Five days later...
Vicente was on his way to the Seidel Kingdom, passing through a desert region between the Kenyth Empire's and the kingdom's borders.
However, in the middle of his passage, while flying on Onyx's back, Vicente caused a commotion that would be curious to anyone in the area.
Amid the arid lands of this region, heavy clouds hung over this area that hardly ever received rain or moisture.
But as Vicente passed by this late afternoon, not only were there purple clouds hanging over the area, but strong winds were blowing while lightning was forming in the lower layer of the atmosphere.
'That's quite a skill, master.' Torne commented to Vicente as he noticed the atmospheric changes Vice caused using the new feature he had recently acquired.
Torne and Onyx were still at the same level as before. Still, they were both stronger due to the opportunities Vicente had given them at the secret altar they had left days ago.
Neither of them had become as strong as Vicente during their time at The Vile Altar, so both couldn't help but congratulate their master on his new abilities.
'If you use this with your friend Rory's Flame Avatar, you could create a strong storm to wipe out a city.' Torne thought about the combination of their powers.
There was nothing to stop two compatible powers from working together to create something greater. Combinations like the one Torne mentioned were common across the continent, and there were even magicians who lived and moved together because they were stronger that way.
Vicente could fight those of a higher level than him, but there were also people in Polaris Realm who could fight magicians of higher levels by joining their forces.
'Yes, I can imagine.' Vicente commented as he stopped using his powers and let his yellow pentagram return to his body.
He was testing his new power of atmospheric control. What better place than a desert to test his storm-inducing abilities?
As soon as he stopped using his powers, he turned his attention to the storm already raging in the area, realizing that even after he stopped using his ability, the atmospheric change could no longer be reversed. Until the ongoing storm released all of its 'power,' there would be no 'peace' over these arid borderlands.
"The mana in this area is denser than it should be. It seems your ability has control over mana as well." Onyx commented.
Then Torne's voice came from inside Vicente's body. "No, his new ability doesn't directly affect the free mana in the world. It affects the minerals and magical stones underground. When the composition of the terrain changes, it's natural for the mana in the area to change somewhat.
However, this effect does not have the potential to make the area grow in mana density. What our master can do now is, at most, draw from the free mana in the vicinity. In other words, the effect will be small if there is little mana in the atmosphere. And the effect can be quite interesting if there is a lot of free mana in the air. Unfortunately, it's not a long-term solution.
In a day or two, the weather in this area will return to normal. The mana here will also return to normal in a similar amount of time."
Onyx said nothing. Aside from his ignorance of certain things, he could see reason in Torne's words.
"Better than nothing." Vicente smiled after a moment of silence from his two companions. "If I can only improve the mana concentration by 1% so that my men can cultivate better, that's good enough."
'Yes, it's better than nothing.' Torne agreed. 'But you have to be careful with such storms in the cities.' He watched as the sandbanks changed shape, with various eddies forming here and there.
'A storm generated with most of your power would be enough to cause problems in almost all of Saltstar City.'
'I know. I don't intend to play with my new power from now on.' Vicente laughed. 'But it's a good skill for me to cover my tracks. It'll be hard for that damned vampire to catch up with us if we fly and use it a few times on our way to Saltstar City.'
'Yes, it's possible that it might even get him lost, and he won't be able to find us by following your tracks.' Torne agreed, aware of Vicente's new possibilities. 'But I don't think we'll be away from this enemy forever. He knows Casey and Layla were with us. If he can't go after you, he'll go after them.'
Vicente frowned as he thought about it, worried the vampire might reach Saltstar City before him.
'Don't worry, that won't happen. I'm sure he'll follow our tracks to the altar of the order that we left recently. It will take him about ten days to get lost and realize that the only way to reach us is through those two.' Torne said, confident in his assumption. 'It will take him weeks or months to find the trail of those two and then continue on to Scott Province.
By then, you'll have been in Saltstar City for some time. You will be prepared to receive him.'
'I hope so...' Vicente sighed. 'I don't feel comfortable going home with this vampire following me, but it would be worse to try to act otherwise.'
'As risky as your plan may seem at first, it's actually the best you can do. If you leave the Seidel Kingdom behind, the vampire might eventually go after your loved ones to make you stop running and go to him. That would be worse for Nina and the rest of the staff.'
That was why Vicente was returning to Saltstar City, knowing a vampire was after him. With him in the city, he could at least try to protect his sister and stay in a place where the enemy would come to him and not try to force him to do something else.
"Sigh... I hope I can kill the bastard when the time comes. As much as I'm much stronger now than before, I don't know, that vampire was very strange." Vicente muttered as he watched the great desert being 'watered' on this strange day.
'That is normal, master. Vampires run away from common sense. But don't worry, even if we don't manage to kill him, we'll be fine this time. Just keep doing what you're doing and getting stronger, and eventually, we'll achieve all our goals.'
'I hope so.' Vicente thought before dropping the subject and enjoying the journey in silence.
