Shadowy figure

The first reason why Sebian gave Aina the order he gave, was to track down whoever was responsible for planting that bug in her soul. Because if someone went for such lengths to bend Aina to his will, he was bound to check the situation out once she would no longer act as expected.

But there was one thing that the alchemist stupidly failed to fit into the schedule. Given how he lacked even a shadow of cultivation right now, he was unable to drive his force, and as such, unable to brew any pills or potions at all. Without the ability to control flames at the very least, even brewing the simple materia prima would prove to be quite challenging. And with Sheeren already tasked with enough jobs to fill his plate for the next few days, the alchemist could take any time out of his schedule either.

Due to this unfortunate haste, Sebian couldn't prepare some pills for himself in advance. Without even this basic support for his growth, he had no other choice but to waste all those precious hours doing nothing but passive body training.

'I wonder how long it will take him to appear…' After tailing the girl to where she lived, Sebian lodged himself quite comfortably in a random corner. Covering his body with one of his rugs, he looked no different from any other homeless person on the street.

At first, this was a nice moment of respite. Under the thick fur of the strong beasts that succumbed to his curse, no cold could endanger the alchemist. Even when it started raining after an hour or so, the water couldn't find a single gap to wet Sebian's skin. And no matter the coldness and rain, Sebian continued to slowly tense up his muscles, only to relax them right after.

With all the great perks that came with his properly fresh body, there were quite a lot of downsides as well. Lack of muscle memory included.

Sebian still knew how to fight. Given a spear or a sword, he could easily make a short work even of experts early in their second dimension of cultivation. But once all the other factors of greater strength, swiftness, perception of an advanced cultivator would come to play, the alchemist's chances would quickly diminish.

That's why, for several hours, Sebian would tense his muscles in a specific order, as if replicating the way that his body should behave in specific scenarios. Without strength behind his actions, his skin only vibrated slightly. Yet to a surprise for anyone who has yet to try this kind of training, after just a few minutes worth of practice Sebian's body was soaked in sweat.

Without the ventilation from the movement or a way to release the strength by actually moving the body, both heat and stress quickly amassed in the alchemist's body. Once Sebian would reach his limit, he would give himself just a bare minimum of rest before starting the entire procedure over.

Thanks to this, by the time a sudden movement on a nearby roof attracted Sebian's attention, his muscles managed to recover a small part of their former might. Just a small part, yet for the next few days, it should suffice.

The figure on the roof quickly sneaked forward, proving that they had some kind of strength, to begin with. Avoiding the spots of light and making use of the shadows, the figure moved forward in a strange dance, clearly aimed at hiding his whereabouts. 'Such an amateur…' The greatest and most shocking truth behind playing the game of hide and seek didn't lay in moving unseen. The true might of stealthiness appeared when one was capable of walking in the open, yet erasing his presence to the point no one would ever notice him.

Sadly, that kind of skill was way out of the current set of Sebian's abilities. Without the cultivation and only first step on the path of body refinement, Sebian was just too clumsy to pull such an advanced technique off.

'I need to get stronger as soon as possible.' Watching as the dark figure finally reached the window of Aina's place, Sebian's muscles tightened up. Right now, he was ready to charge forward at any given notice. Instead of trying to pull off a sneak attack, he could only lay all his chips on the frontal attack. Only by appearing right in the dead spot of the assassin's vision could he have any hopes at successfully taking him down.

But even after a few moments, the destined time didn't come.

Taking a few moments to peek through the window, the shadowy figure ultimately didn't bother intruding. Simply dancing through the shadows away, it soon disappeared in the darkness of the night.

'I guess that's it for tonight.' With the shadowy figure now gone, Sebian quickly changed back to his usual attire before leaving the scene. In the middle of the night, the streets were no longer as busy as they were during the day, allowing him to promptly return to the apothecary shop. Even though his body was pained all over after his prolonged session of motionless training, Sebian was set on pushing all his matters forward.

'Work hard early to live easy later.' Repeating his beloved maxim under his breath, Sebian quickly appeared before the doors of the shop. Looking back at the street, the alchemist quickly forced his head back to the front.

'There is no need to worry about her. That figure… He was not a pushover, meaning, he is not an idiot either.' Even though Sebian was already sure that this place was an entirely different world, human nature appeared to be exactly the same. With that in mind, outside of some outward differences, everything about human interactions was bound to be the same. And since his enemy couldn't be an idiot, then he was likely to fall into the trap of every smart person in the world.

'Now, while you guys will overthink everything,' pushing the doors open, Sebian entered the packed insides of the shop. In the short few hours that he was away, Sheeren managed to stuff the entire place full of boxes. Even now, he was dealing with some people, passing bags and papers around. 'I will set the founding stone for your graves!'