Chapter 302: Next Steps
Being mocked after what happened was infuriating.
It was frustrating since Kai couldn’t get his hands on the Ending of Impersonation. His fury had no way to be vented, and that was a feeling that had no equal. Burning ants crawled inside his veins, turning his skin reddish.
All he could do was scream and curse.
Fortunately, his attempt to locate the Ending of Impersonation wasn’t to no avail.
[You don’t have enough usable exp to enter the Ending of Impersonation’s domain.]
[It would cost 50,000 usable exp to locate and enter the Ending of Impersonation’s domain.]
Kai stared at the notifications and frowned.
"It cost one hundred usable exp to enter Kaelmorath’s domain, and yet it costs fifty thousand to enter this damn Ending of Impersonation’s domain? I can’t believe it. Does the gap between its strength and Kaelmorath’s that wide?’ Kai gasped in shock, but then shook his head. "No—must be because it wasn’t letting me locate and enter its domain. That’s why it was expensive."
Frankly, having more than thirty thousand usable exp made Kai feel rich.
Now, it didn’t seem like thirty thousand was anything much.
"I’ll come back." Kai rose to his feet again and glared at the darkness ahead, blood still slowly dripping from his chin. "I’ll certainly make sure you pay for this. And when the time comes, I will make sure your death is painful."
Kai returned to Perion’s side.
He crouched beside the wounded golem, but now, the scars no longer made him flinch.
Anger had overtaken the soft part of his heart, and now the scars only made him angrier.
"Soon, very soon, the time will come when we return what happened today to that thing." He said with a low but determined voice. "I promise you that, but for now, you should rest and recover. Tell me when anything happens."
Perion’s eyes flickered—it was the gesture that replaced his nod as he was too exhausted.
Kai rose to his feet again and waved his hand.
Beside him, the group rippled. A pool of shadow spread outward like spilled ink, and then it rose, sculpting itself into a figure of pure muscle and strength. Kaelmorath emerged from the darkness.
His presence was heavy, pressing against the domain like a second gravity.
Realizing where he was, he quickly retracted his aura.
"Protect Perion until he heals properly," Kai commanded. "Let nothing else touch him."
Kaelmorath inclined his head, a slow, deliberate gesture, and then turned his gaze toward the wounded golem. He had never seen Perion before, but since Kai cared about this golem, this must be another Nightborn on Kai’s side.
Summoning Kaelmorath here meant Kai couldn’t call upon him in the waking world.
A sacrifice that he had already accepted.
Moreover, as the Red Prince, he should have no need for such summons anyway.
Kai stepped back and let the darkness take him. The House of Night released its hold, and his consciousness surged upward, through the black and the silence—until the world behind his closed eyes began to shift.
Once he opened his eyes again, he was back in his bedroom.
He breathed and stared at the ceiling.
Inside the bedroom, the air was cool, still touched by the last vestiges of the night.
Dawn hadn’t yet broken, but the sky outside the window was beginning to soften—the deep black fading into a muted blue. Kai inhaled deeply, stuffing his lungs with the fresh morning air, and turned his head to the side.
He frowned when he saw the space beside him was empty.
Matilda was gone—probably already slipped back to her own room while he slept.
Even the sheets no longer held the warmth of her body, so she must’ve left quite a while ago.
Kai sat up groggily, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, and pressed his palms against his face. He rubbed the weariness from his eyes and collected his thoughts. Only after several minutes of stillness did he lower his hand.
He was about to rise but stopped when he noticed something beside the bedside table.
A weapon was leaning against the wall, waiting for him.
It was familiar—achingly so. The length, the curve, the weight of it. His scimitar.
Matilda had been busy while he slept. She had created it again as he requested.
Either way, it was here now, and the sight of it curled his lips a little.
Kai reached for the scimitar and settled down on the edge of the bed again. His fingers closed around the hilt, and the weapon felt like an extension of his own arm. It was the weapon that had accompanied him through several crossings near the border of death.
He turned to the bedside table and called for the darkness.
It answered readily as the room was still wrapped in total darkness.
And then—he watched the darkness pool on the bedside table, forming into a chalice filled with crimson liquid. Kai held the scimitar horizontally before him, and with his other hand—he grabbed the chalice and poured the blood across the entire length of the blade.
Like a living thing, the metal drank it in and hummed softly.
Slowly, the edge began to shift—the dull grey steel flared, turning a deep, vicious red.
It was the Chalice of Orestes the First Victim doing its magic, imbuing the scimitar with the strength of a king and the fatal curse that killed him. Kai could feel it becoming heavier in his grip until the Blood-phantom Scimitar was reborn again.
Kai lowered the blade to his side and commanded the darkness once more.
It now rose from beside him, climbing and sculpting something.
Once it finally receded, a red mask lay waiting on the bed—the Red Mask of the Avenger.
"Now how am I going to do this?" Kai thought aloud, rubbing his chin.
Considering how useful this red mask would be during hunting, Kai wanted to wear it at all times, but he already had a mask—the mask of the red prince. He lifted the red mask and stared at it for a long moment, deliberating on how to proceed.
"Maybe I can stack them?"
Kai stood up and went to take his other mask.
Since the dragon mask was bigger, he decided to wear the red mask first. But the moment he tried to wear the dragon mask on top of it, he realized how stupid it would look. He’d have a thick face from the side, uneven, too.
Just as he was about to think about it later after he freshened up, he noticed blood.
His fingers were smeared red.
"Hm?" Kai set the dragon mask aside and inspected the red mask more closely. He rubbed its surface with his thumb, and his frown deepened as it softened, slowly turning to liquid under his touch. "Maybe that’s how it works. Let me try."
Kai placed the dragon mask on his lap, and then suspended the red mask above it.
He squeezed the mask, feeling the material turning more liquid.
And then, it broke.
Crack—!
Kai watched as the red mask melted into blood, pooling on the inside of the dragon mask.
To his surprise, the inside of the dragon mask that was black now began to change. Blood-red crept across it with deliberate slowness, like blood seeping into cloth. But it did not only stain. The blood was absorbed—becoming one with the dragon mask’s inner layer as if it had always belonged there.
He tried wearing it and felt no wetness.
In fact, the dragon mask now fit his face better, which was a great feeling.
Kai slipped the dragon mask from his face—and placed it on the bedside table. He rose from the bed and crossed the room to the window. Outside, the world was still draped in darkness; the main street was visible only as a faint ribbon winding between the silhouettes of trees.
Such a quiet and calming morning.
One that solely belonged to the hour before dawn.
He rested his hands on the windowsill and breathed deep, filling his lungs with clean air that carried the faint scent of leaves, morning dew, and the unmistakable aromatic scent of the Red Ox Leaves.
It was a small thing for people on the surface.
But for him, this was a luxury.
Kai had spent months in that basement room, breathing cramped air and surrounded by dull stone walls that seemed to close in tighter with every passing day. Now, he had big windows. Real windows. Ones that could be opened and let the world in.
Just then, a frown creased his brow.
"I can breathe... fine?"
A frown creased his brow. He could somehow breathe easily despite wearing no mask and the windows being open, and he could also feel the fresh air flowing in, untainted by the usual suffocation that seemed to be ever-present in the First Sky.
He contemplated for a moment.
Must be because there was a dome surrounding the Red Prince’s neighbourhood.
Kai didn’t think too much about it.
Naturally, as the pearls of Eventide Academy, the ones who would bring the academy’s name higher—their living quarters were the most comfortable. No need to change the Ox Leaves as other Angels normally do.
Not anymore.
Kai filled his lungs again and let the air settle him, grounding his thoughts in the presence.
He deliberated his next steps.
A list unspooled in his mind with each item demanding attention.
First was the hunting. He needed usable exp—before he could help Perion by taking out the Ending of Impersonation. And this should be easy enough to do. As the Red Prince, one of his privileges was gaining access to a few hunting spots.
One being the Lair of the Small, an exclusive cultivated cloud exclusive to Red Princes.
And the other is the Barbarian Hold, a domesticated White Sky Gate.
A domesticated Sky Gate is basically a gate that was kept deliberately open as the Star Beasts in it yield valuable materials or are good as training partners for Supernals. In this case—Kai suspected it was the latter.
Either way, it was a place where he could gather usable exp quickly and efficiently.
Second was the Heart of Dragon.
Last night, he had forgotten to absorb it as he was too consumed by his newfound strength as an Aspirant Supernal, and also too distracted by the fact that Bree and Matilda were going to move in with him.
Now, the Heart of Dragon was still in the box on the second floor.
Kai needed to absorb it soon.
As for the third item on the list was training his new powers.
His Deep Slumber had now become the advanced version, and his body was still not used to the power of an Aspirant Supernal rank. Doing this would take time. Perhaps even months, as the Primordial Locks inside him needed to be consolidated—and then synchronized perfectly with his new body.
It was a slow, painstaking process, but necessary.
Power without control would only be an accident bound to happen.
But above all of it, there was one thing that was most urgent.
"I better not postpone that."