An spit a chunk of meat from his mouth. His bloody maw creaked and cracked while restoring itself to a human-like appearance. Surrounding him were the bodies of humanoid creatures. Each beast contained strength beyond what the lower plane could hold.

Worry flickered through An’s eyes. The situation was rapidly spiraling out of his control. Initially, there was only one scout, however An was forced to kill the scout off as he discovered Sol. It was impossible for whoever was behind that scout to not realize something was wrong.

The scout he killed at the banquet was likely there to verify Sol’s existence and was probably ordered to report back frequently. When communications dropped, it was a clear signal that someone of strength exceeding the lower plane was idling around for some reason. It wasn’t hard to guess the idling force to be a protector.

Now that An eliminated this scouting party, he knew his cover was blown completely. The odds of Sol remaining hidden disappeared as well. None of the scouts An killed were willing to rat out what organization was behind them, however An had a pretty good guess. 

There were only a few organizations from the higher planes that knew of Sol’s potential existence, much less had the strength to overcome the lower plane’s restrictions and transport scouts to it. A hint of self derision crossed An’s face as he started to return to Sol’s carriage.

Sol’s initial situation was dangerous if she was unlucky, however An’s appearance accelerated her discovery. There was a part of him that realized his moves compromised Sol’s identity and he couldn’t help but grit his teeth. Luckily, they were on the move and he prevented the scouts from reporting back.

Although the enemy was narrowing in on Sol, they were lucky enough to leak their whereabouts in the right locations. The enemy will likely focus on the Imperial Capital for a while. An knew their time was a finite and leaking resource. It was time to start instituting some more obvious defenses.

An returned to the carriage as silently as he left. The girl’s soft movements from breathing distracted An long enough for him to  recover his calm. His eyes turned sharp once again and he dived into thought. Inside his mind, An started furnishing his plans.

Sol awoke feeling rested. She stretched her arms wide and yawned. The stretch pulled on her stiff muscles and slight moans escaped her from the pleasure. Moments later, her eyes snapped open and met An’s incredulous gaze.

“Wow… No wonder no one wants to marry you.”

Sol flushed red at her faux pas. She grabbed her pillow and threw it at the boy. The carriage below her was no longer moving and Sol assumed they set up camp. The carriage door flung open and she alighted.

Crisp morning air filled with dew reached her lungs. She took a deep breath and regained her stoic bearing. Footsteps landed beside her, however Sol chose to ignore the young man for now. Instead, her attention turned to the knights who had a campfire going.

Her bright eyes noticed Sir Leory who was cutting some vegetables on a washed stone. The knife he held looked like a dagger and Sol’s eyes started sparkling. Sol’s lithe body hopped into motion and she rushed up to Sir Leory’s side.

“Lady Reviarra? Good morning. Did you need something?” The man asked as Sol stared at his blade. Since when were little girls into blades?

“Do you have a spare dagger? This Lady would like to perform an experiment.”

Sir Leory hesitated. Should he be handing over knives to little girls? Something inside him answered no. Sadly for Sir Leory, Sol’s misty eyes fresh from sleep was enough to overpower his common sense.

He pulled his backup blade from his boot and was about to hand it over to Sol when his common sense kicked in again. He hesitated. Sensing his potential rejection, Sol leaped out and snatched the blade from his hand before running off with it. Sir Leory was left speechless at the girl’s final comment.

“Thank you Sir Leory! This Lady will return it to you as good as new!”

“No, Lady… You can keep it but don’t run with sharp objects!!” He watched with overflowing concern as the girl darted between other soldiers and leaped into her carriage. He only heaved a sigh in relief after seeing her safely return in the distance.

“What’s with the blade?” An held a curious gaze on the girl who held the dagger like it was a jewel.

“I wanted to try something. Although I didn’t make much progress in figuring out how you expel magic, I might have had some success in figuring out how to envelope and structure it. Initially, I was trying to focus only on expelling it, but I had an interesting dream last night. I wanted to try it out and see if it was possible.”

Saying so, Sol held the blade between her hands and brought it to rest flat against her chest. An watched the praying girl with interest. His spiritual awareness insulated the carriage just in case and he focused on her actions.

“Oh?” An was surprised at the results. There was no magic released from Sol’s body, however her spiritual awareness was quickly condensing around the tip of the dagger. An’s eyes stretched open in astonishment as the girl compressed that awareness more and more.

Perhaps Sol didn’t understand the implications of her actions, but An was well aware. Compressing your spiritual awareness was the first step in creating your divine awareness. Sol was far too weak for it to actually convert, however the skill she was showing was years beyond what someone who had yet to even enter the Body Refinement stage should show.

How unfair. This girl would be a monster in the future for sure. No wonder his master was so confident. An returned his focus to the girl and more specifically, the tip of the blade. Heavy thoughts flickered through his mind as he watched her hyper focus spiritual awareness eat away at the blade’s material.

Without a microscope it’d be difficult for any normal person to understand what was happening however An was tracking everything. For the next 30 minutes, An continued to isolate the carriage from any outside interference. Sir Leory had already tried to knock on the carriage door and deliver food twice now, however he was sent away.

Sol’s focus was so intense that An worried about any interference. Spooking someone in such a hyper focused state could be dangerous for them. He allowed the girl to finish her tests in peace. Another 30 minutes passed by and Sol finally came out from her state. She was drenched in sweat and had a disappointed face.

She gazed at her results and only managed to release a disappointed sigh. “I’m not strong enough yet… I could feel it though, I was almost there.”

An snatched the blade from Sol’s exhausted hands and gave it a once over. “Well, you did well enough. What were you trying to do?”

“I thought that since my soul is too weak and I basically have no magic, I should look for other ways to practice the divine Refiner arts. At the very least, control over your spiritual awareness should be a factor. In my dream, I was able to focus my entire spiritual awareness into a pinpoint area and funnel the magic in the environment onto an object. I was hoping I could imitate the runes you made, but I failed.”

Sol’s shoulders sagged and her labored breathing gradually recovered. Disappointment covered her face, however there was also a sense of accomplishment. Although the magic failed, she knew her efforts provided at least some effect. Eager eyes questioned An who was still examining the blade. She knew An would never tell her she ‘did well enough’ unless there was an actual effect.

“Sol, I’ve told you before that this is a lower plane. Magic is abnormally thin here, nearly nonexistent. Although it’s hard to say if you would have succeeded in a world filled with more magic, I think it’s safe to say you would have come very close to your goal at the very least. The lack of magic in this plane altered your results from something magical to something physical.”

Rather than continue his explanation, An held the dagger out and released it from his hand. The blade fell to the carriage floor and embedded itself to the hilt under gravity’s influence. The reinforced steel carriage floor spread like butter when confronted by the blade.

Sol’s mouth dropped in astonishment. Her initial knee jerk thought was that she could totally make a living selling cooking knives. However a flurry of proper ideas inundated her moments after. The application of such a technique was nearly limitless.

A wide grin spread across Sol and she jumped from her seat and wanted to grab the dagger. As soon as her weight fell on her legs though, Sol collapsed to the ground. Her clueless eyes darted around without target.

“Silly girl. You’ve just exhausted your spiritual awareness to its limit. What do you think controls your spiritual awareness? Even the most powerful souls can be exhausted, much less one as weak as yours.” An appeased the young girl’s confusion and lifted her back onto the cushion.

Even though he said so, An refused to tell the girl how incredible her accomplishment was. Arrogance is a deadly poison to the weak. What he needed was to guide the girl for as long as he could.