himself was confused about what just happened. The only thing he felt was that his own energies fused with the magical energies of the hurled ball of liquid. He felt a momentary control, but as he was caught completely unprepared he couldn't react at all and the violent reaction exploded.

'What just happened…' He muttered inwardly, looking incredulously in front of himself.

To his surprise, Enya's voice rang inside his mind in the next moment. Her tone was thoughtful, and slightly berating at the same time. She was obviously chiding him for his actions, whilst also keenly interested in the strange event.

[I have already told you, mana is a dangerous, low-tiered volatile source of energy. Whilst without the system we can only make a guess. What I think, is that due to your will of handling the incoming attack, the [Soul Power] that you coated your hands with reacted to the incoming enemy mana and tried to pacify it. Unfortunately due to your concentration breaking up almost instantly, the attempt failed, and instead, the mana exploded. The failed reaction chained into the lingering essences in the air, enhancing and further fueling the explosion.]

She paused for a brief moment as if taking a breath, before going on.

[Still… What I can't understand, and I'm sure you are also wondering about this Aiden is…]

'…that how am I unharmed? No… How are they all fine? I didn't do anything, still, all of those that were with me were not hurt by the explosion. Why?' Before she could do so, Aiden finished the question she herself wanted to ask.

Thinking about it, he couldn't understand. He felt exhausted, mentally drained. Going further, when he tried moving his arms, he felt incredibly sluggish… tired. Even the hold Lily was keeping felt slightly more pressing, stronger than usual.

Before he could cry out mentally, Enya's thoughtful voice rang inside his mind once again.

[Hmm… Interesting… Your power is drained, almost completely.]

Before he could ask, Enya seemed to be already aware of his worries, she continued.

[You are completely fine, just drained of your energy. You are working at your bare minimum. I guess this has something to do with the fact that your friends are still alive… Anyway…]

Suddenly, her tone changed, into a serious, stricter one.

[Aiden, you need to go and absorb the sahuagin champion. Hopefully, the remaining essence inside its body will be enough… If not, you can only hope to gather enough through these charcoals you left laying all around.]

'What?!' Aiden yelled out mentally. 'How can I possibly do that? Although Lily is probably okay with it, I can't possibly show Drake and her sister what I am! Not to mention, in case you forgot, the system is still off. How could I absorb without the system?!'

[Aiden.] Enya responded with a sigh. [You do not need the system to do that. Your ability comes from you, not from the system. You should already be aware of what Primals are. In this case, the System only helped you to be able to feel and use your own trait. Even without it, you should be able to accomplish the task.]

[As for the two siblings, they shouldn't pose a problem at all. They are already part of your group, they wouldn't betray you, no matter if they find out the truth or not.] She continued, answering the second concern Aiden raised.

Listening to her, Aiden was shocked by the realization. She was right, he was a Primal, a true born one. The ability to absorb and assimilate is his own racial trait, not an ability, a skill he gained through the system. Even without it, he should be able to do it. However, as he was thinking about it, another issue came up. He couldn't help but ask out mentally.

'There is still one problem though… How will I know without the system if I have enough essences to create the new form? I can't just endlessly absorb the dead bodies, nor do I think that most of these have any use to me.' He asked as he glanced at the field of the black, formless remains. How could any life essence remain in them, what could he possibly gain from them?

To his raised worries, Enya's calming, soothing voice came almost instantly.

[You don't need to worry about that Aiden. For now, what you should focus on, is to assimilate the body of the champion. However, before you do that, make sure you take its core and keep it. You will need it for the quest.] 

Although his primary concern, the lack of knowledge about how he would be aware of the results was not answered, Aiden decided to trust his guide. He raised his head, looking ahead, where the large shark-headed sea creature was lying on the ground, torn into two halves. Its face contorted into an eternal fury, his unwillingness painted over its expression for all eternity.