Regaleon: The Forgotten Knight

It wasn’t long before Aureleah finally managed to shake off the post-cultivation haze clouding her mind and returned fully to her senses. For several moments, the silver-haired Assassin simply remained where she was, allowing the sluggishness in her consciousness to dissipate.

Once her thoughts became sufficiently clear, she took a brief moment to examine herself.

The first thing she noticed was the overwhelming vitality coursing through her body.

Her muscles felt denser, her bones felt sturdier, and even the circulation of Aether through her body felt fundamentally different from before. Every breath she now drew seemed to carry an inexplicable sense of clarity, while her senses had sharpened to a degree that made the surrounding cavern appear almost unnaturally vivid.

There was no mistaking it. She had succeeded and was now an Etheryean.

But before she could examine the changes any further, a frantic yet unmistakably excited voice suddenly rang through the cavern.

"Big sister!"

Aureleah’s brows furrowed slightly. She turned toward the source of the voice and saw Sylveris waving both hands at her from the edge of the Essence Pool.

The young girl had been watching her sister’s meditation for what felt like an eternity. She had barely blinked throughout the final stretch of Aureleah’s cultivation, and now that the silver-haired Assassin had finally opened her eyes, Sylveris could no longer contain the overwhelming emotional impulse that seized her.

She shouted and waved. And, judging from the expression on her face, she looked as though she was moments away from jumping straight into the pool.

If someone had witnessed her at that moment without knowing her age, they might never have believed she was a fourteen-year-old girl trying to maintain some semblance of maturity.

She looked more like an exuberant child who had just watched a parent return home after being away for years.

Aureleah stared at her for a moment. Then, almost imperceptibly, the corner of her lips lifted; it was such a tiny movement that it could barely be called a smile. A ghost of one, perhaps.

But anyone who knew Aureleah would have recognized it immediately.

This was how the usually expressionless Assassin displayed affection; not through grand gestures or exaggerated expressions, but through restrained, almost imperceptible movements that only those close to her had learned to recognize.

The moment she saw her sister, every thought of examining her cultivation vanished. Then without hesitation, Aureleah turned and began swimming toward the edge of the pool.

Her feet had barely touched the ground before a petite figure shot toward her.

Sylveris collided with her like a small projectile and wrapped both arms around Aureleah’s waist. She held on tightly, like a man clutching the last piece of precious gem in his life.

For all the composure the young girl had displayed while waiting, Sylveris had not been nearly as calm as she appeared.

Several times during Aureleah’s prolonged meditation, invasive and increasingly ominous thoughts had crept into her mind.

At first, she had merely wondered why her sister was taking longer than everyone else. Then Veyrath, Valmyr and the rest of the cohort had broken through.

One by one, everyone emerged from the Essence Pool. Everyone except Aureleah and Regaleon.

With every passing moment, Sylveris’ concern had deepened. The delay had become increasingly conspicuous, and despite Aelric’s repeated assurances that there was nothing to worry about, the young girl couldn’t completely silence the fear that something had gone wrong.

She had tried; she really had. But there was only so much reassurance could accomplish when the person she cared about most was sitting motionless in a pool of Essence for hours.

Fortunately, those fears had proven unfounded and her sister was standing before her alive, awake, and stronger than ever.

Yet the relief that came with that realization was so overwhelming that Sylveris couldn’t contain it. Feeling that warmth that reminded her of home, Sylveris’ shoulders started trembling.

Aureleah felt something warm against her body and that was when it dawned upon her that the young girl was crying. Her expression softened. Then lifting a hand, she gently patted Sylveris’ back before speaking.

"It’s okay, Syl." Her voice was quiet and warm. "I’m here now, aren’t I?"

Sylveris squeezed her tighter. But Aureleah continued patting her back in slow, reassuring motions.

"You don’t have to cry for me, you know. Remember, I wasn’t doing anything dangerous. It was merely meditation."

Her words were meant to be reassuring. But Aureleah had no idea how much Sylveris had actually learned about cultivation during the past few hours.

The young girl had listened carefully whenever Aelric explained the process to the others. Although she wasn’t an Awakener herself, she had absorbed enough of his explanations to understand that cultivation was anything but harmless.

She knew that a single mistake could lead to Essence Deviation. She also understood that becoming an Etheryean was not merely a matter of sitting inside the Essence Pool and waiting for something to happen.

So, when Aureleah casually dismissed the process as "merely meditation," Sylveris knew better.

But she also knew that her sister was trying to comfort her. Therefore, she simply sniffed and nodded.

"Okay."

Aureleah gave her another gentle pat before Sylveris finally separated from her. It was only after wiping the tears from her face that the young girl noticed something rather obvious; her sister was half-naked.

Sylveris froze. Her eyes slowly traveled downward before shooting back upward again.

"Ah!" A tiny, mortified exclamation escaped her lips. "I-I’m sorry, Sister. I was so worried that I completely forgot."

She hurriedly retrieved Aureleah’s clothes and handed them over, her movements becoming increasingly flustered.

The purpose of her standing beside the pool had been precisely this; to provide the female cultivators with clothing the moment they emerged. Yet in the chaos of her emotions, that responsibility had completely slipped her mind.

Aureleah, meanwhile, remained as composed as ever. She simply accepted the clothes gently before flashing the same imperceptible smile.

"Thank you."

Then, without the slightest trace of embarrassment, she dressed herself right there.

By the time she had covered the last exposed patch of skin, the rest of the group had begun approaching with the exception of Aelric.

They had been watching the reunion from a respectful distance and had deliberately refrained from interrupting. Now that things had settled down, however, they finally decided to join the two sisters.

Aureleah turned toward them, her expression as cold as ever. Yet there was something subtly different about her gaze; a softness and a barely perceptible warmth.

These people had spent more than a week surviving alongside her in the Nether Lands. They had fought together, suffered together, eaten together and, in some cases, nearly died together.

Aureleah was not sentimental and she wasn’t the type to openly acknowledge such bonds. But that did not mean she was incapable of recognizing them.

Furthermore, she wasn’t surprised to see that they had all become Etheryeans. After her own breakthrough, she had immediately noticed that only she and Regaleon remained inside the Essence Pool.

The others were already gone. Therefore, it wasn’t difficult to figure out what had happened.

For a moment, nobody spoke as they allowed a brief peaceful silence to settle over tjem.

Eventually, Vaelorin was the one who broke the silence. he red-haired Pyromancer stared at Aureleah from head to toe, his fiery eyes wideninh slightly. Then he let out a low, appreciative whistle.

"Well... Looks like the physiological changes that come with becoming an Etheryean aren’t limited to us alone."

His words were smooth, but there was a slight tremor in his voice. Not because he was nervous about speaking; rather, because of Aureleah herself.

There had always been an unspoken consensus among the group.

Regaleon might have been stern, strict and might have even possessed an intimidating presence that made ordinary people instinctively straighten their backs. But he still understood the boundaries between sternness and cruelty.

Aureleah, on the other hand, was different. Coldness was not merely something she had adopted, it was ingrained within her.

She had been trained to kill before most people her age had even learned how to properly defend themselves. Indifference had become part of her nature and beneath that icy exterior lurked something else; something darker and faintly sinister.

An ominous aura that had always surrounded her, subtle enough to be overlooked after prolonged exposure but immediately noticeable to anyone meeting her for the first time.

It was the sort of presence that made people instinctively lower their voices. It intimidated, unsettled, and sometimes, it made people feel as though an unseen blade was resting against their throat.

That was why Vaelorin, Veyrath and Valmyr could joke freely with others in the group but were considerably more restrained whenever Aureleah was involved.

The only person seemingly immune to that pressure was Sylveris. Regaleon, too, appeared largely unaffected.

Even Caelestra and Kaeloris couldn’t deny it.

But now, after Aureleah’s breakthrough, that aura had changed. It hadn’t merely become stronger, it had become denser and more tangible.

The air around her seemed heavier, as though her very existence was exerting an invisible pressure upon the surroundings.

Vaelorin swallowed quietly. For a moment, he felt as though something was sitting on his chest.

Her presence was more insidious than before, more oppressive, and, strangely enough, more difficult to ignore.

Yet that wasn’t the only thing about her that had changed.

The physiological transformation brought about by becoming an Etheryean had amplified Aureleah’s already striking appearance.

Her black hair was more lustrous than before, each strand catching the faint illumination of the cavern. Her skin had regained a smooth, almost flawless quality, while the sharpness of her features had become even more pronounced.

She had always been beautiful.

Now, however, there was something almost unreal about that beauty.

Vaelorin had originally intended to make some sort of inappropriate remark. However, before he could say such, for some reason, an old memory surfaced in his mind.

The memory of Veyrath nearly getting his throat slit after almost saying something foolish. Therefore, the failed Pyromancer had merely said those perfunctory words in a way to hide the nervousness and anxiety he felt near her.

After all, there were some jokes that were simply not worth dying for...

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