Reincarnated in the Astral World

Aria completes the powerful enchantments around the bedroom to keep Eve and Margaret safe. She also places similar enchantments around Josephine's house, but the protection around that particular bedroom is impenetrable even to a Master Mage.

As she finishes turning the room into a fortress, Arthur says goodbye to Eve. The little girl may be smart, but she doesn't fully understand what is happening.

"It's going to be alright, little bug," he kisses her forehead and pats her head. "Tomorrow, we'll play a lot, so behave while Mommy and I are out."

"Mm," Eve nods with an expectant smile on her face.

Arthur then turns to Margaret, who wears a gentle smile, though her eyes show confusion. "Do you really have to do this?" she asks while holding his hands.

He strokes her hands with his fingers. "Yes, I need to do this."

Margaret hugs Arthur tightly and kisses his neck while whispering. "Then do it and come back to me safely."

"Don't worry, Mom will be with me," he kisses her lips. "I doubt it will take long, but we might only return after dawn, so take care of Eve."

"Sure, we'll be waiting." She responds lovingly.

Arthur can't help but reflect on such a moment with Nyx. 'Liam never left loved ones waiting at home to hunt, nor did he ever have people watching his back...'

'He hunted for vengeance; you hunt to protect,' she comments in his mind.

'I actually liked that...' He remembers the feeling that coursed through his veins when he killed every one of his targets. 'And I still like it,' he recalls how it felt to kill Dmitri, the same good sensation Liam felt when taking a life.

'No one will judge you for enjoying taking out the trash, hehehee...' Nyx giggles.

'Yeah,' He leaves the bedroom, ensuring Eve and Margaret are safe, and meets Aria in the hallway.

"Is everything ready?"

"I've finished the enchantments," Aria comments as she opens another bedroom door, beckoning Arthur to come in. "Come on, Mommy wants to show you something."

Arthur enters the bedroom, curious, and is surprised to see Aria pulling out a large box from her storage treasure atop the table in the middle of the room. The box itself isn't special, but its contents are another story: she reveals a set of lethal tools.

Two curved daggers, several kunai, large extremely sharp needles, a steel wire rope, several colorful balls, which Aria explains are grenades with very specific powders, and bottles containing poisons, antidotes, and potions of multiple utilities.

There's also a pair of anti-magic gloves, a spell-identifying compass, and various bolts with tips of different colors and materials near a bracelet. When Aria places it on Arthur's arm, and he presses a button, it opens into a small crossbow on his arm capable of piercing the body of an Elite Warrior with the right bolt.

"This..." Arthur's eyes sparkle like those of a child who has just received an extremely cool toy. The feeling is as exhilarating as when Draven gave him his sword.

"Did you like it?" Aria asks though she can see it in Arthur's expression.

"It's beautiful!" He smiles at her. "Wait, did you make this? When??"

"I started thinking about making this a few days after you told me about your past life," she explains. "Since you have your memories as Liam, I thought you'd appreciate something like this at some point..."

Arthur is moved by his mother's understanding and acceptance of his darker, assassin side and instinctively hugs her tightly. "Thank you, Mom... this means a lot... you know..."

Aria starts to blush, especially because Arthur's touch now reminds her of the incident in the bathroom, causing her body to quickly heat up in anticipation.

"Oh, my~ It's not a big deal, darling..." She pats his head. "These tools are quite inferior to your sword, though. Better quality materials are heavy, making it impossible for those with low cultivation to use them, and I don't have the ultra-light and durable material your father used to make the sword,"

"Yet, these blades work well on Elite Warriors if they aren't wearing Rare armor. You might even hurt a Champion if you infuse your Intent into them."

"Really? I can use my Intent on them?" Arthur gets excited by the idea and picks up one of the kunai from the box.

"Yes," Aria nods. "Weapon Intents have types, and in the case of yours, it's of the severing kind; it will work well on any sharp blade like swords, but it can also be used to enhance the penetrating power, though less efficiently than Intents that are exclusive of the penetrating type."

Arthur tries to infuse his Intent into the kunai, and its blade immediately glows with black light. Aria conjures some floating targets with her magic, and Arthur throws the kunai at them; as soon as its tip hits a target, it pierces easily, and then the blade from both sides cuts through the target with even greater ease before the black light also quickly fades.

"Incredible!" He is surprised by the result.

"Impressive indeed," Aria claps. "I've never seen you train such a move, but you do it with such naturalness..."

"I used to like blades in a world of ranged weapons..." Arthur doesn't like to remember his life as Liam, but his skills are still quite useful.

Aria also dislikes thinking about the time when her son wasn't with her, so she quickly changes the subject. "Well, it seems these weapons can't withstand the power of your Intent..." She makes what remains of the kunai float back to Arthur's hand.

"I see," The kunai is broken and useless.

"I'll try to make some that are more durable later," she comments while picking up one of the long needles and handing it to him. "Try this one."

Arthur throws the needle, which also penetrates the targets but breaks into thousands of minuscule fragments that disappear in the air. "Oh?"

"Nice!" Aria exclaims excitedly. "I thought that might happen, but it's good, as it lets you kill someone stealthily without leaving any easily visible traces."

"That's amazing," Arthur smiles at his mother. "You thought of everything, didn't you?"

"Fufufu~" She giggles charmingly. "Do you think your Mommy is amateur?"

"Of course not!" The sparkle in Arthur's eyes grows even more intense along with his smile as he looks at Aria.

She fears that he might try something and she won't be able to resist, so she continues explaining about the tools. "The mini crossbow is for when you don't want to or can't use your Intent. It may be less efficient, but it will still have an effect on Elite Warriors. Also, I made magical tips to penetrate elemental barriers."

"A weapon to kill mages?" Arthur muses aloud.

"Yep," Aria nods, "Also..." She points to the bottles with colored liquids, each one labeled with its name and effect, but then she pulls out another small vial from her storage treasure with a transparent liquid.

"I just made this using the toxin I extracted from Oliver's clothes," she hands the vial to Arthur. "Be careful handling it; I've enhanced the toxin, and now, it paralyzes Elite Rank targets in three seconds."

"Damn!" Arthur is increasingly impressed with his mother's skills. "This makes everything much easier."

She also hands him another vial. "Here, the antidote; just be careful, baby~"

"I will," he nods and then looks at the large box. "I wish I could carry it around like you do..."

"I'll teach you how to control spatial magic soon; it consumes a lot of mana at low ranks, but your mana reserves are already substantial," Aria responds as she picks up something. "For now, I made this..."

She shows him a large black belt filled with spaces to place the tools she prepared for Arthur. He puts it around his waist and feels no big difference in his mobility. "This is great, too, Mom."

"Glad you liked it, darling~" Aria smiles lovingly. "Now, how do you want to do this?"

"First, we have to--"

*Knock* *Knock*

"Aria? Arthur?" Josephine's voice comes from behind the door. "May I speak with you both?"

Arthur opens the door and finds Josephine holding a paper map; she hands it to him. "This is the map of Lakeview; I've marked the homes of the Whittlee and Isambard families, and their main allies."

"Thank you, Josephine," Arthur speaks kindly.

"If there's anything else I can help with, just let me know," she quickly responds.

"That's not necessary," Arthur explains. "You should continue mingling with the other nobles so they can't connect you to the deaths. This map helps us greatly."

"Alright," Josephine quickly returns to the banquet, "Good luck!"

Arthur turns his attention back to Aria. "Now that we know where our target is, we have a direction."

"Yep," Aria nods. "We should start with the Viscount's family; I've damaged all his bones, but he must be trying to heal already. If you want to kill him with your own hands, it's possible now."

Arthur again feels grateful to his mother for giving him such an opportunity. "Yeah, I'll enjoy that..." His eyes glint coldly as he remembers how that man ogled Aria, making his blood boil in his veins.

Aria also feels excited to annihilate her enemies, but the idea of doing such things in Arthur's manner leaves her quite curious.

'Going out at night to hunt our enemies... I'm sure this isn't a typical mother-and-son activity, but at the same time, it seems so exciting... you are such a degenerate mother, Aria!!' She exclaims in her mind.