《Samarian》 File 1 - Unfortunate event File 1 - Unfortunate event March 23th 2030, particle accelerator RESERV Sweden, observation station ALICE Crouched in front of his monitor, a nearly sixty years old looking man stared as green indicators lighted one by one in a random manner. His expression was one of worry. By his side, a middle-aged looking man watched the light recital going on. None of the lights could escape his attention; this was the most important moment in this man''s life, a coronation. If this test was to succeed, then his genius in energy pioneering will be legendary. Ambition and pride! He did not want to be a flicker in the history of science, and thus has sacrificed everything for this experiment. He even went as far as lying to his own staff about the true nature of this protocol. Initially, they were here to test the installation up to eight TEV before the grand opening planned next month. ¡°Mr. Graham are you sure that this is safe? Our orders were to test the installation up to eight TEV, but the protocol you entered is set to launch the collision at twenty-four! This is way over the previous value! We don¡¯t know what had happened that time, but surely, the disaster from fifteen years ago shouldn¡¯t be underestimated!¡± the sixty year old looking man pleaded while whispering. This man¡¯s worries were justified. Fifteen years ago in the CERN particle collider, an explosion struck in the middle of an experiment. Due to the collider collapsing, particles that were nearing the speed of light emerged and collided with the matter around. A chain reaction occurred. In an instant, the entire twenty-seven km length Hadron collider exploded, collapsing the supporting foundations. A circular hole, the size nearing one hundred km perimeter and more than fifty deep, appeared on the surface of the earth killing hundreds thousands of people. This event created an uproar in the opinion as thousands upon thousands of people were mourning the deaths of family, friends and lovers. Since then, the only way governments and scientists were able to continue their energy agenda was through half-truths and concealing. Their behavior was not caused by ill will nor did it come from a disregarding attitude toward the masses: it was because they now were facing a more urgent dilemma. This Swedish particle collider was an improvement of the previous prototype, build more sturdily; ¡°safety¡± was a prerequisite. ¡°Stanley, I was the one in charge of the design and testing for this new, improved infra-structure,¡± snarled Graham ¡°from ground up I didn¡¯t let anything to conjecture like those idiots! This improved structure is, without a doubt, able to withstand the charge!¡±. ¡°Just focus on the protocol, don¡¯t interrupt me with your unneeded distractions, the time is near!¡± Graham said. ¡°As far as I¡¯m concerned it was an error to let these people handle such a tool, not only did they destroy years of hard work during this collapse, they didn¡¯t even left behind a speck of exploitable data¡± Graham snorted inwardly. Truth being told, he was a just envious, at that time, his rival Pr. Shepard got ahold of a post as research director at CERN¡¯s foundation. Objectively speaking, it was a good choice. Pr. Shepard was a man recognized by his peers as a great leader, not only was he highly intelligent and capable, he was also impartial and straightforward. The reason Pr. Graham did not get this spot was that he was an arrogant and extremely self-centered person. He was intelligent, but not wise. However, Graham did not see it like that. For Graham, not only was he more gifted than Shepard was, he also pointed out way before the fatal collapse the risks of extending the CERN experiment without careful restructuration. Back then, he though: ¡°So what if he is so perfect, I¡¯ll keep a low profile for now, and the day he trip will be the day I¡¯ll come out for the fatal blow¡±. He did not get the chance to give him ¡°the fatal blow¡±, but Pr. Shepard¡¯s disappearance, along with the fact that his family died as well, gave him a sense of justice cast upon the world he was living in. A breath of fresh air. Not far away seated in military manner was a man who looked no more than twenty five years old, wearing black pants and a dark blue jacket. Solid build, black hairs and jet-black eyes, he was not bad looking. Aside from the fact that he seated quite orderly, which contrasted greatly with the scenery around, his eyes betrayed boredom while looking around the screen displaying numbers and heat scanning of the collider''s sensible parts. Energy nowadays was all the hype especially since this fatal incident, fifteen years ago, which caused so much environmental disasters and sealed humanity¡¯s fate. The amount of smoke, rock particles, soil, and dust expulsed during the explosion put the earth, after a few months, under a cloud so thick, that less than five percent of sun light was able to pass through. Life was slowly disappearing from the surface of the earth, and a stable source of energy would provide humanity with a mean to escape their fate through space. The matter of the earth in the brink of extinction was of utmost secrecy and only few organizations were aware of this fact, Sam¡¯s organization was one of them. Sam sighed inwardly, ¡°these scientists truly don¡¯t learn anything, and they walk toward the unknown so confidently, so arrogantly, as if there was nothing to be afraid of!¡± For him, this attitude was suicidal. Only carefully can one advance in unexplored area with a little more safety. Compared to that, the attitude displayed by these scientists at that time, was like children playing with their father¡¯s newly acquired gun behind his back! Truly courting death. Shaking his head he reported his attention toward the people present. Dozens of people were in a hurry rushing back and forth between datacenters, printers and meeting rooms. Like bees in a hive. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.Judging the moment adequate, he stood up and went toward ALICE¡¯s observation chamber, the test will be finished in a few hours, and he had things to do. Officially, he is Pr. Stanley¡¯s bodyguard, but the truth of his assignment was otherwise. He took control of one of the numerous electric cars available to circle through the collider indoor highway, and headed toward ALICE experiments chamber, after one hour of travelling, he finally reached his destination. Passing through the metallic doors, he checked his surrounding to verify one last time if someone was following him and after making sure that he was alone, he locked the door behind him and went toward the station. Opening a panel, he took out a device from his inner pocket and plugged it in the mainframe of ALICE Quantum computer. ----- Graham¡¯s mood was ecstatic : all the data pointed out that the original calculations were on the dot, not only when nearing 11TEV the structure wasn¡¯t entering resonance, the data suggested that the particle speed was even faster than the speed recorded at the CERN under the same conditions. This news caused Graham an immense joy as well as comforting him in his theory. ¡°Optimizing the trajectory as well as the speed through self-energizing induction was indeed the clever way!¡± Of course, he knew the implication was that a perfect control after collision would be much more hazardous. That is also the reason why he did not want this experiment to be made public before testing, and one of the reasons for Stanley¡¯s worry. But Graham, of course, though otherwise: ¡°If it¡¯s not me who can resolve and provide us with a solution then who can?¡± he was confident in knowing that after Pr. Shepard¡¯s death, no one could surpass him. ¡°The very principle for research to advance is through breakthroughs of this sort! If no one is daring enough to advance a piece, how can humanity make its way on the chessboard of fate? I¡¯ll show them that I, Graham, is humanity¡¯s only savior!¡± He motioned his fingers through his console, putting more power through the collider, and soon, people around, one by one stopped what they were doing. With time, the expressions on their faces became frantic. Twelve, thirteen, fifteen, twenty TEV! All the staff was looking at Graham. Fear and terror filled their eyes. They of course trusted Pr. Graham as eminent and undisputable specialist, but what is scary is scary after all. The numbers displayed were simply ridiculous! Twenty TEV? The value the CERN planned the day of the collapse was eighteen TEV, and no one knows if it reached that value before collapse. Now they were witnessing a more frightening value in the very collider they were in! Being afraid is the default state in that case. In ALICE observation chamber situated in the center of the collider, small ripples were starting to form, the ripples were appearing and disappearing and each time black colored matter seemed to leak out. ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°I never saw this type of reaction¡± ¡°Is this what Pr. Graham is aiming for?¡± ¡°Let us go and ask!¡± Staff member were wondering about this mysterious phenomenon. Seeing this Stanley and Graham became frantic. ¡°Pr. Graham, let us stop at that for now, we already got enough data to browse for at least a decade. Being cautious will allow us to come up with a better understanding as to what we are encountering right now¡±. Stanley said a hint of fear in his voice. He was sweating profusely. Stanley was afraid, never in his life did he witness such an event, even though they were ten of kilometers away from ALICEs observation chamber, and separated by large amount of rock and metal, they could clearly feel an eerie, cold feeling seeping out from that direction. ¡°It seems that it¡¯s already too late¡± said Graham, despair filling his face, ¡°I already stopped powering the installation at 18 TEV but the inducted force are resonating and enhancing the signal on their own!¡± he couldn¡¯t control the reaction that was occurring. Frantically, Stanley turned around, turned on the control room microphone and shouted: ¡°Everybody, leave immediately, we encountered an anomaly and cannot control it, our only chance to escape is n¡­.¡± At that time the scene froze as an enormous fog of dark matter swept through the entirety of the circle drawn by the collider, turning them to ashes, a one hundred and eight km jet-black circle flicked as a thunderous sound were heard through the planet. *RUMBLE**RUMBLE**RUMBLE* *BANG* ---------- Sam was crouching near the mainframe and checking his device while monitoring the movement outside the door. His mission was to make sure that this facility¡¯s data were never lost, so he was sent to ¡°save¡± the data before they pass through the scientist watchful and most of the time ¡°censoring¡± gaze. This type of mission was necessary because humanity¡¯s future was in balance. Governments were not willing to put all their eggs in the same basket. Suddenly, *ploc* He heard a sound behind him; the sound was as a drop of water falling in a full sink. He turned his head toward the sound and saw something odd: ripples were forming inside the room and each time, from the center of the ripples, black fog was leaking. *ploc* *ploc* *ploc* ¡°What is happening? What is this thing?¡± he hurriedly stood up, staring at the ripples. Extreme confusion filled his eyes. ¡°This test was just a warm up before the opening next month, how can this happen? Has something gone wrong?¡± Waking up from his daze, he started toward the exit, when a ripple suddenly appeared right where he was and struck him. Time froze and he lost consciousness. ----- File 2 - Is it still alive ? File 2 - Is it still alive ? Night, Amos Village In the sky above Amos, ripples appeared and a small black sphere came out, as it was night, it went unnoticed. The small sphere directly went inside a small stone building in a courtyard, passing through the walls and landed on a body. The body was lying on a mattress made of straws. ¡°What happened?¡± Feeling that he did not die, Sam was at a loss: He could feel his body, but he could not move. He tried opening his eyes, but even when deploying his outmost efforts, he was unable to open them totally and all he saw was a blurry vision of a celling, apparently made of stone. It was odd to him. Did the observation chamber collapse? He did not know what happened in ALICE observation chamber, but looking as he was still alive, he began to wonder what his condition was. Obviously, not good. Unable to move, unable to see around clearly, he was at least able to breath. He though wanted to try calling for help. ¡°h¡­¡­..h¡­.. ¡±. The sound was barely audible, even him could not hear it. Did he become hearing-impaired? Trying to move or make a sound, he spent at least one hour trying to make a noise. Giving up after a while, he mused as to why no one had come to rescue him. He was obviously alive, and teams assuring security on the surface have surely been notified that something occurred. Maybe they were on their way. When he thought of that, he decided to rest a little. ¡°Ah! I¡¯m so hungry¡±. A few hours passed, and he finally heard noises behind him. Someone was coming. The person came and sat near Sam, rolled him on the side and faced his back. He couldn¡¯t see anything as the person has been too fast to turn him around. He then felt a warm feeling between his spatula and his hunger that started to rise at prominent high was soothed instantly. He didn¡¯t understand what happened, but as soon as he felt sate and energized a little, he started trying making noise again, he made excruciating efforts in order to move, but all he could do was making his back and arms shake a little, turning him back to his original position. The person in question, a middle-aged woman, stared at him, stunned. He moved again, and then the middle-aged woman went out of the building while screaming: ¡°it¡¯s awake! It¡¯s awake!¡± ------- Not far away, in the main building, a man was sitting. He was big, around 2m and strong looking. Broad shoulders and impressive arms. His muscles were bulging under his shirt. Brown eyes, brown hair, he has a straight nose, a small mouth and high cheekbones. His facial features looked like a hawk. Brian Lennart was drinking a cup of tea in his study while looking at the latest reports coming from the lower branch of the clan; he just came back from a business trip in Obour, and looked at the activity results from the mining, smithing, farming and herb-gathering district of the clan¡¯s business. Lennart family is a well-respected family in Amos village; they were honest and has been living in Amos for centuries. The Lennart¡¯s clan are also famous in the village for the might of their martial art experts. ¡°Hum, it seems our herb gathering is lacking lately, I should dispatch more people, this is one of our less lucrative business, but we can¡¯t overlook it¡±. He shacked his head; it seems that lately more and more people encountered spirit beasts in the outskirt of the forest, which was alarming because one had to normally venture deep inside to meet them. This was a big problem: few people were willing to risk their life in order to gather herbs, and the only people willing to go were adventurers or mercenaries which only goal in life seemed to try to bleed him to death with their bills. ¡°It seems we¡¯ll have to check it out when Sasha and Denise comes back¡±. Though Brian. At this moment, someone knocked on the door, and without waiting for Brian¡¯s permission, rushed inside the study. Brian frowned: ¡°Carla, what does that mean, coming into my study without waiting for my reply? If I had been with one of my business partner, I would have been ashamed!¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Surprised and afraid, Carla immediately kowtowed and with a tone full of fearfulness replied: ¡°Lord Brian, I¡¯m truly sorry for having barged in without your authorization , please forgive this lowly servant!¡±. Brian looked coldly at Carla. He really despised incompetent people. ¡°Speak, why were you in such a rush?¡± Carla did not look up but remained in the kotow position: ¡°Lord Brian, I came to tell you that just now, ¡®it¡¯ has awoken!¡± Brian looked at Carla with a doubtful gaze. ¡°It? What are you talking about?¡± Carla, still kowtowing said: ¡°Gerad¡¯s son! I was in Gerad son¡¯s house to apply Mr. Mepan¡¯s medicine like I do every day, and all of a sudden ¡®it¡¯ started to shake! This was the first time I saw ¡®it¡¯ doing that!¡± Brian was so stunned that he remained in this position for several seconds before waking up. ¡°I need to see, quickly! Get Mr. Mepan!¡± ¡°Yes, my Lord!¡± ----- Soon, Brian appeared in Sam¡¯s room, Carla and Mr. Mapan followed him ten minutes after. Mr. Mapan was wearing a white robe and looked rather old with his half baldhead. He took some tools out of his bag and started examining Sam¡¯s body. Brian and Carla were on the side. Carla was visibly excited. Fourteen years! For fourteen years, it has been her duty to take care of Gerad¡¯s son. He was born with an illness forcing him to remain bedridden, and never woke up. The doctors seeing that he was still breathing advised his parents to feed him with RuneQI infused talisman, until he wakes up and start eating on his own. That was fourteen years ago. At first, everyone in the village viewed it as a warning, Gerad must have done something which incurred Heavens wrath! People were speaking about it everywhere in the village, it became like an attraction, they looked at the infant ¡®Punished by the Heavens for his father¡¯s sins¡¯. People came from villages around in order to pay their respect to the gods, renewing their fate when they saw what Heavens retribution looked like. After many years, people forgot about that event and Gerad¡¯s son begun to be referred at like an object. ¡°Is it still alive?¡±. ¡°I went to its house and the foul odor made me unable to eat for three days!¡± ¡°What''s it¡¯s father doing? Isn¡¯t it time to end it¡¯s suffering?¡± These type of comments where common occurrence in the village. Gerad lost his wife during birth, and the prospect of having a vegetable as a son finished destroying him with sadness. Five years ago, he went adventuring swearing to find a cure, letting his son under the care of his brother, Brian. Brian wore a very complicated expression at the moment, he did not know if Gerad¡¯s son really woke up, but if it was the case, then the family power organization was going to undergo changes in the future. A new son in the family was not a small matter. While he was musing, Brian noticed Mapan¡¯s action getting a little frantic, he asked. ¡±What is happening?¡± Mapan turned his head, a smile covering his face. ¡°He is indeed conscious; just now the response from his soul is promising! In addition, look! The the shaking of his hand! Truly promising!¡± He spent half an hour inspecting, infusing Sam with different type of talismans. Then he turned toward Brian and asked him to follow him. ---- Sam was bewildered, at first, he felt like someone was prickling the inside of his head with a cold spoon, he couldn¡¯t repress shacking, he tried to shout to the examiner to make him stop, but couldn¡¯t mutter a sound. Afterward, the disgusting sensation wore off, and he was enveloped by a warm, relaxing, and soothing sensation, he felt his muscle relax and lost consciousness. Outside, Mapan told Brian to continue monitoring his progress while infusing him with healing talismans three time a day. Gerad¡¯s son should be able to wake up completely in three days. Brian thanked Mapan, and only Carla noticed the corners of his mouth twitching when he received Mapan''s bill. File 3 - Confusion File 3 - Confusion The Phi continent is composed of five big regions of hundreds of prefectures. Each prefecture monitor a number of cities, and cities manage the villages in their vicinity. Prefectures and cities have their own army, but the same was not the case for villages. The villages lucky enough to afford paying guards, could still survive. However, the price was high. Therefor, if the villages possessed martials artists clans, the position of power were almost always offered to them. Not because they were wiser, but because strengh was everything in this world. Strenght allows the protection and escorts of goods between villages and cities, safety while farming and if internal problems were to arise, strenght allowed to settle everything immediatly. Someone strong was always right. In Phi continent, the most prominent figures are martial art experts who, through cultivating the body and the mind were able to transcend mortal conditions. Hunger, illness, aging, loss of strengh were not concept that could be applied to these existence. Through trials and life and deaths battles these individuals reached the status of gods. Their strenght was incomparable in the realm of human, and only spiritual beast or other races of cultivators were their match. Legendary figures of the past depict fight that rung throughout Phi continent, tales of mountains being moved thousands of kilometers, and sky dyed in red echoed in the mind of every mortal. Amos village is located in the eastern region of the continent: Maghen. The village was near a mountain and specialized in the dealing of herbs, wood, stones and ore. The closest big city was three days away, Obour a port town. The people of Amos were not poor but due to their proximity with the forest, they relied heavily on adventurers and mercenaries to deal with problem related to safety. City or prefectural guards were scarce in this part of the continent, and attack from beasts, or even sometimes, spirit beasts was happening too often. Lennart¡¯s family members and staff were of course also contributing in dealing with the beasts. ----- Three days after Mepan left, in the stone house located in Lennart''s manor courtyard, Sam woke up. He was able to open his eyes completly and have for the first time a good look around. It was still impossible for him to move, but at least, he could satiate his curiosity a little. He remembered that he heard a woman talking and a man, the man came near his bed, and not long afterward, he fainted due to the extreme pain. Thinking about it, he felt a chill go down his spine. He never eperienced such an acute, piercing pain in his life. It was as if his own psyche had been affected. A weird feeling. Casting aside the memories, he focused his attention on his surroundings. He could not move his head very well, but at least he had a better view than the last time he woke up. The walls were made of stone and thick wooden beams supported the ceiling. Giving a rustic appearance to his room. ¡°Where am I? This doesn¡¯t look like a healthcare center at all!¡± The noises that came crashing in his ears were not ringing phones or nurses walking in corridors. He could hear birds in the distance, voices shouting and rumbling noises, as if old horse carts were being pulled. It did not make any sense. ¡°Have I been saved by the residents living around RESERV? If that¡¯s the case, then what were the rescue team doing?¡± It really,really did not make any sense. As he was wondering, he heard someone opening the door of his room. -------- Carla came inside carrying a box made of wood, and started pulling talismans out of it. She smiled when she saw that Sam was awake. Sam was still unable to make a sound. He was looking at her with curiosity. Her face was old, she had an aquilin nose, and few blond hairs were coming out of her black scarf. She turned around and started pulling brown papers out of the wooden box. The papers looked old, but what attracted Sam attention were the symbols written in blue color. The letters did not look like any alphabet he encountered before. And the woman was handling them preciously. After a quick sorting out, she then applied the papers on Sam¡¯s body. Sam was in despair: ¡°What type of nursing is this? These bandages are coming out of a wooden box for Christ¡¯s sake!¡± What was the rescue team doing? Then, something happened. The woman closed her eyes and put her hand on Sam¡¯s head, he instantly felt numbness all over his body. The relaxing sensation was truly comfortable. However, the light that his body was emitting was another matter altogether. What was that? The bandages from the wooden box emitted a blue light! If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. His analyzing ability proved to be useless to understand what was happening. The woman noticing Sam¡¯s surprise, spoke to him. He could not make any word she was uttering. He was proficient with many languages due to his formation, but this one was unknown to him. She continued applying some bandages for a while and left afterward, letting Sam behind dumbfounded. ¡°What was this technology? I''ve never seen something like this. Is this a new type of medicine exclusive to these people?" he could not make heads or tails about what just happened. He tried to understand. ¡°These Amish like people who use to live self-sufficiently must have saved me with the power of their faith¡±. But then he thought that if that was the case, that would prove that their faith is the real thing and they really are the chosen people. ¡°¡­¡± Or, He could still be inconscious and this was a dream, the soothing feeling must have been how his consciousness traduced the care of the nurses that are currently taking care of him. If that was the case, then he should soon change scenery or wake up. Thus, he waited. For four days straight, he could not change this dream or get out of it. He was still under the care of the plain looking woman, and still witnessing the blue light. The only change is that the light, from time to time, instead of being blue was green. Sometimes it did hurt like hell, sometimes it did not. ---- Currently, Brian is in the living room with his family, chatting. His wife, Celine and him just welcomed back Sasha his seventeen years old son and Denise his fifteen years old daughter. Sasha, browned haired, have his father''s facial features, and his build is quite impressive. Denise has long blond hairs shining freely on her small cute face. She has almond shaped blue eyes and her mouth seems shaped to be kissed. She was like a younger version of her mother. She looked quite happy to be together again with her family. Sasha and Denise are disciples of the White Snow SECT, a martial arts school. They just came back after six months and were planning to spend a week to visit their family. Brian was very proud of his children, Sasha was a rank seven body stage expert and Denise was a rank five body stage expert. Which in the Lennart family was quite astonishing. Brian himself at nearly fifty years old was still a rank two spirit stage expert. The amount of influence Brian had in the family was not to be underestimated. During the patriarch absence, he was the one in command. His brother Gerad¡¯s whereabouts were unknown and the third brother Philip was father of children who were nowhere near his own. While they were enjoying their time, a knock came from the door. After hearing Brian¡¯s reply, Carla came in, bowed and said: ¡°Lord Brian, you asked for me?¡± Brian eyes flashed, and with a hint of playfulness, he said. ¡°Yes. Carla, report to Sasha and Denise the matter of a week ago.¡± Carla complied and explained: ¡°A week ago it¡­ Lord Gerad¡¯s son woke up.¡± Sasha and Denise were stunned; the first to react was Denise: ¡°What it¡¯s awake? Did it talk?¡±. Laughing, Sasha said: ¡°How can that be possible? it never woke up in its life and you expect it to talk? I¡¯m not even sure that it has a consciousness, it must be like a vegetable¡±. Carla sighed inwardly: ¡°I am pretty sure that it has one. I mean, it does look at me and follow every move I make.¡± she shivered inside, sometimes; the look in its eyes was confusing. She could feel deep hatred coming from it when she was applying muscles regeneration talismans to it. She refused to believe that nothing was inside. Celine who was in deep thought suddenly asked: ¡°Dear, do you have a mean to contact Gerad? Surely this news will make him come back.¡± Brian looked at Celine and shacked his head: ¡°I don¡¯t have any; I don¡¯t even know if he is still alive, since that day five years ago, I didn¡¯t hear anything about him.¡± Sasha then exclaimed: ¡°Father, can we go see it?¡±. Sasha was excited, he wanted to see if it was awake, for the last fourteen years, he has seen this lump of flesh growing and now it was awake! How amazing is that! He was already picturing the face of his cousins after knowing of it. Brian did not pay too much attention to his brother¡¯s son, for him, it was in a vegetative state. However, a son, even crippled could stir trouble in the hierarchy. After all, offspring could still be obtained¡­ If Gerad comes back, how will it impact his footing in the clan? He knew Gerad was stronger, and the fact that his son has been struck with illness from birth indirectly gave him a chance : Brian was the one who convinced Gerad to go away in search of a cure. File 4 - Marble File 4 - Marble Amos, Night the same day. Sam was lying in bed, question marks filling his head. His reason has been shaken heavily the last four days. It was on the verge of collapse: He was conscious of the time passing unlike in a dream. Four days¡¯ time! Four days¡¯ time including sleep and dreams...during his sleep?! Was it possible to have a dream in a dream? It never happened to him at least. ¡°What is it with this situation..¡± During the last four days, countless people came to visit Sam. The men were wearing old looking robes, some of them armors, but most were wearing farmer¡¯s attires. The women, wore everything from fancy looking to dirty and used farmer¡¯s clothes. It looked old fashioned, like country people. "What kind of people would kidnap me, use some weird method to nurse me, and come visite me as if I was an animal in a zoo?" No interrogations, no contacts, only being stared at by all type of gazes. Some where disturbed, other disgusted. Some showed surprised expression when Sam looked at them. Immediatly hiding from his sight while pointing at Sam in a disgusted manner. He lived it as an humiliation. Sam was unable to move or shout to chase them away. "Is it torture? what a nightmare!" still, he did not want to admit that is was reality. Because if this not a dream, then... The last four days, Sam¡¯s condition improved a lot; Sam was finally able to move his arms and legs a little, not with enough strength to stand up, but enough to reassure Sam that he was not paralyzed. The thing that perturbed Sam greatly was the state of his body. His body looked weird, the hand he painfully brought before his eye was not his own. It was a hand the size of a child¡¯s. The skin looked pale, dry and hint of cracks appeared on the back of it. His body was not his own, if this was reality¡­ Sam¡¯s reason still was not ready to accept this fact. In fact, it was just the opposite. It just contributed to reinforce his thoughts on being in a dream. He was still unable to mutter an intelligible sound, but his throat condition improved. He felt that just a little more time was needed. He did not really trusted a feeling born within a dream, but considering his situation, it was the best he could do to remain somewhat in control. He relaxed and decided to get a good night sleep in this dream. ----- In the sky above Amos, a ripple appeared and a black sphere came out of its epicenter. Sam woke up feeling something odd on his forehead, when he noticed a small and faint beam of white light coming out of it, which then went through the ceiling. Puzzled, he narrowed his eyes. Outside, the sphere was hit by the beam and begun descending toward Lennart¡¯s manor entering Sam¡¯s stone house. If anyone saw this, they would have become fanatical and Sam would have been executed on the spot. With the village''s history, this phenomenon would have been without a doubt related to the cursed son of the Lennart¡¯s family. Sam seeing the sphere, was startled. A sphere the size of a basketball hovered above his bed. The outside was translucent black, and inside, rainbow light were flickering. Above all, the eerie atmosphere that emanated from it remembered him of the event that happened in RESERV that day. ¡°What is the meaning of this...¡± Sam was at his wits end. The sphere emitted a faint, buzzing sound. It was as if an extremely high tension was raging inside it. Suddenly, that sphere started spinning, and as it spun, it shrunk to the size of a marble. A huge shockwave shacked Sam¡¯s house. In the village, some people woke up. Wondering on what had happened. The sky was clear, ruling out lightning. However, the event of a swarm of beast rushing toward the village was a possibility. Villagers were frightened. ¡°What is happening?¡± ¡°Is it an earthquake?¡± ¡°Maybe it¡¯s a spirit beast¡± The woken up people continued surveying for a while. When they saw that nothing noteworthy was happening, they dispatched some people around the village to stand guard and the rest went back to sleep. Inside the room, the marble was still hovering above Sam, spinning. Sam was looking at it fixedly, wary of what would happen. If this marble decided to attack him, he could not do a thing. The Marble hovered ten centimeters from Sam passing above his head, chest, and stopped in the region of his navel. It hovered closer and Sam could feel the pressure the marble was emitting. The pressure was so strong, that he was sure upon contact, it would pierce through him like a hot knife through butter. The marble went up a meter, stopped spinning, then descended toward Sam, came in contact and disappeared. Sam at first was greeting his teeth in preparation for the pain. However, when the marble disappeared, he had an uneasy feeling in his lower abdomen. In his body, the marble started spinning faster and faster emitting a buzzy sound. Suddenly, it relinquished tendrils made of white energy, which coursed through his spinal canal. The tendrils entered his brain through the spinal cord, and transformed into countless energy rays of different colors, which circled through and merged with Sam¡¯s brain and cortex tissues. Sam felt a piercing pain in his lower abdomen, and then the pain travelled along his spine going up until it reached his head. Then it exploded. The pain was mind breaking. Sam was rolling his eyes, shouting, but with the voice he had, unfortunately, it was more like a whisper and no one heard him. Saliva and blood was dripping profusely from his mouth; blood was coming out of his ears, his eyes, and his nose. He looked as if possessed by a demon, his eyes rolled white. He wanted to hold his head, but considering his physical condition, it was in vain, adding despair to his pain. He raged for a time, muffled howls of pain escaping from his juvenile mouth, and then he fainted. Sam only woke up the next day in the evening. After relinquishing the tendrils for a time, the marble stopped its emission. Inside Sam''s brain, countless tissues were activating. Creating new brain connections at an unbelievable pace. Billions of unused cells activated, or regenerated, and immediately afterward linked in the network. White energy was released which strengthened further the organization, optimizing it. The network lines merged at the base of the brain and connected to the marble through the spinal canal. In Sam''s lower abdomen, the marble was still spinning. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ------- Morning the next day, After breakfast, Brian came to Sam¡¯s house with his family. Yesterday his children looked interested in Gerad¡¯s son condition, so today everyone came along. It has been a little more than a week since it woke up, so Brian called over Dr. Mepan for a check. Today, they were no visitors allowed for the ¡®cursed child¡¯ as villager called it. He wanted his family to have a good and undisturbed look to this attraction. Brian was convinced that Gerad¡¯s son would remain unconscious, however, for the sake of face; he nonetheless mended a refiner to look after it. Even the RuneQI talismans Carla used all these years were cheap talismans made by this third rate refiner. Denise looked at Sam frightfully and said. ¡°How can it be alive?¡±. Its body was tattered by years of RuneQI infusion, its left arm was crooked and its right leg seems shorter. However, she knew how it looked already, what truly frightened Denise was the traces of dried blood all over its dirty face. Blood seemed to have seeped from all his orifices. It was a hellish scene. Celine, who was also surprised, walked out after a while. She was unable to bear with the scent anymore. Sasha on the other hand was excited. He did not mind the scent, he smelled far worse at White Snow SECT. No, what he thought was amusing is the fact that he came the day it died. He was laughing inside. However, Brian was confused. In all the years Carla looked after it, he never heard her speak about this phenomenon. He sent for Carla and soon afterward, Carla came with Mepan who had just arrived. Carla and Mepan looked after Sam¡¯s body and wore the same expression his family members had few moments ago. Seeing that, Brian asked: ¡°Carla, you have been taking care of Gerad¡¯s son for fourteen years. Have this ever happened before?¡± Carla, who was in a daze looking at Sam¡¯s body, woke up and said hurriedly: ¡°N-Never my Lord. In all the years I took care of it, I never saw this. It has always been sleeping.¡± She no longer cared to call it ¡®Gerad¡¯s son¡¯ in front of Brian. Brian frowned and turned his attention toward Mepan who was currently examining Sam¡¯s body. Mepan sorted out his talisman and taking out a crystal from his bag, put it on Sam¡¯s forehead. The crystal flashed and information appeared inside. Reading it, he muttered: ¡°it seems his internal organs are fine, moreover, his system seems to have recovered completely. My talismans did have quite the effect after all¡±. Turning toward Brian he said: ¡±It seems Lord Brian¡¯s helper has dutifully applied the prescription, but his system seems to have over-reacted due to the damage done on his veins over the years. However, his condition is not bad. He should be able to recover to a certain extent.¡± He then looked at Carla. ¡°Carla, you have to apply these muscles strengthening talismans during the next few days. As soon as he is able to carry himself, you can stop treating him. I recon no more than three days will be necessary. I¡¯ll apply the first set to show you how it¡¯s done.¡± Everyone was shocked. Three days. Mepan just said that in three days, ¡®¡¯it¡¯ will be able to move. Will they be able to treat it as a person? All these years it has been sleeping, if it was not for Brian being afraid of Gerad¡¯s wrath. He woud not have taken care of it. Brian would never have allowed it to live for so long, eating away his money without giving anything in return! Brian was wearing a complex expression, he could not kill it, and the prospect of having a fourteen years old baby made him uneasy. If it was awake all these years, it could have gained some knowledge of the world and basic behavior patterns, but what would happen after waking up of fourteen years of nothingness was unpredictable.. Sasha and Denise on the other hand were happy to have come visit their parents; they looked at Sam¡¯s body with the eyes of kids who just found an abandoned toy. ------ When he woke up, Sam was still feeling numbness in his head. Recalling what happened the day before, he shivered. That pain was otherworldly. It was as if bugs had been eating away his head and mind. Calming down, he began to ponder. Observing himself, his expression changed. "How is that possible..." He seemed to have somewhat learned a great deal about sciences and engineering, but that was not all. Anatomy, acoustics, medicine, physiology, mineralogy, energy, electronic... all kinds of knowledge he did not know about before appeared in his consciousness. If, for example, someone was to ask him to conduct a homeopathic analysis, give medical diagnose or identify a precise type of plant, minerals or even bones, he was sure, that this miraculously acquired knowledge would allow him to do it. How was that possible? Sam had never been the intellectual type, at all. Since youth, few months after the disastrous explosion at CERN, his father, a captain in the foreign legion, understood that society was in the brink of collapse, breach of security and collective hysteria was inevitable. He thus showed him how to survive in a world where the law of the jungle was about to break out. Being able to defend oneself was the very basis to survive. Sam was gifted for this type of teaching. He spent twelve years training in weapons, tactics, strategy and military organization. He also trained and was considered a genius in the army martial arts regiment. He planned and accomplished missions in squad for a time, and ended up working for the firm his father created after the terrible collapse of Cern¡¯s hadron collider. However, Sam never studied technology or sciences. Of course, he had basis in computer security, but that was just the necessary knowledge to accomplish his missions. Nothing more. He was a soldier, not a scientist or a teacher! Then how did he learn so much? The only conclusion Sam could come up with was this marble. It must have done something to him. But that made no sense. This dream, although completely ridiculous was beginning to feel too real. Before, he was able to relate the sensations that happened during his dream to stimulus of the nursing treatment on his real body. However, now¡­ He though, ¡°I¡¯ll just focus on resting for now. And as soon as I can, I¡¯ll escape from this hellhole.¡± He decided that what happened here was just too confusing. He did not have the informations needed to have a clear understanding of his situation. He was sure, however, that he had to get out of here. The only positive point in all that is the fact that his body was slightly better than yesterday. File 5 - Learning File 5 - Learning Two days passed. During these two days, under the middle-aged woman care, Sam could feel his body muscles getting stronger. However, his left arm and right leg were in serious condition. His left arm was crooked from the elbow to the wrist making it unable to move precisely, and his right leg was somewhat numb and shorter than his left¡¯s by five centimeter. In a word, he was crippled. By this time, he had no doubt that what he experienced was reality. He did not understand what these people did to him, but his body was not his own. This, was a fact. He was able to sit, and his right arm and legs mobility improved greatly. He could not stand up, but during his night activities, he was able to crawl on the room''s floor. When people were visiting his house however, he still behaved as a paralyzed person would. This was normal precaution. If he showed the extent of his recovery, he encountered the risk of being assigned a closer guard. Visibly, these people went to great lengths in order to bring him under their control. What were they after? At first, he was thinking about the possible cause. However, no theory he was able to come up with matched the efforts his enemies visibly deployed. After a while, he stopped thinking about it, what mattered for Sam now was to escape from this place. This was however only one part of what monopolized Sam¡¯s attention. The last two days, he witnessed numbers of conversations between the middle-aged woman and other people who came with her. Visibly co-workers, as they helped by holding bandages in place while she performed her "nursing". What puzzled Sam is the fact that during these two days, he was able to recognize their patterns of grammar and vocabulary better and better, and at an astonishing pace! From one conversation to another, he understood more and more. At first, he was surprised, and wondered why all of a sudden, he was able to understand what they were talking about. However, after thinking about it, he though that it must had been the Marble¡¯s doing. After all, his views on things changed dramatically since that day. He was still feeling a bit apprehensive about these newfound unknown resources, but he enjoyed the effects nonetheless. He could not make complete sense of the conversations at times, but he still was able to catch a good deal of the meanings. What he heard were conversations about farming, hunting, selling of materials¡­. As he was thinking, he heard steps coming from behind the door, and immediately lied down. ------ Carla entered the stone house, and as usual took out the talismans in order to treat Sam. A co-worker accompanied her. She sighed, she never though that the day it wakes up would come before Lord Gerad¡¯s return. Carla has been in service of the Lennart¡¯s family since childhood, her family died during a beast attack more than forty years ago. She had been taken in as a maid under the care of Gerad. Gerad put her in charge of the nursing of his crippled child when he was two years old. She spent the last twelve years treating it and the prospect of being finished with it made her feel great happiness. Sam was listening carefully to their conversation. ¡°¡­¡­¡­.trade with Obour last ¡­¡­..did sell?¡± ¡°¡­..so much¡­..that making gold¡­¡­¡­¡­..shield! Ah ah!¡± ¡°Yesterday¡­¡­interesting and¡­¡­.¡­is it possible??¡± ¡°I saw it¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.but next time it will be different¡­¡­¡­.¡­¡­.thing! by the way I saw¡­¡­¡­ with Lord Brian¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡± ¡°When? Will¡­¡­¡­beast? Last time¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­in group ¡­¡­.¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.to the forest?¡± ¡°Not necessarily¡­¡­¡­..there is surely a stronger¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­. which caused¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­sure.¡± He could guess that this ¡®Lord Brian¡¯ was one of the leaders of this organisation at the way the middle-aged woman eyes were full of worship every time he was mentioned. It seemed that a forest was in the vicinity, he hoped that this place was not too remote from civilization. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. She finished treating Sam and left. Feeling energized by the treatment, Sam decided that the time for him to make his move was nearing; but he needed to reckon first. Thankfully, it seemed that the door of his room was not locked. --------------------------------- In the manor, Brian and Celine were chatting, drinking a cup of tea in the living room. They were discussing the matter of Gerad¡¯s son. According to Carla¡¯s report, it is indeed conscious. As crippled as it is, it will be useless used as a physical worker in the farms, much less in a mine. Brian needed someone to help him think about it, thus, his counseling with Celine. She has always been a good crisis manager. ¡°As it is, Gerad¡¯s son will be unable to contribute to our family growth, and the risk of him jeopardizing our current standing in the family is huge if it makes Gerad coming back and stay!¡±. Brian said. Family growth in Brian¡¯s language means money. It was time for Gerad¡¯s son to repay his kindness of the past five years! However Gerad coming back and getting better because of his son''s health''s improvment would be disastrous for Brian''s future responsabilities. ¡°Rumors of his son getting better has already traveled to the villages around. It will not be long before it reach the city of Obour. We do not know where Gerad is, but he does have strong support in the Lennart¡¯s family. If the news reach other cities, who knows when Gerad will come back.¡± Gerad coming back was really not in Brian¡¯s interest. Brian may be better in squeezing every drop of his subordinates, but Gerad earned their respect, the difference was huge. Furthermore, Gerad was stronger than Brian. Thus, a better leader. Brian did not train much; he was much more interested in business related matters! Celine pondered for a while then said: ¡°Right, it can¡¯t be used as a strong working force, but our herb gathering branch could employ such a person. Between gathering, packing, selling, compounding or through other type of basic tasks, I think they can find Gerad¡¯s son something to do.¡±. ¡°Of course, that depends on how many years it will need in order for it to be mature enough¡±. Celine then locked eyes with Brian. ¡°However, this would not be your concern, as this branch is managed by Philip.¡± Brian, round-eyed, stared at his beautiful wife. He knew that this plan, even though not perfect, was the best answer at this time for him. Getting rid of the money raising problem by shifting the responsibility to another. At the same time, herb-gathering mission is a dangerous job; one could die under the attack of a stray beast! ¡°Brilliant!¡± Brian though. He patted his wife¡¯s head tenderly. ¡°Yes, this way even if Gerad comes back and find out that his son has died on a gathering mission, his wrath will not fall on me, the one who took care of his son during his time of needs¡± ¡°Furthermore, it will reinforce Gerad¡¯s trust toward me, who sheltered his son. While Philip will have to endure his wrath!¡± Brian greedily thought. This outcome would be the best for Brian, the trust of Gerad would allow him to maintain, or even raise his position in the clan, while at the same time pushing Philip¡¯s family further in the bottom. Brian said: ¡°Philip left for an herb-gathering mission two weeks ago, he should be back in a day or two, and when he does, I¡¯ll make sure he accepts Gerad¡¯s son. When it grows mature enough, we¡¯ll see what we can make out of it¡±. Brian was satisfied; once again, he thanked the heavens for giving him such a wife as support. Celine looked at Brian with a warm smile, the matter of having Gerad''s son living with her has been creeping her out for five years. She even went as far as building a stone house outside in the courtyard because she did not want to share the same air this abomination was breathing. At last, her days of peace will come back. File 6 - Waking Up File 6 - Waking Up Amos, night the day after. Sam sat down, and walking on his knees and right arm, headed toward the room¡¯s door. Taking support on the wall, he stood up. It has been around one hour since the middle aged woman applied the last set of bandages for the day. He knew that he was alone until tomorrow morning. The time to reckon had come. These past few days, his mental fortitude have suffered great pressure, so he was eager to get a better understanding of his situation and location. It was unlikely that he will be able to find a car in his immediate surrounding he thought; The noises he heard until today were noises of cart being pulled by horses. Furthermore, the way people were dressed hinted that these people were a tribe of self-sufficient, away from technology and civilization type of people. He did not see any devices, and even during the four days period people were visiting him as if he was an attraction, he did not see any cameras. In addition, their ways of nursing¡­ The conversations Sam heard confirmed his thoughts, as everything he heard was about hunting, farming or even mining. However, if Sam managed to walk long enough, he was sure he would be able to reach a town or a village nearby with a phone. Sam breathed, and stealthily opened the door of his room. ------------ Brian and his children were in the living room with five of the family¡¯s guard. The guards wore green colored leather armors. The news of a beast attacking gatherer spread like wildfire in the village. A squad, led by Denise and Sasha killed it, but they suffered heavy damage. One guard had been killed, and four were severely injured. Sasha was explaining the events that took place. After the villagers provided them with the beast location information. They encountered the beast, a wild boar, in the forest outskirt waiting for them in ambush. One guard was killed instantly. The guard captain, Vincent, reorganized his men and under his leadership, the guards, Sasha and Denise were able to repel the wild boar attacks with their swords. While Vincent slashed the wild boar, taking him down with several powerful strikes. Sasha paused, and then said. ¡°Father according to Vincent, this wild boar was a level seven body realm beast!¡± Brian frowned when he heard the beast was at level seven body realm. A beast also evolve based on level. With time, some of them will break through the body stage realm, and evolve into a spirit beast. However, the beasts are physically much stronger than humans are but do not have a soul spirit. Therefore, ranking was hard to apply. The base of their strength was on a completely different level. Experts agrees that when dealing with a beast, it was always safe to assume their rank to be at least one level higher in strength and fierceness. Brian mumbled :"A level seven body realm beast encounter in the forest outskirt". Brian was annoyed. Normally, the forest outskirt was relatively safe. The fiercer danger one could encounter was a wild animal. From time to time it was possible to meet a low-level beast, but the guards were more than enough to deal with it. However, only on rare occasions was a higher rank body stage beast sighted in the forest outskirt, and most of the time, the reason was a sudden change in the forest beasts'' hierarchy of power. "We need more informations on this matter. Thankfully, Philip will come back tomorrow. He sent earlier today an eagle carrying a message stating that they were less than a day away." Then turning to face the captain, a middle aged man wearing an insignia with a two-tailed lion on his chest, Brian said: ¡°Vincent, good work today, your quick thinking during this sudden attack saved many lives¡±. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Vincent was a seasoned soldier, the case of higher level beasts in the forest outskirt had occurred more than a dozen times since he started serving under Lord Gerad. Vincent bowed and said: ¡°Not at all my Lord. Lord Sasha''s and Lady Denise''s support was also crucial in our victory today¡±. Vincent have been working as a guard in the Lennart family for twenty-five years now. He met Gerad during a territory war with a neighboring village, and was deeply impressed by Gerad¡¯s strengh. Twenty years ago, without warning, the Bargil village attacked, destroying some of Amos¡¯ crops and killing several villagers. Brian went berserk and mobilized soldiers to go and erase Bargil village from Phi continent. Gerad though otherwise and sent a delegation in order to discuss the matter. Up until now, the two villages kept cold, but cordial relationship. This attack seemed out of place. It turned out that the Bargil¡¯s village ruler Simon Necker died, and his son, David took over after him. David was a greedy and arrogant man. He had been preparing for months and hired several spirit realm experts in order to protect and assist Bargil village. The delegation Gerad sent came back and gave him the report as well as a message from David. David asked Amos village to give their right over the mountain, which had a better quality ore as well as taxes on their activities from now on. If Amos village did not comply, David will use his army led by spirit realm expert to trample them. Hearing this, Gerad took the guards and went to Bargil village. Although David hired many first and second level spirit stage experts, thanks to Gerad, none of them were able to stop their advance, and the fights were ruthless. Bargil villagers were afraid. Normal people were like cattle in the wild, if there were no experts, it would be impossible for them to survive in the village. There were many wild animals and beasts around. However, when villages raise against each other, completely wiping out the other village was an unsaid but widely followed rule. Gerad and his men killed their way toward David manor, seized David and drove him outside. They put David on a post and killed him in front of all the villagers gathered. Gerad declared ¡°From today onward, Bargil village will be under Lennart family¡¯s rule. People who do surrender will not be harmed, and resistance from experts will be severely punished.¡± This show of mercy was an unusual display for an expert. When Vincent asked him why he did not kill all the villagers, and why he let the experts who showed submission survive, Gerad replied: ¡°Killing is easy, but not always the best solution and sometimes, the worst move." When Gerad saw Vincents confused look, he sighed and added: ¡°Keep your family close, and your neighbors closer, because in time of needs, they are the only people you can count on.¡± Vincent who was still bowing, heard a knock on the door followed by Brian saying: "Come in!". ----------- After opening the door, Sam exited the room into a small corridor. He could see a slightly opened wooden door and moonlight was piercing through. Rejoicing that security was so lax and taking support on the wall, Sam headed toward the exit. He stopped behind the door, peaking through it. He saw a courtyard and a big, old fashioned and impressive manor. The manor was three stories high, and looked well maintained. Sam listened and scanned the surroundings for a while. "It''s seems that no one is around". Passing through the door, Sam limped his way out of the stone house. ¡°I''ve had enough with this place!¡±. Tasting freedom again after such ordeals, Sam breathed delightfully. However, after looking up, he froze. There was no clouds in the sky, and amidst the beautiful sea of stars, the sight of two crescent shaped moons, one blue, one yellow, shattered Sam''s paradigm. File 7 - My name is Sam File 7 - My name is Sam Sam stood there, dazed. It was as though lightning had struck him. He thought about everything that happened up until now. From his loss of consciousness to him waking up in the stone house, it was as if a moment had passed. And when he woke up, he found himself imprisoned in a body that was younger and crippled. Unfortunatly, that was not all. This world is not his own either. This sudden revelation created a deep void in his heart, and at the same time froze all thoughts in Sam''s head. He remained a long time staring at the two moons. Thinking of nothing. He did not belong here. Where is his life? what about his father, the people he knew, his civilisation ! ¡°Is this hell?..¡± Sam instantly discarded this thought: no flames, no devils to laugh at him while picking him with a trident, no trials of the souls, no explanations, nothing. Only getting here in a different world as a different person. That did not fit the image of God from his previous world. ¡°Then, this body is someone else¡¯s and I took it over?¡± That was the only guess he had that could explain what happened to him during these days. In addition it seemed, now, that these people were not trying to restrain him, but actually really nursed him. However, the humiliation he felt at that time made it hard for Sam to accept the ¡°helping part¡±. After all. The gazes he saw were not ones of caring. Neither did they carry the wish of well being for its target. These were cold stares, as if looking at an amusing animal. The fact that he was taken care of and his condition improving however was a hard one to deny. ¡°So these people, although treating me like a prisoner had no intentions in harming me¡±. As he looked at his body he though. ¡°Am I a lost child? or maybe an orphan?¡± That could explain why so much people came to look at him during this hellish-like period. They were maybe parents looking after their own child, or looking to adopt one. That thought was strange, but after all, this world is not his own, so rules may differ from his morals. He had to accept it and force himself to open up to other kinds of considerations, even cruel ones. Sam mused for a while with this new perspective. And thought that the safer was to remain in this house until he is able to gain more insight into the current situation. Thankfully, the Marble had made things easier for him. At least he could communicate. Before he could return into the stone house however, he heard a woman¡¯s voice behind him: ¡°Heavens!¡± Sam froze again. ------------ Carla was standing in the courtyard looking at Gerad¡¯s son, petrified. She was on her way to the maids quarters when she saw it walking back toward its house. She knew that Dr. Mepan said it would be able to move soon, but up until now, she saw no signs of its mobility condition improving. This sudden turn of event literally frozed her in her tracks. Seeing the expression on Carla''s face, Sam was pondering: ¡°She spent so much days taking care of me, and the moment I stand up, she looks like this¡­¡± It was not criticism, Sam understood the situation. It may seem at first that his condition improved instantly, but that was Sam concealing his real progress. Naturally, seeing him walk like that from being paralysed is ought to surprise her. Sam smiled and walked toward her, when he was three step away, he stopped and said ¡°Thank you for nursing me all this time¡±. She took care of Sam since he came to this world, and Sam was not the ungrateful type. Problem is, he said that sentence in english.. Carla looked at Sam, she did not understand his mumbling. However his smile made her feel that he did not meant any harm. Waking up from her daze, Carla exclaimed: ¡°Heavens! This is great news! I have to notify Lord Brian as soon as possible!¡±. She knew Brian was in the manor¡¯s living room.He was currently receiving a report of the beast hunt that took place today. She took Sam by the hand, and dragged him toward the manor. ---------------------- Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. "Come in!" When Brian gave permission to Carla to come in the living room, she came in dragging behind her a limping youth. Brian and everybody else present narrowed their eyes and soon after, opened them in surprise. The youth had a faint trace of the Lennarts facial features altough so cracked that his face was not human like: his nose was crooked, his cheekbones although high were covered with cracks and his mouth was so dry that just looking at it made one gulp in thirst. He was skinny, had long disheveled black hairs and his right hand held his left arm close to his body. His limping came from his shorter right leg. He stood there looking at them, and his black eyes flashed with curiosity. When Sam came walking inside, everybody froze. It was as if a dead person came walking inside the room. Brian, Sasha, Denise, Vincent and the guards presents looked at Sam with eyes full of disbeliefs. Before them stood Gerad¡¯s son. This error of nature, the one that is said in the village to be a curse from heaven. This child that brought so many issues to Lennarts family the last fouteen years was now looking at them in the eyes. Thought to be a lost cause at birth, only because Gerad was in the brink of deep despair did they maintain his son alive. But the treatment was harmful for the body. Over the years they saw his skin drying up and due to his lack of exercice, his veins under the pressure of the RuneQi had been crippled. Everyone thought that it would never wake up. This was not just a belief, in their heart, it was as certain as the sun rise every morning. ¡°What¡­how¡­Carla, what did you do to make it walk?¡± Brian said after a few breaths. ¡°Nothing my Lord, when I found it, it was already out of the stone house, I was surprised at first and did not know what to do, but seeing that it would follow me when I took its hand, I brought it here¡±. Carla said respectfully. Sasha exclaimed:¡± You say that you found it outside. Did it learn to walk on its own? Why did you not tell father about it?¡± Brian nodded and added: ¡°Carla, I thought you told me everything during your reports. How could you hide such a thing happening?¡± Carla hurriedly said: ¡°M-My Lord, I did not know that it was already able to walk, it never did it before me, I thought that it was still unable to move! My Lord, please understand!¡± Carla kowtowed. ¡°I haven¡¯t hidden anything! Truthfully, when I saw it outside, I was shocked and afraid. Dr.Mepan did say that after three days it would be able to move and carry itself, but I did not see any signs of it getting better at all! Even today, when I was applying muscles strengthening talisman to it, it did not even move an inch.¡± Celine came in at this moment. She stood there stunned for a couple seconds, and looking at Sam with eyes filled with fear, she went on Brian¡¯s side. Sam was listening to their conversation; but the conversation was off, he couldn¡¯t understand why they kept addressing him as such. He also did not understand their surprised expression when they saw him walking in. It was as if this was a miracle. After all, him being able to walk was thanks to their care. ¡°But the way they address me¡­¡­ I am not an object for Christ¡¯s sake!¡±. ¡°Or are crippled people not allowed a name in this world?¡±. Sam was infuriated, he just came in this world, and already he was denied the right to be treated as a person? That, he could not accept. The days of humiliation going through his mind, little by little, he casted his gaze downwards. After some more talk, they decided to put Sam back in his room, and feed him normally from now on. Facing the assistance, Brian said :¡±Well, at least, that resolve the worry of us having to teach it how to carry itself!¡± in a try to brush this matter off everyone''s mind. However, at this moment they heard a young, but hoarse voice. The voice carried a hint of coldness. ¡°N-not ¡®it¡¯¡­.¡± Everyone turned around and Brian asked Carla :¡±Carla, did you say something?¡± But Carla who stood next to Sam did not answer. And with a pale face, was looking at Sam. Sam looked up to the assistance and said: ¡°N-not ¡®it¡¯¡­my..name¡­.Sam¡±. ------------------------- File 8 - Relief, worry and expectations File 8 - Relief, worry and expectations ¡°Not ¡®it¡¯¡­.my¡­..name¡­.Sam¡± He did the best he could in order to articulate these words. Everyone¡¯s mouth that just closed opened again. Brian, a voice full of disbelief said: ¡°Y-You¡­. did you learn to talk?¡± ¡°Was he conscious before?¡± Brian thought, but Carla would have reported if this child had been awake for so long. "Or could it be that he was awake all this time and really could not show it to the people taking care of him? The refiners who came to see him however could not sense any vibrations coming from his soul. Could they have been wrong?" Imprisoned in his own body for years... This thought sent a shiver going down Brian¡¯s spine. What kind of abyss had this child lived through? The others also gulped, what sort of hellish life is it to be unable to move and forced to live emprisoned in your own body ? Unable to communicate to show you are conscious, and this, from infancy? The nothingness they imagined gave them deep dizziness. They did not dare believe he had been trapped for so long. Their imagination did not allow them to do so. Denise was the first person to react: ¡°Ah sorry...hmm¡­Sam, was it? We just couldn¡¯t believe that you were finally awake after all these years!¡± ¡°.¡­it must have been a terrible experience." She then turned toward Brian beaming at him. "Father, instead pressure and interrogation, a celebration should takes place¡± ¡°After spending the first fouteen years of his life bedridden, my cousin finally wakes up!¡± Turning to face Sam, putting a hand on her heart and bowing harmoniously, Denise said : ¡±I don¡¯t know how much you understand me, but I, Denise Lennart, daughter of your Uncle Brian Lennart, welcomes you again into the Lennart¡¯s family¡±. Brian and Celine looked at Sam and nodded, the guards, following Vincent''s lead also bowed. Denise was surprised at first, but she was not a bad person. After all, referring to Gerad¡¯s son as an object was not out of ill will for some people, it was a matter of common language. Sam, on the other hand was stunned. fourteen years? The body he is in has been sleeping since birth? He begun to understand more on what had happened. However, before he could ask further questions, his legs started to wobble and he lost balance landing on his rear. Seeing this, Brian, who seemed to have made up his mind on something said: ¡°Of course, it must have been quite taxing to stand for so long when you are still so weak." Turning to face Carla he ordered "Carla, wash him clean and give him a new set of clothes. We''ll let him sleep in one unused room of the manor for the night. Bring him something to eat; it must be something soft as to not upset his stomach. A soup will do¡±. ¡°Finally, send a message to Mepan telling him to come tomorrow morning for a check on....Sam¡±. Carla who was still in a daze woke up and hurriedly said: "Y-Yes, my Lord". Brian then ordered two guards to help Carla carry Sam away and dismissed the remaining people aside from his family. -------- In the living room, silence fell. After a few breaths, Denise was the first one to speak: ¡°Now that he is awake, we can expect Uncle Gerad to come back soon!¡± She added, remembering the scene: ¡°It was so strange to see him walk and talk after all these years¡±. Sasha snorted: ¡±We cannot expect it to be anything more. Have you seen the way it held its crippled arm?¡± Denise turned to look at her brother :¡±Sasha, that¡¯s mean. You know his condition was not a simple one¡±. Sasha angrily replied: ¡±Simple? How about my condition? Or yours! If this event reach the disciples ears in the outercourt back in the sect, we¡¯ll be a laughing stock!¡± Pondering, Denise said: ¡±Well, It doesn¡¯t really bother me¡±. Sasha then exclaimed, ¡°Not bother you? The shame this cursed cousin of ours brought us in the village will be nothing compared to the one it will bring us in the sect! if words of this comes out¡­.¡±. ¡°Enough" Brian intervened, "The matter of Gerad¡¯s son is not something that should be discussed to such length so late in the night".Turning over to his daughter and softly speaking he asked: "Denise, when are you and Sasha leaving?¡± ¡°Father, we plan on leaving tomorrow at noon and spend three days in Obour shopping before going back to our sect, there are several materials that we need.¡± Disappointed, Brian let out a sigh and said: ¡±Well, I thought you would have stayed a little longer. However, be sure to come back half a year later for our family¡¯s hunt!¡± Excitedly, Sasha replied: ¡°Don¡¯t worry father, we won¡¯t miss it. I''ve already talked about it with fellow disciples, some of them are very interested, I even managed to convince Silja Valence, a top outercourt disciple to come with us!¡± Brian eyes flashed: ¡°Oh oh, is this a girl?¡± Brian was interested, if aside from being one of the strongest in the Lennart¡¯s young generation, Sasha managed to marry a high-level practitioner, the Lennart¡¯s future would be assuredly bright! If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.Sasha dreamily said: ¡°Yes and she''s a rank eight body realm expert at only fifteen! She is said to be just one step away from the ninth!¡± Brian nodded :¡±Good, good." then said "Your mother and I need to discuss some matters, go to sleep. Tomorrow we¡¯ll talk about it in more details¡± Brian smiled and sent a meaningful gaze to Sasha, the lecher type, he wanted to know more about this Silja. After being dismissed, Denise and Sasha went back to their room. On the way, Sasha was in deep thoughts. In the White Snow sect, being the bully or the one bullied was a matter of survival; he did not want to give any opening to theses vultures! For Sasha this was no laughing matters. But Sasha had also something else in his mind currently. Sasha was one who cared a lot about face. He was recognized in the family as one of this Lennart¡¯s generation fighting genius after all. However, this crippled child was the son of Gerad, the strongest expert in the clan aside from the patriarch. He could not stand to force himself being careful as to not insult or tease this piece of trash now that it was awake. He saw really well how his father had acted caringly toward Sam. He knew that his Father would order him to be also careful around him. Because his father was afraid of Gerad¡¯s wrath. From the moment Sasha saw Sam, that was the only thing going in his head. And he felt deep hatred toward this existence that had put a dirty spot on his perfect life¡¯s picture. --------- When Denise and Sasha went back to their room, they left Celine and Brian behind. Both of them pondering. Celine mumbled: ¡°It really was like seeing a ghost, at first I thought this was a nightmare¡±. ¡°The way he behaved and looked at us was really strange¡±. Brian nodded; He was also thinking the same thing. It was indeed strange. But most of all, frightening. ¡°Well, at least he seemed civilized, and he followed Carla and the guards quite obediently¡±. Brian had complex feelings about this, it was as if Gerad''s son understood everything that had been said, but most of all, his attitude was different from what he expected. Do someone who wakes up for the first time after such ordeals act like that? No rush, no erratic behavior, nor childish or needing either. He just stood there. And the only time he spoke was to make a point about how his surrounding treated him. Like an adult would have. However, he discarded these ideas thinking that after all, Sam must have been under terrible shock, making him tense and shy. Everyone beside one easily accepted the matter of Sam being able to speak. They thought that Sam had been conscious for years. In addition, his elocution was far from good, and this, casted enough proof on their inner worries. Making it easier for them to accept this turn of events. After all, he had still a long way to go. Turning toward Celine, Brian said: ¡°Celine, I need your help in order to plan how we are organizing ourselves now that the Gerad¡¯s son is awake¡± He paused then said: ¡°Heavens, I¡¯ve never heard of anyone choosing their own name before¡±. ------- Within the group walking toward the bathroom, one person walked with only sheer will to fight her shaking, her footing was clumsy, and she almost fell several times. Carla, who had spent twelve years taking care of Gerad''s son, walked with a pale face. She was the only one who knew how Sam¡¯s treatment went during this time. She knew. She almost never uttered a word to Sam or spoke in his room. Even his father, shortly after Sam¡¯s birth, went into closed-door seclusion and training. Gerad has spent only little time with his son before departing in search of a cure. Never had she really spoke for long in front of this child and with time it became like a habit. All these years... She did talk when she was applying the muscles strengthening talismans, but it was just three days! After all, she didn''t have enough QI in order to activate such powerful Runes alone. Carla was the only one to truly fear Sam at this moment. She had been deeply shaken by this youth mysteriousness and behaviour. ---------------- In the Lennart messenger¡¯s aviary, someone was standing in front of a black eagle''s cage. A person who wanted to be informed immediately about the progress or difficulties of a particular individual, had put this black eagle here five years ago before departing. Vincent was standing in front of the black eagle¡¯s cage. He tossed a small tube containing a message and the black eagle swallowed it. Opening the cage, Vincent took the black eagle in his hands and before letting it go, gave it an order: ¡°Fly as fast as you can, do not rest more than necessary. This message is of outmost importance¡±. The black eagle let a determined cry out before taking off and flew toward the west. Looking at the darkness of the night for a while, Vincent then turned around and returned to his quarters with a face filled with expectations for the future. Until his Lord comes back, he swore to himself to never let anything happen to the young master. File - temp : Corrections, feedbacks Hello Dear reader(s), This is what I could call the end of the first arc, and the beginning of another (sounds arrogant to me. ah ah). I am not confident in being able to make the action interesting, but I''ll do my best. Of course, action can''t come without a context. They are few characters that I want to introduce, or finish introducing before getting into the more juicy (and I''m sure hard to write. ah ah) action I do feel more at ease in describing the characters interactions, but for the action scene, I have to say, I don''t know how it will turn out. (I''ll check some novels to get inspiration) Since the beginning I know what is the Marble and what is in store for Sam. I know how his power will evolve, and it will not be something I''ve seen in Xanxia based stories. Only problem is, how will you reader react to his powers? I must say I''m at the same time afraid and Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.eager to see. ah ah! Everything come with time, I won''t make regular releases, but I will continue releasing. For the people who have read the entirety of this work so far without skipping a line, first I say thank you for your patience. Be it irritation for an improper expression, word or punctuation, please do tell me where I''m wrong in my use of words I''ll greatly appreciate it. Finally, the reason why I renamed the story was because after exchanging with few people, it turn out that a missing title and missing chapter name irritate potential readers. I spent time yesterday renaming everything, do tell what you think of it. Again, thank you for reading the story so far. . File 9 - Amos village File 9 - Amos village Sam took a bath for the first time since he came in this world in a luxurious wooden bathtub. He felt relieved and breathed deeply and delightfully. Washing himself was not simple with his crippled arm but the soothing feeling of the bath relativized his mood. He immersed his head in the water and began to recall what he saw on his way. Now that he was able to walk around, he had a better understanding of his current situation. He saw several maids on the way to his room. Apparently, the Lennart family is quite wealthy according to Sam¡¯s standards. The manor¡¯s ceilings were high and gave a dignified and impressive atmosphere. On the dark yellow walls, numbers of paintings were displayed. Mainly animals or portraits. The lights came from bulbs emitting a flickering glow, as a flame fluttering in the wind. On the wooden floor, luxurious carpets were aligned. The overall ambiance gave a sense of opulence and refinery. Carla came in after a while, and helped Sam wash himself. He received a new set of blue clothes and she helped him with putting them on. They walked for a while and Carla led him inside his room. The room was simple, but comfortable. The bed was made of wood and big enough for two people. A desk was in the corner and in the middle of the room a table and four chairs were available. Soon, a helper came and brought a vegetable smelling soup. She disposed the food on the table and stood next to it. The helper looked quite interested in Sam, and was looking at him with sparkling eyes. "A new Lennart family member!" "Gerad¡¯s son!" The material for gossip was too tempting. Carla however, coughed lightly and forced the helper to reluctancly go away. Carla then led Sam on the table and began to feed him. Sam was hungry and the taste was relaxing. He thought the soup tasted like pumpkin. After a while, Sam took the spoon out of Carla¡¯s hand. Carla understanding his intent let him do obediently. Sam was still weak, and his movements were shaking, but he did not want to be fed after all this time being unable to move on his own. While eating, he questioned himself ¡°Do I also have a father and a mother in this world? But where are they if that¡¯s the case?¡± This family was in this world, but if that was the case, what of these four days of humiliation¡­ He decided that thinking about it would lead nowhere for now, those type of answers comes with time. When he was done eating, Carla took the dishes and left the room. Sam limped toward the bed and lied down, thinking. Since he came here it was the first time he could think of his situation with a clear mind. ¡°Judging from the response they showed when I talked, I guess that rules out my first guess on them putting the Marble inside me¡± Furthermore, he remembered the felling he had before it entered his lower abdomen. It was the same sensation he felt during that unfortunate day at RESERV. In addition, the knowledge he received came from his own world, it was unlikely that it came from those people or from this world for that matter. He did not know where the Marble came from, what he knew however, is that this Marble was linked to earth and helped him a lot up until know. He did not feel wiser nor was he more intelligent than he was before, his knowledge and experiences in innumerable fields just expanded, and at a frightening, or more precisely mind breaking level. Knowledge and experience are two different thing. That, he painfully knew. However, he felt that he received both; He could perform mechanically any type of task in his memory, and he could do it perfectly. In his consciousness, he was able to recall countless past scientific protocols, and knew which one was conclusive and which was not. Each type of experiments, etudes, analysis, diagnose, robotics development, music composition and so much more! Each and every experiments or breakthroughs were in his memory. When he travelled inside this sea of knowledge, he was able, with a thought, to relive past scientists or specialist experiments, and with such vivid details! Such amount of data and testimony gave him dizziness; he knew he could easily spend a lot of time reliving these experiences. He also felt that this knowledge and experiences were, little by little, changing something very precious inside him. Something he knew he had and always felt even in his previous life, but never saw. Nonetheless, something important. His unconscious slowly and continually parsed these memories. Extracting some axioms on its own which time after times sharpened his conscious understanding of new matters. And everything was happening with a feeling of total acceptation. If Sam had to give a name to the feeling of these sudden and punctual surges in understandings, he would call it insights. But he thought ¡°What¡¯s the point. How will I use this knowledge in a world which I know nothing about? This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it How will I use this knowledge in a world that maybe do not have the same fundamentals and cosmological laws?¡± Stopping here his musing, he took a last glance toward the cloudless night sky and letting the tiredness win, closed his eyes and fell asleep. ------------------- When he woke up, Sam took a little time enjoying the softness of his couch. The change with his previous environment was pleasant to say the least. Sam got off his bed and walked toward the window. Outside, the sun was bathing the village with a warm morning light. As he was on the second floor, he gazed for a long time, taking in the scenery. The village was located near an imposing and green with vegetation Mountainside. The trees he saw in the vicinity looked like maples, cedars, oaks... If he did not knew better, Sam could have let himself think that this was his original world. However, things stopped here. The horses he saw pulling carts were at least one and a half time bigger than the horses on earth, the people were normal humans, but taller in general, also the clothes people wore resembled a lot the middle-age clothing he saw in his previous world. He heard a knock on the door, and seconds later two helpers came bringing Sam a small basin with a towel which Sam took and started washing his face with. The helpers were watching Sam. They were told to attend to this child as if they attended a newborn, but he seemed enough to take care himself of those types of tasks. After drying his face, the helpers disposed bread and milk on the table, and seeing Sam eating, stood on the side and waited. While eating, Sam though of going outside to explore the surrounding of the manor. However, he did not know if he would be authorized to do so. He asked one of the helper a question: ¡°Village¡­. name?¡± The helpers looked at Sam with a frightened expression, but before they could answer, Carla came in: ¡±Stella, Mervena, go back to your chores, I told you to not incommodate the young master during his breakfast¡±. Then turning toward Sam, Carla bowed and said :¡±Young master, my name is Carla,I am your personal maid, I will gladly answer the questions you have about this place¡±. Sam looked at her, and said again : ¡°Village¡­. name?¡± ¡°This village is named Amos," Carla replied: "the Lennart family has protected this village for centuries¡± She though it would be enough to satiate this child curiosity for now. However, Sam did not think so and with a pressing gaze prompted her to go further. She began explaining the surroundings and details about the Amos village ¡°Amos village is specialized in mining and herb gathering, we also have a smith workshop. Because we are so close to the mountain''s forest, we also encounter strife with the wild animals¡±. Carla explained that although Amos village is close to the mountain forest, the wild animals were fiercer than a normal forest. Carla also talked about the port town of Obour, mentioning the beasts often encountered on the way. When Sam asked her more about the forest and the beasts, Carla only told him that beasts were stronger beings than wild animals and when encountered, it was always best to retreat. Thinking that Sam asked about the matters of the forest and beasts out of fear, she said: "But thanks to the might of the Lennart''s clan guards, we are able to live in peace. We had only few unfortunate events over the years". Carla finished her explanations and seeing that Sam was done eating, said: ¡°Lord Sam, it is time for your RuneQI talisman application. Can I ask you to lie down on your bed?¡± Sam complied and went toward the bed. When he lied down, Carla called in a helper and began taking out strengthening muscles talismans out of her wooden box. While she treated him, Sam asked : ¡°Talisman¡­.what is it?¡± Carla answered: ¡±These are RuneQI infused talismans given to us by Dr.Mepan, the lennart family refiner.¡± ¡°Those allow us to strengthen your muscles up to a certain point making your rehabilitation faster¡±. Deep in thoughts, Sam asked: ¡°RuneQi¡­what..is?¡± Carla was surprised, the questions he asked denoted a clear understanding of what she said. She shivered inside and said: ¡°Sorry my Lord, I don¡¯t know how RuneQi is made, I just have enough skills to apply talismans, but if you asked Dr.Mepan, I am sure that he¡¯ll be able to answer your questions¡±. Sam asked several other questions regarding the environment, the different districts of the family and the composition of his family. Carla answered his questions, and with time, in her eyes flashed consecutively surprise, incomprehension, and finally fear. Before Carla left however, Sam asked :¡±Going¡­out¡­possible?¡± Carla who was about to go out turned back to Sam and said: ¡±I think it would be wise to wait for Dr.Mepan. Your uncle, Lord Brian ordered him to come today to check up on your progress¡±. To what Carla bowed, turned and left as if fire was under her feet. ---------- File 10 - Refiners File 10 - Refiners Sam, alone in his room had nothing to do while waiting for Dr.Mepan. He decided to visit the manor a little before his arrival. When he came out of his room, he met with Stella who bowed, before walking into his room for cleaning. He walked, keeping his left arm close to his body with his right hand. He looked for a time at the portraits on the walls which had common traits with Sasha and Brian¡¯s face. There was also drawings of beasts and wild animals but Sam did not know how to sort them. He saw fierce looking tigers with long teeth, or sinister looking spiders drawn aside a human as to show how big it was. Sam thought that taking a two meter high as a standard would not be far off. And he estimated the spider size to be about 3 meters tall which greatly impressed him. ¡°Is this size real? What kind of fire power would be needed to take down such a thing?¡±. He heard Carla speak about beasts, but he was imagining big bears or pack of wolfs, not such frightening existences. He had to find more informations about this. ¡°It seems that life in this world is not a simple one¡±. He was of course apprehensive to meet such a creature one day, but at the same time, he felt somewhat excited about it. "If I had a rocket launcher, I wonder how many shots it could take..." He continued to look at the drawings for a time when he heard someone calling him: ¡°Sam!¡± He turned his head toward the sound. It was Denise. Denise accompanied by Mepan who had just arrived was waving her hand with a smile on her face. When Denise was five steps away from him, Sam turned around, and said: ¡±Good..morning Denise¡±. Denise, surprised at first, showed a happy expression. Her cousin truly did not behave as expected. She asked: ¡°What are you doing out of your room, weren¡¯t you supposed to stay inside and wait for Mepan¡¯s arrival?¡± Sam looked at her, and with a smirk said: ¡±Inside¡­boring¡±. ¡°While¡­.waiting wanted to¡­visit¡±. Denise looked at him with an understanding look. "After being bedridden for so long, it is only natural to be a little restless and willing to explore." She thought. Sighing, she already regretted her decision to set out today to Obour, it would have been fun looking at how after all these years, Sam reacted to his environment. She said :"Don''t worry, your two cousins are coming back today from an herb gathering mission, you''ll have plenty of occasions to explore Amos, they know it as the back of their hands". Sam who had heard about them through Carla explanations, asked : "Aaron and Feyd do they...live in the....manor?" Sam was interested, surely he could get more informations about his surroundings from these cousins of his, Carla said they were around the same age as Sam. Denise shaking her head answered :"They are not living in the manor, but at the outskirt of the village. Uncle Philip said that it was more effective this way, as this is where the herb storage house is located." Sam had other questions he wanted to ask, especially about his own parents. He knew his mother was dead giving birth to him, and that his father went in search of a cure for his son five years ago, but Carla did not say much about his father, and had looked uncomfortable when speaking about his mother. However, before they could continue to chat, Mepan who assisted to their exchange in a daze intervened and took Sam inside his room. Denise followed. ------- In his room, Dr. Mepan was surprised to see Sam already able to coordinate his balance so quickly. But what troubled him the most was Sam¡¯s ability to speak. Mepan is the one who took care of Sam during his life. It was him who provided Sam with the needed nourishing talismans and checking up on him regularly all these years. Of course, when he checked Sam, he did not always use his soulprobe, in fact it has been many years since he did so. Only when Gerad asked him to, did he use his precious tool. So, Mepan could not be sure as to when Sam started being conscious again. Sam observed Mepan taking out his talismans and noticed a crystal he took out. For Sam it looked like a finely carved piece of crystal, but he could not relate the use of it with the talismans filling Mepan''s bag. He never saw Carla using this kind of crystal before. Sam asked while pointing to the crystal: ¡°This¡­what is¡­it?¡± Looking at where Sam was pointing, Mepan answered: ¡°This." "We will not need it today, in fact I took it out because it was in the way when taking out the talismans¡±. But Mepan was not unwilling to explain to Sam and he continued: ¡±The soulprobe is a mysterious formula embedded in a spirit crystal with high rank refined QI and runes. It is able to send Qi flows toward ones soul and display the fluctuations generated by an harmless soul probing.¡± ¡°Normally this is a tool used to determine the seriousness in a life and death''s case. Experts of the peak ninth rank spirit stage realm or higher does not need this, but for people under this level, this tool is without price¡± Mepan was proud of this tool given to him by his master. Up until today, only on rare occasions did he use it. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. However, now that he understood Sam had been suffering all this time, he felt a bit ashamed by his greediness. When Mepan heard Gerad¡¯s son was not only able to walk, but was talking, he felt guilty. It was not out of ill will that Mepan was using his soulprobe parsimoniously, but replenishing the soulprobe¡¯s QI required skills he did not have, and his master would not always refills it. Mepan asked, ¡°Do you have any headache or muscle pain?¡± Sam looked at Mepan. He had thousands of questions popping in his head now. He answered by shaking his head and asked: ¡°Talismans, what is¡­.it?¡± Mepan smiled and said: ¡±Well, talismans can be considered a medium for refiners to display effects on their environment.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Seeing Sam tilting his head, Denise bursted into laughter while Mepan continued: ¡±Refiners use the Runes and refined plants essence to imbue effects on the infused QI. The stronger or the purer the QI, the better the effects displayed will be. Skills, and quality of the the extract are also, of course, a determining factor¡± Mepan continued after a pause: ¡±So talismans of the same kind may not have the same value or range of effects.¡± Sam asked ¡°RuneQI, What is¡­it?¡± Mepan answered: ¡±RuneQI is how we name the imbedded QI runes that are written on the talismans like this one." He gave a talisman to Sam. "Refined plant essences and QI. The combination of the two written with the science of the runes which comes with painstacking efforts is called RuneQI¡± The talisman was a brown papyrus five centimeter wide and fifteen centimeter long. On it, two cuneiform letters were written in green. But Sam saw other talismans written with different colors. Seeing Sam so interested, Mepan continued with the tone of a teacher : ¡±The QI used can be one¡¯s own, or come from other stronger source.¡± ¡°The stronger or purer the external or internal source of QI one refines with, the harder and more dangerous it becomes for the refiner. If the external QI for example is not well enough filtered, harmful effects can be seen in case of long term use¡± ¡°however, for most of the refiners, the effects obtained by using external QI source are far greater than the result they would obtain on their own because the purity is a determining factor but that is not all¡±. ¡°So use of external source of QI although being harmful in the long run for the refiner if not properly handled is widely spread¡±. Sam understood that refiners possess QI allowing them to carve special effects on talismans. However, Mepan spoke of external QI, what was the difference ? Pondering, Sam asked: ¡°External QI¡­where from?¡± Denise looked at Sam with her eyes wide, how is Sam able to ask such questions? Wasn¡¯t he unable to speak up until yesterday? Mepan¡¯s did not seem to mind Sam as he was immersed in his own speech. ¡°¡­¡­so, external QI comes from the beasts or spirits beast core. By refining the core we extract the QI mix it with essence and infuse it in the talismans through the runes, the effects become more potent in most case than a regular refiner¡¯s QI who is not a cultivator. Finally, according to which species the core comes from, some beneficial effects can be obtained.¡± Listening up to this point Sam intended to ask further questions about the way refining work, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Turning around, Denise said :¡±It must be Sasha" "Come in!¡±. It was indeed Sasha. Sasha came in the room his face filled with arrogance. After looking at Sam for a few seconds, he turned toward Denise and said: ¡±Denise, are you ready yet? You told me you were still packing but when I went to your room, Mervena told me you were here.¡± Denise answered annoyed :¡±Sorry, but I had to take Mepan to Sam¡¯s room. I also wanted to check up on him¡± Sasha glanced at Sam and said :¡±Hmph, what a loss of time." "Let us go, the carriage is ready. You said you had an appointment with your friend in Obour didn''t you? You don¡¯t want to be late.¡± Reluctantly, Denise walked toward the exit, and before exiting, she turned around and said :¡±Sam, next time we meet will be in six months for the Lennart¡¯s hunt¡± ¡°Let us meet again at that time¡± Sam nodded, and saw her leave the room. Sasha and Sam observed each other for a few seconds. Sam did not know why Sasha acted like this, but he did not like this cousin¡¯s attitude toward him. Sasha snorted and left the room, letting Sam and Mepan alone. Mepan continued examining Sam¡¯s body for short while, and looking satisfied, he said: ¡±I have to get Carla, the next talismans will not be easy to apply if I don¡¯t show her, wait here I¡¯ll be back in a minute¡±. Sam nodded, and when he found himself alone in his room again, he enjoyed the silence for a while. The talisman was something that interested Sam greatly. With its magical powers, maybe his wish of getting his body healed completly was realizable. After a few minutes of musing, he decided to inquire more about it when Mepan comes back. He stood up and walked out of the room to look at the drawings of beasts he saw earlier. File 11 - Treasure File 11 - Treasure While Sam was captivated by the drawings of beasts and figures from the past, he heard a cough behind him. Sam turned his head toward the noise and saw a big, sturdy man. This man has been looking at Sam for a while now, and the curiosity that showed in Sam¡¯s face made him smile. He approached Sam, bowed and said: ¡°Good morning Young master, I saw you looking at these drawings for a while, are you perhaps interested in what sort of animal this is?¡± Sam turned around and inspected him. He recognized this man from yesterday. Black hairs, a straight nose and a strong chin. The look in his green eyes was deep but not malevolent. Above all, gentleness emanated from the general expression of his eyes and forehead. Sam remembered Carla speaking about him when he asked her about the people of the Lennart family. He was the clan guards captain and if his memory served him right, this man¡¯s name was Vincent. Sam nodded and said, "Good¡­.morning Vincent, These animals...what are they?¡± Seeing Sam nodding his head and talking to him, Vincent felt happy inside. How long has he dreamt of this ? When Gerad left Amos in search of a cure, he saw how Brian took advantage of the situation. Allowing such degrading things to be done to Gerad¡¯s son only to sooth the villagers! He was ashamed to have accepted such a situation and desired to intervene each time he saw such treatment taking place. However, Lord Brian and his wife made it so that going against their decision meant one did not take the village wellbeing at heart. He felt such frustration. When Vincent saw Sam standing in front of him yesterday, he felt exhilarated. He was wondering what reaction Lord Gerad will have when hearing of it, and how long time it will take for him to return. He just hoped the black eagle would not delay and fly straight to his Lord. Eyes shining, Vincent approached and answered Sam¡¯s question: ¡°These are drawings of beasts or the fiercest wild animals encountered in the forest." Vincent pointed at a drawing near Sam. "For example, this fanged tiger is called a Wind Killer." "Its specialty is ambush and in most cases, when you realize you are attacked numerous victims are to be deplored." "They are fast, and their fur is as hard as stone.¡± Vincent pointed to another drawing. ¡°This one is a beast named Thunder Rat" "It¡¯s not as fast as the Wind Killer, but they have high intelligence and able to cast lightning type attacks.¡± Vincent looked seriously at Sam and put a hand on his shoulder. ¡°If by any misfortune you happen to cross path with any of the beasts that are displayed on these walls, do your best to retreat if you have the chance.¡± Vincent continued showing drawings and from time to time explained the strategy to take the beast down. Sam could see a hint of excitation in his eyes, like a thirst for battle when reminiscing about these encounters. Sam liked such a person, in time of life and death, these people were the one that could keep a calm outlook and act defensively or aggressively according to the situation. People who knew their own limits. Sam listened to Vincent explanations, and asked about the kind of workshops available in the village. Vincent explained that aside from the smith, they also had a wood workshop and an herbs store. There is a tavern and a mayor¡¯s house located in the center of the town. Finally, the Heavens Trader house. A trade center that display importation and exportation rate for all to watch in order to partake in transactions and negotiations of the goods. Sam had others questions, for example he wanted to know what was the relationship between a wild animal, a beast and a spirit beast. What was the extent of their strength? In addition, what type of herbs did they have to gather that needed them to risks their lives? He wanted to gain more knowledge about this world, and Vincent seemed a good person to talk to. When he was about to ask more questions however, he was interrupted by Carla and Dr.Mepan¡¯s arrival. Vincent excused himself and left, but not before bowing toward Sam and saying: ¡°My Lord, Take good care of yourself and focus on your rehabilitation¡± ¡°If you want to know more about beasts, you can find me in the training field.¡± Sam nodded and said: ¡±Thank you, I¡­will¡±. -------- At noon, Philip and his two sons, Aaron and Feyd came back to the village. Philip was a brown haired, tall and burly man. He had the Lennart family¡¯s traits but in finer details. His blue deep eyes shined with gentleness and his expressions and demeanor were overall less restrained than Brian¡¯s. He gave the feeling of someone humble, with wisdom and not imbued with his person. Philip is the third son of Reimond, the patriarch of the Lennart¡¯s clan. Because he was not only the youngest but also the weakest, his status was small in the family. Gerad never shunned him however, because he knew and understood the nature and wisdom of Philip. They respected each other and their relationship was close. However, the same cannot be said about his other brother Brian. Philip''s two sons were also big and burly for their age, but seemed to have taken from their mother for the facial features. They had faint traces of the Lennart hawk-like traits, but their face was rounder, changing the sharp effect to a more jovial one. They were currently listening to their father¡¯s report to Brian. ¡°Philip, how was the trip back?¡± Brian asked. ¡°As I feared, we encountered an unusual number of low rank beasts in the outer part of the forest¡±. Philip answered. ¡°The gathering missions this time was dangerous. We met with two rank eight beasts and escaped through this situation only thanks to several traps we set on our way." Philip paused: "But that was not all¡±. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Philip¡¯s expression turned grave. ¡°I fear that a new spirit beast appeared in the lower part of the mountainside next to us.¡± ¡°We discovered a big network of tunnels that seemed to circle around the mountainside.¡± ¡°I have been surveying this area for a long time but I never noticed it before last week¡±. Brian whose eyes shone after hearing this asked, ¡°Oh, did you explore?¡± Philip sighed and said: ¡±Yes, I did." "I went alone inside and found something two hundred meters in before meeting up with a high rank beast. I collapsed one of the tunnel entrance in order to escape, and decided to come back here to report.¡± Philip gave a crystal to Brian. Brian looked at the crystal piece in his hand before looking at Philip. ¡°Is this a spirit crystal?¡± Philip nodded. Brian¡¯s eyes lighted up and said: ¡°There¡¯s a spirit crystal mine on the mountainside?¡± ¡°Heaven! What a lucky turn of fate, after centuries living here, we finally discovered a treasure!¡±. Philip calmed Brian ardour by saying, "We don''t know yet, it may have been lost by the beasts in the tunnel. However, this is a possibility". After thinking for a while, Brian said: ¡°Did you speak about this to anyone yet?¡± Philip shrugged his shoulders and said: ¡°We just came back and I know this is not a simple matter. The war twenty years ago was a good reminder of human¡¯s greed¡±. Brian nodded and said changing the subject: ¡°Oh right, Gerad¡¯s son woke up when you were away¡±. Philip, Aaron and Feyd opened their mouths and eyes in disbelief. ¡°Is it true?¡±. Brian looked at Philip''s expression and said: ¡°He is in the manor at the moment; Dr. Mepan is currently examining him¡± Aaron asked excitedly, ¡°Uncle Brian, when did he wake up?¡±. ¡°Few days ago, but he was still unable to move." "However, yesterday late at night Carla suddenly saw him walking outside of the stone house¡±. Brian answered with an ugly face: He was still calculating the consequences Sam''s resurection would have in the future. Aaron and Feyd gulped. If it was them that saw him going outside of his room, how would they have reacted? Aaron was sure he would have fainted on the spot. Feyd, on the other hand was already feeling his stomach pushing toward his sphincters. Philip however, upon hearing the news was ecstatic. His nephew was awake! How long had he been praying the Heavens ? He resented Brian who used Gerad¡¯s son to amass money by taking a fee every time someone was looking at this child''s condition. But what could he do? His footing in the clan was non-existent, and all he could do was looking at the events unfolding with a grieving heart. If it was not for Gerad instructing Brian to take care of his son during his absence, Philip would have willingly taken care of him. Alas, how long had he been wiping on thinking it was partly his fault that this child had been subjected to such treatment all these years. However, now he was finally able to see light after the dark. Aaron and Feyd also felt happiness and were excited when they heard Sam¡¯s revival, but for another reason. Feyd was 11 and Aaron was 14 after all. And their age gap was just perfect for them to hope having a new partner in crime. But then Brian said: ¡±Oh, right. There is another piece of information." "It seems that Gerad¡¯s son had been awake for an undetermined time before waking up completely. I don¡¯t know how long, but it was enough for him to learn to speak basic sentences¡±. Philip was surprised. Aaron and Feyd on the other hand who seemed to not have thought of the matter, revealed a delighted expression. Brian added. ¡°What¡¯s more, he choose a name for himself." "Sam.¡± ¡°This is the name Gerad¡¯s son wanted us to address him to at our first meeting.¡± Brian said the last sentence looking seriously at Philip. Philip was stupefied. He indeed did not have a name. Because up to this day, his father did not gave him one. The reason was that seconds after his birth, Sam had been declared barely breathing and unconscious by the wise woman who assisted. His mother died of loss of blood few hours after, crying over her unconscious and seemingly dead son before being taken away after her last breath. Gerad stood beside his child for a long time, destroyed by this chain of event and at first, deeply resented his son. His son did not die however, and was just unconscious never opening his eyes. His father spent three days in his house, alone. After the burial, he went in seclusion after ordering one of his maid to take care of his son¡¯s need. He never embraced his son, and almost never visited him. Only collecting reports of his condition through Carla''s predecesor who took care of him his first two years. When Brian after several years went and told him of a cure that could wake up his son, Gerad asked Brian to look after Sam before departing. But now, they heard he was maybe awake a long time before it showed outside. Philip¡¯s heart clenched, and he asked with a shaking voice. ¡°W-where is he?¡± Brian smiled and turned around saying: ¡°Follow me¡±. Aaron and Feyd looked at each other. With a smirk, Aaron winked to Feyd whispering: ¡±Did you see uncle Brian''s face when he said our cousin was awake? It was as if he swallowed bantor¡¯s poop. I think things will be interesting when uncle Gerad hear of this¡±. Feyd laughed but reverted instantly to a serious face when he saw Brian turning his head around with a "huh?". On the way, Brian thought: ¡±I need a plan in order to assure we get the monopoly of this cave¡±. -------- File 12 - Settling in File 12 - Settling in The sun was high in the sky, and a nice breeze brushed the air in Amos. Some people lied on the grass enjoying the feeling, while horse carriages noises resonated in the village. There were kids playing in the streets, some of them listening to old people counting great stories of the past. In Sam¡¯s room, Mepan was currently showing how the skin regeneration talismans are to be used to Carla. Sam was of course listening to the conversation. Mepan was explaining: ¡°With this talisman, it is important to control the output of the runes by applying as little QI on it as possible in the beginning, only when you feel the skin is absorbing at a satisfying rate can you start focusing more QI into the infusion.¡± ¡°Be sure to have someone to assist you: the needed QI toward the end of the treatment will be more important than when you applied muscle strengthening¡±. Carla nodded, and Sam asked a question: ¡°Skin regeneration¡­talismans?¡± Mepan and Carla looked at Sam with apological eyes; Mepan was the one who answered: ¡°Your bones, muscles, veins and skin have been heavily impacted by fourteen years of RuneQi nourishment¡±. ¡°Normally RuneQi nourishment is something that must not be used for such a long period of time. Especially when the subject is unable to move or muster any QI in order to clean the veins of most impurities still contained after refining.¡± ¡°However, considering your case and my skills, it was the only solution we could come up with in order to keep you alive.¡± Strenghtening talismans, regenerations talismans, Sam deep in thoughts asked something that he had been wondering since he have seen his crippled body. ¡°My arm¡­and leg¡­can refiner cure it?¡± Carla turned toward Mepan, she too had thought about it. Mepan looked seriously at Sam, and said: ¡°Unfortunately, with my skills, it is impossible¡±. That was within Sam''s expectations, he then asked: ¡°What with..other refiners?¡±. Mepan answered:¡±Some refiners may be able to help you with your current situation. However, the price will be a steep one, and results cannot be guaranteed¡±. Mepan answered Sam truthfully. With Sam''s condition, full recovery would cost a fortune, and finding a refiner willing to do it would require time, patience and luck. Sam nodded and said: ¡±Full recovery¡­impossible, then how much?¡±. Mepan hurriedly said: ¡±I did not say it was impossible.¡± he sighed ¡°Only, people that can help you recover completely are very few in our prefecture¡± ¡°And the price for such a task will not be something the Lennart family will be able to afford¡±. This was the harsh truth. Mepan was sorry for Sam, if he was more talented, he could have done something for him, unfortunately, the skills needed to perform this sort of full regeneration greatly exceeded his or his master¡¯s ability. However, for Sam, it signified it was still possible to restore his body. Mepan spent the next ten minutes teaching the proper way to infuse the new set of talismans to Carla. When he finished he left saying to Sam: ¡°Sam, if you have questions regarding your treatment, or if you want to learn more about refining, come to your uncle Philip¡¯s warehouse. My office is situated there¡±. Mepan looked determined when he said. ¡°Also, I¡¯ll try to contact my master in order to ask him if we can do something about your arm" "Full recovery will be hard, but we can surely help you recover some motor skills in your left arm¡±. Mepan said his goodbye and left followed by Carla, leaving Sam pondering. ¡°So it is possible to restore my body.¡± Sam looked at his left arm. After some time in this body he got accustomed to limping. However, he had no hope for his arm until Mepan told him that recovery was possible through the use of talisman. Judging from Mepan¡¯s words, refiner do fine quite a bit for their services. However, Sam did not possess any means of making money. Sighing, Sam thought that no matter which world he was in, humans are always facing the same issues. -------- On the way to Sam¡¯s room, Philip and Brian spoke about Sam¡¯s future in the village. Brian explained the difficulties Sam is facing with his condition, and his impossibility in being given any physical work. Brian spoke about his idea of having Philip taking care of Sam for a time, and see if he could be of some use for Philip¡¯s activities. Philip accepted saying: ¡°Well, we do have a lot of work Sam can perform¡± ¡°for example selling herbs and potions to adventurers or gathering herb in the outskirt of the forest.¡± ¡°If I team him up Aaron and Feyd, he will also be protected by my personal guards¡±. Brian nodded, ¡°Good, good.¡± ¡°Also, Carla being Sam¡¯s personal maid, she will join your household. ¡°She has been taking care of Sam for twelve years, and is the best suited to treat him¡±. While walking toward Sam¡¯s room, Aaron eyes were going right and left as if looking for something. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.Behind him, Feyd snorted saying ¡°Don¡¯t look around so much, Denise is already on her way to Obour¡± ¡°She left this morning according to Mervena¡±. Aaron turned around and stuttered: ¡°I-I¡¯m just looking around that¡¯s all, this has nothing to do with Denise¡±. Feyd rolled his eyes and said no more. Aaron followed changing the subject: ¡°If Sam come home, do you think father will ask him to learn refining like us?¡±. Feyd shaking his head answered, ¡°I don¡¯t think so, and I heard uncle saying only his right arm is useable. The veins in his entire body have been crippled¡±. Aaron was pondering; in order to refine, one must be at least able to muster QI. This is when someone start gaining consciousness of the QI in ones body. If Sam¡¯s body was unable to feel QI, then refining will be impossible for him. ¡°Well, he can come with us to sell herbs. Anyway, we have to do our best in order to not make him feel stupid every time he makes mistakes at first¡± Aaron was giving advice to Feyd on how to behave with people. Feyd rolled his eyes again. -------- Sam heard a knock on the door and seconds later, he saw Brian entering the room. A middle-aged man and two kids around the same age as him accompanied Brian. The kids were looking at Sam with eyes filled with curiosity. The middle aged man however seemed emotional, his eyes red he said: ¡°Heavens, this is not a dream!¡±. Then approaching Sam, he said: ¡°I¡¯m your uncle Philip, and these two boys are my sons Aaron and Feyd¡±. ¡°¡¯Hi I¡¯m Aaron your cousin, and this is my little brother Feyd¡± Aaron said, Feyd waved his hand. Sam looked at them, nodded and said: ¡°My name¡­is Sam¡±. ¡°Holy poop! He sure is talking!¡± Aaron exclaimed. ¡°Aaron! Watch your mouth!¡± Snarled Philip while hitting Aaron on the back of the head. The movement was so smooth, as if polished for years. Philip then turned toward Sam saying. ¡°Don¡¯t mind him, he is a little mischievous, but he is a good fellow who does the job¡± Rubbing the back of his head, Aaron said: ¡°Hey Sam! How did you learn how to talk?¡± ¡°I Listened....but still.....not good enough¡± Sam answered. But Aaron said: ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll teach you some nice vocabulary soon..¡±, and with a sidestep evaded his father¡¯s fist. Brian intervened and said : ¡°Sam, we have decided with Philip that the best place for you to work would be in Philip¡¯s warehouse. There are numerous jobs there you could help perform while learning gathering or compounding.¡± ¡°Philip will take care of you from now on. He insisted for you to live under the same roof until your father comes back¡± ¡°Furthermore, that will help you familiarize yourself faster with the job if you live and breathe herbs!¡±. Sam felt a little doubtful with the last statement, but for reasons associated to his previous world. He did not object however. These people seemed fine, and he could tell his degree of freedom will be bigger there than here. He bowed signifying his acceptation of the situation saying: ¡°I will be....under..your care from...now on uncle Philip¡±. Philip said: ¡±Wonderful, wonderful.¡± his face covered in smiles, he then turned toward his children saying ¡°Feyd and Aaron, take Sam to our house, I still have matters to discuss with your uncle here¡± He paused before saying ¡°you go directly to our house, no detour. Your mother is waiting for you and if by mistake you happen to arrive home after me¡­¡± Aaron said: ¡°No need to tell us the follow up¡±. He turned to Sam and said: ¡°Sam, I¡¯ll take you home, follow me.¡± Feyd turned to Brian and said: ¡°Uncle Brian, tell aunt Celine that we¡¯ll come back with the activities report next week¡±. ------- Late at night in the manor. A black robbed person was striding toward the aviary without making a sound. ¡°The fear has awoken, I must warn the tribe as soon as possible¡± This black robbed person has been living in the Lennart manor quietly and normally until last week. Like a sleeping cell. This person¡¯s orders were to live here and monitor if someone with Sam¡¯s condition appeared, and if it did, to stay and confirms that the baby died. Unfortunately for this person, the baby did not die as supposed. So the black robbed person was forced to stay in Amos all these years. The rules of this person¡¯s tribe ordered them to stay inconspicuous and only act in case of extreme urgency. However now that Sam had woken up, this person had to send a report to receive new orders. Not only that, but now that Sam had woken up, his full recovery was in the realm of possible. If this child recovers completly, what will happen? In this tribe¡¯s memory, there are no record of such an event. Every single one were born unable to be a living being. It was more than a curse. Freeing a grey eagle from its cage, the black robbed person sent it away saying: ¡°Go to our village and give this message only to the patriarch to read¡±. ---- File 13 - Home File 13 - Home Sam exited the manor for the first time, and while walking in the streets, he noticed the look of surprise on every villagers faces. Feyd said : ¡±Aaron¡­¡± while looking around nervously. Cursing, Aaron said: ¡°Well, that¡¯s expected behavior coming from poop huggers¡±. ¡°Your condition of these past fourteen years led people from the village to fear you, that won¡¯t change in a day¡±. Sam saw the gazes, but it did not bother him. Considering his body''s condition, it was an expected reaction. There was nothing he could do about this. He asked: ¡°Where is the wood¡­workshop?¡±. Aaron, surprised asked Sam :¡±What do you need ?¡± Sam answered : ¡± I need¡­.a five centimeter¡­¡­thick plank of wood¡±. Aaron and Feyd looked at each other, then Aaron answered, ¡°The wood workshop is not far away, we can make a small detour¡±. Sam followed Aaron and they soon reached the place. An old man was sitting in front of the entrance carving what looked like a deer. The workshop looked old and in front of it, wooden beams and planks were stacked orderly. When the old man saw Sam, his face changed. Three steps away from the old man Sam said: ¡°I need a five centimeter¡­.thick wood¡­.plank, and some¡­.. twines if you¡­.have¡±. The horrified old man looked at Aaron and Feyd¡¯s delighted faces before answering: ¡°Y-yes, we do have what you need, that will cost half a copper coin¡±. The old man ran inside his shop and came back few seconds later with a roughly five centimeters thick wooden plank and twines made of leather. He gave the goods to Feyd to carry as Sam''s condition did not permit him to, and both started walking toward Philip''s home. On the way, Aaron asked :¡±What do you intend to do with these things?¡± Sam smiled and said. ¡°I¡¯ll use this¡­to stabilize¡­my footing for now¡±. Not understanding Sam¡¯s intent, Aaron and Feyd grew curious. After a while, they reached Philip¡¯s place. Philip''s family lived in a house with a big courtyard, the roof was flat and the white colored walls looked old. When they entered the house however, Sam noticed the inside was so clean he could see his face in the wooden floor. The walls were white and the furniture although not as extravagant as the one seen in the manor, gave nonetheless a feeling of dignity. A nice fragrance remembering Sam of grilled chicken came flowing in his nose. ------ Aaron and Feyd as soon as they entered the house yelled :¡±Mom, we¡¯re home!¡± Few seconds later, a middle-aged round woman with a jovial face came into view. Her blond hairs were trapped in her grey scarf, she had a straight nose and her brown eyes showed happiness as she was beaming at her children. ¡°You are finally back, where is your father?¡±. But at this moment, she paused noticing Sam. With a smile Aaron said: ¡°Mom, let me introduce you to our cousin, your nephew, who woke up after all these years. Sam!¡±. Then patting Sam''s shoulder he added, ¡°Father and uncle Brian decided that he was going to live with us from now on until uncle Gerad comes back¡±. Aaron an Feyd¡¯s mother stared emotionaly at Sam for a few seconds, and said with a trembling voice:¡±Gerad¡¯s and Sedina¡¯s son?¡±. Taking a few steps forward, Sam bowed and said : ¡±Hello¡­.aunt Lisa¡­Nice to¡­meet you¡± ¡°I¡¯ll¡­be in your¡­care¡±. If he was to live here, Sam had to show proper etiquette in order to fit in the best he could. But his greeting sent a pale color through Lisa¡¯s face who was not prepared to hear him speak. She took a few seconds to calm down and answered: ¡±Seeing you like this is like a dream. If Gerad could see this!¡± Lisa then said with a tone filled with motherly love: ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll take good care of you¡± ¡°There''s a room we use for storage upstairs, Aaron and Feyd will help you clean it up in a few days¡±. ¡°In the meantime, you will share Aaron¡¯s and Feyd¡¯s room¡±. ¡°Boys, show your cousin the house and help him get familiarized with our place¡±. ¡°When your father comes back, we¡¯ll have a celebration!¡± ------- During the dinner, Sam was seated in the honor guest seat, and everyone was merrily chatting. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.Having drunk quite a bit, both for his return home and for his nephew''s revival, Philip was speaking to Sam about his father. "When you were born with your condition, you father was destroyed and spent almost nine years in closed door training and mediation. When you uncle Brian told him of a cure, he did not hesitate and immediatly went adventuring" "However, we would have never imagined that you would wake up before his return!" Philip intoxicated with alcohol and feeling of guilt described the pain he felt when he saw the villagers behavior toward Sam all these years, adding: "However, you must understand that the villagers viewed it as a curse because your illness was very mysterious, making you look like a faintly breathing corpse for fourteen long years." Hearing Philip talk about this matter, Sam understood that these shunnings came from superstitious beliefs ingrained in their culture. When Sam thought of his own culture''s history and superstition back in the middle-age, it made sense. Philip then spoke in behalf of Gerad. Saying that even though his father did not spend a lot of time with Sam, that did not meant Sam was not important for Gerad. Sam understood the point. Moreover he heard Carla speak about his father¡¯s state of mind after his birth so Philip''s speech did not give him any more insight about Gerad. Sam asked:¡±Did you¡­.knew¡­my mother?¡± Philip answered :¡±Yes, your mother¡¯s name was Sedina of the Reuben¡¯s family¡± ¡°You parents met at the Heaven Moons School when they were young¡±. ¡°That was so long time ago..¡± Lisa said, her attention focused nowhere in particular as if gazing at a distant scenery born from her memories. Sam thought: ¡°So my mother¡¯s name is Sedina Reuben. Is her family also living in Amos?.¡± He asked: ¡°My mother¡¯s¡­family do they¡­.live here?¡±. Lisa woke up from her dreamy state, and adding potatoes in Sam¡¯s plate said: ¡°Your mother¡¯s family is not from Amos¡±. ¡°Her family live in Shiloh, the prefectural city that manage our area. She moved here fourteen years ago in order to....¡± Lisa stopped here visibly troubled. She did not want Sam to feel guilty about his mother''s death on top of the hellish life he had up until now. Philip came to her rescue, ¡°Sam, your mother¡¯s family did not come to see you all these years because they thought you were dead¡± he paused then said ¡°If you have one day the occasion, go visit your mother¡¯s family in Shiloh¡±. Noticing the grief his mother''s death gave to Lisa, Sam thought that more time would be needed in order to pry into her memories. He nonetheless sighed in relief. His mother¡¯s family was not living in Amos. Sam was not at all the family type. Of course, if he one day visit Shiloh city, he would go visit just in order to satiate his curiosity as to where he is supposed to come from, "but there would have no other feelings associated with this demarch" is what he thought at the moment. Feyd whose mouth was full of meat gave an elbow blow to his brother seated to his side. Aaron looked at Feyd and through some sort of eyes signal, somewhat got the explanation from his mute-due-to-meat little brother. Aaron asked his father: ¡°Father, what is Sam going to do with us?¡± Philip glanced at Lisa then answered Aaron. ¡°Sam is going to be teamed with your activities from now on.¡± ¡°Gathering herb, compounding, potion making and of course selling¡±. When he saw Feyd and Aaron¡¯s faces changing into a dangerous one, Philip knew that this was not the end of the story. But being teamed up with his own children was the best protection Philip could provide to Sam, so for now he had to endure and be prepared to wipe his children''s ass. ¡°Starting tomorrow, you are going to drill into Sam the basis of our work; we¡¯ll see which one is best suited for him¡±. Sam nodded, he was not against the idea, but the feeling of being the center of attention during his trip to Philip¡¯s house made him uneasy. He decided to ask Lisa later if she had some clothes he could use in order to draw less attention. ----------- File 14 - Four months File 14 - Four months More than four months passed since Sam started living in Philip Lennart¡¯s house. Sam spent the first months learning the basic job of compounding, selling, and herb gathering in Philip''s district. This included Aaron and Feyd¡¯s best spots around the village and the dangerous areas to avoid in the outskirts when alone. In order to avoid chaos every time he went out, Sam took the habit of wearing a long brown cape covering his body and head. Sam¡¯s face was still visible but when he was inside the village, he preferred keeping his hood firmly on, even to this day. The cape was made of cheap materials, but ¡°it does the job¡± as Lisa proudly said when she saw Sam dejected face the first time she presented it to him. The reaction of a lot of villagers was distant and cold, but no one dared to touch or insult "Gerad''s son". Sam asked himself many times how long time it will take for them to finally accept him as a resident. Sam was a philosophical man, he did not mind the bad vibes he received. After all, they were not aggressives, just distants. And if Sam rebelled and tried to do something about it, he knew the effects could be worse than the current situation. As he had to live here for now, best was to avoid troubles for the family he was living in. Since Sam came in this world, he thought a lot of time about what could have happened that day at RESERV. Sam sometimes felt nostalgic when thinking of his father, but he held no hopes in being able to return to his world. His current physical condition was a real bother however, and his only rays of light came from the existence of refiners in this world. At least Sam had hope for his body, and for now, that was his goal. To his relief, this cold treatment was not taking place in the storehouse or when accomplishing gathering missions. When Sam was amongst coworkers, he was not hiding himself, and his coworkers afraid at first, quickly warmed up to this smart youth. Concerning Sam''s body, even with Mepan¡¯s skin regeneration talismans, numerous places on his body and face had still cracks and his complexion seemed forever pale. In the plus side, Sam''s left arm has recovered almost seventy percent of its mobility and strength, giving Sam enough motor skills to perform his daily needs and work. Under Sam''s right foot, a used wood plate five centimeter thick was fastened, making it possible for Sam to walk without limping. He could not run very fast, but this patchwork gave Sam a better standing. During these four months, Sam learned to recognize the different plants surrounding Amos village and the mountain¡¯s forest. He also learned the effects attributed to their use and the way to make potions but as the recipes were scarce he only knew and concoct four potions, but even that was astonishing for someone who started potion-making just a two months back. The people surrounding Sam had been surprised by this youth capacities at first, but after a while, they believed this was a talent bestowed upon him by fate in exchange for his ordeals. Sam also got closer to Vincent and Mepan in order to gather more intelligence on refinement and war tactics currently used in this world. He learned that aside from the martial arts experts who used their strenght, QI and martial skills, the battles and wars of mortals involved cavalry, arrows, sword battles and use of talismans to cast QI based attacks. Sam started to grow curious about the might of these experts; he wanted to see a fight between experts for himself. He learned a bit more about Phi continent and the surroundings of Amos village. Sam heard from Vincent that Obour was one of the biggest city on the eastern side of the prefecture they were in, Bethlehem. Obour was considered the platform for other cities and villages of the prefecture to import and export goods from other parts of the eastern region. As Obour was such a big city, thoughts of raising it as a prefectural city came often, however its mayor did not accept the honors every time they were presented. Because keeping Obour¡¯s status as a city allowed him a larger degree of freedom in the transactions taking place in it. One of the main attractions of Obour, beside its colosseum, was its auction room where numerous high quality items always mysteriously found their way in. Obour¡¯s mayor has made a point in enforcing the rules to keep security in the city, so strife were mostly non-existent and potential buyers and sellers flocked all year long in this paradisiac environment. The prefectural city Shiloh was ten days away on the west. There, according to Mepan, was one of the most famous Refiners school of the prefecture: Heaven Moons School. This school¡¯s recruiting ceremony in two months was Aaron and Feyd¡¯s target. It was reputed to have nurtured some of the best refiners of Maghen, and many of the refining geniuses of the region were students there. Once every three years, the school opened its doors to allow new potential students to be accepted. ----- Two days ago, Sam assisted to a fight between Vincent who started coming with Philip¡¯s guards during their missions in the forest, and a rank six body realm beast. That day, Aaron convinced Feyd and Sam to visit a special location of the forest said to have a plant named Red Avena. Cultivators of the body realm had a great need for these plants as it enhanced the QI absorption by applying a potion on the body made with this plant. Of course the effects were minimal for higher realm cultivators, but for the body realm cultivators, this effect was more than enough for them to seeks theses potions like famished beggars. So these plants could sell for a satisfying price at the Heaven Trade center. However, before they could reach the location, a huge rank six beast surged from the side surprising Feyd at the end of the convoy. The beast looked like a bear with green glowing eyes, but it had over grown claws and fangs and its fur was dark-green with black tattoos running from its forehead to its lower back. After the battle Vincent told Sam this bear-like creature was an Ursak. According to Sam estimations, this Ursak was three and a half meters tall, and its movements were surprisingly fast for such a tall figure. Seeing Vincent jumping in front of Feyd with his sword unsheathed, Sam focused on the battle about to unfold, he was of course startled by the appearance of the beast, however his past experience added to Vincent display of calmness in front of it reassured him on the fact that they were not in danger. When he saw the beast coming from the side, Vincent who was in the middle of the convoy immediatly dashed toward Feyd, and thanks to his fast movements, he was able to come in between the beast and Feyd a moment before the strike. Vincent blocked the claws with his sword, and using the recoil to propel himself, jumped backward to avoid the second strike coming from his left side. Feyd immediately ran toward the guards who came in reinforcement. The beast, surprised at first, roared and ran toward Vincent. In the meantime, Vincent who lost his balance when he landed straightened up, and holding his longsword forward with both hands waited for the beast to come. His eyes were unwavering and carried an intense concentration. Taking Vincent¡¯s stillness as one of fear, the beast approached faster and swiped once again. This time however, Vincent did not block. Just before the Ursak¡¯s claws landed, the ground shacked under Vincent''s feet as he moved sideways. For Sam, it was like Vincent''s silhouette blurred for a second. He was astonished. Sam saw Vincent perform steps that looked similar to the martial steps from his world, but each time Vincent touched the ground, he casted the soil aside. And he was so fast! So fast that before the beast could stop its attack¡¯s inertia, Vincent was already on its right side. It was as if he had vanished for a moment to reappeared beside the beast. Vincent held his longsword high in the air before striking down with both arms. The Ursak, seeing this let out an angry roar while trying to defend, but the strike of Vincent was so fast that the only thing the Ursak could move before losing its head was its eyes. The fallen body then dragged on the floor for a few meters before stopping. When Sam, who had lost nothing from the fight asked what movements Vincent performed to move at such speed, Vincent replied: ¡°Young master, as a eighth body realm expert, my body has been purified and strengthened to a level beyond the mortal realm.¡± he paused and asked, ¡°You heard of the refiners through Mepan right?¡± Sam answered: ¡°Yes, Mepan did try to teach me the refining techniques, the books he gave helped me in familiarizing myself with the knowledge. However, as all the veins in my body beside the ones in my right arm are crippled, I can¡¯t seem to muster enough QI to use talismans when Mepan tested me, let alone refining¡±. This was an half the truth as his veins were indeed crippled. This allowed Sam to muster a small amount of QI, but Mepan when testing Sam told him it was nowhere near the required amount needed to use talismans. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. However, that was without counting the Marble. During these four months, Sam discovered that not only the Marble gave him a vast knowledge; he was also able to learn new knowledge astonishingly fast. In fact, Sam was like a sponge. Never forgetting anything he had seen. And it seemed it was not the extent of its powers... According to Mepan, to muster ones QI, one need to concentrate on the sensation on ones palm and act as if trying to draw blood toward this direction. At first Sam tried to contract and extend the muscles of his palm. And seeing this, Aaron patiently explained: "Ah Ah! Feyd made the same expression when he begun his training" "No matter how many times I see it, this constipated face is always killing me!" Dodging his brother''s boot that was flying toward his direction, Aaron pursued, "When we say you must try to muster the Qi in your palm as if to try to pump blood in it, it is meant as a metafore." "The blood is the place your soul is contained for people who are not at least experts of the spirit stage". "So when Mepan says its like pumping your blood in, he meant to try to sharpen your consciousness in the palm of your hand, and concentrate on the feelings of it". Since then Sam tried to feel the QI flowing in his veins and muster it, but as his veins were limited in size and numbers, it took Sam a month to be able to feel it and muster what he had. Even so, these results astonished Aaron as he said: "F**k it took me at least one year of arduous training to start getting a feeling of it, I was so smug back then...ah!" he sighed and added in a odd tone "If you weren''t crippled how far would you go?" One day, seeing Sam training to muster QI, Mepan gave him a book on how to refine low-rank plants. It was the type of refining that had the less Qi level requirement, but it contained the theory to begin as a refiner. It took Sam only a short time to memorize and conceptualize the way refining works. The act of refining consist in releasing the QI contained naturally in the body toward objects in the palm of the hand. By circulating ones QI around a plant, letting the QI go through it, it was possible to link the plant essence with the QI mustered. Extracting the precious essence little by little and using this extract as a base to make potions or engraving material to use when carving runes on a talismans. The essence recovered was refined again a number of times to purify it from the unneeded elements mixed in during the extraction. According to Mepan, the better control ones had on QI manipulation, the better their chance to control a flames to properly carve runes will be. "To be a refiner one''s has to absorb an elemental flame, to be able to wield a flame and not being consumed by it, the amount of control one''s had over his QI will be determinant!" Mepan said seriously. "But, can one not just use a regular flame in order to carve runes? using a medium like the spirit crystal flame rod in order to carve the runes is a process I saw Aaron and Feyd perform numerous times and the result are not bad at all" Sam asked puzzledly. Aaron and Feyd showed Sam how they carve low ranked runes a lot of times, by imbuing their QI in a flame crystal which is a crystal containing an elemental flame, they were able to carve a lot of differents attack and defense based runes, like the Flame Arrows Rune, Fireball Rune, Earth wall Runes, Lightning Stunning Runes... They were all usable runes and their power was not small. However Mepan replied disdainfully "These are beginners runes and even though at your level of skills you would think of it as a pinnacle, let me tell you this: The difference in power between the same runes created with a flame crystal and an absorbed elemental flame of the same rank is a tenth, a tenth!" Mepan repeated seriously. The ownership of an elemental flame was also vital because it influenced everything from the speed of refining to the ability to refine some materials, and if you were a cultivator and the quality of the flames was a high tier it could even help in battle. Aaron and Feyd possessed high natural QI so naturally were suited to absorb a lower rank flame, which was planned not far in the future as Philip bought a set of lower rank elemental flame two weeks ago. As months passed and through trials and observations, Sam started forming conjectures and links between his refining and herbology knowledges. He even built a microscope based on the first built in his own world, and soon, his room started to look like a laboratory. Philip was happy and proud to see Sam so hardworking. Furthermore, thanks to Sam ideas, number of headaches had been taken out of Philip¡¯s head. For example, Sam suggested that if gatherers teamed with adventurers, the adventurers would be able to venture to places only known by locals and locals would be able to gather rarer herbs with more security. Moreover, Sam studied the plants tediously with the datas available in his memory, and he devised a way to cultivate some of them in greenhouses using the minerals contained in their natural habitat¡¯s soil, taking off further the workload of the herb gatherers'' shoulders which could focus on the research of better and rarer quality herb. Philip was ecstatic with the changes Sam performed in the Lennart¡¯s herb gathering district. The reason Sam was so hard at work was only to earn money. For Sam, more money meant a better chance to have his body fixed, so he constantly racked his brain in search of useable means with what he had at hand. All these experiments had allowed Sam to optimize his refining techniques knowing which parts of the plants he needed to refine to get the better quality essence, and this was not small feat. Moreover, he could feel that he was in total control when mustering his QI; the Marble was clearly aiding in the process, making his QI flowing more precisely and smoothly, and even though the refinement was still not perfect because of the lack of QI mustered, Sam was still proud of his advancements, his extracts, while not rivaling Aaron nor Feyd''s were at least seventy percent of their quality His studies from the plants of this world and the control the Marble added in his QI control, allowed Sam to refine with the little QI he had. But he could only refine low-level plants and moss, and could not absorb a flame within his body. High-level plants or core refining for example was still impossible in his condition. However, Sam could not tell Mepan he was able to refine and pri¨®duce usable exctract with this little QI. Because Mepan was still in shock with the changes Sam brought in the Herb department and started to look at this six months awaken beast in alarm. He seemed to have joined Carla''s club and were sometimes looking at him with fear in their eyes. So Sam did not want to stand out anymore. According to what Sam understood of their mentality, they seems to think that he was possessed by a demon, if not how to explain his amazing developments these past six months ? So for now, he just wanted to continue experimenting, and when he earned enough money to cure himself, he would study refining further. Thus, the reason for this half truth to Vincent. Vincent hearing Sam speaking of his difficulties in mustering QI nodded and continued: ¡°Every living being, as soon as they are born possess QI¡± ¡°However mustering QI and being able to act upon it in order to improve the body are two different things¡±. People of this world were all be born with QI in their veins, normal humans had a maximum life expectancy of 120 years on earth, however these people, without training, had a life expectancy of 180 years. ¡°Refiners focus their QI toward the outside making it possible for them to carve runes or refine materials, however practitioners focus their QI toward their body in order to purify it, in essence, this is the opposite of what refiners do¡± Vincent paused as to be sure that Sam understood and had no questions, he then continued. ¡°Every practitioners has gone through hellish body training and refinig in order to initiate a connection with their inner QI, the success rate is extremely low¡±. ¡°If the practitioner is able to create this connection, he then train and meditate in order to nurture and purify the body with the QI contained in nature. Linking it with the inner QI.¡± ¡°That is the first step in order to become a cultivator. When your body start purifying, your senses, body strength and speed deviate further from the mortal realm every step you make in your training¡±. While listening to Vincent explanations, Sam saw the guards ruffling the Ursak¡¯s head and took out what looked like a green rock out of it. When Sam asked what this was while pointing at it and Vincent told him this was a beast core used by refiners and could sell for a good price in the Heavens trade center. Interested, Sam decided on one of his next study materials. ------