Red’s discussion with his master didn’t last longer than an hour, so by the time he left the workshop, it was still day. Thankfully, he didn’t find Allen or Rimold waiting for him outside of the building

The youth, however, still had matters he wanted to talk about with other people before the time ran out. It just so happened that there was someone whom he wanted to talk to about what just happened.

He entered his room and sat cross-legged on his bed, grabbing the insectoid core from his pouch and setting it on his lap.

“Is his life-force the only thing wrong with him?” Red asked as his awareness reached towards the crystal.

Aurelia snorted. “Do you still want to save him?”

The youth sighed. “There is still a possibility they could come out of this, though I do not delude myself about how slim it may be. I just wanted to know if the life-force is the only thing he needed to worry about.”

The enemy they were fighting against was the Empire. A cultivator like Hector, as strong as he might be compared to other in his level, was still just a Lesser Ring Realm cultivator. There was no way that such a large faction wouldn’t have their own ways to deal with him, though the elder probably knew about that himself, and yet still chose to stay behind.

Hector wasn’t as selfless to put his own life at such enormous risk, which meant he had a plan or a hidden trump card that could give him hope. Whether that would be enough to turn the tides was debatable, but it meant there was a chance that he and his companions could live, as slim as it may be.

The woman was silent for a while. “… I checked the rest of his body, and everything seems to be in order, other than the fact that his vitality is in a constant state of depletion.”

Red was surprised. “You mean there is no sign of corruption?”

“None.” Aurelia said. “I was surprised too, much more so after he spoke about his dreams.”

These dreams Goulth mentioned were the reason why the youth suspect he might have been affected by demonic corruption. Learning that this wasn’t the case was a relief to him, but it only left him puzzled as to why he was having these dreams in the first place.

“Does the Blood Moon strengthen demonic powers?” Red asked.

This was something he thought the woman would have mentioned before, but it was still wise to clear his doubts.

“No, it has never done it as far as I know.” Aurelia said. “Maybe if it stayed in the sky for a long enough time, it would have some kind of effect, but it barely remains in that state for more than a minute. Even when the demonic invasions were ongoing, the Blood Moon didn’t make a return.”

“… What else could have caused the talismans to do that?”

“It’s too much of a coincidence to not be related to the appearance of the Blood Moon. However, I have no idea why it happened. For now, the only advice I can give you is to refrain from studying these runes until you have opened your Spiritual Sea.”

Establishing the cause and effect between the infernal runes and the Blood Moon was easy, but it didn’t mean that they were any closer to understand the underlying reason behind these phenomena. The youth thought about questioning the crimson mist, but it was still unresponsive. Not to mention that when they spoke about the runes in the past, the being didn’t seem to know too much about them, either.

It was yet another matter Red had to shelve for now.

The youth decided to change topics. “You were a disciple of the Amber Saber Sect, correct?”

Aurelia seemed to hesitate for a bit. “… That is correct.”

“Have you looked through the book Goulth gave me?” Red asked.

“I have taken a few glances while he leafed through it in the past, yes.” The woman didn’t deny it. “It seems genuine enough and contains a few secret forging techniques of my sect that I recognize. However, I can’t possibly tell you if it was written by a true disciple or if it was leaked after my sect’s destruction.”

“Does it not bother you for me to have it?”

Aurelia snorted. “Why would it bother me? If you remember, me and my sect didn’t part in the best of terms and now they no longer exist. It would be a pity instead if their techniques were lost to history.”

Red was expecting this kind of response from the woman, but he thought better to confirm in case he terribly misjudged her personality.

“It’s a shame about your master, though.” Aurelia said. “If my sect was still around and he had even a bit of cultivation talent, he could have definitely become an Inner Disciple solely based on his talent for crafting.”

This time, the youth was genuinely surprised. “Really?”

“Of course. Why would I lie?” She seemed somewhat insulted. “It’s not just your master either. Everyone here in your sect are all very talented and skilled in their areas for mere mortals. I can only praise your elder’s eye for talent.”

This wasn’t the first time Red had heard praise for his sect member’s prowess. This time, though, it came from someone who had reached the fourth cultivation realm in the past and who had probably been around some of the most talented genius in the world. Her words carried far more weight.

“Of course, while it is impressive, it is ultimately inconsequential.” Aurelia said. “The only talent that matters is the talent in cultivation. Even if you are a genius in other areas, you will be unable to reach your full potential if you can’t even open your Spiritual Sea.”

The youth sighed at this, and without ceremony took off his hand from the core, finishing their conversation. This wasn’t the first time he had heard these damnable words either.

Red got up from his bed and walked outside, searching around for a specific member of his sect. Like he expected, the man was in his cabin, as he was most of the time he was in town.

The youth approached the door and knocked on it.

“What do you want?”

Instead of a voice welcoming him in, though, he received a crass response from Rog. The hunter didn’t open the door to him either.

Red thought about asking the man to open the door so as to speak to him face to face, but after remembering how his efforts in convincing his own master went, he gave up on it. If anything, Rog was even more stubborn than Goulth, and the youth wasn’t someone particularly skilled in persuading others through anything other than pure logic.

“… Are you really planning on dying?” Red asked after a long silence.

“Yes.” Rog responded with no hesitation from behind the wooden door.

The youth frowned. “Why?”

“Because I’m too tired to keep fighting.”

“… What if there was a way to recover your arm?”

“Do you have it on you right now?” Rog asked.

“Well, I could-”

“No, actually, it doesn’t matter.” The hunter cut him off. “Even if you did, that isn’t the problem.”

“Are you talking about your undeath disease? It won’t take effect until-”

“No, it’s not that either.”

Red sighed. “What is the problem, then?”

“I like this place and it seems like too much of a bother to have to move away right now.” Rog said.

“… So you would rather die than move away?”

“Yes. ”

Red didn’t quite know what to say about this. The hunter was always one of the people he understood the least in the sect, and the only one capable of leaving him at such a loss.

“Look, it’s fine, kid.” Rog said. “Even if I hadn’t lost my arm, I probably would’ve chosen to stay either way.”

“Then what if you live through this?” Red asked. “What do you plan on doing?”

“I don’t know. I suppose if I do live, then it means this place and the forest will still be here, so at that point I might try to repair my arm or something so I can keep hunting before I turn into a zombie.”

The youth frowned at this. “So you mean you won’t escape even if you have the chance?”

“That’s right.”

“And there is nothing I can do to convince you otherwise?”

“Not, really…” Rog hesitated. “… Well, you could defeat the imperials and save this place. That would convince me to live.”

Red shook his head.

‘I’m sorry, Narcha. This is yet another one of our companions I couldn’t save.’

Rog continued. “Look, even if I die here, I will live on through you.”

“How so?” Red was confused.

“Well, I don’t know. I taught you how to hunt and how to shoot a bow. Maybe in the future you can name a Spiritual Art after me or something.”

“I don’t know if I will focus on archery in the future.”

Red had become quite good at it over the years, but his talent with the bow paled in comparison to Rog’s and didn’t fit his preferred combat style.

Rog grunted from behind the door. “Well, it doesn’t need to be archery. Just name anything original you come up with after me. Maybe even your child, if you ever have one.”

The youth hesitated. “… Rog seems like a rather strange name to give to a child.”

The hunter let out a small laughter. “Look who’s speaking!”

Red supposed the man had a point.

“Very well. I promise that one day I will name something I create after you.”

“Wait!” Rog interjected. “It needs to be something that will become famous, or else there’s no point!”

Red sighed. “I promise that I will name something that I create that will become famous after you.”

“That’s good.” The hunter seemed satisfied. “Now leave me be. I have to figure out how I’m going to fight with one hand.”

The youth shook his head and walked away. He supposed that at the very least, the hunter didn’t intend on going down without a fight.