The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 53: Runner in the Dark

Lane ran above the river, observing the water as he headed toward the lake. It was calm, very calm, with no traces of monsters or Mana. It seemed that the dam that was installed at the mouth of the river had worked well, stopping the monsters from spreading. It was a bit of a shame, but...

All of a sudden, Lane paused, as he picked on some movement in the corner of his eye.

There was someone on the riverside trail.

Someone guarding the place, perhaps? That would certainly be the most reasonable explanation. But the Mana levels...

Intrigued, Lane leaped over to the trees growing on the riverbank, crouching among the branches, and focused his eyes on the target.

To his surprise, it was a civilian. Just a normal man, going for a jog...

Well, maybe not so ’normal’, considering that he was running in the dark, without any flashlight, in the closed-off zone.

And, while he was most definitely still a civilian, he was on the verge of awakening.

Lane’s eyes instantly brightened. What a stroke of luck!

There was no better target for him to possess than a freshly awakened person. He could have all the benefits of having an Awakened body, while at the same time, there was no need to worry about guiding compatibilities. That was the reason why he usually possessed civilians, after all - if he possessed someone who was already paired up with Espers or Guides, and then their matching rate would change significantly because of Lane’s wavelengths, it would attract unwanted attention...

With the freshly awakened person, who had never given or received guiding, it naturally wouldn’t be an issue, as the matching rates were completely unknown.

Without hesitation, Lane rushed forward, landing right in front of the man.

The runner, unprepared for the possibility of a person falling down from the sky right in his path, couldn’t react in time, and ended up crashing into Lane. "What the-" he started, about to complain...

He never got to finish his words though, because Lane had already activated his hypnotic ability, putting him under his spell.

Only then did he stop to take a good look at the man.

The runner was in his thirties, it seemed. Short, black hair, light brown eyes, olive skin. His face was unmemorable, below Lane’s usual standards, but his body was not bad. Two or three inches shorter than Lane, but quite athletic, with defined muscles. Much better body to live in when compared with Noah’s frail physique.

And he was on the verge of awakening. That alone was enough of the reason to pick him.

Still, even if just for the sake of formality, Lane grabbed his chin, and staring straight into his eyes, activated Memory Scan.

Aidan Jenkins, 36 years old, currently single. Working a boring office job which he hates. Hoping he could awaken, and become a powerful, famous Esper. Which would explain what he was doing, going for a jog so close to the site of a dungeon break - he was trying to expose himself to Mana. It was a well-known method, and one of the main reasons why people moved to the Forbidden Zones - to awaken or raise their ranks.

And he almost succeeded.

But now, it would be up to Lane to finish this task, and get all the benefits.

"Alright." Lane nodded with satisfaction, as he grabbed the man, and threw him over his shoulders. A moment later, he was high up in the air again, running toward Lapis Lake.

A lake full of monsters was better for sparking the awakening than the quiet riverbank, after all.

As he approached the lake, he scanned the area vigilantly, looking for any Espers that might be keeping guard. Luckily, there was no one right by the lake. There were plenty of people spread out around the border of the lockdown zone, but they were far away enough that they shouldn’t cause any problems for Lane.

Lane circled the area a few times, just to be sure, before slowing down his pace, gradually losing altitude, until he landed smoothly on a small, wild beach by Lapis Lake.

It wasn’t the same beach he was on the day before, when he almost ended up devoured by a monster. Rather, it was precisely on the other side of the lake, as far away from the scene of the accident as possible.

What was the reason behind this choice? No reason, or so Lane would say. He just ’happened’ to run in such a direction. He didn’t give it much thought.

The whole lake was filled with monsters anyway, so it didn’t matter where he went, right?

He put Aidan down on the ground, canceling the hypnosis.

"H-huh?" Aidan looked around in a daze, turning his whole head around. His eyes slowly started regaining their shine...

Before he managed to fully recover, however, his eyes glazed over again, as he was caught under the monster’s spell. He started walking toward the lake...

Lane just observed him quietly, until Aidan’s feet were about to touch the water. Then, he leaped forward, grabbed the man, and brought him back to the end of the beach. freёnovelkiss.com

Just so Aidan could walk toward the lake again, enchanted by the spell.

They repeated the same thing over and over again. Lane observed him carefully, waiting for the awakening... But his patience was quickly dwindling.

Why was it so slow? The man was clearly on the brink, so why couldn’t he just break through? Was the Mana on the shore not enough?

Lane let out a heavy sigh. Aidan needed to have his awakening before the possession, otherwise it just wouldn’t happen. Lane had already tested it before, with Ava’s help at that, so he knew it for sure.

And Lane didn’t want it to lose this chance. He was determined to see it through, even if he had to put some effort into it.

So, he quickly jumped out of his clothes, grabbed the man, and dove straight into the dark waters.