Chapter 92: Meeting Adrian Again

But first, he decided to check his status panel in case anything had changed.

He opened it and went through the information. Soon, he noticed that his innate talent had reached Level 2.

[Innate Talent: One Mind, One Legion — Level 2]

[Effect 1: You can perceive through the senses of all members of your legions and know their locations and status.]

[Effect 2: Beneficial effects gained by the user are shared with all legion members. These effects can adapt to the physiology of different legion types.]

[Effect 3: Information gathered by one legion member can be shared with all other members of your legions.]

Ethan read through the description again.

He was most interested in the third effect. It was a pretty useful improvement.

Before, if he sent a Shadow Wraith to scout an area, he could see what it saw by connecting to its senses. But the other members of his legions couldn’t directly access that information.

Now, they could.

Being able to share information between his legions would make coordinating them much easier. His Shadow Wraiths could scout ahead while the other two legions used what they discovered to plan their next moves.

After thinking about it for a while, Ethan opened his profession panel to check the requirements for summoning a fourth legion.

[Fourth Legion Summoning Requirements]

[1. Spirit: 8,000]

[2. Legion Capacity: 50,000]

[3. Every existing legion must complete its first Growth Path evolution.]

Ethan looked over the requirements.

His Spirit was still around 4,000, so he needed to double it. His Legion Capacity was 40,600 at Level 21. Since it increased by 5,000 with every level in the Third Order, he would reach 50,600 at Level 23. That requirement would take care of itself soon enough.

The third requirement was more troublesome.

Both the Shadow Wraith Legion and the Solar Elemental Legion had completed their first evolutions, but the Storm Archer Legion hadn’t even revealed its Growth Path yet.

On top of that, he hadn’t used the Storm Archers in combat at all. Before he could think about evolving them, he needed to put them to use and get a better understanding of their abilities.

His Spirit was going to be the harder part.

Ethan thought about the Tear of Spirit. In the Third Order, it increased his Spirit by one point every thirty minutes. That was useful for steady growth, but at that rate, reaching 8,000 would take a long time.

He needed to find another Tear of Spirit.

With two of them, his Spirit would increase twice as fast, making it much easier to reach the required amount. It wouldn’t solve the problem immediately, but it would save him a considerable amount of time.

Ethan now had three clear goals: increase his Spirit, use the Storm Archers in combat and learn more about their abilities, and discover their Growth Path.

He then made his way to the dormitory.

When he got there, he found someone waiting in front of his room: Adrian.

Adrian stood with his back against the wall, a strip of cloth covering his eyes. Ethan wasn’t surprised to see him there. With his Shadow Veil inactive, it wouldn’t have been difficult for Adrian to track him down using God’s Perspective.

It was their first encounter since the entrance assessment. Ethan still remembered that meeting clearly, along with the friendship they had shared in his previous life. He was glad to see Adrian again, though he couldn’t act as if they were already close.

"Adrian? What brings you here?"

"I was looking for you."

Ethan waited, but Adrian didn’t say anything else. He seemed to be considering how to continue.

"Is something wrong?" Ethan asked.

"Not exactly." Adrian paused before adding, "There’s something I wanted to ask you about."

Ethan was a little surprised. He hadn’t expected Adrian to come looking for him, especially when they barely knew each other.

"You could’ve contacted me."

"I don’t have your contact information."

That was true. They hadn’t exchanged contact details during the entrance assessment, so Ethan took out his identification token and shared his information with Adrian. Adrian did the same, and they put their tokens away.

"All right, what’s this about?"

"I need to look into something, and I thought you might be able to help."

Ethan studied him briefly. Adrian was a lone wolf, even more so than Ethan himself. He wasn’t the type to approach someone for help without a good reason, which made Ethan curious about what had happened.

"Come inside. We can talk there."

Ethan opened the door and stepped aside to let Adrian in. Once they were both inside, he turned to him.

"All right, tell me more."

Adrian was quiet for a while before speaking.

"You might find this hard to believe, but I have a talent that allows me to perceive my surroundings without relying on my eyes."

Ethan nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"During the entrance assessment, I couldn’t detect you at all. I’ve never encountered anything like that before."

Adrian paused before continuing.

"I’ve been thinking about it since then. I wanted to know how you managed to do that."

Ethan understood what Adrian was getting at. He wasn’t ready to reveal everything about his talent to someone he’d only met once, and Ethan had no intention of pressing him for details.

"I have a skill that conceals my presence, even from perception abilities," Ethan explained.

Adrian turned his covered eyes toward Ethan.

"A skill that can hide you from perception abilities?" He sounded doubtful, as if he wasn’t sure whether to believe Ethan’s explanation.

Ethan could tell Adrian wasn’t entirely convinced. God’s Perspective had never failed to detect someone before, so it was understandable that Adrian would have trouble accepting the explanation so easily.

"Something like that."

Ethan didn’t mind showing Adrian how Shadow Veil worked.

"If you want, I can demonstrate it so you can see for yourself."

Adrian considered it briefly before nodding. "I’d like that."