Ning walked through the door and saw the inside. Somehow, he felt that the house Reever and Lisa owned was… very rundown. It didn't seem like a house that was owned by someone that had their own business or made a couple of Gols every few weeks.
'What's going on? Are houses just that expensive?' Ning wondered. His hotel room was much better than their home.
"Do you own the place or just rent it?" Ning asked as he looked around the dimly lit room with just a single table at the center and a bed at the other side.
Ning couldn't see any other furniture in the room at all.
"We rent it. We've been renting here for the past 3 years," Reever said.
Ning didn't know how to ask them why they didn't find another place. He didn't feel it right to tell other people that he didn't like their home at all. Maybe they liked it themselves.
"I'll go start cooking," Lisa said and walked away from the room to the other room, which Ning assumed was a kitchen.
Reever brought out cloth seats from under the bed and placed them around the small table. "Come sit, brother Ning. It's not much, but it's what we have," Reever said.
Ning sat down cross-legged and nodded. The two started talking once more. Ning tried his best to keep his information to himself, but he still have to let some information out to keep himself from looking like a fraud.
"Oh right, I saw someone from the Aether Tower today. There were people gathered and one child even got chosen," Ning said as he remembered what had happened earlier today.
"Aether Tower folks? Ah right, today was the day huh? That kid must be lucky," Reever said with a sad sigh. He seemed to still not be over his rejection.
"You said you tried to go there at 18 years of age right? Why were they here for such young children then?" Ning asked.
"They try to nurture young geniuses from an early age. That way, by the time they are an adult, those kids will be a great asset to the Aether tower," Reever said.
"And you weren't chosen back then, so you tried once more?" Ning asked.
"Oh, no. The folks from Aether Tower never visited my village when I was a child. So, I stupidly believed that I had what it took to enter the tower. However, when I got there, I finally realized what true talent was."
"You wouldn't believe me brother Ning, but I saw an 18-year-old kid at the time that was already Aether Master and on his way to becoming an Aether Grandmaster. That shocked poor old Aether Student like me," Reever said.
Ning nodded his head as he heard that. He then thought of something and asked, "I saw the man from Aether Tower use that crystal ball to choose a kid to take. Can you explain why?"
Reever looked very confused at the question. "Uhh… What do you mean 'why', brother Ning? What am I supposed to say?" he asked.
"I was just wondering why they used the crystal ball," Ning said.
"You know what it does right?" Reever asked.
"Yes. It checks how much a person can passively take in Aether, right?" Ning asked.
"Yes. So, that's your answer right there," Reever said.
"But why focus on only those who can passively take in Aether? That is something that can be easily given to someone," Ning said. "Just hand them a simple absorption technique. Those work way better than passively taking in Aether."
Reever cocked his head to the side in confusion as he asked, "Absorption technique? What's that?" he asked.
"What? You don't know what absorption techniques are?" Ning asked.
"No. This is the first time I'm hearing this," Reever said. "Is this something you guys use down in the south?"
Ning got confused. 'How could he not know about absorption technique?' he wondered. 'Does no one in this world know about absorption techniques?'
"How would you say one can increase their Aether rank? Without having to wait years passively collecting Aether, that is," Ning asked.
"Oh, that's pretty simple. You use the Aether ores. You can buy some and use them to improve yourself," Reever said.
"No other way? No wonder you were rejected from the tower despite having a quite amazing talent for it all," Ning said.
'System, are absorption techniques gone from this world?' he asked.
<No. Few Aether users still own it. However, they are heavily kept secret everywhere so not many know about them>
'I see,' Ning thought. 'It might not be a good idea to give him one then. If he improves and people get suspicious, he will get into trouble when I'm not around.'
"Brother Ning?" Reever called after seeing him fall into a daze.
"Sorry, I was thinking about something. Let's change topics. Is there anything else you want to talk about?" Ning asked.
"Something else? Not really, I suppose," Reever said. "Ah, right. There is one thing. I heard that a young mistress from a noble family is here in the town. The bakery took their chance with ruining our name in hope that they could piggyback upon the young mistress' anger towards us to ruin us."
"Fortunately, this so-called young mistress never spoke up at all, or we would have been screwed," Reever said.
"A young mistress?" Ning asked. Those words reminded him of the bratty girl that he had now seen twice in the hotel.
"I might have actually seen this girl. There's one in my hotel that always walks around with a butler of sorts. Maybe that's her?" Ning said.
"Woah, you've seen her, brother Ning? Is she noble-looking?" Reever asked.
"I would say so," Ning said.
"And pretty too?" Reever asked.
Ning was about to answer when Lisa stuck her head out from the doorway to the kitchen and said, "Hey! Why are you suddenly talking about girls when I'm away? You better not be having any other thoughts.. Just sit tight, the dinner will be ready any minute now."
