Chapter 836: Day in the Library Part 3
“Pardon…?”
“Nothing! Sorry, it’s just-”
“You’re freaking huge!”
“Zhen Xing!”
“What?!”
“Oh…I get that…a lot.”
While Zhen Xing and Zhen Feng were in the middle of arguing about how the former was going to get access to an aether art that seemed to be actively repelling him, a giant of a man had somehow snuck up on the two of them seemingly out of nowhere.
Whether this was a testament to the man’s stealth skills, a testament to their inability to detect hidden factors or a factor related to the library itself was up for debate.
Either way, the Zhen Clan scions couldn’t help but be a little shocked at the man’s sudden appearance…alongside his appearance.
Name’s…Frederick…I’m a member of the sect. Is…something else…the matter? You two are…staring.”
“No…”
“Wait, there are actual guys here too?”
Based on their past few encounters with the Temple of Nowhere and it’s disciples, the Zhen Clan scions were under the impression that a majority of the membership were essentially women that were equal parts violent and beautiful…like the romantic partners of a certain cousins of theirs.
That said, it appears that wasn’t the case, given that Frederick was an older gentleman that looked to be only a touch older than their fathers and a beard that reminded them of a mammoth…which was oddly familiar…
“Wait.. have we met before? Because you look incredibly fami-”
“You guys…trying to get…access to that top art?,” Frederick interrupted while gesturing to the shelf that Zhen Xing and Zhen Feng were standing in front of.
This elicited two reactions from the duo.
One of denial.
“Just him,” Zhen Feng replied while pointing at Zhen Xing. “I was looking for books related to Cooking Alchemy.”
And one of confirmation.
“Huh? Oh. Oh yeah! It’s been negating all of my attempts to grab it with just my aether, yeah,” Zhen Xing readily agreed.
With their attention redirected back towards the shelf, Zhen Xing and Zhen Feng completely lost their initial train of thought and focused back on the aether art they were arguing about just moments ago.
“I’ve been trying to get access via physical means instead,” Zhen Xing explained, “but I was told that being tossed up there might end with me getting injured from blunt force trauma.”
“I technically said more than that, but sure.”
“I see…have you…tried…absorbing the heat…to weaken the Ignatii aether…aura?”
“Huh?”
“Absorbing the-oh! You mean like this?”
Prompted by Frederick’s question, Zhen Feng proceeded to circulate his aether in a rather peculiar way.
“Huh? Zhen Feng what are you-wait,is that mist forming from my mouth?”
As Zhen Feng continued to circulate his aether, the air surrounding him got colder and colder to the point that a light mist began to from. At the same time, the ground began to show signs of being covered in thin layers of frost.
“Yeah…like that.”
“Whoa! When the heck did you learn how to do that?,” Zhen Xing asked in alarm once he realized what was going on. From what he remembered, Zhen Feng had never been able to pull a trick like this before, even after he began practicing [Echoing Frost] like the rest of them.
“A while back,” Zhen Feng answered as he stopped circulating his aether, “it was during the Zhen Clan competition. That said, I’m not entirely sure how this trick of mine is supposed to help grab an Ignatii aether art.”
“That’s because…you need…to direct it,” Frederick answered.
“Huh?”
“Like this.”
Finding it easier to show rather than tell, Frederick pointed a palm towards the shelf and began to circulate his aether similar to the way Zhen Feng had just demonstrated moments ago.
However, instead of causing the entire area around him to cool down, it was only the general direction he was pointing his palm towards that showed any signs of cooling down.
“How is that supposed to…wait a minute…”
“Why does that aether art suddenly feel significantly less hostile?”
Under their watchful gazes, Frederick proceeded to drain away the Ignatii aether aura by indirectly affecting the environment.
It was a known fact that performing certain aether arts in certain conditions had a tendency to empower or weaken their performance, but nobody every thought that this same thing applied to the vessels containing them.
Until now, that is.
“And…done. Here you go.”
“Huh…”
It only took Frederick a few minutes of continuous circulation to completely absorb and nullify the Ignatii aether aura that surrounded the art that Zhen Xing was trying to get his hands on, but once he was done and managed to deliver it to aformentioned scion, he didn’t want it anymore.
In fact, both he and Zhen Feng wanted to learn something else entirely now.
“Why are you…guys…staring at me…again?”
“Nothing, it’s just…”
“Can you teach us how to do that?”
“Huh?”
Evidently, Frederick wasn’t expecting to be acting as a teacher this day.
…
[I wonder if…teaching them this…would be…good for them? I am technically made…of different stuff…might not work the same…meh. Should be…fine.]
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[Wait a minute, have we been given carte blanche to mess with the director’s cousins?]
[I’m not entirely sure, but I am sensing that both Nepherage and Frosttusk are simply assisting them by directing them towards specific skill sets.]
[Why?]
[If I recall correctly, one of the producer’s goals has been to make sure his clansmen can be independent powerhouses that can handle whatever threat without him being there. An independence protocol, as it were.]
[Oh yeah… completely forgot about that… alright, well, I’m just gonna screw off somewhere and hide before they can find me. Rather not deal with them any further.]
[Is it because you already ripped out that snake boy’s heart and don’t want to deal with that awkward aftermath despite him confessing in such a straightforward manner? Legit though, did you really have to use his sense of style as a reason to rag on him?]
[To be clear, he confessed to human disguise, not me directly. Also, I didn’t use his sense of style as the only means to rag on him, it just sounded the most appropriate given the…oh shit.]
[Huh? Why are you going, “oh shit”?]
[Because I think he and the peacock cousin just spotted my ass.]
[Oh shit.]
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“I’m honestly surprised you were open to the idea of assisting me in my pursuit for knowledge on fashion, cosmetics and therapy treatments. Normally you’d be against such things. What changed your mind?”
“No real big reason, really. Just…wanted a change of pace.”
“Uh huh…”
For basically their entire lives, Zhen Guo and Zhen Tai had usually found themselves on opposite ends of the hobby and interest scale side of life.
Zhen Tai was the rough and tumble type who didn’t really give a shit about how he looked on any given day, while Zhen Guo was as meticulous as the peacocks he and his father cared for.
That and Zhen Guo knew damn well that Zhen Tai to be actively complain about things he considered boring and droll, with self-care cosmetics being one of those things.
As such, he couldn’t help but to point out this sudden shift in behavior…while poking at the probable cause in that same sentence.
“Zhen Tai…be honest with me.”
“Huh?”
“Is your sudden change of heart in regards to cosmetics and spa care, have anything to do with a recent heartbreak of yours?”
“W-what?! N-no!”
“So, that’s a yes.”
Since Zhen Tai was the rough and tumble type, that translated into him not being the best when it came to hiding his emotions.
Embarrassment, shame and a small twinge of wounded pride could be seen plain on Zhen Tai’s face.
“Alright, while I can understand that having a broken heart can cause to undergo radical shifts in behavior and looks, like when Zhen Xing dyed his hair for a week straight, that was after he got dumped by his then girlfriend of like…six months. How are you this hung up on some mystery woman who outright rejected you and even gave a detailed list as to reasons why?,” Zhen Guo asked while leaving absolutely no room for mercy.
A little stunned by his cousin’s blunt viciousness, it took Zhen Tai a few moments to formulate a proper response.
“Alright…if I’m going to be completely honest…on the very, very off chance I run into her again, I want to be able to rub it in her face that I was able to be all of the things she said I wasn’t.”
“Which were…”
“Fashionable, sensible and intellectual.”
“That…huh.”
On the one hand, forcing oneself to radically change who they are as a person seemed a little dodgy, at best, since part of becoming a top tier powerhouse in this world is the ability to be confident in oneself.
On the other…maybe it wasn’t a bad thing, given who Zhen Tai was?
Regardless, Zhen Guo felt obligated to give him some advice…or something like that.
“Zhen Tai, look, wanting to change yourself isn’t a bad thing, but doing it because-”
“Holy shit. It’s her again.”
“What do you mean by-oh.”
As if the universe was mocking them, Zhen Tai and Zhen Guo had ran into that aformentioned heartbreaker, casually reading a book at a library table.
Needless to say, it was awkward as hell…for Zhen Tai at least.
Then again, it also appeared that she wasn’t paying attention to them…sort of.
