27 (27) It wasn't that bad

After ending the conversation, Kraton started experimenting with the skill 'Hide', as well as his mentality about it, he multiple attempts to change it to a skill much closer to 'Camouflage' went in vain, instead, he tested the limits and attributes of the skill.

From this intensive testing, Kraton found that the skill could be used for roughly five minutes if he didn't move, however when moving about in the shadows in the same corner of the room, the duration halved. If he had to move much more, Kraton doubted that he could activate the skill for more than a minute. Furthermore, when moving around at a faster pace, it was much easier to locate him, this was because Kraton glimpsed himself as a large, bulky, and hazy shadow through the reflection from the cooled-down molten metal on the floor. Yet when he stopped moving, or only moved his hand slowly, it was almost impossible to tell that something as huge as Kraton was in the shadow.

To maximise the effectiveness of the skill and the flaws, Kraton planned to add ornamental features to the room, even going as far to make artificial stalagmites or random blocks of rock to cast shadows all over the room. But right now, he was too lazy to do that.

After a while of solitary training, Kraton became bored. Like all bored people, Kraton started drawing circles on the floor, but even after that, he still felt an insurmountable feeling of boredness coursing through his body, making him restless, pacing up and down the room.

Eventually, Kraton overcame his feeling of awkwardness and since Lysine invited him up, he might as well go.

*Stomp* *Stomp*

Kraton's heavy figure made his way up the cold stone stairs, his hands were rubbing against each other, sweating. He didn't know why, but he felt nervous when he approached the doorway.

"Is that meatloaf really that strong?"

"Didn't he beat all of you up?"

"That's different, it was plain up bullying. He's a boss, we're just regulars!"

The voices were carried over to Kraton quite clearly, he felt thankful that Lysine seemed to be helping him, but internally he was crying... He was called a meatloaf!

Kraton decided to activate the skill 'Hide', the room was dark enough to have shadows everywhere, so he might as well take the chance to see if he can creep up to other beings with the skill active.

"Hey Lysine, isn't that Kraton over there? I thought you said he wasn't coming." I young, sweet voiced made Kraton freeze. He had just walked through the doorway, staying close to the shadows by the wall yet he was already exposed. Even if they could see his massive shadow, surely that person won't be able to distinguish who it was... Right?

"Where?"

"He's by the door. Look right a bit, too much, left. *Sigh* Where the crack is, the big squiggly one."

Lysine looked in the direction where the voice was describing, however she really couldn't see Kraton. She peered closely and still found nothing, however when she was going to tell the Nagi to stop pulling her tail, Kraton suddenly appeared in that exact spot.

"Wait.. Kraton, were you using your skill? I couldn't find you at all"

Kraton had disabled his skill as he thought that he was already exposed, yet he didn't expect that Lysine hadn't seen him at all! It seemed that whilst staying still in the 'Hide' state in the shadows, it was truly difficult to notice him if even another Boss couldn't find him. But that made him question, how did the young Nagi find him...

"How did you see me?" He just looked at the general crowd of Nagas, unsure of who actually saw him.

"See, I knew it was him!" The sweet voice sounded excited and a familiar small Nagi came forward. "Thank you, um Boss.. King Kraton for letting Sister Lysine and us stay." The young Nagi hesitated when addressing Kraton unsure of how to call him.

Kraton didn't notice this, but he realised that this was the same Nagi that had pleaded to have mercy on Lysine.

"How did you see him when I couldn't?" Lysine questioned the Nagi in bewilderment.

"I.. just saw Boss Kraton's figure by the door, it was a bit blurry until just a moment ago, and then you could see him as well at that point.." The Nagi started to feel troubled herself. Lysine was far more powerful than her, yet she had seen Kraton before anyone else, even if it was slightly blurry she could still discern Kraton's features pretty well.

"I'll ask my friend something later, let's not worry about how you saw it yet. What's your name little Nagi?"

The young Nagi quickly glimpsed at Lysine, after seeing her encouraging smile, did she turn back to Kraton. "My name is Calea.." her voice was so quiet that she was almost whispering, after saying her name, she quickly slid back into the crowd, hiding from Kraton's sight.

A few Nagas laughed at the sight, it wasn't a mocking laugh but more of a reassurance for Calea, the swarm of Nagas seemed like a very close family. The only annoying thing about these Nagas that Kraton found was their serpentine accent. Calea only had a slight accent, less than the older Nagas but still more pronounced than Lysine. That might just be because she was still young though.

An hour and a bit passed, during this time, Kraton loosened up and somewhat got used to the Nagas' accent. He also found that they treated Lysine more like an older sister than a Queen, but still interchanged how they referred to her. The Nagas also started calling Kraton 'Brother Kraton' even though he repetitively told them just to call him by his name, or add 'Boss' in front for his title. This suggestion was met with a lot of snickering, albeit kind snickering.

Kraton actually had quite some fun on the third floor, talking and playing a few games. This was a new experience for him and it helped him realise how boring his life was before.

The time was already past 22.30 when Kraton and Lysine decided to go back down, they still needed sleep like other monsters.

"See, it wasn't so bad was it?" Lysine asked Kraton when they reached the 'Starry Corridor' as she called it.

Kraton grunted in reply, he wouldn't be a Boss if he dropped so low as to admit that. Lysine merely chuckled at this reply and left it as it was.

Kraton didn't actually clearly hear what Lysine asked, but was still pondering on how he was seen. Before Kraton went to sleep, he quickly typed a message to Psychi and dismissed the Data Rock straight after.

"Can you counter 'Camouflage' or similar skills? What about innate talents?"