Chapter 72: Exploring the House of Night
Kai had a lot of assumptions in his mind before this.
But he never would’ve thought that the night was actually jealous of Layra, and it decided to snap him from his trance. It was too abstract for him to believe that the night shouldn’t be alive or even have consciousness to feel jealousy.
Seems like he still had a lot of things to learn.
Swoosh—!
Kai snapped his head to the side and saw a tendril of darkness.
It whipped at him, slamming against his side and throwing him away; his face was wet from being dragged through shallow water. He poked his head from the knee-high mist and shot a glare at the retreating back tendril.
"Hey! Co back here!" He roared. "Who allowed you to whip
like that?!"
Gritting his teeth, Kai stood up and ran after the tendril of darkness.
But it quickly retreated back to the sky.
"I am the First Son of the Primordial Night! I’m your master! How dare you do this to ?!"
Kai was cursing at the night sky while rubbing his throbbing side.
He was both embarrassed and furious.
Noxian can only shake his head at the scene.
Now that he had gotten what he ca here for, Kai sat down cross-legged, not too far away from the wooden house. He closed his eyes and began calming his nerves from what had happened earlier, and focused on his Halo.
Soon enough, he was sure that Professor Hera would be checking the students’ Halos.
Kai must morph its effect from falling ash motes to light.
It would be best to have it return to a pale white light. But at this point, I’ll take a grey light.
Once he was ready, he called in the night. Fortunately, the night didn’t act up this ti, and it followed his instructions thoroughly. He let it seep into his nape and then fully embraced the Halo inside.
Kai has never done this before.
He doesn’t even know it’d work, so there are a few trial and errors.
Eventually, he activated the Halo first, allowing the ash motes to manifest, drifting downward like snow made of shadow. Then, he called in the night to wrap around it. Slowly, patiently, like hands kneading dough, the darkness began to mold them back toward their original form.
Back to being a glowing light.
It failed.
Kai’s brows furrowed as he tried another way.
As opposed to returning the ash motes to their original form, he decided to make another layer around the Halo. He intended to make sure that when mana went through this layer, it would not turn into ash motes.
Instead, it would turn into light.
And this was a success.
Kai opened his eyes when the inky layer around the Halo was properly ford.
A smile curled on his lips as he watched the glowing grey light that his body now emanated.
People would still question because of his colored hue, but it was still far better than having the falling ash motes. "It’s only an illusion, though," Kai thought aloud, deactivating the Halo again. "And it’s weaker."
Because of the layer, not all the mana from the Halo could seep through.
And that made the Halo weaker, but it’s fine.
"It’s not like I’m going to fight a Star Beast soon," Kai shrugged and stood up with a satisfied groan. "Besides, whenever I’m here, I can refine the layer to make it more perfect. It would probably take ti, but this is enough for now."
Kai looked out into the dark horizon.
He wanted to start trying to complete the quest.
During the first quest, he got the Dark Discharge imprint from it.
And he was curious what he would get after this quest.
"Explore the House of Night..." Kai uttered whisperingly. "I can try to have a look around. But how do I properly explore this place?"
Before he knew that in order to et Noxian again—that he needed to hold Noxian in mind or speak Noxian’s na aloud—he tried following the exact sa path he took the first ti he ca across Noxian’s domain.
Hoping to et Noxian that way.
It didn’t work.
Despite following the track precisely, he didn’t end up in Noxian’s territory.
That alone confird that either the House of Night shifted constantly—or he appeared in a different spot whenever he entered. Neither option offered comfort. So, Kai could only adopt the only thing he could do.
Pick a direction at random and hope he can find the place to complete the quest.
"Going sowhere?" Noxian asked, seeing that Kai was looking at the horizon intently. "I hope you’re not thinking of learning another na. You haven’t forgotten the night could devour you if you forced yourself too much, right? Or the severe consequences of encountering the wrong Nightborn."
"I’m not thinking about that," Kai pointed at the horizon. "I’m thinking of exploring. Do you have any advice?"
"Yes, I have. And that’s not to explore," Noxian shrugged. "But if you have to, then you should know that you should leave quickly if you find yourself in so trouble. No need to be stubborn, or you’ll really die."
"Noted," Kai nodded.
He then said goodbye and went out.
Not going straight, but taking a sudden turn here and there.
Since he already tried going straight and knew how it went, this ti, he would take a chaotic route. Perhaps that way, he would be lucky and stumble upon a place or a section within the House of Night that’d complete the quest.
This is not Kai’s first rodeo.
He knew it would take him ti to find anything at all.
So, he wouldn’t really force finding anything right now.
Once he felt like he had explored enough for one attempt, he would leave.
Even though using the Deep Slumber would refresh his mind, if he stayed for too long, he’d be ntally exhausted again. He had learned that the hard way back when he was completing Noxian’s Perfect Slash fragnt.
He couldn’t afford that exhaustion now.
Not with a mining session waiting the mont he woke up.
Along the way, in the silence that was ever-present within the House of Night, Kai started to play with the night. He called it forth and played with the strand of darkness that slithered on his arm like a snake.
He did it to fill the boredom of walking and train his control over the night.
Two birds with one stone.
But this made him more curious about the extent of power he has within the House of Night.
"Since I’m exploring, can I make myself move faster?" Kai thought aloud, and he decided to try. He didn’t use mana. Instead, he called the night again and infused it into the shallow water underneath, causing it to glow through the mist. "Here goes nothing."
Kai channeled the darkness to swirl around him, like he was trying to leave this expanse.
Instead of leaving, he tried teleporting to a particular spot a hundred yards ahead of him.
He felt cool and comfortable for a second, being surrounded by the darkness.
As it dissipated, he glanced over his shoulder and punched the air with a fist of pure victory.
"I can!" Kai smirked.
Just a short distance behind him, the glowing spot he’d left behind still pulsed, proof of total success. The mont he knew it was possible, he did not hesitate. Again and again, Kai let the darkness swallow him whole, only to reappear a hundred yards away.
And then he disappeared and reappeared again.
Over and over, he used this technique as he didn’t feel it was taxing him in any way.
From an onlooker’s perspective, he was shadow-stepping.
It substantially increases his speed, which ans he could cover a lot more distance.
Of course, one success encouraged him to want more.
"Hmm, Noxian did say to be extra careful." Kai stopped in his tracks and crossed his arms, sinking into deep contemplation. The night was his to wield, so surely there was a way to use it as a shield or sothing. "Should I try making so kind of protective aura?"
Since it was about protection, having a second layer of skin sounded great.
He wouldn’t need to care if sothing ambushed him suddenly.
Kai decided to try that.
Once again, he focused and called the night to co to him.
A strand of darkness ca down from the sky, and under his control, it began to wrap around his body like a second skin. Slowly, but surely, the darkness beca thinner and thinner. His aim was to make it cling to his skin as tightly as possible.
But it seed he bit more than he could chew.
Splash—!
Kai panted heavily as the darkness dispersed and dissipated.
His mind was throbbing from even attempting to do that to the point he needed a break.
For a good few minutes, Kai knelt on one knee and waited for the headache to pass.
"Not that easy, huh..." He smiled sheepishly. One success made him get over his head—and now he was exhausted. "Is it because I’m not strong enough? Or like Noxian said, this is due to the jealousy thing."
A chuckle escaped his lips.
Just as he walked again, a shiver ran down his spine when he saw sothing move.
He saw a shadow move in his periphery.
Kai lifted his balled fists and called the night again, expecting a stray Nightborn had stumbled to him. But the tension lted the instant he recognized the figure. It wasn’t a new Nightborn, but Noxian instead.
He stood at the very edge of his territory, motionless, watching Kai in perfect stillness.
"Huh...? Did I think about Noxian so hard that I got looped around?" Kai tilted his head in utter confusion. "I guess it’s ti for
to leave. I can’t be bothered by this right now. I will think of a better way to explore later."
"Hey!" Noxian called, gesturing for Kai to co. "Co here for a second."
Since he was leaving anyway, Kai approached.
It was odd for Noxian to be standing on the edge like this when he normally sat down.
Kai was spooked, thinking that Noxian was calling him like this because there was sothing behind him. A Nightborn. But the dark behind him was empty. Shaking off the chill, he entered Noxian’s territory and fell into step behind him. "What? You’re going to teach
how to explore this place? Cause... I really need it."
"Explore? Is that what you’re doing?" Noxian asked and stopped right before the porch. "If that was the case, then don’t you know the most important rule while exploring an uncharted territory?"
"I told you earlier about it, and you already forgot? You really are old. And what important rule are you talking about?"
"An important rule—It’s dangerous to be loud and reckless in the night..."
"What?"
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