Taboo (9)

In the world of Opholo, there were a set number of Taboos recognized across all nations.

One of them was a process called Aetherharvesting.

The process involved taking the aetherheart of any magic user, alive or dead, and absorbing its energy to make a user much stronger. The effects were based on the level of Aetherheart extracted.

Doing such a thing to a person when they were alive was extremely painful and would leave them dead or permanently crippled. Although it wasn't as effective as using aether crystals, it was incredibly useful in improving strength.

Because of the pain it causes and the desecration of bodies after extraction, it was labeled as a taboo by the Church of Light and accepted by 95% of all organizations.

Some people went against this taboo, and there were a couple of organizations that ignored it entirely, the most powerful two being the Blood Warlocks and House Creed.

House Creed had, since its founding years, always broken this taboo.

In fact, it was a family tradition that if the assassination target was a magic user, the aetherheart of the victim belonged to the killer by right. This was agreed upon with the client beforehand.

Darius had been brought up with these principles and felt nothing wrong from taking the aetherheart of his victims, as he was doing now to Levy.

Levy's aetherheart was a dark blue color in the form of a crystal, as all aetherhearts were. The power of the heart could be seen in its size, shape, energy within, and certain special effects it released. While an infused aetherheart was very beneficial to Darius, it wasn't as effective when used by someone with a resonant aetherheart.

Darius looted the camp for any lightweight valuables he could carry in his satchel, finding a total of 300 Serens and 15 Lumina Coins, filling it to the brim. Darius had been using the basic knives issued to Arathorian soldiers, which were mediocre at best.

One of the older soldiers had two daggers made from Arathorian steel, which wasn't the best quality, but it was the best he'd found so far. This soldier would have had to pay a lot for such weapons; the daggers beat the regular knives in nearly all aspects.

He returned to where his horse used to be but found out it had been cut free. One of the soldiers must have found it and gotten rid of it in case he escaped.

Darius sighed and started leaving the forest on foot.

--

In Eldermoor, Viscount Aldric Thornwood was inside his personal quarters on the top floor of the castle. His desk was filled with paperwork, but his focus was on something else entirely.

In one corner of the room stood a woman, draped in an expensive dark purple silk hooded robe, her figure leaning against the wall. Her face could not be seen, yet the viscount was sweating from fear in front of her.

"We provided your pathetic kingdom with the one item that counters House Creed, a family of dark users, and yet you can't kill their last member... an ascended aetherheart at 18 years of age. How utterly pathetic."

"M-ms Edith... please forgive me. The target awoke to his magical properties moments before his execution, and he... somehow escaped," said Aldric with a very shaky body. There was no arrogance or superiority in his tone before this girl who sounded a lot younger than him.

"Did you not consider his background? Imbecile, you should have killed him on the spot." The woman moved from her corner toward the table. Aldric knew what she looked like; they had met briefly before when Edith was assigned to the Arathorian kingdom.

No one took her seriously back then.

But Aldric didn't dare to look her in the eye now under that ominous hood.

"I really am sorry, Ms. Edith. We have an infused magical user hunting him down as we speak," Aldrich said hesitantly.

Edith appeared lost in thought, casting a heavy silence over the room

"Tell your king I will be meeting him soon. I heard he's having a rebellion problem, and it's been a while since I visited. Aldrich, you seem to be forgetting something." She turned around to walk out of his office but stopped as if waiting for something.

"Ah, yes, sorry... All hail the Whispering Circle." Aldrich stood up and said that sentence in a respectful manner.

The mysterious lady Edith then left without saying a word.

---

Darius had encountered some travelers along the road after about an hour of walking, whom he gave 20 Serens so that he could rest and travel in one of the wagons they had.

For the first time since awakening magic, Darius had the opportunity to explore his aetherheart, magical veins, and arteries, and the flow of his power.

To look inside one's body and perform any action on their magical pathways, a person had to be focused and in a meditative state. Some would kneel down, some cross their legs, some lay down, and some even did it standing up.

Darius discovered that he was most comfortable either cross-legged or lying down, a common practice.

Over the next few hours, Darius slowly learned to control the flow of his dark energy.

The words of his mentors rang in his ears; he was taught very young how to control magic he didn't even have.

His teachings were on the basic side, and most of the guidance was to get him started. True magicians forged their paths, including making personal abilities and growing independently. Darius assumed that was why Atlas didn't appear much

He already knew in a couple of hours his way around his body's magical pathways. Such things could take days for others.

He noticed that from the few times he'd used shadow blink, his body leaked magical power. The reason for this was because Darius forced the magical power through his body instead of guiding it.

Mastering the proper technique would reduce the magical energy required for the same moves by threefold, it would also prevent potential long-term harm to his body.

It would take some time getting used to, but he wouldn't have to worry about running out of magic within a few moves or killing himself slowly.

In the broad daylight, the aether particles were too weak for Darius to absorb, and the constant action had been weighing on his mind. In other words, he was tired.

One of the many perks of being a magician was the reduced need for sleep—only about 25% of a regular human's requirement, roughly around 2 hours. That was at the awakened stage; a resonant aetherheart didn't need any sleep at all, and it was only for enjoyment if they wanted.

So Darius focused on something else: Levy's aetherheart.