Chapter 293: I like you.

"What about you? What do you think about me?"

"Arrogant."

Aurelia answered with a playful smile on her face. Lucian momentarily blinked, not expecting that answer, especially with that easygoing tone, then suddenly—

"But of course, that makes sense."

"What do you mean?"

Lucian tilted his head.

"An ordinary Human who has climbed to the level he has in a matter of a few months, I can see where your arrogance comes from.

You are... certainly a very interesting Human, if you are a Human at all, that is."

Lucian’s face changed at that.

Aurelia saw it, so she quickly shook her head.

"Don’t worry, I am not trying to raise any questions. I do not particularly care what you are, I simply like to talk to people I find interesting.

And you...

You have gained my interest."

Lucian kept staring at her.

She was impossibly beautiful, it was difficult to even keep his eyes away from her.

"I have?"

Lucian smiled.

Honestly, he was very much ready to spend the evening being bored, but seeing the woman standing in front of him...

It didn’t seem like that was going to happen.

"Why? Do you not think you are interesting enough?"

Aurelia asked with a grin. At that question, Lucian looked around, at the Vampires who were still trying to avoid contact but were still listening to him, Garrick who was watching him from a distance and he...

"Well, I am quite interesting."

He nodded openly and Aurelia’s grin widened.

"There it is, that arrogance."

"Well, you did say it made sense."

"I did."

Aurelia nodded, but then—

"But I did not say it won’t turn into a weakness."

Those words made Lucian look at her and Aurelia’s smile disappeared for a moment.

"You’ve gained too much strength in too little time. I have seen countless geniuses rise, Mr. Cross, but I will admit it straight away, I have never seen a genius like you. If you truly are a Human like you claim you are, then you should understand, your growth is abnormal.

And abnormal... comes with uncertainties.

There will be many things you won’t understand, walls you wouldn’t be able to move past like you have been doing till now, questions you won’t have answers to, temptations you will be tempted by.

Be careful of that.

Do not suffer the fate of a genius."

Those words took away Lucian’s smile as well.

He could tell she wasn’t saying this just for the sake of it, it was genuine advice from someone who seemed to have a good impression of him, someone who wanted him to grow.

And Lucian—

"I understand."

He nodded.

"I’ll be careful."

"You should be."

Aurelia nodded back.

"Especially since you come from the Enclave."

"What does the Enclave have to do with it?"

Lucian tilted his head in confusion. Aurelia then looked at him for a moment, then asked a simple question.

"How many people do you think are left in the Enclave who can defeat you?"

"If they have enough time to prepa—"

Lucian tried to answer but—

"No, I am not talking about preparations, that is entirely dependent on means and resources.

I am talking about a spontaneous, one-on-one battle, at any random place, any random time. How many Enclave Hunters do you think can defeat you in those conditions?"

That question made Lucian pause.

How many were there...?

He was already strong enough to face Alaric a while ago. Sure, Alaric did defeat him in their spar, but Lucian could tell that if they were to stand against each other again, he would win.

Alaric could no longer stand against him, especially now that he could step into his True Form at any point in time.

And...

Alaric was one of the Enclave’s strongest hunters.

So to answer Aurelia’s question...

"There are not many."

Lucian spoke up.

He did not know the exact number of people who could defeat him, but he was sure the number was not very high.

And Aurelia nodded at that, then, she asked another question.

"And how many people do you think can defeat you here?"

Lucian looked around with a curious look on his face, then, he shook his head.

"I don’t know."

"One hundred and five."

Aurelia answered and Lucian’s expression changed.

"And these are the people I am certain can defeat you.

There might be more."

Lucian paused.

"And this is just a closed Gala, a small portion of the total number of Vampires in existence."

She made it clear.

Lucian’s eyes changed as well.

He looked around, there were about two hundred people in here and... she was saying more than half of them could defeat him on purpose...? For certain...?

Was she... underestimating him...?

He wondered as he looked at her, trying to understand where she was coming from. Aurelia looked back at him, understanding exactly what he was thinking and she—

"Humans are weak."

She spoke directly.

"You need to understand that."

Lucian looked at her and the Vampire continued.

"Humans exist because they rely on their numbers. Hundreds, or thousands, or even ten thousand Humans can target one single Vampire and the Humans would still be able to face all the Vampires at the same time.

That’s how Humans win, that’s how the Enclave wins.

Through numbers.

But..."

Aurelia placed her finger on Lucian’s chest.

"You are different.

You are not like humans, you do not need absurdly large numbers. You can face threats alone, yet...

Even as you are, you still fight with humans, in groups.

And it isn’t a bad thing, in a battle, one uses every advantage he gets.

Just that...

When you remain in a room where you are the strongest for far too long, you start making mistakes.

Mistakes you otherwise would not make."

Aurelia spoke carefully, Lucian listened to her silently. For the next few seconds, the two of them did not speak at all.

Then suddenly, Aurelia laughed.

"Well, that was my two cents. It has been a while since I’ve given such a grand lecture."

"I’ll take the lecture to heart."

Lucian smiled and his answer placed a big smile on Aurelia’s face as she suddenly placed her arm over Lucian’s neck and—

"You.

I like you."

She spoke openly.

"Come roam around the Gala with me."