Is she blind? Michael asked himself. Using his Supreme Talent, he noticed that her eyes and ears were completely devoid of Light mana. This meant that it wasn’t ’alive’ like the rest of her body which has Light mana density rivalling even that of a youth in their prime.
The fact that she was being escorted by these fully armored women holding her hand supported his guess.
However, with the way she carried herself—her natural aura as a person—Michael didn’t get the impression that she was someone disabled. Her steps were confident, her posture relaxed but proud. And most importantly, her gaze seemed to be of someone who could see exactly what she was trying to look at.
Case in point, the old woman turned her head and made ’eye contact’ with him. She paused for a second, staring at him, before she gave him a brief smile and went on walking her way past.
She was interesting, to say the least. There was definitely more to her than what meets the eye.
Out of pure curiosity, he decided to subtly bring out his Drone and observe the old woman using his [Drone Vision].
As soon as the interface for the camera appeared in his mind, showing as a complete 360 degree view, Michael was blinded.
Aubility Power was surging out of the old woman’s eyes, manifesting as an intense brightness as if it was the sun itself. He could see threads, sun rays, coming out of her eyes like lasers, scanning her surroundings like sonar or lidar.
This was probably how she’s able to move through the world blind.
He then piloted the Drone to just inch a little bit closer to her so that he could take a closer look.
And as he did, he noticed something in her eyes.
It wasn’t being powered by threads that come out of her GodForge pieces. The threads of Aubility Power were coming from her body itself, acting like veins that go from the heart to the eyes.
She’s... she’s beyond the Body Formation realm!
This was extremely similar to how his ’Quantum’ techniques worked. It came from his body, not to.
Just how strong is she? he wondered. The fact that she was using such a powerful and energy intensive technique so casually, without even manifesting her Diva, meant that she was probably beyond the initial stages of the Nascent Spirit realm. Maybe even beyond it entirely.
"Keo, come on! Time is ticking!" the professor said urgently. He was so focused on the demi-human and the Antique that he didn’t notice the new arrivals until Michael pointed it out to him.
The professor squinted his eyes. "What’s that old hag doing here?" he asked.
"Old hag?"
"Old hag, sword-obsessed bitch, Heavenly Knight, whatever you want to call her," the professor grumbled.
Michael finally understood why she looked so strong. No wonder. He wouldn’t have guessed she was one of those Way of the Weapon masters because of the obvious lack of weapon anywhere on her.
I wonder what she uses?
He’d already met the Heavenly Knight for the Way of the Axe, the Orc Kruger. And from what he knew, there were only about 10 of them in total.
"You seem familiar with her, professor. Very... friendly, I guess."
"I have history with her, yes," the professor answered. "But I hate dealing with her. All she ever talks about is her swords. She’s crazy! She talks to those pieces of metal as if they were actually alive. I can’t deal with that. Let’s go. Antique! Wait for me!" the professor said, waving at the bone which was staked on the ground beside Zovirru.
"Yeah... she’s crazy," Michael muttered sarcastically.
Professor Lichtenstein didn’t seem all that interested in telling his history with the blind woman, which was a shame. At least now, he knew she was a swordsman.
And as much as he wanted to find out more about this blind and deaf Heavenly Knight, it looked like she didn’t come here for him. She came here to talk with the three Beastfolks gathered together.
"Chief Klaus, Chief Lupan," the old woman greeted. Then, she gave a brief nod to the Draconian. "Zovirru."
The Draconian with the red hair and wild eyebrows suddenly manifested a booming shockwave coming from his body. "Come to finish our little fight?" he asked Swordmistress Eldea.
"Please, I’m not that bored anymore," she replied.
Then, the two giant Wolves looked at the old woman, giving her a respectful howl.
"Swordmistress Eldea," Chief Lupan said. "I didn’t think you would be coming here."
"Yes, well, I heard about your little tournament, and I had a bit of time," the old woman replied. "It was quite the sight."
"I was just about to get back and check on the results of the tournament," said Chief Lupan. "It seems that I was wrong. Mauricio did not come out on top."
"Hah. Serves you right," Chief Klaus chuckled.
His brother ignored him.
Meanwhile, the female armored attendants of Eldea could only express their shock through their eyes.
Mauricio lost? That seemed highly unlikely, given the low level of competition. However, Eldea herself didn’t look all too shocked at the news.
"Swordmistress, did you see who won?" Chief Lupan asked.
Eldea chuckled. "No, but I can guess who won."
The two Werewolf Chiefs and even Zovirru raised their eyebrows upon hearing such words from her. It seemed that whoever that was left a really good impression on the Heavenly Knight.
Chief Lupan, particularly, was surprised because he thought he already adequately assessed the competitors when he saw them. None stood out, except for Mauricio.
But it seemed that the swordmistress was a Heavenly Knight for a reason. Although blind, she could see more than most when it came to swords.
"I was about to check the results of the tournament... but it looks like you have something to say to me," Chief Lupan guessed.
"Not just you. But all of you," Eldea replied. "It concerns that bone, and the earthquake that signalled something ancient."
...
...
...
Meanwhile, Michael and the professor clung on to the Werewolf fur tightly as he zipped around at an extremely fast speed. The professor seemed to have held on better this time around, but the fear and anxiety still remained.
It wasn’t long before they reached the Brownblood Tribe, seeing the tail-end of a celebration.
The tournament had just finished, and the Werewolves and participants were in a mood to party.
The professor immediately got off the giant wolf, and brushed past merry men, women, and werewolf to seek the demi-human said to have beaten Mauricio.
While on the way there, the professor couldn’t help but give a lot of different guesses to Michael.
"How did they do it? Did they cheat? No, Werewolves are good at spotting things under the moon... was it a master of the sword pretending to be a beginner? No, Eldea would have spotted it immediately... HOW DID THEY DO IT?!"
"I thought you weren’t that interested, professor," Michael chuckled.
"Shut up, what do you think?"
Michael gave out an imperceptible smile. "What if they awakened an Aubility?"
Immediately, the professor burst out laughing.