CHAPTER 31: PATH FORWARD

Deklan’s blood boiled.

He wanted to beat the Pale Night Lady so bad that his hands trembled.

But he restrained himself.

Meditating and taking a few days off from doing anything other than exercising had increased his level of patience. Instead of exploding, he wiped the spit on his face while maintaining eye contact with the vicious Pale Night Lady.

Her eyes were murderous.

Even in her helpless situation, she showed no sign of fear or unrest.

She’s an Alpha Ghost, and Deklan killed her children, so this much hatred was to be expected.

[Interrogation Duration: 10 minutes.]

Deklan stared at the notification and nodded inwardly; there was not much time.

Once he was calm enough to speak, Deklan took out a big sack from the inventory.

It emanated a bloody scent, which immediately drew the Pale Night Lady’s attention, showing that she was enticed by the contents of the sack. Deklan has Adrian to thank; it was the stash of secured raw meat Adrian prepared to feed and lure the Pale Draggles and Pale Night Lady before changing to giving away humans.

Even though this raw meat has disturbing origins, it came in handy.

"You’re exhausted—and hungry from being captured. I can help you with that," Deklan nudged his chin towards the bloody sack. "As long as you answer my question, I’ll give you some. Oh, and in case you’re not aware, there are still a few of your children out there that I spared."

Hearing this, the Pale Night Lady’s eyes glistened.

It was clear that Deklan’s persuasion was working.

And from this, he also learned that in this chamber, the Pale Night Lady could understand him.

"Deal? Alright," Deklan crossed his arms. "Let’s start off easy. Can you talk?"

"Yes..." The Pale Night Lady replied, her voice ethereal—warped and laced with faint static.

It was like a whisper carried through broken glass.

Deklan grabbed a small chunk of meat and tossed it, which she readily caught and devoured instantly.

Seeing this, a smile curled on Deklan’s lips.

"Now, what do you think about me?"

"Kill. Kill. Kill!"

Despite the situation, the Pale Night Lady doesn’t seem to realize that her life and death was within his hands right now. Anything with a shred of intelligence should be trying to win me over—but she bared her fangs instead. It’s like she’s an animal. Maybe her intelligence is that of an animal?

For once, learning about Ghosts was quite exciting.

It’s like being the main character in a horror movie, and he doesn’t dislike the feeling.

Deklan tossed another piece of meat and continued.

But this time, it’s going to be the questions he wanted to ask her.

"Do you know what a trait is?"

"Yes."

"What is it? And how do I get it?"

"..."

Deklan waited for half a minute, but the Pale Night Lady didn’t answer.

She remained silent, staring at him without a reaction.

Hmm... Is it not intelligent enough to explain? In that case.

"Show me your trait."

"Save. Children."

Upon hearing this, Deklan paused for a second and realized that she seemed to be trying to negotiate for him to spare the Pale Draggles. But then again, she was already far too late. I’ve hunted them all to the last one. No Pale Draggles remained, but she doesn’t know that.

"Okay, I’ll spare your children," Deklan answered.

The Pale Night Lady looked down at her chest, and with one quick motion, she stabbed her hand into her chest and took out her beating heart. Or at least, Deklan thought that it was her beating heart, but it is completely black.

It must be the Paranormal Heart that she developed.

One that pushed her to the bronze rank.

Deklan’s eyes narrowed when a small glowing gem could be seen inside the heart.

And then, a panel was opened.

...

[Sixth Sense Trait]

Description: A trait that could be used to form a Paranormal Heart. It contained the trait that targeted the sixth sense. Once the Paranormal Heart was formed, the host would have a guaranteed chance to learn a Minor Presence that targeted the sixth sense.

...

So, a trait is basically a blueprint to manifest a Paranormal Heart and dictates the Minor Presence.

Sixth sense, huh... It’s separated from the main senses. It’s good, and I don’t mind it.

Deklan nodded his head and reached out his hand, "Give it to me, and I’ll spare them."

Even though he was expecting the Pale Night Lady to be slightly wary about him since he was the one who beat her and her children, he was surprised to find her handing her Paranormal Heart over. It almost made Deklan feel bad.

But then again, if she were let loose, she would kill him.

So why does he need to be merciful to an entity like her?

As the Paranormal Heart was placed in his hand, the heart itself melted away into nothing, leaving only the Sixth Sense Trait behind. It took the shape of a drop of water, but black. Deklan put it away into the inventory and tossed another piece of meat, this time a big one.

"Now, do you know Alpha Ghosts that are stronger than you in the forest?"

"Yes."

Deklan’s eyes sparkled.

He knew the forest was wide and deep.

From meeting Marsha, he also learned that the deeper one goes into the forest, the stronger the Ghosts are, so it would make up a perfect place for him to train and grow stronger. Gaining additional mana on top of the fruits from the Ward would surely propel him higher.

Not to mention, he would also need to amass materials for the Awakening Ritual.

Since he was going to hunt anyway, he was expecting to also hunt down stronger Ghosts.

Of course, he’s not going to attack the stronger Ghosts recklessly—as battling the Pale Night Lady was already hard enough, but he wanted to see what he was up against. Knowing the goal will certainly aid me in growing stronger, quicker. I want to see the stronger Ghosts at least once. Besides, it will be good to know where these strong Ghosts are.

Deklan needed an offensive skill right now.

If he had one, everything would be way easier for him without a doubt.

Like earlier, facing that many Pale Draggles would be less of a hassle if he had offensive skills.

"Central east and central north."

[Interrogation time is up!]

Just as the Pale Night Lady said that, the interrogation was over.

But Deklan already got what he needed, so it’s fine.

Before his mind was pulled away, Deklan threw the remaining sack of meat towards her.

As he was a man of his word, he ought to give her the remaining raw meat as she had been informative.

Soon, Deklan opened his eyes and found himself back in the backyard again.

He was about to head back inside and try to use the Sixth Sense Trait—so that he could progress further, but he was surprised to find Pumple bouncing towards him. "What’s this? You actually came to me first? Aren’t you pouting earlier, Pumple? Or don’t tell me... are you afraid that I’d abandoned you?"

An angry vein popped on Pumple’s face as it headbutted Deklan lightly but repeatedly.

Deklan teased and played with Pumple.

Even though he didn’t do it on purpose, he felt bad for neglecting Pumple for a few days.

Playing with it is the least he could do.

Splash!

"Damn!" Deklan landed face-first against the mud; he stood up again and growled at Pumple, index finger pointing harshly at the stupid pumpkin head. "That’s too much, you stupid pumpkin! Don’t push me that hard!"

Pumple chuckled, pleased to see Deklan’s face was covered in mud again.

Just as Deklan was about to teach it a lesson, a notification appeared.

[Pumple’s fondness has increased by 5%!]

For someone who liked to prank others, I’m not surprised that all I need is to play with him.

Earlier, he briefly checked the Pale Night Lady’s stats panel and found that her fondness was extremely low at 10%. In contrast, Pumple, when he was captured, already had a high fondness, and that led Deklan to realize that Ghosts’ fondness will depend on how he captured them.

As for increasing the fondness, this was the first time Deklan had done it.

Each Ghost must have its unique way to increase its fondness, and Pumple is through playing.

Deklan was surprised when another panel greeted him.

[Pumple is requesting to eat the Pale Night Lady!]

[Does the host give permission to do it?]

"Eat...?" Deklan paused and rubbed his chin. "Fine, go do it. Imma need a slot for my hunt anyway."

Almost instantly, Pumple bounced up and down in happiness and immediately went over to the grave, its laughter echoed—as it seeped into the grave as if it owned the place, "Huh? Is he going to be alright? He’s only an Iron rank."

[Don’t worry, host. Since you gave permission, the Ward will suppress the Pale Night Lady’s power.]

"Is that so? In that case, I’m going inside."

Moments later.

Swish!

Mana swirled around Deklan, who was sitting in a meditative position on the bed.

For a few seconds, it gradually gained speed until it splashed everywhere in a gentle breeze.

Once he opened his eyes, he looked down at his hands.

It took Deklan a few hours to integrate the Sixth Sense Trait into his own body, and as soon as he did, the mana that he had been accumulating immediately pushed his power further. Now, he could feel that he was nearing another breakthrough.

And most importantly, the bloated feeling was alleviated.

His body was no longer sluggish.

"Might as well continue absorbing the rest of the Basic Mana Candy and Lv. 2 Mana Apples."

Deciding to continue on his progress, he took out the remaining candies and apples.

Once he was done, it was already morning.

Time passed in a blur while he was in meditation, but he hadn’t achieved a breakthrough yet.

"Still a little bit more," Deklan clenched his hands a couple of times, feeling that he was really close to reaching the four-star, but ran out of fresh mana to push through. "I should start hunting right now. Also, I still need a few Spooky Dollars for that."

Deklan left the hut again and headed back to the hamlet.

It was still early in the morning, but the hamlet was already busy again.

Now that the bridge was open for business, the people were eager to get back to work as the famine had scarred them deeply. As long as nothing was going on, the people vowed to push as hard as possible to prepare for the next problem.

Deklan? He went into his lodging to take his spear and went deeper into the forest.

He wanted to wait for Marsha, but since she was nowhere to be seen, he decided to venture out on his own.