The Weakest F-Rank Who Breaks the System

Unedited*

"Don’t move..." Lucius whispered, sensing danger. "They haven’t noticed us."

In fact, the humanoid shadows moving through the mist never once turned or focused their attention on them.

They simply ran in a straight line as if they were chasing or fleeing from something—but it was neither.

Lucius felt an intense curiosity about what was happening. He had a strong urge to get closer, but in the end, he decided to stay put.

The danger passed after he saw more than a dozen of those humanoid shadows disappear into the mist.

"W-what were those things?" Clara asked, frightened.

Lucius straightened his back and looked for a suitable place to sit down and process his new mana mark.

"We won’t be leaving here for now," he said, leading them to a nearby area of the mountain where he sat down and processed the mana mark.

Less than 15 minutes later, he stood up.

"Let’s see what that is," he said.

"See what?" protested the Aeon as he looked in the direction Lucius was walking. "You’re not planning on chasing after those creatures, are you? Let me tell you, they’re really dangerous. They’re strong and have peculiar abilities. Even I’m powerless against them."

"That’s because you don’t know how to use your powers," Lucius replied casually.

The Eon was stunned. "Huh? What nonsense did you just say?"

"Don’t you know?" Lucius turned to look at him. "An ownerless Eon is barely using a fraction of its total power. Often, it’s not even 50 percent."

The Eon’s "eyes" blinked several times in obvious confusion.

He didn’t have the slightest idea.

"Tsk, you’re quite the rookie Eon if you don’t know that," Lucius scoffed.

"Bastard, who are you calling a rookie?!" The Eon lunged toward him.

Lucius poked him with his finger. "Obviously, you."

Although the Aeon wanted to protest again, he couldn’t, because just then they came upon the footprints left by those humanoid shadows.

"Feet the average size of a human, and limbs also large enough to belong to a human. Its torso is like that of a human, but its aura... is anything but human."

Lucius looked at the Aeon. "Have you ever seen them face-to-face?"

"Several times."

"What do they look like? Is there anything distinctive about their appearance, like they belong to a certain race or something?"

"They look like humans. Most of them seem to be human, but with corrupted energies and minds." The Aeon tried to recall more. "There are some who seem to have undergone some strange transformation, but I don’t know why. They have deformities... or perhaps they’re from another race I’m not familiar with."

Lucius nodded. "Anything else?"

"Nothing else in terms of their visible appearance," he replied.

Lucius nodded and looked more closely at the footprints on the ground. He took out some tools for studying magical artifacts and examined them carefully, trying to find a clue.

"Do you know how to use the Shadow Shaper?"

"Of course." The Aeon nodded. "Why?"

"Use it. This is a little strange, and I’m afraid something dangerous might happen. It’s none of my business since I’m weak, but it’s not good to ignore something dangerous when you notice it and know how to investigate it," Lucius replied.

Although what he really meant to say was that he was so interested that if he didn’t investigate a little further, he’d never feel at peace with himself.

"Are you planning to investigate them?" asked the Aeon.

Clara had already expected this to happen. Ever since Lucius decided not to leave, she understood that what he wanted was to investigate, and after investigating, he would try to figure out what it was.

That was just how he was; he simply couldn’t sit still. That’s why she wasn’t surprised.

"Of course," Lucius nodded.

"I mean, kid. I know I’ve signed a contract with you and that comes with a lot of benefits, but..." The Aeon sighed. "Why do you want to die so soon? They’re dangerous guys!"

"I don’t plan on dying so soon. As long as you transform, everything will be fine."

The Aeon let out a long, helpless sigh. "Fine," he said, looking around. "But there are no shadows. What shadow can I transform into if there aren’t any? The shadow of some beast’s body?"

"No." Lucius pointed to the lakeshore. "Go over there and float, facing this way. You’re going to copy the shadow you see."

Although the Aeon didn’t understand, he did as he was told.

Lucius looked at Clara. "Freeze my insides for a moment and step away from the area a little."

Clara nodded. "Okay." She didn’t understand what he wanted to do, but she didn’t care. She was sure he knew what he was doing.

Lucius felt the cold seep into his body, and his eyes glinted slightly the moment his ability activated.

Suddenly, he began running in a very strange way through the mist.

To Clara, who was watching him head-on, it simply looked as if Lucius were trying to warm up his muscles.

However, for the Aeon, things were different. He saw him exactly the same way they had seen those humanoid shadows.

Although he was surprised by his ability to imitate them, he completed the transformation in an instant.

Just then, Lucius felt the connection with his Aeon change.

The new connection took on a human form and was controllable. It was under the influence of a powerful ability, and he could see clearly through its eyes.

The strangest thing was that it didn’t seem to have a body.

In fact, when he came to stand before them, they noticed that he had no body. He was practically transparent, but not white—rather, dark in color.

However, because he was semi-transparent, he appeared light gray in the fog, which was very misleading to the eye.

"All right. Then let’s get moving," said Lucius, and he motioned for Clara to turn off her magic before the three of them began walking.

Lucius was able to control the Aeon with his mind and sent it ahead to serve as an alarm in case anything or anyone approached.

The three of them walked, following the footprints on the ground.

And after walking for over an hour, they arrived at a small, ruined village.

"I’ve been here before," the Aeon conveyed this information to Lucius telepathically.

"Any massacre?" Lucius asked telepathically as well.

"Those creatures attacked this village, which had remained isolated from civilization. There were about 80 villagers living here. From what I learned from them before they died, they had been here for over 200 years."

Lucius nodded. "It’s one of the villages nestled in the woods. It’s a shame it was destroyed; they help keep the forest ecosystem in good condition."

Lucius hid among some rocks surrounding the village and used his mind to draw the shadows inward.

"Don’t make a sound and protect me. I’ll try to see what’s out there," Lucius told Clara.

She nodded and went on high alert...

Lucius then began to survey the village.

It wasn’t very large. There were about 50 family homes and a couple of small work buildings. Fields, gardens...

As the shadow moved through the narrow streets of the town, Lucius was able to confirm that there was no danger. He found a few corpses in an advanced state of decomposition.

However, not all the corpses were there. Either they had been eaten... or they had been taken somewhere else.

Even so, he was immediately intrigued when he noticed that among seven human corpses in a state of accelerated decomposition, there was one relatively "intact" body.

"It’s one of the shadows. Do you see how very human they are?" Mentally, the Aeon conveyed those words to him.

Lucius frowned, but he didn’t investigate that area further; instead, he sent the shadow to search every street and house.

After verifying that no one was left in the village, he felt safe enough to go out.

And the first thing he did was run toward the spot where that well-preserved—but dead—body lay.

Just before they arrived, he frowned as he caught the putrid smell wafting from ahead.

He looked at Clara and noticed that she was already being affected by it.

Finally, he took out a white cotton handkerchief and doused it with his cologne. Then he handed it to her.

"Smell that. This level of decomposition isn’t something you should be smelling. It’ll damage your nasal passages."

Then he continued on. He didn’t need it.

The shadow was waiting for them there and had moved the decomposing bodies away from the "relatively healthy" one.

’He’s a human through and through.’

Lucius examined every part of the body. He was a man—a full-fledged human. Yet there was something about him that made him less than human.

His flesh wasn’t decomposing. Although he had a very strong odor that wouldn’t go away no matter what, he didn’t seem to be dead. He didn’t stink, and his smell wasn’t unpleasant.

His insides... were strange.

"He has no veins," she thought, completely in shock.

Although he had plenty of blood, it didn’t flow through his veins—because he had no veins. It wasn’t that he’d been born without them. It looked more as if they’d been removed.

"Lab tests..." That was all he could think of after conducting a preliminary examination.

It’s as if these humans... had been artificially "created" to lead a different existence from that of ordinary humans.

"We should take this to the workshop. I think it would be worth investigating," said Lucius. He pulled out a bag and several rags, stuffed them inside, and sent it to the storage ring. "I think it’s time to head back."

"Well, I’ve got some bad news for you," whispered the Aeon at that moment.