Talia’s condescending tone barely fazed him.

  “Okay, Dr. Kei.”

  “Yeah?” Kei responded casually.

  Talia blinked.

  “…Wait. What do you mean ‘yeah’?” She squinted at him, suspicion creeping into her voice. “Are you actually trying to say you’re a doctor?”

  Kei tilted his head. “You mean like, a PhD?”

  Talia rolled her eyes. “What, you got a doctorate in physics or something?”

  Kei nodded. “Physics, Biology, Chemistry—oh, and surprisingly, you can get a PhD in Culinary Arts. Got one of those too. They overlooked the fact that I failed to butcher though. Also Computer Science. And more recently, Game Design. Was about to tackle Business before—”

  BANG.

  Before he could finish, the Stormbringer Fellhorn rammed into him at full speed, sending him soaring.

  Kei’s words cut off instantly as he flew across the battlefield like a ragdoll.

  Kai and Talia watched in absolute disbelief.

  “Just who the hell did we run into?!” Kai finally blurted, still struggling to process.

  Talia, meanwhile, was fixated on a different detail.

  “…He can’t have that many PhDs. Right?”

  Their conversation was interrupted by the loud, echoing thud of Kei hitting the ground so hard he bounced.

  Then—smack.

  Face-first into a tree.

  “…I’m also a medical doctor,” Kei groaned as he slid down the trunk.

  “A surgeon.”

  Talia buried her face in her hands.

  Kai, still staring at Kei crumpled against the tree, exhaled sharply.

  Appearing behind them as if he hadn’t just been smacked senseless, Kei spoke casually, as though the fight was nothing more than an afterthought.

  "Your Aether usage—for some reason, it seems like you’re not the ones actually controlling it. It’s as if you’re letting something else dictate how it flows, bending it forcefully rather than guiding it naturally.”

  Kai and Talia whipped around in shock, their eyes snapping to Kei.

  “What the…?” Kai started, stunned not just by his words but by the fact that Kei had appeared behind them without a sound.

  The Stormbringer Fellhorn had just charged at him a second ago.

  And now… he was standing right here.

  “What do you mean?” Kai asked, confusion evident in his tone.

  Kei shrugged. “Exactly what it sounds like."

  Talia crossed her arms, eyes narrowing. "Not like we have much input when using our skills. The system just executes it for us.”

  Kei blinked.

  Then tilted his head.

  "Wait. What do you mean by that?" He pointed at them. "You don’t circulate Aether on your own when using a skill?”

  Kai scoffed. "Of course not. We activate the skill, and the system does the rest. That’s how it works."

  Kei’s expression froze.

  "Wait… That's possible?!"

  Kai stared at Kei, eyes filled with pure disbelief.

  "Are you saying… you don’t use the system to activate your skills?”

  Kei blinked, as if the answer was obvious. "Nope. I rely on my connection to my Force Alignment and guide my Aether accordingly. Aether seems more willing to help me that way.”

  Talia opened her mouth—then closed it.

  Reese, who had been regaining consciousness in the background, rubbed his temples. "...You make it sound like Aether is a person."

  Kei shrugged. "It might as well be.”

  Before they could ask further—

  A loud crackle of electricity surged through the air.

  The Stormbringer Fellhorn pawed at the ground, its glowing horns sparking wildly as it prepared to charge.

  Kai and Talia tensed.

  Kei, however, exhaled calmly.

  "A good example—"

  In one fluid motion, he guided Aether through the pathways in his body.

  Unlike the others, who relied on system-guided execution, Kei’s connection with Aether was intuitive—his Breeze Force aligning naturally with his movements.

  Wind coiled around both of his arms, rushing toward his fingertips, sharpening—refining.

  Aether-formed wind Claws extended from his fingers.

  The Stormbringer Fellhorn charged.

  Kei disappeared.

  A gust of wind whispered past them—

  And before the Fellhorn could react—

  Slash!

  Kei reappeared mid-air, his claws slicing through the beast’s legs.

  A sharp, agonized bleat echoed through the dungeon as the creature staggered, electric arcs flickering wildly from its wounds.

  Kai and Talia stood frozen.

  Kei landed lightly, flicking his wrist, dismissing the claws as if they were nothing.

  "See?" He dusted off his clothes. "Much easier when you’re not forcing it."

  “I don’t even have a wind claw skill, but if you know how to work with your Force Alignment, the more creative you can be in its execution,” Kei stated matter-of-factly.

  Kai stared at him, still trying to process what he had just witnessed. “How did you even reach that conclusion?”

  Kei shrugged. “It’s the natural conclusion, really. We’re told what our Force Alignment is when we come into this world. So far, using our Force is more like replicating the natural function of the world itself. So it only makes sense to listen, follow, and be guided by the world and its energy source—Aether.”

  Kai barely had time to absorb that before Kei tilted his head slightly, eyes flicking toward the charging Fellhorn.

  “Heads up—it’s coming back.”

  Kai barely had a moment to process Kei’s words before the Stormbringer Fellhorn recovered, its silver-blue wool crackling with renewed energy. The beast pawed at the ground, a deep growl rumbling from its throat as storm-charged Aether swirled violently around its horns.

  Kei sighed, adjusting his stance. “You still thinking? I literally just told you it’s coming back.”

  Kai snapped out of his daze, gripping his spear tighter. He inhaled sharply, this time feeling his Aether—as an extension of himself. His Adrenaline Force surged naturally, flowing through his body without resistance.

  The Fellhorn lunged.

  Kai didn’t think—he moved. His reflexes were sharper, more instinctual. The moment the beast was upon him, he sidestepped, barely grazing past its lightning-infused horns.

  His spear lashed out.

  WHAM!

  The tip struck true, slicing into the creature’s side just as it barrelled past him. The Fellhorn staggered slightly, bleating in fury as arcs of electricity discharged into the air.

  Kai wasn’t done.

  Instead of retreating, he pressed forward.

  He shifted his grip, twisting his body as his Adrenaline Force synced perfectly with his movement. His spear blurred, infused with controlled Aether. It moved with him, rather than resisting his intent.

  The Fellhorn spun back around, static Aether surging around its horns as it prepared a devastating charge.

  Kai exhaled. “Alright... let’s try this.”

  Following Kei’s instructions, he let go.

  Not of his weapon. Not of his stance. But of control.

  Instead of directing his Aether with sheer willpower, he simply let it flow.

  The moment the Fellhorn launched forward, he reacted before it struck.

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  He spun to the side, spear shifting as his Adrenaline Force flowed through his body, free. His next strike wasn’t just fast—it was inevitable.

  CRACK!

  The spear connected directly with the creature’s charging momentum, magnifying the force behind the impact. The sound of thunder clapped through the dungeon as the Fellhorn stumbled, its own Aether briefly thrown into disarray.

  Kei smirked from the side, arms crossed. “See? Now that’s more like it.”

  Then, he turned his gaze to Talia. “What are you waiting for? He’s going to die if we leave him alone.”

  Talia hesitated. “Aren’t you going to teach me how to use Mirage Force better?”

  Kei scoffed. “How would I? I don’t know anything about mirages.” He waved a hand vaguely. “Think of light, water, distortions in perception. Try different senses—sight, sound, maybe even temperature. I don’t know what to tell you. But the same Aether control should apply. Be creative—before he’s speared through.”

  Gritting her teeth, Talia took a deep breath and adjusted her Aether flow, relinquishing the rigid structure the system had imposed on her skills. The moment she did, her Mirage Force surged naturally into the environment, blending with the world instead of forcing itself upon it.

  Meanwhile, Kai was struggling. His new approach to Aether control had bought him time, but it wasn’t a game-changer—not yet. He was lasting longer than before when he relied on the system alone, but it was clear the Stormbringer Fellhorn had had enough.

  Aether surged violently through its horns, crackling with electricity as it charged straight at Kai, intending to end the fight with a decisive blow.

  And then—strangely—it veered off course.

  Kai blinked, startled.

  The Fellhorn sheep let out an enraged bleat, its eyes darting wildly in confusion. It swayed slightly, trying to correct itself, but its charge had already been thrown into disarray.

  Talia smirked. “Oh… that actually worked.”

  Kei grinned. “See? Told you. Be creative.”

  Kei watched from a short distance, already moving to prepare something in secret while Kai and Talia fought. His Phantom Breeze skill kept him unnoticed, allowing him to work undisturbed.

  “Now while you two do that, I’ma try making something to help bring down the big guy. Be sure to not die too soon,” he called out, his voice light, almost teasing.

  Befuddled by his words, neither Kai nor Talia had time to respond. The Stormbringer Fellhorn was growing more violent, its electric current crackling with an unpredictable fury. The very air hummed with power, violent winds whipping around the battlefield, and the storm only seemed to intensify the more damage they inflicted.

  Kei crouched low, pulling out a bundle of plants he had gathered earlier. His eyes scanned them, sorting through the various herbs and reagents he had identified for potential uses. He had been testing different combinations to create basic healing salves—but now, it was time to do the opposite.

  A few of these plants had numbing properties, particularly the deep red one he had found near a riverbank. If mixed correctly, it could work as a localized anesthetic. Another plant, a sickly purple one, had mild paralytic effects—enough to slow down an opponent’s movements if applied directly to the bloodstream.

  “Let’s see… numbing, paralysis… yeah, that should do.” Kei muttered to himself, working quickly. He crushed the selected plants, mixing them together with a bit of water from his canteen, creating a paste-like substance. He needed a method of application, though. If he could coat arrows with it…

  Perfect.

  Kei smeared the mixture onto the remaining arrows, infusing them with his own Aether to enhance their effectiveness. The concoction alone would take time to take effect, but if he combined it with force-infused projectiles, it could bypass the sheep’s natural resistance much faster.

  Meanwhile, Kai and Talia were fighting with everything they had—but the battle was slipping out of their control.

  Talia’s Mirage Force had become sharper, creating more convincing afterimages, disorienting the Stormbringer Fellhorn more effectively than before. But it wasn’t enough. The chaotic, storm-infused winds disrupted her distortions, making it harder to keep them stable. She was pushing herself to the limit just to keep up.

  Kai, for all his newfound control, was struggling. His spear strikes were still fast and powerful, but each blow he landed barely seemed to slow the creature down. His adrenaline-fueled movements were keeping him alive, but the electric charge surging through the air was wearing him down.

  Then—

  BAAAAAAAAAAA!

  A violent blast of wind and electricity surged outward.

  Kai and Talia were sent flying, crashing into the ground, unable to react in time. Sparks danced over their bodies, numbing their limbs. Their bodies twitched as the residual charge coursed through them.

  They weren’t getting back up anytime soon.

  The Stormbringer Fellhorn saw its chance. It pawed at the ground, arcs of lightning crackling along its hooves. Its horns surged with power, building up for a devastating charge—one that would put an end to the two downed fighters.

  Then—

  The creature faltered.

  Its balance wavered, its legs suddenly feeling weaker. It tried to take a step forward—but staggered.

  The orange glow of Aether-infused arrows pulsed in its legs, embedded deep.

  And this time, it couldn’t just ignore the damage.

  The numbing poison was taking effect.

  A slow, creeping loss of control spread through its limbs, dulling its reactions, slowing its movements.

  The creature let out a confused, angry bleat, its glowing white eyes narrowing as it searched for the source of this new attack.

  Standing on top of a broken tree trunk, Kei twirled his makeshift staff lazily, the same pulsing orange veins running through it as the arrows buried in the sheep’s legs.

  He grinned.

  “Figured you'd be the stubborn type,” he said. “Would’ve been easier if you just went down the first time.”

  The sheep locked onto him, electricity sparking dangerously across its wool.

  Kei’s smirk widened.

  “C’mon then. Let’s dance.”

  Beyond infuriated, the Stormbringer Fellhorn Sheep roared, its body crackling with unstable arcs of electricity as it gathered every last ounce of its strength. The air around it howled, winds surging violently as the sheep summoned a violet storm. Its horns glowed with blinding intensity, and from their tips, a spiraling mass of condensed wind and lightning began to take form—a storm-born tornado, growing more destructive with every passing second.

  The dungeon itself trembled under the pressure of the force being unleashed. The air thickened with raw energy, and arcs of lightning lashed out from the forming vortex, scorching the surrounding trees and stone. The sheep was done playing. It had endured enough.

  It was ready to end everything.

  Then—

  Something changed.

  The winds, once fully under its control, suddenly began to shift. The spiraling gusts, the raging currents—they wavered, hesitated, and then… began to move unnaturally.

  Not towards the sheep.

  Towards Kei.

  The massive storm that had once gathered around the sheep now spiraled, drifting subtly, as if drawn by another force. The violent winds obeyed something else.

  Someone else.

  And for the first time in this entire battle—the sheep hesitated.

  Its glowing white eyes widened in alarm.

  Kei chuckled, twirling his staff lazily in his hand. “Heh… there’s a blue monkey out there that had the same reaction on its face as the one you have now.”

  Without another word, he struck forward.

  The sheep barely reacted in time, sluggish from the numbing poison still coursing through its system. Its movements were forced, its steps uneven. Still, it tried to retaliate, surging its lightning outward in an effort to force Kei back.

  But Kei didn’t stop.

  His staff moved fluidly, almost effortlessly, weaving through the storm-charged battlefield. Every strike landed with precision, targeting joints, weak spots, and pressure points hidden beneath the thick wool. The sheep staggered, bleating in frustration as it struggled to maintain control over the raging elements.

  Then, as Kei dodged another desperate blast of lightning, he shifted.

  Calling upon the Zephyr Force within the air, he willed the wind to gather at his fingertips. It answered him almost eagerly, forming sharp, invisible blades.

  Kei grinned.

  Then, with a flick of his wrist, he lashed out—

  Wind Blades.

  The razor-sharp currents slashed through the air, blending seamlessly with the storm the sheep had summoned. They rode the creature’s own wind currents, merging with its storm and turning its own power against it.

  The effect was immediate.

  The wool that had once been a powerful insulator, protecting the sheep from outside attacks, was stripped away. Sheared clean off in real time.

  The Stormbringer Fellhorn thrashed, its body exposed to the elements, to the very storm it had once controlled.

  Its strength was waning.

  Kei didn’t let up. He moved with the wind, shifting seamlessly from one strike to the next, pushing the creature further and further into desperation. Every movement, every gust of wind, every surge of Aether bent to his will.

  The sheep had lost control.

  And it knew it.

  Taking inspiration from the wind blades, Zephyr Force surged around the staff in Kei’s hands, shifting from an ethereal blue to a burning orange as it merged with his own Aether.

  The weapon vibrated with power, the fusion of forces amplifying each swing, turning what was once a simple reinforced branch into something far more dangerous.

  Kei’s strikes became sharper, heavier—every impact carving through the Stormbringer Fellhorn’s defenses with ease. The once-imposing beast, a walking tempest of wind and lightning, now found itself struggling to keep up.

  It was losing.

  And it knew it.

  Desperate, the sheep made a final gambit.

  Lightning surged through its horns, forming a dense, protective barrier around its body—a last-ditch effort to deter Kei from closing in.

  A wall of electric fury.

  But there was a problem.

  For the first time since it had been born, the storm no longer belonged to it.

  The electric currents, once wild and untamed, refused to obey.

  It needed Aether to maintain the barrier.

  And Aether was leaving it.

  Piece by piece, its control was being stripped away.

  The realization struck as hard as the blows landing against its body.

  It wasn’t Kei taking its Aether away.

  Aether was willingly following Kei instead.

  The storm it had commanded for so long had found a new master.

  Kei noticed the shift and smiled. “Oh, that’s gotta suck for you.”

  His body blurred into motion.

  Darting in close, he weaved through the collapsing storm barrier and drove his staff into the sheep’s legs, sweeping them out from under it.

  The beast bleated in distress, tumbling sideways, its large form crashing onto the dungeon floor. Blood sprayed in thick arcs, staining the ground as Kei followed up with a relentless flurry of strikes, each one cutting away at its strength, breaking it down piece by piece.

  The sheep tried to rise.

  Tried to summon its storm once more.

  But the wind refused.

  The Aether refused.

  Kei’s smirk widened as he adjusted his grip. “And that’s checkmate.”

  The Stormbringer Fellhorn gave one last, shuddering breath—

  SPLASH.

  The sensation of thick liquid rushing down its throat caused its body to jolt in confusion.

  Aether flared.

  Its injuries stopped worsening.

  Its body no longer felt weak.

  Instead, a strange warmth spread through its limbs—like a fire sparking to life inside its core.

  Kei pulled back, holding up an empty vial that had once contained a healing potion.

  Except it wasn’t potion inside.

  It was his blood.

  He rocked on his heels, hands on his hips, beaming.

  “First the Black Fellhorn, now a Stormbringer? I really need to start keeping track.”

  Clearly, before heading out and leaving Hachi and Zeph to their own devices, Kei had learned something peculiar—something that defied the natural order of things.

  Whenever a creature consumed his blood, it was as if they had ingested a heavenly elixir.

  Their strength surged. Their Aether aligned more naturally. Their abilities sharpened as if they had undergone years of refinement in mere moments.

  But that wasn’t the strange part.

  The strange part was what Kei himself received in return.

  If someone had told him outright that he would benefit from feeding his blood to other creatures, he would’ve laughed, called them insane, and promptly ignored the nonsense.

  Except—he had seen it.

  He had felt it.

  It wasn’t just them changing. It was him too.

  And he enjoyed it.

  Shaking the thought away, Kei turned his attention back to Kai and Talia, quickly clearing his hands of any remaining numbing poison. He pulled out his healing salves and began tending to their injuries, working swiftly and efficiently.

  The Stormbringer Fellhorn lay nearby, watching him.

  Confused.

  As if itself unsure of why it was still alive.

  It wasn’t the only one confused.

  The rest of the group had been watching Kei’s actions in stunned silence, their minds trying to piece together the logic behind what they were witnessing.

  Reese broke the silence.

  “Aren’t you going to kill it?”

  Kei didn’t even look up. “It’s behaving now.”

  Talia’s expression twisted in disbelief. “Behaving?! Kei, it almost killed us. It took everything we had just to bring it down.”

  Kei finally glanced back at the sheep, as if considering her words.

  “It doesn’t seem like it wants to fight anymore,” he said simply. “I don’t think it’ll cause any more trouble.”

  His casual dismissal of their concerns left the group utterly staggered.

  It wasn’t just reckless—it was absurd.

  And at least one person in the group wasn’t about to accept it.

  Owen.

  With a grunt, Owen pushed himself to his feet, his body battered and bruised but still fueled by lingering adrenaline. He clenched his fists, his gaze dark as he reached for his sword.

  Aether surged.

  A skill activated.

  His blade gleamed with raw, lethal energy.

  Kei, now finished with his first aid, noticed.

  His expression did not change.

  FWOOSH.

  A bone projectile whizzed through the air, striking Owen’s weapon and knocking it clean from his grasp.

  The metallic clang of the sword hitting the dungeon floor was the only sound in the sudden, suffocating silence.

  Owen whipped his head around, furious.

  “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOI—”

  His voice cut off.

  His breath hitched.

  Because the usual easygoing, smug expression on Kei’s face?

  Was gone.

  And in its place—

  Glowing.

  Burning.

  Orange eyes bore into him.

  The heat of them was suffocating.

  They weren’t filled with anger.

  Nor were they filled with rage.

  No.

  They were calm.

  Too calm.

  Unnaturally calm.

  Like a person who had already decided on something.

  Like a person who was simply waiting to see if you’d push him far enough to act.

  A chill crawled up Owen’s spine.

  He did not move.