Chapter 17

The flight to menagerie was relatively short and uneventful. Although he spent the entire time on the ship grinding for levels for [Aura], he only managed to raise it by one.

It was frustratingly slow for him. Most people would want to kill him for thinking such a thing. The speed at which his control over his aura grew was too fast for anyone to believe it was normal.

As usual, Miko and Lisa had noticed him using his aura. Unlike before, they were now sure about what he was doing. His control of his aura had become more refined.

No more were the sluggish and rough flow. It was now replaced with more fluid rotations and flow. With the addition of Silva, they were shocked but for different reasons. Lisa and Miko because he hadn't had his aura unlocked for long and yet he could control it this much. His control nearly rivaled that of students from the top huntsman academy.

Silva was simply marveled at how much control he had at such a young and tender age. On many occasions he would look to Miko or Lisa for an explanation only to be given no answer.

There would be no point in asking Reid himself or he might not get the chance to observe him any more. It seemed like he wasn't going to be able to do that either because the moment the airship touched the ground, it was only a few seconds before Reid's eyes opened as he exited his trance.

"Alright everyone! We're here." Silva said, calling their attention and waking Ashton up. He looked around in confusion as he wasn't fully awake, evident by the fact that he didn't acknowledge Reid sitting in front of him as he looked around.

"What's going on?" He asked drowsily as he walked out of the ship after his father, Miko and Lisa, with Reid at the rear end.

"I thought you said we were there already. All I see are trees…and more trees." He continued, now more awake.

"We are just outside. We can't simply land in the middle of menagerie. That would only send the wrong impression." Silva spoke as he took out a few pieces of clothing he acquired from somewhere on board.

"Faunus hate humans so we can't simply waltz in like we own the place so be careful. Any form of suspicion will be recognized as hostility. Here out these on." Silva explained as distributed the pieces of clothing to everyone.

Upon receiving them, they realized that they were hooded cloaks and quickly put them on. Reid stayed silent throughout the conversation but his mother could literally sense his bad mood, especially when he pulled up the hood therefore shadowing his face.

She ruffled his hair through the hood, earning a look of confusion from him which she responded with a smile. His bad mood lessened a bit but not too much as they followed Silva who was leading them to their destination.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'If my memory serves right, there are a few main casts in menagerie. All of which I would like to avoid. Ghira should have stepped down from leading the white fang already meaning that the chances of encountering Blake are slim to none. Same with Adam and Ilia.'

It wasn't that he was afraid of messing up the 'future' knowledge he had by interfering. Truthfully, he didn't give a damn about any of it. It was just that he would like to avoid any unnecessary drama until he had acquired enough strength.

He had tried to figure out who it was that his mother wanted to meet here. Maybe with that he would have some peace of mind. For some reason he had a bad feeling about it.

'For now I need to focus on what's important. When I did the water walking and tree walking exercise I realized that aura works just like chakra but to what extent… According to remnant's knowledge, aura is a representation of the soul but to me it's simply a source of energy.' He went over this theory in his head many times.

'If it's a source of energy, then aura should work in the same way as Chakra, allowing me to recreate variety of ninjutsu. Genjutsu is an entirely different. It works by affecting the flow of chakra in your opponent so does that mean that it would manipulate their souls? This requires further research.' He spent a lot of time on this theory.

If he wanted to be strongest, he couldn't do that by relying solely on the normal usage of aura. It was enough to be strong but what he wante- no, what he needed…was absolute strength!

He didn't notice that while in this train of thought, his aura leaked a bit, shrouding him in a thin layer of dark purple that warded people away. While in his thoughts, he also didn't notice that they were already in menagerie.

The weird looks they received were normal. After all you would be a bit weirded out if you saw five cloaked figures walking around. The looks became more apparent after Reid's aura leak.

Miko, Lisa and Silva's faces were dead serious as they obviously felt it. Ashton was intimidated for a few moments as he couldn't stop himself from shivering. His slowed and unsteady steps were a testament to his fear.

The Faunus around him weren't doing much better as they were all frozen in place, some on their knees and some were even foaming at the mouth.

Miko quickly put a hand on Reid's shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts and dissipating the aura. The oppressive feeling disappeared as they all felt relief. Ashton let out a breath of relief he didn't know he was holding.

'That level of aura isn't strong enough to scare a huntsman or a well groomed fighter but…' Miko thought.

'…to them, it felt like they were about to die. If what Miko tells me is correct, he shouldn't have had it unlocked for long yet it was strong enough to knock out a few Faunus…' Silva continued her train of thought, looking around at a few fainted Faunus and the few in between them who were busy throwing up their breakfast.

'But…what is that dark power I felt. It wasn't strong but I felt it. It's darker than anything I've ever felt!' Silva thought, more than just a little bit agitated.

He looked to Miko only to see that she had also sensed it but was also as clueless about it as he was.

"Let's get out of here." Miko said urgently, taking hold of the situation. She took off at a decent speed that they could all follow. This time they didn't walk on the normal roads, instead, choosing to follow the dark corners and alleys until they were quite a distance from the scene of the event.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We should be safe for now as long as that doesn't repeat itself." Miko said, everyone looking at Reid pointedly. He had by now figured out what happened from Ashton's rambling and had the decency to look away.

They silently exited from the shadowy dark street into one of the public streets. This time they tried to be inconspicuous but that was hard when you were fully cloaked.

"The place we're going is right around the corner but I need to make a quick stop first." Miko said, moving to a fruit juice stand.

Reid looked at his mother with a sigh. She always had a soft spot for fruit juice, especially mango. If what she said about coming here a lot was true then he might have just found what caused her to be so taken in by it.

Just as he was about to join her at the stand, he suddenly stepped back as a blade sliced through his previous position. His attacker wasted no time in following up with more slashes. His attacker was a child's size but still bigger than him.

Ducking under a slash aimed at his head, he threw a punch at their stomach, sending them flying back. Unfortunately, as he sent his opponent flying back, they grabbed his cloak as he flew, taking it along with him. Without it, he was now exposed.

"Humans!" The crowd around gasped as they shuffled back in fear and shock.

"I knew it! Filthy humans! What are you doing in menagerie!?" This came from his attacker, who Reid couldn't help but curse as he took a good look.

'Why now of all times?' He asked in exasperation. He recognized his attacker. Short red hair with horns, blue eyes…eye. His left eye looked like a burning stamp was used on it. Clearly written on it was 'SDC'.

'How could I not recognize him…Adam Taurus!' Reid thought in frustration as he readied himself to fight.