Chapter 13: The Unseen Guest of Aethelburg
Aethelburg was a symphony of chaos to Leo's newly enhanced senses. Where the Ashen Abyss had been a brutal, simple composition of threat and silence, the city was a roaring, overwhelming cacophony. The [Energy Perception] function of his System, still calibrating, painted the world in a blinding tapestry of Qi signatures. Thousands of them, from the faint, guttering candle-flames of mortal citizens to the roaring bonfires of established Core Formation experts like General Kaelen.
He stood on the balcony of the villa Kaelen had provided, a stark, stone structure built against the city's immense outer wall. It was perfect. Isolated, defensible, with a direct view—in his unique way—of both the human chaos within and the demonic threat without.
His days fell into a new kind of rhythm, a new kind of grind.
By night, he was a specter on the battlements. He would walk the walls, his presence a silent dread to the Phoenix Crest guards who now knew him only as the General's "honored guest." They would see a glimpse of a lean, blind man with a staff, and then he would be gone, vanished into the shadows. He was studying the enemy. His Echo-Location, now with a range of miles, scanned the foothills of the Ashen Abyss. He tracked demonic patrols, noted their responses to the city's defenses, and logged every detail into the System's [Combat Simulation Engine].
By day, he retreated to his villa, a place of absolute silence. He would sit cross-legged on the cold stone floor, not to meditate on Qi, but to process. He forced his Energy Perception to filter, to categorize, to analyze. He began to see past the blinding glare of power and perceive the nuances.
He could identify cultivation stages by the cohesion and density of a core. He could sense injuries, blockages, and instabilities in a person's energy flow. And, most importantly, he could feel the corruption.
General Kaelen had been right. The sickness was here. Faint, like a few rotten threads woven through a vast tapestry, but unmistakable. He sensed it in a merchant haggling too aggressively in the market—a slick, oily aura clinging to his vibrant Qi. He felt it in a minor city official—a cold, hollow note in his energy signature where compassion should have been. They weren't full demons; they were influenced. Tainted. Compromised.
He tagged them in his mental map. [Target: Merchant (Low-priority). Corruption Level: 2%]. [Target: Clerk (Medium-priority). Corruption Level: 11%]. They were not immediate threats. They were sources of information, nodes in a network he didn't yet understand. And they were, as the System coldly reminded him, [Potential EXP Yield: Variable].
He was a gardener identifying weeds, waiting for the right time to pluck them.
General Kaelen visited him once, accompanied by his second-in-command, a stern woman with the Qi of a sharpened blade. Leo didn't offer them seats. He simply stood, waiting.
"Honored guest," Kaelen began, his tone respectful. "I hope the quarters are to your satisfaction."
"They are adequate," Leo replied, his voice giving nothing away.
"We… we were hoping you might share your insights. Your unique perspective on the demon movements…" the woman, Commander Vala, prompted.
Leo turned his head toward her. Though he couldn't see her, she instinctively took a half-step back under the weight of his attention. "They are adjusting," he stated. "Their patrols have increased by 17.3 percent. They are testing the western gullies. Your ballistas are poorly positioned. Their angle leaves a blind spot 4.2 meters wide for a creature of Brute-size to exploit."
He recited the facts with the emotionless precision of a military report. Kaelen and Vala exchanged a stunned glance. They had scouts who hadn't reported that level of detail.
"How… how do you know this?" Vala asked, her voice barely a whisper.
"I observe," Leo said. It was the only explanation he would ever offer.
He provided them with a list of tactical adjustments—ranges, angles, response times. It was priceless intelligence. When they left, they were both grateful and deeply unnerved. The man was a fortress of silence and impossible knowledge.
Days later, a new energy signature approached his villa. It was not the familiar solar flare of Kaelen or the sharp blade of Vala. This was a different quality—a flowing, verdant energy, deep and rooted like an ancient forest, yet sharp at its edges like a thousand leaves. It was powerful, but it was also… respectful. It paused at the outer gate, waiting.
Leo already knew who it was. The System had logged the energy signature from months ago, in a clearing filled with blood and fear. The Sect Master of the Verdant Sword Sect. Li Tao.
Leo didn't move to greet him. He simply waited.
The gate opened. Li Tao entered the courtyard alone, his steps measured and quiet. He stopped a respectful distance away and bowed, deeply and formally, his hands clasped. It was a gesture of profound respect, one superior to inferior would never make.
"Unseen Guardian," Li Tao said, his voice thick with emotion. "This unworthy one is Li Tao, Master of the Verdant Sword Sect. I have come to express the eternal gratitude of myself and my sect for the life of my daughter, Mei. We are in your debt."
Leo was silent for a long moment, his head tilted. He was analyzing the man's energy. His gratitude was genuine, a warm, steady pulse in his core. There was no deception, only sincere awe and a fierce, protective loyalty.
"Debts are irrelevant," Leo stated, his tone flat. "I made a choice. She was a variable in the equation."
Li Tao slowly straightened, undeterred by the cold response. He had been prepared for strangeness. "Perhaps to you. Not to me. Not to my sect. We do not forget our debts. I have not come to impose, only to offer. If ever you have need of anything—shelter, resources, a blade at your back—the Verdant Sword Sect is yours to call upon."
He placed a small, jade token on the stone bench nearby. It hummed with a gentle, calming energy. "This will allow you passage through our lands and signal any of our disciples that you are under our protection."
Leo's Energy Perception scanned the token. It was a key, a symbol, and a tracking device all in one. He made no move to take it.
"The offer is noted," Leo said, a clear dismissal in his tone.
Li Tao bowed again. "We will take our leave then. May your path be clear, Guardian."
He left as quietly as he had come. Leo remained on the balcony, his mind processing the interaction. The human world was not just a source of EXP and tactical data. It was a web of obligations, emotions, and politics. It was inefficient. Illogical.
Yet, a sect's loyalty could be a resource. A tool.
His attention shifted, drawn away from the departing Sect Master. His Perception, focused on the city, had picked up a flicker. One of his tagged targets—the corrupt clerk—was on the move. And his corruption signature had just spiked, pulsing with a sudden, frantic energy. He was meeting someone. Or something.
The hunt within the walls was beginning. Leo smiled, a cold, thin expression. He picked up his staff.
The Unseen Guest of Aethelburg had found his next quarry.