Chapter 9: Secret Power "Ripple" and Avia's Family Affairs

Opening my eyes once more, the dawn sun had already climbed above the clouds, casting its brilliant golden light joyfully across this vibrant forest.

Gone were the mangled corpses and the frenzied combat; the Alestle Forest looked too beautiful to belong to the world of men.

Compared to my past life, where forests were rare and nature was ravaged beyond recognition, the environment here was, at the very least, beyond reproach.

Of course, hidden predators also lurked within this beautiful woodland, but Wang Yu would not grant them an opportunity.

It might have seemed that Wang Yu had lowered his guard and neglected the watch, but in reality, Torret was the finest sentry; at the slightest sign of trouble, this capable horse would rouse Wang Yu at once.

Checking the time, I gauged the hour by the position of the sun in the sky.

This world also seemed to count twenty-four hours to a day, with the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, though I could not say if it existed as a planet in the same sense.

Wang Yu had always known that the knowledge of a transmigrator could serve as a reference, but it must never be held as absolute truth.

To pursue so-called "science" in a world where the transcendent exists—such arrogance is the truest form of ignorance.

Thus, Wang Yu had always sought to acquire more knowledge, though opportunities had been scarce; his focus had remained primarily on the improvement of his martial prowess and insight.

As his thoughts drifted to power, Wang Yu felt the difference in his body, an intangible ripple circulating throughout his frame.

This secret ability, which he had named "Ripple" within his mental palace to better grasp its nature, had been titled after the powers seen in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

The two shared many similarities, such as this wave-like manifestation.

With that thought, Wang Yu inserted his finger into the cooling soup pot, and the viscous liquid immediately took on the characteristics of a fluid.

Ripples appeared on the surface, displaying the same oscillating waves one would see when a stone is cast into water, as if his finger were vibrating incessantly within.

But in truth, Wang Yu’s finger was not moving at all; he had merely placed it there and released his secret ability, the "Ripple," from within his body.

Thus, the Ripple carried "force," distorting the external reality and causing the soup to vibrate out of thin air.

Secret abilities were such that one received a certain intuition upon awakening—the core of the power—but subsequent development depended entirely on the individual wizard.

Wizards were also known as "Tricksters," precisely because their abilities were so bizarre; beyond the secret ability itself, they possessed all manner of strange powers that warped reality, and anyone who made an enemy of a wizard would experience a variety of uncanny forces.

The core of Wang Yu’s Ripple was "conveyance"—to carry everything Wang Yu possessed, whether circulating within his body or released into the world.

For instance, the waves in the soup were simply Wang Yu channeling his own "strength" through the Ripple to make the liquid bear his force.

Such an operation consumed his "physical stamina," but the drain on his mental power—or rather, his Void power—was essentially negligible.

"Is this the privilege of a secret ability? The consumption is indeed minimal; no wonder those who awaken such talents are called wizards," Wang Yu remarked, clenching his hand.

"Moreover, the ceiling for this ability is incredibly high. If it is defined as 'conveyance,' it doesn't even limit what I can carry—my 'line of sight,' my 'thoughts,' even my 'pain' are all included."

"However, my current control lacks precision and still requires further development and experimentation."

"The restrictions on releasing these effects outside the body are still quite significant, but if it were within the body... there seem to be no such shackles."

Feeling the secret "Ripple" circulating and vibrating at will within him, Wang Yu used his intent as a conduit, integrating his neural responses into the Ripple as the object of conveyance.

In the next instant, Wang Yu felt his entire body slip out of control; first, his senses became displaced.

His eyes smelled scents, his nose saw objects, his ears heard pain, and then his limbs and every movement fell into chaos.

Attempting to stand, Wang Yu braced one leg, but the other failed to react, while one hand shot high into the air.

Immediately, he lost his balance and tumbled down.

Struggling to rise, his limbs refused to obey; Wang Yu began to thrash about like some grotesque monster.

He looked like a human spider, twisting and dancing wildly on the ground, yet entirely unable to move due to the total sensory disorder of his body.

As the sensory confusion spread to his neck and other unknown limbs, his nose heard a "crack" from his neck and his left foot felt a sharp pain, while simultaneously his right hand kicked over the soup pot; Wang Yu dared not move again.

Any further movement would likely cause him injury, yet he was quite pleased.

This proved his hypothesis was entirely feasible; the secret Ripple could carry so much, it only awaited his further development.

Lying quietly on the ground, ignoring the soup drenching his right hand, Wang Yu began to adjust the correspondence of his neural signals, working to straighten out his various senses and perceptions.

"Wang Yu, what's wrong? Are you alright?" Avia’s voice came from nearby; having fallen asleep after experimenting with her own secret ability, she had naturally recovered after a night’s rest.

Awakened, she had just climbed off Torret, who was dozing while on watch, only to see Wang Yu lying on the ground with his limbs twisted, his right hand covered in soup, one eye larger than the other, and his expression distorted beyond recognition by the sensory chaos.

Instantly, she could not help but panic; she had long since lost anyone familiar or dependable by her side.

The only person she could trust and seek help from was Wang Yu, her nominal knight attendant.

But she was of a gentle and kind nature, and she could never treat Wang Yu as a servant; he was, more than anything, a trusted friend.

Seeing Wang Yu in such a dire state, she grew flustered, and purple starlight began to shimmer in her hands—the precursor to her activating her own secret ability.

"No, no, there is no need to use your ability, I am fine," Wang Yu, who had been lying on the ground for some time, finally managed to adjust his senses.

Controlling his still-chaotic perceptions, he spoke the words he had struggled so hard to organize to the worried Avia.

Hearing Wang Yu, Avia fell silent; she did not use her ability, but instead sat down beside the fallen Wang Yu, hugging her knees and watching him with concern.

Wang Yu felt a touch of embarrassment; it was unlikely anyone would enjoy being greeted with such a surprise upon waking.

Calming his heart, he adjusted the correspondence between his internal Ripple and his neural signals; after all, it was his own body and his own ability, and once he settled his mind, he quickly sorted out the connections.

With a bit of effort, all the ripples were smoothed out, successfully carrying the corresponding neural responses, and Wang Yu regained full perception and control of his shell.

He flipped up with a kip-up, sensing the feeling of neural signals being transmitted throughout his body by the Ripple.

It was marvelous, an indescribable sense of fluidity; he truly felt as though every part of his body moved at his command.

The Ripple moved without restriction within him, shifting almost like teleportation, and the neural signals it carried could thus be transmitted instantly to every corner of his frame.

His control and perception of his body were now devoid of delay, and his reaction speed had ascended to a new level.

If he had previously been at 0.8 times the human limit, he was now at double; this transcendent improvement made Wang Yu’s confidence and interest in the path of the wizard grow ever stronger.

Having briefly sorted out the improvements brought by his Ripple development, the next step was to plan their subsequent journey.

The development of his secret ability and the training of his knightly physique would both be completed in due time.

Since Avia was awake, it was time to discuss her family affairs; their future itinerary depended heavily on her situation.

Wang Yu, having adjusted his physical state, wiped the soup from his hands on the grass and sat down opposite Avia, who was watching him with her knees pulled to her chest.

Looking at her, Wang Yu said earnestly, "I need to know about your family situation and whether you have any plans for the future; we must properly map out our journey."

Hearing Wang Yu’s words, Avia’s expression, which had shifted from panic to calm, took on a trace of melancholy; she seemed quite dejected.

Nevertheless, upon his inquiry, she began to recount her story.

Avia was born into a noble family in the Misar Province, in the central region of the Alestle Empire; her father was a Viscount, and her mother was the daughter of a Count, with the family holding a large fief in the region.

Her father, Dimas Dauphin, was a highly prestigious general serving in the military, as well as a powerful Great Knight who had awakened the Frost Knight bloodline, possessing formidable strength.

Besides Avia, the family included an older brother and a younger brother born to her mother, Mira Swain.

Due to personal values and the influence of the era, the family had always placed greater importance on the male children, Dylan and Dimir, than on Avia, and consequently, she had been treated relatively poorly since childhood.

Viscount Dimas practiced a philosophy of chauvinistic competition, a way of life he had followed since he was young.

How were titles obtained? By competing among brothers. How were merits earned? By risking one's life on the battlefield.

How was power gained? Through absolute effort in daily practice and combat!

From a young age, Avia’s father had demanded that her two brothers strive and compete; he always wore a stern face, unwilling to offer praise.

A nod was the greatest recognition, rewards were mostly cultivation techniques and nourishing ingredients, and the rod of punishment was never spared.

Whenever she looked at Avia, the profound disappointment and indifference in her father’s eyes would inevitably pierce the young girl’s heart.

From a very early age, the household servants and her two brothers looked down upon Avia simply because she was a girl.

Her brothers refused to play with her, nor would they deign to speak a single word to her.

Perhaps the servants dared not express their contempt overtly, but little Avia was a sensitive child, and she could feel the deep-seated disdain and scorn emanating from those around her.

It was not always obvious, yet that pervasive sense of rejection left the young girl feeling deeply inferior and sorrowful.

Though she was of noble birth, she lacked the typical aristocratic air; a quiet sense of inadequacy and a palpable timidity became her defining traits.

In that home, which was the envy of commoners but a source of crushing pressure for the child, her mother was a warm harbor, offering her love and tenderness.

Her mother held a high position in the household, and despite her persistent poor health, her father loved her dearly.

The servants and the commoners of the fief took great pride in having such a benevolent and powerful mage as their Lady.

As a woman, she possessed formidable arcane abilities; she was a high-ranking formal mage with great magical power.

In the Alastair Empire, renowned for its military might, mages—with their capacity for large-scale destruction—held a status even higher than that of knights.

As a formal mage, her mother’s standing in the military was effectively equal to that of her father, a Grand Knight, which ensured her high status in the household despite her gender.

Mother would often hold Avia and laugh, saying, "Little fool, I was much like you when I was young. When you become a mage and surpass me, those who look down on you now will only be able to follow behind you with eyes full of admiration!"

At such moments, Avia’s eyes would sparkle; lacking confidence and craving validation, she would find her direction, giggling in her mother’s arms as she envisioned a beautiful future.

Around the age of eleven or twelve, her mother tested her talent and declared with delight that it was exceptional—she might even become an Elemental Archmage, surpassing her mother.

Her father watched the process, offering a rare, gratified smile as he patted her head and embraced her mother, looking truly happy.

Seeing her potential, her brothers were somewhat begrudging, yet they were genuinely pleased for her.

She remembered that time as the happiest of her life.

Mother told her that sixteen was the prime age to become a mage, as memory was sharpest then and the foundation of spellcraft easiest to grasp.

Before sixteen, one was meant to build the bedrock of mental strength and awaken the mana vortex.

For those four years, Avia followed her mother’s guidance, meditating to accumulate mana and honing her spirit; though she had yet to learn spells, she possessed the mana of a high-ranking apprentice and a spirit far beyond that stage.

Originally, Avia was to be sent to her mother’s sister—her aunt—to study spellcraft and become a true, practicing mage.

The reason for the delay was that a year ago, her father had fallen on the battlefield against the Sevintan Empire, having slain three enemy generals of the Grand Knight rank before meeting his own end.

Dylan, who had followed his father as a squire to learn the art of war, had perished alongside him.

She remembered her mother receiving the tragic news, weeping until the world went dark, her delicate features aging years in a single day.

Her precocious younger brother, after his grief, followed his father’s former subordinates to the front, both to prove himself and to fulfill his father’s dying wish.

From that moment on, the Viscounty, deprived of its pillar, became unstable, with dark undercurrents swirling beneath the surface.

Servants whispered in private that someone from her father’s brother’s side would soon arrive to claim the title.

But Avia knew that her proud father would rather the title die with him than pass it to his own brothers.

After her initial grief, her mother rallied, suppressing the rumors with iron-fisted resolve and ruthlessly executing the servants who had spread the most venomous gossip.

She launched an investigation into the source of the rumors, eventually pointing the finger at her father’s brother, Decanon Dofin.

This caused her mother great anxiety; while maintaining order at home, she reached out to her sister, Lilia Swain, the head of a specialized magic academy.

She intended for this more powerful woman to mentor Avia, allowing her to grow quickly and remain shielded from the chaotic vortex consuming their home.

But three months ago, when her younger brother Dimir went missing on the battlefield, the chaos in the household reached its peak.

Decanon, no longer bothering to hide his intentions, rallied several barons and began parading through the Viscounty with brazen arrogance.

This deepened her mother’s dread, prompting her to send her most trusted old steward, the formal knight "Iron Wall" Oca, to escort Avia to the Forest Cottage Magic Academy...

"But... I never expected," Avia said, her face a mask of grief and hatred.

There was no need for further explanation; Wang Yu could roughly grasp what had occurred. Oca and the Viscount’s daughter had met with misfortune on the road.

With the exception of the missing Dimir, every heir to Viscount Dimas was gone. Decanon’s arrival, while seemingly unreasonable, had become, in a sense, a foregone conclusion.

Oca’s role in this seemed insignificant, yet it was clearly a vital link.

After a moment of contemplation, Wang Yu patted Avia on the shoulder. "There is nothing to say; I don't even know how to describe such animals."

"What matters now is getting you to your aunt, and letting your family know you are still alive. Don't worry, leave it to me!"

Wang Yu gave a thumbs-up. This assurance from a squire of modest strength somehow made Avia feel much more at ease.

She clumsily mimicked his gesture; though she did not understand the meaning of the sign, it was easy enough to imitate.

Avia said earnestly, "Do your best!"

This made Wang Yu burst into laughter.