Astral Odyssey: Dying Ember

World 4.14: Vanora

Around two weeks passed by in a blink of an eye. 

After the first week, Vanora had felt that she was almost at the optimal level of difficulty which would help to push her growth so had asked for even stronger opponents but she realised that it was not much different than what she was already experiencing. 

Over the two weeks, she has encountered several different kinds of hell beings. Some had the characteristics of normal animals but looked like either demonic or zombified. Some looked completely other worldly such as beings made of rotting kelp goldfish eyes. The remaining rare few seemed to have the most intelligence of the rest and looked the most human since they have humanoid forms except that they were either smokey like ghosts or deformed or have extra appendages. It was with these beings that she felt like they were closer to what she needed for herself to improve. 

The one that she felt really challenged the use of her enhanced instinct was a being that looked very unassuming with its translucent appearance, crooked posture, black messy cobweb-like hair, and large unblinking eyes. It could hide its presence and appear right behind her without her knowing. There were a few times that Vanora swore she could have been killed or at least lethally wounded by that hell being but she always miraculously ran off before it could land an attack. In fact, through the week, she only suffered surface injuries at the most. 

Eventually, the only improvement that she has made was mastering her aura perception. She observed how the colour of his emotions gradually changed from mountbatten pink to a lighter and clearer rose pink over the past week. She never bothered to ask him what the colour meant. She only knew that it was not the colour that she could consume.

However, mastering the aura perception was nothing to be proud of since it was only a matter of time. Mastery of aura perception corresponded to her being fully adapted to having a demon's body. Even so, she only fully adapted after a week of transforming. Her natural regenerative speed was also a little faster now. 

She had asked Vlad in passing about how long it normally took for humans to adapt to having a demon's body. Although he said that there was never one that kept their rationality like her, he estimated based on the performance of the converted demons that her speed was probably average. This further strengthened her refusal to believe that she was that much stronger than so many of the hell beings. Only a significantly stronger being could afford to come out of a fight with barely any injuries.

She reached a conclusion that there was something fishy going on behind her back and that it was related to his trips out of the establishment every night. 

While frustration and anxiety was building up inside one person, admiration and adoration built up inside another. 

After spending almost every waking second with Vanora, he felt that she was truly one of a kind. It was unlikely, probably impossible, to find another like her. Before he met Vanora, he has never met a being who trained like their lives depended on it. Everyone accepted their fate after finding out their strengths through clashing with others. You either belong to the strong or the weak. If you are strong, you get to throw your weight around. If you are weak, you got to earn your place by clashing with the other weaker ones while not offending the stronger ones. There was no point in training so desperately since nothing could be changed. 

He could tell that Vanora was promising from the first time he saw her aura. Even if she would not be the strongest, she would be above average. However, her aura has never been as brilliant during this past two weeks, and the length of time she took to get used to her new body was average at best. What sparked the growth of a new feeling was that she seemed to be aware of her limitations as well. She was not thinking too highly of herself but simply refusing to give in to 'fate'. She pushed herself to the point of cornering herself, it almost felt as if she was punishing herself for being weaker than others.