Dreadwolf, Lord of Runes

By now, Kane and the others had reached the end of the corridor leading to the command wing of the base. This area looked no less dilapidated than the previous areas. Faded insignias on the walls, some broken cables, fractures spreading like spiderwebs on the dark walls, intermittent patches of softly glowing moss.

To be honest, it was a pretty eery place.

Regardless, rather than ask any of the bandits where the generator room was located, he simply turned in the right direction on his own.

Naturally, Ella was the one guiding him.

But rather than focus on that, Aelia looked at him strangely, "You think it's that easy? Just change it? Not only are there other outlaw groups out there, but there's the bandit king, the triumvirate, and numerous other factions. We need power to grow, and you might have noticed none of us have even breached the second stage."

Kane smiled mysteriously at her scepticism, "So we'll change that."

Aelia's eyelids twitched again, "You…!" Then, she groaned and palmed her face. "Whatever," she muttered. "I guess I'll have to wait and see."

Then, she started looking around, as if only now noticing that they were already in the command wing and heading in the right direction. She raised her eyebrow in confusion, "By the way… how do you know where to go?"

Kane chuckled a little, "You do remember your systems coming under our control until you shut down the power, right? Is it such a surprise that my lovely technus downloaded a blueprint of this place?"

Technus was a term Kane had heard at the time he broke out of his cage and seemed to suggest being the term for something like a technician or hacker. Someone who could control all this ancient machinery, anyway. And decided to adopt the term for Ella.

"Right…" Aelia muttered thoughtfully. "I've been wondering about that, whe—"

But before she could continue, she was interrupted by a sudden appearance of Anna. The hareling suddenly wormed her way between Aelia and Kane, and looked at him with curiosity and excitement, "So you do have a technus! Where are they?! What's their name?! Can I meet them?! They're amazing!"

Kane blinked in surprise, before accessing his link to Ella and chuckling at her, "I think you have a fan, Ella."

The elf stuck in his head reacted a little wryly, "Yeah… she's the one who was fighting me for control over their systems. I think she'd be a little disappointed to find out I only won because I have access to a lot more processing power, compared to her first stage brain and soul."

Although there were still significant differences per person, it was a general rule that a person's average intelligence and thinking speed increased with every Mystic stage and was mostly dependent on the blood and soul core ranks.

It should come as no surprise, that Ella's Domain Sovereign stage soul, combined with the extremely advanced piece of technology that was the neuralizer replacing her brain, was easily able to outperform Anna's first stage capabilities.

Kane was surprised at the fact Ella actually seemed a little sad that Anna would be disappointed, and it caused him to sink into thought for a moment.

Then, he told her this: "I barely know the girl, but just judging from her enthusiasm, I think she wouldn't be disappointed at all, but rather fascinated by your existence. In fact, I think she'd relish the chance to teach you all she knows, which would be beneficial for everyone."

A flood of surprise rose from Kane's bond with Ella as she muttered, "You— You don't plan on keeping me a secret?"

Although Anna and the others clearly knew of Ella's existence, that didn't mean Kane couldn't simply keep her identity a secret from them. They'd have a lot of unanswered questions, but they already did right now, so what was a few more?

Kane smiled slightly at her and shook her head, "No. Not with these people, at least. Although there will certainly be interested people if this gets out, it's not something that directly points to me being a volfar with a sin rune. You might as well be a piece of technology I found at whatever continent I supposedly came from."

"I guess that's true…" Ella muttered softly. "But why take the risk? I'll get better at being a technus with time either way, or you could even pretend to be the technus yourself, and have her teach you, which will automatically teach me."

Kane sighed a little wryly, "Well if you're going to make me say it… I think being able to interact with others will be good for you, and that it's worth taking on a little extra risk."

Although he was partly doing this because he liked Ella, and because he wanted to safeguard the mental health of the person living in his head, there was also a part of him doing it because he knew Ella would appreciate it. And because she would appreciate it, it would increase her affinity for him, thus decreasing the chance of a possible betrayal, assuming she ever got the chance.

It satisfied his desire for control.

Ella fell silent, and Kane felt a great deal of shock through their bond.

While Ella processed Kane's reasons, the man himself finally turned to the still-waiting Anna. Although his mental conversation with Ella was fast, it had still been at least five seconds since Anna asked to meet his technus. Fortunately, Anna had waited patiently, looking at him with curiosity and excitement.

She looked cute, and he couldn't help but smile a little, "Her name is Ella. You'll meet her later, after we turn the power back on."

Anna's lips instantly curled into a wide grin as she nodded enthusiastically, "Alright!" and then fell back to the others with a skip in her step.

Now, Aelia took the stage next to him back, even as she looked behind her for a moment, and looked at Anna with a mix of fondness and sadness. Kane wasn't sure where the sadness came from, but he assumed it had something to do with the hareling's struggles with her instincts.

Then, she turned back to Kane and narrowed her eyes threateningly, "I care about these people… Don't treat them badly, or I will make you pay, mark or no mark."

On Kane's other side, the so-far-quiet Luna, immediately began to bristle at Aelia's attitude. But he calmed her down by putting a hand on her shoulder and smiled slightly at Aelia. Only, his smile was somewhat terrifying.

He could respect Aelia's loyalty and stance, but that didn't matter. Right now, he was still in survival mode. His only concern was the health and safety of himself, Luna, and, tentatively, Ella.

Which meant he had to make a point.

First, he activated the Echo of Terror skill and infused his voice with it as he responded.

"Don't threaten me uselessly, Aelia," he growled, his voice reverberating with a power that subtly amplified and empowered the fear his listeners had of him. "Mark or no mark, there's nothing you can do to me, and everything I can do to you."

He stopped to grab Aelia's chin, and forced her to look into his piercing amber eyes, "So long as everyone falls in line, I will raise up you and yours. I will help all of you grow stronger, and I won't mistreat you or your people. But threaten me again, and I won't mind using you to prove a point to the others. Am I clear?"