I am now in front of a wooden house, my lock is just a simple knob and I have the key in my pocket.

My house is a simple studio type house, I have a restroom, a kitchen and an open area. In the open area, I can easily see the bed and small table and chair.

A smell of dry fish, dry meat and rotten trash that are coming from the neighborhood rush inside when I open it. Cole is already familiar with this kind of smell and I am not in any way shape or form disgusted by it. However, compared to Jon’s lifestyle Cole’s lifestyle is really terrible.

“I will eventually leave this place. I will endure it a little bit longer.”

I lock the door behind me and move towards the table.

“Let’s see.”

I put the ingredients on the table.

1 pc of human heart

4 spoon of grounded high quality monster core

3 bottles of small red potion.

“Hmmm…”

“I got everything.”

“Let’s begin.”

What I’m trying to do is something that the villain Heart Reaper did in the story.

Heart Reaper is a ‘One Timer’ villain in Book 8, in Lionheart main story line.

He wanted to grow strong, he wanted power but he has no skill in releasing his Aura or Circles so instead he focuses on acquiring his Essence.

However, Essence is a very rare and very unique ability that a person can get. It is usually treated as a hidden card, a last resort or special skill. But not all Essence are for combat, some Essence are simple as providing a light or creating a breeze. Even so, having an Essence is already considered a gift from god.

There are only a few people who have Essence, the number of people with Essence is comparable to the number of Aura Expert or 5- Circle mage.

People who have Essence are pretty rare but not impossible to find.

In the book, Essence is described as the awakening of one’s self. Even if you are an Aura Master or 8-Circle mage there is a high chance that you will not acquire any Essence.

On the other hand, a 5-year-old can acquire his Essence if he already found himself’.

Heart Reaper read a lot of books and did a lot of research regarding Essence, but he didn’t encounter or learn any method on acquiring his Essence. Due to his frustration he came up with an idea.

‘If I cannot acquire my own Essence I should just steal the Essence of others.’

This is where the killing spree began.

Heart Reaper didn’t care about the killing due to his thirst for power, he hunted both people that are suspected to have Essence and people who are known to have Essence and experimented on them. A lot of civilians were killed by his blade.

I begin the preparation.

I submerge the heart into a pot full of boiling red potion then I mix the ground high quality monster core into that pot.

This formula does not focus on consuming the human heart. Instead, I wanted to extract the Essence that is attached to the human heart and transfer it to the potion, when the transfer is complete the potion color will change.

I waited for several minutes until the red potion changed into a purple one.

Because of the killings, the Hero of Justice, Lionheart, hunted down Heart Reaper.

Heart Reaper, traps and trickery didn’t work to the hero of justice.

In his final moment, when the Heart Reaper already receives the final blow, his body is now full of injuries and blood starts to come out from his mouth. He slowly pulled himself towards the cauldron and tried to drink the final concoction he made one last time however, it still didn’t work.

His body fell down to the ground. He regrets his life, he regrets his failed experiment and finally he regrets his weak body.

But the author said,

<The blood that flows out from Heart Reaper mouth mix with the concoction.>

I then cut myself and I put a drops of my blood inside the pot. The blood mixes with the purple potion in the pot.

<The concoction changes into a glistening clear color.>

The potion slowly changes into a clear liquid potion, the liquid looks ‘fresh’, it looks… crystal.

<However, no one will ever know about this great discovery.>

I smiled.

“I hope it works.”

I removed the heart and slowly put it on a clean cloth and I drank the potion inside.

Dum!

Dum! Dum!

Dum! Dum! Dum! Dum!

My heart is beating so fast and I feel a sudden heartburn.

Intense pain ran through my body, my arms cramp and then my legs followed. My body started to chill, I cannot stand anymore and my body dropped down to the ground.

Bang!

I can’t even shout because of the pain.

Then… I passed out.

<Four adventurers travel to Siocas Plains.>

<The sunset shines to men and women who sacrifice themselves for their kingdom.>

<However, the four adventurers didn’t come here for the sake of their kingdom instead they came to this eerie place to look for Aldren, the Son of Count Winston.>

<”Hey are you sure this is the location?”>

<The average looking man wielding two swords ask his fellow adventurer that is caring a bow on his right hand.>

<”I’m sure Nate, this is the place. I ask the commander of the platoon about Winston’s son assignment.”>

<Nate detected something in front of them, he can hear the breath of this creature, the sound of gnawing and gulping.>

<Nate slowly crawl down, the party was surprise but they follow Nate’s movement.>

<”Tsk, There is a monster in front of us… I’m asking you if you’re sure, because we don’t need an encounter in this kind of quest.”>

<The party were surprise but not shock, at the same time they feel proud about their member.>

<”Nate, your Essence is really cool.”>

<”Vicky you’re a 3-circle mage and Tang is already a basic, both of you have a chance to improve more. Just stay strong and keep training. I’m just lucky guy who receive this gift.”>

<Nate smiled.>

<”Laros is the only loser in our team.”>

<Nate made a joke and Vicky and Tang chuckled.>

<”Hey, not fair I made all the research and preparation for this mission.”>

<Laros smirked.>

<”I will have my own Essence some day and it will clearly beat your… hmmm… what did you call that again? En.hance. Sense. for Losers. Hehehe''>

A story began to play in my head… no… it’s not just a regular story more like a cartoonish dream.

My name is Nate…

My father is the best hunter in the village, he can hear the wild animals around him which gives him an advantage for a surprise attack, on top of that he can see better from a distance which is really helpful in taking down monsters using a bow and arrow.

My father is the hero of our village, he protects it and even supports the village by providing food to everybody.

I wanted to be like him when I grew up.

…

But as I grew up I started to change, my dream started to change. Instead of being the hunter I once wanted, I’ve learned the kind of people I wanted to be.

Aura Users.

Special kind of group that unlocks the mastery of their body and soul. Not just that, Aura User especially the one at peak the so called Aura Master have it all.

Power.

Money.

Fame.

That’s what I want.

I begin to train myself. I work so hard every day. I train my body and even duel everyone I know. I am not the best in this field but I still tried my best.

But

Even though I push myself so hard it’s not enough. I am just a regular swordsman, nothing more and nothing less. When I understood it, I began to walk on a dark path.

Alcohol became my friend… each… and every day.

Until that fateful encounter.

I met a friend of my father in a bar that I was drinking at.

Without asking him anything he began to talk. He talks about himself, about his job and it looks like he is just bragging about it, but soon he talks about my old man.

He told me that he is the hero of the village.

Once, when the village people couldn't hunt in the forest and there were food shortages because of a monster that invaded the nearby forest, my father began to hunt it down using hit and run tactics. It took days but because of his skill, that monster was killed eventually.

Story after story was being told about my father.

Finally, something clicks.

(He helps so many people using that skill, isn’t that my dream.)

My true dream.

I focused on my hearing just like my father taught me and I began to hear the conversation from a distance.

(I still got it.)

Then I looked out the window and looked at the star, soon the star began to grow big little by little.

I smiled.

I closed my eyes, I felt… relaxed and I felt at home.

I began to feel the presence of people around me, I knew their location even though I cannot see them.

Then I drink my beer.

I tried to focus on the taste…

This low quality beer that is being sold to commoners began to taste differently… it slightly became better.

(The ambiance really makes the taste of a beer better.)

I feel renewed that night.

After that day, I trained myself not as an Aura User but as a Hunter.

I train all the skills that my father taught me and even better, I begin to learn new things.

Soon, I can even track down wounded monsters just by the scent of their blood.

Days… months… years… goes by and I train this skill non-stop, not because I wanted fame, money and power but because I wanted to be someone that can inspire people, someone that can help people.

I accepted that this is my fate, that this is my skill and I will use it to the fullest of my ability.

I woke up.

Information suddenly came to me.

An Essence with the ability to increase your senses to its maximum capability.

Enhance Sense.

I immediately knew how this Essence worked. I didn’t receive any experience about it but what I receive is like a manual on how to use this Essence. How is this? How to do that? Just like having a theoretical knowledge on how to drive a car.

A ringing sound suddenly came to me.

But…

I don’t have experience with it.

So what happened to a driver who doesn’t have any experience in driving a car and suddenly came to the freeway.

Collision and accident.

I heard a woman's voice outside my house.

“Hey did you come here, the Speared Skull is out again?”

Then my senses travel to the alleyway beside the 4th house from here.

“Come on, I already paid you last week”

Someone punched the guy in his stomach.

Bang!

“ArghhhH!”

Next, I heard a girl's voice inside the second floor of the 7th house.

“Mom, I have already finished washing the dishes.”

And now, inside the 10th house basement I can hear a deep voice laughing around.

“Hahaha! I will win you assholes, I will take all your money!”

Suddenly.

“Argggg”

The smell assaulted me next.

The pungent smell is double, triple…

No!

Not just triple.

I wanted to vomit.

It’s very disgusting.

Then I can now feel that disgusting smell in my taste buds.

I’m trying to hold it but.

I ran towards the toilet, kneeling down in front of it.

“Aghhhh.”

I felt relieved.

I look above, my lamp isn’t turned on, but I can clearly see the ceiling. I glance at the crack then my view immediately changes.

My perspective zoomed in on it. My eyes now focus on the cracks on the ceiling and now this view is giving me such a strong headache. It’s like wearing a binocular while moving around.

I immediately ran towards my bed.

“Arggggg”

“Arghhhh”

Bang!

I dropped myself on the bed then I started to twist and turn on the bed. The headache, the noise and the smell really makes me very uncomfortable. I continued my twist and turn and waited for it to disappear but it’s not stop. I don’t know what time it is or how long I’m in this situation.

I thought it would pass by, but it seems like it’s not going to happen anytime soon. So I decided to do something about it.

First, I focus on my hearing…

I isolated the noise from the 10th house…. Then I isolated the noise up to the 4th house… now I isolated the noise in my own room and now I focus on my breathing.

Inhale… exhale… inhale… exhale…

It takes time… it takes patience… but now.

Now I can only hear my own breath.

I smiled and decided to move on to the next phase immediately.

l isolates the odor one by one, the first thing I remove is the smell of trash from the neighborhood, then the smell of dry meat and lastly the smell of salty dry fish. Then I focus on sniffing myself, sweat, dirt and that disgusting plant odor, those are the things I can smell right now, but to calm myself. I tried to focus more… I remove every odor that I can smell except for the ‘sweat’ smell.

I focus on smelling my own sweat.

I remind myself once again, (focus on my sweat and focus on my breathing) and lastly…

I open my eyes, they are in a ‘zoom in’ perspective and slowly try to relax. I tried not to focus on a single part, slowly… slowly… my perspective started to change.

First, I can only see the cracks.

Zooming out.

Now I can see part of the ceiling.

Zooming out.

Lastly, I can see the whole ceiling.

Now, I’m lying down on my bed while controlling everything at the same time.

Soon… everything was back to normal.

Sigh.

“Shit! The book didn’t say anything about that”

I chuckled.

I raise my open hand.

It looks like I’m reaching the ceiling then I slowly close it.

“Still, it was a success.”

After that, I sleep for the rest of the day.