—Before rats appear
Darkness… Pure lightless darkness. This was what filled Aries's vision, from left to right, up and down, was pure black. He could only rely on his sense of smell and vibration.
'Will it work?'
'Bright Eyes.'
Light gathered in Aries's eyes and fused with them. Quickly, his vision returned, and her could see as perfectly as before, maybe slightly better with the effects of Bright Eyes.
'Wonderful.'
Then, he deactivated Bright Eyes, causing darkness to return to his vision, and also deactivated the ability that made him blind, invisibility.
With this ability, he could go invisible by making light pass through him, but doing this also made him blind because no light reached his eyes. Luckily, Bright Eyes counteracted this side effect; he just had to manage his chi properly, which should not be a problem due to his endless amount of experience.
He had many techniques that allowed him to use his chi more efficiently than even high-ranking foes.
Once he finished testing his abilities, he turned to a specific bush.
"If you're going to spy, don't be so obvious about it. Come out."
It was silent.
Then… Rustle. Rustle. Rustle.
Three abnormally large, monstrous rats walked out of the bush, growling as they did.
Aries stared at the three monster rats before him with a blank expression.
"..."
Then…
All three of the rats lunged at him, claws bared.
Aries lifted his disguise partially, revealing his fangs and claws. He blocked the first two rats while charging up a breath attack. Golden liquid formed in his mouth, spinning like a vortex. He then fired the breath at the at the last rat, holding back just enough to knock it back, but not to pierce it.
After this, he leaped back, leaving the rats side by side a fair distance away.
Squeak! Squeak!
The rat that got shot squeaked in pain and clawed at its throat. Then, its eyes turned bloodshot.
'Is it working?'
The red-eyed rat began foaming at the mouth and attacked the other two rats. It was like a mad beast without concern for its safety.
It grabbed the rat closest to it and bit down on its neck. The rat that got bitten clawed at the red-eyed rat, but it didn't stop and tore out a piece of the rat's neck. The second rat jumped onto the red-eyed rat's back and plunged its claws into its eyes.
Screech!
The red-eyed rat screamed in pain but still didn't stop. It grabbed the second rat's leg with its mouth, it bit down, and tore it off.
Blood splashed everywhere as the three rats fought, Aries watching the whole thing.
'It actually worked.'
Aries had always wondered if the Desire Toxin could target specific desires, but he had nothing to test it on, but these rats gave him the perfect test subjects.
While charging Desire Toxin into his breath attack, Aries focused on increasing the desire to eat and to kill, while decreasing the desire for one's own safety, making the rat that got struck attack and eat everything around it without backing down.
After a while, two of the rats were dead, while the last one—the red-eyed one—was mangled and on the verge of dying, but it still tried crawling towards Aries, growling.
Aries looked down at the rat, which was now a mangled blob of flesh with an indifferent expression. Then, He charged a breath attack with Light Guide and fired it, killing the last rat and burning the bodies.
After doing so, he redid his disguise and returned to looking completely human.
'Alright something supernatural is going on in Lios, i'll need to investigate. The thing is though, is the reason behind the increasing rats the same as why they are mutating? Or has the increased number of rats just made it more apparent?'
Sigh…
'Whatever it is, I need to find out. Where are rats most prominent In Lios?'
He thought for a moment before coming to a decision.
'Right. The slums.'
He let out a long sigh as he realized this.
'I'll need to visit the backstreets, but how do I do that without worrying my parents? Do I just sneak off? No that'll worry them more.'
Scratching his head, he began walking out of the forest.
"Aaah, I'll think of something later."
*
— Dominire Home, Backyard.
"Alright."
Aries put on a black headband, which he used to keep his hair from his face.
'It's annoying to constantly have to move my hair while training.'
Now that he had finished training and testing his abilities, he planned on continuing his sword training, but before that, he had to ask something of his father.
He had a lot of time to reflect and look back on what he was missing during his training before.
'Fundimentals, I'm lacking in fundamentals.'
He originally thought that he could pick up on the technique and fundamentals just by watching alone but he was wrong. He had always had a talent for mystical things and had also been using it for a long time, but that didn't mean he would also be talented with the sword.
That said, Aries did feel that he was more talented than an average person, but that was not enough to do what he was trying to do. Therefore, he planned on getting his father to teach him at least the fundamentals.
'I'm not too sure if he will though. Maybe I can try to find a book in the library if he refuses.'
He grabbed his wooden training sword and turned to enter the house to look for his father. Instead of seeing the door, Aries hit his head on something hard, causing him to hold his nose and take a step back.
Looking up, it was his father— with his hair in a bun— who had walked out.
"Oh sorry! Are you okay?"
His father knelt down to check if he was okay.
"Yeah I'm fine."
With his [Null] Body, Aries wasn't truly damaged, but it hurt quite a bit. His father was abnormally hard, it was like he hit a brick wall.
"Actually, I was just going to look for you dad."
"Hmm? What is it?"
"I wanted to ask if you could teach me the fundamentals of swordsmanship."
His father's eyes widened in surprise, as if he hadn't expected to hear this now of all times.Then, a smile beamed on his face.
"What a coincidence!"
"What?"
"I was looking for you for just that!"
"Wait, what!?"
Aries took a step back with genuine shock.
"But—"
"I know, I know. 'You've always refused before, so why now?' Is that what you want to ask?"
Aries nodded.
"To be honest, even though you asked me so much times before, I just thought you were too young, but now that you are six and have taken training into your own hands…"
He said pointing at the sword in Aries's hands.
"...I have decided to train you. But!"
"But what?"
"The trip is next week, so I only have a week to train you personally, but I am preparing gifts for you that should help in your training while we're gone."
"Why can't I come…"
Aries looked at his father with puppy eyes.
Despite his already cute appearance, to the point of people sometimes confusing him for a girl, even more so after becoming [Null], his father didn't budge.
"No! It's too dangerous for a young child like you, I hope you never have to go to that place anytime in your life."
His father was stern, but Aries understood the reasoning.
Every 6 months, his father and mother left on a trip for one week, sometimes a half or even full week extra. During that time, he would stay with the Lorels till they came back.
While he didn't know where they went, they were always hurt or healing when they came back. They once said it was a place where many dangerous animals roamed, so he could understand why they didn't want their son going with them, and he couldn't exactly tell them about his powers.
Sigh…
'I'll just have to make due with the week I have with him, I can train more when they come back. I just hope they come back safely.'
"I understand…"
Aries said dejectedly.
"Good."
Aries's dejection did not last long though, his expression quickly became excited and he jumped around.
"When can we start? Can we start now? Can we? Can we?"
"Alright, alright. Since we have limited time we'll begin right now."