"Dammit!"

Walking down the path to my dorm I inevitably cursed.

I finally found out why Student Council never came.

"We found an Aether circle on Byzander Island."

Mia"s words kept echoing inside my head. Her words meant Student Council wasn"t able to come to our rescue because they were on Byzander Island.

They were there for the Aether Circle.

…The circle inside the Shadow Fox Guardian cliff.

Humans couldn"t use aether but this didn"t mean that there was no way to use it. One such way was Magic circles structured for Aether.

Aether Circles were a lot more powerful and efficient than magic circles structured for Mana.

But Aether Circles were a lost technology from Dark Ages and humanity still wasn"t developed enough to decipher and learn Aether Circles.

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The only way to find new Aether circles is through Ruins or Special Dungeons.

"Wasn"t that Aether Circle already discovered?"

I thought that it was a discovered circle. This was why I dropped the statue after the volcano blew.

Even if somebody had investigated, they would"ve thought that the statue fell due to the shockwaves from the eruption.

And Leon was the one behind that volcanic eruption. He did that by blowing away a core inside that volcano to weaken the beast resting there.

All in all, Leon would"ve been the one held responsible for the statue falling.

I never thought that the Aether Circle was undiscovered.

"How can be the circle hidden? And if it was hidden, why was I able to find it?"

Unconsciously, I bit my nails.

"Wait!"

The beasts around the island weren"t coming to the orb because the circle was hiding the Aether Orb. At least this was what I believed back then.

But what if that circle was also concealing itself from everyone?

What if the circle"s function was more than that?

That Aether Circle was too big. It might have been the circle not only hid the Aether orb but also itself from everyone. This must be why n.o.body ever found it and the Aether Orb in the open like that.

At that time I believed that it was purposely left in open as a hidden prize.

"Haa… I know, but my luck is really negative, huh?"

I understood how everything went.

No student Council to fight Royal demon -> Student council on Byzander island

The student council went for the Aether circle -> A new Aether Circle was found.

The concealment of the Aether Circle was lifted -> The Aether Circle lost its energy source

The Shadow Fox removed the Aether Orb, the energy source of circle, to protect the Orb -> A statue was falling on the Aether Orb

I dropped the statue -> I wanted to make Sky Viper come after Aether Orb and leave its cave

I looked at the moon with a wronged gaze.

This b.u.t.terfly effect was too much!

How was I supposed to know that this would have happened?

"Still, there is one thing I don"t understand."

I bit my nails harder.

"Why could I find the Aether Circle when n.o.body else could?"

If the Aether circle was concealing itself and the Aether Orb, how could I see it?

Closing my eyes, I thought back to everything that had happened back in the exam.

There has to be something. Something suspicious that I had glossed over.

Think. Think

"Dammit."

Even after a dozen minutes, nothing came to my mind. Back in the exam, the only strange element was how a top ranker was near me, causing the stampede early.

Thinking back, the top ranker might have seen Lark, Ryan, and me running away from the horde, but still didn"t help.

Was this person involved with why I was able to discover the circle?

"No, it can"t be."

I shook my head. The stampede happened after I found the circle.

(I think I know why.)

Stopping my trail of thoughts was Eth"s voice.

(I think it"s because of resonance.)

"Resonance? What is that?"

This was the second time he mentioned it. The previous time, I didn"t think it was something important.

But it no longer looks that way.

(Whenever both of us have a strong desire toward a singular goal, our souls" combine. This is resonance.)

My feet stopped.

"..Our soul combines?"

I heavily gulped. What was he talking about?

Souls combining means that the initial souls will merge into a new soul.

It could be argued that the new soul was an amalgamation of original souls.

But the opposite was also true. If two souls combined into something new, didn"t it mean that the original souls were dead?

If our souls combined, then was I, no Nathan was already..

(No, every resonance is only temporary. Moreover, during resonance, our souls only partially combine.)

The frown on my face didn"t relax. If everything he was telling me was true, then there were a lot of problems.

"How is it related to discovering the Circle? And... why didn"t you tell me something this important before?"

(I don"t know what happened after you transmigrated. But since I am here now, it means even after you transmigrated; I was always here, only asleep.)

(Remember, I said I only remember only bits of memories of the last 10 years?)

"I know."

Why was talking in a roundabout way? We had already talked about all this.

(There is one thing I remember clearly. My only goal in those 10 years was to grow stronger. Ward was the best place for it. I had to get into Ward if I wanted to grow stronger.)

My eyes widened.

In the exam I had two goals: Get the manuals and go into the Ward.

I was able to fight against beasts even on my first day in this world because of my goals.

At that time, I kept repeating my goal in my head to get the courage to fight against those beasts. I repeated them to make myself believe that it was the only way.

"We had the same goal: To get into Ward. So, Resonance happened."

(Yes. And the new soul will be special. It is formed from you whose soul transmigrated after death and mine, someone whose soul still lingers in World Dimension even though I don"t have a body.)

"But it isn"t necessary that my soul underwent a change because of transmigration. And your soul not dying can be because this body belongs to you and you never died."

(Yes, but it doesn"t change that the new soul is born by combining two souls. It will still be special. And there is one thing that is only affected by one"s soul, it is..)

"Stigma"

I was slowly understanding what he was trying to say.

The new soul will have a different stigma than us. And if we go with our theory that the soul was special, then its stigma will also be special.

(I think you were able to discover that hidden Circle because of that stigma.)

Thinking about it was weird as how I never awakened a stigma even after going through all that. I had just died, so I was naturally stressed. Then I had to immediately fight, and then run away for my life. Not to mention I was injured badly and many more things happened.

Back then, I had thought the requirements were too harsh for the Stigma to be awakened and so I hadn"t awakened it.

But what if I did awaken a stigma?

No, was that even me?

(Yes, that was you. At that time, I was unconscious and my soul was very weak. The majority of control and personality were you.)

"Haha..ha…Hahahaha"

Bellowing laugh echoed in the empty hallway of the dorm.

"The personality was based on me, so it was me? Do you believe your own words?!"

I shouted.

"Even if it was me and not a new soul, do you think I can believe you? Should I trust you, you f.u.c.ker?"

I shouted to the point my throat felt sore. At this point, I didn"t care even if somebody saw me.

Why had I been pushing myself to the brink of death? Wouldn"t combining with someone else be the same as dying?

What was the point of sacrificing my arm if I will one day lose myself without even knowing?

"Why didn"t you tell me sooner? Don"t you wan-"

(Because I never trusted you.)

"What?"

(Have you seen yourself? Don"t want to die? Do you think I believe that joke?"

"Don"t change the top-"

(Despite saying you don"t want to die, aren"t just seeking your death?)

Eth"s voice was the same as ever but behind it was rage, frustration, and endless other emotions.

"When did I ever do that?!"

(Ether exhaustion means death, doesn"t it? Also, in the entrance exam, the bracelets weren"t omnipotent. In the novel, there was someone who died from falling from a height. Then why did you jump from the cliff?)

(You just keep blabbering how you don"t want to die when instead you are only trying to die.)

Eth words stabbed deep inside my heart. Listening to him, I started having trouble breathing.

Was he right? Am I trying to die?

No, I"m not!

I want to live!

Yes, I know myself. I will never try to die.

Then why was my voice quivering?

"N-no, that was because it was-"

(It was the only way? You really think that? Of course, you do.)

Eth stopped for a second and scoffed.

(You don"t want to die. You always repeat it to make yourself believe it when in reality you want the opposite.)

Ignoring the Blood dripping from my hand, I stared at the ground. I didn"t know when, but I had started biting my thumb rather than my nails.

Minutes pa.s.sed and I only stared at the ground.

"Haa.. "

I saw the doors of the hallway open slightly, and many cadets were peeking at me. Acting oblivious to those stares, I slowly walked back to my room.

Throughout the way, I thought back to what Eth said.

Was I really trying to die?

***

CLICK-

Opening the door to my room, I was about to enter when I saw something on the floor.

The piece of paper, lying on the ground, had a single line written on it.

"What the h.e.l.l?"

I closed the door behind me while reading it.

|| I know your secret. Meet me on Sunday if you don"t want to be exposed. ||

I flipped the paper but there was nothing else on it.

Crumbling the paper, I threw it into the garbage without a second thought.

"What secret? Why should I believe this? Even if its true where should we meet?"

I wasn"t in the mood to entertain an idiot. Even a prank should be more believable than this.

Entering the bedroom, I started changing.

"..Eth"

(…)

Eth had been silent since earlier. But I didn"t care about it.

"Tell me more about Resonance."

(…)

"Eth"

(…)

f.u.c.k it. If he doesn"t want to talk, then so be it.

Dragging the chair back, I sat in front of the desktop.

I opened the browser and searched for a particular site. But before the result could be shown, I closed the desktop.

"Haa…"

Today I was planning to contact the future Alchemy King, but I was no longer in the mood. Eth"s words kept ringing in my head.

Changing into my training clothes, I went towards the training ground. Maybe if I moved my body, I could clear my mind a little.

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