Chapter 611: Meeting Hao [Part 1]
After arriving back in South Drywall, Northern, his parents, and Ryan settled in the citadel for a couple of days.
Those days were strenuous and hectic for Northern, mainly because he had to deal with seeing his mother, father, and sister every day.
As simple as it sounded, it was something very complicated for someone like him.
With how increasingly void he kept feeling, it was difficult for him to pretend to show certain emotions.
And his mother saw through his attempts like glass.
There was a doleful look on her face anytime their paths crossed, and he had intentionally made sure those times were as few as possible.
He had looked forward to meeting his mother. Meeting his parents had been one major drive that pushed him to fight his way back from the Dark Continent.
But now that he was seeing her, things were not the same anymore.
Everything was not in that place where he had left it. Now, he couldn't help but feel stupid for how he had imagined meeting his parents would be.
It was still okay with Shin. Man to man, Shin understood and respected the change.
But Eisha was different. Northern hated the look in her eyes; it was like she was begging for her child to come back to her.
Knowing very well that he had gotten to a point where he could never return, which meant the child she lost a year ago could never return to her, he just felt sorrowful for her.
And he couldn't even continue to sulk in his sorry state caused by the weight of his powers. Northern felt like he needed to make up for this void by making sure both of them were safe. There were two things he needed to do to achieve that.
First was get to the bottom of both the elf cults and the reason why the Kageyama clan suddenly approached Shin... Eisha's disappearance might have been a coincidence that happened while the Kageyama clan approached Shin.
But Northern had another thought. It was inconceivable.
What if the elf cult was working with the Kageyama Clan?
That would make things deeper than he thought they were. So, it was something he needed to get to the bottom of at all costs.
The second thing he needed to do was... get stronger.
That, Northern wanted to do by going to the academy.
For the next six months of his life, he would not be able to rank up his soul due to the penalty, which meant for the next six months, he would be busy harvesting fragments, evolving his talents, and copying more talents.
Not only that, with the academy's vast knowledge, he would also be learning about talent and soul.
First was what was left of his discussion with the Lieutenant about FORCE.
If there was indeed anything like that, he thought the academy would be the best ground to learn it.
The second was about rifts and the history of their origin. He wanted to know what they began with and what exactly rifts in the early days were like.
He wanted to know if he could see traces of the Chaos Prince, Tyrants, and Origins in the books of history.
The third was about true names. Northern so far had not seen anything special about true names, but if there was one thing he knew, it was that they weren't there for decoration.
True names had to have a purpose they were serving to the soul and its core.
But so far, Northern had seen nothing that really painted the value of true names.
Of course, in himself, he had gained the ability to steal others' names, therefore ridding them of their abilities, but it was only monsters.
Moreover, he hadn't discovered any value that the stolen names held for him.
Sometimes, it looked like it was just for decoration. But there had to be more.
Nameless and Formless were the one thing that belonged to him as a careless Drifter, without the influence of the system.
Northern felt a great sense of attachment to it and the need to unravel its use to him.
The fourth thing Northern wanted to learn was the art of craft, not just any craft but blacksmithing.
In fact, it was one of the major reasons he was going to the academy.
At first, it had just been a guess that since it was the only academy for drifters in the Central Plains, there should be a course there for non-combat drifters.
Builders, to be exact.
And since reaching South Drywall, he had been asking around, and it turned out that he was right indeed.
Northern since then had been planning his departure meticulously.
With the art of craft, his knowledge in engineering, and the Soul Craft ability he gained through Limitless Void, he would be able to cause a part of him that had been buried to bud. And this would give him some utility ability; hence, he wouldn't just rely on his copy abilities. He would also be able to make up for his lack of items this way.
But before he began to do all of that, the one thing Northern needed to do was talk to Hao.
He sighed. He had been staring in the mirror for the past few minutes as he cooked these thoughts in his head over and over again, being thorough with them to make sure he wasn't missing anything.
He looked away from the mirror for a moment and looked again, this time observing himself. His gaze was unwavering as his calm blue eyes traced his own reflection.
The light in the room caught on the faint texture of his ribbed, white sweater, accentuating the clean lines of its design.
Since the year was nearing its end, the weather in not just South Drywall but most of the Central Plains was getting unbearably cold, and that was what had warranted the thick
sweater.
He didn't even get to pick it himself; left to him, he didn't mind-it was not like cold had an effect on him.
The high collar of the sweater hugged his neck, speaking a subtle but bold statement, while the black bands on his sleeves added a sharp contrast, framing his lean, athletic build.
His gloved fingers rested lightly on his hip, the black fabric a seamless extension of the monochrome ensemble.
The gleam of the silver accents on his pants-a zipper-like detail that suggested both utility and style-caught his attention, and he adjusted the slight tilt of the chain draped along his
thigh.
Tousled white hair framed his face, its messy and long strands perfectly offsetting the
crispness of his outfit.
The dual earrings in his left ear added an edge to his otherwise clean look, whispering of rebellion restrained by discipline.
His expression was unreadable, save for the faintest hint of thoughtfulness in the furrow of
his brows.
He leaned closer, the faint shadow of his breath fogging the mirror for just a moment, as if trying to discern something deeper in his reflection.
Then Northern muttered to himself.
"I guess this is fine for being casual..."
He leaned away from the mirror and after that headed out of the Citadel.
As he walked, several people who were staff of the Citadel bowed their heads upon passing
him.
At first, Northern had found this strange, but after two weeks of seeing it play out no matter how much he tried to stop it, he was getting used to it.
The reason was none other than the fact that he was now a Sage.
In the entire Citadel, there were only five Sages; Alystren and the Headmaster were among
them.
Northern becoming a Sage made their numbers increase to six.
Those five were respected the most in the Citadel. Their presence was very rare because they were always in different regions representing the Citadel, closing rifts and building connections on behalf of the citadel.
Of course, some were probably living their life the way they wanted to.
But one of the things that made Tharion Citadel one of the powerhouses in the Central Plains and the third strongest Citadel was because of the number of Sages they had.
And now that the number had increased, a great change was coming for the Citadel, and they
all were looking forward to it.
All this together brought a disposition of respect from them without even being asked.
Now, everywhere within the Citadel, people were either referring to him as Sage Northern or
Sir Sage.
The level of respect was almost choking sometimes.
Northern exhaled heavily as he finally came out of the citadel gate.
It felt like he had just removed himself from a heavy tangled cloth.
He brought out a small piece of paper in his hands and looked at the location on it.
"Well, now, let's see what Hao has managed to accomplish in a month," he muttered as he walked away.