After his encounter with Charmcaster, he was more than motivated to begin learning how to use aura.
He was only half way to Vera's house when he noticed something. From the corner of his eye, he briefly saw something rush past a corner. Recalling the odd behaviors of the old people, he vaguely remembered a few crucial things.
Activating [Stealth], he quickly dashed in that direction. His movement was silenced as he quickly caught up to something that captured his attention.
A large brownish sludge creature was moving quickly towards what was clearly a somewhat empty part of the small town. The odd thing about it was it's see-through body that held an old lady inside it as it slinked away, unaware that it was being followed.
Stealth has leveled up
Dismissing the notification, he continued following the creature. It took a while for it to get to its destination; a small trash compound that was closed off by a fence.
He was barely surprised as the creature leaped over it, the lady's body still inside it as it landed inside the compound. Waiting a few seconds, he followed suit just in time to see the creature easily push away one of the trash containers, revealing a hatch door in the ground.
'So this is the place.' He noted as the creature quickly opened it up, closing it as it entered. He waited a full minute before opening the hatch to follow. Had he opened it immediately after it entered, he would have alerted it to his presence.
He silently climbed down the access ladder, closing the hatch after him. It took him a solid minute to get to the bottom of the bottom of what was essentially an underground passage.
Looking around, there were no tracks to follows seeing as how the creature didn't so much a leave a slimy trail for him to follow. Just then, his nose just barely picked up a disgusting scent. His [Enhanced] trait was a blessing in disguise as he followed the scent.
'It's getting stronger the further I go.' He noted as his senses flared up. Immediately, his dagger was in hand as he ducked under a pair of abnormally elongated arms, slashing the dagger through the wrists as the hands fell to the floor.
Despite the supposedly critical wound, there was no blood coming from the injured wrists as the pulled back to their owner with a hiss.
"You-!" He turned to see the owner of the voice only to find a familiar large man in a Hawaiian shirt glaring at him, inhumanly sharp teeth poking out of his mouth.
'How did he find me? I'm sure I was careful enough to make sure I wasn't seen. Was it a coincidence?' He wondered. After all, the man was coming from the same direction he was also coming from which meant that he could have just been entering around the same time as him.
'I can't count on that. I'll have to assume that they already know I'm here. This just made this harder than it's supposed to be.' He thought as he glared at the obviously fake Max.
"How did you find this place?!" It hissed in anger as it stalked closer to him.
Instead of answering, Virgil dashed forward, dagger in hand as he seemingly appeared beside the fake, slashing through its throat. He knew it wasn't Max so he had no reservations in going for killing blows.
Its head slid of its neck, falling to the ground as it splattered, returning to its original sludge form along with the rest of its body.
"You'll regret that!" It hissed as its body merged back together.
'Right, I forgot about that. Physical attacks have no effect on them. Then...' Dodging under the sludgy arms that swung at him, he quickly entered its personal space, twisting the handle of the dagger as it lit up in electricity.
"Aahhhhhh!" It screamed as its body spasmed before crumpling to the floor. It was still clearly alive as it tried and failed to pull itself together.
Not wasting the opportunity, he took out a bottle of water from his inventory, pouring a small amount on the creature as it let out a whining sound as its movement seized, becoming a simple pile of sludge on the floor.
*Tsssss!*
Less than a second later, steam began erupting from it as it dissipated, leaving no signs that it was ever there.
He waited for about a minute but nothing happened. 'I had assumed they had some method of communicating with each other but it seems o was wrong. Otherwise, they'd be making their way here.' He theorized as he continued following the scent.
'If I recall correctly, the only take the appearance of those they've already kidnapped. If they've kidnapped Max, where are Ben and Gwen?' He couldn't help but wonder.
Back at Vera's house, Ben could be seen pacing back and forth in the kitchen.
"Can you calm down?" Gwen asked in slight irritation at his constant pacing. "I'm sure they're fine. They're probably on their way back."
"It's been over an hour. I'm telling you, there's something wrong with this town." Ben complained, prompting an eye roll from Gwen.
When Ben snuck out earlier, he was chased by the creepy neighbor, Maurice, who was definitely not human. He tried to tell Max and Gwen but they barely believe him.
Either way, Max was worried about Virgil. It had been a while since he left so he went out to go look for him.
That was over an hour ago and neither of them had come back, hence his state of panic.
"Look, I know what I saw. Grandpa and Virgil are probably missing and I bet it has something to do with that Maurice guy."Ben defended adamantly.
"Even if that was true, what are you going to do?" Gwen asked, already tired of trying to dissuade him.
"There's some kind of secret entrance. I saw Maurice about to head inside before the stupid watch timed out." He answered as Gwen looked unsure.
"You got to believe me." The boy added, causing her to sigh in frustration.
"Fine! But if you're wrong, I'm blaming you for everything." She said as she left to get her bag pack.
As they left the house, they didn't notice the small blob of sludge that crawled out of the house after them.
He didn't know how long he was walking through the tunnels but he was already tired of the scenery.
'For them to travel this far for each kidnapping...either they have a lot of stamina or there's a shorter way.' He thought as he peek around the corner, making sure nobody was there before continuing on.
'Then again, if they had a shorter way, why didn't the one I followed use it? There are too many ifs and maybes to make a concrete assumption.' He thought in slight frustration as he continued along the path.
He stopped moving as he heard the sound of footsteps approaching him from the front. 'Shit! It's a one way tunnel so there's no place to hide. Even if I turn back that would only delay it.' He thought as he pulled out his dagger, no other option left for him.
Doing his best to flatten himself to the wall, he watched as two old men and one old lady walked out in a manner that didn't quite fit their elderly look.
Not waiting for them to see him, acting the moment they came into range. With a single use of [Flash Step], he was in the middle of them, chirping dagger already swinging in a wide arc to slit their throats.
They screamed in pain as the electro charged dagger did its work in paralyzing them. Their human form crumbled away as they reverted to their sludge form. Virgil immediately poured the remaining content of the water bottle on them, watching as they steamed and disappeared like the previous one.
'I can't believe this is where I'm going to waste all this water.' He thought distastefully as he threw the empty bottle into his inventory and continued walking.
It wasn't long before he reached a large opening. Staring down at the large space, he could see what looked like human sized green pods littered around the cave. In front of all those pods was a large alien ship.
Activating [Surface Walking], he walked up the wall, reaching the ceiling as he was now upside down. Ironically, the last place people tended to look was up so he would take advantage of that.
He walked until he was directly above the ship before silently dropping down. His landing made no sound as he snuck to the body of the ship. From what he could gleam from the windows, there was no one currently inside other than the large number of pods that contained the residents of the small town.
Pressing his palm on the body of the ship, that segment lit up as it opened up, granting him entry. 'Great security system.' He thought sarcastically as he walked past the pods, found for the control room of the ship.
Entering, he found himself a bit underwhelmed. Due to [Engineering], the controls and equipment weren't strange to him. He had believed that level 58 was too low for the skill but it seemed he had underestimated it.
Typing away at their 'keyboard', that was only confirmed as it felt just as complicated as operating a fridge.
'Still, I could use this parts.' He thought as he pulled out a toolbox from his inventory, opening up a few compartments in the panel and taking out what he needed.
He obviously disabled the security system that would normally be blaring by now. That was just how underwhelming it was. It didn't take time at all for him to finish with that.
'Now to deal with this aliens.' Putting his hard earned reward in his inventory along with the tools, he made his way out of the ship.
He looked into each pod as he passed them, searching for a certain individual. Stopping at one of the pods close to the entrance, he pulled out his dagger, skillfully cutting it open as a familiar person fell out of it.
"Ughh. What happened?" Max groaned as he regained consciousness.
"I should be asking you that question. Just what kind of trouble did you get yourself into?" Virgil asked rhetorically, gesturing to the pods around them.
"Honestly, I'm not so sure myself. Where's Ben and Gwen?" The man asked as he finally shook off the dazed feeling, remembering what had occurred before waking up here. "Did they come with you?"
"No idea. I came here on my own. Now if you don't mind, we should really be getting out of here." Virgil said, his eyes still alert despite being sure that they were clear for now.
"Not yet. We have to get these guys back to their homes." Max insisted.
"Ben's the one with the watch. How do yo expect us to carry all of these guys by ourselves." As if to mock him, two voice made themselves known.
""Aahhhh!"" Rather their screams made them known.
Ben and Gwen ran out of the tunnels, sliding down to the bottom level before continuing to head towards them. Behind them were the old people of the village who were obviously fakes.
Virgil couldn't hide the scowl that emerged on his face. "Well this is great." He commented as the two kids reached them.
"Grandpa! Virgil! You guys are okay!" Gwen exclaimed in relief as Virgil took note of the fact that the omnitrix was timed out.
His gaze turned back to the aliens that were now trudging towards them, abandoning their human disguises.
"Looks like we got the family all together." One of them said as they slid towards them.
"The boy, when did he get in here?" Another one asked the glaring question.
Not waiting for any more barbs, Virgil dashed forward, twirling the dagger in his hand as it lit up in sparks.
The creatures of sludge could barely react as he plunged it into the body of the one in the middle, causing it to scream in pain as its liquid body spasmed.
He pulled back just as a tentacle shot at him, effectively dodging it. He immediately noticed the now sluggish nature of the one he stabbed.
'I was right. Those organs aren't just for aesthetics.' He thought, referring to the odd respiratory system that could be seen due to the nature of their body.
"Get those pods out of that ship!" He threw behind him to the Tennyson trio as he rushed at the other aliens who hadn't lost their confidence, their tentacles extending to reach him.
Their confidence was all for naught as he blurred out of position just as the offending limbs got close.
"Where'd he g-!" The alien was interrupted as it let out a whining sound, it's body dissipating in a show of steam. Turning, Virgil could be seen behind them, an opened bottle of water in his hand.
The other two tried to escape but were too late as he splashed the content of the bottle on them, causing them to steam and dissipate with reluctance.
Looking around, he saw Max and Gwen rolling out the pods as well as heard the sound of the omnitrix charge up just as he finished dealing with them.
"Oh, now you work?!" Ben complained at the watch but Virgil ignored that, his senses still blaring at him.
"Is something wrong, Virgil?" Max asked, seeing the boy still tense.
Dipping his hand in his pocket, he discreetly pulled out a small marble from his inventory. He looked up to the pipe system he noticed not too long ago, taking aim and throwing the marble.
*BOOM!*
Upon making contact, it created a small explosion, making a hole in the pipe as water rushed out. He waited a few seconds as the water spread around the room.
*Hissss!!*Hissss!!*Hissss!!*
The sound came from around the pods as sole sludge creatures that remained hidden throughout the fight steamed up as the water spread to them. For the next minute, the air was filled with alien whines as they died out.
"That...was so cool!" Ben exclaimed as Virgil couldn't help but want to smack the kid in the head.
'Don't do it. Don't do it.' He repeated to himself as he walked away from the boy.
With the help of the omnitrix, it wasn't hard to get the elderly residents back in their houses and free from the pods.
With Virgil taking out the aliens, the ship was left without ownership. He'd already collected what he needed from it so he wasn't too bothered about it. He had no doubt that Max was going to call some of his 'old buddies' to come and take care of it soon.
They still had one more day to spend at Vera's house and Virgil wasn't going to waste it. While Max got a room to himself, Ben Gwen and Virgil to share one room and the other boy's snoring was something of nightmares. Thankfully, he had other things to do with his night time.
Virgil could be seen sitting on the floor, his legs crossed and his eyes closed as he maintained a meditative position.
Meditation has leveled up
He ignored the notification, not moving from that position. After years of accepting the limitations placed on him, he had finally grasped the tips of a solution. He'd be damned if he didn't take his chance.
According to the books, the first step to unlocking Aura was by meditating. Only by reaching a certain level of skill in meditation can they bring forth their Aura.
Meditation[4/70]
At first glance, it looked similar to Nen but with a few differences. No matter which Aura system it ended up resembling, it didn't matter.
Power is power.
He'd been hammering on the skill since the Tennysons fell asleep, managing to get this far in a few hours. He sighed, knowing that it would only get harder as he leveled it up.
Meditation has leveled up
'This is the first step.' He thought as he continued for the rest of the night.