Aether was running.
He did not even have the chance to check his new equipment. After he left the bar, the guards around the city had become alert. Aether immediately discarded his dark cloak as he passed through a lonesome alley, and also his eyepatch.
This way they would not recognize him as the dark cloaked killer.
Which was what he would like to believe, but he knew these people were not stupid.
Before killing those people, Aether had done a lot of investigation around the town. He had even went ahead and found a gap in the walls that children use to run away into the forest and have fun there.
While running through the alleys, he decided to finally check his newly gained memories.
Memory: [Fallen Captain]
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Tier: I
Memory Type: Garment.
Memory Description: [A garment designed for a befitting captain.]
Memory Enchantments: [Sturdy], [Order].
'Great.'
He could somewhat change his appearance now.
He stopped for a second and got rid of his tattered robes. Throwing them into a corner. Then he summoned the garment. Immediately yellow sparks shimmered around him and started weave themselves.
What appeared was.. great!
A sharp, layered coat of black and deep blue framed a crisp white shirt and teal waistcoat, each layer traced with fine gold accents and star-like emblems. Belts crossed his chest and waist with mechanical precision, their buckles positioned as though measured twice before fastening. The coat's long panels split cleanly down the front, revealing the brighter cyan lining, and fell in even folds to his boots. From behind, the garment fanned into tiered tails, each tipped with pale cloth tabs and weighted with crimson charms. Every element—stitched pattern, metallic clasp, measured fold—spoke more of calculated order than of indulgence.
'Damn!'
He could wait a few seconds to admire his new garment, but he needed to run.
The enchantments were rather good too. [Sturdy] enchantment made the garment as durable as an armor. While the [Order] enchantment allowed him to order opponents weaker than him, however it only worked partially.
A new set of runes appeared before him.
Memory: [Silk Step]
Memory Rank: Ascended.
Memory Tier: I
Memory Type: Charm.
Memory Description: [The warrior developed an impressive battle style, defeated and tricked many foes with it. Only to be cut in two by a mundane.]
His lips curled slightly as he read the description.
Memory Enchantments: [Smooth Like Water],[???]
Enchantment Name: [Smoot Like Water.]
Enchantment Description: [You are able to skid on the ground.]
'Huh?'
Like roller skates?
He did not understand why that came to his mind. He had liked wearing it as a child. But he did not have time to experiment on this charm and the second enchantment most likely needed essence to be activated.
It was time to check his attribute.
Attribute: [Ever Winter]
Attribute Description: [Forged in the heart of unending frost, and bound to the soul that would carry her through every storm, this weapon is no mere blade — it is the infant's will, eternal and unyielding. Encased in a shell of ice and steel, she stands as both shield and sword for her chosen bearer, a silent guardian whose chill will never fade.]
Aether's eye threatened to water, but he reminded himself that it was not the time. She had somehow given him this, he could not let it die with him.
Attribute Traits: [Slash], [Icy Wound], [Weapon], [Shell], [Bound].
He skimmed through the enchantments. [Slash] was a weaker version of final slash, albeit weaker it would still be useful.
[Icy Wound], this trait gave the inflicted wounds a sense of being frozen for it to hurt more.
[Weapon] was an enchantment that allowed the saber to form itself into existence. Unlike other memories, it could appeared almost immediately. Unlike before the saber now had a transparent blade, however it did not feel like it was easy to break.
As for the [Shell] enchantment, it infused the weapon into his right arm. Now his arm could act as a weapon too on his will. Additionally the skin on his right arm seemed more blue rather than pale.
As he finished examining himself, he finally arrived at the crack inside the walls. Here he could escape as he pleased.
Just like that he was inside the dreadful forest once again. He started running in the direction of the village he had come from. He had unfinished business to attend to.
***
Aether passed through the snowy forest with grim determination. It took him a day to return to the village.
He had been in this first nightmare for 10 days now. Aether did not know if there was anyone who had been in their first nightmare for this long.
His footsteps sank into the snow as he walked down the streets of the abandoned village. Searching for any signs of life. The wind was picking up, and snowflakes were falling down.
'Another blizzard.'
That was not the only thing that caught his attention.
There were 14 mundane knights creating a wide semi-circle around him currently. Each of them adorned with silver armor and sharp swords.
'How come I did not see them coming?'
Looking at their breastplates, each of them had a shimmering ornament on it.
'Is that it?'
Was that a charm that hid their presence?
"Surrender! We have come to escort you back to the sanctuary. If you don't comply, we will be forced to kill you!"
As Aether listened to them, a smile appeared on his lips. Not a pleasant one. His icy saber appeared in his only hand, and he summoned his newly acquired charm.
The charm was surprisingly not a pair of boots like he expected, it was a small, golden, circle shaped gem that appeared on his both boots.
Seeing that Aether was making no moves, the knights started to move in.
The first knight that closed in on him swung his sword in a wide arc to cut Aether's head clean off. However it simply cut through the air as Aether tilted his head backwards.
The next attack came almost immediately, a spear whistled through the air to stab into his chest. However it was met with no resistance as Aether pivoted his body to the right, when the spearman staggered forward his head was cut off as Aether mercilessly swung his saber with one hand. The swing was met with no resistance as it severed the spearman's head.
[You have slain a dormant human.]
A sword was about to bite into his back as Aether moves his charm to forwards. The attack was avoided completely.
Seeing that Aether did not take any steps to move, the knight shouted.
"An Awakened! He is an awakened!"
Aether's smile widened. His killing intent piling around him in a visible green aura, it hugged him tightly as the knights observed him.
Only if they knew he was still a dormant.
'My turn.'
He dashed towards the man who just shouted, slashing towards him with practiced precision. The man parried his attack, however staggered backwards.
Then the knight immediately tried to counter attack by slashing his sword downwards, aiming to cleave Aether into two.
But Aether pivoted his body to the left the moment the other man raised the sword, his saber grew in a blue aura as his saber cleaved through his attack sword cleanly and slit his throat.
The broken piece of the other sword flew into the air and stabbed into the head of another knight.
[You have slain a dormant human.]
[You have slain a dormant human.]
Just like that the three of them were dead.
'Eleven left.'
A knight with a longsword thrusted to Aether from the side, Aether used his charm to skid to the left. Then he avoided the sword that was coming his way by crouching down and stabbing his sword into the armored thigh.
Immediately getting up, he parried an attack coming from the left and stabbed his saber in two quick successions and backed away to the stabbed knight and beheaded his head with a clean cut.
[You have slain a dormant human.]
[You have slain a dormant human.]
Turning to one of the knights, he locked eyes with him. His face was full of terror and shock, however he did not seem to be backing away.
Instead he charged at him recklessly. Aether entertained the idea to exchange a few blows with him, however the spear that was coming to him from the left distracted him and a sword was coming his way from the right.
He immediately skidded forward to avoid the spear that was aiming to stab him, and parried the sword that was coming his way.
The spear that was coming his was stabbed into the knight in the right, and when he unsummoned the saber the knight staggered more into the spear. Impaling himself.
A sword was flashing towards him from the front, Aether brought up his hand to block the sword. The sword collided with arm and did no harm. Skidding in half a circle to gain momentum he blew the swordsman's head off with his arm, and then summoned his saber back and stabbed it into the spearman's face.
[You have slain a dormant human.]
[You have slain a dormant human.]
[You have slain a dormant human.]
The white snow beneath them was filthy with crimson stains and limp bodies. Dismembered body parts littered the ground.
The other six knights were huddled together. After witnessing the fall of their comrades they were backing away all together. Pure terror was worn on their faces.
And it intensified even more as they heard an abominations wail from the back.
It was a humanoid nightmare creature.
The abomination stood along two meters and a half, its body was muscular. Its skin was gray and rotten, veins popped around his muscles. His eyes were covered by skin that had gaps that would make him able to see, he had no mouth but had screamed just now.
Its tail ended in a ball of spike and he was carrying a skeleton like great sword.
The knights immediately exchanged in fight with the nightmare creature, however the six of them were no match for the beast. They had inflicted some cuts, but in the end they were all slaughtered.
And now.. it was time for Aether to know the extent of his skills.