Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 386: Entropy

Chapter 386: Entropy

Douglas took a deep breath as he held the engraver tightly in his hands, his eyes transfixed on the piece of metal before him.

Perspiration peppered his temple as he recalled everything he’d learned so far from Andre’s complicated teaching methods.

He had been a bystander for the past few days and now was the time to apply everything he’d seen so far.

Of course that was easier said than done.

He was perhaps the first person to be given a chance to practice the esoteric concept known as Entropy.

Perhaps that was why the weight on his shoulder was so heavy.

There was so much riding on this and because of that, Douglas couldn’t make a move as he was terrified of making a mistake.

Andre stood at the corner, watching him with keen eyes, privy to the reason Douglas had remained unmoving for the past five minutes.

"Do you plan on moving or should I leave?" He inquired calmly, his usual harsh tone gone as he had come to accept Douglas as a half-member of Aragon.

Douglas stirred, startled by the Rune Bearer’s boisterous voice.

"I..."

"If you are so scared of failure, how did you have it in you to do everything you’ve done so far?"

"That..."

"This isn’t a do-or-die affair, Douglas. If you fail, you try again." Andre calmly intoned, imparting wisdom to the young man before he remarked. "Now, begin."

Nodding in response, Douglas turned to face the metal piece before him.

He took yet another deep breath before proceeding to draw out the first stroke of the rune related to Entropy.

It was a perfect stroke with Douglas immediately sensing the power brewing within.

He could intuitively feel it.

Once he completed the rune, Entropy would have been applied to the metal piece.

So he prepared to draw out the next stroke, positioning himself to ensure there was no mistake as even the littlest deviation from the norm would lead to the entire rune failing.

Taking a deep breath, he placed the engraver down and began to make the stroke when suddenly...

"Are you busy?" A sudden familiar voice in his head spoke up causing his concentration to break, leading to the much dreaded deviation.

The metal piece cracked immediately after this happened, revealing that the engraving had failed.

Andre frowned. "It was going well, what happened?"

"I...don’t know. I thought I heard Al... I mean, Lord Aldrich’s voice."

"Indeed you did." The voice was heard again and this time, it wasn’t in Douglas’s head causing Andre to whip around just in time to watch as Alex emerged from a flash of black and white.

"You..."

"Aldrich, nice to make your acquaintance." Alex greeted with a curt bow before shifting his attention to Douglas who seemed conflicted for some reason.

Feeling the tension in the room, Alex was compelled to ask. "Am I interrupting something?"

"... Sort of," Douglas replied before explaining the situation causing Alex to scratch the back of his head.

"It would seem I made a bit of a blunder." He intoned, feeling rather awkward at the bad timing.

He’d only wished to test out the efficiency of a new Ability he’d formulated following his completion of the 4th Trial and his ascension to Scholar of the Human Wheel.

Aptly named, Mindscape, it was meant to finally deal with two issues Alex had found rather vexing in Eventide, one of which was a lack of long-distance communication and the other, to cover up for his main weakness which resulted from an incapability to protect his mind from mental attacks.

Borrowing from the mental capabilities of the Beastmen to communicate with one another, irrespective of the distance, Alex wished to test its efficacy across planes leading to him reaching out to Douglas considering it had been a while since he communicated with his ’brother’.

Letting out a dry cough, Alex thought it best to change topics and so began. "You say you were practicing engraving the runes of Entropy. Does that mean you have mastered it?"

There was a hint of expectation in Alex’s tone, coupled with a bit of pleasant surprise but unfortunately, Douglas was forced to douse that as he replied.

"This was my first trial."

"Ah... I see." Alex muttered rather regretfully before shifting his attention to Andre who had been studying with a scornful gaze.

"I believe you haven’t introduced yourself yet."

Andre snorted. "To the man that made my people fight a war that isn’t their own?... You should be thankful I don’t strike you down for entering my property without permission."

"I doubt that is how you speak with the person that helped save Aragon." Alex retorted.

"Hah." Andre let out a sigh, moving to take a seat before questioning. "Why are you here, boy?"

Ignoring the subtle jeer, Alex remarked. "Considering you are the one teaching Douglas, you must be the Rune Bearer Alejandro mentioned to me which means you are the most knowledgeable about the concept of Entropy, barring Alejandro himself."

"That is indeed correct."

"Forgive my insolence, but I’m curious, can Quillion impede the efficacy of Entropy?"

"Is there a reason you ask this?"

"Personal."

"... Though I am inclined to not answer your questions, Douglas has proven himself a worthy ally and I believe the man he serves wouldn’t be too terrible of a person."

"I’m glad you feel that way but that doesn’t answer the question," Alex muttered with a smile with Andre snorting yet again.

"Do you know how Quillion works?" He inquired, clearly intending to hand out a little insult at the price of the answer, a price Alex was willing to accept.

"Unfortunately not."

"Ignorant." Alejandro jabbed before continuing. "Quillion absorbs aether flowing in its vicinity, trapping it within. Which means, all things that require aether to persist would surely be affected by it."

"So what you are trying to say is that?" Alex prodded.

"Entropy doesn’t require aether to persist. It is a mystery of this world, one that our great ancestor Viracocha was able to decipher during his sojourn from his place of birth to this foreign land." Andre explained only to notice Alex’s eyes flash with excitement as though he had found what he had been looking for and indeed, he had.