Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 533: Astra Sense

Hearing John’s words to get ready, Asher nodded in reply, there was nothing to get ready, he had never taken off his clothes or armor for even a second throughout the past six days. So, he simply remained seated where he was as he waited for John to tell him to jump, his expression calm and composed as though such departures were commonplace to him.

"Hey, Asher, don’t go dying on us," the only woman within the carriage stated as she looked at Asher with a smile that carried both jest and a faint trace of genuine concern.

Asher smiled back and nodded at her, his purple eyes reflecting a quiet assurance that words did not need to convey.

"How do you plan to return back to the Thornvein County or the Star Academy?" a man asked as he suddenly thought about how Asher was going to leave, the practicality of the situation finally surfacing in his mind.

Hearing this, John fell into his thoughts as he spoke, "In three weeks, we are going to pass through this route again, if you are still here just call out my name and we will stop and pick you up," John stated, his tone firm yet accommodating.

But Asher shook his head as he replied, "No need to worry about me, the Star Academy has already taken care of this," he explained without saying anything about the teleportation scroll, keeping that detail to himself for reasons of discretion.

Hearing Asher’s words, they all nodded their heads in response, to them the Star Academy was capable of handling such a situation without difficulty or complication. About a quarter of an hour blurred by as time flowed normally, the rhythmic clatter of the carriage wheels against the rugged path filling the silence between them.

"This is where we part, Asher, just head south for a start, if you are lucky, you might reach your destination in a day or two," John stated as his black eyes shifted towards Asher. It didn’t actually take two days to reach the Blackstone Village from here, he was accounting for Asher’s stamina and the number of times he might miss the road and would have to retrace his steps, assuming the young man lacked experience navigating wilderness terrain.

Asher rose to his feet as he spoke with a smile, "Thank you for the help, John," he stated, then greeted and thanked everyone within the carriage, he had already learnt their names, after all, it would be impossible to be together for six days and not learn the names of six people who were with him, especially when shared travel naturally bred familiarity.

"Good luck, Asher," the woman stated, "and also take this," she took out a basket filled with food from her space ring and passed it to Asher, her gesture warm and unexpectedly thoughtful.

Asher didn’t need it as he already had a lot of food within his space ring, but it didn’t mean he would reject the kind gesture someone had shown towards him, "Thank you," he spoke as he accepted the basket and transferred it to his system space with seamless ease.

"Goodbye," Asher stated, his purple eyes on all of them, they all nodded at him as they didn’t speak anymore in order to stop any further delays, understanding that lingering words would only slow their respective journeys.

Asher didn’t turn towards the open back of the carriage to jump out, instead, his foot that was still on the wooden floor surface of the carriage left the ground as he levitated with effortless grace, he didn’t move, but with that motion alone, the moving carriage left him entirely, as though the world itself had chosen to pass him by.

John and the rest who were still within the carriage widened their eyes in pure shock as they saw Asher float out of the carriage, never in their wildest dreams would they have imagined that Asher could fly with such casual mastery. Asher, seeing the shock on their faces, simply smiled back at them, but before any of them could speak, Asher shot towards the sky as he moved towards the south he had been told earlier, leaving the seven people within the carriage in awe and lingering mystery.

Asher had a smile on his face as he cut through the air, his cape and hair fluttering to the wind’s rhythm, his speed faster than anything the Enduron horses could ever hope to achieve even at their peak gallop. With a thought, Star Energy poured into his brain and eyes, his vision stretching far ahead as though distance itself had lost meaning before him.

A few kilometres ahead, he could make out a settlement, its faint outline barely distinguishable beyond the vast sea of green below. Asher didn’t think too much, he already guessed it was a village based on its structure and placement. With that, he shot forward in a vanishing blur, suddenly, a thought occurred to Asher, interrupting his straightforward approach.

This entire place was covered in trees, grass, and canopies of forest, wasn’t this the best place for a hideout concealed from ordinary eyes? What if the people that were kidnapping the villagers had their base here, hidden beneath layers of foliage and secrecy. But at the same time, Asher felt his thoughts were far-fetched because the disappearances had happened at multiple villages within this region, meaning their base could be anywhere, and not just within a particular forest, but still Asher decided to investigate a bit, if he found nothing, fine, he had nothing to lose and everything to gain from certainty.

With that conclusion, he shot downwards, landing with a deft touch as his foot didn’t even stir up the faintest dust, his control so refined that even the grass beneath him barely swayed. Asher’s Omni Perception was already unruffled, covering a distance of three hundred meters in every direction, an invisible sphere of awareness that captured movements, life signatures, and subtle disturbances.

Although that radius was large, the scale of the forest made that radius seem like a grain of sand in a desert of endless green. After all, the forest seemed almost boundless at the moment, stretching beyond the horizon with no discernible end in sight.

If he used Omni Perception for his investigation alone, even within his entire month, he wouldn’t cover the entire forest, and time was not a luxury he wished to squander inefficiently.

With that thought, Asher switched to another method, he immediately activated a skill he had created by taking inspiration from his own Omni Perception, refining the concept into something broader and more expansive.

Astra Sense

The next moment, Astra energy pulsed out from his body and tore outward like an all-encompassing invisible dome, expanding in a controlled surge that rippled through the forest like a silent tidal wave. With his Perfect Control ability, he could cover kilometres with this ability, the only thing limiting him was the reserve of his own Astra energy and the strain such an expansion placed upon his internal reserves.

Asher had tried using the Astra energy in the air to achieve the same effects as this, but it seemed his own personal Astra energy and the one in the air were two fundamentally different things, one obedient and intimately connected to him, the other, while still controllable, wasn’t intimately connected to him.

’Using Star Energy for this might be better, but my Astra energy can’t cover more than a kilometre at the moment,’ Asher thought to himself with a sigh, his mind already calculating efficiency, reserves, and potential refinements as he stood silently within the vast forest, the unseen dome of perception expanding outward in search of anything out of place.