After another meal that Genevieve acted like she didn't care about, but devoured nonetheless, Aiden asked her to train him. It was one thing to be prideful, but another to be stupid.
"You want to learn how to grow stronger, right?" she asked after licking her fingers clean. "You are already on the right path."
"I am?"
"You are hunting monsters that are clearly stronger than you are," she said. "That's one way to grow stronger — to challenge yourself and your abilities."
"I don't have any abilities."
Genevieve looked at him with big, blinking eyes.
"Are you serious?" she asked.
"As serious as a heart attack."
"Heart attacks are the best method for a quick clean victory," she said with a nod. Aiden didn't attempt to correct her. "What do you have in mind then?"
"I heard that I could cultivate desire."
"That's the quickest path of power progression, but it requires that you already have an ability," she explained. "Abilities are vases to contain desires, allowing you to utilize them."
"I can't cultivate unless I have an ability?" Aiden muttered. "If I do get an Awakening Shard, which desire should I focus on?"
"It depends on what path you want to choose."
"Give me some recommendations."
"My personal favorite? The Void Desire," she said. "It allows you to hide your presence and negate damage. I specialize in it, and it has saved my life countless times."
"It doesn't sound impressive."
"At higher levels, void is no longer just a feeling," she says with a smile. "It can negate damage and cancel out other desires."
"You mean… anti-magic?" Aiden asked with widened eyes. "There is such a thing?"
"Although it's a very difficult ability to master with a lot of constraints, but yes, it is possible. For example, I can cancel all abilities of anything below the Glimmer-Rank."
"You are a Glimmer?" Aiden asked with a raised brow.
"Impressed?" she asked with a tease.
"More like disappointed. Isn't that the second weakest rank?"
Genevieve stood there glaring at Aiden.
"I will have you know that people consider me a genius to be at the peak of Glimmer when I'm twenty-nine," she said. "People usually need three years to reach the Spark, and seven years to reach the Glimmer."
"Three plus seven is ten," Aiden said, unimpressed. "I would kill myself if I'm still a Glimmer at twenty-seven."
"How about I do it for you?" she asked with a twitching brow.
"Don't mind me," he said with a wave. "I'm rather ambitious."
"I am ambitious," she emphasized, barely containing her cold rage. "I just haven't met anyone who thinks I'm behind."
"Damn, that's just my personal opinion. You need to accept being underestimated, Genevieve."
"We are not on first-name basis," she said.
"Of course we are. Aren't we teammates?" Aiden asked with a frown. "I can't call you Guild Master in the middle of a fight, right?"
"Not a lot different than saying my first name," she added. "By the way, I don't even know yours."
"I can call you Genny."
"And I can slap you, but neither is wise. Your name—"
"Is that a thing of yours? Threatening to slap people?"
"It is, but reserved for those who annoy me."
"The feeling is mutual then."
Genevieve sighed.
"You can call me Master."
"That makes me sound like a slave."
"Or a disciple."
"That's a slave plus having to learn a bunch of things."
"You are the only person in the world who would refuse to be my disciple."
"I mean, there are a lot of Glimmers out there who would, and many of a higher rank."
"I once had an Aetherial fiancé."
"Is that stronger than a Glimmer?"
"Have you been living under a rock?"
"Let's assume I know nothing."
"There is no need to assume," she said. "I can tell that you know nothing."
"We are on the same page now. Again, my question."
"The order goes like this: Spark, Glimmer, Radiant, and Aetherial."
"I doubt that's the highest rank, right?"
"There are more above it. They only exist in the Inner Sanctums, though," she said. "Apex and Singularity. I doubt you would ever meet one of them."
"You don't know that. Maybe I have."
"If an Apex Seeker visits Argan, we would either be killed or killed," she said with a serious expression. "There is no reason for them to visit a place like this."
"But you did," Aiden said. "You had an Aetherial fiancé and lived in the Inner Sanctums, right?"
"I trained there for a while."
"But you came to this forsaken town."
"It's a city."
"Sure," Aiden nodded. "But why?"
"That's not something I would tell you," she said, her expression cold. "Back to the topic—"
"There was a topic?"
"Yes. Many people would dream of becoming my disciple, not because of my cultivation rank, but my knowledge. Even Glimmers would fight to have a dinner with me."
"No one really likes a bragging woman," Aiden said with a shake of his head. "No matter how attractive you are, it disappears the moment you mention it. Just act cool about it, like you wouldn't know unless someone tells you."
"But I do know it. It's a fact."
"Of course it is," he added. "But if you state that fact, it becomes less of a fact."
"Then, it's true as long as I don't acknowledge it?"
"It will be true regardless, for some," he said. "I doubt they are worth your time, though."
"I'm lost."
"Me too. I have no idea where we are."
"No, I'm lost in this conversation," she said. "You are rather chatty for someone who tried to avoid me for two days."
"What can I say?" he asked, "I have a belly full of stories, but I'm just too damn shy to share them. Consider yourself lucky that I'm even willing to engage in this banter."
"Rather than a banter, this is a headache," she said with a sigh. "Back to the topic—"
"There was a topic?"
"Yes," she said with a sigh. "What's your damn name?"