The golden and velvet door opened without a sound as Nova slipped into Larena's office once again. Candlelight danced across the ornate walls, casting long shadows. The familiar scent of ink and parchment filled the air, mingled with a trace of sea salt from the open window.

Larena sat behind her desk like last time, surrounded by parchments and books. The candlelight caught her red hair as she looked up, a smile spreading across her face. "Welcome, Nova! Have you spoken to the governor?"

Nova gave her a brief bow, hoping the etiquette in this world was similar to his last. "Not directly. I met a guard as soon as I entered his study. Someone stronger than me."

"Oh?" Larena raised her eyebrows, setting down the quill she'd been writing with. "Because of the assassination? That's surprisingly clever of him. I didn't think he would find someone stronger than you, though."

Nova pulled a chair from a small table and lifted it over to her desk before jumping into it. "Yes, I was surprised as well. I told him why I was there, but he wasn't interested. So I just left, thinking I'd have to find a different approach. My first idea was going through you, but that's too risky."

Larena looked at him for a moment, taking a deep breath. "You can use me in any way you'd like, you know. It's in the contract."

"I don't intend to put you in harm's way unless absolutely necessary. You're a valuable asset, and a good person."

Larena's shoulders slumped slightly as she looked down at the documents scattered across her desk. "... I appreciate that. Though I don't feel like I've done much." Her eyes lowered to the papers on the desk.

"It's not like there was much you could do. And now that I'm here, you're the perfect person for the job." Nova offered her a reassuring smile, noting how the weight of her position seemed to press down on her. "I found something else to use as leverage against the governor, so I still have hopes of making this work."

"Something other than… the threat of death? That might be for the best. But what?"

"His granddaughter is dying, and it's not from something most people would know how to cure." Nova's voice grew quiet, remembering the girl's fevered movements by the window. "But I do."

"Oh?! That sounds perfect! How do you know?"

Nova shifted in his oversized chair, drawing his legs up to sit more comfortably. "I spotted her nearly trying to climb out of her window last night, so I figured something was wrong. Then, I diagnosed her quickly before my time ran out. I'm planning to tell them a method of alleviating the symptoms, then I'll cure her if we come to an agreement."

"You know medicine as well?"

"Yeah, a few different types. What kinds of medicine exists in this world?"

Larena counted off on her fingers as she spoke. "... Well, we have herbs, surgery, some kind of shamanism, normal healing spells, and antidotes. Probably more as well, but those are the ones I know."

"Hmm… I might need to teach some medicine as well at some point. It seemed quite primitive from what little I saw in her room." Nova's gaze drifted to the window, thinking of the medical abilities he had once honed. "Oh, how common are skills for checking someone's Soul Power?"

"Checking Soul Power?" Larena's brow furrowed. "You're worried about being revealed?"

"Yeah. I'm close to two hundred now, and I'm sure that's not normal for someone my age."

"You're right about that…" Larena leaned back, thinking. "Hmm, I can't think of any off the top of my head. I usually just feel it naturally."

"You can feel mine now?" Nova asked, suddenly alert.

"Yeah, somewhat. I could tell you had gotten stronger since last time."

"... That's what I was afraid of," Nova sighed, thinking back to the night before. 'Is that why I was discovered as soon as I entered the study?' He looked back at Larena. "Let me test some stuff then. Tell me if you can't sense my soul anymore."

Closing his eyes and focusing internally, he tried to close off his meridians to stop the flow of essence throughout his body. This was a common technique in cultivation, but it made the user as weak as a normal person—unless their body was refined as well.

[You have learned the skill: Internal Sealing (Expert - 60%) {Grade 3}]

[Your essence is shut off, stopping anything from sensing your strength. In this state, you are unable to use essence, removing the enhancements of your aspects.]

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"Ah, it's gone now!" Larena noted. She closed her eyes in concentration, then she nodded. "Yeah, you're invisible to my senses now, just like a normal child."

"Okay," Nova replied, opening his eyes. A slight frown crossed his face. "I was confident this one would work, but it's unsuitable for stealth, or when I might need to fight. How about this one?"

This time, his essence moved differently, forming intricate patterns beneath his skin. Tiny runes flickered across his arms like silver fish beneath the surface of a pond, slowly spreading until they covered his entire body in a thin layer. He could feel his senses becoming constrained, like something he hadn't noticed before suddenly disappeared.

'Is that what she means when she says she can feel my power? So it's another skill to be trained?'

[You have learned the skill: Mirror Skin Invocation (Master - 11%) {Grade 3}]

[Your skin becomes reflective to the senses, hiding your Soul Power and essence from most skills. Lasts for 10 minutes.]

[You have discovered a new skill. Bonus mastery applied: Master - 31%]

"Ooh, it's..." Larena leaned forward, squinting as if trying to focus on something just out of sight. "I feel like I can sense something, but it's very faint. I would never think you had a Soul Power of two hundred, only that your soul is completed."

"Good." Nova flexed his fingers, watching the barely visible runes shift with the movement. "Then I'll have ways to hide my presence later. The time limit of the fragment has increased to over nine minutes now, so that makes things easier."

Larena's fingers twisted in her lap as she looked at him, moonlight catching the uncertainty in her eyes. "... Are... Will you let the governor go unpunished for all this?"

"If I had the power to protect the children on my own, he would already be dead." Nova's voice carried centuries of cold judgment. "But as long as he can be used to reach that goal, serving justice only hurts the children. I'm not planning to make any excuses for what is being done here, don't you worry."

Larena nodded, biting her lips as she looked down at the documents in front of her. "That's good… I just wanted to make sure our views aligned."

"... What's with all the paperwork?"

"Oh, just some pushback after my order to halt the harvesting. Governor Newark started putting pressure on us today, but as long as I have reason to think the workers are unsafe, I have a right to keep it halted."

'Is he using the souls for his granddaughter, somehow?' Nova wondered, remembering the girl's delirious state. 'I didn't check her Soul Power yesterday, but that could be a good way to help her... Unless her soul purity is falling because of it.'

"Good work, Larena. I'll do what I can to make a deal later. That should buy us time to gather enough souls to change his mind. I can teach you the cultivation technique as well."

"... Let's hope it will go as smoothly as you say. I'll do what I can to help."

Nova slid from his chair and started to move it back, but Larena rose quickly, scraping her chair against the stone floor. "I'll take the chair, Nova. You're still only four years old."

"Fine..." He released the chair with a slight sigh. "I'm looking forward to becoming an adult again, or at least older than this. Well, there are ways to speed it up..."

"Safe ways?" Her tone carried a note of concern.

"Oh, yeah. Just, expensive. Usually."

"I've got some money if you need it."

"Yeah? Can you gather enough gold for me to bathe in?"

"... Forget I said anything." She shook her head but couldn't quite hide her smile. "Good luck, Nova."

"Many thanks, Larena." He tiptoed toward the door. "If you don't see me again for a while, assume I've escaped into the city."

The door closed behind him, leaving Larena to worry about his final words.

[Fragment of Nova Noctis equipped.]

[Perfect Mute activated.]

[Shadow Sprint activated.]

[Lesser Life Detect activated.]

[Mirror Skin Invocation activated.]

Once again, Nova lept from the courtyard to the top of the stone wall, taking in the view of the city. It was the same as the previous night, filled with life and mysteries he felt eager to investigate.

'To make up for the loss of harvesting, I need to gather at least six hundred Soul Power a month. There should be many ways to do so. Even one assassination might be enough.'

He had no plans to kill anyone for the sake of gathering souls, but if someone made themselves deserving of a killing, he wasn't going to say no either.

The shadows spread across the rooftops made it easy for him to move undetected, getting back to the windows of the governor's study in seconds.

'Let's hope the governor is still up. Negotiating with that guard will probably be harder.'

With a Shadow Step, he was inside the room again, hidden by the shadows. But unlike last time, no voice was there to greet him. "... Mister guard?"

"Oh, you've learned to hide now?" The guard's response came from somewhere near the reading chair, sounding more surprised than annoyed. "Why are you here?"

"To negotiate. But unlike last time, I have something your boss needs now."

The guard's reply seemed to drift from a different corner entirely, suggesting he was moving silently through the shadows as well. "Listen, man, from one killer to another… Going against him will only cause trouble. The harvesting is what keeps this land peaceful, unlike all our neighbors."

"I'm not going to discuss the advantages of killing children," Nova replied firmly, doing what he could to keep his voice steady. "Tell Newark that I know how to cure his granddaughter."

A tense silence filled the room. When the guard spoke again, his voice had lost its professional detachment. "... How would you even know that she's sick?"

"She was leaning out of her window last night, delirious and hallucinating. And since I know medicine, I gave her a checkup."

"That's incredibly brave of you to admit, assassin! She's only nine years old, and you broke into her room?"

"I don't harm children, but I can understand why you would be worried, given your own actions."

"... Fine, I'll go get him. Are you prepared to show your face once he arrives?"

"Not yet. Perhaps after we reach an agreement."

Revealing his identity as one of the children would likely be more trouble than it was worth. There would be questions about his origins that he didn't feel like answering, and it would sow doubts about his abilities.

'Let's hope he can see reason.'

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