Chapter 86: The Missing Weapon

‘You can’t go around poking eyes with those claws!!’

I screamed silently in my mind.

No matter how important it was to keep my status hidden, there was no way I could let a baby dragon gouge the original protagonist’s eyes.

So, I approached Yor, who was floating behind Reysir, grabbed his finger, and shook my head.

Then, I gently stroked the tail of the baby dragon covered in soft fur.

“Ok…? Lfōt!”

Yor made a curious sound for a moment but soon showed a reaction of understanding.

Just because I poked Reysir’s eye with my finger didn’t mean he had to mimic it exactly.

He understood that using his tail to cover the eye was another way.

Yor might be a wise dragon, but since he was still a baby, I had to remind myself he could be clumsy at times.

“Karvald..? What are you doing with Yor?”

Reysir asked in a voice full of curiosity.

In this world, ignorance could be bliss in many situations, and nearly getting Reysir to shed tears of blood because of Yor was definitely one of those moments.

So, after exchanging glances with Yor, I quickly fabricated a lie.

“It seemed like Yor was worried about me, so I was calming him down.”

“LFLF!”

Yor nodded eagerly and, wrapping his long body around me, even rubbed his head against me.

A performance with every ounce of effort.

Reysir, without a hint of doubt, spoke words to reassure Yor.

“Don’t worry. It’s been a whole ten years since I obtained Silver Ethere, so there’s no way I’d take the wrong path and hurt my master.”

The key wasn’t how long Silver Ethere had occupied Reysir’s mind. It was the fact that he was the original protagonist.

A protagonist who confidently steps up to help but ends up causing great harm by mistake?

That kind of scenario doesn’t exist in web novels—unless the protagonist is some sort of troll.

Though Yor wouldn’t know the rules of web novels, since I wasn’t worried, he must have instinctively sensed this wasn’t a dangerous situation.

Since I never actually worried, Yor let go of me obediently.

Reysir thanked Yor for trusting him.

“Since Yor seems reassured, let’s get started.”

After so many lies since I possessed this body, I was too used to it to feel guilty for just one more.

So, I lightly spoke another falsehood, turned my back, and sat in front of Reysir.

I could feel someone playing with the hair of the possessed body—the protagonist of someone else’s novel.

“Why are you suddenly touching someone else’s hair?”

“I had to put my hands on your back, but your hair was covering it, so I had no choice.”

I accepted that explanation. It was indeed unavoidable.

Although I had tied this body’s hair up high, it was still long.

“By the way, your hair is amazing! So thick and curly, yet incredibly soft! Do you take good care of it?”

Surprisingly, no.

I only realized after coming to the Academy, where I couldn’t have servants to manage my hair, that this possessed body’s hair was always soft and glossy without special care.

Perhaps it was because Karvald Austri’s appearance was set to that refined, noble gentleman style.

Of course, I couldn’t explain that to Reysir.

Silently, I freed the possessed body’s hair from his hands, split it in half, and draped it over both shoulders.

“Alright, now we’ll really begin.”

Just as Reysir’s voice turned serious, I felt two palms press against my back through the training uniform.

I closed my eyes immediately and observed the inside of this body I now wore.

Through Reysir’s left palm, I felt his Aether flowing in.

The unfamiliar Aether intrusion triggered the Purple Aether to reflexively raise its defenses, trying to expel the foreign energy.

But consciously, I held the Purple Aether tightly to the core.

This allowed Reysir’s Aether to flow without any interference, traveling up the spine and entering the head.

Focusing on the long stream of energy entering, it felt as if its trajectory was being imprinted onto this body.

It seemed my body would remember without me needing to consciously memorize it.

As I pondered that, Reysir’s Aether swirled around a single point in my mind.

This movement told me the core was located right there.

After circling the upper Dantian about three times, the front of the energy stream changed direction.

Instead of continuing inside the head, it traveled down the neck, along the back, and finally flowed into its owner’s right hand.

At that moment, the inflow from Reysir’s left hand stopped abruptly, and a tail formed at the end of the energy line.

I took out Sky-Blue Aether from the core located below my navel and followed that tail.

Then, I introduced the Sky-Blue Aether into the place Reysir had identified as the core.

Since the original protagonist had directly offered to help, the result was naturally successful.

The Sky-Blue Aether settled safely inside the core.

Not long after, all of Reysir’s Aether that had entered the body drained away.

The hand that had touched my back also pulled away.

With the Purple Aether no longer restless from the foreign presence, it became much easier to send Sky-Blue Aether up to the head.

Still, I didn’t hastily increase the flow or speed.

I focused on steadily moving a suitable amount of Sky-Blue Aether at an appropriate speed, filling the mental vessel.

Until there was no more energy left in the lower Dantian.

‘The amount is… about half of the total Purple Aether?’

Until now, even when practicing to get used to Sky-Blue Aether, I had only carefully extracted small amounts from the Purple Aether.

This was the first time I’d confirmed just how much Sky-Blue Aether I possessed.

It was disappointing but inevitable.

After all, the only Aether the original owner and I had been able to cultivate was Purple Aether.

So it was natural the amount of Sky-Blue Aether was small.

‘Still, according to Reysir, circulating Aether all the way to the head improves cultivation efficiency…!’

I decided to go all out and circulate the Sky-Blue Aether.

I drew out the energy from the upper Dantian and sent it down the path Reysir’s Aether had traveled through the neck.

Then, following the original circulation path, I moved it back up near the neck, and used the path it first took to the head to return it to the upper Dantian.

Making a larger loop than usual, I was reluctant to stop training immediately, so I circulated the Aether once more.

Following the Korean custom of ‘three tries’, I circulated it one more time, completing three rotations.

With a long exhale, I slowly opened my eyes.

If this novel had been a martial arts story, the effect of opening a new meridian would have expelled accumulated poison, making the air stink.

Thankfully, 《Nase》 was a fantasy novel, so no such misfortune occurred.

Though I had sweated before starting the Sky-Blue Aether transfer, meaning I had to wash anyway, at least I didn’t stink in front of others.

“Finally done?!”

As I felt relieved that the author Senna had selectively borrowed only convenient elements from martial arts novels for this fantasy world, I heard Reysir’s voice.

It sounded genuinely happy.

Plus, using the word ‘finally’ made his meaning clear.

“How long has it been?”

“About four hours.”

“What time is it now…?”

“It’s 2 AM.”

“…We’ve passed dormitory curfew.”

Looks like I won’t be able to go back until dawn.

In other words, no sleep for me tonight.

Sure, I could sleep on the personal training hall floor, but without a blanket or sleeping bag, lying on the bare floor would only leave me stiff and sore.

Better not to sleep at all.

“Why were you waiting here until this hour? You should’ve gone back to the dorm first.”

“Eh~, that would be too heartless.”

“I never asked for your kindness.”

“Alright, alright. Setting that aside, I wanted to check the results of what I helped with—does that sound reasonable?”

“……”

It was genuinely reasonable, so I couldn’t come up with a counterargument.

***

When I closed my mouth with a displeased expression, Reysir asked another question to lend credibility to what he had just said.

“By the way, how is it? Can you now freely draw on Sky-Blue Aether?”

Since I had drawn out the energy from the upper Dantian and circulated it, I could have answered yes immediately.

But I didn’t.

I drew Sky-Blue Aether from the upper Dantian and sent it down through my torso, releasing it through my palm.

Then, I created a small thundercloud about the size of two fists combined.

“It’s easier to draw Aether now, so using abilities is much smoother.”

Though pleased, I couldn’t help but frown.

It had taken a considerable amount of energy just to make such a small cloud.

Knowing the total amount of Sky-Blue Aether was so insignificant made the expenditure feel even greater.

‘With the Aether I currently have, I could only make a cloud covering the entire training hall ceiling and make it rain for about 30 minutes, tops.’

That thought suddenly reminded me of something.

Yor could make it rain over half the Academy grounds for over 10 minutes.

So just how much Aether does my baby dragon possess?

‘In Korean-style fantasy novels, dragons are often depicted as masters of magic, overflowing with mana… Although 《Nase》 uses the term Aether instead of mana, it’s basically the same thing.’

I once again admired the greatness of dragons and cast a glance at Yor.

Suddenly, Reysir complained.

“Oh, right!! Speaking of your familiar, I took off my blindfold for a moment, and it suddenly hit me in the eye with its tail?!”

“……”

There must have been a communication error.

I touched Yor’s tail to signal that he should cover my eyes, but apparently, he interpreted it as permission to hit them.

Still, I could fully understand Yor’s violent reaction.

“Mya-mya-malk!!”

Yor was fiercely protesting while pointing at the Yeouiju in his hand.

Judging by that, Reysir must have tried to use the [Truth-Reading Eye] skill to examine the Yeouiju.

That made sense.

Since the Yeouiju was an unknown item even to me, Yor’s sensitivity was justified.

But now that this trouble had happened, I wondered if the old saying ‘ignorance is bliss’ really applied here.

Maybe I should instead live by ‘knowledge is power.’

“You have to understand. Yor is only about two months old as a baby familiar to Reysir. Seeing me poke your eye made him want to imitate me. You should be glad he hit you with his soft tail instead of his sharp claws, and avoid taking off your blindfold from now on.”

“So you’re basically saying that me poking your eye was the cause of this?!”

“I’ve already apologized for that, so I won’t repeat it.”

“Why do you get to decide that??”

Though his face was full of dissatisfaction, I ignored it and stood up.