Kai knew taking down the Demon Man wasn’t going to be easy.

From the start, he already accepted it was going to be extremely difficult.

Bordering on impossible, even.

But he was expecting to have at least an actual lead that could point him in the right direction, not a shaky one like this. Even if he met Archangel Morriva, there’s a chance she wouldn’t tell him or doesn’t know who the Demon Man was behind the mask.

Still, he believed that she must know who the Demon Man was.

She has to.

Assuming that, the only thing he needed to worry about was to guarantee that she’s going to answer his questions. Right now, as the bearer of all three titles, Kai would be getting the three Crystallize Teardrop of Argus.

It could be taken from the Association of the Angel Academies.

He has a reason to go there.

However, he wasn’t so sure that Archangel Morriva was easy to find.

And even if she was easy to find, she wouldn’t answer his questions.

As a matter of fact, if he blatantly asked about the Demon Man, she’ll probably arrest him or worse, report him to the Demon Man himself. He needed to have leverage, but there’s no way to get that right now.

One step at a time.

Slowly, slowly, the unripe grape becomes honey.

If he wanted his revenge, then he must accept that it wouldn’t be achieved overnight.

Later that night, Kai sat in his room.

Across the room, separated by boxes, was Talitha.

Since Abigail has no servant and isn’t allowed to have one, she had to stay with Kai.

So, she would be sleeping there on a makeshift bed using piles of unused clothes that she had dusted and cleaned. Tomorrow, Kai would be asking the academy for the necessities. He’s not an Angel anymore, but the Chancellor said there are some privileges he may retain.

One being a proper room.

Kai decided to stay in the basement, but asking for furniture wouldn’t be a problem.

He should’ve asked for it before he was placed in the training chamber, but there’s no time.

For now, though, the two would sleep like beggars.

She cleaned the room well. It’s becoming cozier.

Since he had been away for a month, he was expecting dust to accumulate everywhere. But he forgot that Talitha was here. Not only did she maintain the room, but she also made a few reorganizations.

Most useless things are used to make a makeshift partition.

Now, instead of one spacious basement, it has become two separate rooms.

Kai looked at the time on the clock. It was already seven. He was planning to mine at around eight or nine, to avoid most of the students. As someone who can stay up late with no problem, this was the best approach.

Silence. Less possibility of stumbling across someone troublesome. And no need to compete.

Just him, his pickaxe, and the mana ores, which would be calming.

But before that, he decided to enter the House of Night.

"Deep Slumber..."

His mastery over the Deep Slumber Legacy Skill has grown. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

It allowed him to exclude things as he devoured others, as he did to the last betrayer student from Team Hyperion. But it wasn’t only that. Now, he also has a higher chance of entering the House of Night.

Pretty soon, he was certain that he could enter the House of Night at will.

Kai opened his eyes and was greeted by a familiar scenery.

Having been here multiple times already, he doesn’t look like someone lost anymore.

He knew exactly what to do.

Keeping Noxian’s name in mind, Kai walked straight—using the night to guide him to reach that humble wooden house. It didn’t take long for him to arrive. And like always, Noxian was sitting on the porch.

After multiple times visiting his domain, Kai never saw Noxian inside the house.

He started to wonder whether Noxian had even been into his own house.

"You’ve changed..." Noxian’s astral voice echoed as he lifted his gaze. "That’s good."

Even without needing Kai to tell what had happened to him, Noxian knew that he had gone through something terrible and came out a different man. Just from the air around him alone, sharper, Noxian knew that Kai had matured more.

"Fighting for survival has that effect on people." Kai shrugged, then stopped a careful distance away—mindful of Noxian’s space. "I have questions. I was hoping you could shed some light on me. I really need it."

"Show me the other Nightborn, first."

"No problem."

Kai called out Perion, and immediately, the inverted torch mark on his forehead appeared, and let out a black star that quickly formed into a humongous stone golem. Besides Perion, Kai felt really small.

Like a four-year-old kid standing before his father.

For a second, Noxian raised his gaze to properly look at Noxian.

Then, he stood up and approached.

He stopped a few steps away and looked up, "Call his name again."

"Perion...?"

The moment Kai spoke Perion’s name a second time, something stirred. Energy surged from the core of Perion’s chest, climbing like fire through the spine, flooding the brain, and then it bled outward.

It seeped from his skull in wisps and gathered above him, hovering there like a silent verdict.

A glowing star.

Not glowing brilliantly. Muted. Similar to the stars in the night sky above.

"One fragment, and it’s quite big." Noxian nodded. "A good Nightborn to start."

"Wait a minute, I can check it like that?" Kai looked up at Perion. This was a new thing for him. "I can call out the name again to check how many fragments a Nightborn has? And the size also matters?"

"Something like that," Noxian nodded. "More stars meant more fragments. The size and appearance determine how strong the fragments are. See the muted color and the red sheen in it?" He pointed at the star. "That meant the fragment belongs to the God of Doom."

Kai already knew that through the stat window.

He knew the Ending of Stone originated from the God of Doom.

Being the son of the Goddess gave him that perk.

"You can even check a Nighborn’s fragment without knowing its name."

"How can I do that?"

Kai asked eagerly. Perhaps too eagerly.

If he could examine a Nightborn’s fragments without knowing its name, then he could filter them. Sort the suitable from the unsuitable. No need for him to learn names first. He had not met a Nightborn that was unsuitable for him, but he most certainly would in the future.

He really needed this, especially since the next quest involved exploring the House of Night.

"Like everything, you use the night," Noxian pointed his finger skyward.

Kai looked up and immediately called out the night.

After that first time, the night no longer ignored him. A dark strand descended from above like a ribbon of living shadow—and coiled around Kai’s arm in a slow, passionate spiral. He lifted his gaze, steady and intent, and met Noxian’s eyes.

"Don’t even think about it," Noxian warned.

"I thought we were closer now," Kai clicking his tongue. "I can’t try this on you?"

"You can if you don’t mind not having your head anymore."

"Fine..."

Kai gestured for Perion to get rid of the star above his head, and then tried using the night on him. Like earlier, the star emerged again, and it didn’t activate the mark on his forehead. It’s a clean inspection.

"Is there any drawback?"

He doesn’t believe that using the night like this would be completely fine.

A month ago, then maybe he might believe it.

But he wasn’t as naïve anymore.

"If you use it forcefully without consent on a hostile Nightborn or one that’s too strong, then you would suffer a backlash. Quite a severe one. You won’t die. At least, I don’t think you’d die, but it’s really unpleasant. Keep that in mind."

"And how do I know if I can use the night to probe a Nightborn or not?"

"You can only count on your feelings."

"..."

Kai appreciated the free information from Noxian, as he would need it in order to tackle the quest beckoning him to explore the House of Night. But he didn’t come here for that. He has a few questions.

First, he wanted to know the requirement to learn Noxian’s next fragment.

At this point, Kai knew that Noxian was not a normal Nightborn.

He’s extremely strong, and it made sense to cling to him even tighter to get stronger quickly.

Not only that—after hunting down the betrayers and devouring some Awakened Monsters in the pit, he’d stockpiled a significant amount of usable exp. He currently has 31, to be exact. It would have been far more, but he was forced to let the Primordial Lock eat most of them.

Only a handful had been fed to the House of Night, so he only has that much.

But even so, it should be more than plenty enough to learn another fragment from Noxian.

Unfortunately, Noxian told him that he would need to get stronger. His body isn’t ready. Isn’t nearly strong enough for learning the next fragment. If he wanted to advance, then he would need to become an Aspirant Supernal.

One rank higher than an Awakened Supernal.

Only then would he be strong enough.

Kai already somewhat expected this, and he wasn’t dejected.

Right now, he’s a Grade 2 Awakened Supernal.

Just one more sub-rank before he could reach the Aspirant rank, so it shouldn’t take long.

As for his second question, it was regarding what happened while he was with Layra.

He remembered being enthralled by her appearance. Her beautiful face, her hair, her bearing, everything. But in the next second, after a tug from deep within, that feeling disappeared. Like it had been erased from his heart.

It was bizarre.

Kai wanted to know what that was all about.

Noxian chuckled at his second question.

"What’s so funny about that? Am I not allowed to consider someone to be good-looking?"

"Of course, you can. Just that, it’s been so long since I heard this kind of thing."

"Old man."

"What did you say?" Noxian’s purple eyes stared at Kai, and he immediately raised his hands in apology. Not meaning what he said. "Regardless, that tug you’re talking about is the night being jealous. That’s probably why."

"Jealous? How in the world is the night jealous? Is it a person?"

"To you, the night isn’t only a state of time. It might as well be a living thing. Before you finally awakened your bloodline, how many nights did you spend staring at the night sky? All your attention was fixed on it. Drawn to it."

Kai frowned.

He couldn’t sleep before his bloodline awakened, so staring at the night sky is a habit.

"When your attention was taken away by someone else, the night is jealous."

"Ridiculous... This is ridiculous."