Alnea drifted in the Serenity of his Heart, searching for an answer that he knew he could not find. At least not yet. Maybe, one day, when he could grow enough to understand more of himself, grow enough to protect everything he cared about, then the answer would come to him on its own. Till then, all he could do was drift, and search, waiting for an opportunity to present itself.
The opportunity was not going to come anytime soon though, so after Alnea felt that his Spirit Power had recovered completely, he let go of the Serenity holding his consciousness. Yet, Serenity itself refused to leave him, clinging to him like Forne clung to Cecilia. Or maybe it was the other way around. The peace and calm of Serenity was just too addictive.
Letting out a light sigh, Alnea pushed himself from off the ground and stretched out a little, getting rid of the numbness in his limbs, before completing his daily chores. Going to toilet, brushing his teeth, getting a bath… By the time he was all done, he was feeling refreshed, and ready to face yet another day. It was not just any other day though. It was a very special day.
Taking deep breaths to adjust the State of his Heart, Alnea reached into his Storage pouch and took out the materials that he had purchased from the Blood Hall. Precious materials that could be exchanged only with Medals. It was not as if he was going to use those Medals anyway. Except for buying the Blood Martial Styles. That he had already exchanged a whole set of. As for the rest…
The Blood Glyphs, though useful in all kinds of situations, conflicted with the Glyphs he had already carved on his Spirit. And he could not use Arcanas created by others. He did buy a few of them for reference, and to expand his horizons, but that was not enough to exhaust even a quarter of the Medals he had collected. Rather than letting the Medals collect dust, it was better to use them to prepare for what he would have to face next. The Final Trial.
There was still no official announcement from the city, but when he went to conquer the Trials, both Wanderer Tia and Wanderer Daes had implicitly warned him, asking him to keep a low profile in the coming days. Even Wanderer Nubia had asked him to be careful. From how they had reacted, it seemed that the changes of the Lost City were not going to be just as simple as banning unofficial battles between Wanderers, and introducing a Final Trial. Unfortunately, their warnings had come a little too late.
Defending against a Blood Challenge on his very first day in the city, breaking records in the Trials a few days later, and then announcing the formation of their team within the Arena, not to mention fighting against the Wanderers of the Lotus clan—both openly, and secretly— he had always been the focus of gossip between Wanderers in one way or the other. And that was before he had conquered all the Trials, proving himself to be the best Wanderer in the Sixth Blood Hall. At least in terms of his foundation.
Alnea did not believe that the Lotus clan’s alliance and his potential competitors were not keeping an eye out for his information. His recent conquest of all the Trials of the Blood Hall must have also reached their ears. Along with the result of his teammates. Four Wanderers who were in the top ten ranks of all three Halls, and one who was in the top hundred ranks, with the rest also pushing into the top hundred ranks of at least one Hall…
The Star Seekers could no longer keep a low a profile even if they wanted to. Especially Alnea. The infamous Captain of the Star Seekers, and the most talented Wanderer to come to the Lost City in recent years, with a great probability of inheriting its legacy. Or so the rumours being spread around the city said.
Maybe the rumours had been innocent at first, spread by a word of mouth to praise his talent. As time passed though, the rumours began to go out of control. Of course, just some rumours by themselves could not hurt him much. The Lost City had always had all kinds of rumours flying around at all times. Even Zain had a few rumours about him, some of which were spread by himself. The problem was that the rumours were not exactly wrong.
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Star Seeker Alnea, the one chosen by the Lost City. Some said that he had already gained the city’s legacy, while others claimed that he was, in fact, a descendant of the city. A rumour further inflamed by his mysterious origin. That rumour was soon extinguished by the Lotus clan’s claims that he was just a civilian born under their jurisdiction, but how could the Lotus clan do him any favours?
Standing above all the Wanderers in his Blood Hall, despite being just an Advanced Stage False Wanderer. A Second Level Advanced Stage False Wanderer, to be exact. This talent… Maybe the rumours about him had been spread deliberately to make everyone wary of him. But that did not matter. When it came to the Lost City’s legacy, they did not dare to take any risks.
And so, just a couple of days after becoming the most talented Wanderer to come to the Lost City, Star Seeker Alnea also became the most hated Wanderer of the city. Well, not hated in the true sense. Still, he had been targeted by almost all of the Wanderers in the city. Or at least those who were planning to enter the inner city. And the core of the Orthodoxies, the leaders of the clans who were interested in the city’s legacy. Regardless, Alnea did not think he had any more friends in the city. At least not amongst his competitors.
After the rumours about him had spread, even those, who had been appreciative of his talent up until a few days ago, were bound to turn against him, let alone those who had been neutral in their position about him. There were already some Wanderers from other Districts, who had once invited him to visit their clans, clamouring to come test his talent in person. And if not for the news that the city might change its rules in the near future, they would have come to his doors long ago. Keeping a low profile? That was imp—
Alnea closed his eyes, subduing the restless thoughts surging in his Heart, before filtering them out, keeping only their essence, and then resolving the conflicts arising from the essence of those thoughts, bringing peace to his Heart. Although he had yet to truly gain Clarity, by facing his Heart, he had already gained some qualities of a Clear Heart. He was still some distance away from defeating the last shred of hesitation within himself though, so he gave up on clearing his Heart right away, and focussed on the materials in his hands instead.
Ten Low Grade Blood Crystals, ten Blood Leaves, a Black Sand Essence Crystal, three portion of Blood Sands, and one portion of Black Water. Just enough to create ten Blood Spirit Tears. A hybrid Glyph Token, made in the form of a consumable Glyph, but imbued with the profundities of Martial Styles. In essence though, it was still just a consumable Glyph carrier, made by perfectly combining all of its constituent materials, and then catalysing those materials to their greatest effect with Blood Crystal Pattern.
As such, when used, the Blood Spirit Tears could not only allow its users to defend against the attacks of their enemies, but could also restore their mental strength and Spirit Power to a certain extent. It was, after all, made from precious materials that could be exchanged only with Medals.
Such was the effect of the Blood Spirit Tears, that even amongst Glyph Tokens, it could be regarded be one of the very best of its Grade. Yet, the Blood Spirit Tears was just an accidental product from one of his experiments from trying to combine Blood Glyphs with Blood Martial Styles. Although his experiment had failed in the end, he had gained quite a few unexpected things in the process. The Blood Spirit Tears was just one of them.
Unfortunately, none of his creations were easy to make. Especially those stronger Glyph Tokens, that could defend against all attacks below the True Rank, or completely recover his Spirit Power and mental strength. Even when creating Blood Spirit Tears, one of the least valuable of his creations, he could succeed only one out of three times, let alone the more valuable Glyph Tokens.
Coupled with the incomparably precious resources used to make them, he could provide his teammates with only one Low Grade Blood Spirit Tears each. Just enough to defend against one full strength attack of an average Peak Stage False Wanderer. But that was only for his teammates. For the girls, who were his Heart, he was ready to splurge a little more. At the very least, he had to ensure that they would not get hurt in the Final Trial. Only then, would he rest easy. And only then, would he be able to fight without any worries.
