Theo’s dragon wisp gave one last defiant cry before dispersing into shimmering light particles.
He felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him as his defenses crumbled.
The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was the smug look in the leader’s eyes and the shadowy figures of the abductors standing over him.
The abductors hoisted Theo’s limp form over the shoulder of the burly man, securing him with runic bindings. “Let’s move out before reinforcements arrive,” the leader ordered, and they swiftly retreated, leaving the shattered remnants of the battle behind.
A few hours later.
Theo slowly regained consciousness, his head pounding and his body aching.
As his vision cleared, he realized he was inside a giant compartment of a big flying machine.
The walls and floor were cold and metallic, and the air buzzed with the hum of AetherTech machinery.
He tried to move but found his wrists and ankles bound with AetherTech shackles that sealed his Aether Wisp powers. A quick glance around revealed that he wasn’t alone. Many other students from his school were also in the compartment, similarly restrained.
“Where… am I?” Theo muttered, his voice weak.
His classmates looked at him with fear and confusion. Theo recognized a few faces—friends and rivals alike, all sharing the same fate. They were all scared, their eyes darting around the compartment, looking for answers.
Aksai’s woodland clone, disguised as the wooden ring on Theo’s finger, activated its neural link. “Theo, are you alright?” Aksai’s voice was calm, but there was an undertone of urgency.
“Sir… Sir Aksai, what’s going on?” Theo whispered, trying not to draw attention to himself.
“Theo, listen carefully. I’ve been eavesdropping on the conversations outside. These abductors belong to a radical organization called New Dawn. They’re fanatics who believe that the arrival of the otherworldly invaders is a good thing for Acarnis. They think we should integrate the otherworlders’ cultivation path into our own society.”
Theo’s anger flared up. “New Dawn? Those terrorists? Why are they kidnapping us?”
“They believe the Aether cultivation path isn’t as powerful as we think and want to prove there are more paths to power. They’ve allied with the otherworlders and are using their methods—Spirit cultivation—to gain more power. The world government considers them traitors and actively hunts their top members,” Aksai explained calmly.
“They want to increase their manpower. But training someone in Spirit cultivation isn’t easy. The foundation must be established when one is very young for better results.
They have found out that those who are good at Aether cultivation also show talent in Spirit cultivation. So they have started abducting talented seedlings from schools that teach Aether cultivation. They want to groom you into becoming their foot soldiers. For them, all of you young kids are just at the right age to learn both the paths of Aether cultivation and Spirit cultivation.”
Aksai didn’t consider New Dawn’s intentions to be entirely bad. It was just that they used extreme methods to prove their point, which no civilized society would readily accept.
Just like New Dawn, Aksai also wanted to integrate multiple paths of cultivation to establish his own path to power. He had already experienced how beneficial it was for him to incorporate body cultivation and martial arts into his Spirit cultivation path, which enabled him to overcome a lot of limitations faced by regular Spirit cultivators.
If it wasn’t for the body cultivation, Aksai wouldn’t have been able to improve his Spirit Root Aptitude. He wouldn’t be able to survive the druid transformation process if his body wasn’t strong enough to handle the backlash of changing his ordinary bloodline into the Spirit bloodline.
Aksai believed that the path of Aether cultivation would broaden his horizons even further. It could allow him to improve his Spirit Root Aptitude as well. As such, he wasn’t as averse to New Dawn’s revolutionary idea unlike the native populous of Acarnis.
Of course, he didn’t mention his views to Theo directly because he knew Theo had a hero complex. He would never try to understand New Dawn’s perspective or walk the Spirit cultivation path on his own because he considered it a bad thing introduced to Acarnis by the otherworlders’ invasion.
Aksai, on the other hand, was very interested in learning more about New Dawn. He wanted to infiltrate the organization if he could and possibly get his hands on their research regarding both Spirit cultivation and Aether cultivation.
Aksai hoped the research conducted by New Dawn could save him years of experimenting. Thus, he needed to plan and think of a perfect situation that would allow him to change sides.
After all, Aksai had been given two soul-related techniques from his original self. He could use those techniques on New Dawn members. All he needed was to create a perfect excuse to leave Theo without making him feel desperate about his absence.
Theo clenched his fists, the shackles digging into his skin. “Those traitors… they’ll pay for this.” As expected by Aksai, the boy was starting to show extreme hatred for New Dawn as soon as he heard about them. Aksai sighed internally before speaking calmly to Theo, playing his role as a useful cheat ability well.
“Calm down, Theo. Getting angry won’t help us right now. We need to figure out a plan,” Aksai advised.
Theo took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. “Alright, what do we do?”
“First, we need to gather more information. We need to understand their plan and find a way to break these shackles. There must be a weak point in their technology.”
Theo nodded, his determination solidifying. “I’ll try to stay calm and observe.”
Just then, one of the abductors entered the compartment, looking over the captured students with a sinister smile. Theo recognized him as one of the men who had attacked him. The man walked slowly, inspecting each student, savoring the fear in their eyes.
“Welcome, young talents,” he sneered. “You’re all here because you have potential. New Dawn will show you the true path to power.”
Theo’s blood boiled, but he kept his mouth shut. He knew reacting now would only make things worse.
The abductor continued, “We believe the otherworlders have a lot to offer. And with your talents, we’ll show Acarnis the future.”