The warmth still lingered inside my body long after the battle ended.
Even now, while walking beside Kael and Lyra through the massive gates of Aurelia, I could still feel traces of the corrupted bear’s energy circulating beneath my skin like fading embers refusing to disappear completely.
It was different from ordinary mana.
More primal.
More instinctive.
The moment I absorbed it after the creature’s death, my entire body had reacted immediately.
My muscles felt lighter.
My senses sharper.
Even my mana circulation had become smoother afterward.
Not dramatically.
Not enough to completely transform me overnight.
But enough to notice.
Enough to understand.
In Nythera, growth was real.
Not symbolic.
Not abstract.
Every battle, every experience, every near-death encounter genuinely pushed living beings beyond their previous limits.
The strong became stronger through survival itself.
And slowly, I started understanding the system my former self had created for me.
The seals limiting my existence were not random restrictions.
They were stages.
Artificial walls designed to break progressively as I accumulated enough experience, strength, understanding, and instinct to support what waited beyond them.
My former self had not simply weakened me.
He had recreated the possibility of evolution.
Honestly…
That thought alone almost made me laugh.
An omnipotent existence spending centuries designing ways to become weaker just so he could rediscover growth again sounded absurd even to me.
Yet somehow…
It worked.
“You’re doing it again.”
Kael’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
I glanced toward him while we continued walking through the crowded streets of Aurelia.
“Doing what?”
“Thinking dramatically while staring into space like some mysterious protagonist.”
Lyra sighed softly beside him.
“You say things like that while dual-wielding daggers.”
“Because dual daggers are cool.
Completely different situation.”
I couldn’t stop the faint smile that appeared on my face.
The streets surrounding us overflowed with life despite the late hour.
Aurelia was unlike anything I had experienced on Earth.
Massive stone roads illuminated by floating mana lanterns stretched endlessly between towering buildings mixing fantasy architecture with magical engineering impossible in ordinary worlds.
Merchants loudly advertised enchanted weapons from open stalls while adventurers covered in scars drank and laughed outside crowded taverns.
Noble carriages crossed the larger avenues surrounded by armored escorts while street performers manipulated elemental magic to entertain children nearby.
The entire capital felt alive.
Not polished.
Not perfect.
Alive.
And strangely enough, after existing beyond countless realities for so long…
I found this city more beautiful than most universes I had observed.
“Look at that…” Lyra whispered quietly beside me.
I followed her gaze upward.
Far beyond the city itself, partially hidden behind layers of towers and glowing bridges, Aetherion Academy overlooked Aurelia like a kingdom built above another kingdom.
Even at night, the academy dominated the horizon completely.
Countless magical lights illuminated its enormous structures while floating platforms slowly drifted through the sky surrounding the upper districts.
Mana itself felt denser in that direction.
Heavier.
More dangerous.
Kael let out a low whistle.
“Okay… seeing it from outside was one thing.
Seeing it from inside the capital is completely different.”
Honestly, he wasn’t wrong.
The academy did not merely look prestigious.
It looked like a place specifically designed to create monsters.
We continued walking through the city for several more minutes while Kael reacted to practically everything around him like an excited child discovering another world for the first time.
Every enchanted shop, magical artifact, armored knight, or exotic traveler immediately captured his attention.
At one point, he nearly walked directly into a merchant cart because he had been staring too intensely at an enchanted spear displayed through a nearby shop window.
Lyra grabbed the back of his shirt before disaster could happen.
Watching them interact felt strangely calming.
Natural.
The small arguments.
The teasing.
The effortless trust between them.
They relied on each other instinctively.
And deep down…
I envied that more than I wanted to admit.
Back on Earth, relationships had always felt distorted around me.
People trusted me too easily.
Admired me too quickly.
Reality itself constantly adjusted interactions in my favor before genuine bonds could even properly form.
But Kael and Lyra were different.
There was no invisible force manipulating them around me anymore.
If they laughed, it was genuine.
If they worried about me, it was their own choice.
Somehow, that simple truth carried more meaning than entire centuries of artificial perfection ever had.
Eventually, we stopped in front of a large adventurer-style inn built near one of Aurelia’s central districts.
Warm light escaped through the windows while loud conversations and laughter echoed from inside.
“The Silver Griffin,” Kael read aloud while staring at the sign above the entrance.
“Sounds expensive.”
“It also sounds cleaner than the other places we passed,” Lyra replied immediately.
“Fair point.”
The moment we stepped inside, warmth hit us instantly.
The inn overflowed with adventurers, merchants, and academy applicants gathered around large wooden tables while servers moved constantly between the crowded room carrying food and drinks.
The atmosphere felt loud.
Comfortable.
Human.
A woman standing behind the counter immediately smiled when she noticed us enter.
“Here for the academy exam?”
Kael pointed proudly at himself.
“Future top student right here.”
“You said the same thing about becoming a mercenary last year,” Lyra reminded him.
“And I was emotionally top tier.”
I laughed quietly again.
Strange.
That was happening more often lately.
After leaving the inn, having secured a room with an incredible view over Aurelia’s illuminated streets, the three of us wandered through Aurelia without any real destination in mind.
The capital felt even more alive at night.
Mana lanterns suspended above the streets bathed the city in warm golden light while countless magical signs floated above stores competing for attention.
Music escaped from crowded taverns, merchants loudly advertised enchanted equipment to academy applicants, and groups of adventurers filled nearly every corner of the district surrounding The Silver Griffin.
For Kael and Lyra, this place clearly felt like another world entirely.
Honestly, I understood why.
Aurelia was overwhelming in the best possible way.
The city mixed luxury and chaos naturally, creating an atmosphere unlike anything I had seen before.
Nobles crossed the larger avenues inside elegant carriages surrounded by guards while only a few streets away commoners negotiated loudly with merchants over food prices.
Enchanted fountains illuminated public plazas with flowing blue mana while weapon shops displayed artifacts powerful enough to change someone’s entire future.
Nythera truly was a world where strength shaped everything.
Kael walked slightly ahead of us, constantly turning his head toward every new building or magical artifact like a child discovering another world for the first time.
At one point he nearly walked directly into a group of passing mercenaries because he had become too distracted watching a blacksmith forge enchanted weapons through an open workshop window.
Lyra grabbed the back of his shirt before he could embarrass himself further.
“You’re going to get robbed before the academy exam even starts,” she muttered.
“How was I supposed to ignore a sword literally covered in lightning?”
“It wasn’t covered in lightning.
It had one small enchantment.”
“Still cool.”
I quietly smiled while listening to them argue.
The more time I spent beside the twins, the stranger my own thoughts became.
Their relationship felt effortless in a way I had never truly experienced before.
They teased each other constantly, argued over meaningless things, interrupted one another naturally, yet beneath all of it remained complete trust.
Neither of them ever doubted the other would be there when needed.
And deep down…
I envied that more than I expected.
Back on Earth, relationships had always become distorted eventually.
People unconsciously changed around me because reality itself adjusted events in my favor.
Friendships became artificial.
Bonds stopped feeling genuine.
But here?
Nothing forced Kael and Lyra to care about me.
That alone made every conversation feel strangely valuable.
Kael suddenly stopped walking in the middle of the street.
Completely stopped.
I followed his gaze instinctively toward a nearby weapon shop illuminated by pale blue mana crystals.
Several daggers rested behind reinforced enchanted glass, their dark blades reflecting the surrounding lights while thin lightning engravings ran along the handles.
“Oh no,” Lyra sighed quietly beside me.
Kael ignored her completely.
He stared at the daggers with the exact same expression someone might use while looking at an impossible dream.
“They’re beautiful…” he whispered.
Honestly, he wasn’t wrong.
The weapons were extremely well made.
Lightweight.
Balanced.
Built specifically for speed-based combat styles.
Even from here I could already tell the mana conductivity inside the blades was excellent.
But more importantly…
Kael wanted them badly enough to stop breathing normally.
“You should try them,” I said calmly.
Kael instantly shook his head.
“No chance.
Look at the price.”
His voice carried no bitterness.
Just simple acceptance.
That reaction alone told me enough about the kind of life the twins had lived until now.
Without another word, I walked toward the shop entrance.
Behind me, Kael froze.
“Wait.
Noctis.”
I ignored him and stepped inside.
The owner greeted us enthusiastically while Kael entered several seconds later looking increasingly nervous.
Meanwhile, Lyra remained near the doorway watching everything silently.
I picked up one of the daggers carefully before handing it directly toward Kael.
“Try it.”
He hesitated before finally taking the weapon.
The moment his fingers wrapped around the handle, faint lightning mana instinctively crackled around the blade.
Authority of Knowledge analyzed the reaction immediately.
Excellent compatibility.
High synchronization with lightning affinity.
Strong instinctive weapon adaptation.
Interesting.
But what caught my attention more was Kael’s expression.
For several seconds he simply stared at the dagger silently, almost like he was afraid to damage it by holding it too tightly.
“They fit you,” I said simply.
Kael immediately tried giving the weapon back.
“No.
Absolutely not.
I can’t accept something this expensive.”
“You can.”
“Noctis…”
“I already decided.”
That completely destroyed his ability to argue.
Beside us, Lyra quietly lowered her gaze, though not before I noticed her attention drifting toward another section of the store.
Mage staffs.
More specifically, one particular staff positioned slightly apart from the others.
Unlike her current weapon, which had clearly been repaired multiple times over the years, this one possessed stable mana circuits carved directly into polished white wood.
A deep blue crystal rested near the top, designed specifically for water-element mana amplification and healing efficiency.
Good quality.
Reliable.
Perfect for her.
The moment I picked it up, Lyra visibly panicked.
“Noctis, wait”
I handed the staff toward her calmly.
“This one suits you better.”
She stared at me silently without moving for several seconds.
“You really don’t have to do this…”
“I know.”
The answer immediately shut down the rest of her argument.
Slowly, almost carefully, Lyra accepted the staff before channeling a small amount of mana through it instinctively.
Soft blue light immediately flowed through the crystal with far greater stability than before.
Her eyes widened slightly.
Kael looked between the two of us in complete disbelief.
“Okay, seriously… who are you?”
I laughed quietly.
“That mysterious?”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely,” Lyra added softly.
The three of us eventually left the shop together while Kael continued staring down at his new daggers every few minutes like he still couldn’t fully believe they belonged to him now.
Lyra remained quieter, though the way her fingers lightly rested against her new staff made her feelings equally obvious.
And strangely enough…
Watching them happy felt good.
Not because reality forced satisfaction into my existence.
Not because the universe unconsciously rewarded me.
Just because I wanted to see them smile.
By the time we left the shopping district, night had fully settled over Aurelia.
The capital somehow looked even more beautiful in darkness.
Countless mana lanterns illuminated the streets in warm golden light while the upper districts surrounding Aetherion Academy glowed faintly beneath layers of floating magical structures.
Even this late, the city remained alive.
Adventurers still laughed loudly outside taverns, merchants negotiated final sales before closing their stores, and academy applicants filled the roads with nervous excitement about the examination waiting for them the next morning.
Kael, meanwhile, had spent the last fifteen minutes pretending he was not constantly admiring his new daggers.
“You’ve looked at them at least thirty times already,” Lyra said calmly.
“False.
Twenty-eight maximum.”
“You counted?”
“Obviously.”
I quietly shook my head while listening to them argue again.
The strange thing was that their conversations never felt forced.
They moved naturally from teasing to serious topics and back again without effort, like two people who had spent their entire lives learning how to survive together.
At some point, Kael suddenly became quieter.
Not sad.
Just thoughtful.
“You know…” he muttered while glancing toward the streets around us, “when we were kids, Lyra and I used to talk about Aurelia like it was some kind of impossible dream.”
Lyra smiled faintly beside him.
“I was building atmosphere.”
“You said noble mages flew through the capital riding dragons.”
“They might.”
“They absolutely do not.”
Kael ignored her completely before continuing, though his voice carried far less humor this time.
“Back then, we honestly thought people like us would never reach this place.” He glanced toward the distant silhouette of Aetherion Academy towering above the city.
“Forget entering the academy.
Just surviving long enough to see Aurelia already felt impossible some days.”
The atmosphere softened slightly after that.
For a few seconds, none of us spoke.
I simply listened while watching the movement of the capital around us.
Nobles passed through the larger streets surrounded by guards and luxury while commoners moved aside almost automatically to let them through.
The gap between social classes in Nythera wasn’t hidden at all.
It was displayed openly.
Strength.
Wealth.
Status.
Everything in this world revolved around power.
And yet somehow, despite growing up surrounded by war, poverty, and loss, Kael and Lyra had remained kind.
That alone impressed me more than most forms of strength.
As we turned into one of the quieter streets leading back toward the inn, the atmosphere suddenly shifted.
Voices echoed farther ahead.
Angry ones.
Kael frowned immediately.
“What now…?”
A small crowd had gathered near the entrance of a side street.
Most people avoided getting involved, choosing instead to watch silently from a distance.
At the center of it stood the demon we had seen earlier near the capital gates.
Only now, his hood had partially fallen back.
Dark red skin.
Small black horns.
Golden eyes filled with restrained anger.
And directly in front of him stood three young nobles wearing expensive academy applicant uniforms.
One of them shoved the demon backward violently.
“You deaf or just stupid?” the noble sneered.
“I told you to move.”
The demon clenched his fists but said nothing.
Interesting.
Not fear.
Control.
He was enduring it deliberately.
Another noble laughed quietly.
“Honestly, they shouldn’t even allow your kind near the academy.”
Kael visibly tensed beside me while Lyra lowered her eyes uncomfortably.
The demon finally tried walking away without responding.
The first noble immediately grabbed him by the shoulder.
That was enough.
I stepped forward.
The movement itself wasn’t violent.
I simply positioned myself between them naturally, forcing the noble to release his grip almost immediately.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then the noble frowned.
“Who exactly are you supposed to be?”
I looked at him calmly.
“Someone telling you to leave him alone.”
The atmosphere changed instantly.
Not because of my words.
Because of what leaked through them.
For the first time since arriving in Nythera, I stopped suppressing my presence completely.
Only slightly.
Just enough for instinct to react.
The noble’s expression shifted immediately.
Confusion first.
Then discomfort.
Then something much closer to fear.
Interesting.
Even weakened this much, traces of my former existence still remained buried beneath the surface.
“He’s a demon,” one of the nobles muttered defensively.
“And?” I asked quietly.
None of them answered.
The silence itself became oppressive.
Not loud.
Not dramatic.
Just heavy enough to make the surrounding air feel colder.
The noble standing in front of me tried maintaining his arrogance, but I could already see hesitation appearing in his eyes.
His instincts were screaming at him despite the fact that I looked exhausted, injured, and roughly the same age as him.
Good.
“Fine,” he finally spat while taking a step backward.
“But this won’t end here.”
I said nothing.
That probably unsettled him even more.
The three nobles eventually turned and disappeared back into the crowd while muttering insults under their breath.
A few nearby spectators quickly pretended they had seen nothing at all before leaving as well.
The demon remained motionless for several seconds before looking toward me cautiously.
“…Why help me?”
Good question.
Honestly, I wasn’t entirely sure myself.
Maybe because I hated people who abused weakness.
Or maybe because after spending an eternity above existence itself, watching someone get treated as inferior simply because of their race felt unbearably pathetic.
“Because they were annoying,” I answered calmly.
The demon stared at me silently for another moment before pulling his hood back up.
Then, without another word, he disappeared into the streets of Aurelia.
Kael let out a long breath almost immediately afterward.
“Okay… remind me never to make you angry.”
Lyra nodded quietly.
“The atmosphere just now was terrifying.”
I blinked once before the cold pressure surrounding me faded completely.
Ah.
Right.
I may have overdone it slightly.
“My bad.”
Kael stared at me in disbelief.
“You say that way too casually.”
The tension slowly disappeared afterward as we continued walking back toward The Silver Griffin together.
This time, however, Kael and Lyra occasionally glanced toward me differently, like they had just realized there was far more hidden beneath the surface than they originally thought.
Honestly…
They weren’t wrong.
By the time we finally returned to the inn, exhaustion had started settling heavily into everyone’s bodies.
The common room remained crowded, though much calmer than before, and several academy applicants had already fallen asleep directly at their tables.
Kael stretched dramatically before suddenly grinning.
“Alright,” he announced proudly, “important question before sleeping.”
Lyra sighed softly.
“I already don’t trust that tone.”
“We tell horror stories.”
“That is absolutely not important.”
“It is spiritually important.”
I laughed quietly while following them upstairs.
And strangely enough…
For the first time in longer than I could remember, tomorrow genuinely felt exciting.