Chapter 295 - Testing New Affinity
Theo stared at Lucienne for a moment before shrugging.
’’Sure,’’ he replied. ’’We’ve got plenty of room.’’
’’Thank you,’’ she said, smiling sweetly beneath her veil.
With that, she walked further into the camp.
There were several empty chairs scattered around the table.
Yet after briefly looking around, she walked directly towards the empty chair beside Theo and sat down.
Owen’s eyebrows immediately rose as his eyes darted between the two.
A low whistle escaped his mouth only a moment later.
’’Dangerous,’’ he muttered, glancing at Iris.
Just then, Lucienne turned towards him, tilting her head slightly.
’’What did you say?’’ she asked.
Before Owen could even say a word, a small plant rose out of the ground beneath him.
It wrapped around his feet and instantly tightened in place.
’’Ugh!’’ he grunted, nearly falling over.
As he glanced up again, he found Lyra staring at him angrily.
’’I said nothing,’’ he immediately said, maintaining a straight face.
Lucienne shrugged lightly before turning her attention back towards Theo.
’’So,’’ she started sweetly. ’’How did you manage to bring all this stuff with you?’’
Theo raised an eyebrow slightly.
’’That’s a secret,’’ he calmly replied.
Lucienne pulled back slightly, feigning a pout.
’’Aw,’’ she said. ’’I can’t believe you’d keep secrets from me.’’
’’No, I’m just kidding,’’ she continued lightly. ’’Let’s talk about something else instead.’’
Theo stared at her strangely for a moment.
For some reason, the way she’d said that made him feel strangely uncomfortable.
’’Uh... sure,’’ he replied, shifting slightly in his chair.
Lucienne seemed completely unbothered and happily continued on.
Across from the table, Iris remained completely silent.
Her gaze had settled on Lucienne the moment she’d sat down.
Even after seeing how uncomfortable Theo was... she didn’t say a word and simply kept staring at Lucienne.
Lucienne didn’t seem to notice, or perhaps simply didn’t care.
Fortunately, the strange atmosphere didn’t last for long.
Lyra started handing out plates with delicious food left and right, shifting the attention to the food.
Soon, everyone had started eating, and the conversation naturally became much more casual.
Even Lucienne joined in normally, occasionally laughing at Owen and Jim’s constant nonsense.
For the next hour, they simply ate and talked while the desert around them gradually grew darker.
...
Meanwhile, on the other side of the camp, Gabriel sat silently beside his tent.
His gaze had remained fixed on Theo’s group for several minutes already.
Even from this distance, he could occasionally hear their laughter.
His expression only darkened further and further.
’What the hell is she doing over there?’ he thought furiously. ’Those bastards haven’t done anything all day!’
He clenched his fists tightly, crushing the stone in his hand.
The entire day, all the creatures they’d encountered had been slaughtered by his group and the Dragonfang members.
Hell, he’d personally saved Theo’s group from a bunch of weak scorpions!
Yet somehow, Lucienne was spending her evening with them.
’Why?’ he thought, clenching his teeth. ’Why does she keep hanging around a bunch of weaklings?’
More laughter echoed out from their camp.
Gabriel’s gaze immediately snapped back to Theo.
The sight of Lucienne sitting beside him only made his expression grow uglier.
’Father needs to hurry up already,’ he thought, his fingers tightening around his knees. ’She’s supposed to become my fiancée. When is he finally going to settle everything?!’
Once their engagement became official, things would be different.
Lucienne wouldn’t be able to keep acting like this whenever she wanted.
Gabriel’s gaze landed on them once more, his eyes narrowing on Theo.
...
Jim stood up and stretched his arms over his head.
’’Alright, I’m going to sleep,’’ he said, letting out a yawn. ’’I don’t want to deal with exhaustion tomorrow.’’
’’Same here,’’ Owen muttered.
Lucienne glanced towards the Imperial Church’s camp before standing up as well.
’’I should probably head back too,’’ she said before glancing at Theo. ’’Thanks for letting me join you tonight.’’
Theo nodded once.
’’No problem,’’ he replied absentmindedly.
His mind was already busy with the affinity he was about to test.
Despite that, Lucienne smiled sweetly beneath her veil before turning around and walking back towards the Church camp.
As she disappeared around the rock formation, Theo stood up and headed to his tent as well.
Theo stepped inside his tent and quietly zipped it shut behind him.
The moment he sat down, he closed his eyes.
’Not yet,’ he reminded himself.
Nearly thirty minutes passed by.
Finally, Theo’s eyes snapped open once more.
’It’s time,’ he thought seriously. ’Let’s go test out this damn affinity.’
A dark robe appeared out of thin air around his shoulders.
The next moment, his body slowly began sinking into the ground, merging with the large shadows.
Whoosh!
Theo’s shadow rapidly raced through the camp.
Before long, his figure materialized more than a mile away in the cold desert.
’Feng?’ he asked internally.
’’There are no significant presences nearby, Contractor,’’ Feng replied immediately. ’’Although I would still advise against remaining alone for too long.’’
’Wasn’t planning to,’ Theo replied calmly. ’It’s just a bit of testing.’
’But if it comes to it, I’ll stay as long as I have to.’
This was his first and last chance to safely test his new affinity.
Inside Petra, testing it would be impossible. As for the journey there... it was practically the same.
’I don’t want people to detect it yet,’ he thought, shaking his head. ’And with that Gabriel asshole, testing it on a creature is impossible regardless.’
After a moment, he let out a deep sigh.
As he lifted his head, his eyes locked onto a small stone not too far away.
’’Let’s start with that,’’ he muttered, closing his eyes.
Falling silent, Theo’s full focus landed on the strange black mass inside his core.
Almost immediately, he felt a response.
’That’s easier than expected,’ he thought.
Black mana slowly began making its way through his body.
Before long, a black sphere, barely larger than a marble, formed above his palm.
Theo stared at it intently.
He hadn’t forgotten what the Calamity Abilities had done just a few hours ago.
’’Alright,’’ he muttered, pointing his palm at the rock. ’’Let’s see...’’
The black sphere immediately shot forward.
Whoosh!
It struck the center of the rock.
Theo instinctively prepared himself for an explosion.
But nothing happened.
’’Huh?’’ he muttered, raising an eyebrow.
For nearly a second, the stone remained unchanged.
Then, a tiny black crack slowly spread from the point of impact.
CRACK!
Another followed.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Within seconds, hundreds of fractures covered the entire rock.
Theo frowned.
The rock wasn’t breaking from force... rather, it seemed to be deteriorating.
Within seconds, the entire stone started collapsing under its own weight.
Finally, the dust scattered into the wind.
Theo slowly lowered his hand, completely caught off guard.
’’What the hell?’’ he muttered. ’’Did it just... age away?’’