Chapter 167. Leaving the lair

In the amphitheatre-sized ice cavern, Aiden was in thought.

"If the Order cannot reach me in the Eldorath Empire or the southern continent, they will search for me outside the southern continent. I need to change my appearance and forge a new identity. Perhaps I can find a way to forge a new identity as I journey across the Kahra desert. When I get to the southern sea port, they will do an identity check before I’m allowed to board a ship. I can’t risk exposing myself," Aiden thought.

"As for my appearance..."

A face-altering cream appeared before Aiden.

"This is the most expensive one I have bought so far. Its effects can last for about three years. Considering my current situation, this is most suitable for me. If by the time I’m ready to return to the southern continent, its effects still haven’t worn off, I can just take the antidote of the cream and my face will revert back to normal."

The part of the crimson armor covering his face disappeared. Aiden applied the face-altering cream on his face.

A warm sensation spread across his face before it disappeared.

He stared at his reflection on the ice.

His hair color had even changed. This face-altering cream was really effective. His hair color had changed to black and his eyes were blue now.

His face was currently different from his original look, but good looking.

"This should be fine. I should however avoid travelling by using crimson wings from here on. I need to do something about my crimson armor," Aiden thought. Those after him were not stupid. If he showed any signature styles of Aiden Vhorn, he’d be targeted, whether or not he had Aiden Vhorn’s face.

More blobs of blood appeared before him and transformed into crimson plates. The crimson plates shot towards his crimson armor and reinforced the crimson armor.

"Still crimson. I should reinforce it till it looks at least deep red, almost oxblood red." Aiden reinforced the crimson armor with blobs of blood till it looked oxblood red. It looked different from the normal deep crimson that his crimson armor looked like.

"That’s better." The oxblood red armor turned into blobs of blood and returned into him.

"As for my method of flight..."

Several blobs of blood shot out of his back, transformed into tiny crimson wings, and attached themselves to his back without even leaving his clothes.

"That solves that problem too. As for my eyes turning crimson, no one will pay attention to that. Now, how do I use my affinity without hinting to anyone that it’s me?" Aiden thought.

Several extremely tiny blobs of blood appeared before him and transformed into extremely tiny crimson threads. They looked extremely microscopic. They shot towards several ice crystals in the cavern.

They came into contact with the ice crystals in the cavern and hit the ice crystals. They cleaved through the ice crystals and shattered the ice crystals. They transformed into tiny blobs of blood and disappeared into him.

"This is not bad. These attacks cannot be seen with the naked eye. But they get the job done. The power and effect of the attacks are still the same compared to my normal attacks. A target cannot even see the attacks or the affinity I use. They will even be dead before they know how they died," Aiden thought.

"Time to leave."

Aiden flapped the tiny crimson wings on his back, in his hoodie, and floated above the icy floor.

His figure shot towards the direction of the large entrance he had noticed earlier.

His dark hair billowed as he shot through the air.

"I’m faster than before," Aiden thought. Eventually, the icy surroundings turned into a blur.

He eventually arrived at the entrance which led outside the lair.

He passed through it. The moment he passed through the entrance, the forest he saw earlier with his enhanced vision greeted him.

The temperature here was normal. It was warm. There was no rain falling here. Neither was the place icy. The sun above shone brilliantly.

It was completely different from zone zero.

"This forest is completely harmless. The beasts here are all rank 1 chaotic beasts," Aiden thought as his enhanced vision scanned throughout the forest.

His floating figure shot through the trees in the south direction of the forest. This was the direction that would lead to the Kahra desert.

****

Meanwhile somewhere in the forest, a group of 15 rank 1 warriors were engaged in a fierce battle with rank 1 chaotic beasts. The rank 1 chaotic beasts had flames flickering across their bodies.

Affinities flew across the place for a while.

Eventually, the shockwaves and battles ceased.

The chaotic beasts collapsed, wailed their last, and stopped breathing.

The group leader took out a storage bag, pointed it at the corpses, and sent them into the storage bag.

Several people of the group coughed mouthfuls of blood. Others held certain parts of their bodies and grimaced in pain as they tried to stop their bleeding.

"Boss, we need to return back to town. These rank 1 beasts are too strong for us to kill," a lady with a busty figure said.

"Tsk." A man clicked his tongue as he shook off the pain in his legs. "Don’t forget that we need money to pay our taxes.Those of us of the Kahra Desert do not belong to any empire. We are outcasts who are on our own. So, we can only rely on ourselves. We don’t have any law enforcement team to report those fuckers to. If we don’t kill more chaotic beasts, sell them on the market of the town, and give the monthly tax to those fuckers, they will kill us."

Everyone sighed. The boss was right.

They had to continue killing more rank 1 chaotic beasts.

If they returned without the money, they would be skinned alive.

Suddenly, they saw a figure darting across a particular direction away from them.

"Boss, who is that?" someone said.

"He looks very young. Also, there are no worldly energy fluctuations from him. He must be some newly awakened warrior," another added.

"Looks like today is our lucky day. We may not have to hunt anymore since someone was kind enough to show up," the boss of the group said. "He looks weak. I’m sure we can take him on. Let’s rob him, take his money, and let him off. If we are fortunate and he’s rich, we can use the money we get from him to pay our taxes."

"Yes, boss."

"Took the words right out of my mouth."

"Hehe. Quick, let’s go." The group of 15 people shot towards Aiden’s direction.