The Stargazer

by Nikostar A

  Many organizations and governments invested in the Earth Academy and as a result, almost all of UNEA was owned by different forces. In Alexander's memories, he remembered Aila telling him about it. The Sacred Mountain had longed planned on sending their saintesses to the Earth Academy.

  There, they could plunder as much mana as they wanted. In order to facilitate the process, the Sacred Mountain invested in this particular high-end restaurant and the club on an adjacent street of the main square. These two places were the saintesses' favorite hunting areas.

  Alexander had already guessed that Aila would invite him here. When they were in public, she spoke about random subjects, lowering his guard. She then proceeded to bring him to a more private area where the real interrogation would begin.

  He was already aware of Aila's plans but did nothing to stop her. After all, he also wanted to speak to her in private.

  Once the orders were placed, Aila smiled and said: "There is something that has been bugging me more a while now. How did you know that I'm allergic to roses?"

  Chapter 20: Source of water

  "There are no roses on Loha. These flowers can only be found on Earth. I've been on Earth for only a year and only came into contact with them once before. Very few people know about my allergy. How did you know?"

  The two girls stared at Alexander waiting for an answer. They were both suspecting that Alexander was hiding something big from them. They were different from Earthlings; they knew how wide the field of magic was.

  The girls never believed the twister was just a natural phenomenon. Maybe the man in front of them really came up with a technique to hide his flow of mana. Several techniques existed and many had unbelievable effects. Take the Yin Yang Exchange technique for example; nobody thought it was possible to plunder other people's mana but the Sacred Mountain proved them wrong!

  The strange phenomenon they witnessed today ignited the interest of the girls. Aila was actively competing for the title of Holy Maiden while Lyana was one of her greatest supporters. To become the Holy Maiden, one did not only need personal strength but also a lot of influence!

  If Alexander happened to possess such a unique technique, it was very possible that he came from a powerful organization. If that was the case, Aila needed to bring him to her side.

  She had been having an easy time on Earth. She laughed to herself when she saw how easy it was to seduce the Earthlings. The Sacred Mountain had sent her there to look for the potential future leaders of the Earth's organizations and so far, she has been extremely successful at her task. Students from all the different organizations were ready to do anything for her just to please her.

  And now, Alexander was her next target. Although Alexander did not immediately fall for her charms, Aila was confident that given the time, he would eventually fall for her. Her education at the Sacred Mountain was very different from the one on Earth. She spent most of her youth learning the art of seduction.

  If there was one thing she remembered from her mentors, it was that no matter how loyal a man is to his wife, as long as the temptation was high enough, he would eventually give in.

  "Oh. This is a secret. I cannot share it with anyone else." Alexander answered fully aware of Aila's thoughts.

  "Really? Not even us?" asked Lyana, seemingly disappointed.

  "Of course. That's one of my greatest secrets. What would I get for sharing it?"

  Aila smiled seductively, "Well, what do you want? I wouldn't mind repeating what happened Monday night." Lyana lightly laughed knowing very well what she was talking about. She turned toward Alexander, expecting him to blush but the latter remained calm.

  "I would love to but I would prefer something else. I can tell you the truth later but in exchange, I would like to get some water," answered Alexander.

  "Some water?" The two girls looked at each other and laughed. "Sure, let me call the waiter."

  Alexander laughed lightly and stopped the girls, "No. One bottle of water is not enough. What I need is at least one million liters of water. And the water should be fresh, not recycled. Ideally, it should be source water."

  "What? This is impossible to achieve. Where are we supposed to find all this water? If that's a joke, it is not funny," said Lyana. She was looking forward to what Alexander was going to say but she did not expect such a lame excuse. Men had always been at her beck and call; they would always flatter her but seeing Alexander's behavior, she was starting to be frustrated.

  "I am not asking for all that water at once. You can give it to me in batches. Since the Sacred Mountain owns a bar and a restaurant, it should not be too hard for you to import large quantities of water. You can just say its to make a special cocktail or for a unique recipe. The academy will not find it too unusual and is very likely to accept. After all, it's like you are importing water for them to consume," nonchalantly answered Alexander.

  At that moment, the waiters knocked at the door and brought in the dishes. The trio fell silent and waited for the waiter to leave. The two girls were clearly flustered; there was no way a random student would know that the Sacred Mountain had these two properties in UNEA.

  "It is indeed possible but the process will take several months. If I do agree, will you share all your secrets with me?" asked Aila.

  "Sure, I don't mind sharing some with you after I receive enough water," said Alexander. He had always wanted to get closer to Aila but he was scared of messing things up. As for sharing his secrets, Alexander would never hide something from his lover and ideally, he even wanted her to become a stargazer. They would be the only stargazers on Earth and would be able to whisper to each other using the stars. And more importantly, it would stop Aila from wasting her life force.

  "Then, I agree. I'll do what I can to get you as much source water as possible. Let me add you as a friend on my X-Driver. You never called me since that night."

  With the matter out of the way, Alexander turned his attention to the dishes in front of him. He did not notice it until then but he was really hungry. The trio soon started eating while chatting.

  On several occasion, Aila tried to probe Alexander for some more information but every time, he would simply dodge the question or give a vague answer.

  Time flowed quickly. Soon, it was time for dessert followed by some wine. Then came the cheese and the port. After that came the tea and coffee. The time spent with the girls seemed to stretch endlessly. When Alexander checked his X-Driver, he found that it was already 23:18. It was time to leave.

  Aila was unwilling to let Alexander go. It was the first time she felt like she failed to seduce a man. No matter how she phrased the question, she was unable to obtain any useful information. She knew Alexander was a tough nut to crack but the results would be worth the efforts.

  90% of the men she talked to would not even be able to maintain proper eye contact during the conversation; their eyes would always inevitably fall toward her cleavage. To deal with the remaining 10%, she would only have to look away and the men would immediately reveal their lustful nature, checking her out.

  However, there was always a few exceptions and to deal with those, Aila simply needed to invite them to her bedroom.

  "Hey, if you are free tonight, will you like to come with us to the night club? Apparently, there are nice bedrooms upstairs but I never got the opportunity to try," seductively said Aila.

  "Such a blatant lie," said Alexander to himself but to Aila, he smiled and answered, "Why not?"

  ***

  In one of the rooms of the night club, after having done the deed, Alexander and Aila were lying on the bed, trying to catch their breath.

  Aila smiled to herself. She was still unsatisfied but she chose to ignore that feeling. It was not that Alexander was a bad partner as he did fulfill her physical need. This strange feeling of unfulfillment came from the fact that she did not fully use the Yin Yang Exchange technique.

  If she drained too much of her partner's life force, there was a high possibilit
y that they would instantly fall asleep after the deed. That was precisely what Aila was trying to avoid.

  When she noticed that Alexander had calmed down, Aila snuggled next to him, trapping his left arm between her breasts. She leaned next to his ears and whispered, "You were good."

  Alexander briefly smiled at her comment but for the most part, he continued to stare at the ceiling. He was supposed to be happy as he was spending the night with Aila but Alexander wasn't. Instead, he was feeling that something was missing and he knew precisely what it was!

  It was love! The current Aila did not love him and was only having sex with him to snare him. This was not the Aila he was looking for. He wanted his silly Aila back, the playful little girl who would always protect him from behind.

  Aila shifted her body and spoke, "Can I ask for a prepayment? How did you know that I am allergic to roses?"

  'She did not drop this matter?' thought Alexander.

  He turned toward Aila. She smiled at him and waited for an answer. "If I were to tell you, you would not believe me."

  "Really? Tell me anyway," whispered Aila as she moved closer to Alexander.

  "We were traveling through a jungle. After having set up a camp, I went around to search for food. Along the way, I found some roses and decided to bring them back as a gift but when you saw them, you laughed and told me that you were allergic to roses. I was dejected and threw the flowers away but to comfort me, we ended up doing it for the first time in the jungle."

  Aila briefly frowned before answering, "Silly, was it a dream? There are no roses in the jungle."

  "Maybe not on Earth but who knows what we will find in the worlds beyond the rifts." After giving an enigmatic answer, Alexander closed his eyes and enjoyed Aila's warmth. He slowly fell asleep, leaving Aila confused and frustrated.

  "Are young going to tell me what you are going to do with all that water?"

  Alexander grumbled, "You will see tomorrow."

  She clicked her tongue and adopted a more comfortable position to sleep. 'What did he mean by that? And also, our first time in the jungle? Did that imply that we did it before? Also, why do I feel that he is not lying and his body is emitting a strange feeling of melancholy?"

  ***

  The next morning, Alexander woke up relatively early. He was confused at first due to the strange environment but soon remembered last night's event. Aila was still sleeping next to him but as soon as Alexander got up, she coincidentally moaned and opened her sleepy eyes.

  "Morning."

  "Good morning."

  Alexander did not doubt that Aila had long been awake and was just waiting for him. The two quickly washed up and went downstairs.

  To Alexander's surprise, Aila brought him to the club's storage. "That's all the freshwater we have for now. There's also a few blocks of ice in the freezing room. You can take them if you want. We'll check the restaurant afterward."

  Alexander walked to the pile of water bottles. He took one and opened it. He could feel Aila's stare on his hands but Alexander did not mind. He wordlessly poured the water on his hand.

  Aila's eyes widened. She saw the water hit Alexander's palm but then, instead of splashing on the ground, it mysteriously disappeared.

  Alexander repeated the process again and again. From his initial observation, there were at least a hundred bottles there. With their varying sizes, it would total about seventy-five liters.

  A few bottles later, Aila stopped watching from a distance and started to help Alexander by opening the bottles of water for him. Maybe it was because she wanted to have a closer look at Alexander's hand or because she was too bored to wait for Alexander to pour all the bottles. In any case, it increased Alexander's pace and after some time, she even started pouring the water too.

  Aila was curious; it was clear that Alexander did not have any storage relic on him but where did the water go after hitting his hand?

  After emptying the bottles, Aila brought Alexander to the freezing room. This time, the process was much faster. Thousands of tiny ice cubes were sent to Alexander's space

  He smiled, clearly satisfied by the outcome. Although it was still not enough water to sustain the pocket dimension, it was a step on the right track.

  The pair then moved to the restaurant where they went through the same procedure. After emptying the storage of the water, they both sat down for a short breakfast.

  Alexander did not stay for very long. He had already made plans for the weekend and it did not involve spending it with Aila. The latter tried to convince him otherwise, but Alexander was strong-willed. He left quickly before Aila could bewitch him.

  Chapter 21: The forest

  Alexander went straight home to grab a few things. He was delighted to see the pile of dirty clothes had disappeared. It was all the good work of Alpha, Alexander's android that took care of everything in his absence.

  Alexander did not waste time. He grabbed his backpack and headed out to the nearby restaurant to get a takeaway. Today, he was planning on spending the day in the jungle!

  If he wanted to revitalize his space, finding water was only the first step! Aila had provided him enough water to get started and now, Alexander was looking forward to sending a few plants into his space.

  However, he could not send in one of the decorative plants that needed care and attention to grow up. It was a more reasonable option to first send in the plants that grew in the wild and were used to the harsh the lack of resources.

  Alexander had no experience in gardening and did not know much about plants either. Sending plants coming from a desert might be the best solution but Alexander did not want to turn his pocket dimension into a desert.

  His best alternative to was the plants of the jungle. The fight for natural resources was a never-ending battle there. Even plants needed to fight each other for water and sunlight. If Alexander was lucky, he might even find a few small animals to send into his space.

  The jungle was not very far from the city. There was a small trekking path that the students could take to go there. Adventurous students were free to explore the island but very few would do so. Although the island was relatively safe, there were still a lot of annoying insects and pest in the jungle.

  While walking, Alexander fell into deep thoughts. Now that he had time to think, he realized a lot of things. He had taken a lot of risks yesterday. He offended the Flemming Organization but he was not scared to do so. Organizations did not have a say in the academy's decision. Despite their huge influence, the academy would never allow the Organizations to dictate its actions. Besides, the other Organizations would not quietly watch the Flemming Organization do as it pleases.

  Even if he offended one organization, it was not the end of the world. Alexander was aware that there were currently six organizations that were formed after the appearance of the rifts. They consisted of people who banded together to explore the rifts but as one would expect, the organizations were not very friendly to one another.

  It would only be in the future that Alexander would need to be careful of the organizations. During their third year, the students would all be sent to Loha where they would explore the recently discovered areas under the guidance of the organizations. As long as Alexander stayed at the academy, he would be out of reach of the organizations. A few of its members might make things difficult for him but Alexander was confident in his own strength.

  The major issue with Alexander's actions was the risk of exposing his stargazer abilities. He was well aware of the selfish human nature. He got away this time but if the higher-ups started to pay more attention to him, then his powers would inevitably be discovered. It was impossible for him to hide his strength; at most, Alexander could delay the inevitable.

  "If only I practiced more, I would have been able to use the constellation of the Mariner. By using water instead of wind, it would have been less obvious that something was happening."

  The more constellations Alexander became proficient with,
the more moves he would have access to. Learning the moves was easy, the key was to be able to easily use the body postures. Fortunately, after he mastered the Archivist, Alexander could readily peek into the memories of his past life to look at the information about the stargazers.

  Alexander randomly walked around the forest. Occasionally, he would crouch and place his hand on the ground where he would find patches of grass. He would then send them to his pocket dimension. Alexander was tempted to send larger plants into the space but unfortunately, he did not have the abilities to do so yet.

  To increase the size of the entrance to his space, Alexander needed to meditate but so far, he decided to focus on mastering the body postures of the constellations.

  Alexander was not sure whether the plants would be able to survive once they were sent in his pocket dimension. But the worst-case scenario was that they would turn into compost and enrich the soil for the future plants Alexander would find.