Chapter 106 – Stat manipulation
Let’s rewind ti for a bit.
...
Kaden entered the domain of Goremaw unnoticed by using the distraction caused by the unstable fusion.
But now that he was inside, he not only had to make sure he wasn’t found out but also to rapidly find where Daela was being held.
It wasn’t easy, because the mont he stepped in, Kaden saw nothing but fire and steelbeasts everywhere.
Hiding behind the shadow of the massive wall near the entrance, he looked at the constructs of the territory, and unsurprisingly, they were all forged from fire and steel but their colors were different. Blue, orange, black... even pure white.
The shapes varied greatly, it looked like a deranged artist had gone wild, throwing away all restraint and simply creating whatever madness passed through their imagination.
Kaden sighed and closed his eyes, activating his perception to its absolute limit, once again.
And once again, he began to feel and see countless things.
He noticed how the air inside the domain was saturated with the sharp, tallic scent of molten steel and burning flas, how thick clouds of smoke gushed out of nearly every construct around him.
Constructs that, Kaden could now say with certainty, were forges.
It was surprising—shocking, even—to witness such a scene in the heart of a beast territory.
But what truly unsettled him was how structured, how civilized everything looked, despite knowing full well that most beasts hadn’t yet developed intelligence.
After all, beasts only fully awakened their mind, their intellect, and their consciousness at Grandmaster rank.
’So how the hell is all this possible?’
Kaden couldn’t help but wonder, as his gaze fell upon the well-paved steel roads, the ordered layout, the faint echoes of logic that mirrored what he’d seen in places like Waverith.
It was a good question.
But maybe a better one was,
Why wouldn’t this be possible?
After all... why not?
But that question never crossed Kaden’s mind, and truthfully... he couldn’t care less at that mont.
He was observing the city, yes—but at the sa ti, he was scanning for a path, a way to move unnoticed and search for Daela’s prison.
It would have been easier if he had so artifact that could alter his body or grant him invisibility, but he had no such tools. The only thing close was a mask and that wouldn’t be of much help here.
So Kaden decided to rely on what he did have, his stats.
More precisely, his constitution stat.
He had once used it to alter his body and mimic the appearance of corpses in the forest of Asterion, but he doubted that trick would be enough here.
So he pushed further.
’They may lack intelligence... but their instincts are sharp. And instincts are easy to fool.’
’But I need to fool them in such a way that they’ll only be confused for a short while, just enough for to slip in, without causing them to act in a way that will attract attention or suspicion.’
His mind was racing now, faster than most could ever hope to keep up with and thanks to his high Intelligence stat, a solution ca to him naturally.
He slowly raised his head and looked at the sky, at the sun shining brightly overhead, and at the shimring heat that distorted the air across the steel terrain.
And he smiled.
Constitution was an incredible stat. just like all the others, and if you knew how to use it properly, you could do things that most would call miracles.
And right now, Kaden was going to use his skin... like a mirror.
So with skin turned reflective, bending and bouncing the light off him like polished glass, he stepped out into the sun.
And the sun bounced back, deflected off his skin just like light hitting a mirror. On top of that, he used his high control over speed to manipulate the air around him, bending it to distort sight further, and with the heat shimring all across the city of fire and steel...
Kaden beca invisible.
But that wasn’t enough.
He needed more.
So on top of it all, he masked his scent, replacing his human presence with sothing these beasts wouldn’t find strange or alerting.
The scent of burning.
Using his Speed stat, he manipulated the molecules around his body to rotate so fast that kinetic energy transford into heat and heat released the faint, familiar scent of sothing burning.
And just like that...
Kaden vanished.
And so, his search began.
He moved swiftly, quietly, walking only through the most deserted paths, staying clear of crowded forges, avoiding areas where Master or Grandmaster-ranked beasts might patrol.
His perception stretched around him like a living net, his senses expanding to such a degree that he could now hear even the faint, subtle crackle of embers inside nearby forges.
Half an hour passed.
And Kaden approached the Castle of Steel but not too close.
The Castle of Steel... truly lived up to its na. It was forged from an amalgam of different-colored steels, mixed and alloyed in such a way that each section of the castle reflected a different spectrum of light.
Its shape was strange, uncanny even. It didn’t resemble any castle Kaden had seen or imagined.
It looked like...
An anvil.
Yes... an enormous, majestic anvil of steel, glowing beneath the scorching sun of Darklore. Each edge shimred with colored heat, and it towered in the distance like a monunt to war and creation both.
Kaden stared at it, awe slowly spreading across his face.
He didn’t expect this. He never would’ve imagined it.
And that’s when he truly began to question—
’Can a beast’s mind even think of sothing like this?’
’Are they... really this intelligent?’ he wondered, but he quickly shook the thought away and returned his focus to the task at hand.
He scanned the castle—or rather, the anvil—with his perception pushed to its absolute limit... and he began to pick up traces.
Traces of danger.
But also, traces of familiarity.
Traces of warmth.
Of sothing... good.
Daela.
She was near or inside.
So...
’What should I do?’ Kaden asked himself but chuckled almost instantly.
’What a stupid question...’
And indeed it was.
Because even if it ant dying, even if it was suicide, the most important thing was knowing where Daela was.
So even if he perished, it wouldn’t matter.
’Alright then, let’s—!’
He abruptly stopped.
His eyes locked onto one side of the castle—onto the black portion.
There, with his perception... he saw it.
A door, so well hidden it looked like just another part of the steel anvil.
And from that door, he heard an explosion.
Without hesitation, without a second thought, Kaden bolted straight toward it. He reached it in an instant.
And the mont he arrived, he noticed the door wasn’t even fully closed and through that little crack...
He heard Daela’s voice, cold and sharp, threatening soone.
And then, he heard another voice.
It was a female voice filled with pride, arrogance so much it was disgusting to hear.
"...But now I wonder... what does his voice sound like?"
Kaden’s expression turned ice-cold.
Soon after he heard footsteps.
He imdiately stepped back, hid in the shadows.
And the mont that woman appeared—
Kaden moved.
Before a thought could even form, before a single breath could escape her lips, his hand slamd against her mouth with a crunching force.
And his voice, low and dark, filled with pure rage...
"Didn’t you want to hear my voice?"
Kaden whispered under her ear like a Death Envoy coming to get her soul.
—End of Chapter 106—
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