Chapter 2505: The Haloryn

The Hollow Ship kept moving through the Demon Gate, the space around it folding in on itself until the crimson passage finally gave way to an enormous expanse of stars.

However, Nathan barely had a chance to take in their surroundings. His attention was pulled straight to the two women standing on the other side of the passage.

They were so beautiful that he was staring before he even realized it. Both had delicate features and flawless skin. What made them really stand out, though, were the dense rings of silvery-blue energy hovering above their heads.

At first glance, they looked like Angels.

Their halos were made of some strange, almost liquid Aether. The same energy formed enormous wings on their backs, along with smaller pairs hovering around their ankles.

Nathan couldn’t recognize anything physical about them. Even so, they looked surprisingly solid, and every slow movement left faint trails of light lingering in the air.

Both women were dressed quite conservatively, their long robes covering nearly everything below the neck. Somehow, that only made them more striking.

Nathan’s face went hot.

He had never seen women this beautiful in his life. That was saying something, considering the kind of people he’d met since joining the Grimblades.

Well, there was Xarvenya. But Nathan had never dared to look at that woman for too long. Whenever Sylas’ wives were around, he made a habit of keeping his head down. He had no desire to find out just how possessive the young man could get when it came to his family.

These women were different, though. Or, at least, that was what Nathan thought, right up until something occurred to him.

His expression changed, and he turned on Alex with a glare sharp enough to cut.

Alex blinked innocently. "What?"

Nathan’s hand shot out, and his finger jabbed straight into one of the worst injuries Alex had picked up during his mysterious 5,000-year adventure.

"FUCK!"

Alex recoiled, clutching his side. Nathan pulled his hand back and rubbed his fingers together as though he’d touched something filthy.

"Fuck you. I should’ve known. I was sitting here worried about whether you were alive or dead, and you were out there building yourself a fucking harem!"

Alex gave him a look of wounded innocence.

"How could you think so little of me? I’m hurt, Nathan. Truly hurt. Besides, how long were you worried for? A couple seconds? Who’s making stuff up now?"

Nathan rolled his eyes. Though, he couldn’t exactly argue with that.

If the bastard had really spent 5,000 years inside that Summoned World, he couldn’t have been fighting every waking moment. At some point, he would have figured out his situation, built some kind of foundation, and started working toward whatever goal he’d set for himself.

And knowing Alex, that goal had probably involved a lot of sitting around doing absolutely nothing while everyone else wore themselves out.

The more Nathan thought about it, the more suspicious Alex’s current state looked.

The man was far too good at hiding, manipulating circumstances and waiting for opportunities. After 5,000 years of preparation, would Alex really let himself end up looking this miserable, unless there was some huge benefit to it?

Nathan didn’t believe that for a second. Which meant the bastard had probably been having the time of his life for most of those 5,000 years. And this blood between his fingers now, as convincing as it was... was clearly fake.

Alex chuckled when he saw Nathan’s face.

"Anyway, allow me to introduce you. This beautiful lady here is Saniah, and this one is Seuseu. Gorgeous, aren’t they?"

The two women looked at Alex with matching expressions of complete indifference.

Neither of them seemed interested in answering his shamelessness. When Alex tried to slip a hand around Saniah’s waist, her eyes narrowed, and Nathan got the feeling this was far from the first time they’d heard this kind of thing from him.

Alex pulled his hand back with a cough.

"Right, introductions first. You see, we’re in the Cryst Heaven right now, and these two belong to a Race known as the Haloryn. Their appearance is a little misleading, because despite looking like Angels, those wings and halos are all manifestations of their Aether."

Nathan looked at the two women again, his eyes lingering on the silvery-blue energy around their ankles.

"What’s so special about them?"

"Oh, only that they possess some of the most ridiculous Aether control I’ve ever seen. Their Race has a natural affinity for sensing different forms of energy, and their greatest ability is converting that energy into solid, tangible objects."

Nathan nodded, though he didn’t quite understand why Alex was talking as if he’d discovered something incredible.

Wasn’t that just what Rune Masters did?

They used Runes to gather Aether, stabilize its relationships with the Mesh of Reality, and make everything from weapons to defensive formations. The Haloryn’s ability sounded convenient. However, Nathan couldn’t see why it would be all that valuable to someone who had spent so long studying the Omnimous.

Then, it clicked, and his eyes went wide.

"Wait. Don’t tell me they can do that without Runes?"

Alex’s grin stretched from ear to ear.

"Yup. Now you’re starting to get it."

He waved a hand at the wings on Saniah’s back.

"The Haloryn have an innate understanding of Aether that most Rune Masters spend their entire lives trying to achieve. They can sense its different forms, understand how those forms interact, and then give them physical substance without having to go through the conventional process of constructing a Rune first."

Nathan looked at the wings again. This time, he focused on the faint fluctuations moving through the silvery-blue energy.

"That’s impossible."

"Not quite. It’s just that we’ve been thinking about Rune Creation from the opposite direction."

Alex got noticeably more animated as he went on.

"Normally, Runes give form to Aether. You create the structure, prime it with Will, and then allow Aether to flow through the relationships you’ve established. The Rune determines what the Aether can accomplish, and the union between the two produces the desired result."

He raised a finger.

"But the Haloryn don’t need to begin with the structure. Their Genes allow them to comprehend the Aether itself, including the relationships necessary to give it form. Once they’ve established that understanding, Runes can manifest according to those relationships without needing to be constructed in the conventional order."

Nathan’s breath caught. It was a completely different approach to Rune Creation.

Instead of using Runes to dictate how Aether should behave, the Haloryn understood how Aether needed to behave, then let the right Runes form out of that understanding. In a sense, they grasped the finished whole before ever building its individual pieces.

"Of course, there’s a limit to how far they can take it," Alex continued. "Their talent determines how complicated those relationships can become, and most Haloryn never develop the comprehension necessary to realize what their Genes are actually doing. But the foundation is there, and that’s what’s important."

Nathan finally understood why Alex had gone to so much trouble searching for this particular Summoned World.

If he could combine the Haloryn’s natural comprehension with the methods the Omnimous had given him, there was no telling what kind of technology he might come up with.

More importantly, an entire Race that could approach Rune Creation from the opposite direction would be incredibly valuable to someone like Sylas.

Alex seemed to notice the change on his face.

"Unfortunately, there’s one little problem. I’m going to need Papa Sylas’ help, so wish me luck. I think I’ve done enough now that he won’t strangle me."

Nathan frowned. "His help? For what?"

He really didn’t get it.

Alex had just shown he could manipulate the System, sneak into a God-level Summoned World, and spend 5,000 years raising an army right under its nose. Even if the System had restricted his progress, Nathan couldn’t imagine someone with his talent staying weak that whole time.

Surely he had reached B-tier by now, if not A-tier? And even if 5,000 years wasn’t long enough to raise an army of S-tiers, it was more than enough time for someone like Alex to build a foundation most Clans would struggle to compete with.

So why was he still this afraid of Sylas? Was the gap between them really that big?

Alex looked at Nathan as though he’d just asked the stupidest question in the world.

"For what? I can’t allow my beautiful goodies to be stolen by someone else, can I? These ladies are practically walking treasures, and if I bring them anywhere near the Nethum without proper protection, those bastards will probably start drooling before I even finish introducing myself."

He glanced at the two women, whose expressions had somehow gotten even flatter.

"So, obviously, we need to give them an impenetrable Gene Lock. Something that prevents anyone from studying their Bloodlines, stealing their abilities, or using their Genes against us."

Alex’s grin widened as he looked toward the silent figure meditating inside the Hollow Ship.

"And I happen to know a genius who just dedicated the last three years of his life to exactly that, all because some asshole decided to stand between him and his wife."