Chapter 21: How to Lift Shizuku's Sweater
After multiple tests by Arthur, his Star Mark ability, under the first operation, gained another use. When his consciousness occupied the target's body, he could make room in the "brain capacity" to communicate with the controlled target in their mind...
However, this still belonged to the first operation. Arthur was still controlling the target's body in the first-person perspective.
Once Arthur wanted the target to take over the body, his consciousness would immediately disconnect... This didn't align with his ideal scenario of having the controlled bird behave like a normal bird while his consciousness lurked in the bird's mind, secretly monitoring the enemy.
Controlling the Crescent Moon Tiger's body, Arthur wandered around, thinking, "But since I can communicate mentally, I should be able to 'update' the command before I 'log off', right?"
Arthur released the first operation on the Crescent Moon Tiger and looked up at the white bird serving as a wingman for the tiger on the ground. He directly issued the third operation command, "Fly in an infinity pattern."
The Star Mark on the bird's beak fluctuated, and after the command was updated, Arthur immediately switched to the first operation, and his consciousness occupied the bird's body.
Arthur "logged in" for only a few seconds, did nothing, and then "logged out" immediately.
Sure enough, the white bird continued executing the "third command" and flew in an infinity pattern in the sky... Arthur occupied the bird's body again, leaving room in his consciousness, and mentally told the white bird, "After I leave, land on Lumin's tail on the ground."
After giving the instruction, Arthur "logged out" again.
This time, the white bird no longer flew in an infinity pattern but instead folded its wings and dove into the forest, circling around before skillfully landing on Lumin's tail.
Lumin tilted its head, unable to understand what Arthur was doing with all this fuss.
"It's a bit cumbersome." Arthur evaluated himself, "It's roundabout... If only I could directly evolve the ability to 'telepathically communicate' with the Star Mark holders. However, the essence of the Star Mark seems to be 'control'. If I want to forcibly change that, I either need to continue training diligently to increase my proficiency in Manipulation Type or add more 'constraints' for a new ability..."
Arthur instinctively felt that it was better to maintain the essence of control for the Star Mark.
If he made the ability too convoluted and unclear, he might end up confusing himself with the rules he designed, which would be disastrous.
"For now, this will do. It's enough!"
Arthur exhaled deeply, clenched his fist, and a layer of aura wrapped around it. "I can't mix up priorities. The focus of my training in the near future should still be on increasing my aura and solidifying the basics."
"Lumin, let's go. Show me the perfect training spot you found."
Arthur jumped onto the tiger's back, bringing along the rock sparrow and the other two white birds, and they sped away.
Along the way, Arthur caught more birds. This time, he was patient, applying the Star Mark to about ten birds on different parts of their bodies, such as their bellies, backs, and under their claws, ensuring the Pentagram symbol was complete while minimizing its size. After giving them instructions, he released them into the sky.
Flap, flap, flap... The flock of birds flew into the blue sky, splitting into three groups as they headed into the depths of the forest.
After all this fuss, Arthur was a bit out of breath. He had estimated that applying one Star Mark consumed about 66 aura, and these ten or so birds were quite a project for someone with a total aura of only 1000. Fortunately, Arthur took breaks between "signatures", or he would have been in trouble.
As for dividing the birds into three groups, it was because the group of Ochima officials who had stayed at the small hotel in West Town last night had already set out early in the morning and started acting separately.
The young, balding Ochima official, Sloer, along with the suspected Hunter Association Zodiacs member, Kanzai, drove directly to the south of the island. Arthur had seen the map, and that direction seemed to be the main entrance to the Crescent Moon Tiger Reserve.
Meanwhile, Shizuku and the other amateur hunters hired for the mission had changed into their casual clothes and were stealthily entering the outermost part of the reserve.
The Crescent Moon Tiger Reserve managed by Blanchet Company was divided into three zones: the outer zone, the buffer zone, and the core zone, where entry was strictly prohibited.
Arthur didn't dare to follow Sloer's car with the green bird because he had a feeling that Kanzai's glance before entering the hotel last night had left him uneasy. This seemingly not-so-smart "Tiger" seemed to have a beast-like keen intuition... After all, he was a member of the Hunter Association's high-ranking Zodiacs!
If he let the green bird linger around Kanzai, the risk of being noticed was too high.
So Arthur sent a group of about six birds to find the car Kanzai was in, estimating that they were heading directly into the reserve to negotiate with Blanchet Company, which shouldn't be too difficult to locate.
Speaking of which, Arthur had no direct connection with either Kanzai or the Ochima officials, but he was naturally curious about Kanzai as a member of the "Hunter Association Zodiacs" that he knew.
Arthur sent six birds but didn't have them all approach. He instructed them to have only two birds at a time land in front to observe the target, while the other four were responsible for rotating, occasionally shuffling the pairs to ensure these birds wouldn't be noticed by the keen-sensed Kanzai.
The other two groups of birds were given the same arrangement.
The green bird left near the yacht on the north coast was almost at its limit. Although Arthur felt he had retreated far enough, he dared only to observe Babimyna and his team's movements from 200 meters away, but he couldn't shake the feeling that the high-alert Babimyna might have already noticed him, not necessarily recognized him, but perhaps had an impression of this bird that kept appearing nearby.
The initial pair of green birds shouldn't be sent for surveillance anymore.
Perched on a treetop, the "Arthur Green Bird" watched from 200 meters away as Babimyna and his team seemed to have discovered bodies underwater near the coast... It turned to see six "new birds" flying in the sky, signaling a shift change.
Back at Arthur's main body, he had already ridden the tiger and flown the birds to the "perfect training spot" Lumin had found. He dismounted, patted the tiger's back, and signaled it had done well.
Meanwhile, in another perspective, Arthur, who hadn't followed Kanzai but had discreetly followed Shizuku and her group into the reserve's outer zone with the green bird, was observing these people, of course, to be honest, Arthur was mainly observing Shizuku.
Her black, slightly messy medium-length hair, wearing glasses of unknown prescription, and a slightly fitted black sweater...
Arthur focused on her black sweater.
Each member of the Phantom Troupe had a spider tattoo with a number on a part of their body.
If he remembered correctly, Shizuku's spider tattoo was on her left side, with the number 8.
Although, according to his impression, Shizuku shouldn't have joined the Phantom Troupe this year, who knows? What if those mysterious Phantom Troupe members were on this island...
"I need to find a way to lift her sweater and take a look."
Perched on a branch, the "Arthur Crow" thought to himself. He swore he had no unhealthy intentions; he just wanted to confirm whether this girl had joined that band of thieves.
Saving a girl about to walk down the path of crime was urgent, friends!
Unaware of the strange thoughts of the crow on the tree, Shizuku was walking through the reserve, curious about the rumored Crescent Moon Tigers and hoping to encounter one.
...
Back to Arthur's main body.
Thanks to the fact that each target he controlled served as an external "CPU" for him, Arthur could multitask so smoothly. While keeping an eye on Kakin's Babimyna and his team's progress, he pondered how to lift Shizuku's sweater, checked in on Kanzai and his group, and also patrolled the "perfect training spot" Lumin had found.
The place was indeed as he had requested, with open space and water.
The only downside was that the water wasn't drinkable.
It was salty.
Seawater!
Faced with Arthur's gaze, Lumin lowered its head in guilt.
(End of Chapter)