The Grey Ghost: Book Two of the Archaic Ring Series

by Reed R. Stevens

  “Jason! You’re alive?”

  His captor followed Jason into the room, prompting the blonde girl to throw on a frown of displeasure. Without getting up, she said, “Aelia! Where have you been?”

  “Searching for you, Miss.”

  “Humph! Some guardian you are.” The young girl crossed her slender arms. “What took you so long?”

  “You ran off while I was relieving myself. I’m guessing you used the White Mist Pendant to conceal your aura so that I wouldn’t be able to find you?”

  “I was hungry. I didn’t feel like waiting, so I went out for a quick snack.”

  “Don’t wander away from me again, else our deal ends. This might be an insignificant land, but the fact still remains that we left the sect without permission. With your father’s temperament, he wouldn’t forgive me if you were harmed in my presence. We agreed that I would be in charge during this trip, so don’t forget that.”

  “Fine,” the blonde girl pouted.

  “Now, tell me what happened.”

  “Two plebeians suddenly approached me as I was walking through an alleyway. I ignored them, so they drew their weapons. I was going to teach them a quick lesson, but one of them caught me off-guard with a strange essence fusion object, a yellow gemstone that made it so that I couldn’t move.”

  Jason kept to himself as he listened in on the conversation, ignoring the constant looks of shock that Amy kept directing his way.

  “Strange? In what way?”

  “The man wielding it was only at the fifth level of Body Nourishment, but he was still able to use the object. Not just that, it crumbled into dust after he used it.”

  Aelia pinched her narrow chin, her slim lips curving downward in a thoughtful frown. “That sort of treasure isn’t something that can be found on this island, let alone in the hands of some petty thieves.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I could have easily dealt with them if they hadn’t surprised me like that.”

  Contempt flashed through Aelia’s eyes. “We should return to the sect. For a pair of common thieves to have had such a thing is suspicious. Likely, it was given to them by someone else.”

  “No! I won’t go back until we harvest the falling star herbs that Uncle Suna mentioned.”

  “Disposable essence fusion objects that can be used regardless of one’s cultivation, not to mention that they attacked you, specifically. The whole situation reeks of the sects from back home.”

  “Who cares?” The girl’s blue eyes grew proud. “Since when did we have to worry about people from the Western Isles?”

  “I want half.”

  “What?”

  “Half of the falling star herbs,” said Aelia. “Else we return home.”

  The blonde girl clenched her teeth as her doll-like face grew red with anger. “If I hadn’t overheard Uncle Suna’s report, then you could never even dream of obtaining even a single falling star herb in your lifetime!”

  “Then I guess we’re returning to the sect.”

  “Fine! We’ll split it evenly.” She turned her head to the side, ignoring Aelia with another bratty pout.

  A brief silence set in only to be broken by a nervous and disbelieving Amy. “Jason, how can you be alive right now? Y—you were impaled.”

  “Don’t you have anything else to say?”

  Some colour found its way onto her face as her cheeks flushed. “I’m sorry that I called you a pussy, and for those other things I said. You ended up protecting us. Thanks to that, I was able to help out this girl.”

  Are you serious?

  She stared at his blood-soaked shirt. “How are you okay right now, though?”

  This bitch…

  He took off his shirt and changed into a spare from his spatial bag. His days of being overweight were far in the past, and so too were any bits of self-consciousness over how he looked. “There, now you won’t have to look at the blood.”

  “Thanks, it was a bit distracting.”

  “Hey Amy, could you come here for a minute? Something serious happened after you left. It’s something you should know about.”

  “Does it have to do with how you’re alive right now?” She walked over with a curious expression.

  “Sort of,” he said. “Well, it won’t be the coolest thing I’ve ever done, so I’ll get straight to the point.”

  “Huh?”

  He struck Amy across the face with the back of his hand, the force of the blow propelling her down onto the inn’s floor. A startled cry died in her throat as she lost consciousness almost immediately. Blood leaked from both of her nostrils and also from one corner of her mouth, her face taking on deeper shades of red as it rapidly swelled.

  Aelia and the younger girl had quietly watched their brief interaction, which elicited a bark of anger from the latter of the two. “How dare you strike my Otherworlder?”

  Shit, I hit her too hard.

  Amy had no cultivation, and apparently he hadn’t held back as much as he thought. Feeling a bit guilty, he remembered that her ignorant and selfish actions had forced him into the most unpleasant and painful situation of his life. The guilt vanished like a thin gust of smoke. He’d sworn to himself that he would give her the slap of her lifetime if they happened to meet again, and that’s exactly what he’d done.

  “Did you forget that I saved your life?” Jason reminded the blonde girl. “I basically just died for you.”

  She raised her petite chin and then spoke in a benevolent tone. “I suppose this is true. I’ll forgive you just this once.” She turned her head. “Aelia, see to the girl. I don’t carry around any low-quality medicines.”

  Aelia scoffed before walking over to Amy and slipping a small blue medicinal pellet into her mouth. Amy’s ever-swelling face began to deflate, reverting back to its healthy appearance very quickly. She woke up within a minute of swallowing the pill, tears spilling from her eyes the moment that she opened them. She coughed a few times before looking up at Jason with a fearful shiver.

  “Y—you hit me!”

  “Please, I’m letting you off light.” Jason looked down at her with angry eyes. “I told you that we were no match for those guys, but what did you do? You insulted me and then basically used me as a scapegoat to save that girl. I got stabbed! I almost died because of you! It felt just like dying!”

  “It was to save someone’s life,” she sobbed. “J—just when I thought you weren’t all bad…”

  What was that? Want me to hit you again? You fucking…

  Jason rolled his eyes. “You’re a ridiculous person. If you’re too stupid to understand how much of a piece of shit you just were, then you’ll never get it. I’m leaving.” He turned to walk toward the door. “Have fun with your new friend—”

  “Hold on.”

  A breath of wind tickled his back as Aelia suddenly appeared in front of him. He froze up in an instant. That was fast! He didn’t dare speak out against her.

  “Young Miss, you said that the girl over there is an Otherworlder?”

  “See for yourself. She has no cultivation and can’t speak a word of the Universal Language. Does that not fit the description?”

  The dark-haired woman looked back to Jason. “You were just speaking with the girl. Are you also an Otherworlder?”

  Jason suppressed a gulp. “And if I am?”

  “Do you not know how valuable you are?” the blonde girl laughed. “How great. I’ve found two Otherworlders after just a couple days on this nameless island.”

  “Hold on, I never said that I was an Otherworlder,” he said quickly. “Like you said, they don’t have any cultivation. I’m at the fourth level of Body Nourishment, you can sense that right?”

  “Even if that’s the case, you know their language, and that’s incredibly convenient. You will accompany me from now on.”

  Am I being kidnapped? He couldn’t help but feel helpless under the pressure of the black-haired woman’s venomous glare.

  “Goddamn it, Amy!”

 
; 

  It eventually came to light that the blonde girl’s name was Lucia. She and the dark-haired woman, Aelia, led him and Amy out of the city and over to an open field about an hour’s walk from Greenwall’s eastern gates. Jason glared at Amy the entire time, constantly muttering curses of frustration under his breath as his chest heaved with adrenaline.

  Aelia could kill him in an instant, though he didn’t think she’d jump straight to it, since apparently he was of value to them. Still, she could wound him just as easily if he tried to get away. He’d had no choice but to willingly follow along after his kidnappers, churning in silent anger as he glared at Amy’s pitiful frown all throughout the walk.

  Damn it! She’d ended up dragging him into another frightening situation. Even if Nolan had somehow survived the trap he’d walked into, it seemed likely that Jason would never see him again.

  What are we waiting for?

  They had been standing in the field for twenty minutes or so, but his kidnappers hadn’t explained the reason why they’d stopped.

  “Are we waiting for something?” Jason eventually asked.

  “We need to run a quick errand,” said Lucia. “Then we’ll return to the sect.”

  “But what’s that got to do with this field?”

  “Won’t you quiet down?” Aelia snapped. Her eyes were shut.

  Jason felt the Origin Energy all around him grow turbulent as if a rough breeze had suddenly stirred up on a calm day. A minute later, an eye-catching black dot appeared in his peripherals from far off in the sky, which drew his attention as the group stood there in silence. He watched it grow from an indistinct blur into a towering mass of brown feathers, and very quickly realized that the giant bird was plummeting rapidly toward the four of them.

  “What the hell is that?” Jason’s legs began to shake.

  Neither of his captors answered. They simply stared up at the bird as it spread out its gargantuan wings and decelerated with several mighty flaps. Jason had to muster all of his strength to prevent himself from being blown away by the windstorm, and Amy lost her footing and tumbled backward almost immediately. Jason deliberately stepped out of her way as she was thrown past him with a frightened squeal.

  Surprisingly, Aelia approached the bird with slow steps and then gently ruffled the sleek feathers that covered its great chest. In the meantime, Lucia arrived by Amy’s side and scooped her up as if the frustrating girl were weightless, and then very quickly hopped onto the bird’s wide back. Aelia followed her up, and then the two of them glanced over at Jason.

  He could run, but he wouldn’t get far. Why is this the situation? He glared at Amy.

  “Well?” said Lucia. “Aren’t you coming?”

  “W—we’re riding that?” The bird looked a lot like an eagle, though its feathers were a dark brown with a unique sheen to them. With a wingspan of around thirty-five, its body alone was the size of a pickup truck, and its black talons reminded Jason of oversized sickles, scaly and yellow.

  “Get on.”

  He had no choice but to hop onto the giant bird’s back.

  Before he could accept the notion of what was about to happen, the giant eagle, for that’s what it reminded him of, kicked off the ground and gave its massive wings many rapid and powerful flaps.

  “Damn it!” he cursed as he nearly tumbled from its back. He barely managed to grab onto two fistfuls of thick feathers and then clung to the beast’s back with all his strength. A terrifying wind resistance ruffled his clothes like mad as the frighteningly large eagle continued its rapid ascent into the sky, until they were several thousand metres above the distant ground.

  Once they levelled off beneath some of the lower clouds, the ride became much smoother. Even so, Jason didn’t dare to release the feathers that he held.

  Chapter Twenty-five: The World Beyond the Glade

  Any time that Nolan had remaining in the glade was extremely precious. According to Uncle Grey’s estimate, he and Nyla had around a month before the Millennial Ring would expel them from Nia in as abrupt a manner as when they were sent here.

  He’d lived in the simple courtyard for nearly a year and had grown used to a lifestyle of constant training and meditation, and only slept for about four hours each day. Eating, sleeping, short breaks from his training—he did it all in the Divine Spirit Fountain. He also spent a few hours in between sleeps practicing his inner essence control, and it came as no surprise that the energizing effects of the waters proved very beneficial to his meditations. It lent him a relaxing state of mind that was ideal for putting focus on his spiritual sense and manipulating his inner essence.

  After that strange jolt of energy had shot through him with a revitalizing tingle, he’d patiently cultivated the Ancestral Body Technique until his dantian finally refused to accept any more energy. Immediately afterward, his entire being seemed to burn with an insatiable itch that spared no particle in his body from its taunting prickle. The irritating sensation dragged out for an entire day before making an abrupt disappearance, leaving Nolan free to familiarize himself with the first level of the Profound Entry stage and all of its wonders.

  The irksome itchiness that plagued his body was caused by the drastic evolution Nolan had experienced on what felt like a microscopic level. Once the transformation had come to an end, he realized that he’d severely underestimated the concept of ascending to a new stage of cultivation. The qualitative growth that he experienced when he’d progressed from the peak of Body Nourishment to the first level of the Profound Entry stage was far superior to the combined effects of all of his previous breakthroughs.

  Since then, all aspects of his body had improved by a great degree. An ant in the grass wouldn’t go unseen beneath his perfect eyesight, and he could now differentiate between smells with canine ease. To run from one end of the glade to the other only took a handful of seconds, and he felt as if his fists could smash anything to bits.

  Amazingly, his spiritual sense now encompassed the entire glade and went on for fifty metres or so into the surrounding forests, which matched the extent that he could walk past the now lush and verdant treeline.

  On top of the breakthrough, after training to improve his inner essence control, Nolan had increased the rate at which he assimilated Origin Energy that had been filtered by his dantian, which allowed him to take full advantage of the Ancestral Body Technique’s unrivalled absorption speed. It turned out that his ghostly teacher was fairly competent, and that his suggestion was well warranted.

  By the time that Nolan made his long-awaited breakthrough, Nyla had been at the peak of the Profound Entry stage’s fourth level, and the perceptive capabilities of her spiritual sense had exceeded his by a significant margin.

  She’s getting so strong.

  He’d spent the past few days in a state of meditation, acclimating to the abundance of energy that now filled his body. The entire time he could sense her aura growing steadily stronger from where she sat, nearby within the fountain.

  Once he had solidified a fairly firm control over his internal condition, he chose a random spot along the fringes of the forest and decided to get a gauge on his recently enhanced strength by using some trees as punching bags. That had been his intention anyway, but none of them could withstand an onslaught from his sledgehammer fists. The areas that he hit fractured in splintery explosions, as successive strings of thundering cracks signalled one felled tree after another.

  By the time he decided to head back to the courtyard, the scene that he left behind looked as if it belonged in a sad documentary on deforestation. Although these trees were by far the smallest that he’d seen since he was transported to Venara, they were still comparable to the deciduous trees that had surrounded his hometown of Collinsville.

  How are my knuckles fine right now? He stared at his hands with excitement. He’d expected to bloody them up a bit during this experiment, yet his knuckles were only slightly flushed after knocking down over a hundred trees. He marvelled at th
e toughness of his skin, the sturdiness of his bones. Before his breakthrough it would’ve taken many full-strength hits in order to knock one of those trees down, at the cost of possibly injuring his hand. Now that he’d broken through, a single solid punch could destroy a small tree.

  Once he reached the courtyard, he rushed to hop into the Divine Spirit Fountain.

  This is crazy. A lazy smile spread across his face as he thought back on all the tree pummelling he’d just done. He felt as if he’d accomplished a life-long dream.

  “I’ll have to try it sometime,” said Nyla.

  “Hmm?”

  She sat close to Nolan’s right, in the same spot as when he’d left. “Knocking trees down.”

  “What are you, a mind reader now?”

  “There’s basically no sound in this place, so how could I not hear all that racket? Not to mention that I could sense it all.” She glanced down at her left hand, balling it into a fist. “I also want to see how much I’ve improved.”

  It was only then that he noticed that Nyla had just reached the Profound Entry stage’s fifth level, and that she was currently in the midst of consolidating her cultivation at its initial phase.

  “Whoa, congrats! You’re flying through the levels, huh? Must be nice.”

  Although the Profound Soul-splitting Technique wasn’t quite at the same level as Nolan’s core cultivation method, it was far from ordinary. Compared to those inner court disciples that fought against the soldiers of Greenwall, she wouldn’t lose out in terms of strength. On top of that, the scope and quality of her spiritual sense was surprisingly superior to Nolan’s.

  “Thank you.” She was all smiles as she continued to meditate.

  He remained quiet for a couple hours so that she could stabilize her cultivation base, which didn’t take long since it was simply from one level to another.

  “I kind of don’t want to leave,” sighed Nolan eventually. “If it weren’t for Jason and that girl…”

  “Girl?”

  “Uh, an Otherworlder that Jason and I met before I went off to save you.” He’d almost said ‘A girl I bought at the slave auction.’