Death… And Me

Chapter 4286: Onlookers

Dristan was an Array Master of the Wangamiglia Sect, and he often came to the Arrays Guild to work with other Array Masters or to try some of his own. He was walking through one of the corridors in the Array Testing Facility, watching the other masters and their work, when suddenly, he stopped.

”Hum? Isn’t that old man Araujo? What happened to him?” Dristan looked through the transparent wall and saw an old man with tattered clothes, with various marks all over his body. Dristan looked to the side and noticed he wasn’t the only one watching that.

Quite a few Array Masters, being from the sect or not, were watching the events inside that room with interest. Dristan recognized one of the onlookers, coming close to ask. ”Hey, Cucuti, what is happening there?”

”Oh! Dristan, it is you,” Cucuti said, still looking at Araujo. ”No, you see, everyone couldn’t help but stop to watch Araujo and his... friend? It is quite curious.”

*TUM!*

*Arrgghh!*

”Wrong! I don’t want to see your fucking energy spread without control again! From the start!”

Araujo felt like crying. ”What loss of control? It was very good!”

”Very good?!” Rean’s eyes turned cold. ”If that was good, I don’t even want to see what bad looks like. Do you think I didn’t see the slight deviation in the energy gathered around the second conduit? What is good about that?”

”What?! Just that?!” Araujo complained. ”It was barely perceptible at all!”

*Pah!*

Rean slapped the back of Araujo’s head. ”Barely perceptible, your ass! I couldn’t even look at it without feeling disgust. Now, stop speaking and try again!”

”Fuck!” Araujo cursed, but quickly closed his eyes for a moment to concentrate before opening them and trying once more.

Outside, Dristan felt like he was seeing a poor comedy show. ”Is that really Araujo? The short fuse, big explosion, Araujo?”

Rean didn’t know that, but Araujo did indeed have a reputation for getting angry easily. Rean experienced that, of course. It’s just that Rean shut Araujo’s mouth with pure skill, making Araujo lose a bet.

Cucuti nodded at Dristan. ”The old geezer can’t lift a finger against that ascender.”

”Hey!” Dristan remembered. ”I saw that ascender before. I believe his name is Rean. He was in the top ten of the newcomers ranking during the last Godly Creatures Horde. Still, Araujo is a Middle Stage Aura God, while Rean is only a Middle Stage Anchor God from what I can see. How come Araujo is letting himself be treated like that?”

Cucuti turned around, starting to walk away. ”Who knows? They have been at this for three days. Someone asked Araujo when he came out for a moment, and he said he was receiving special array training. However, if you ask me, he is just being fooled.”

”I see...” Dristan bid farewell to Cucuti and stayed there, watching. Quite a few Array Masters stopped by from time to time to watch this scene, wondering if it made any sense. Dristan’s eyes shifted away from Araujo and Rean and paid attention to the materials on the ground. ”Eh? So much trash...”

Inside the room, Araujo finally managed to assemble the Lightning Flow Rune together, looking pretty satisfied. It wasn’t the first one he did. He assembled a few more before, but...

*Grab!*

*Puff!*

Just like before, Rean took the rune from Araujo and crushed it with his hand. ”Still shit. Again.”

Araujo’s mouth twitched, but he could only do as told.

The other Array Masters found it funny as they talked to each other. However, Dristan was different. That’s because before Rean crushed the rune, he managed to take a short look with his Celestial Sense. ”That rune... how could Araujo craft something like that with these materials?” he murmured to himself. He also knew that Araujo wasn’t anything special as an Array master either. That was way beyond what Araujo should be able to do.

Yes, Araujo cursed a lot, but he wasn’t an idiot. He definitely paid in pain and humiliation, noticing all the eyes on him, but he benefited just as much. The rune Rean broke just now. Had it been him from three days ago, it would have been impossible to make it, let alone make it without any proper equipment. Now, although Rean says they are still terrible, he can build them, using nothing but his energy and no tools, on top of terrible quality materials.

At the end of the third day, Rean took a look at another rune Araujo just made, nodding slightly. ”This is the first one that I can at least bear to look at.”

Araujo sighed in relief. There were so many red, purple, and dark spots on his body that he was already feeling numb. Rean never held back when he hit those specific points on Araujo’s body.

It wasn’t just to cause pain, though. It would be very hard to find anyone with a better understanding of a humanoid body than Rean. The entire Besgol Region probably didn’t have a single one. When Rean struck, he did so to also help fix Araujo’s mistakes with his meridians and energy circulation.

This part, Araujo hasn’t noticed yet. However, if Araujo were to fight right now, he would be around 5% stronger than before, simply because of how much more efficiently he would use his energy.

Rean ignored all that, waving his hand and pulling several different types of material from the ’treasure pile’ on the side. ”There is no point in being able to make a single type of rune. Next, you will make an airflow manipulation rune with seven inputs and outputs.”

”What?! Seven?!” Araujo was taken aback. ”Do I look like the Arrays Guild Master to you? And this pile of-” Rean glared at him, and Araujo quickly changed his words. ”And these materials? That’s impossible.”

”What bullshit guild master? Do you want me to show how to make that rune? I won’t use a single piece of equipment again,” Rean said. ”It’s just a simpl Level One Rune, what are you scared of?”

”This...” Araujo went silent. He already saw it before, and if he doubted now, he would only be digging his grave even deeper. ”Alright, I’ll try.”

Rean nodded and threw the Lightning Flow Rune to the side, ignoring it.

Dristan, however, took the chance to analyze it with his Celestial Sense again, especially now that Rean didn’t destroy it. ”Impressive...”