Thursday November 3rd, 2018

  Walking quickly through the front garden, to the door and finally through the house to Arisah’s garden, Helo finds her safe and humming as she tends to her plants. “Whew.” Helo sighs as he steps into the greenhouse.

  “Mhm?” Arisah looks up from where she was tending to her special seeds. These are the seeds that she carries with her to use with her magic. What makes them special is their ability to grow quickly with minimal mana and their high resilience.

  “Oh, Helo? What are you doing here?” She asks in her kind voice.

  “Well…” Helo is about to start telling her what happened. But he decides better, they don’t have much time. “We don’t have time. The house has a lot of eyes on it right now. They are here to steal our challenge.” Helo looks toward the center of the room where a massive and beautiful flower is blooming.

  Arisah follows his gaze and her sweet expression quickly turns hard. She looks back toward Helo, and her gaze makes him shiver. “Ah. No need to look at me like that. I didn’t do anything.” Helo backs up with his arms in the air.

  Helo slowly makes his way out of the room and back out front. He was considering asking for her help. But she will be at her strongest within her Greenhouse. His not asking had nothing to do with how scary she looked. Nope, nothing.

  Making his way back to the front of the property and to the cliff to his right, Helo slowly approaches. As soon as his aura is close enough to feel the two would be thieves, Helo stops.

  Then finding a nice place to hide and wait, he can feel that they are almost over the edge. They are moving faster than I expected.

  Only having to wait for thirty more seconds, Helo finally sees the first head. The man looks around, studying the surrounding he nods and his head drops down. Seconds later both men start to climb onto the mansion grounds.

  Using a mix of his aura and ‘Detect Weakness’ Helo tries to get an idea about what he is working with.

  Human (Scout)

  Weakness: Vit, End.

  Human (Warrior)

  Weakness: Dex, Will, Int.

  Their weaknesses are about what he would expect for their classes. At the same time the locations on their bodies that are highlighted are interesting to Helo. For the Warrior the gaps in his armor are marked red by the skill. But for the Scout he has a generic location like his head, chest and groin.

  Does the skill consider my enemy’s armor. Helo starts to wonder. Because if it does, the skill is a lot better than he expected. I wonder if it considered things like barriers and artifacts.

  Using his aura Helo can tell that both men are impressive. In the, I am impressed they got this far kind of way. The depth of their auras are incredibly opaque. Where someone like Alli has a dense and powerful aura, theirs are very flimsy.

  Not feeling any danger from the two men Helo wraps himself within his aura’s abilities and easily slips behind the two men.

  “No, we should go that way.” One of them point toward the back of the property. “That is where the…”

  Before he can finish speaking Helo slams his fists into their skulls in rapid succession. Coating his fists in ‘Forced Still’ both men are unconscious before they even hit the ground.

  Looking at the two of them, Helo sighs for what must be the hundredth time that day. “Hah. I hope my entire day isn’t this boring.” Grabbing both men by the backs of their necks Helo starts to drag them toward the Greenhouse.

  When he gets there, he can see Arisah checking over the vines that run along the walls. He isn’t sure, but he thinks that those vines are more defensive than decorative. Even if they have some colorful flowers on them.

  Walking to an open area, Helo drops the two men. The sound has Arisah turning toward him. Her eyes have a vibrant green glow that quickly recedes as she sees Helo. “Can you do something with these two?” Helo asks her.

  The glow returns and Helo almost jumps away. But using his prodigious willpower, he keeps himself in place. The vines along the wall come to life and start to wiggle and writhe. Then like a knot of snakes, a portion of the wall starts to move.

  The vines grab the two men and drag them onto the wall. Then the many colorful flowers start to emit dust into the air. As the men breath in the dust their breathing starts to get even slower.

  Using his aura Helo can tell that they already unconscious levels of vitality are getting further suppressed. How they were, they could have woken up in time, or with enough stimuli. But from what he can feel, they won’t be waking up unless Arisah lets them.

  Huh. Helo digs a little deeper with his aura and is a little surprised. The excess vitality is being drained into the plants. Helo wants to shiver again as he realizes that the plants are literally draining the life from these men.

  Looking at Arisah, Helo slowly backs out of the room again. “I am going to go check the… perimeter. Yeah, the perimeter.” Is this how people feel when they look at me?

  Out of the Greenhouse, which is within the garden on the side of the property nearest the cliffs. Helo quickly heads to the edge. Walking along the cliff at a decent pace Helo checks for any unnatural energy signatures.

  Without having a controllable aura, he doesn’t expect for anyone trying to steal their flower to be able to hide from his senses. But he could be wrong. Reaching the corner of the property Helo looks out over the ocean.

  To his left he can see where he just caught the two men. To his right he can see open cliff’s all the way to the wall. Looking back, he can see the three wings of the mansion and the large central area. Being closest to his wing, the one that he shares with Alli and Hinata. Helo realizes that he is underutilizing his resources.

  Getting across the open field and training area in only a few seconds, Helo enters the exterior door to his room. On his bed, with her own bed just a few feet away, Helo finds Lelai. She is curled up comfortably, with her fluffy blue-grey tail wrapped around her body and covering her head.

  Poking the fox with his aura. Lelai’s tail flicks to the side and she reveals a single glaring eye. “Hey, I need your help.” Helo says. Picking up the fox he heads back to the cliff as he tells her about what is happening.

  He is considering grabbing Inka. But in the end, she is still a baby. Even if she has gained a few levels. For Lelai she has grown quickly over the last few months. Due to her natural mutations, she no longer has the same risk of mutating unnaturally.

  So, Lelai has not only kept up with Alli and Hinata. She even passed them in level. Reaching level 47 she is the highest level in their group. Unfortunately, nobody has a Beast Tamer or similar class, so she can’t always be with them.

  As Lelai leaps away to patrol the grounds with him, Helo starts to feel a little bad. Turning back, he runs through their mansion searching for his cat. “Inka!” Helo searches through his room, then Alli and Hinata’s.

  Not finding the cat, Helo searches the entire back wing. Then moving toward their party members’ quarters, Helo first checks Luna’s room before searching the others.

  Not finding the cat, Helo heads into the central area. “Inka!” He shouts.

  “Merooow.” Inka awkwardly leaps onto the window between the living area and the kitchen.

  “What happened to you?” Helo asks as Inka flops to the side and lays awkwardly. Getting closer he can see that her belly is rounded. “Oh no you didn’t.”

  Helo steps into the kitchen and what he finds makes him almost as nervous as when he saw Arisah with her vines in the Greenhouse. The door to the fridge is wide open and the bottom shelf that held the marinating meat for today’s dinner is gone.

  “Aiko is going to kill you.” Helo looks back at the adorable cat. Reaching level 4, she is yet to leave the baby stage of growth. For magical beasts that usually happens when they hit level 10 and enter tier 1. But she still has grown. Her fur is still a deep black with her Jaguar patter is faintly visible within her fur.

  Seeing how cute she is Helo revises what he said. “She is going to kill me.”

  “Bad!” Helo points at Inka. “Bad Kitty!”

  Only for the cat to roll over facing away from him and stretch languidly.

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  “Damn cat.” Helo mutters. Turning around Helo leaves Inka where she is. She already did the damage, and she is way too full to move around and help him. Exiting the front door, Helo is disappointed that he didn’t have the time, skill, or materials to finish the defensive enchantment he wanted to make.

  The barrier around the walls and the cliff are intact. Even if they have holes. At the same time, he and Bibbin put in a lot of effort to add secondary traps to the weak points. But what he dreamed of is making a barrier that can cover the house and conform to its shape.

  Unfortunately for him, he probably won’t have the necessary skills for a few years, at minimum. One thing he did add is an alarm that will go off if it senses anyone that isn’t allowed. So, even if he misses someone while patrolling. He isn’t worried that Arisah will get blindsided. Not that she needs help. She is basically in a living building that will constrict, poison, and drain life from anyone that she wants.

  Getting back to searching, Helo is mostly using his aura and the senses that come with it to walk around. Feeling energy is easy with an aura, but feeling material things can be tricky. It is something Helo has put a lot of work into, so he is using his aura to walk around the property.

  “BANG!” Helo’s eyes snap open and he looks toward the left. Coming from the opposite wall as the last intruder, Helo takes off that way. Before he gets there, he can hear another explosion. Only this one sounds familiar. “BOOM!”

  Dipping past a tree Helo exits the garden only to get buffeted by a wave of misty wind. The explosion sweeps his hair and clothes back. Wiping away the water from his eyes Helo takes in the scene.

  Lelai is sitting proudly with her tongue out and tail sweeping happily. Against the wall like cartoon characters, two men and a woman are stuck. Two are unconscious, but the woman is awake and glaring at Lelai.

  Taking it all in with a glance, Helo walks up to the fox. “Good job girl.” Helo scratches her behind her ears. “But how did you manage that?”

  Walking up to the three people that are stuck on the wall Helo starts to laugh. “Oh! HAhah! Man, it sucks to be you three.” Helo chuckles. The first explosion was one of Bibbin’s traps going off.

  Keep in mind that not all of Bibbin’s traps are… normal. He likes to collect random things and run test to see how they explode and can inconvenience people. This particular trap is made from a resin and honey.

  “Get us out of here!” The woman screeches at Helo. “Do you know who I…”

  “Thunk.” Helo’s fist connects with her temple and with another helping of ‘Forced Still’ she falls unconscious.

  “Sorry, but you all will have to wait for Bibbin.” Helo says. “I have no idea how to get that stuff off.” Walking away he feels a little bad. From what he understands, the honey that Bibbin used has the effect of attracting bugs in large quantities.

  Over the next ten minutes Helo and Lelai stop another five attempted break ins. With one team making it to the Greenhouse while he was distracted by another. This sixth team wasn’t even able to enter before they were unconscious and tied up like elves in Hentia.

  Dropping off the person he just knocked out Helo looks toward the wall of the Greenhouse and shudders. Stacked on top of one another, there are eighteen people wrapped in vines, pupped full of a magical chloroform, and having their vitality drained.

  “Aruuu! Yip! Yip!” Lelai comes bounding into the Greenhouse with a happy gait. Gesturing with her tail, Helo follows her out and a few minutes later he is dragging another four people to Arisah’s bio-energy farm.

  While walking back to check for any more intruders, Helo is stopped short as he feels something within his aura. He can feel a disturbance. If his aura wasn’t attuned to natural vitality flows, he might have missed it.

  Standing still down the garden path there is a patch of vitality that isn’t intune with the vitality of the garden. The flows are wrong, to Helo’s aura it feels like something is intruding. Only, he can’t see it.

  Helo freezes as soon as he senses the intruder. But a brief moment later he is walking like nothing is wrong. Acting normal Helo looks around like he is checking for thieves. Only he is really focusing on where he can feel the intruder.

  None of his other senses can detect whoever it is. His eyes, ears, and nose are completely unable to sense the person. His supernatural senses are stymied as well. His affinity for physical and mental energies. His magical detection. The only reason he can sense the person is because of his aura’s ability to assimilate into natural energy.

  Helo is impressed by the person who can so skillfully hide from him, at the same time he is impressed by his title. Not only does it increase his experience gains and help him hide his aura, it seems like it can also help him detect others.

  Nudging Lelai with his aura Helo instructs her to start creating a ‘Mist Orb’. He can’t speak to her through his aura, but he can send impressions and emotions. A sentient being might have been confused by his aura nudge. But as an intelligent beast that is deeply connected to her instincts, it is enough.

  Channeling her energy into her circlet Lelai forms an orb of mist in front of her. As she channels her energy, Helo steps off the main path and down a secondary one. As soon as he is out of sight, Helo wraps himself within his aura.

  His own ability to disappear is worse than whoever entered his home. But for Helo it is a trained effect of his bloodline and the aura that goes with it. By focusing on the concept of absence and nihility within his aura, Helo can dampen his presence until it is almost nothing.

  What he can’t do is hide from sight. Erasing himself would create a dark spot in the air, a gathering of condensed darkness. Shadows already gather around him as his bloodline and aura work to erase the signs of his presence.

  The person that is sneaking closer to the Greenhouse is using an extremely advanced skill. One that erases every sign of his or her presence. The only reason Helo can feel him or her is because of the way their presence, even if erased, interacts with the natural flows of vitality.

  Just because they can’t be sensed, it doesn’t mean they don’t have a physical space within reality. The only way to hide that would be turning intangible or slipping out of their dimension.

  Not sure if the person can detect him, Helo moves carefully. He has whoever it is always at the edge of his aura range. Staying as far away as possible without losing them. Getting behind them Helo starts to carefully but quickly move closer.

  Every second that goes by they move further from Lelai and closer to the Greenhouse. Channeling his energy into ‘Negative Weakening’ Helo starts to fill the gathering of energy within his skill with his mental energy. He doesn’t want to weaken this person’s body, but their mind and mana.

  Whatever skill that they are using is far more dangerous than their physical skills. When the fight starts, if their invisibility holds, Helo will have a hard time tracking them. The more they fight, the more messed up the flows of vitality in the area will become. Once that happens the inconsistency that their presence makes will be harder to find.

  So, Helo is hoping to weaking whatever skill it is that is making their invisibility so good.

  Coming behind the person Helo feels far more uncomfortable than he is used to. He is used to being the one with the strongest senses. Not the one struggling to find someone. But using his aura he can feel the person ahead of him, even if he can’t see them.

  Using ‘Bloodline Awakening’ for the first time sense he got back to the mansion. Helo’s body is flooded with power. Mostly his Vitality, Will and Agility are enhanced. Jumping forward Helo steps onto the truck of a tree, only for a moment later to be on another, then another.

  In his wake small cracks and chipped bark are left. But through his training he is now able to mute the sound of things he is touching. This is a skill he trained to stop doors from creaking, but it helps to stop the sound of splintered bark.

  Taking a final leap, Helo focuses his will to keep the roiling ball of negative energy contained and focused within the skill. He isn’t filling the skill with as much energy as he did the first time he used it. But he is trying to focus the wave and its effects.

  While in the air Helo can feel as the person below him notices him. The vitality flows that he is sense stutter and then start to bend. He is moving left, off the path. Helo tracks the movement. The person attempts to slip from the path and into the garden around them. Only the further they go into the dense vitality of the garden, the easier it is for him to feel as the vitality of the garden is disrupted. If they started backtracking or fighting, things would get more difficult, but as it stands, it is making it easier for him.

  Surprised by the speed that the intruder can move at, Helo is only just barely able to gain on them. By the time that they are within range of his skill, it is filled to the brim with his own blackness-tinged mental energy.

  “Just leave me be!” Comes a feminine shout from in front of him.

  A second later a wave of dark purple and pink energy launches from Helo in a condensed cone in front of him. The wave is tinged with lines of black corrupted energy. This is the effects of the skill, pulling from the curse he was born with to affect others with weakness.

  “EEEP!” The woman shouts. She attempts to dive to the side, but the cone isn’t so focused that she is out of its effect. “EWWWE!” She yells as the energy enters her body and floods her mind, mana, and nervous system with foreign cursed energy.

  While rolling on the ground and trying to get rid of the energy, her mana starts to weaken. Along with the weakness, her invisibility starts to destabilize. Her presence isn’t fully revealed. But Helo can now hear her and see a distortion in the air in front of him.

  Lunging forward Helo coats his fist in ‘Forced Still’. Not sure where he is hitting Helo strikes down.

  “OW! My arm!” The woman shouts. “No! EWWWE! What did you do to my arm?” She yells. ‘Forced Still’ works similarly to ‘Negative Weakening’ only it is focused and effects much deeper. Not stopping Helo continues to strike as the woman yells at him.

  The longer it takes the more annoyed Helo becomes. This woman would probably make for an interesting fight, only she is more focused on getting rid of the foreign energy within her channels. While beating her into submission Helo realizes that she is most definitely a mage. Her physical skills are sub-par.

  Not able to dodge the kick, Helo stumbles back as her invisible legs lash out. Scrambling to her feet the woman starts to try and run, only for Lelai to pop out of the wood. “Oh no…” Comes a defeated voices from the distortion.

  “BOOM!” The ‘Mist Orb’ hits the ground in front of her and the woman is launched back. She is carried by the force of the explosion directly past Helo and into bushes behind him.

  Waiting for the mist and wind to pass him by, Helo casually steps into the past the woman’s body made within the bushes. “I give. I give.” She says as she sits up. At the same time her stealth skills drops.

  Helo stares with wide eyes. Sitting in front of him is an incredibly beautiful elf. Her features remind him of Dorimer, with piercing blue eyes and golden blonde hair. Only, where Dorimer’s face is very punch-able, she is very beautiful.

  Looking further down Helo is tempted to look away, only… this might be a trap to get away. Due to the explosion, her clothing is destroyed. She is still wearing tight leather pants, even if they are torn. But whatever top she had on, it is now strips that are dangling off her shoulders.

  She obviously wasn’t wearing a bra as her modesty flashes off and on as she breathes. Helo stares with surprise and interest as the woman sits there. Slightly memorized, he is shocked from his appreciation as she yelps. “HEY!” Wrapping an arm around her chest only causes her breasts to lift. Snapping her fingers she looks at Helo in annoyance. “Excuses me!”

  “Wah?” Helo dumbly asks while looking back at her face.

  “Huh… Stupid school. Putting so many years at the same place.” She grumbles as Helo finds himself again. Helo is only sixteen and at the height of his hormonal journey. It doesn’t help that his awkward and anti-social behavior has been slowly fixing itself. Especially since he has balanced his dark affinity, it is no longer making him apathetic. At the same time, she is twenty-two and has a more mature figure compared to Helo’s party members.

  “Ah… Sorry.” Helo awkwardly looks away while pulling a shirt from his necklace. The woman looks with some suspicion as a shirt just appears. Helo doesn’t even notice as he looks away, completely forgetting that he is supposed to be keeping his dimensional storage a secret. Thankfully for Helo, she looks at the enchanted ring on his hand, not his necklace. It is his Ring of Blood Sacrifice.

  “Haha!” The woman laughs. “Your kind of cute.” She says while putting the shirt on. It fits her nicely even if it is snug on her chest. She is about the same height as Helo. But with a curvy figure, gold hair and pointed ears.

  Helo does notice that her figure is different than the Wood Elves that he is used to. They tend to be shorter, with more lithe figures. While this Light Elf is almost six-feet and stacked.

  Holding at her hand, she smiles brightly. “Nice to meetchyah! I’m Vallory Starhaven.”