As Kharon looked at the buffet infront of him, he turned towards Aidan and asked, "What do you recommend?"
Aidan looked at the dishes for a while before saying, "Why don't you try these lunaris rice balls? They are small but very delicious. Also have a bit of gilded basilisk steak."
As he listed the different recommendations, he took portions of each dish and placed them on Kharon's dish before putting a portion for himself. He then took a clear jar filled with a golden liquid and poured it into Kharon's glass.
"This is aetherbloom elixir. It's a special drink which usually hard to get. My mother gave me a barrel as a housewarming gift."
Kharon stared at the golden liquid before taking a sip. It was quite sweet and he could feel it amplifying his aether with each sip. He decided to leave some as it wouldn't be proper to ask for more if it truly was a high end drink. As he placed down his glass, Aidan refilled his glass to the brim.
"Don't worry about having too much. As I said, I have a whole barrel and I rarely ever have it. You are doing me a favour."
As Kharon ate his meal he reluctantly asked Aidan a question, "I don't mean to pry but, do you dislike your family?"
Aidan stopped chewing for a second before answering back, "I don't dislike them, I am just not close to them. They had expectations of me and I didn't meet them."
"It's hard to think that you couldn't match your family's expectations. You seem to be doing really well for yourself."
"My family didn't want me becoming a beast hunter or going down the path of radiance. But it's what I wanted and we clashed a bit. That's all."
Seeing Aidan's clear aversion to talking about his familt, Kharon chose to drop the topic. As he took a bite of his meal, he remained silent for a while before he asked another question.
"Why did you save me several times in the forest? And why did you try running away?"
Aidan stayed silent for a while before saying, "I was wary of you. You were a random stranger and I didn't know your motives. But I couldn't let you die when I was in a position to help. I ran away because I wasn't sure what to do. If I should help you escape the forest or leave you alone."
Kharon listened quietly while taking small bites of food. He wondered if Aidan had felt scared of him. In hindsight, Kharon was a stranger who was walking around without a clue on how to survive in the forest. He could have easily been an arcane creature trying to lure Aidan in. Especially when he started to chase him down, but something still didn't add up.
"You may not know this, but you have a strange presence. It's hard to focus on you sometimes, like you a ghost that is constantly flickering in and out of existance. Is it one of your path abilities?"
"Yes, it's a passive trait of my path so I can't stop it. I am sorry if I make you uncomfortable."
"Don't worry about it. It's not your fault and it isn't as hard to track you now. But I hope you can understand why I was so wary of you. I couldn't keep track of you in the forest and when you started to run towards me..."
Kharon facepalmed at mistake. He realised just how nerve-racking it must have been for Aidan who wasn't sure if he was facing a monster or a fellow human. If Kharon had just tried to communicate and explain his situation, maybe he wouldn't have suffered as much when facing the Iron-tusked boar.
"I am glad you didn't leave me despite this. I don't know if I would have done the same."
Aidan chuckled as he said, "Yeah, I couldn't just leave you behind without knowing if you were a human or not. I would have felt guilty if I left an innocent person to die because of fear."
As he listened, Kharon suddenly thought of something else to ask, "How did you empower me when I was facing that tier 4 beast?"
"I used one of my abilities, Radiant Empowerment. It allows me to not only share my aether but amplify the abilities of other arcane wielders or amplify the power of mystic constructs."
'That makes more sense then, the sudden surge of power I felt. And the aether which allowed me to kill the Iron-tusked boar...'
Kharon proceded to ask several more questions as Aidan answered them all in a concise manner.
"The whole city uses runic magic, also known as arcana to power almost everything. There are runes for almost everything; light, electricty, water. You name it. But it is hard to learn how to use them. It takes years of practice, especially to apply it in combat. My cloak was made using arcana which is why it doesn't require an essence core. I helped in it's creation as I know a bit of runic magic."
When Kharon heard that he immediately asked, "Could you teach me a bit of runic magic? I know it may be time consuming but I really want to learn."
As Aidan met Kharon's gaze he sighed.
"Fine, I will teach you what I can, but not today. Anyways, to answer your other questions. Most jobs in the city involve either arcana or the arcane paths. Most of the population are oblivious to the fact that wielders don't require divine favour to gain their abilities. Only the truly wealthy are privy to this information. As I have already told you, to become a wielder you usually need to have a license. However a lot of people become wielders illegally. The punishment for illegal wielders isn't severe though, you just get registered and have to do some work for the Arcane association for several years. But if you abuse your powers in any way, then the situation can get ugly."
"So you are saying that if I get caught, I am done for."
"Not quite, if you are a newly ascended tier 5 wielder and admit this, you can get registered with just a few months of service. I will try and get you a citizenship today or tomorrow. Then you can register with the Arcane association. I know some people who can help you with your path."
"I don't want to."
Aidan looked at him with an inquisitive look before asking, "You don't want a citizenship and you don't want to be a registered wielder?"
"Yes and no. It's not that I am necessarily against it but... My path's core message involved me being unknown and secretive. Especially when it comes to tier 4 where I will need to be unrecorded or atleast destroy any records of myself."
"You don't have to get registered then. But it would complicate a lot of things. You wouldn't be able to get a soulbind token which is something everyone has, even illegal wielder. Without it, you can't make purchases, use public transport and a lot of other things."
'I can make this work, right? If I can't get registered, then I can maybe go to a less popular area in the city. Or I could..."
Kharon looked at Aidan for a brief moment before saying, "I have an idea. My path requires me to be a walking enigma to everyone around me. So what if I ie about my identity... I wouldn't truly be putting myself on record as the information about me would be false. In other words, I would still be a mysterious person as no one would know the real me. I don't know if my idea will work, but it's worth a try in my opinion."
Aidan stayed quiet for a while as he thought about Kharon's crazy plan.
"I will do whatever I can to help you. But it could be tricky to get somethings done as there are lie detectors everywhere. Both human and runic creations."
"As long as they aren't two tiers higher than me, then my ability should work. My only concern is the soulbind token and if it counts as a form of recording. Would it be possible to trick the token if I got one?"
"Probably not. Soulbind tokens literally link to your soul through your aether. I don't think you can lie about your aether signature even with an arcane ability."
'As soon as I come up with a solution for one problem, another one seems to appear. Why is this city so well thought of...'
"Aidan, how do you plan on getting me a citizenship?"
"I know a few people in the underground who can help us."
"What if they betray us? If they work in the underground of this city then I am sure they have several methods of lying without getting caught. And why do you have ties with the underground, aren't you from a prestig-"
Kharon decided to not finish his sentence as he sighed, "All I mean to say is that people may sell you out. Especially if they learn about a wielder who isn't from the fourteen known paths."
"I need you to trust me Kharon. I know it sounds risky and I will admit, it is. But you know I wouldn't betray you. We may not have known each other for very long, but I feel connected to you despite that. We are friends, aren't we?"
"Yes... we are. I will put my trust in you Aidan. But I think we should come up with a contingency plan. Just incase."
"We will, don't worry. In fact, I already have an idea..."