《Neo Cosmos》 Prologue - The Final Battle? Prologue From the time , the universe had begun and was expanding relentlessly which caused the creation and destruction of all life. Currently , A Battle continued between two entities on a desolate place but the area would bewilder normal people as the current plane had almost nothing to it. If one were to answer how the place looked , it would be nothing but pure white where one wouldn¡¯t know where one stood or where one went. Yet there were two people who in such a place on opposite sides cautiously staring at the other. On one side stood a 7 foot giant , wearing a armor which would for an onlooker feel like it would easily blend to the area and camouflage its wearer. The giant gave a command while observing his opponent and armor turned to a black grayish color. He was holding a weapon which looked like a pole and the armor had various slots for different weapons to be placed such as projectiles. ¡°So its finally over, huh? ¡­¡­¡± said the giant as he stared at slightly feminine looking opponent. On the other side , a frail looking boy sat on a throne like structure staring at the giant with empty eyes. A sword was pierced directly at the centre of the boy and the throne seemed destroyed. There were multiple bruises on his delicate body but he still moved while staring at the giant. Finally he let out a smile of defeat , he started to cough blood but barely managed to speak . ¡°Well done ¡­¡­you¡¯ve defeated who controlled this world¡¯s balance for a long time ¡­¡­in any case its ending for us anyway ,¡­...Terion.¡± The giant sighed but didn¡¯t lessen the grip on his weapon and spoke ¡° I¡¯ve done what I needed to do and it looks like you can¡¯t do as you please anymore , let fate take its place ¡°. The boy smiled and with an exhausted breath said ,¡±You can least call me a god now , I¡¯ve lost to someone who has no future goals to save anything. Are you sure you want to let things carry on like this , Terion?¡± ¡° ¡­¡­¡± Terion looked at the being called god with a straight face , if one saw him one would think he was devoid of most emotions. ¡° It is as you already said , this universe is ending. The universe which was born countless eons and was always expanding through nothingness is now destroying itself and now contracting. No civilization could stop it , even you who has been watching over it ever since you were born along with it cannot stop it. The universe created countless galaxies and within them were solar systems and life existed and died on planets. Moreover , weren¡¯t you only trying to save yourself in the end?¡± (Terion) ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡­.¡± , the god stayed silent has he gazed over Terion. The God couldn¡¯t stop the end of the universe which was already foretold by time , at which point even he himself was to die. The God was more or less a single entity rather than a species which could manipulate space and the strands of time to watch over the growing universe , the universe itself was the one which provided the power to him to do so. But now that it is ending , even his own power cannot stand to stop its destruction. Terion continued ,¡± You were planning to somehow escape by using whatever power left within your grasp and so you could easily live in the world which would be created after this¡­..¡± The God smiled ,¡± Wasn¡¯t it because of me that many races and civilizations flourished ? Wouldn¡¯t it be better if I led the next one as well?¡± Terion looked infuriated , but calmed down slowly and said , ¡° You controlled the lives of people however you wanted according to your desires , many fell after you felt that any such civilization would get powerful and reach you. Even my predecessors , the humankind which strived after escaping their dying home for many millennia would¡¯ve come to your level , but you saw that and ended them. At the end you were afraid , though I did not come here to avenge my ancestors as only half their blood flows within me. I did succeed in making sure you take responsibility and end like all who were born in this universe.¡± The God looked at Terion with a blank face ,¡± ¡­¡­haha¡­¡­.. ahhhhh¡­.Not bad¡­.. even being what you are ¡­.though I shouldn¡¯t call you as a completely living person ¡­..I suppose I am to accept you as a person who defeated me ¡­.. Only you can take the decisions to what happens now , yet it seems you only made sure the next world which will be created after ours end will not have any interference from this one¡­.perhaps what you have decided is right.¡± Terion looked shocked but the God continued, ¡±¡­¡­Its time , even I don¡¯t have any power left to heal myself. Defeated here by a mixed race who evolved through many levels ¡­¡­yes , I can accept it. Since I am useless to this dying universe , I suppose you can have this¡­..¡± Saying that the God began to glow and from the eyes of god a small ball of light exited and striked Terion at an amazing speed. Terion hastened his grip and looked at the God , but what hit him didn¡¯t cause any pain so he simply observed. While breathing slowly the god said , ¡°¡­¡­.Take it ¡­¡­.It is my greatest power to manipulate space and time ¡­¡­..this place where we stand¡­¡­¡­it¡¯s the center of the universe when it was first born and began expanding ¡­¡­¡­my small room which connects to space and time ¡­¡­with your remaining life you can perhaps go to the past and relive what¡¯s left of it in happiness¡­¡­but let me warn you , no matter how you change the past , no matter how powerful a civilization would become the end of the universe cannot be stopped¡­¡­.. with your body and your existence I suppose you can use my power¡±. Terion had a face of bewilderment and simply asked, ¡°¡­¡­why?¡± The God replied, ¡° It¡¯s simply a toy I had for a long time. Maybe you can do something with it ¡­..It¡¯s the last part of this universe anyway. Although it really doesn¡¯t take much energy to use its simplest functions , so at best you can travel once to any point in the past without straining yourself ¡­¡­consider this as a reward for defeating me ¡­¡­¡­¡­yeah ¡­..its ¡­..fading¡­.now¡±. Terion listened to the God¡¯s final words and saw him glowing and slowly disintegrating into small particles of light. The God¡¯s power had ceased and Terion finally relaxed. He searched the white room and found a reflection and said ¡°ah¡­.the portal¡¯s here¡­.but ¡° . The reflection or a mirror without edges was the door through which he had entered into this realm from another planet . Although he wanted to return , he hesitated thinking that world might¡¯ve already fell due to the chaos and destruction which was nearing. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.After deciding not to go back , he simply searched the room for anything worthwhile to garner his attention. He was able to find a building , but it seemed odd since all the surroundings were white and one could not figure which top or bottom. But he was able to enter by simply walking towards the building¡¯s entrance. After entering it , he found many rooms filled with data crystals which were similar to books but contained information of enormous depth and magnitude. The various planets which Terion already visited had a particular race which used such crystals and since he himself had learnt to use them , he activated some of them. He searched through various data crystals , but became interested after reading a title of them which stated ¡®The Coming World¡¯. It was information of the next world which would be created next , Terion questioned in belief to how the God had obtained this information as there would be no time existing between the end of the current and creation of the next. He slowly read it and it detailed in the form of an author¡¯s preface (author being god) that he had created a small time strand between the end and start , had finally gotten this information but to create that one time strand he had exhausted the energy enough to hasten the end by 100,000 years. Terion was perplexed at how little the God had thought about the consequences. But he simply didn¡¯t care for it , as the end would¡¯ve arrived either way. Perhaps any race wouldn¡¯t have started to evolve much during that time since it would millions of years to advance , he thought. ------Terion¡¯s POV---- My objective is complete. The God has returned to being part of this universe as it should be. All my friends and foes are dead , all advanced races are destroyed. I was only able to reach here by obtaining the artifacts which somehow I was able to save. Perhaps it was God himself who made me do all this in the end. I didn¡¯t really believe in someone like him existing though. All civilizations existed on science and I think what he used was also technology which would¡¯ve been later done by other advanced ones. Except for this power he gave me, I don¡¯t think there has been any technology which could manipulate time or space so easily. Just to get here we had to use so much energy, but the portal on that side was already closing in seconds it was created so I was the only one able to get here. What else can I find? Hmm what¡¯s that? It¡¯s a data crystal but ¡­.why does it have my name on it. Terion Ael Durret Alpha¡­..so God even had the name of clone body which I had using survived till now. It was really annoying when this started , I¡¯d age quickly because of human ancestry and had to live long enough to collect those artifacts , everytime I switched my consciousness and memories through the brain into clones. It was a really painful experience. Well lets read this anyway. ¡°¡­¡­¡­..¡± What¡¯s this? He¡¯s written that he can¡¯t see the time strand of my future from the point I first switched to my first clone. So I suppose in a way , he hadn¡¯t expected that I would find a way into his realm. It¡¯s pointless now anyway and he didn¡¯t have much information on this data crystal after that. Now that I see it , there are a lot of data crystals about various people. There¡¯s one on the leader of Advance Peace faction and another one on the Great Librarian. Pretty much all of them are about influential people of the many advanced civilizations up to this point. ---------After a long time-------- Ahh¡­ Its started to get boring now , most of my body is mechanical so I don¡¯t really feel hunger or fatigue and I guess the end is coming maybe in a few days. I can see some cracks on this white room. Those cracks weren¡¯t there when I first arrived here. I guess I was immersed in this place for some time now. That God did give me some power but a device would¡¯ve been easier to use. When I saw my reflection , my eye had changed and something like a clock hand was there. He said I should find time strands to the past but this place is vast. Even so more than that , I don¡¯t really have any interest to live how he told me to. I suppose I should simply go into a long sleep and simply face the end. Yeah I¡¯ll do that. Its not like I wouldn¡¯t like a happy life , I¡¯m just ¡­¡­bored. I¡¯ve seen enough of this , after living so long and seeing so much I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll have much interest to live in the past where I know what happens. Oh well , I guess I¡¯ll search a little bit more and simply rest this worn out body. -----After 15 days------ *yawwwnnn* I feel tired. I didn¡¯t find anything else useful to interest me and even though this knowledge from the data crystals would¡¯ve been useful earlier . I looked around and the understood by the changes of the room. Looks like this is it , the whole room is shaking and its all in cracks. I guess this was the centre and I don¡¯t mind my last place being here. Hehe I¡¯m the last one going out , I¡¯ll take it like a man. This body is really strong and large compared to my ancestors , I guess its because of the training I took. Though I lost some of it and had to use prosthetics for this cloned body. But still I wonder why my previous body would die when I changed into a clone¡¯s. Guess the knowledge of millions of eons is going to end with me. Ah¡­. Its getting hot ¡­.too hot ¡­¡­..looks like I¡¯m going too¡­¡­.just like that God¡­¡­I can see my body disappearing¡­..my consciousness ¡­¡­.its fading¡­¡­Everything is so ¡­¡­..dark¡­¡­¡­. ¡­¡­¡­.I can see ¡­¡­.a light? ¡­¡­.I was supposed to be dead ?........what is this? Someone¡¯s holding me , I can¡¯t struggle or move ¡­¡­¡­ Something liquid is coming from my nose and am I ¡­¡­¡­am I ¡­..crying? Holding me ¡­¡­this person is smiling ¡­..she¡¯s smiling¡­¡­ ah I¡¯m feeling tired¡­.. need¡­.to sleep¡­ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- edit : I reedited the prologue so it will be a bit more easier to be read , i should''ve done it before i submitted it. Thank you for reading. I hope for more reviews and I''ll update chapter 1 soon Chapter 0 - His Past His Past Everything is still dark ¡­¡­.. Who was that person? She was smiling ¡­¡­ and my body ¡­.it feels so heavy.. I remember ¡­.. I was at the centre of ¡­..something¡­.and¡­ My name¡­..What was my name again?...... ---- After few days ------- Yeah ¡­.. I think I remember it all now. Who I was and What happened at the end. I remember where I was born, it was a planet called Xyla-A42-T though its residents referred to it as Lush Haven. It was the perfect settlement planet for various races from different galaxies all over the universe. I remember my parents, but I can¡¯t quite remember their names. I cared deeply for them so why couldn¡¯t I remember them? My Father was a mixed race and my mother was a human. Even though he was a mixed race its wasn¡¯t like he had much different characteristics of a human other than having a much more clear memory and aging didn¡¯t affect his body like a normal human. My parents ¡­.they cared a lot for me but they had to send me off at the age of ten to another settlement on an another planet in a different galaxy because there was a war occurring on the neighboring planets and they had only enough funds to only ensure my safety. Later in my life I found out they died as the planet had been destroyed during the war, the weaponry during that time belonged to the conquest hungry Legion. After separating from them, I mostly did odd jobs from a miner to a hunter and also as a information broker. I didn¡¯t have any talent in combat or it was so what I had thought. Things changed after a few years when I was 25 and was trapped into a war between two rising military galactic nations. It was here I found certain artifacts through my connections. These artifacts were from civilizations which had perished and they offered my various knowledge on combat, survival and even various technologies which most never would think existed. After years of fighting and wearing down my body I had a thought, it was something really strange and something I wouldn¡¯t even consider but after living my whole life I questioned. ¡°Why?¡± Why was this never ending war between so many nations which were always standing for peace and for evolution happen? What did we gain at the end? Why didn¡¯t it stop? These were questions which haunted me day and night. I was already 75 years old then and I always questioned how I was still alive. I never really had time to fall in love, create a family and retire, but after so many years of suffering through these dark nights I finally decided. I was motivated to learn, to understand why this was happening and thought I would some form of answer at the end of my life. And 30 years later I found out something ¡­¡­ It was shocking ¡­..All these wars had started by very small disputes, through people who weren¡¯t recorded in history. Each and every one of them was like a tragedy, as though someone intended it to be that way. When I realized this , I was already nearing my deathbed¡­¡­. It was at this point, I made a final decision to work in the shadows and fight any battles which would lead to such pointless wars. I decided to continue living¡­¡­¡­even through a cloned body. It took a millennium, I stopped counting my mental age and I didn¡¯t question whether it was my own consciousness in this body. But since the previous bodies died without any reason I didn¡¯t ponder on it and simply followed my mission. It was during my tenth clone incarnation I understood that everything was coming to an end and it couldn¡¯t be stopped. It was then when I found a certain artifact, it was a data crystal. But the reason I thought it was an artifact even though data crystals weren¡¯t a rare case during that time was because the one I found dated many years- no eons back when data crystals were even first started and the information it had was about the God who had been alive. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. This God was described as an entity who was born from the egg which created this universe. I didn¡¯t understand it much and hardly even believed it. It also described how he was going to fall when the end would begin. At the end it had instructions that in case he should ever try to escape his demise that one would have to stop him or otherwise bring doom to even the next cycle. When I read further into it , the data crystal had information about the end on how supernovas would begin in various galaxies and how the universe would begin to shrink. I confirmed that whatever it said was true after seeing the research of scientists who had experimented it. As I had reached a dead end on preventing the wars between nations, the data crystal also spoke of how it would happen during the nearing end. I couldn¡¯t doubt it¡­..it was beyond what would one call a coincidence. So I followed the instructions still not thinking this God would exist, trying to go to the planet which was very near to its consumption from the dark matter. I was surprised when the portal had appeared and I jumped before it closed as I knew if I didn¡¯t then ¡­I wouldn¡¯t survive this planet¡¯s death. I confirmed it¡­..the place which was transported to¡­.all similar to the information in the data crystal. And when I searched the whole place , I found him sitting on the throne with a surprised look on his face. He started speaking about who I was, but he couldn¡¯t understand why someone who had died was here. Then I asked him a simple question, ¡°Are you running away?¡±. He was completely puzzled and was staring at me like he didn¡¯t understand what I spoke. He almost raised from his throne still staring , at this point I got cautious and took a battle stance. He laughed and said ¡° really ¡­¡­I don¡¯t get it , but how did you know? ¡­¡­It doesn¡¯t matter, even if you¡¯re a reaper here to kill me I won¡¯t stop¡± and after that the battle started. After a long time, after exhausting everything ¡­all the knowledge I had ¡­all my experience in combat¡­.I finally defeated him. He then had a blank face, showing he had given up and after a few words he disintegrated. What I saw at that moment was him becoming part of this dying universe after giving me the power which kept him alive in this place. Finally, my long life ended and there was nothing but strife albeit a few moments of happiness from my comrades who were already dead at this point. I didn¡¯t have any motivation anymore because of long life and I was bored with living this way. So why? Why am I feeling these strange emotions now? I feel like I¡¯m at peace but I feel like getting back up and finding something new to do. I slowly opened my eyes, it was bright and I found out I was facing the ceiling. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author Note: I wanted to go into a bit more depth on the MC''s past. I was planning posting 2 chapters actually but had a hard time from real life. I''ll post the next chapter quickly after a little rest, about the new world. Please tell me what you think about it. Chapter 1 - Rebirth Author''s note: I changed the previous chapter to Chapter 0. yeah it should have been prologue -2 or similar to that. So i apologize for my inexperience. This current chapter is twice as long compared to the previous ones, i added a few funny reactions from mc. Please tell me if you would like the further chapters to be longer like this one. I''ll try to keep both quality and quantity in check mon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebirth There was a wall in front of me or should I say where I was facing¡­¡­ I turned to my sides, what I could see was nothing but vertical bars similar to those in a jail cell. Am I in prison? I quickly removed that thought and kept observing. Something was covering my body, it was warm but it was a little heavy. I couldn¡¯t move my arms for some strange reason. I tried again and again but it was only small movements. It could be because I was tired or perhaps since I had woke up from a long sleep. I could only my head, so I kept turning and simply looked. After a while, I heard some sound. It was a small but familiar sound¡­.ah it was movement from footsteps. (Someone¡¯s coming..) It was a female ¡­..human? She looked quite young, maybe about 10 years old? But she was larger than me, could humans grow more than 7 feet? She gazed at me and started smiling, her hand was nearing my face. She was poking my face with her finger. Stop poking, I am not some animal. She stopped. She was still smiling and she quickly turned to her left and yelled. ¡°??????????????¡± I couldn¡¯t understand what she was speaking, but she had a loud voice. After a while, I could hear the sound of steps again but this time it felt like they were rushing here. This time there were two people who appeared in front me, they looked like giants much bigger than me. One of them I could confirm as a female but was much taller than earlier one and other a male. The female also seemed quite young and the male had facial hair. Slowly the females hand came for me, I tried to wriggle my way out but I still couldn¡¯t move my body the way I wanted. She held me in her arms and looked at the other two who were present. They started speaking, but I couldn¡¯t understand the language. I thought they were dangerous at first, but they didn¡¯t seem have any intention of harming me rather they were gentle and kept watch over me. I finally realized why I couldn¡¯t move my arms, they had shrunk. It wasn¡¯t that they were giants, it was me who the Lilliput ¡­¡­rather I was much larger when compared to that story though. I tried to speak but it was futile. I understood that this body which I was currently in was an infant¡¯s, then the people I saw would be my parents. I still doubted this, but I understood this was somewhat similar to when I shifted my consciousness to my cloned bodies. I didn¡¯t experience any pain so I didn¡¯t notice. But after observing a few hours more and calming down I was aware of my surroundings. I was still puzzled as to how my body had changed. I knew that shifting the consciousness of a person was possible but only if it was the same exact body type. It was similar to overwriting the memories of a person, the first time I did it was unpleasant and I couldn¡¯t feel any other emotions but pain. I had lost the feeling of happiness, satisfaction and anger , almost all emotions which made me a living being. But I could somewhat feel them now, even though I lost them a long time ago I remembered how it felt having emotions. I believe there was such a theory called reincarnation but it was never proved during the time I was living or prior to it. And I am sure enough that I was the only one who shifted his consciousness as the technology I had used was a lost artifact I obtained through my means. Though I can¡¯t confirm it right now, I will assume that reincarnation has taken place yet with my memories being intact. Reincarnation should¡¯ve never allowed a person to keep their memories or so what the theory had been stated during my previous life. It could be something else but for now I will focus on gathering more information. -----5 days later----- Although not much improvement was seen, I was slowly able to understand the words my family spoke. Only bits and pieces were what I was able to comprehend. They used sign language to speak to me, like pointing at themselves and announcing their name or doing the same pointing at certain objects. I suppose this is how interaction with an infant would occur. I learnt my family had consisted of 4 members including my self, one was my mother whose name I believe was Olivia and my father¡¯s name was Dari. I was able to learn their names whenever they shouted and that person appeared in front of me. I suppose the other girl who was younger than them would be my older sister, she pointed at herself and kept repeating the same word which would probably be her name, Sara. --------20 days later-------- As the days passed I understood how my family interacted with me. Olivia would come to check on me every few hours and would feed me. It was actually easier to cry when I was hungry than say anything else so I did just that. Olivia had blond hair and she looked really young to be my mother. I sometimes thought maybe I was adopted but I would simply ignore it, since I couldn¡¯t come to a conclusion. A normal person would feel weird when being breast fed thinking he maybe adopted, but I followed what a normal baby would do and simply took my nourishment. Sara would come and every time she would repeat a few words, these same words I heard whenever Olivia or Dari came to see me. I thought maybe it would be what you would call a baby in this language, but I thought it would be too weird if they did that. Naturally when handling a baby, calling it by its name would be best way for it to recognize itself. So I finally found out my name, the name given to me by my parents of this world. It was Orian. ---------Two Months Later ---------- The days went by and I was feeling really bored. All I did everyday was sleep in my cradle, be fed by Olivia, Sara always seeking my attention as she took me in her arms and walked around the house although this actually helped me and Dari always snuggling me onto his half grown beard. All of them got really happy when I simply smiled and made dumb noises which was all I could do at that moment. Don¡¯t start thinking I like these making stupid noises? But now I could finally make small movements, my hands felt more free and I could crawl on the floor. I crawled all over the house even though the floor was made of stone, it wasn¡¯t rough to hurt my skin. Olivia would bend a little whenever she saw me crawling, call my name and slowly wave her palm back and forth like you would call a dog. Whenever I saw this and came to her she would get really happy and hold me leaving aside whatever she did. Sometimes I would see this and simply go the other way, at which point she would get quickly depressed. Hey I am certainly not a sadist, it was just testing her reaction. But being a baby isn¡¯t easy, why do I excrete within the clothes they have bound my lower part to. I can¡¯t really hold it and my clothes get soiled this way. Its truly embarrassing for me, a long lived adult who didn¡¯t suffer this even when I reached old age. Since I can¡¯t stay in state and I can¡¯t speak yet, I naturally start crying loudly so Olivia changes it. Whenever this happens Sara usually holds me and while I¡¯m being changed I get the feeling she¡¯s mocking me. I¡¯m growing older Sara, I will have my revenge. I found that sleeping on Olivia¡¯s lap was incredibly divine, it was so warm and later it would be ¡®feeding¡¯ time. No, don¡¯t misunderstand it¡¯s because food is basic necessity. I don¡¯t have any other ill intentions. ------One month later------- Hmm¡­.How long have I been in this infant form? I believe it¡¯s been 4-5 months since I first awoke with my memories. I¡¯ve pretty much understand the language my family speaks and I usually listen in on their conversations when I roam around the house. I didn¡¯t get the chance to head outside though. Since I¡¯ve been eavesdropping ¡­err I mean listening to the what my family speaks, I¡¯ve gained information about them and about the outside. I can confirm that wherever I am, it¡¯s a planet I¡¯ve never visited before¡­.no I shouldn¡¯t say a planet since I can¡¯t confirm if it even is. I know any planet from my previous universe wouldn¡¯t exist as they all got wiped out during the end. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Seeing the clothes, the structures of the house and various household objects, I can guess this current world lacks any technology which would ease living conditions. There was something similar like this in my previous life, there were planets which only recently began evolving. There were tribes among them and shelter was lacking. But the conditions of this tell me that its at least advanced enough to not be in the prehistoric era in this world. I still ponder whether me being a human when I was born again was a coincidence of me entering like this. Perhaps this was the new world which was supposed to be created next, then if that was the case maybe because I held onto my memories and somehow wound up here could¡¯ve caused humans to also be born. I doubt that would be the case since that would involve many factors and not just my existence which would¡¯ve made humans to be made here. Maybe in every cycle of the universe it was the same way and humans somehow appeared, I think that would be most likely as there were many planets in the previous universe where there were species resembling humans one way or the other. I think I shouldn¡¯t worry about this, as I haven¡¯t even confirmed if this body is naturally human or not. Leaving that aside, I finally stopped crawling taking my first steps to walking. Everyone was shocked, when they saw and they kept cheering to keep going. I already knew how to walk basically, I also knew proper posture to take so it would keep perfect balance on the body. But if I just randomly started walking like that, they would easily get suspicious. Some may even think I¡¯m a genius or a monster. So I humored them by dawdling and falling like an idiot. It seems this house is located in a village and the village is surrounded by a forest. Olivia always warns Sara whenever she heads out to not to go too far in the forest. It doesn¡¯t seem like Sara has any means of protection and Olivia worries a lot about this. Worry not fair maiden, this knight will protect thy daughter. Though she¡¯d be more worried more if I went with Sara in my current state. It seems Dari is actually a merchant and sells goods by travelling to neighboring cities. He has to take the carts loaded with goods and Sara usually takes care of the horses whenever he heads out. The nearest city would probably take 2 days to reach since whenever he heads out , he comes back after 4 days. I assume there¡¯s a safe path in the forest which he can access to safely deliver the goods. Sara usually plays with me, whenever she¡¯s inside the house. She tries to be careful not to make me cry since Olivia will end up scolding her. Should I do it? It won¡¯t hurt me right? I could simply cry for no reason. I didn¡¯t though. I entered a room which Dari mostly resides during morning in case if he¡¯s in the house. They told me it was a study room. It had a desk and a few books lined up. Books¡­..why? Even though I never used them, it was a primitive method of storing information. Does this mean almost every time there will be a similar technology made when humans are involved? For now I¡¯ll obtain the information in them. I point to the notebooks and Sara who was with me glanced at them. She didn¡¯t hesitate to bring a book and down and open them. Hey wait a minute, are you really going bring down a book in front of a messy child who cries and soils himself very often? It looks like she herself was curious about the book, her eyes were glaring at the single book she had brought down. I think this was her favorite one, since she quickly glances over the pages and tries to show me the best parts. It¡¯s not like I had data crystal I was highly fond of. She places me her laps while she reads the content of the book from the starting page. She probably thinks I don¡¯t understand it. She¡¯s closing the book , I motion my hand in between the book and signal her to continue. She looks a little surprised but she continues reading since I was curious. It was a book about the plants and animals which lived in the large region the humans had lived up till now. It was basically a encyclopedia. It described the region as the Carthos Continent and how lush the flora and fauna had been. Sara started showing me hand drawn pictures of the various animals that lived here. There were many simple ones which were similar to the creatures which were found on the various planets I had been on. I was listening to her explanation about each one and after a few pages I finally realized. It was a simple sketch, I almost thought the one who drew had no talent and he made great mistake. But I saw it and I knew that making such a mistake was impossible. The picture which I saw was of a three headed dog or wolf creature. It shouldn¡¯t have shocked me though I hadn¡¯t seen such a creature in my previous life. The reason it shocked me was because the information about that monster was what I had seen in the data crystal in the white room. The chances of it being a coincidence were low and I had no doubt that I had been reborn into the next world after the destruction of mine when I saw two more creatures which were also described in that same data crystal. I thought that they should¡¯ve been evolved as the information that God obtained could be from an earlier era, but the information described as such was that these creatures never evolved from their initial creation and the information on them was written collected from many millions of years into the future. With this, I realized I was born as a living being in the next world. --------Ten Days Later-------- Since I could walk now, I was playing with Sara at home. The main aim of the game was to catch or tag her. Since I couldn¡¯t run quickly yet Sara goes easy on me but I still can¡¯t beat her. She escapes at the moment i just catch her.You¡¯re doing this on purpose, aren¡¯t you? Watch my special move, hidden speed. I started sprinting, since I already knew the right steps to take to increase my speed, Sara was bewildered and started running quickly. Seeing the big sister run away from the little brother would be a weird scene if a normal person saw it and didn¡¯t think they were siblings. I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m chasing after girls at my age. I almost tagged her, but couldn¡¯t. At the last step I lost my balance and fell. I did everything correctly yet I fell. Yeah, having a infant¡¯s body has its disadvantages. It was mainly because this body wouldn¡¯t be able keep up with stress I was putting on it. I should be careful the way I train this body. Train?Why would I be training it? It¡¯s simple. As soon as I found out where I was, I wanted to know more about this world. Everything from its inhabitants to its features, the alignment of its stars and planets, the different elements which were present. Why were there creatures existing which weren¡¯t in the previous universe. What are the laws which apply here? It was amazing. The excitement I felt, the happiness in being part of this family, the frustration of being weak. I could never feel them in the long life I held before. I decided. I¡¯m going to explore every bit and detail of this world to my heart¡¯s content and experience all the emotions I can feel in the life I can live. --------Olivia¡¯s POV------- Ahh¡­Orian¡¯s been quite active lately, isn¡¯t he? I was scared when he was first born, all he did was cry and sleep for a few days. Sara was more quiet when I had her. She took her father¡¯s hair and Orian has my hair for his looks. He learned to walk so quickly too. Sometimes I feel like he can actually understand what I¡¯m speaking. Such a cute child, we¡¯ll cherish him the same as Sara. I wonder how he will grow up to be in the future. Awww¡­.Orain¡¯s being mean. Even though he was rushes to me when I call out to him. Today he just ignored me and smiled as he left. I should teach him a woman¡¯s anger at being ignored in the future. He gets along with his sister nicely. Hope those two don¡¯t fight too much in the future. Chapter 2 - Status Status ¡®Just because something sounds like a horse, doesn¡¯t mean it is a horse.¡¯ This was something I realized after my steps out through the front door into the shed. Because I couldn¡¯t go outside by myself, I simply followed Sara into the shed where she would feed ¡®them¡¯. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was deluding myself when I thought there were horses. What I saw was indeed a four-legged creature but it was no horse. It would be a mistake, if I said I couldn¡¯t recognize it because I only saw horses from pictures and never actually met them in real life. But that would be wrong, because no matter how unfamiliar I am with them I could never make a mistake identifying them from the head. That¡¯s right its head resembled a bird¡¯s with a beak, feathers and everything. It¡¯s body was completely covered in fur. I¡¯m still doubting how this thing could make a neigh sound. It¡¯s best to say it wasn¡¯t a horse and something else. While I was making a dumb face, Sara smiled. ¡°Aren¡¯t they nice Orian? They¡¯re called Land Griffons. They¡¯re similar to the Griffons I showed you in the picture book, but they these ones don¡¯t have wings.¡±(Sara) I just nodded. I still couldn¡¯t speak, my vocal cords still hadn¡¯t developed. It was hard to make a proper sound. Sara was happy showing me the Griffons and explaining them. Trying to impress the younger brother. How mature sister. But really, this world has strange creatures. I thought a few were familiar but even they had a lot of differences to the ones from my previous life. If I had to check for one which had 90% resemblance, then there would be none. I assumed since the there were humans in this world similar to most species of the previous one and the technology was near similar to the primitive ones, even animals would also be the same. But wait I can¡¯t start thinking that these guys are humans at all, they¡¯re different and I just haven¡¯t observed enough to understand how different they exactly are. It was nearing night and I was still stuck at home. So much for going outside, I didn¡¯t get to see much at all. Maybe it¡¯s time to start practicing my vocals, if I can learn to speak faster it¡¯ll be a huge help. So I tried to speak with small grunts and a little more louder noises. Was the idea of speaking the same as in the previous world? Was it the same actions? I already mastered walking by following my previous methods of balancing and moving, so I don¡¯t think it should be any different. I¡¯ll refrain from making use of my tongue for the first few steps, then I can start making normal sounds according to alphabet-wise. I tried the whole night, I almost got the hang of it but kept failing after a while. I was tired. Maybe because I¡¯ve been walking around the whole house since I woke up in the morning. I forget that infants need more rest, they sleep during the morning too. I wanted to sleep but I got hungry. I went to the kitchen where Olivia normally would be. I walked towards her and pulled at her clothes, pointed to my mouth to show I was hungry. She smiled and started preparing something in a small bowl. Then she picked me up and laid me down on her lap while sitting in a cross legged position. She held the bowl in her hand and took something like a spoon in her other hand. When I observed what was in the bowl, it looked like some sort ooze or goo like substance. The most liquid-like food I ate was jelly in my previous life, but this thing wasn¡¯t jelly. It was brown in color and something which I really didn¡¯t eat. Is this¡­..maybe¡­¡¯baby food¡¯? I regretted it. I shouldn¡¯t have come here even if I was hungry. That¡¯s what I thought. Okay, let¡¯s behave. Maybe it¡¯s tasty and I have to eat it either way since I need to learn about this world. It¡¯s okay, this is for research and a mother always gives her child food which is most nutritious ¡­.right? The spoon along with goo came slowly towards me reaching my lips. Olivia was careful enough blow the hot food for it cool it down. She was still smiling. Well , here it goes test batch 1 . As soon as the spoon was in my mouth and I slurped the food on it, I felt a sensation. It was absolute disgust, it was sweet but its texture was weird. I wanted to barf it out quickly. It was like some slime like creature was dwelling in my mouth. Is this some sort of punishment? I never felt this much agony before. My respect for Sara increased, she had to eat it too when she was a still my age I believe. This world truly had a sadistic form of approach against children. As I thought about the food which was still in my mouth making me uncomfortable. I saw Olivia¡¯s face and she was smiling waiting for me to swallow so she could provide me the next scoop. I couldn¡¯t oppose that smile. I gulped it down, swallowed it quickly hoping for the sensation to end. I didn¡¯t need to chew it in the first place. Was this a mother¡¯s love and kindness I felt? I couldn¡¯t bring that smile down and got ready for the next wave. After 20 more gulping, finally that hell was over. But doesn¡¯t that mean I have to start eating that from tomorrow as well. Does that mean no more milk time for me? After I was finally done with my meal Olivia was really beaming with smiles, it was like she was incredibly happy when I took the food without much problems. Wait so how did Sara react when she had that monstrosity go through her mouth? Yeah I can probably imagine. She finally used the spoon to get some syrupy substance from a jar and placed that in my mouth. It was incredibly sweet, and I wanted to keep sucking the spoon. Compared to the goo I had earlier, it felt like this syrup was slowly cleansing my mouth removing the foul taste. My throat also felt a little better, it gave off a good feeling. I think I read this somewhere, something about giving a baby honey to soothe the throat. It was a tradition some primitive tribes followed on the still evolving planets. Finishing my dinner Olivia wrapped me in a thin cloth and carried me in her arms to my room where my cradle was present. She sang a deep song, I suppose this must be a lullaby. My previous parents never did so. Probably by that time the tradition had died down but I still had remembered reading it from my history. As I was getting sleepy, I felt my throat feel a little bit more relaxed. I tried speaking this time. ¡°O¡­Oli¡­..bia¡±(Orian) She stopped humming and slowly looked at me. She was smiling but this one was different. If the previous one was to represent satisfaction, I think this showed euphoria. She held me and called for Dari and Sara. They rushed and I saw them near the door. She looked at me again. I immediately understood and looked at the two. ¡°Da¡­.li¡­..Sa¡­la¡±(Orian) Weird. I couldn¡¯t make the ¡®ra¡¯ sound. It was probably because I couldn¡¯t move my tongue freely yet. The three who were in my room, all had surprised faces. Dari¡¯s eyes were watery and he looked like he would cry in happiness any second now. Sara was jumping and smothered my face with her hands. I need sleep, I don¡¯t need you make it harder for me. The room was filled with joy and had a great atmosphere. Dari realized the time and motioned Sara and himself to exit the room. They understood someone needed rest, otherwise he¡¯d be awake the rest of the night. Fear my tears. As Olivia slowly rocked me to sleep, I dozed off without a worry. ---------Dari¡¯s POV----------- My son can speak and at such a young age too. Sara was about a year late with her first words but she did fine. Who knows? He could start writing by himself soon enough too. I wonder how I should treat him, should I be strict? But that¡¯s hard he looks too much like his mother. Truly cute. If possible I don¡¯t want to succeed the family, rather I¡¯m basically a merchant. But in the future if he wants to achieve something, I won¡¯t stop him from leaving this place. He called my name for his first word. There shouldn¡¯t really be anything else for a father to be more happy about. Hearing his child¡¯s first words the name of his father is a great thing. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Huh? Olivia told me Orian had spoke her name first. But it¡¯s alright, it wasn¡¯t a competition to begin with. I¡¯m alright with it. I¡¯m not jealous at all. --------One Month Later------------ I can walk and run around the house without much problems, I wear only small clothes to cover my lower body and the rest is bare. I don¡¯t go out of the house anyway so it isn¡¯t really much of a problem. Now I can speak a bit better, I can form sentences but they¡¯re usually incomplete. It¡¯s not like I understand the language completely but its improving. I also needed to learn the letter and how to write it if I want to get better. So I go to the study room and get some picture books, Sara lets me borrow them but is careful thinking I may ruin the books. My Sister can¡¯t be this smart. I¡¯ve tried to decrypt the words and having books with more pictures seemed easier. In my previous life, decrypting unknown languages was a hefty task. Many tools were available for the task, but one needed to understand the basics of how to decrypt by hand to actually do it. I was incredibly good at it when I wasn¡¯t yet placed in the combat force. It had taken me a few days, but I could slowly understand certain words and also identify some parts of the grammar. Maybe it¡¯s because this language was easier or because I had easier references but one could be happy at this level of progress. I only did walking, speaking and learning since I was stuck in the house anyway so I was able to improve faster during the month. I also thanked Sara for teaching me a little from time to time. I could understand the titles on the books by now. The encyclopedia I was reading had the name ¨C [ All the found animals and plants by Hwetn ]. A good naming sense indeed. At least it¡¯s simpler. As I was reading picture books every day, I wanted to read something with more information. Of course it shouldn¡¯t be a story, currently I needed some information. I saw one particular book in the study table that day, I reached out and somehow got it myself. The book¡¯s title read ¨C [ Magic The Basics ]. There wasn¡¯t an author though, it was mostly an information based text book. But magic? Why would father have a book about tricks and illusions? Was he that much interested in it to even leave his job as a merchant? Or was it a gift from someone for Sara? I really didn¡¯t want to read it. It¡¯s not like I didn¡¯t enjoy tricks, maybe it had stories about the miracles people formed in their life. I wanted to place it back, I¡¯d rather read such a book only if I had too many delusions about myself. Just as I was about to place the book I stopped for a moment. Should I just read it in case? Maybe it was the science of this world. I mean that was the name people gave it when such things about life were unexplored and people had been ignorant of the basic laws. Perhaps it was a similar case, whatever normally happened people would claim magic when one person showed it could be done but it was thought be impossible before So I opened the book and started reading. There were few words I couldn¡¯t understand quickly and I took my time analyzing them one by one. I could see the word [ Mana ] repeated a few times every page and so I slowly formed the sentences so I could understand. The book described [ Mana ] as the force behind the creation and use of magic. I think I could [ Mana ] would be similar to energy around us. And I thought [ Magic ] would be the forces that existed due to [ Mana ]. Similar to how energy was converted to form heat, electricity, wind and so on. [ Mana ] was said to be omnipotent. So I confirmed it really was like energy. Not like I could see energy in my previous world. That was what the introduction had in the book. Now the book held me curious and I started thinking maybe what I was reading was actually properties of this world. And then there was one of the basic magic which was described in the book and its uses. The book said that anyone could use it, so I guessed there must be a tool somewhere for it. Maybe it was in the house. The name of the magic was [ Status ] which wouldn¡¯t actually use any [ Mana] or a negligible amount. I was thinking about the weird naming the author had given to the [ Magic ]. I mean what type of status? Was it social, marriage or health? Maybe it was describing about writing about yourself? Did the author or the people of this world think writing took no [ Mana ]? I didn¡¯t really understand, but the book had provided information how to use [ Status ] so I stopped pondering. What the book said next was really weird? In order to use [ Status ] I had to close my eyes and think in my mind while wanting to learn about myself. Those words were really confusing. Wanting to learn about myself? What was that feeling like? Well, Couldn¡¯t hurt to try¡­. I closed my eyes , everything being dark I took slow breaths. Every time I saw complete darkness, it reminded about space and dark matter of the universe. I yelled [ Status ] in my mind and anticipated for something to happen. I waited for a while and nothing happened¡­¡­. A few minutes passed and still nothing¡­¡­.how long should I stay like this? I thought it failed because I did wrong or maybe the book really was about party tricks. Either way I felt it was a let down that nothing happened. I simply glanced over the pages with disinterest. It was really boring now that I had lost any expectation for it. Why would someone go so far as to write a book like this? Thoughts like wandered for a while. I didn¡¯t hold too many expectations from the book anyway. I only got interested since it had some interesting points similar to science, but mostly this was a failed theory which would be disproved later in the future like many such theories. I wanted to try it one last time, since someone had gone so far as to write a book for this and then abandon it. This time I read it in detail in case I missed something. It looks like I did. It said I had to use a little [ Mana ]. I needed to feel the power from my centre slowly enter my mind. I didn¡¯t really understand this one. He described [ Mana ] flow would be similar to flow of blood. So I had to control my blood from my body to the brain. Doesn¡¯t the heart do that? I tried it this time laying down and raising my legs straight up into the air. This was a method of allowing blood to flow to the brain faster, in case someone had lost too much blood and was feeling anemic. To make sure the victim didn¡¯t faint doctors would use this method when sometimes the blood wouldn¡¯t clot quickly after a blood transfusion. This time I made sure I felt the feeling of wanting to know myself to be at the highest as possible. Who am I? What am I? How did I come here? Why did I come here? All such self imposing thoughts were swirling around in my mind and as I closed my eyes and felt the darkness, I yelled [ Status ] in my mind. ¡­¡­¡­¡­. ¡­¡­¡­. What the¡­.? [ Status ] [ Name: Orian Mellinus ] [ Age: 5 months 14 days ] [ Race: Human ] [ Growth: 1 ] [ Skills ] [ Language Comprehension ] [ Strength: 1 ] [ Intelligence: 100 ] [ Resistance: none ] [ Endurance: none ] [ Mana: 400 ] ¡­¡­¡­ It was like a slab of details¡­¡­details about me. It looked like a grey stone which had all these details. I read them one by one. Everything about me was weak, except my intelligence. Was it because of my experience? My [ Mana ] was quite high too, but I didn¡¯t know as I could compare it anyone yet. But it was better than having none or 1 like the rest of them. So Mellinus is my last name, could it be my family name? Today I learnt, this world had different possibilities. But I am going to find each and every thing it holds. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: Sorry for posting it late, my internet service provider is a pain. Services are bad and good ones aren''t found where i live. Thank for reading guys, I''ll keep the length of the chapter to be high. Chapter 3 - His Gift Author''s Note : Today''s chapter is 1.5 times larger than the previous two , i mean chapter 1 and 2 not prologue and chapter 0. Enjoy , also please tell me if i need to improve at any point. Anywhere you think I maybe lacking , please tell me. If it''s the chapter size being too big, then i''ll pour more quality into it. I still am a beginner and i may need someone to proofread the story too. Thank you guys for reading mon. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- His Gift I stood up, closed my eyes and again used [ Status ]. It opened again, but this time I didn¡¯t need to lie down and focus the blood to my brain, all I needed to do was think of the feeling. The book did say it was similar to it not that the blood itself contained [ Mana ]. There was no real change in the slab which showed the details, it was the same as previous but the [ Mana ] had decreased by 1. It was 399 now and in a moment while I was reading the rest of the slab thoroughly again, it became 400 again. So I can recover [ Mana ]. Then If [ Mana ] was indeed like energy, I probably recovered it either from absorbing the [ Mana ] around me or using the extra stored in my fats. It could be either cases, the book did say regaining it took time. Since the [ Mana ] lost was less, it quickly recovered. But I¡¯m still surprised that [ Magic ] exists, this is what differs the humans of this world from the old one. Even though I confirmed it a second time, it¡¯s best if I could get proof from an external source. I went to where Olivia was and asked her if we had a last name. She replied that our family name was Mellinus which had been taken from Dari¡¯s Last name. ¡°Why are asking that now, Orian?¡±(Olivia) ¡°Book said hero had last name, so my last name.¡±(Orian) ¡°Oh my, Orain wants to become a great hero in the future. I know you like reading but once you¡¯re a year old, you show go outside and make some friends. I¡¯m sorry you have to be stuck in the house like this.¡± Perfect acting on my part. Though I can¡¯t actually form complete sentences yet. Looks like I needed to wait a little more. In a few more months after I¡¯ve become 1 years old, I can take my first steps outside. It¡¯s a weird tradition but it¡¯s followed so that the child would be safe and healthy in the future. At least I learnt the tradition people follow in this world. Most people don¡¯t expect a child who¡¯s not even half a year old to be able to walk and speak. Now that I¡¯ve confirmed the contents of my status, let¡¯s see what else that book can offer me. I left to my room with the book, since Dari could return any moment. I read a little bit more about [ Status ] after that. The book spoke about the details you could see when you used it. [ Name ] - Name of the person who invoked [ Status ] [ Age ] ¨C The time one has lived till when [ Status ] was invoked. [ Growth ] ¨C The amount of growth that has taken place from Birth. [ Skills ] ¨C All the skills the individual has acquired. [ Physical Attributes ] ¨C The factors which decided how much the body and mind had strengthened. These factors increase as [ Growth ] increases. [ Strength ] ¨C indicates the power your body carries. It can increase by training the body. [ Intelligence ] ¨C indicates the amount of amassed knowledge and thinking ability. It also decides the amount of mana you can hold to a small degree. [ Wisdom ] ¨C Mental stamina. It also describes the personality of the individual to a certain level. The older the individual, the more [ Wisdom ] he would¡¯ve obtained is the norm. It can also be high due to calm thinking in difficult situations. [ Endurance ] ¨C The attribute which decides the resistances to many external and internal conditions. It can be increased from [ Skills ] or getting used to certain foreign elements and conditions which aren¡¯t normally seen. [ Agility ] ¨C The speed at which your body would react, how fast it can run and its speed of observance. As I read the book, I saw all of details which had been described. But mine didn¡¯t show [ Wisdom ] and [ Agility ] why? Does that mean I haven¡¯t obtained them yet or a infant¡¯s body cannot actually possess it? Or¡­. You better not be saying I¡¯m a stupid slowpoke you shitty status. But thanks to the [ Status ] working, I can understand that the laws of this world were found to a certain extent in this book. As I continued reading, there were many different [ Magic ] the book described. The basic [ Elemental Magic ] such as Fire, Water, Earth and Wind. It also said about rare magic such as gravity, body strengthening, Psychological and Void. Other than that there were [ Unique ] magic which only certain individuals could use. The book only described about [ Elemental Magic ] and said that rare magic were still under research, so only a few used them. I understood that technology or should I say Magic was still under development in the current era I was born. That would mean I could learn about the ones in this book currently. Even though the book said basics, I don¡¯t think the advanced ones will have anything about rare or unique magic. After reading thoroughly about the [ Elemental Magic ], I saw this book too had some pictures, it showed how a person could shoot fire from a walking cane ¡­..wait that¡¯s a weapon called the [ Staff ] or [ Wand ]. I¡¯m almost sure it looked like a walking cane for old people. A wand huh? I don¡¯t think we have such a tool in this house. If fire was used to from that tool, then I¡¯d be doubting why we have flame thrower in the house. But then again, it can be used to cook food or dry clothes¡­.I don¡¯t think anyone would want to hold that to complete household work. When I read the book further, it looked like it had some words in a different language. They were marked under incantation and they needed to be used to use any of the elemental magic. [ Status ] didn¡¯t use that though, all I had to do say it in my mind or is it because it consumes negligible mana that it wouldn¡¯t an incantation. I closed the book, since it wasn¡¯t useful to me right now. Wait ¡­.Olivia does cook food, but I never saw what she used though. Maybe if somehow without her knowledge I got a tool she would use for the fire, then I can use it to learn more from this book. I don¡¯t think she¡¯d show me since a parent wouldn¡¯t allow their child to play with fire. Wait there was [ Water ] magic, maybe she would show me how that works. I go to see Olivia, but before that it¡¯s best to keep the book back. I immediately do that and head to her. She¡¯s probably cooking food for Dari and Sara who¡¯ll come back anytime now. If I go to her for food, she¡¯ll probably feed me that slimy thing of a food. I¡¯d like to avoid that if possible. I proceed to her and pull at her skirt to get her attention. She turns back and seeing me she happily smiles. ¡°Oh hello, Orian. Are you already hungry, dear? I¡¯ll ready the millet porridge for you very soon¡±(Olivia) I quickly shake my head sideways, that¡­ the thing I ate ¡­..yesterday¡­it¡¯s Millet porridge. It was a little thick to be porridge, it was like eating foamy jelly. Only some parts were sweet but the rest was bland. Sweet mother have some sympathy for your child. ¡°Mama , What¡¯s [ Magic ]?¡±(Orian) I said with a curious look, widening my eyes a little to show I was sincere and I had wanted to learn. I had to adorable as possible when I had to get what I want. Olivia showed a concerned look. Her blond yellow hair almost looked a little pale for a moment. ¡°Oh dear, did you see the book in your father¡¯s study room? Is that why you¡¯re curious?¡±(Olivia) I quickly nodded. She didn¡¯t imply I already read it, so let¡¯s just go with this. She continued. ¡°Listen Orian, it¡¯s understandable that you want to learn but if you grow up too fast you¡¯re surely leave us and go.¡±(Olivia) Mother you crafty devil. I understand what you¡¯re saying but you still shouldn¡¯t say that to a kid much less an infant. Wait she¡¯s probably testing how I¡¯ll react, a normal child would cry when the thought of leaving their parents occur to them. I thought this while I stared at her. Tears welled up in my eyes during this moment. Break a leg, me. ¡° Wahhh! *sniff* don¡¯t wanna leave ..¡­.don¡¯t wanna leave papa, mama and Sara¡± (Orian) Olivia seeing this hugged me, Lifted me up and patted my back. ¡°There there¡­Orian, we¡¯re not going to send you away. You¡¯ll be here with us always, I¡¯m sorry for saying that.¡± I kept sobbing for a while.Maybe I was a little serious there. I didn¡¯t leave them yet, I mean I¡¯m not even a year old yet. Don¡¯t send me off to school. I hate school. Thinking that, I realized probably there was such a place which [ Magic ] most probably. Chances are it would require quite some money. Olivia still patted my back and holding me spoke. ¡°Well if you really want to know about [ Magic ], I¡¯ll tell you about it on your birthday. How¡¯s that?¡±(Olivia) Even thought I understood what she said, I still didn¡¯t know how much time a year took in this world. What was the concept of time to these people? ¡°What¡¯s a birthday?¡±(Orian). I said obviously being my adorable self. Hearing this Olivia smiled almost as she broke into laughter. She must¡¯ve thought that this was the same way I asked about magic. ¡° It¡¯s a special day, Orian. Your sister¡¯s is almost coming in the next month. Your Birthday is still four months from now.¡±(Olivia) Four months, that means one year is Nine months. Do people follow this timing, because a child would take Nine months to be born. That could be the case. But I suppose I can gather up the common sense I need in this world before I start learning about magic. I guess I can always start practicing writing the words. But right now, I should be happy because next month is Sara¡¯s birthday. I¡¯ll be a very good boy, dear Sister. So please introduce me to your female friends. -------------Olivia¡¯s POV----------- Oh my, I almost made Orian cry today. I assumed since he asked about magic, he was growing up too fast. I was scared. He was quick to start walking and now has to spend four more months in the house that way. I see now he¡¯s just curious, even if he leaves this place I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll come back to meet us whenever he can. It¡¯s hard for a mother to say farewell to their children after all. I thought Sara was precocious, but even more so Orian. But they seem to be growing well. At least he doesn¡¯t cause too much trouble for me when I feed him. He¡¯s a nice child. I remember Sara going on a rampage not wanting to eat the porridge when I first fed her. Today also he ate the food without opposing. He¡¯ll grow into a fine man one day. --------About One month later------------ I got up from my cradle. I can get off from it by myself now. This body is growing quite fast. Although my height didn¡¯t change much. As an everyday practice I close my eyes when I wake up and use [ Status ]. Closing you¡¯re eyes the moment you wake up. Don¡¯t you think I should sleep a little more longer? The status opens up in my mind. I always thought I was imagining it by myself, but I know how well the human mind can remember, so I knew [ Mana ] was being used. [ Status ] [ Name: Orian Mellinus ] [ Age: 6 months 12 days ] [ Race: Human ] [ Growth: 2 ] [ Skills ] [ Language Comprehension ] [ Strength: 2 ] [ Intelligence: 100 ] [ Resistance: none ] [ Endurance: none ] [ Agility: 1 ] [ Mana: 400 ] Ahhh¡­.. there¡¯s not much of a change than it was ten days ago. I¡¯ll still be happy my [ Growth ] and [ Strength ] became 2. Finally getting [ Agility ] is great though but I still can¡¯t see [ Wisdom ]. I don¡¯t really understand it much right now, so I won¡¯t mull over it. I got [ Agility ] by simply running at a higher speed than the normal and crude way I run. I suppose it would be equal to a 4 year-old running. So that meant I was able to obtain [ Agility ]. If I had to make a guess then Sara¡¯s would probably be 2 right now. It¡¯s not like I couldn¡¯t run at that speed before, so why did it appear only after I did it. Was [ Status ] this world¡¯s method of measuring me? The world is cruel. That meant, the status updated based on my shown achievement of it. By running at that speed, I¡¯ve finally reached my goal and the world recognizes me for it. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. So unless I actually display the use of my previous world knowledge, it actually won¡¯t count. But then again, just doing this much my [ Intelligence ] is at 100. I wonder how much the other¡¯s [ Status ] would be. So is my [ Mana ] limited by my body? I don¡¯t understand it much though. But all those worried aside, it¡¯s Sara¡¯s birthday today. I should note that me being 6 months and 12 days old, would be when her birthday would arrive. I don¡¯t have a calendar so I can make use of my [ Status ] to remember it in the future. I should prepare her a gift. But I¡¯m not even a year old yet only two-thirds of it. Child labor laws can be a pain in these moments. I can¡¯t go outside, so I can¡¯t really get her anything. But she spends everyday playing with me, making sure I don¡¯t get bored. Sometimes I think she¡¯s the one who is bored. Hmm¡­.can I think of any idea? Oh wait¡­.I can still go into the shed. Those griffons, they shed feathers a lot. I¡¯ve seen Sara clear them from time to time. Also she makes me clear them as well. Dear Sister, have you already learned about free sibling labor? I don¡¯t think I¡¯m that creative but I can make at least something from those feathers right. I¡¯ll get some thread from Olivia and something to stick them from Dari¡¯s study room and a small cloth too. Looks like Sara had gone outside to play today, maybe she went to meet her friends. I wonder if I can make some friends in this village. Hope they don¡¯t gang up the new kid. I take the cloth and use the thread to sew it into bandana. I make small guesses on how wide her head is. I suppose a little bit more bigger than mine. I should be careful of putting the attaching the feather¡¯s in the front. Luckily they don¡¯t slide off and fix perfectly straight on the cloth. I fixed the feathers to the bandana to the front, if I did to the back then the forehead would hurt because of the feathers sharp end. I used the sticky material to make sure they don¡¯t fall off while I sew them. This sticky substance is quite strong, I don¡¯t think I needed to even sew the feathers but I did so anyway so it wouldn¡¯t look oddly stuck. As the night came and the house became dark, candles were lit and Sara was coming back with someone. It was a man. Father ready your gun, we¡¯ll teach this fiend not to mess with the princess. I didn¡¯t think my sister would be into men who were as old as Dari. He had a scar on his face, he looked really scary if I saw him upfront. As they both entered through the door, Mother and Father both greeted the man. As they all laughed and smiled, just in few seconds the man¡¯s gaze shifted to me. He set aside the bag he was holding and slowly approached me. What the¡­ you don¡¯t want just my sister, you want me as well? He quickly held me before I could escape and hugged me. When I saw his face he seemed really happy. I thought with his spiky hair and beard he¡¯d be a person who wouldn¡¯t smile much. But when I saw it, I thought this man was incredibly happy and had longed to meet me for quite some time. ¡°Ahh..Orian, say Hello to your uncle Guez. He really wanted to meet you all this time, but he was busy for many days.¡±(Olivia) ¡°Gu..ee..s¡±(Orian) Guez hearing me say this, had a shocked face. His face almost seemed to burst with emotions. ¡°Ahh.. Brother, let¡¯s go inside. You should be tired, I¡¯ll prepare the bath.¡±(Olivia). ¡°Haha ¡­ alright. What say you Orian? Want to take a bath with me?¡±(Guez) I really didn¡¯t want to agree. Olivia always washed me and sometimes Sara too. I don¡¯t want to go into the bath with a man. But I¡¯ll make an exception this time. It¡¯s Sara¡¯s birthday, and looks like she¡¯ll join too so it won¡¯t be too uncomfortable. I just hope me not getting excited over her body means because she¡¯s my sister and not because I don¡¯t have any interest in a woman¡¯s body. After the bath, I gave my gift to Sara. She really seemed to like it. Her happy smile was worth using the smelly feathers of Griffons. I cleaned them, I¡¯m not such a lazy brat. The Griffon Princess commands you griffons to not make too much mess for me to clean. The birthday went well and I got eat food what everybody ate this time not the slimy despair-inducing slug soup. Guez had bought iron boar¡¯s meat, Olivia fed me a little of it. It tasted¡­..like pure bliss. O Fallen Pig, I thank thee for I can taste they meat as it permeates on my palette. The taste was sublime, the tender juices watering my mouth and slowly going down, the spice making me feel I tasted something more sweeter than honey. And so we celebrated Sara¡¯s 8th Birthday¡­¡­? What? I thought she was 10. So she looks older than she actually is or is it that¡¯s the growth of humans in this world? That¡¯s some quick growth or I just don¡¯t have the right idea for how old a person would be. I also learnt that day Olivia was 20 years old, Dari was 23 and Guez being 24 years old. They¡¯re all quite young actually. After having three bowls of meat for food, I was put to sleep by Olivia and Sara pat me on the head. It looks like Guez was leaving as I went to sleep. He was a really nice guy, it seems he couldn¡¯t come after my birth since he¡¯s a hunter and needed to protect the village from the creatures from the forest. I saw my status, just before my tiredness took me in. Before I could see it completely, something like a message had appeared. [Skill: Equipment building learned] ----------Three months later---------- Today¡¯s the day. It¡¯s finally here. I was getting a little impatient since mother waiting. But it¡¯s time I can set my first foot outside of my home and into the village from tomorrow. That also means today¡¯s my birthday, wonder if Sara will get me a gift. Forget introducing me to older girls for now, at least let me have something interesting from the outside my sweet sister. I finally was able to improve a lot at communication in these three months, I could speak fluently like the rest. It¡¯s probably because of me improving in writing the language, I had finished almost all the books in the study room and was getting bored, but now I could venture outside. Dari was shocked that I could write well now, Sara was sulking saying that it took her a long time to practice it, but she still couldn¡¯t write well enough. I guess that explains why she likes picture books more. I finished reading the magic book, but still I couldn¡¯t understand the incantations basically because they¡¯re in another language and Sara hardly could read the basic language. I learned from the book that [ Magic ] including [ Elemental Magic ] and the rest would come under [ Skills ] in my status. Anything that would come under skills could improve over time, depending on the work put into it. So there would be a skill level for any skill, more the level more was the mastery over it. Ahh right¡­.i had learnt [ Equipment Builder ]. I tried to improve it, by creating bands from long leaves and shining rocks from ordinary rocks. The raw materials gathered by Sara and I became the manufacturer. Making the bands were easy, she asked me to make 4 of them so she could give a few to her friends. She was happy when I made them for her. The shining stone, I made to by using the tool Olivia used to cook. Olivia helped me use it, even Sara couldn¡¯t use it yet, it seems. By heating the small rock repeatedly and cooling it, you could weaken the upper layer so you could easily polish it up. By doing all this, now in my status [ Skill ] had the [ Equipment Builder +1 ] on it. I don¡¯t know how a shiny rock is an equipment, but I know it can be used for accessories. I placed the shiny rock on the leaves band and fixed it there tightly using the sticky substance I got from Dari, I suppose that¡¯s how the skill leveled. I needed to create new equipment if the skill had to improve though. Right now, I have no further ideas and I don¡¯t really want to overwork my 1 year old hands. Since Sara had gone outside and today was my last day inside, I just watched Olivia and Dari from time to time. They seemed busy, so I went to the shed and passed the time with the Griffons. They¡¯re friendly as you get to know them. Soon it was night time and Olivia started getting everything ready. It looks like Guez was also coming today. In the previous three months he came and went from time to time. Whenever he came to the house, he talked with me. I asked him what he did as a hunter, was the village going to safe in the future. He told me there were lots of dangerous creatures called monsters in the forest and one needed to be really careful. I¡¯m simply guessing but if humans could use [ Mana ], I suppose monsters could also use it. I¡¯m really scared by that thought. Having to fight an intelligent monster, at the end to only become its food. Guez seemed really happy always talking to me, telling me how I looked a lot like Olivia. This time for my birthday it looks like he boat iron boar meat again. O Great Pig, it seems I shall feast on your kind again today. It was night and everybody was happy as usual celebrating my birthday. It¡¯s not like I¡¯ve already become an adult or anything. I had my fill of boar meat again and was a little sleepy. But I kept myself awake as Olivia was finally going to tell me about [ Magic ]. It was time to head to sleep and looks like Guez was also leaving. Wish he¡¯d stay, but it seems today is his night watch. Olivia carries me to my room and instead of placing me in my cradle, she bring with her a pillow and another small bed. ¡°Today you will sleep like us, Orian¡±(Olivia) Goodbye Cradle, I knew you well my friend. Looks like Olivia is going to sleep next to me today. This is absolutely not the type of situation some would think it is. ¡° I know you were always curious about going outside and about magic. You¡¯ve been trying so hard at reading and writing every day. I know someday you will leave to go on and learn more things. So I want a favor from you, Orian. Promise me you¡¯ll stay with us at least until you are more than 10 years old. I know you want to know about the world but please live with us until we¡¯re sure you are old enough to set out.¡± I nodded happily, I wanted to stay here too although not cooped up in the house. I¡¯ve been training my body by basic movements, and from breathing techniques I had learnt. If I had to say why I could do what I could do? It was because of slowly improving myself every day. But I can learn from the village, the forest and so many others who I had to meet yet. I could make friends from tomorrow who I could know and trust for a long time. When I showed her that I would really stay to the least until my 10th birthday, she smiled and started speaking. ¡°Orian, I think you have already it from the book that [ Magic ] uses [ Mana ] and that [ Mana ] is everywhere around us. And [ Magic ] is just the effect of using [ Mana ] in the correct way.¡±(Olivia) Seeing me closely listening to her each and every word, she continued. ¡°Originally [Magic] and [ Mana ] , the knowledge to use these were given to us from Gods. Gods are higher realm beings, who have mastered [ Mana ] and continue to look after us from the sky and beneath the ground as they have from a long time ago. I know how to use [ Magic ] a little, not to the extent of great use but to use tools. I¡¯ll teach them to you from tomorrow after you see the village and return home. Is that alright?¡± I nodded with a happy face and went to sleep. So the ones who first made use of [ Mana ] and created [Magic] were beings called Gods. Isn¡¯t this a little similar to the previous universe? Wait now that I remember it, that God gave me something before he died. He told it was a Gift , a reward for beating him. I didn¡¯t really use it much at that time but I suppose going to the past would¡¯ve been handy gift to me. As I almost nearing my sleep, I checked my [ Status ] one last time. ¡­¡­¡­what the? [ Skill: ????? ?????? unlocked] When I tried to check what it was, the skill came into focus it was understandable then before now. Now that I read it. [ Skill ] [ Language comprehension ] [ Equipment builder +1] [ Unique : Gift of Time ] ¡­¡­.Gift of Time? Chapter 4 - World of Mana Author''s Note: The site was crashing again and again, sorry for late update. You can expect another chapter today. I''m not April fooling you ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- World of Mana It was almost morning and I started getting up a little early. I was wondering how, since I¡¯m still a one year old, and that I¡¯d still require more sleep. As I woke up and saw Olivia¡¯s sleeping face in front of me, I felt energetic to get up but simply turned around and slept using her arm as a pillow. Again don¡¯t misunderstand the situation. I¡¯m still confused about yesterday¡¯s status, what was the [ Gift of Time ] skill anyway. As I continued to sleep more, I used [ Status ] to check as I was going to wake up in a while anyway. [ Status ] [ Name: Orian Mellinus ] [ Age: 1 year ] [ Race: Human ] [ Growth: 5 ] [ Skills ] [ Language Comprehension ] [ Equipment Builder +1 ] [ Unique: Gift of Time ] [ Strength: 9 ] [ Intelligence: 105 ] [ Resistance: none ] [ Endurance: none ] [ Agility: 6 ] [ Mana: 404 ] ¡­..WHAT?! My [ Growth ] is 5, I remember it was still 2 yesterday and consequently my [ Strenght ], [ Intelligence ], [ Agility ] and [ Mana ]. My [ Strenght ] is 4 times what it was yesterday, does that mean I¡¯m four times stronger. Same with [ Agility ] , am I six times faster? It was disappointing to see my [ Intelligence ] and [ Mana ] haven¡¯t improved much. I try to concentrate on my [ Skills ] like last night, to see if something happens. [ Language Comprehension ] [ Your ability to understand a given language. You have learnt the language of humans. ] ¡­.WHAT?! So I could check more details about my skills. Let¡¯s try the other one. [ Equipment Builder +1 ] [ You are capable of creating certain equipments for wearing purposes. You are a First level Equipment Builder ] I continue doing the same on my unique skill. [ Unique: Gift of Time ] [ ] Hmm¡­. Nothing. So much useful is the [ Status ] magic. I suppose it doesn¡¯t contain any information as it is a [ Unique ] skill, then why does it have information on the others? If I had to make a guess, then for any [ Unique ] skills there wouldn¡¯t be any information known by this world. If I go by that theory then the rest of the [ Skills ] I may learn may already be information stored by this world. So who stores this information and where? I only have more questions when I think about this. Olivia did say [ Magic ] was knowledge from the Gods. Then the information should also be handled by them. I don¡¯t really want to trust them handling this information about myself. I did somehow kill a God in my previous life, they might even think I may be hostile to them. I don¡¯t really want to meet them for now. Getting back on the matter, I suppose I¡¯ll find out more about [ Status ] magic later. There¡¯s another thing bothering right now, why did [ Growth ] increase so much, in one night? Is it what¡¯s called a Growth spurt? I guess I should check my height against the wall later. I don¡¯t want to be this short my whole life. As I¡¯ve kept my eyes closed, I feel like I¡¯m losing my pillow. Olivia must be awake by now. She gently places my head down and tries to leave the room thinking I¡¯m still asleep. ¡­¡­¡­.I get the feeling I¡¯m being watched. Leave the room already mother, I¡¯m conscious of people staring at me. The [ Status ] had closed, while I was distracted. I suppose for any [ Magic ] you would need to concentrate. The human mind even at its best can focus only any single task. So that would be same for the people here as well. Of course, I don¡¯t think that would apply to monsters. Like the picture of the three-headed beast I saw that day, it could probably think with three heads. But then again, it has only one body luckily. I slowly raise from my sleeping position. I check my height on the wall. From what I could guess from the previous marking from a few days before, it looked like I had grown a little taller. I check my hands, they had grown a bit bigger and a little longer. Same with my feet. I realized this height would be appropriate for a child of 4 to 5 years of age. That would explain why I thought Sara was much older before. The growth rate of humans in this world was high. With 9 months making a year, a child would grow 3 times as fast when compared to humans of the previous universe. I think I finally understand why Olivia said she was 20 but looked older than 25. Though I say older, she still looked young. I was wrecking my head the past months when I found out she had Sara at 12 years old. That would mean 12 years would be equivalent to 16 or 17 in this world. That¡¯s still surprisingly young though. Was the mortality rate of this world high or was it only my family that was strange? Did Dari do something unforgivable? It was probably Love. Thinking about it, why did they decide to have another child after 7 years? Was it hard for human species to reproduce, a decline in birth rate? I probably think it was something associated with money to take care of one. But then again, they did have the tradition of keeping me safe from harm by trapping me the house for a whole year. Maybe it was just me who was growing up too fast, that would be the case. I¡¯ll ask Sara about it later. I go see Olivia, since she had asked me to meet her. As I go into the kitchen, turning behind she looks at me and smiles. I see her holding something in her hands. ¡°Here you go, Orian. Look at you, grown up so much already. Hope you like your new clothes.¡±(Olivia) I check my appearance from my feet to the corner of my collarbones. I¡¯m still wearing only a small cloth for my lower body and my upper body is still bare. I really should become a man and grow out of my diapers, huh? The new clothes were a brown colored short pant and a yellow colored T-shirt. ¡°Thank you, Mother¡±(Orian) Olivia looks at me with astonished eyes. I suppose going from mama to mother in a single day is something to be surprised about. But humans grow up so fast in this world. I wonder at what age they become old men and die. Hmm¡­. I remember reading about it in a novel in the study room. It was about a powerful magician who lived for a long time. Although it looked to me like a fairy tale, it did speak about Gods who were the strongest at magic were alive from a long time ago. Olivia also told me about those had a large amount of [ Mana ] lived long lives and still looked young even when they crossed 50. Does that mean I could be immortal if I wanted to in this world? It¡¯s not like I desire a long life, I lived long enough until a universe ended anyway. But having more [ Mana ] wouldn¡¯t be bad though. One of the main things this world differed was with [ Magic ] anyway, so that meant I had to improve having more [ Mana ]. The book about magic didn¡¯t mention how to improve [ Mana ] anyway, so I¡¯ll have to guess how it¡¯s possible. I came from a world where nothing was impossible if you had the right knowledge for it. ¡°Mother, what about [ Status ] magic?¡±(Orian) I asked her after wearing my new clothes. Goodbye my friend, you stuck with me and shared with my troubles from the time I was born. But now we must part. I gave my old cloth back to Olivia. Olivia smiled at my new look and spoke. ¡°It¡¯s one of the basic [ Magic ], Orian. You will probably learn it when you become 10.¡±(Olivia) After hearing that, I don¡¯t think I should tell her I can use it. ¡°When you grow up, a [ Mage ] will help you learn how to use it. Although I can use it, I can¡¯t teach others. Only mages who have learned [ Magic ] for at least 10 years, can teach you how to use [ Mana ]. I also learned how to use these magic tools from a long time friend. I¡¯ll introduce them to you when you¡¯re old enough. That magic textbook in your father¡¯s room was also from that person.¡± (Olivia) I couldn¡¯t help but be baffled at what she said. Then how did I use it until now. I confirmed that the [ Status ] magic I used was correct, but does that mean people can¡¯t learn by themselves from a book. Wait if no one in my family how to use it, then why keep the magic textbook. Was it a gift? Maybe they thought one of the children may become a [ Mage ]. I suppose no one would quickly get a easy idea of how to use [ Magic ] at the first try, even I was doubting if it actually existed when I failed the first time. That explains why Sara also didn¡¯t know. Wonder if I could patent my method and actually make money of it? No, if people found out a child had created such a method then they would get suspicious. I¡¯ll at least teach it to Sara. But I¡¯ll probably have to make her promise not to tell anyone. Would she listen to me? I hope my own family doesn¡¯t end up putting me in more trouble. She would probably learn herself after two more years anyway. Once the [ Mage ] arrives, I could ask them about [ Magic ] in detail. ¡°Mother , I¡¯m heading out now.¡±(Orian) ¡°Alright, take care of yourself Orian.¡±(Olivia) She sends me off with a smile. Alright my first step in to the village. I¡¯m a little nervous right now though. It¡¯s like going to school, meeting strangers, making new friends, make enemies also and get bullied often. On second thought, I can go outside tomorrow too, can¡¯t I? No use procrastinating, I slowly open the door. I suppose I am a little stronger than I used to. Maybe I simply thought I had the strength but I had a really hard time opening doors when I was an infant. A child¡¯s growing body is the best one to train to be strong in the future. Now to head outside, I take slow steps and look outside. To my left, clear and To my right, clear. Now to the sky¡­¡­¡­clear? ¡­¡­. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­¡­I¡¯m slowly remembering something. Something¡¯s missing right? I keep staring at the sky dumbfounded. The sky is great, it¡¯s the same blue color as many habitable planets are. It¡¯s bright outside and everything¡¯s fine but where¡¯s the Sun or should I say Star? There was no sign of any star which was providing the light for this place. Light was there but it¡¯s source was not. How could there be light without a Star? Where does the light come from? Or is the source invisible? How did the night come then? I had many questions, but no answers. I couldn¡¯t ask anyone, as they would just ask what was a Sun or a Star in the first place. I finally understood at this moment that this world was absolutely different. I can confirm it now. I had read in a book about this world, also what Olivia said that the Gods looked after from atop and from beneath. The Gods were trying to peek at something from beneath us. What I had read was that, at the top in the sky was the [ Sky World ] which would stretch the further up you went. There were many things to explore in the [ Sky World ], one would mainly be one of the other races of this world who were called the [ Avius ]. They were just like us humans, but had wings on their back. And similarly the ground beneath us would lead to the [ Underworld ]. But the book had no information about, as less explorers had gone to the place. I¡¯ll say it again, this world is really interesting. But this world wasn¡¯t just about that, there were lands which were unexplored, the Carthos Continent and its nearest Mivash, the desert continent were the only ones humans knew for now. They were many other places which were unexplored as there was danger which inhibited humans from advancing. They were the [ Unknown]. From this information I can¡¯t really say much about this world. But if my theory is correct, then there is no planetary system in this world. The absence of the Sun confirmed it for me. With the [ Unknown ] being there, it was impossible to tell if this world was even a planet. I think this universe had been created from its center and the [ Unknown ] existing was probably because of the forever expanding universe. The universe would keep expanding in all directions but there would be only a single world. A single world expanding , with unlimited possibilities. That means I won¡¯t have to build a rocket or live to wait until it was built. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Alright, let¡¯s not lose focus here. I have to at least learn everything I can about the village and if possible somehow about the forest as well. I wandered from one house to another. When I saw the rest of the houses, I thought the house I lived in till now, was much luxurious. Few of houses were just simple huts. Some of them were wooden ones, but they weren¡¯t built much large. I don¡¯t know what I expected. It wasn¡¯t a grand place, but it was a quiet and relaxed one. The people were doing their work, some were farming, there was a blacksmith building some weapon maybe, a few carriages moved around, there were kids running around. I didn¡¯t know what they playing though. I¡¯ll join with them once I¡¯m done surveying the entire place or maybe not. I could see this place had a lot of trees, it would almost look like a mini-forest. Was this village built within the forest? Well I learned a lot. The location of the village, how carriages looked, farming and smithing existed, kids were loud and annoying and there were lazy people who slept in the day under trees. I saw a lot of griffons. Looks like there was no monster to domesticate which could provide milk and eggs. Probably something like that existed outside this village. Dari didn¡¯t wear anything fancy, so he was hardworking merchant but still a denizen of the village. I wonder what Sara is up to. Shouldn¡¯t the big sister be helping her cute little brother by showing him around? Oh well, I actually preferred doing this alone. I¡¯ll find her as I search the place anyway. I should use the empty book I bought to draw a map. -------After a few hours------- I went back and forth, through all the nooks and corners and made a decent map of the village. I made sure it was perfectly organized. Good documentation always spells an easier life. This was something I learned when I learned to code for hacking certain structures in my previous life. But this rule applied to everything I did later on as well. But I had to make sure that such information should fall into enemy hands. I had made a basic outline of the village and described about the houses and shops in the next pages. I managed to meet with Sara, looks like she had come out get some food to feed the Griffons. They weren¡¯t hard to feed, all they ate were certain fruits and sometimes meat. She had gone to forage the fruits from the forest with Guez guarding her. Luckily it seems the bushes which contained the fruits were quite near the village. When Guez saw me, he held me up and smiled. I also smiled back at him. I still wonder how he got the scar. What type of monster was that dangerous to an adult? I should take this into consideration if I plan on entering without them knowing. It¡¯ll be hard though, Guez and other hunters guard 24/7, so it¡¯ll be quite hard for me to check the forest. There was also a lake nearby where people gathered the water from. Hope the water doesn¡¯t contain life threatening. It was almost night, and I finally saw how the usual night came down. Instead of a sunset the sky didn¡¯t turn red as expected and instead it simply became darker as the light kept fading. The villagers started planting fires on some strange dark pillars. They were magic tools, since the villagers simply placed their hands on it to create the fire on top of the pillars. Mostly they were sending [ Mana ] through their hands. I still couldn¡¯t do that though. I returned home, had dinner and went to sleep. Eating two meals was enough for humans in this world. Actually it was enough in the previous world as well, as some races similar to them followed this style. --------Next day------ Today I went through the village quickly checking all the places and was bored since there was no more to the village and it had been sealed with walls made from wood against the outside forest. There were outposts near the wall where probably hunters would use bows against the monsters which threatened the village or to look far away for any signs of danger. I planned on entering the forest at some point, but I knew I wasn¡¯t ready yet since I wasn¡¯t strong enough to ensure my safety. My [ Status ] had changed but there was no increase in any [ Physical Attributes ]. I had obtained the skills, as the [ Status ] told me [ Skill: Exploring learned ] and [ Skill: Organizing learned ]. This was probably due to the book I made yesterday. But today, I wanted to experiment and learn about [ Mana ] by myself. I remember how the textbook taught me on [ Status ]. I always wondered, how did [ Mana ] feel. Since I knew how to send [ Mana ] to my brain, it would be helpful if I could understand by feeling [ Mana ] through my whole body. I could probably use it with my hands like the villagers after a while. I practiced a few hours and time went by fast. I check [ Status ] repeatedly to check if I was using [ Mana ] by feeling the blood in my body. But as the [ Mana ] used was and it regenerated fast I couldn¡¯t exactly if I was perfectly using it. I wish I could see [ Mana ]. Wait ¡­..what if that¡¯s possible? But that meant, I would have to send [ Mana ] into my eyes and with the desire to see it. Although I had the latter, the former would be difficult to achieve. Just sending it to the brain , I had to understand the logic. It probably wouldn¡¯t work easily if I simply practiced like that. There would also be the fact that one couldn¡¯t actually ever see [ Mana ] since it is similar to energy and putting useless amount of effort would only leave a person depressed. But I had to try it once at the least, so I remembered the feeling of using [ Mana ] on the brain. I thought about how the frontal lobe connected to the eye sockets and slowly imagined energy flow into it. I didn¡¯t close my eyes though, since I had to see if it worked or not. After a while, I saw something blue in front of me. But it immediately disappeared. Was that [ Mana ]? I had to confirm, I opened [ Status ]. I didn¡¯t get any skill, but my [ Mana ] had dropped from 405 to 400. It was a success. I wanted to try doing that again, but this time it failed. I tried many times after that but I still couldn¡¯t get that feeling. It was like I couldn¡¯t remember it. Why was that? I am confident in my memory, so why can¡¯t I even get that small glimpse. As I kept my eyes open without blinking, they started to hurt. When I checked my [ Status ] , the [ Mana ] had fully regenerated and it looks like after that first attempt I couldn¡¯t get it to work. I was disgruntled. It felt like something was preventing from remembering how I did it the first time. Was there some sort of mind barrier I had to overcome? Just once more, I want to remember that feeling. If I could go back again and feel it once more¡­¡­. ¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­.. ¡­¡­.what the? I got it again, I saw the blue mist again. But what surprised me more was that I was back to standing again and that my eyes didn¡¯t hurt in the least. I again lost the moment I saw the blue mist, and my eyes returned to normal. I was feeling a little thirsty now. My mind was still feeling weird, I remember sitting down just a moment earlier. I went to the lake to get some water. It was nearby, although this is my first time going near it. As I reached, I saw my reflection. This was the first time, I saw how I looked in this world. There was no mirror at home and nothing which made a reflection. So I finally knew how I looked. To be honest, I looked a lot like Olivia. I had her blonde hair and a bit doll like face. But¡­ I saw one more thing¡­¡­.it was something which reminded me of the past. It was my left eye, it had a something like dark colored clock hand attached to it. I remembered the power he gave me right before I died. Did I use this? Was that the strange feeling? Did I rewind myself to the point when I first saw the blue mist? I immediately opened [ Status ], everything remained the same but my [ Mana ] had dropped to 300. Wait with my desire to go back did I use [ Gift of Time ]. I think that would most likely fit the case. Does that I meant back or did I rewind time? But it didn¡¯t feel like I went back in time. If I had, there should¡¯ve been another me. So did I rewind time then? I¡¯m sure that God only told me I could use it to go back. He could¡¯ve rewound time the moment I was about to kill him. So he didn¡¯t use it? No , I think it¡¯s better to say he couldn¡¯t use it. The concept of time in this world and the previous world may not be the same. ¡­¡­Ah.. I suddenly remembered. He told me about time strands, small fibers of time which had arranged in the universe creating its concepts. Couldn¡¯t I see time strands in the white room at that time? Then I should check how time is in this world. By focusing my left eye, I carefully saw my surroundings. ¡­..WHAT?! ¡­¡­..There are time strands, but they aren¡¯t like the previous one. The previous worlds strands were all linear, if I had to put a better comparing it to this one¡¯s then I would say they were organized better. This world¡¯s time strands were a complete mess, it felt they were just about everywhere. Was it my fault? Did I probably do this? Did I rewind this? This time I open [ Status ] and check on [ Gift of Time ]. [Unique: Gift of Time ] [Ability 1:Can secure your future experience and return them to the present time. ] What the¡­¡­ Hmm¡­.so that means, I couldn¡¯t rewind it. It means whatever I felt in the future, I was just feeling it at that point. But then how did the skill activate, was it because I was focusing my [ Mana ] to my eyes that it activated and simply showed me the next few minutes of work I put. If it is as the [ Status ] analyzed it, then that means I kept pouring [ Mana ], into my eye as I kept my focus into future minutes of hard work. I suppose I¡¯ll thank that I was able to understand the feeling of pouring [ Mana ] into my eyes again, but I should be careful of depleting my [ Mana] so fast using this skill. I see¡­ so if that was possible then, I don¡¯t know why that God lost. He could¡¯ve simply observed my actions and easily read my moves using this skill. Is it because time is applied differently here? I suppose I should learn more about [ Gift of Time ] for now. Looks like there¡¯s more than one ability for this skill, since the status clearly said [ Ability 1 ]. Does that mean through [ Status ] I wouldn¡¯t know about much about the power, but I would know how deep it could be? That day I practiced using [ Gift of Time ], so I could understand how it worked. It consumed less [ Mana ] if I timed it correctly. So I kept repeating the moment I saw the blue mist through my eyes again and again until the feeling was fixed in my mind. In order to use [ Gift of Time ] it seems I had to set a particular moment and from there I could register the future experience again and again. By shortening the time I had spent counting from the event from minutes to seconds. I was able to control the amount [ Mana ] which previously used about 105 to use only 30. It was the span of using 30 [ Mana ] for 6 times until the feeling stuck to my head. I was able to see blue mist permanently and it didn¡¯t cloud my vision. It was as though it was covering everything I saw. I tried moving [ Mana ] to my hands, and that feeling was there as well, I could see [ Mana ] move from my centre to my hands. I wanted to try it on the black pillar, but it was still hours away from night, since I literally hadn¡¯t spent more than one minute from training my eyes to adjust [ Mana ]. I opened my [ Status ] and saw a new skill had been added. [ Mana Sight Learned ] [ Mana Sight improved to +1 ] [ Mana Sight improved to +2 ] [ Mana Sight +2] [ The ability to see Mana. You are able to control how much your eyes can see the flow of Mana. Your vision won¡¯t be blocked. The second level of Observing the flow of Mana. ] Right now, I felt like I could fall down anytime. I was really tired. I opened [Status] , my [ Mana ] was at 15. Seriously, is [ Mana ] like stamina? I suppose I¡¯ll go home and rest for now. It was at a later point I would realize about the usefulness of [ Mana Sight ] and how [ Gift of Time ] would make a great change in my life. Chapter 5 - Gravity Magic Author''s Note: Sorry a few hours late for today, this one was also quite a long chapter. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gravity Magic I was breathing hard, as though I had just run a 50 km marathon. One more to add what I learned today. [ Mana ] is essential to every human and when you¡¯ve exhausted it, it¡¯s an unpleasant feeling of pain and agony that awaits you. I¡¯m almost close to fainting. It¡¯s great that there¡¯s no Sun in the sky, by now if I could calculate the time I would say it was afternoon. If there was an unbearable heat along with us, I¡¯m certain I would¡¯ve blacked out by now. Water¡­¡­I need water¡­¡­¡­at least for once right now, I want to stop thinking about anything. The more I think the more tired I feel. Given my personality I doubt that¡¯s possible. How many thoughts does my brain process through everyday anyway? Oh God, stop thinking already. Ah¡­.. Ahh¡­¡­.. I see it. My house is so near. It¡¯s just a few feet away. I have to be careful not to let Olivia see me in this state. She surely won¡¯t let me go outside again otherwise. Exhausted, I enter the house. Olivia is probably in the kitchen. I need to reach the water pot and drink some water fast. I didn¡¯t want to drink at the lake, since I might just fall into it given my condition. It¡¯s amazing how my brain stays calm with clear thoughts, even during these moments. It¡¯s thanks to it that I even managed to survive many gruesome planets with hell-like environments. But still ¡­. Just moving my body is getting annoying. I finally make it to the pot and take a canteen and use a cup to drink the water. More ¡­..more ¡­..i just can¡¯t stop drinking it. I¡¯m glad the pot is large enough to store so much. Sara just filled it in the morning too. But my body feels like its aching and its heat is rising. I just want to keep drinking a little more. Phew¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t think a 1 year old body would want that much water. I just kept drinking, until only a fourth of the pot is still left. I feel a little better now. I still feel sleepy though. My temperature returned to normal, I guess I can rest a little in my room. I still have enough strength to move there. Luckily Olivia didn¡¯t spot me. I just take a pillow and sleep on the floor. I don¡¯t know why, but a floor always felt better for me to sleep in than on the bed. Yeah time to get some snooze. Wait ¡­.I should check my [ Status ] just in case. It looks like [ Mana ] has recovered to 25. So that¡¯s the limit until I start feeling like this. What would happen if I use all of my [ Mana ] though. I really didn¡¯t want to do it, the pain and tiredness just a moment ago wasn¡¯t something I¡¯d want to go through again. But I am curious as to what would happen. Seeing my state when I used so much , I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll die. Maybe I¡¯ll just faint. No good, I don¡¯t want to do it. I was careless enough when I didn¡¯t see I had used up so much [ Mana ]. Let me just sleep for now. ¡­. ¡­¡­ What the heck? I was sleepy right. Just rest already. Even though I¡¯m closing my eyes and I feel tired, why can¡¯t I go to sleep? I remember not being able to sleep in space, but it shouldn¡¯t be like that here. These thoughts won¡¯t let me rest. I don¡¯t really want to get back up though. Wait, should I think about something really boring? Imagine Sara talking about nice that guy whose name I can¡¯t remember was. ¡­¡­well I feel a bit sleepy, but not enough to quickly stop these thoughts and go to bed. Is it because, I¡¯ve been sleeping only in the night. I remember reading about sleep cycles. I think my natural sleeping time would be at night with this body. Well I¡¯ll at least test [ Mana Sight ] for now. I remember the feeling clearly now. It was the same feeling as [ Status ] but slowly feeling a sensation over my head and moving it to slowly to the eyes. My first attempt was wrong and I got a little lucky getting somewhere around it. But repeating that same method didn¡¯t work. If it weren¡¯t for [ Gift of Time ] , I don¡¯t know think I would¡¯ve done much progress and probably made wrong decisions on it. I can see it. A blue flowing mist-like aura, I think that would be the [ Mana ] in this world. I try to send [ Mana ] to my hands again and observe with my eyes. I can see that blue aura enwrapping it. I could see its shape clearly and could adjust however I wanted it. I observed the room and saw the clear flow, I thought [ Mana ] would cover this world more like the sea. But as I observed closely, I could see their being larger spots of a little darker blue mist and rest had lighter colored mist. Looks like [ Mana ] concentration like this would probably be normal, since humans may absorb it as they sustain on it. Would the presence of [ Mana ] probably affect their growth cycles like this? I get a little emotional as watch my room. Thank you, I¡¯ll help myself from getting more from you. As I thought of checking to see if absorbing the denser mana was possible or not. I couldn¡¯t move my body. I started feeling more tired. Wait does [ Mana Sight ] use too much [ Mana ]? I check [ Status ] and see my [ Mana ] drop from 1 to 0. I saw everything become dark again. ¡­¡­this was the same feeling of darkness I felt when I died in the previous universe¡¯s collapse. Wait did I die?...No. This feeling¡­..it¡¯s closer to when I first woke up as an infant. When I first woke up in a new body, I immediately went unconscious. So when will I wake up again? ¡­¡­¡­Ah! I suddenly woke up. I don¡¯t know how long I slept. At least this was one way fall asleep I suppose. I don¡¯t think I slept for long, I don¡¯t see anyone in my room. Dinner would be given a little late at night and since they didn¡¯t call for me, I suppose no one came to check here. That means it isn¡¯t dinner time, so I suppose I slept a few hours. But I¡¯ll confirm just in case. I go and see Olivia, she¡¯s humming a sound while readying the food. She looks at me. ¡°Did you sleep enough, Orian? You shouldn¡¯t run around too much in the village. I was worried since you slept too much. If you¡¯re hungry, then I¡¯ll provide dinner in a while. Can you go get your sister too, she¡¯s in the shed.¡±(Olivia) I nod at her and move. I look outside and it¡¯s already night. The villagers are already lighting the pillars. Should I go and try it? There¡¯s still one left on that side. I quickly check my [ Status ]. Looks like my [ Mana ] has recovered to 123. I don¡¯t think using a tool should use up too much, but then again I might have really less [ Mana ] to begin with. I can¡¯t clarify since I posses [Gift of Time] and others don¡¯t. I¡¯m just assuming that skill uses too much mana. Standing here isn¡¯t going to clear my doubts. I should just go and settle this matter. I sneak around, since its dark the villagers can¡¯t see me near where the pillar isn¡¯t lighted yet. I reach the pillar and place my hands on it. It looks like the villagers touch only this part which has a stone tablet on the surface of the pillar to use it. I think this would be the interface. I let [ Mana ] flow through them, I also use [ Mana Sight]. I don¡¯t really want to use it, but I have to see how the tool operates. I can see the [ Mana ] going through my hands, and it starts flowing through the inside of the pillar. As I increase the flow from my side, the flow within the pillar increases. The mana flows through until it reaches some sort of core in it. There¡¯s a circular formation of [ Mana ] within the pillar and it pulls at the river of mana I¡¯m sending to it. The core which I could see, since that would what the container probably looked like within the pillar starts sending [ Mana ] to the upper part of the pillar. I see some sort of formation¡­¡­is that a circle? And the circle has some strange signs written over it. Fire starts welling up on the pillar¡¯s flat surface. I leave the place before anyone spots me. Luckily the villagers were still lighting the far away ones. I check my [ Status ]. That¡¯s weird¡­.. why has my [ Mana ] only dropped to 115. Did the tool use only 8 mana? I can¡¯t be accurate since my mana regenerates really fast ¡­..No, I think it probably used even less. Maybe about 3 or 4, since I know how much [ Mana Sight ] would consume. I¡¯ll just test it once again. I send mana to my eyes and slowly count till all my fingers are closed. After about 10 second I open [ Status ] quickly. I can see my [ Mana ] has dropped to 110. So considering whether my mana regenerates while I use it or not, [ Mana Sight] uses about 1 mana every second. I think it¡¯s probably lesser since opening the [ Status ] also consumes a little [ Mana ]. I¡¯ve confirmed how much mana my skills consume. It¡¯s sad [ Status ] doesn¡¯t show it. At least it¡¯s useful in understanding and keeping track of all the skills. Without it, I probably would¡¯ve misunderstood about [ Gift of Time ]. It¡¯s alright [ Status ] , you are useful. I go to the shed and see Sara still feeding the Griffons. I call out to her, she finishes and comes my way. She has a weird smile on her face. Weird why? But it doesn¡¯t look much like a happy one. I realize a little late, when I feel a sharp pain near my ear. Sara is pinching my ear and pulling at it really hard. ¡° ow¡­..ow¡­.stop it already Sara.¡±(Orian) ¡° What¡¯s with that way of calling me? Call me big sister, Orain¡±(Sara) ¡°Alright, I get it. Please stop it¡­.it really hurts.¡±(Orian) ¡°Oh this¡­I think you don¡¯t understand. This is for what you did in the morning. You left the pot barely empty. Do you even know how hard it is to carry a large pot of water from the lake to here? I even need to feed the Griffons so I need to do it twice. I went again and refilled it, but you were happily snoozing off in your room while I had to do the hard work. What¡¯s with that?¡±(Sara) ¡° I¡¯m sorry, I just felt really tired and thirsty. I¡¯ll help you from tomorrow with carrying the water back, so please forgive me.¡±(Orian) Sara sighed. ¡° You really are a lot of trouble. You don¡¯t stay in one place and keep wandering around the whole village. Then you end up getting tired and doing this. Fine, I¡¯ll let you off for now. Also help me feed the Griffons tomorrow too.¡±(Sara) Please board the free sibling labor train today. You also get a discount with each kind offer. I ended up agreeing to her demands but it¡¯s not like I hated taking care of the Griffons anyway. We both return together for dinner and I head to sleep again. I don¡¯t know if I can sleep now, since I got up only a few minutes ago. I move my pillow to the part of the room which had the largest condensed mana. I try to simply close my eyes while I think. Before I realized, I¡¯m already asleep. I wake up in the morning the usual time. Actually I think it was late by a few hours. Although I can¡¯t say exactly since this place doesn¡¯t have such a convenient tool. I didn¡¯t expect to fall asleep so quickly. Was it because I moved to the part with the most dense mana. It felt a little pleasant, when I did that. It was similar to moving to a slightly cold room. I should keep this in mind the next time I go to sleep. As usual, I check my [ Status ] and although everything remains the same. I see my [ Mana ] is a little off. I am correctly reading it right¡­..then why is it showing my [ Mana ] to be 1120? I use [ Mana Sight ] and check the room. There¡¯s no dense mana in the room anymore, it¡¯s all light colored like the rest. Did I absorb so much from my surroundings? And I didn¡¯t just absorb from the place I slept. I remember the room had a few more spots like that. Then did I absorb from the whole room? Was this because of yesterday? Did my body proactively improve my mana capacity since it thought I needed more? Well I actually do need a lot, if I¡¯m going to be researching. This is actually a good thing. I really don¡¯t want to use so much [ Mana ] again. But this is training in a way I suppose? If I have enough [ Mana ], I could easily use [ Mana Sight ] without having to worry about fainting and I could [ Gift of Time ] for longer duration of experiences into the future. Speaking of which, I should check that ability again. I focus on [ Gift of Time ] and focus on [ Ability 1 ]. ¡­.huh? ¡­..what¡¯s this blinking on Ability 1. Wasn¡¯t this the name [ Status ] gave to the ability of [ Gift of Time ]. I get the idea that I could change it for some reason. Does that mean the names of skills up till now were named by someone? Probably by some God who first made the skill. Does that mean I can name this skill? Well it is a [ Unique ] skill. So I don¡¯t think anyone else can use it. I could give it a name like [ Orian¡¯s hypothesis modulation ¡­.]. Yeah let¡¯s not do that. I should simply name it based on its effect, since it would be easier to categorize it. What would be the best name? Ah¡­I know. How about [ Backtrack ]? I mean it technically allows me feel each and every moment from the future without me actually doing it. So yeah I¡¯ll go with that. Once I decided on the name, I can see the slab say [ Ability 1 has been named Backtrack ] [ Backtrack: Can secure your future experience and return them to the present time. ] I suppose I¡¯ll discover more about it in the future. For now I really want to know more about [ Mana ], since this world basically is covered by it. But still my mana capacity is more than double of what it used to be. I¡¯m glad I can see myself improving. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.As I enter the kitchen, Olivia smiles at me. ¡°Orian, you sure are eating and sleeping a lot. I didn¡¯t think you liked y cooking so much, you gulped down even the leftovers yesterday night. Keep growing so you become a strong adult in the future.¡±(Olivia) I happily nod. Did I eat so much yesterday? I probably didn¡¯t realize at the time, I felt a lot hungry than usual when dinner was served. That means this body is growing properly. I finish my breakfast and head out to help Sara, I should hurry since I woke up late. I check the shed and Sara isn¡¯t there. Dari still isn¡¯t going to be leaving to the city in a while. So the Griffons are still there. Did she go to the river already? I see the empty pot near the Griffons, I clean it using a cloth and carry it outside. I see a crowd in the village today. What¡¯s the commotion I wonder? Ah.. Sara is also there, I guess I¡¯ll go check it out. ¡° Big sis-¡° ¡­¡­(Orian) As I go to call for her, I realize where everyone has gathered. They¡¯re surrounding the pillar I lighted yesterday. Did I break it? I activate [ Mana Sight ]. No the [ Mana ] within seems to be working fine. Wait¡­..why is the [ Mana ] still there ? I look at the top of the pillar and see the fire still burning. I break out in cold sweat. Did I accidently put too much mana into it? I¡¯ll just go and ask her if she¡¯s heard anything. I don¡¯t want to think someone saw me yesterday, but if it did happen then I think I¡¯m in trouble. I call out to Sara and as she sees me holding the large pot, she walks towards me. ¡° Well since you¡¯re here. Go to the lake and fetch some water for the Griffons. Father¡¯s leaving tomorrow so they need to be fed and taken care of.¡± (Sara) ¡°What happened here?¡±(Orian) ¡° I don¡¯t know. The adults are still talking about who lighted this pillar. The fire hasn¡¯t gone out yet. They¡¯re probably trying to check the cause for it. They won¡¯t let you near there, since you¡¯re too young. Go and finish the job, understand¡±(Sara) ¡°What are you going to do, Big sister?¡±(Orian) ¡°I¡¯ll be going to meet Uncle Guez. I¡¯ll stock up on the food, you just feed the Griffons what¡¯s remaining at home.¡±(Sara) I nod to Sara and head to the lake. I fill up the pot to the brim and carry it back. She was right this is quite heavy. I use my hips to support while I lift the weight, so it becomes more easier. I learnt that from the race which tried to improve their physical prowess, that using the right muscles in your body for the proper actions always made it easier. Although it was heavy, I handled it easily. I carried the pot to the shed and provided the leftover fruits to the Griffons. They sure ate happily, and I finally poured the water into the large bowl they ate from. After taking care of them , I cleaned up the feathers. Any work done must be done perfectly. There everything¡¯s done. I finish up and head to my secret place in the village. I found a place which was little near to the forest along the lake where people didn¡¯t come often. I planned on continuing my training there. I started using [ Mana Sight ] and checked the mana concentration of the village. It was similar to my room and there were a few number of dense mana spots. Since I know how [ Magic ] works now, I¡¯ll try using the [ Mana ] with the desire to apply it to use in some way. Using [ Mana Sight ] it was easier to control mana flow, so I first started on its being in combat. As I heard about monsters, I should probably be strong enough to handle them so I need to improve my fighting potential. But how do I do that? As I already know about, [ Strength ] , [ Agility ] and [ Endurance ] they can probably be increased by growth and training. I suppose I should start training my body physically as well. If only I could directly use the knowledge of that tribe on that terrible planet. I remember it, on a certain dark planet in the Starhead Galaxy where people with similar contrasts to humans lived. But they weren¡¯t advanced on technology, they were however knowledgeable on biological improvement of the body through physical training techniques. I don¡¯t think I can thank them enough for teaching me how the body works, how smaller muscles impacted the growth and strength of the whole body. How to train them? What positions to use? I think it was because of that I had also grown taller, much more than the average kind. But there were a lot of equipment to use for that training. Basically heavy equipment, if I had any of it I could begin training from small , where growth to the body would be at the highest. For now, I need to increase my defense. No matter how strong I get, if a sword cuts my hand, it will be cut. If I get burned, my skin will suffer. If a monster hits me with enough force, I¡¯ll suffer from blunt damage. I could dislocate a few bones. Basically humans don¡¯t have any form of strengthening their external skin or internal organs no matter how much they train. Getting hit would harden the skin to some extent but may end up leaving scars and may actually end up being targeted at that point thinking that part to be weak. That would mean wear armor while going to combat. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll have enough money to buy something like that from the blacksmith. Moreover they aren¡¯t suits or vests made from the current technology yet. So now, can I do something about it using [ Mana ]. I concentrate and let mana envelop my whole body and I desire it to protect me. Thoughts of protecting my body from all attacks runt through my mind. A layer of mana is covering my entire body while this happens. I feel my body is getting strengthened and my skin being covered. I get some sort of alert like feeling and I just open my [ Status ]. [ Enhanced Defense learned] [ Enhanced Defense improved to +1] [ The body¡¯s defense is improved by Mana. Low level attacks don¡¯t damage you. You can use the first level Enhanced defense ] [ Endurance : Enhanced Defense +1 equipped ] [ Mana: 1105 ] Ah¡­¡­ it was possible to do it after all. This was sort of a Mana Defense mechanism. Looks like someone already created this skill long ago and its good against weak attacks. Hmm¡­. How much is exactly considered weak by it? Does it even protect me against the monster¡¯s outside this village? Seeing my [ Mana ] right now , I don¡¯t think it consumes much. All I have to do is use it once and the defense is maintained. I try pinching my arm and see my [ Mana ] dropped by 2. Since my other hand also had improved defense, I suppose it penetrated the others when I pinched it hard. It hurt like how it would normally would. Then that means when the defense has been overcome, it again regenerates if I have enough mana. A useful defense dependant on mana though. I remove the enhanced defense from one hand and try to repeat the same. Like I thought, my other arm which has the defense feels hard as a rock. I can¡¯t even inflict any pain from my other hand. I see there¡¯s a change in the color on the hand with the defense equipped. It isn¡¯t noticeable but you¡¯ll feel it¡¯s different if you see it closely. I didn¡¯t think too hard about the slight change in color. If you saw it from a little far, you wouldn¡¯t even think there was any difference. I could guess this defense was strong. But I didn¡¯t know how strong monsters were. If I¡¯m planning on entering the forest, I should at least be ready for it. If I could make such a simple defense, what would happen if I try to make it stronger? By using [ Mana Sight ], I send my mana to cover over the already existing mana to make a double layer defense. As I observe carefully and manipulate it, I finally am able to apply another layer. I get the same feeling again this time and open [ Status ]. [ Enhanced Defense +1 improved to +2 ] [ Enhanced Defense +2 ] [ Endurance: Equipped Enhanced Defense +2 ] [ Mana: 1080 ] I see¡­. So it is possible like that. This was worth checking, I can be safe with something like this. But it seems to more [ Mana ] than the previous, well it is obvious though. It is 2 layers of Mana embedded on top of another. Alright, I know this maybe too greedy of me. But I should try it, let me keep adding more layers and see how further it can improve. -----After an hour ------- ¡­¡­what the¡­.. This is well¡­..disappointing. I was only able to add one more layer, making it [ Enhanced Defense +3 ]. I tried repeating the same after using it again and again. I couldn¡¯t make a fourth layer. I think I should understand that this applies the same in the previous world. Although this improved defense is good, I think it¡¯s feeling a little disoriented. It¡¯s like I have to keep watch over the third layer so it doesn¡¯t fall of while managing the other layers. Basically it¡¯s imbalanced and in a way harder to maintain. I suppose moving would become more difficult if I had keep using this higher defense. Although the previous one seemed enough, I still don¡¯t think I should take light of monsters without any information. But wearing the three layered one is even worse, I can¡¯t move too well. Adding a fourth layer is impossible. What can I do? I can see the change on my skin. It looks metallic. Is this the reason it¡¯s a higher defense. I suppose having such a body meant, it would survive attacks. But is this all, someone probably went a bit higher than this since the [ Status ] can still name it or did people simply try to adjust to move while using this defense. It would become too distracting wearing this. Wait¡­.maybe I should change my approach? The third layer almost seems unstable having to maintain to it all the time. How about joining the layer¡¯s somehow? There was a method liked that used in strengthening battle suits. I control the mana flow so that the three layers start combining. It¡¯s like small threads are connecting in between each the layer. They seem like they are holding them together. I immediately get the same feeling. I open [ Status]. This is going to become a habit probably. [Enhanced Defense improved to +4 ] [ Mana Sight improved to +3 ] [ Enhanced Defense +4 ] [ The body¡¯s defense is improved by controlling the mana to a higher level. High level attacks deal insignificant damage. The Fourth level of Body Defense.] [Endurance: Equipped Enhanced Defense +4] [ Mana: 822 ] This time I felt the change was really significant. I could move my body much more easily. The color of my body was now grey. I could freely strengthen the defense of my body. I enhanced one hand and touched it using the other. It felt a little similar to the battle suits that were made before in the previous world. It was close but not quite, but I knew what this feeling was. It was like touching hard graphite. Isn¡¯t this Carbonization? Basically my body could be strengthened based on the formation I gave my mind. Why did [ Mana Sight ] improve? Looking closer, I had seen in between the many layers of mana and had improvised that structure which was harder than to stare at easily. So it improved because I could focus more on the structure of mana? I think I¡¯m beginning to understand how mana works in this world. Having mana makes it more easier and when probably controlled there¡¯s a lot of things you can do. What would be impossible normally was possible through it¡¯s application? But all these methods of application, someone already had done it and there maybe others using it. I really can¡¯t wait to travel and find out for myself. So defense has been covered. Now I need offense, can¡¯t simply take hits for no reason. Should I try to use the [ Elemental Magic ]? I don¡¯t think possible right now, since there was that other language in the textbook. Couldn¡¯t I observe how others would use it and simply implement it myself? I have [ Mana Sight ], so learning shouldn¡¯t be a problem. I could try to learn [ Fire Magic ] from the pillar, but I need to see what¡¯s at the top to understand it. There was something at the top which I couldn¡¯t see properly which made the fire. Seeing the villagers are checking over it, I don¡¯t think I can learn it easily now. I¡¯ll just [ Mana Sight ] for now. I just stare with a blank face over the whole village. I¡¯m not worried since I have enough [ Mana ] now. I can see something beneath me. Is it because it improved a while ago? There¡¯s mana within the earth too. Is it [ Earth Magic ]? No , it¡¯s different. Now that I look at it, the entire ground is covered by [ Mana ]. What about Gravity? I almost forgot entirely about it. There was rare magic called [ Gravity Magic ]. Did the earth also use it by manipulating the [ Mana ] in that manner? I get an idea. I try to walk and see some dregs of mana threads attached to my feet. I pick up a pebble, as I observe closer there¡¯s a thread of mana connected to the pebble and the earth. As I pick it up, it¡¯s still connected to the mana in the earth. I try to copy it, slowly infusing my own mana into the pebble. I connect it to the larger mana making a pulling like action. I let the pebble go from my height. It falls quickly to the ground making a small hole of its shape. Next I pick up another pebble and this time disrupt the thread connecting it to the ground. I try to reduce the thread¡¯s width. This time I drop the pebble, it instead falls down as though under no gravity. ! As expected, that feeling came again. I opened my [ Status ]. [ Gravity Magic Learned] [ Gravity Magic improved to +1] [ The Magic connecting the earth, it also connects many other elements. Manipulating it through the use of mana, allow you control over different elements. First level Gravity Magic ] Chapter 6 - Friends Author''s Note: Sorry for the late release, people keep me busy for no reason. I tried using tables, but didnt find the best one to use. i was trying to change the background color to grey and make it look like the stone slab but couldnt. i didnt want to use the blue tables, since it didnt feel right with me. i''ll update with the actual tables if i can find a way to make it correctly. Also i dont think i''ll able to post a chapter tomorrow, i''m going to comicon near my place. good night and sleep tight ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friends Getting [ Gravity Magic ] was a surprise, I didn¡¯t think it would actually work so well. I have a better grasp on how this world works or better said I¡¯m beginning to understand its fundamental laws. I may not have learned the [ Elemental Magic ] but having a rare magic in your arsenal always helps. But how would I be able to attack using it. I don¡¯t have any understanding of using gravity in the field of offense. Hmm¡­.wait, that might work. I could simply increase their weight and immobilize them. But I don¡¯t think that¡¯ll be enough as I won¡¯t have any strength to kill them. I know what my [ Status ] indicates and I clearly understand this is still a child¡¯s body. My basic attacks won¡¯t have affect on them even if I use [ Enhanced Defense ]. Since attacks require some sort of force or impact to deal damage. It¡¯s common sense that even a large boulder won¡¯t hurt you if it simply stays still. Could I use [ Gravity Magic ] and increase its weight to a level its internal organs can rupture? That could be possible. I test by applying my [ Mana ] to a small pebble as I throw it towards the sky and use [Gravity Magic] by increasing the mana near the string between the pebble and the earth. The pebble fell too fast, I couldn¡¯t notice its speed. I repeat the same experiment on a still rock and waiting for it get crushed under the pressure. I keep increasing my mana output on the rock. Although I keep increasing it, the effect disappears after a while. While I observe using [ Mana Sight] to understand the problem, I check the base of the rock and it¡¯s immersed in to the ground for about 5 cm. When I repeated the experiment, I understood that it failed because the mana in the earth which pulled the rock towards it, became less. So the more mana I use to increase gravity on any object, it¡¯ll stop working since the other side¡¯s [ Mana ] dissipates. Is it my [ Mana ] which is causing the earth¡¯s mana to breakdown? Hmm¡­I think I understand. Basically you can¡¯t increase the attraction between two objects any more than necessary, as either sides energy which is causing this pulling will reduce since the other side can¡¯t handle the increase in energy. It¡¯s also due the fact that the gravitational pull isn¡¯t similar to that of a planet. Having a round shape and making use of its poles, the gravity is affected by the altitude. But this world¡¯s gravity may as well won¡¯t change since it¡¯s a constant amount of [ Mana ] creating the gravitational effect. If there¡¯s any dissipation in the [ Mana ], there¡¯s no north or south pole to immediately fix it. All of this is baseless gesture, I¡¯d have to check the effect of [ Gravity Magic ] at higher altitudes. But this basically means I can¡¯t be certain [ Gravity Magic ] can actually be used as a form of attack. I think at best I could make a monster be fixed to the ground but we¡¯re back to where we started. I suppose I¡¯ll use the other method then¡­¡­though it has its risks without proper investigation. No, I¡¯ll use it either way in order to conduct the investigation. Hope my body won¡¯t get damaged by doing this. I¡¯ll start with that tomorrow, for now I¡¯ll return. I check my [ Status ] to see any changes. ¡­..why has [ Mana ] decreased to 300? It was somewhere near 800 when I started, so why has it reduced to less than half? Does [ Gravity Magic ] use so much [ Mana ]? This is worse than using [ Gift of Time ]. By the time I actually do anything, I would¡¯ve fainted just from the mana loss. Although I am happy learning new [ Magic ], when it actually does more harm than good you don¡¯t really feel happy about getting it. There¡¯s still a few hours, before it¡¯s nighttime. When I was returning, I see Sara carrying a huge basket full of fruits on her head with a cloth shaped like a small turban to support the basket¡¯s weight. She spots me and after reaching me spots the basket down. She doesn¡¯t look pleased. Does she think I skipped out on the work? That¡¯s quite mean Sister, when it¡¯s you who drives such a young boy to work. ¡° If you¡¯re done with feeding them, go to Uncle Guez¡¯s house and retrieve the another basket.¡± (Sara) ¡°aww¡­. ¡° (Orian) ¡° Stop wasting time, the faster you help me with this, the faster you can go play. There¡¯s no other work after this other than helping Mother from tomorrow when Father leaves for the city. You need to know where Uncle¡¯s house is anyway, so stop by at his place. He¡¯ll be really happy to see you.¡±(Sara) Sara says with a sighed expression. I suppose being the only one to do this would drive anyone mad. Even though I¡¯m a small kid, I still have enough intelligence to understand the problem of others. She probably feels jealous that I have more free time to play while she works. But I won¡¯t tell her that. I don¡¯t have a death wish. I know how scary older siblings can be. I remember a friend of mine talking about how scary his older brother was whenever he was found gambling. ¡° Fine, I¡¯ll go get it.¡±(Orian) Sara nodded and picked up the basket and placed it on her head. She¡¯s quite strong. She¡¯s considerably stronger than me considering the age gap. Despite how much she works me, she¡¯s a responsible older sister and reliable too. I already knew the location of Guez¡¯s house, but I listen to when she¡¯s telling me the directions. She returns home while I go to his house. I reach his house and knock on his door. There¡¯s no response. Is he outside not at home? After a while, the door unlocks and I see a Girl slowly peeking at a small gap from the door. Who is she? Why is she here? Why is she so cute to look at? My mind starts running wild as I watch her. She has black hair and it¡¯s grown quite a bit. She¡¯s almost the same height, but she seems a little taller. How old is she? In a low voice she begins to speak. ¡°umm¡­¡­..who are you?¡± (¡­..) Ahhhhh¡­..what a cute voice. She must be an angel. I¡¯ve never seen someone like her, even on all the planets of previous universe. What a useless universe! Not having an angel like this. Wait ¡­ calm down¡­..no matter how she looks, she¡¯s still a little girl. Don¡¯t tell me I¡¯m a pedophile? No, I didn¡¯t have something like that in my previous life. Is it because this body is still that of a child, I feel like this? That would explain it. Maybe it¡¯s love at first sight. ¡°umm¡­can I help you?¡±(¡­..) Ahhh¡­.how amazing. Stop. Alright, calm down Orian. First impressions are important here. I can¡¯t stay standing like an idiot. ¡° is Uncle Guez here?¡±(Orian) ¡°Father¡­. Do you have some business with Father?¡±(¡­.) Guez¡­.is her father. So does that mean she¡¯s my cousin? I wonder if marriage between cousins is possible in this world. She¡¯ll be very beautiful in 10 or so years. Wait, why the heck am I thinking about this right now? Calm down, don¡¯t forget what you need to accomplish. Marriage won¡¯t allow me the freedom to explore this world. At least I can enjoy falling in love. Let me introduce myself atleast. ¡°umm¡­.I¡¯m Sara¡¯s little brother, Orian. She sent me here to get the extra basket that was left over here.¡±(Orian) Hearing me say that, she gasps and looks at me from head to toe. I don¡¯t mind being stared at. But please do understand my feelings. ¡° So you¡¯re Sister Sara¡¯s brother. She told me you were 1 year old now. My name is Gina Dahric. Father has gone out for now. He won¡¯t be back for a while. Wait here, I¡¯ll go and bring you the basket.¡±(Gina) Ah¡­Gina. Such a sweet name. I nod at her suggestion and wait outside. Although I wanted to be asked to enter the house. So Dahric was mother¡¯s last name before she got married. So many customs are certainly clashing here with the previous world. I wait outside and after a few minutes I see the door opening again. I can hear the sound of someone gasping for air. It was Gina. She was out of breath and she was dragging the basket and covered in sweat. No no no, you shouldn¡¯t expect a girl so cute to be doing this much hard work. Sara¡¯s just too strong. ¡° here you go ¡­.huff ¡­.huff¡±(Gina) I take the basket and hold it over my small shoulders. It¡¯s a little smaller than the one Sara was carrying, but still heavy. It shouldn¡¯t be too much hard to carry it. No no, there¡¯s cuteness in weakness. ¡°Oh right, Gina. Are you not an year old, yet? Do you still have to stay in the house?¡± (Orian) ¡°Uh?!.....no it¡¯s not that at all. I¡¯m 2 years old now. But I don¡¯t have any friends outside, so I stay and watch over the house. I try to do some cooking here and there when I can though. Father doesn¡¯t stay much at home.¡±(Gina) ¡° Well, I don¡¯t have any friends either. How about you play with me from tomorrow? We¡¯re not that far apart from age. Sister won¡¯t play much with me.¡±(Orian) Seize the opportunity when you see it. ¡°umm¡­.i don¡¯t mind. But ¡­..you don¡¯t mind being friends with me?¡±(Gina) ¡°Nope, I don¡¯t.¡± (Orian) ¡° Well, alright then. See you tomorrow, Orian¡±(Gina) I am calling back to base, mission cleared. An alliance has been established. And we can further good relations in the future. I¡¯ll think about this later in the future. Who knows, maybe I could take her with me on the adventure? But it¡¯s best not to expose someone to danger. I can decide about this, much later anyway. I return home with the basket and Sara pats my back for it. Even I¡¯m happy today too sister, so I don¡¯t mind if you work me to the bone. I remember her telling me, we won¡¯t have any work after Dari leaves for the city. Does that mean I can spend the whole day with Gina tomorrow? ¡° You seem to be in a good mood today. Anything nice happen?¡±(Sara) Huh? Is it that obvious? I don¡¯t really want to tell her though. This Sister of mine, so nosy. ¡°It¡¯s nothing. When¡¯s dinner?¡±(Orian) Sara looks at me suspiciously. No matter how much you ask me I won¡¯t budge. You¡¯ll only tease me. It¡¯s too obvious. ¡°Ooh¡­ not bad. I thought you always acted weird. But looks like you¡¯re quite normal. I can make a guess what it is. But I¡¯m not interested anymore, so I¡¯ll let it slide.¡±(Sara) I break out in cold sweat. Women have really good intuitions, either in the older world or this one. I smiled awkwardly and go inside. Dinner¡¯s ready, I finish up and head to bed. I try to sleep near the higher concentration of mana as usual. But there are only a few for now. I wake up normally and check my [ Status ] and all the [ Skills ] I¡¯ve learned are displayed with [ Mana ] having increased again. But I didn¡¯t exhaust it completely, this time. That means my mana capacity increases with more mana I spend every day. There¡¯s still time for breakfast and so I got outside for training. If the training method I thought of yesterday works, then I won¡¯t have to rely on [ Gravity Magic ] to be a source of damage. But today I¡¯ll need to use it carefully for the training itself. It¡¯s the method that tribe in my previous life had used. Although I don¡¯t have the heavy equipment required to train myself with. I can train using [ Gravity Magic ] instead. I can use it to slowly increase the weight on my body and train my muscles. The technique they used couldn¡¯t be done on a child¡¯s body, but there was a method to improve on the technique to train the muscles which actually improved strength. If I can make my body stronger, coupled with [ Enhanced Defense ] I¡¯m sure I can handle at least one monster by myself. I could learn to use a bow, but it¡¯s too risky if others found out. Not to mention, if your location is discovered then using a bow is useless. I needed to be versatile. No matter what position I end up in, to somehow be able to survive through it. The training itself needs to be carefully designed, otherwise I¡¯ll just end up hurting myself. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. So I began readying my [ Gravity Magic ] in the desolate place I use normally. I make sure the mana strings on my body are attached to the earth¡¯s mana. I don¡¯t know how much I can apply before the mana connecting my body and earths would dissipate after certain extent. But I think that would be still far away. I had been to planets with varying gravity after all. One planet had 5 times higher the normal gravity, I had to train with a few others in artificial gravity to endure it. The guy¡¯s who I had trained with started puking at 3 times the gravity itself. It was because they didn¡¯t know how to maintain the body¡¯s balance, which muscles to use and the proper positions to maintain. The tribe used methods such as power lifting to actually improve their physical feats. The movements with the heavy equipment, would be perfected movements for lifting heavier weights. I had used it and even at a older age my body sufficiently grew stronger. Handling planets with higher gravity became much easier. By training this body , when growth rate is highest I can gain strength to protect myself. I wonder which will reach its limit first, the earth¡¯s mana or this body. And it started, I increased the mana flow at five different points in the body. The posterior glutes, the lower part of the abdomen to maintain the balance, the centre of gravity of the body and the top part of middle of shoulder bones to maintain my head¡¯s position. I remembered the smaller parts perfectly. I knew which muscle had to trained for the whole body to reap benefits. I increased the weight on them as little as possible and began training. Running in the correct manner, standing still while holding tight all the muscles and squatting and getting up. I would also end up donning [ Enhanced Defense ] , so the body would become used to this sensation when training as well. It also make my body feel a bit heavier though. This would be the training I put myself for the next 10 years also slowly increasing its difficulty. It was harder than I actually had imagined. I had to maintain, the [ Gravity Magic ] as well. It was a pain. Both my [ Mana ] and physical stamina would get rapidly consumed at start. I took breaks until I recovered and after enough training head home to have breakfast. I check my [ Status ]. [ Skill: Mana Mastery Learned ] [ You have learned how to use mana effectively. Controlling and skillfully holding mana, you have learned how much exact mana is required to successfully use Magic.] [ Unique: Gift of Time ] [ Backtrack: Can secure your future experience and return them to the present time. ] [ Ability 2: By enhancing your thinking ability, you can think with a speed where time would not seem to move. ] [ Mana: 113 ] I seemed to have learned to use [ Mana Mastery ]. I think it¡¯s because of using [ Gravity Magic ] like that. Does that mean I reduce the amount of mana I need to spend on [ Magic ]? This is useful. So does that mean, I¡¯ve been carelessly wasting mana even though I didn¡¯t need to. I¡¯ll note this down. Learning to implement how much mana was needed is important. I could also use it on [ Enhanced Defense ], but I don¡¯t think it will need much changes to how much mana needed to be used. So after training, if I am left with that much [ Mana ], I don¡¯t think it should be a problem. It¡¯s like killing two birds with one stone. It seems [ Gift of Time ] gave another ability. Is it due to calmly analyzing the situation every time? If I can get more time to think in an emergency situation, it¡¯s always helpful. I think I remember using this already, I did feel it weird since time hadn¡¯t passed even though I was drowned in thoughts. Hope this doesn¡¯t happen when I go sleeping again. I suppose I should name it the same way as before. Hmm..........ah. [ Chamber ] would work. [ Ability 2 has been named Chamber ] [ Gift of Time ] sure has useful abilities. But I shouldn¡¯t be overly relying on them. I bid farewell to Dari as he heads out of the village. I go with him, towards the gate. A large wooden gate remains closed and a few hunters go along with the carriage. It seems Guez will also be heading to ensure the carriages safety. I see Gina nearby also giving her regards. They won¡¯t be back for 4 days, it is quite long for a member of your family to be away. You can¡¯t help but wish for them arrive faster. Gina has a sad expression, but smiles as her father is about to leave. I heard about it from Sara that Gina¡¯s mother had died during child birth so whenever Guez leaves she would be lonely. Don¡¯t worry, Guez. Your most trusted will make sure Gina stays happy. There¡¯s also another boy here. One of the hunters here must be his father. He has a lonely look on his face. I can guess which one of them here is his parent. Now that I look closely, I don¡¯t think he was playing with the other kids when I checked for the past few days. As the gate opens and the carriage starts moving, few hunters depart with Guez and Dari. I should note these timings. The number keeps will be lesser and I can easily access the forest. But I¡¯ll refrain until a later date. Until I¡¯ve confirmed I¡¯m strong enough. I should sometimes go with Sara and Guez since the parts of the forest nearer to the village are safe. I can only hope to catch some pigs again. After they left, the gate closed again. Sara left heading back home, to help Olivia with chores. She also smiles back as she sees me looking at Gina. Could she be a good wingman if she tried? Thank you, Sara. I¡¯ve misjudged you. I really wanted to spend time with Gina alone playing, exploring or talking. But the boy is still standing with a sullen look. Was he in the same situation? If it¡¯s only me and Gina, it won¡¯t really be fun as we could easily come into arguments on what to decide. I don¡¯t mind doing whatever she wanted to do. But having a male friend will make it easier for communication. And since I won¡¯t leaving for 9 more years, a few more friends in this village wouldn¡¯t hurt. I go and try to engage a conversation. He looks at me and Gina. ¡° Hello, my name is Orian Mellinus and this is Gina Dahric. What¡¯s your name?¡±(Orian) ¡°¡­..¡±(¡­..) ¡°¡­¡­.Targ Livigt¡±(Targ) Ahh¡­he seems nervous. Is it his first time making friends? I think we should be able to talk since we¡¯re all in a similar situation. ¡° Your father, also went out along with the carriage?¡±(Orian) Targ nods. He looks at me and Gina again. ¡° Do you want to come play with us? I just became an year old a few days ago and having a few more friends would feel better.¡±(Orian) ¡°¡­me too. I¡¯m an year old now¡±(Targ) I smile and put my arm around him. ¡° Let¡¯s get along.¡±(Orian) And thus I made one more friend. We went around the village and played until night came. ¡°Thanks, I had fun today. Let¡¯s play again tomorrow¡± (Orian) ¡° Me too.¡± (Targ) ¡°Same here.¡± (Gina) Both were smiling happily. I returned home after parting with them. I told Olivia about how I made friends. Sara was looking with disinterest. Completely tired, after having dinner I went to bed. -------After 6 months ------- It¡¯s been a few months after I met Targ and Gina. I¡¯ve been continuing my training without harming my body. My food consumption rate has increased. By controlling [ Gravity Magic ] on my body every day, I¡¯m now able to move my body at a higher weight. Since I¡¯ve been slowly increasing the weight on the particular muscles, the rest of body is also seeing a lot of changes. Most of the muscles on my back are neatly developed and Sara¡¯s pat on the back hardly fazes me now. My legs have shown great improvement and I can easily walk. At this point I can wear [ Gravity Magic ] permanently on my body as long as it¡¯s lesser than the current level I train at. I do this, so I don¡¯t accidently release my actual strength. People won¡¯t notice such changes if they keep watching the same thing every day. My mana capacity has been steadily increasing. I can¡¯t use all of it now and faint since others would get suspicious. According to checking on how gravity works, I think my body is currently handling at 3.4 times the normal weight for morning training. I was able to estimate this by checking the volume of muscle gain with its density. If I had to make a guess, this body has more muscle density than my previous one before shifting to the clones. This was thanks to [ Backtrack ] , I made sure to check when I was getting tired to make sure I didn¡¯t hurt myself during training. My [ Skills ] haven¡¯t improved much though. But my [ Physical Attributes ] have really risen along with my growth. My height has increased a little though. After I¡¯m done training I go hang out with Targ and Gina, help from time to time with Sara¡¯s chores. Targ tries to race against me often trying to beat me at whatever he finds challenging. Physically Targ has the advantage and he easily beats me at most games. He might also be growing stronger since he looks at me like a rival. My body is still 3 times heavy right now, you know. Don¡¯t get too cocky. Gina tries to stop us from competing, but I don¡¯t mind doing it. This at least keeps training fun for me. I don¡¯t have the mental aptitude to train like a muscle head for no reason. Targ gets injured easily though, he falls down quite often. Gina treats his injuries while sighing. Sometimes I see him blushing in front of her. So much for being a brother. Targ has too much of a hot headed personality and Gina is kind as usual. She¡¯s too beautiful. I wish these 9 years would pass quickly. I don¡¯t see their lonely faces anymore, so Targ and Gina have been definitely happy. ------------Day of return------- As usual I wake up every day, and check my [ Status ]. [ Status ] [ Name: Orian Mellinus ] [ Age: 1 year 6 months 4 days ] [ Race: Human ] [ Growth: 8 ] [ Skills ] [ Language Comprehension ] [ Equipment Builder +1 ] [ Unique: Gift of Time ] [ Exploring ] [ Organizing ] [ Mana Sight +3 ] [ Enhanced Defense +4 ] [ Gravity Magic +1] [ Mana Mastery +1] [ Strength: 114 ] [ Intelligence: 105 ] [ Resistance: none ] [ Endurance: Equipped Enhanced Defense +4 ] [ Agility: 150 ] [ Mana: 3211 ] My [ Mana Mastery ] improved , when I started using less mana on [ Mana Sight ] while still producing the same results. I think my body has increased by leaps and bounds. I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d improve this much though. [ Growth ] has increased to 8, so I think it depends on time. I could easily crush rocks with my hands and I could fling pebbles almost like bullets. I think with this I could survive the forest. Since some monsters are easily killed with just arrows. I suppose I would need to learn their weakness so I can have guaranteed safety. I suppose that concludes what I need to do today. I can¡¯t go to the forest today, even though I¡¯m strong now. It¡¯s because the hunters are returning along with Guez and Dari. They¡¯ll be more of them today. So I¡¯ll wait for my next chance. I go along with Sara and see Targ and Gina at the gate already. This has happened so many times already, but we always wait here hoping everyone returns safe without any problem. The gate opens, Targ and Gina are awaiting their parents return. The carriage is back and everyone seems to be here. ¡­..wait The count is off by 1 person. Is anyone missing? I check all of them, Guez and Dari are here and so are all the hunters¡­¡­ except one. Where is Targ¡¯s Father? Did he stay in the city for some errand? What happened to him? My sight slowly goes towards the carriage and I see the wheel is bent a little. The Griffons also look injured, they have a few scratches. Guez hand is covered by a cloth. Did he get injured somehow? Targ , his face seems anxious like everyone¡¯s here. But their faces, the ones who came back, all I can see on their faces is horror, fear and tears. What happened here? Why did this happen? This was only the beginning of my days of strife to come. Chapter 7 - The Forest Part I Author''s Note: Sorry for the late chapter. Comicon was good, going to post another chapter soon ------------------------------------------------------------ The Forest A few hours had passed after the carriage returned. Sara helped in moving the carriage back to the house. Gina and Guez had both returned to house. Targ had gone back to his house to inform the news. At the end it was just me who was the near the gate still trying to understand the situation. What was hard for me to understand was why I was feeling this way? I knew going through the forest to the city had its trouble. I also had lost enough friends in my previous life as well. But I was feeling dull over this, even though something like this was treated like an everyday situation in the village. This wasn¡¯t the first time such a situation had occurred. But it had gotten quite peaceful for the last two years, so I had assumed something like this happening was a rare case. From what I heard from those who returned, it seems there was no problem travelling to the village. But while returning, there were attacked by a large monster which shouldn¡¯t have been in the vicinity. This monster¡¯s lair was quite far from the actual path they took to the city, since the path was created in order to never encounter it in the first place. They didn¡¯t have any idea as to why such a thing occurred. The monster which attacked them was called a Orthoros. I remember reading it from the picture book, instead of three heads this dog had two heads. Compared to all the monsters in the forest, the Orthoros was the most dangerous. Even if all the hunters had gone to fight it, they would probably die was what they had told us. Targ¡¯s Father Garrem Livigt had attracted its attention as a bait so the rest could escape. They said that was the only monster which hunted alone but it was something that all the other monsters in the forest feared. It was a monster which could kill 20 hunters and still be able to go away unscathed. Maybe they previously tried killing it with so many people and had failed. Two years before, they hadn¡¯t seen its appearance on that path. It probably only met them today by coincidence, since they would travel at irregular intervals they wouldn¡¯t have met it on the path. Now I have even stronger urge to see what the monsters in the forests are like. I wonder how Targ is handling himself, he¡¯s one year old right now so I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll be able to get over it too quickly. If it was Dari instead who hadn¡¯t returned then I¡¯d be sad, very sad. I probably would rush into the forest even if there was a small minute chance of him being alive. Yeah, but then the hunters would stop me. Targ hasn¡¯t trained like me, but if it was such a dangerous beast then I¡¯ll have to take many precautions ahead. I would have to know its movements, its weakness and its adaptability. Targ is my friend and knowing how he currently is, he wouldn¡¯t even think of going against any of the monsters. He was scared enough when I simply told him made up stories about the forest. But if there¡¯s something , any chance that his father may be alive then I want to be of use. Since the hunters have returned, by looking at their wounds I don¡¯t think they can come for guard duty for a few number of days. So there¡¯ll be a less number who keep watch. If I can, I¡¯ll see if Targ can come back and play with Gina and me like usual. After that I headed back to the house to help Sara. She probably went alone, so I could console my friend but I was useless. Targ hardly spoke and Gina was still shocked at the injury on Guez. Targ had a painful look on his face and I could almost see tears. I can check on him tomorrow. I went to help with unloading the goods and taking care of the Griffons, but it looks like Sara had already completed it. I had dinner with Dari who looked troubled about losing someone on his trip. Olivia and Sara didn¡¯t speak. Looks like this sort of thing always did happen in the village. I went to sleep while I still hadn¡¯t understood why I felt like this. Was it because I got back my emotions after so long? Or were these emotions I developed when I was reborn like this? When I become 10 years old, will they send a group of hunters to help me reach the city so I could adventure? I don¡¯t want to risk someone else¡¯s life for my own sake. Dari was probably also thinking that, but what he does also helps the village. The funds needed for the village, the trade between the city and here and information from the outside. These are all the things we would get for safely returning from such a trip. The hunters who go along with him to protect him also have the resolve to face death. If these trips aren¡¯t taken then the village would be in more danger. I went to sleep, thinking of deciding what I needed to do tomorrow. -------After the return, the next day, Day 1------- I went and met Gina, but it looks like she¡¯s staying at home tending to Guez¡¯s injuries. They¡¯ll probably heal in a few days time. Then I went to check on Targ, his mother told me he didn¡¯t want to meet anyone today. His mother also had a sullen expression, but she tried to smile despite that. This is probably going to continue like this for a while. Since Sara had finished the work yesterday, she didn¡¯t call for me. I was alone after such a long time. I guess it¡¯s time to get to work. I carried my book today. The village didn¡¯t have any more information for me to gather. I knew who were the ones that were assigned to watch the outposts today. Since the number of guards are less at the wall, I can sneak past today. I had been planning on getting outside, when they took a break. Just like how I had recorded in my book, they left the post. I had 10 minutes and before they returned I had to somehow land on the other side safely. I had brought with me a dagger I had received from Guez as a gift. Though Olivia was against it, it was a sign of good luck for the child within the village. So she conceded to me holding onto it. She also gave me an earful to be extremely careful with it. Besides whoever made the tradition giving a sharp object to a one year old was good luck must have something wrong with his head. I think it was just in case when even his parents couldn¡¯t protect him, so he could protect himself. But now I was using it to get into a dangerous spot. Once I quickly jumped off to the top of the wooden wall, I used the knife as a support for holding me as I slowly descended the wall. I hope the marks on it don¡¯t reveal how I managed to get out. Finally I was outside, it was time to learn about this forest. I had to memorize whatever I could, since it¡¯s outside the village and quite dangerous, I shouldn¡¯t try to about write the book here. Ever since I had obtained [ Mana Mastery ] , I had explored in other ways it could be used. I could copy all the details about the village I had written about the village onto the [ Status ]. Since the [ Status ] contained information, I thought it could store as well if someone could write on it. I had to focus writing on the slab with mana. It was harder at first, but now I had stored all the information I needed onto another tab on it called [ Info ]. I¡¯m sorry for calling you useless so much [ Status ]. Today¡¯s aim is to gather all the information I can within only a few hours, since I have to return before I¡¯m suspected. I plan to cover the entire forest within a one mile radius. Instead of going deeper, I¡¯ll survey the surroundings completely and slowly advance each day. If it takes too much time for me go back then I¡¯ll have to enter during the night. Since wearing [ Enhanced Defense ] now gives a dark color around my skin, I¡¯m sure people can¡¯t see me if I climb up the wall at night. I activate [ Mana Sight ], I have to keep it active for the whole time since I don¡¯t have much information to go on. I¡¯ll check on my [ Mana ] every hour and if it gets lower than half I¡¯ll return and if I can¡¯t return then I¡¯ll find a spot with dense mana to rest and recover. ¡­¡­.. ¡­¡­. It¡¯s been over an hour and after surveying this part of the forest, I¡¯ve found bushes which contain the fruits that Sara forages from. Although Griffons tend to like them, I tasted one and found them to be quite bitter. I¡¯ve also found a few herbs described in that book. I make a picture map along with all the vegetation I found in [ Info ]. In order to climb the trees, I¡¯ve disabled [ Gravity Magic ] which was applied on me. My body feels really light and I can easily climb the trees. After observing the mana in the forest, I can see it¡¯s more dense than in the village. Is it because humans absorb the surrounding mana everyday? Looks like I won¡¯t need to worry about running out of mana in the forest. Considering the amount of area I wanted to survey, I¡¯ve almost completed fifty percent. It¡¯s not that fast since I only planned on searching a radius of one mile surrounding the village. It took one hour to do so since I had to make note which plants were found where in detail. I haven¡¯t seen any monsters. Luckily the guards haven¡¯t spotted me even if I am in their range, hiding in trees and bushes perhaps they thought I was a monster. Let¡¯s hope they don¡¯t plan on firing their arrows. I¡¯ll activate [ Enhanced Defense ] just in case. I don¡¯t think even a bullet can pierce this dark armor covering my body and since it¡¯s perfectly attached on my skin, it¡¯s easy to move. Although I call it armor, it just feels like my skin has hardened to that level. ¡­¡­. One more hour has passed. I¡¯ve checked everything I planned to check today. My [ Mana ] hasn¡¯t reduced much even though I¡¯ve kept [ Mana Sight ] active continuously. There¡¯s still a few more hours left before I actually planned on returning. Should I move forward and check the area further? I decided to move forward since I still had time. But my main reason was because if I advanced a little more the earliest, I could probably find something about Targ¡¯s father, since much time hadn¡¯t passed. I didn¡¯t want to assume he was dead yet. ¡­¡­.. I drew symbols on the tree to mark the place I had already searched. If I could survey an extra mile today, that would help me more, because the previous area was already something I knew about from Sara. Beyond that was completely unknown territory. Deciding to advance further was the right idea. Another hour passed and since the area I needed to search had increased, I only finished about twenty percent. I managed to find some nuts and other herbs, since I couldn¡¯t carry much I stored a few in a small pouch I had sown together. I tied the pouch to my arm so I could carry it easily. Still no sign of monsters, it was probably because this area was part of the path the villagers used. I went here first in case to check if I could find where they were attacked. After not finding anything of use, I went ahead to check the rest of the area. Looks like they probably encountered the Orthoros further ahead along the path. ¡­¡­¡­¡­ Finally ¡­.. I found one. There was some creature which looked like a boar, although it was much smaller. Maybe it was still an infant. I observed it from a tree, which was a little near to its location. I was able to notice it because of [ Mana Sight ]. The mana which I observed was different from the surrounding. It was as though a small concentrated ball of mana was moving around. With this I could confirm that even monsters had mana within them. It¡¯ll be easier for me locate them this way. Even they hid behind bushes or in trees I could spot them. [ Mana Sight ] turned out be very useful in detecting for living things. As I watched the little boar, I understood it was probably the infant of an Iron Boar. Ah¡­.. O little pig, please grow for me. But then again, the smaller its size the tender its meat. The thought of consuming it welled up in me, but I controlled it since other creatures were also detected in the vicinity. I could see dense mana moving around near in the bushes opposite to the little boar. There was also one moving behind trees. From the bushes came out a bigger boar, looking at its size I think it¡¯s body could weigh more than 50kgs. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. I understood now why it was called an Iron Boar. It had tusks which seemed to shine in the sun, they looked like iron but I couldn¡¯t confirm from my location. It¡¯s back also had a strong hide which shone like it¡¯s tusk. Could it use mana to create [ Enhanced Defense ]? But it was unlikely since the rest of the body wasn¡¯t protected. The hunters probably aimed for the vulnerable parts after capturing it. From the other side, there was another one. It looked like a wolf but it was standing on its two hind legs. I remember reading it from the picture book, that book really was useful after all. Although the picture and the monster here are a little different. In the picture, the monster had claws and it was a called a claw wolf. But this one didn¡¯t have claws large as the book described. All it had were somewhat large paws. The scene here looked to me as though the claw wolf was trying to hunt the little boar and its parent had shown in the nick of time. The wolf still looked to ready to attack them at any given moment. I¡¯d be happier if a fight occurred now, since I could analyze how they fought. ¡­¡­what? I can see a change in the wolf¡¯s mana. It¡¯s gathering at the tip of the paws. Claws that seemed to made of iron emerged from the paws. Ah¡­..I see now. It was called a claw wolf but it didn¡¯t have the claws by default. Rather I believe it¡¯s similar to the skills shown on [ Status ]. I observed how the mana gathered at the tip and became like claws. It was similar to my [ Enhanced Defense ] but instead of protecting, this was used for offense. I wonder ¡­.. could I also be able use my mana like that? Using [ Chamber ], I concentrated on how my mana could be used as such. Imagining the claw wolf using it and desiring for similar claws which could harm. I used [ Enhanced Defense ] as a base. Since the material seemed harder than the wolf¡¯s claws. I saw the tip of my hands becoming claws. I saw that the defensive armor itself had protruded from sharper edges from the tip of my fingers. My hands themselves looked like claws. I stopped supplying mana and my hands returned to normal. I checked my [ Status ]. [ Weapon Create learned ] [ Weapons created from Mana to attack your enemies. Such weapons will consume mana to maintain them and are low class. ] I check my [ Mana ] and see that this skill consumes 50 mana. It looks like I can create more than just claws. But the larger the weapon is more mana is consumed to build it and then maintain it. If mana isn¡¯t supplied correctly the weapon will disappear in the end. It looks harder to use in battles easily, if my mind wanders off then I¡¯ll lose track of the battle and the weapon as well. I should use this only when I plan on attacking at the right time. I should try and find an easier method to help me with weapons. All I have is one dagger to use. But that would mean I¡¯ll have to fight close. Even if I do have [ Enhanced Defense ], I don¡¯t want to risk fighting in close combat since I can¡¯t fully determine the opponent¡¯s strength quickly. If the enemy is stronger then I¡¯m done for. I wonder if I could make a wooden pole from the trees. Out of all the weapons I was most comfortable fighting with a pole in my previous life and I still remember the techniques. For now I¡¯ll observe this fight. It looks like neither side had started yet and both were staring at each other waiting for the other to move first. The claw wolf made the first move, rushed at the iron boar and quickly closed in the distance between them. It slashed on to the boar¡¯s face. So the claw wolf has higher agility, I should be careful not to let it surprise me like that. The boar stood there without moving, taking the attack head on it was bleeding but not much. It looks like the attack can¡¯t go through the boar¡¯s tough hide. What happened next was¡­.beyond shocking. The boar simply grunted and screamed, the wolf was still standing waiting to get another blow. But it was just in a few seconds, I saw the boar was also using its mana. But the mana was being sent to its legs. In the next instant the boar had run over the claw wolf, it was at a speed I couldn¡¯t completely see. But in just a few seconds, the place where the claw wolf stood had become deep red and its body was dangling on the boar¡¯s tusks. Despite appearances that boar could move incredibly fast. It was only an instant, but it had tackled the wolf at a speed where even someone watching closely couldn¡¯t comprehend. But I could guess what had happened. The Iron Boar had used a skill. By sending mana into its legs and using that to force its body at that speed. Its body must be capable of enduring the recoil. I almost thought for a moment the boar was a large bullet. How did the hunters in the village catch something like that? Was the forest that dangerous? If only the boar was capable of something like this, then what about the Orthoros which is terror to the rest of the monsters. If I planned on going through the forest when I reached the right age for my journey, would I able to handle it if something like the Orthoros showed up. I felt anxious , I understood why the villagers were scared. The beings called monsters, why people couldn¡¯t go against them. Why we were powerless? I simply stared at the bloody scene, the boars had vacated the area. ¡­¡­. ¡­¡­¡­.. ¡­¡­¡­.snap out of it. I slapped myself. It hurt¡­. I should really have removed [ Enhanced Defense ] before doing that¡­. There was a city right. They built such a strong settlement, right. Humans were capable of evolving and building a community. They were able to survive here, just like in the previous universe. If I can¡¯t beat it, I can make traps to ensnare it. If I couldn¡¯t kill it myself, I would kill it in a group. This was what had been done, the same has previous and the same which was followed here as well. If I had to kill an Iron Boar, I would have to aim its skin where the iron hide wouldn¡¯t cover. That claw wolf was overconfident in its claw, even someone like me could see it was weak. What¡¯s more? The skill that boar used. Shouldn¡¯t I be able to use it? I got down from the tree and imitated it. Once, twice, thrice¡­..it failed. Once more remember how it reading its legs, how it braced for impact. How the mana had acted like a booster to its entire body. Carefully think and try, I even used [ Backtrack ] to see how many times I would fail. The next try I changed the method to suit my body. I activated [ Enhanced Defense ] and used as much mana on my feet and legs. I remembered something while doing this, it was something from the past I had read. Why did the human body react with strong reflexes when it felt shock? There was a study on how the muscles would contract at a high rate when there was shock of several high voltage experienced by the body. I imagined a shock happening on my body and focused on my leg muscles contracting and my own body moving. It felt like a slingshot and my body shot forward at an incredible speed. I assumed it to be the same speed as the boar but it felt higher. Will my body survive something like this? I didn¡¯t have time to think, I had gone so fast I hadn¡¯t noticed the tree in front of me. I had to stop myself, I used my right hand to place a punch on the tree so the impact would cancel out. It was fast and I could feel it, there wasn¡¯t a tree anymore in front of me. I just kept the pose and I was still flying straight without slowing down much. I closed my eyes and when I opened them again. I saw it¡­.. ¡­¡­. ¡­¡­¡­.. All the trees had which had were in my way had fallen down when I looked back. I checked my body to see if I was hurt, luckily there wasn¡¯t any damage because of [ Enhanced Defense ]. Just in case, I checked [ Status ]. My [ Mana ] had depleted by 58. And I had obtained a skill. [ Force Rush learned ] [ Force Rush improved to +1] [ Force Rush improved to +2] [ Force Rush improved to +3] [ An attack which is a double edged sword. If successful, it decimates your enemies in a flash. Its recoil is tremendous and will inflict high damage on the users body if their endurance is not enough. The third level Force Rush is a force strong enough to destroy even stone walls. ] ¡­¡­.. So does that [ Enhanced Defense ] is stronger than the boar¡¯s hide. The boar¡¯s force never reached this speed. I¡¯ll have to improve this skill. It consumes a lot of mana and I can barely control it once I use it. ¡­¡­..but before that. I should head back before someone or something is attracted to this place. There¡¯s too much destruction here. About seven trees have fallen here. I¡¯ll go check the rest of the area quickly. It¡¯ll get dark soon and I can make it up the wall before the ones with night shift take over. I was a little unsatisfied since I could only explore fifty percent of the extra area I had planned. But I had already stored the map details in [ Info ] and I could use it later to survey faster. What¡¯s better is I have two more skills. Both have their uses, but if I can master them then I have a chance to survive in this forest. I entered the one mile radius area of the village. I was planning to use the trees to jump from one to another and reach the village. But, something was blocking me¡­¡­¡­ It was a Claw Wolf. Just like the one before. Although slightly different color, it looked same like the one before. Its face looked like it was smiling finding a easy prey. Remembering the previous battle, I activated [ Enhanced Defense ] and made sure it covered my face this time as well. The wolf¡¯s expression changed. It looked a little shocked but it quickly regained its composure. It took a stance, although I had learned few martial arts over the years I didn¡¯t recognize it. It activated its claws and readied itself. The next second it moved, but not coming directly for me instead it jumped from tree to tree. I immediately understood that this was a distraction. If I had to compare this wolf to the previous one which attacked head on, then this wolf would probably aim for my back. I used [ Backtrack ] and learnt I was indeed right, I used it again 3 times to for the next one minute to learn its movements and predict its attacks. [ Backtrack ] consumed a lot of mana and depending on the amount of time and the number of times you used it, the mana it consumed varied. If it was 1 to 4 seconds it took about 30 mana and since I was using for one whole minute it would consume somewhere along 500 mana. I used it three times so I was consuming 1500 mana. Even if I did use so much, I would still have fifty percent left. Even with [ Mana Mastery ], the amount this ability consumed didn¡¯t lessen. The main reason I used it here was because I wanted to learn how well I could use it against single and multiple enemies against in the future. But why I wanted to use it right now was because it was my first fight and if I didn¡¯t use everything I had to fight there was a chance of me dying. The wolf began its attack, I already had memorized its patterns after seeing it 3 times. An attack came from the left, I blocked with my left hand. Same with how it would attack from its right, I parried with my arm. Just as all the predictions, if it failed both from these attacks it would feint attacking from the front and then go directly to the back. I blocked from my front and when it finally attacked my back with all its strength I caught its claws. The claws on its left hand were caught by my right and I quickly aimed with the dagger in my left hand to its throat. It also tried with its right hand to completely kill me off. As the claws that fell on my face with great force, I saw them breaking apart. The claws were in pieces, just by attacking my bare but defended skin. The wolf had a shock on its face, before it recover the dagger had already pierced its neck. Chapter 8 - The Forest Part II The Forest Part II ---------Garun¡¯s Night------------ ¡°¡­¡­ahhh¡­.so sleepy¡± Every time it becomes dark, I get so sleepy. I really just want to go home and snuggle with my wife. Ah right , my wife of now 14 years who I just had married a few months ago. Life is great, even at night after I go back I can see her smile and feel my fatigue fade away. My wife is the most beautiful in the village. Yep, that nicely unkempt hair, her shining eyes, those beautiful round thighs of hers. Ah I want to go back as soon as I can. But the shift isn¡¯t going to end anytime soon. Why couldn¡¯t Guez just give me a few months off? I want to go and eat some good boar stew, have a bath, drink good alcohol and ravage my wife at night. I plan on having at least three kids you know, so I have to be there for her. Yep, I sure work hard, don¡¯t I? Watching over the trees is boring and I get have to do it when its night. It¡¯s not like I can see what¡¯s happening there anyway. I¡¯m glad that I bought some alcohol with me today, I could drink away a little until my shift is done. Ah¡­ the smell is a little strong, but it¡¯ll keep me energetic for night time with my wife. But seriously, I hate the new young guards that were appointed yesterday. Calling me ¡° Garu Daru¡±. I should teach them not to make fun of my name. [ Author¡¯s Note: Daru means alcohol, consequently also in my national language ] I knew them from when they were kids, so I can¡¯t exactly rebut when act overly familiar with me. I drink to the last drop of alcohol. It felt refreshing. I¡¯m not too drunk right now, so this much should be fine. ¡®¡­¡­¡­.¡¯ Huh!? What¡¯s that? I thought I heard a sound. I don¡¯t think I should be able to hear anything from here. And it¡¯s almost night time so everyone should be going back home. But it did feel like I heard something. ¡®¡­¡­..¡¯ Again¡­.so I¡¯m not imagining it. Where is it coming from? I should be able to find its source if I carefully listen for it. Wait¡­¡­.it¡¯s coming from below the wall. There¡¯s nobody on the village¡¯s side who¡¯re calling for me. So then that means¡­¡­.it¡¯s probably coming from the other side. But since monsters can¡¯t get in, they¡¯ll simply try to tackle the wall or try to crush it. But this sound isn¡¯t loud enough for something like that. I¡¯m looking at the other side but it¡¯s completely dark. I can¡¯t make anything out. Maybe it¡¯s just the wind. ¡®¡­¡­..¡¯ Okay, now I¡¯m getting a little scared. I¡¯ve been in this post for over two years now and I¡¯ve never had this situation occur during that time. I really hope it¡¯s just the wind. Let me take a close look to what¡¯s happening down there. ¡­¡­¡­¡­.THE HECK?! My eyes aren¡¯t lying to me right? What¡¯s that dark thing slowly coming towards me? Why the heck does it have red eyes? ¡­.is ¡­..is that ¡­¡­BLOOD?! Oh god¡­...this is bad, it¡¯s almost half way up, and it¡¯s coming right at me. It has claws¡­¡­*gulp*¡­.. Was there a monster somewhere like this? I want to run away , but my legs won¡¯t move. Damn it¡­¡­.. I hope this is just a dream, that¡¯s right I¡¯m drunk. If I close my eyes it¡¯ll go away. Okay, I¡¯ve closed my eyes now. I can¡¯t see anything. There¡¯s no monster down there, it was just your imagination. When you open your eyes, there¡¯s not going to be anything but the dark trees. I slowly opened my eyes, I looked below again. Nothing ¡­¡­ Phew¡­.it was just my mind running wild. I¡¯m too drunk, so I¡¯ll ask someone else to take over. I want to go see my wife. Huh?! Looks like someone¡¯s on to my right. I¡¯ll just ask them to guard in my place. ¡­¡­¡­.?! OH GOD ¡­¡­.it¡¯s the monster, it that monster that was just below a while ago. It¡¯s close, too close, it¡¯s coming closer. Its skin is black and shining. I haven¡¯t seen anything like that ever in my life. It¡¯s approaching me. I need to run¡­..but my legs still won¡¯t move. Is that blood on its hands? It¡¯s also wearing clothes of a child, did it kill one? It¡¯s too close¡­¡­..my mind, it¡¯s blacking out¡­¡­.everything¡¯s so dark. Eline¡­¡­please forgive me¡­¡­. I¡¯m dying while failing at my job. ---------Orian¡¯s POV----------- ¡­¡­..huh? What¡¯s wrong with this guy? He fainted. That¡¯s Grade A rude. Fainting after meeting someone, did he just want to rest? I notice my claws haven¡¯t gotten even slightly brazed while I was climbing here. Ah¡­¡­I¡¯m still wearing my defense form. I wonder how my form looks. Ah! ¡­¡­.. poor guy, what¡¯s worse is that he¡¯s ¡­¡­well ¡­..a lot has gone down below there. Yeah, I saw nothing. I managed to kill the Claw wolf and return, but it took a little more time than I expected. How can I go back home now? There¡¯s the blood of that wolf on my clothes right now and my dagger is still deep red. I need to clean it. I noticed the bottle of alcohol, nearing the fainted man. No, it¡¯s not like I want to try right now anyway. I shouldn¡¯t drink when I¡¯m still a kid. Looks like its empty. How disappointing. But I¡¯ll take it. I need a bottle right now. I slowly climbed down to the village¡¯s side of the wall. Looks like they¡¯re still lighting the pillars, I need to head to the lake to clean myself. Once I reach the lake, I use the bottle to gather up some water. I don¡¯t want to contaminate the lake with this blood. I try to clean the bottle, so there¡¯s no remnant of the alcohol when I wash my clothes with it. I take a small sip from the water, I get a light taste of it. It tastes bitter¡­..is it because I¡¯m a child? I clean myself, but my clothes are still wet due to that. I can just tell Olivia that I fell into the lake by accident. Luckily there¡¯s only a small tear on my clothes. I can ask her to sew it back while I¡¯m apologizing. I take a look at the lake, I can still see my reflection even though it¡¯s dark. Seriously, what is with this world¡¯s light? I can guess why the guard was scared. I can¡¯t see any of my hair over my head when the defense covers my whole body. Everything is covered by the graphite like material. If I use [ Mana Sight ] , it only looks like dense mana is covering my whole body. I undo the defense covering my head. The hair¡¯s back¡­¡­.. maybe the mana covers over it? My appearance is that of a child, which has been burnt to the color of dark ash completely. No matter how many times I look at myself in full body defense, I look completely inhuman. Almost as if I¡¯m a monster myself. If the people of this village found out, will they accept me as I am? Will mother look at me the same way? Will Targ and Gina still be friends with me? I shouldn¡¯t worry too much about it. I plan on telling them at some point. But if they decide to shun me, I don¡¯t mind leaving the village behind after fulfilling my promise. I return home, somehow trying to get rid of this gloomy mood hanging over me. I greet everyone back home. Dari isn¡¯t here, but his footwear is still here, so he¡¯s probably in his study room. Sara and Olivia have angry faces over them. ¡° Where were you, Orian?¡± (Sara) ¡°¡­¡­.¡±(Orian) ¡°Answer your sister, where have you been the whole day? And you¡¯re soaked too¡± (Olivia) ¡°I was playing in the area across the lake. Since Targ and Gina weren¡¯t there, I was just sitting there¡­¡­..¡±(Orian) ¡°hmph¡­.¡±(Sara) ¡°Oh! ¡­.. Dear?¡±(Olivia) Olivia was looking behind and Dari had come out. He must¡¯ve been waiting for me as well. He arrives in front of me and he has a gloomy face for some reason. ¡°¡­¡­.Orian, I¡¯m sorry.¡±(Dari) Dari hugs me. I¡¯m a little confused, I couldn¡¯t understand what was happening. While still embracing me, Dari continued. ¡°It¡¯s my fault¡­¡­.if only I had taken more care¡­.if only I had told me to get on the carriage and rushed¡­¡­if only I had picked a better day to return. It¡¯s my fault Guez got hurt, your friend¡¯s father who had to sacrifice himself. I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­¡±(Dari) Ah¡­. I see now. He¡¯s been pushing it all on himself, we were people who had to live in this village and not in the city. Maybe the village was made due to overpopulation within the city, but someone had to live here. Dari chose to trade with the city, so the living conditions here improved. He can¡¯t be blaming himself, there isn¡¯t another merchant in this village. There¡¯s a blacksmith, many foragers and hunters but there¡¯s only one merchant. ¡° Dear¡­.. it¡¯s not your fault¡±(Olivia) ¡°But if only I had the path once, been more careful¡­.. this wouldn¡¯t have happened.¡± (Dari) ¡­¡­.. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault, father.¡±(Orian) ¡°¡­..¡±(Dari) ¡°If it¡¯s anyone¡¯s fault, it¡¯s the monsters right? They¡¯re the ones who are pushing us this far, right? You can¡¯t blame yourself¡­¡­. Targ didn¡¯t come because his father¡¯s not here, Gina didn¡¯t meet since Uncle¡¯s injured. I¡¯m scared¡­.that next time you won¡¯t come back home.¡±(Orian) This was the thought that had been running through my mind, the whole time after I saw the Iron Boar¡¯s strength. Even if I was able to kill a Claw Wolf, it was mostly luck since the wolf had lost balance due to confusion and I was able to easily pierce its neck. But such things won¡¯t happen always. The people in the village will die, if the walls didn¡¯t protect them. Just having built the walls and staying alive in this forest was a miracle. After hearing my words, Dari had calmed down and looks like I was let off coming so late. Parents always spoil the younger one, don¡¯t they? I had changed my clothes to another spare, had my dinner and quickly fell asleep. -------Day 2---------- I had to hide the bottle I got from that guard yesterday. I don¡¯t think I can go to the forest today. I go and greet Targ again, but looks like he won¡¯t be coming out for a long time. If this goes on, it¡¯ll take at least a year before he comes out. Shut-in¡¯s don¡¯t really change even in another world. I remember having a friend like that. He went into cryosleep for a long time, because his favorite food branch closed down. I went to check if Gina was free, looks like she¡¯s busy taking care of Guez today too. I¡¯m lonely again, I didn¡¯t feel it much in my previous life but my emotions are a little different in this one. Since I already figured out I can¡¯t go into the forest, I went to my secret place and started training again. This time I hard to check the two skills I obtained yesterday. Both of them have too many problems for usage in combat the way they are. If I learned to use them better, then maybe I can improve. ¡­¡­¡­¡­ It¡¯s getting dark. I spent the whole day training here today. Since the space is large enough, I didn¡¯t make much disturbance to garner attraction. [ Weapon create ] didn¡¯t improve much. I tried making a sword, pole and a gun. All of them failed, so that means the idea behind it is different. Maybe it¡¯s because it has to be a weapon which could be an extension of my body. I suppose a claw will be enough for now, maybe I can learn better about it from other monsters. But I was able to improve [ Force Rush ] , I finally managed to control it to a level where I can stop when I want to. I tried practicing using the immense force trying to direct it into my dagger and claws so I could make a piercing effect. It works well and my speed to reach anything is instant if it¡¯s within 100mt radius, but in the least 2 seconds if it¡¯s above that. I checked [ Status ].
Force Rush improved to +4
An attack which provides tremendous use of force to decimate enemies. Only those who can control such a speed can wield this skill. With enough endurance and control the fourth level of force rush becomes the users speed and power.
I¡¯m getting a basic understanding now on how skills work. For the first three levels it¡¯s all about the amount of mana or power that¡¯s used. But the fourth level needs to improve it further while also controlling it. This was the same with [ Enhanced Defense ] and [ Force Rush ]. The method changes to obtain the fourth level. This¡¯ll be helpful for many other skills in the future. Satisfied with today¡¯s improvement, I return as the darkness falls on the village. Sara didn¡¯t call me for any chores today, I wonder if she¡¯s still upset about yesterday. I wait for dinner, and join with everyone to eat. The atmosphere¡¯s returned to the way it was and it looks like Dari isn¡¯t blaming himself anymore. Sara doesn¡¯t seem to be in a bad mood, maybe she was only concerned about me. Olivia happily serves us dinner and I head to bed. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. -------------Day 3--------------- Today also was uneventful, I suppose Targ won¡¯t come out of it for a while and Guez still needs a bit more time to heal. Even though Guez urges her to go with me saying he feels better, I tell her to stay with him until he¡¯s completely healed. He has a sad face, but gives in after hugging me. This guy really likes me, doesn¡¯t he? I go back to the house and help Sara with the Griffons. Since I helped her finish the chores, she¡¯s seems to be happy. I¡¯ll get another chance to head to the forest tomorrow, so I already planned ahead what I needed to do. I wanted to try out a idea I had from [ Weapon Create ]. I try to use the same application of mana as [ Enhanced Defense ] on the dagger. ¡­¡­.It worked. The dagger¡¯s outside was covered in the same material when I used [ Enhanced Defense ] at the fourth level. Since the weapon was only enveloped in mana, its structure didn¡¯t change but I could understand it was durable now and the dagger seemed sharper than before. Probably due to the blade having a stronger coating. As usual to check the change I checked [ Status].
Enhance Weapon Learned
Enhance Weapon improved to +1
Enhance Weapon improved to +2
Enhance Weapon improved to +3
Enhance Weapon improved to +4
Mana is used to improve the outer strength of the weapon. The weapons become more durable. The fourth level of weapon enhancement enables the weakest weapon to become the sturdiest.
I tried improving the claws the same way, but it didn¡¯t work. I suppose that is so because the claws are also made from mana and will easily disappear if mana isn¡¯t supplied. So [ Enhance Weapon ] works on already existing weapons. I go and ask Sara if I could get a long stick. She wonders for a while and tells me to get it from the carpenter, since we didn¡¯t have any at the house. I go and check the workshop in the village and I understand that the carpenter is the one who helped create the wall. He only builds small tables and chairs now. I ask him for a long stick and he gives it to me from his workshop. Seems he had a lot of spare ones and he gives me a thick stick which was being used reach far places. He enquires as to why I would want one. I reply that it could be used as a practice weapon. Hearing me say this, the carpenter laughs it off and gives me a wooden sword. ¡° Use this then, it¡¯ll come use to you in the future. ¡° he said while returning to work. I don¡¯t particularly like using a sword. Even the one I used on that God wasn¡¯t originally mine, I had received it from the Data crystal and when nothing else worked on him, I just ended up using it as a last resort. But on the off chance it may be a suitable weapon in this world, I¡¯ll train using it. I apply [ Enhance Weapon ] on the stick and after mana covers it, it now looks like a pole made of strong steel. I practice with it today, to remember my knowledge of using it in my past. All the martial arts and moves that I had trained so that they served useful at close combat, I tried slowly practicing them one by one. Although, fighting with nothing but my bare hands was enough, I wanted to have the advantage of being at least some distance away from my opponent. Even though there were projectile weapon like atom-blasts , plasma guns during my time. They were quite useless if one used an energy shield with their armor. So close combat helped me win several battles. I trained for a few hours and I was able to get a good grasp on its use considering my current body. Since my body was still developing in the form of a child, I could still use the pole effectively to a good level. I tried using the wooden sword with [ Enhance Weapon ] and what came out was weird. The sword wasn¡¯t particularly sharp, more so it was blunt. It felt like I held a thicker but shorter pole which I could swing with one hand. It must be due to the shape of the wooden sword not matching up to a real one. It was just basic swings with the sword at first. All I had to do was use a single hand for the purpose. It was obviously different than using a pole, it felt a bit more simpler. I didn¡¯t want to hold the sword using both hands, it just felt weird to hold something so light with both hands. It felt like I could swing this sword similar to how one would swing a hammer. I wonder if I can find someone to teach it to me. I¡¯ll keep the sword as a secondary weapon in case. No change occurred in my [ Status ] after that. I thought using the skill on more weapons would take it to higher level, I suppose that way of thinking is wrong. -------------Day 4---------- Today, I¡¯ll have a chance to head to the forest again. I won¡¯t make the same mistake. Once I¡¯ve checked all I need to I¡¯ll head back as soon as possible. I didn¡¯t go see those two today. As much as they¡¯re my friends, it¡¯s best to leave them alone so they can sort such things out by themselves. I¡¯ll find them within the village anyway. I noted the time, the guards would leave for a break. This time I didn¡¯t need to use the dagger or my claws. I used the enhanced pole and jumped to half the wall¡¯s length by pushing my weight onto the pole which was fixed to the ground. When my feet reached the wall¡¯s surface, I used [ Force Rush ] and aimed myself to the sky. By controlling my speed, I was able to reach the roof of the wall and due to the skill¡¯s force also take my pole with me as well. In a matter of seconds I already landed outside into the forest. It felt like I was escaping a prison. For now my main aim was to search the rest of what was left of the forest and gather intelligence of various monsters. On that note I should assume the claw wolf to be the weakest, so I don¡¯t get overconfident. ¡­¡­¡­. I had returned quickly after I had completely gathered the information I needed on the area which I had left without completing. I saw more Iron Boars, but none of them were as fearsome as the one I had met earlier. Would that mean that boar was a special one? Although other boars used the [Force Rush] skill on other monsters, the speed wasn¡¯t to the level which I could compare with the other one. I assumed that would be due to the skill level and the boars I found today would have [ Force Rush ] of only first level. I also found another monster which looked like a bug, it was twice the size of my fist. It camouflaged itself into the leaves of trees to hide itself. Luckily because of [ Mana Sight ] I could detect it. I thought it was dangerous and didn¡¯t approach it. I found out later it was a herbivore, since it was eating dead leaves. But it has a dangerous defense mechanism. As I saw a Iron boar which simply came close to the bug due to curiosity, it released some sort white gas-like substance in the air near it. I saw the boar fainting. I thought the gas would kill it, but after the bug escaped without hurting the boar. I went and checked it. It was alive but it was sleeping. Even though I saw the bug use somewhat little mana to use a sleep inducing agent. I couldn¡¯t use it. So skills are also decided based on the species which use it. When I saw the substance from closer, it looked more like powder than gas. I immediately thought of collecting it, since a sleeping agent would be useful to me. But it vanished before I could get near it. Once I returned home, I read from the book that what I saw was the monster called Somniferon. The leaf like appendages it had for camouflage secreted the sleep inducing agent. The next time I head to the forest, I¡¯ll kill it and extract the agent from it. I have no ill intentions, for trying to get that drug. I really don¡¯t. Since I surveyed the rest of the surroundings, I went a little deeper so I could mark where I can start surveying the next part of the area from and returned using [ Force Rush ]. I managed avoid any monsters this time on the way back. [ Force Rush ] doesn¡¯t consume too much mana when compared to the rest of the skills, depending on its use. Although in battle, it¡¯ll be very useful but I can¡¯t use it repeatedly as I want. If I did my muscles wouldn¡¯t able to handle it. I already checked that I could use [ Force Rush ] the moment I landed from an already previous used [ Force Rush ]. I could do this for four times currently and then I would feel cramps in my feet. As I age, I¡¯ll be able to use it more since my body will be more developed. Since I returned quite early, I met up with Sara and asked her when she would go forage outside again. She answered that if Guez had healed enough, she would go tomorrow with him. If not, then she¡¯ll need to ask for another hunter to help her. I request her if I could also come with her. She gives me a doubtful look, sighed and allowed me to come. She warned me not to wander too far and also to get Olivia¡¯s permission. This was going to be harder than I thought. I went to Olivia who was cooking, and requested her. She was shocked to hear it, but gave me permission. Are they thinking I¡¯m feeling lonely because none of my friends come to play with me now? That really hurts. ---------Day 5------------ It seems Guez is feeling slightly better, but isn¡¯t confident in fighting monsters. He agrees to go, but also takes two other hunters to help. Gina also tries to come but Guez doesn¡¯t allow her to. I tell her, we¡¯ll be back as soon as we¡¯re done with foraging. I also carry with me the wooden pole, sword and also my dagger. Guez enquires if I wanted to train to fight monsters. I reply him that I want to go out of the village after I become 10 and I want to survive by myself. Guez stays silent not answering. We find the bushes and I climb onto the trees to inform if something would come this way. Guez seems impressed that I can do this much in my age. I look at the forest while activating [ Mana Sight ]. I don¡¯t see any moving entities. I see the path that¡¯s used to get to the city. I feel dense mana in between the path. It slowly moves back and forth. I jump along the trees to get a closer look. I see the beast with thick fur checking the path. If I look closely enough it looks like a wolf, but it had two heads. It¡¯s the Orthoros. ---------Gina¡¯s POV------------- Orian came yesterday and today as well to invite me to play, but I couldn¡¯t go with him. Father is still injured and Orian says it¡¯s alright. Father insists I go outside from time to time, but he can¡¯t even get up right now. Targ is still sad about what happened from that time, Orian had informed me. Forgive me for being like this. I wish this didn¡¯t happen. I wish we were safe. I wish there weren¡¯t any monsters. I just wish¡­¡­..just it could be safe like before. I only have father left. And Targ¡­. He lost his father recently, it won¡¯t be long if it continues like this. I heard many of the kids had lost their parents and siblings because of the monsters outside the village. I don¡¯t really want the only family I have to be gone. Orian, I wonder if he understands¡­.that my father will die protecting the merchant of this village. Even if he won¡¯t come back alive, he¡¯ll make sure your father comes back to you safely as possible. I¡¯m jealous, you have a kind mother, a sister who you could look up to and a father who comes back safe from the danger of the forest. Why did Father need to travel to the city with that man? Why can¡¯t he just stay here? What¡¯s so important in the city that he needs to go? Why does Orian smile like that, is he simply happy because his father is back safe and alright? Doesn¡¯t he care about Targ¡¯s father, who lost his life? I don¡¯t know what to do¡­¡­. ¡­.. I wanted to go to the forest along with them, but father didn¡¯t let me. Why does Orian and Sara get to go, but not me? I¡¯m older than him. I¡¯ll go meet Targ, I¡¯ll get some fruits to cheer him up. ---------------------------------------------- Re-edit: Author''s note; Sorry mon, i uploaded this just before my internet went bust. i couldnt upload all of Gina''s POV, sorry for late edit, forgive this author for dumb mistakes, since i was reediting. i also took the time to proofread some of it. if you find any mistakes, dont hesitate to point it out Side Story - Daris Past Author''s Note: too much planning about the story, not enough comedy.....:_( . i get dreams on how to improve this one. why doesnt the same thing happen for erotic dreams. Well even though its not the next chapter. Here''s something which you may like and my first Side Story... Thank you, mon --------------------------------------------------------------- Dari¡¯s Past I still remember my days from the city of Lafrice. It wasn¡¯t a major city but still had good trade between the ports of many nations. I had been living in an orphanage for most of my life and I thought that my days would go by until I was kicked out. But there was a house of merchants who decided to adopt and raise me just because I could read and write when compared to rest of the children. I started working with merchants when I had become 8 years old and they started training me as their apprentice on various affairs of trade so I could become more use to them. I managed to grasp on various topics such as researching the prices in the market, selling the right products when the price was right and how to negotiate with others to obtain trust. Within two years, I was a full-fledged merchant and had paid back all my debt. I next, planned to become an entrepreneur and create my own business. Since I had the proper connections over time, I was capable of setting up my stalls. But I still had no idea what products I wanted to sell. So, I researched time and again to create my own product, something new which would bring about development. It was then I realized that I could probably create something like that, if I procured the right raw materials. I thought of entering into the forest, but it was difficult since I had no means of dealing with the monsters dwelling there. I went to the adventurer¡¯s guild and put up a request for bodyguards to enter the forests with me. I waited for a week and nobody had answered my request. I went back to the guild to enquire the reason. None of the adventurers there were ready to enter the forest, even A ¨C ranked ones. They gave me the reason that, the monsters in the forest were far too dangerous for normal adventurers to fight against. They said I would require someone of at least an S rank to lead the group in order survive there. If I remember right, the rank of adventurers existed from F to S, and then only fewer individuals who had been awarded SS and SSS ranks. Adventurers from C to F rank were average at best in combat and Ranks of A and B had good teamwork and knowledge to subjugate monsters. But S ranked adventurers were beyond any of them. A single S rank adventurer was capable of handling an entire team of A ranks by themselves. Those who were higher than S rank were compared to monsters themselves. SS rank adventurers were few anywhere in most cities and countries. And in the entire Carthos Continent there were few known SSS rank adventurers which could be counted at best using both hands. For the guild to recommend waiting for an S rank adventurer to arrive, it seems the monsters in the forest were more dangerous than I had anticipated. I was about to give up and remove the request that I had posted. But then an adventurer entered the guild and was looking at the board of requests. I couldn¡¯t help but stop because the person who entered didn¡¯t look much like an adventurer but more of a hunter. He was wearing the traditional clothes of one, with a crossbow attached to his back and carrying a rope, knife and nets. Although they were items even normal adventurer used, they usually stored such things in sack or a bag to carry. But this guy had equipped them like how a normal hunter would. Before I knew it, the attention from all those in the guild had fallen on him. They were gossiping, but I was able to hear what they were saying. ¡° isn¡¯t that guy wearing the same attire as those of the village of Raimo?¡± ¡° Raimo ¡­¡­you¡¯re talking about the cursed village?¡± ¡°doesn¡¯t this guy come here for requests from time to time as well? Why does someone like him have to show up here? I¡¯m having a bad day already.¡± Raimo¡­¡­.Ah I remember now. It¡¯s the village which was created by a group of people who had been banished into the forest. The reason why they were banished was because they were branded as heretics for not converting to the church of Revelation. Fifty years ago, when Lafrice city was still underdeveloped the church of Revelation sent its missionaries and offered funds to develop the city. What they wanted in return was that, a church to be established in the city and all the inhabitants to convert to their religion. The city had about 3000 in population but about 500 of them didn¡¯t want to convert and thinking them as a threat the church had ordered their banishment. The church held that power because of their affiliation with the God of Light who resided in the Sky World and guided the world from complete darkness. At the end the five hundred people decided to enter the forest having nowhere else to go. It was even believed that all of them died in the forest not long after that. But later people found out that, they had established a settlement protecting them with wooden walls. Thus Raimo village had been created and the people still lived there albeit with many sacrifices to accomplish it. Since, the people were capable of inhabiting even such a dangerous forest. The village was believed to be cursed with dark magic which protected them. That is what many in the city believed. Before a few years ago, if a villager from the forest tried to enter the city, they would be immediately apprehended and sent back. But after the change in the Knight Commander, to the current Sir Behenrith Austros, the discrimination was lessened to an extent. But the villagers couldn¡¯t stay in the city although they could visit. Some of them for jobs in guild and had already become notable adventurers. But there was still the discrimination from other members which was present. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. While I was remembering all this, the hunter took out my request and went to the counter. I rushed to him and asked if he was willing to accept it. Noticing that I was the one who issued it, he simply nodded. Even if the city doesn¡¯t accept them, for merchants everyone is acceptable as long as profit is benefitted from their company. I quickly went out the next day, waiting for Guez, the adventurer who introduced himself the day before. I learnt that he had become an A rank after working together with a guild for a whole year, helping with tasks when it came to the forest. He had with him a few more hunters who introduced themselves as B rank adventurers. I concluded that they must also be from the village, since the ones here wouldn¡¯t cooperate with Guez. We set out into the forest, the main aim of the request was to protect and help me gather as many raw materials for research from the forest. I was capable of getting my hands on the edible fruits and plants, monster hides and carapaces. I collected as many things which could help me come up with an idea. But thanks to that, it started getting darker. Since I couldn¡¯t let them accompany me to the city as it would become too late by then and become dangerous if they headed back to the village during complete darkness. I decided to accompany them in to the village. Although they were reluctant since they didn¡¯t have many visitors during the past, they allowed me to stay in the village to ensure my safety since the night was approaching. Guez requested me to stay at his house, since it was him who had accepted my request at the guild. All the houses in the village looked to be made of wood and hardly any were luxurious in appearance. It looks like their situation was very difficult considering they lived here for fifty years. I looked at the village and they seemed to have a population of about 600 people. Not much compared to the city now housing over 10000. The people seemed nervous having a visitor from the outside, but they were friendly once I talked with them for a while. I visited Guez¡¯s house to stay the night. There I met a girl who seemed a little younger than me. She showed a kind smile when I entered. She introduced herself as Olivia , Guez¡¯s sister. She had beautiful golden hair and eyes were deep blue. If I had to describe her in one word, she was an angel. An angel who held my heart in her grasp the moment I laid eyes on her. But I stopped staring since it would appear rude. She welcomed me and slowly moved towards a room similar to the kitchen. From the way she walked, it seems she had a frail body. The food she prepared was delicious, I thought of using it as a product but kept it as an idea to use at some later point. I learnt from them that Guez was 11 years old and Olivia was 7. A room was prepared for me and I slept easily on the floor, since I had done so most of my time in the orphanage. I went to sleep ,so I could wake up early and head to the city to conduct my experiments. I could hear slight coughing from the adjacent room. I went to check and it was Olivia. It seemed she suffered from cold and since there wasn¡¯t much of a cure in the village her body had become weak over time. I quickly took out some medicine from my bag. I carried it around in case I would become sick due to a monster¡¯s attack. I gave it to her, she was reluctant at first but I urged her to drink it. She finished drinking the medicine and went to sleep easily. It seems her body takes quite a toll on her. I woke up in the morning and Olivia came to greet me. It seems she felt much better and wanted to thank me. T¡¯was a man¡¯s duty milady. Guez thanked me again for providing the medicine, I insisted it was alright but he still planned on repaying me. I told him I¡¯d decide on that if I ever required it in the future. He accepted it. I went back to the city and paid Guez and his allies for the work. I began my research tinkering with the materials. I was able to make some accessories which sold really well. After a few months, I headed back to the village and started exporting the food they made to the city. It became a hit, my new business was booming and I made an offer to the village to become my partner. As time went by, I kept visiting the village more often. Olivia had been recovering gradually, perhaps her body was now getting stronger. I went to her frequently with other food materials and improved upon the village¡¯s cooking. Luckily the city¡¯s inhabitants hadn¡¯t noticed where I was making the products from. After they gained enough popularity I could reveal the information to them. I started making various goods and purchased Land Griffons for carrying the goods. After a year, since I came to the village my life was going well. Because of connections, I was able to gather more resources the village would require. The condition of the village slowly improved and the villagers felt grateful. I was able to become a successful merchant thanks to the village, so I tried my best to help them out from my side as well. And then after three years, after helping establish a blacksmith and a carpenter in the village. I finally went and proposed to Olivia. She was really shy at first, but it seems she also had fallen in love with me. We got married , I was 14 then and she was 11. We had a girl one year later and we named her Sara. She took my features. Since it wouldn¡¯t be good have another child so soon considering Olivia¡¯s weak body. After another eight years, we had Orian. I was very happy once again. Chapter 9 - The Forest Part III Author''s Note: Internet still sucks, had to go to a cafe to post chapter, i''m happy since my project got accepted at college, thank you all for reading neo cosmos :) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Forest Part III Why is the Orthoros resting in the middle of this path? It¡¯s the only part of the forest where monsters don¡¯t come. The only safe path that would help us in, travelling to and back from the city. This is odd, why would a monster of its size come here, where it can¡¯t hunt for any food? Hmm¡­..although I can¡¯t tell from this far, I can estimate its size to be about seven feet, much larger than the even the adults in the village. What¡¯s worse is its body, which is wide enough to cover half a house. That is quite large. Is it intelligent enough to know that humans will come from this path? I don¡¯t think it would be waiting always in this place, since the carriage won¡¯t leave for a month again. Or is it waiting here every odd day to attack to those who pass this way? I still don¡¯t know much about monsters, they show intelligence to a certain level. But at the end they simply rely on their existing strength rather than tactics. As I was watching the Orthoros, it gets up and starts moving away from the path. It starts going northwest from its current location. Maybe it¡¯s returning now. Hmm¡­. It¡¯s just a guess at this stage but I think it hunts for certain monsters to satisfy its hunger but comes to rest here after consuming. This is bad¡­¡­. If it starts staying in that place, the carriage won¡¯t have a safe route anymore. Its best I inform this to Guez, looks like trading with the city became much harder. By the time I returned the necessary fruits and herbs were gathered. I told Guez about what I saw. He was silent, it looked like he had been thinking about this for some time now. Maybe since I reported this, his guess was the same as mine. The Orthoros might be there waiting to hunt the humans who passed through. We all returned to the village. I was tasked with carrying one of the heavy baskets. I learned that Dari also knew how to compound medicine from the herbs we had brought. It looks like the medicine helped a lot of people in this village. I requested him to teach me how to compound, I knew it would help me in the future if I could prepare medicine during dangerous situations where I wouldn¡¯t simply be able to buy it. He taught me the basics and gave me a book about various herbs I could use in compounding. I tried my hand at it, but it wasn¡¯t successful. I used [ Backtrack ] to retry the actions where I had failed. I never practiced medicine in my previous life, so it was quite difficult. After retrying for ten times I finally got the hang of it. I was able to create the medicinal liquid after grinding the herbs against the pestle many times. I thought I would obtain a skill in creating medicine. But there wasn¡¯t any change in [ Status ]. Does that mean I knew and understood how to prepare medicine but it wasn¡¯t good enough or was it because there was no skill to affiliated with compounding? The basics were simple, all I had to do was crush the collected herbs in the mortar against a pestle. Maybe it was a simple enough skill for anyone to do, if they had the knowledge of existing medicinal plants. I memorized all the herbs within the Carthos Continent and stored them onto [ Info ]. I asked Dari, thinking that he may have the skill with him. He replied to me that he didn¡¯t. Seeing that even the one who thought me also didn¡¯t have it, it would be mean that there were only certain things categorized as achievements of some sort to be called as Skills. Since the [ Status ] mostly does is show information on such things which already existed in this world. Maybe nobody actually had the compounding skill. So why did skills like [ Organizing ] and [ Exploring ] exist? I can ask Dari and the others, but I¡¯ll wait till I can figure it out by myself. There¡¯s a chance that they may not know, since I didn¡¯t find any books which described in detail about [ Status ] magic. Guez came later and went alone with Dari to have a chat. I suppose he¡¯s going to inform Dari about the Orthoros recent behavior. I wonder if I can defeat that beast the way I currently am. ------------Day 6------------- I planned on searching the forest again today, but I had to help Sara first with the chores. I quickly finished them and headed out. I wonder if she¡¯s getting suspicious because of my recent actions. If possible I wanted to tail the Orthoros today, I wanted to gain as much information about it. I wanted to know the location of its habitat, the skills it could use, its movements and also if it had any weaknesses. I could defeat it if I had enough information. But I also had other things on my mind to do, when I¡¯d enter the forest today. ¡­¡­. I quickly checked all the areas I had been in, in case there were any changes. It looks like there wasn¡¯t much difference as the previous days. I enlarged the bag I had before and attached it to my shoulder. I was able to create some medicine from the herbs I had collected before. I wanted to collect some other herbs and give them a try at compounding. Along with the Orthoros, I wanted to try and find the Somniferon. From what I read about it from the encyclopedia(picture book). It said that the Somniferon held the sleep inducing agent within its leaf like appendages. If I could kill it and compound the appendages, then maybe I can create a sleep drug which could help me against different monsters. I went ahead and checked the area further. Having [ Force Rush ] made it easier to search faster. I was able to find a few Somniferon, I cautioned myself to be careful so that I don¡¯t get caught in their trap. By controlling my speed with [ Force Rush ] , I pierced them with the dagger. They easily died and I was able to get their leaves. I thought the leaves would be more flesh-like but they actually felt like the leaves from trees. The creatures of this world always intrigue me. More like I feel stupid trying to understand every time monsters like these come and go. Once I entered deeper into the forest, I was able to scan for many monsters within the vicinity. It looks like the further from the village I go, the more monsters appeared. I mostly found Iron Boars and Claw wolves, since I already had enough information on them I left. Surveying an area of an extra mile wouldn¡¯t get me more information anyway. Since I had finished today¡¯s quota, I went near the path and headed in the direction the Orthoros left the other day. The Orthoros hadn¡¯t shown up today, maybe it only came to the path on certain days. If I can figure out the timings, it would help me since I wouldn¡¯t have to fight it. I looked at the ground and I could see the large footprints of the beast. It must be quite heavy due to its size. I followed the footprints hoping they would lead me to it. After a while, I could see large dense mana entities clashing some distance away from my current location. I headed there to observe. I lay hiding in the trees as I watched the two monsters face off each other. It was the Orthoros on one side and an Iron Boar on the other side. If I looked at it closely enough, the Iron boar looked familiar to the one I had seen a few days ago. It seems the Orthoros planned on hunting for boar meat and had encountered the large one. Both the heads seemed eager to kill it. The boar had the same expression when I saw it face off against the claw wolf days ago. I wondered if the boar could take out the Orthoros, if it did that would really help me. Since the boar seemed like a herbivore, it wouldn¡¯t needlessly attack humans. As I was watching with my [ Mana Sight], the boar was ready to use [ Force Rush ] on the Orthoros. Just like last time, the mana went to its legs and this time I waited patiently to clearly observe its speed. The Boar rushed at the beast and the speed was insane. It was a little less than the third level I concluded but still fast nonetheless. If I practiced enough I could dodge it, while timing it. ¡­¡­¡­¡­Huh?! I look at the area in which they fought, it seems the boar collided with the beast. There¡¯s dust cloud rising due to the impact. Maybe the Orthoros was studier than the Claw Wolf to be defeated that easily. The dust is slowly fading away and I can see the two monsters still engaged. The Boar is stuck to the Orthoros. It looks like the iron tusks are fixed into the Orthoros skin. The Orthoros looks to be pain, the damage from the boar must¡¯ve been great. The boar struggles for a while, but it can¡¯t seem get out. The Ortho doesn¡¯t miss this chance and bites into the boar¡¯s flesh. ¡­¡­.it bit through that iron hide? What are its teeth made of? One head of the Ortho bit the left side of the boar and the other to its right. The Ortho lifted up the boar and started pulling both sides using its heads. It was only a few moments¡­¡­.but boar¡¯s body had been separated on both sides. Its blood was flowing over the area. The tusks which were fixed to the Ortho¡¯s skin were removed because of this. I could see it, but couldn¡¯t believe it. The defense on the boar was ignored and instead it was simply pulled apart by the Ortho¡¯s strength. I can¡¯t defeat it. Not in my current state. Even if I wear my defense, the Ortho won¡¯t care. All it needs to do is focus its strength on my body instead. I can understand why none of the monsters want to go against it. It¡¯ll rip me apart just like the boar. So does that mean we can¡¯t do anything against it? The strongest probable monster in the forest is trying to hunt humans by going on the only safest path. Is there nothing that can be done to kill it? No¡­..let¡¯s observe a little longer. I can confirm that its eyes can be a possible weakness. If it can¡¯t see then it will be a disadvantage. I observe the Ortho for the next few hours, it left after it had gorged on the boar¡¯s meat. Next I see it fight against two Claw Wolves. But they¡¯re also beaten easily. One head takes care of the claw attacks, the other motions the entire body to slam against the wolves when they begin to attack. Maybe the Ortho has decent knowledge on the monsters here and how to counter them. It doesn¡¯t try to attack any of the Somniferon. So it¡¯s cautious about their self defense mechanism or maybe it just can¡¯t notice them since they can hide well. But having two heads, I didn¡¯t think it would twice the amount of senses against many monsters. Even if I disable one¡¯s sense the other will attack. Its speed isn¡¯t much, but it can catch a person if it aims at it. It had a wider vision, greater hearing and it probably distinct different scents accurately because of having two noses. Since its appearance is that of a dog, I think it may have the same characteristics. It has advantage against many numbers and can hold its own against single attacks. I don¡¯t really want to fight it, I have to prepare the best environment favorable to me if I want to even a chance to graze against it. The damage from the boar isn¡¯t much visible now, so it even has fast regeneration. I didn¡¯t think it would have so much coordination between the heads, that¡¯s mostly the reason it¡¯s so strong. I follow the Ortho until it reached a cave. The cave was located beneath a cliff and almost no monsters were around the vicinity. This must be its territory. From the village to this cave, I assume it¡¯s about five miles. I could probably reach back to the village within an hour if I used the trees to jump from one to another. If I used [ Force Rush ], probably would take thirty minutes. So I returned to the village after marking the beast¡¯s location in my map. I started compounding the Somniferon leaves and other herbs I had taken with me. I tested the sleep drug on the Griffons. Have a nice nap guys. The other herbs helped me make some potions, their effect at best was to relieve from stress and fatigue. It would be more helpful to the adults than me. Although I added only a little, it seems the drug made them sleepy. If I added more, perhaps they¡¯d instantly fall asleep. I hardened the liquid by heating it a little in the kitchen. I molded the drug to the size of a ping pong ball. If anyone swallowed this, I don¡¯t know what kind of effects it would cause. Maybe I should try it on someone in the village. I¡¯m only putting them to sleep, there¡¯s no harm in that. No harm at all. I don¡¯t know how I can use it against the Ortho. If I could make it swallow this, I¡¯d have a chance against it. I overheard Dari and Guez talking. Guez was planning on gathering most of the hunters of the village and to attack the Orthoros in a few days after he healed himself completely. ¡­¡­this is bad. I know the Ortho could handle itself even if all the hunters in the village went to attack it together. It looks like I¡¯ll have to fight it myself. I can¡¯t ask them for help, no adult would ever listen to a child. If they¡¯re planning on attacking it in a few days, then I can¡¯t really figure out at what point they may do it. Thinking of how to survive against it, I made a plan to defeat the Ortho. I went to sleep, I needed rest now. So I could make use of all my current abilities in my best condition tomorrow. Yes, I¡¯ll beat it somehow and end this threat somehow. Even if I can¡¯t defeat, I¡¯ll make sure it can¡¯t harm the villagers anymore. I have to make sure I survive if I plan on seeing this whole world. -----------Day 7-------------- I get up and start making preparations for today, I attach a small blade at the end of my pole. I can use the pole to pierce from a distance now. I check by hardening it, looks like [ Enhance Weapon ] makes it seem more sharper than before. I get the sleep inducing drug I made yesterday as well. There were no chores today, so I headed out early. I wonder where Sara left so early for. I didn¡¯t want to meet Gina and Targ today. There was a lot be done and I couldn¡¯t be distracted today. If I don¡¯t do what I need to, then I can¡¯t say how many will die. Since it¡¯s a little early in the morning, the guards would be a little sleepy and they would be changing shifts right now. I quickly jumped over the wall. I felt a gaze nearby, was someone watching me? If I can be a little quicker, maybe they won¡¯t know it was me who went out. I really don¡¯t want anyone to recognize my face, so I don¡¯t face back for long. Even if somebody saw me today, I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll convince themselves that it was a child who did something like jump over the wall. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Sure they may come check again at a later time, but I won¡¯t be going to the forest anytime soon after this. Alright, that¡¯s enough distractions. My mind needs to be ready to handle anything that may happen. I jump to the trees using [ Force Rush ] and start hopping from one to another. I follow the direction on my map to reach the marked location. I avoid the monsters I detected along the way. Iron Boars and Claw Wolves don¡¯t climb the trees so I¡¯ll be safe. Somniferons are mostly shy so they wouldn¡¯t actually come against me unless they felt danger. So I reached the cave with a lot of time to spare. I waited on the tree until the Ortho left to hunt. It took some time, but finally it had vacated the cave. The cave seemed a little dark, I didn¡¯t want to use the cave as the ground to fight it, since I didn¡¯t know whether the Ortho could see effectively in the dark or not. So I started making small trenches and small holes in the ground near the cave. The holes weren¡¯t visible since I had covered them with a little sand from near the river. The Ortho would lose its balance if it didn¡¯t know what type of ground it was fighting on. I practiced the tactics I would use, the form I needed to take and any other plans in case I couldn¡¯t defeat it. I was careful, extremely careful. One small mistake and I would die. After done with my preparations, I hid until the Ortho returned. It took a few hours, so I had enough time repeat the simulation of fighting against in my head ready. If I was able to at least disable one head then that would be my victory. It returned after a long time. Looks like it didn¡¯t get anything much to hunt today. Now that I take a close look at it, it doesn¡¯t seem similar to the one in the book. It has a lot of white fur over it, was this one a variant. It was already planning to head back in to the cave. ¡­¡­.wait? why would it do something like that? Any beast would normally head back to its lair only when the night would be arriving. So is it returning just to rest? Can it survive without food for a day? Damn it. If it returns now, then my plan will fail. I¡¯ll have to bait it. I threw a stone at one of the heads. *smack* it hit the mark, on the head. The Ortho looked at me in surprise. That means no other monster dared to come near its lair. But its surprised look changed into one with hunger, like it had found a prey today after a long time. It was drooling. I like dogs, but the face this one is making , that¡¯s one ugly mut. I readied my stance, waiting for it to attack. The Ortho glanced at me and even though it saw my pole, it didn¡¯t look like it cared. Maybe it was underestimating me because of my size. Either way it wasn¡¯t focusing on the uneven ground. *slip* Its front leg got stuck in one of the holes I dug. It was only a single moment and when it was confused I took the chance to strike it. I used [ Force Rush ] and pierced its eye using the pole and quickly drew back. The head on the right felt agony and shook its head with force. There was a lot of blood coming from the right eye. I used [ Backtrack ] to see how it would react to the pain. I shouldn¡¯t let any chance escape now that it¡¯s injured, keep attacking without giving it a moments rest. The Ortho probably can¡¯t understand the situation yet. I check its movements, it would turn around to stop my attacks using its other head, while the head with the injured eye recovers. I use [ Force Rush ] , but this time twice. Once to the front and next to its left where the injured face was turning towards. Again this time, I pierced the left eye of the right head. The Ortho seemed shocked, I had eliminated the possibility of sight on one head. But I couldn¡¯t confirm whether it could also regenerate the eyes as well. Waiting for the Ortho to react, I used [ Backtrack ] waiting for its next possible movement. ¡­¡­there was none. The Ortho stood its place observing me. Looks like its guard is up, I can¡¯t carelessly attack it now. I¡¯ve already readied myself with [Enhanced Defense] in case it was going to attack. I¡¯ll use [ Force Rush] to dodge if it neared too much. My defense will be ignored if I get caught. I stopped using [ Backtrack ], since it wasn¡¯t moving. I shouldn¡¯t waste too much mana on it. [ Backtrack ] can¡¯t perfectly predict, but I can only know if my other experiences have recorded most of its actions. I approach it , trying to provoke it to attack me. But it¡¯s failing. Maybe it realized, I wasn¡¯t easy prey. This is one intelligent monster, I wish it was just dumb like the claw wolves. I¡¯ve got no choice I need to attack. I take my stance to attack and move towards the Ortho. I don¡¯t use [ Force Rush ], since I can only use it continuously for a limited number of times. It only stands waiting for my attack to reach. When I come near enough, it starts backing away. This thing is too careful. If it takes too long, I¡¯ll be at a disadvantage. It¡¯s making me enter into a battle of attrition. I use [ Force Rush ] at this chance to completely disable the right head. I try to get rid of it, by piercing its throat. The tip of the pole which you could now consider a spear pierces the throat but it¡¯s hard to pull it out now. Is it the body fat? Damn it, so that¡¯s why the boar couldn¡¯t free itself easily. Before I could react, the Ortho grabs the spear in its mouth using the left head and pull me away. I try to let go but before I could do that it pushes me into the cave. I get up, now I don¡¯t have the spear to attack. I can only use the dagger and the wooden sword to fight. The sword won¡¯t be sharp even if I use [ Enhance Weapon ], but I can probably use it to inflict blunt trauma. I¡¯ll save the dagger for last. The Ortho rushes at me with intent to kill. I can feel its bloodlust. I couldn¡¯t move and during that moment it grabs my hand using its mouth. Before the other head can recover, I should be able to hurt it enough, is what I was thinking. Even though it held me I was confident I could kill it since the other head was injured enough, even if I was in the cave. But what happened next ¡­¡­. From the middle of its two heads, there was some space covered by fur. I thought the book described the average Orthoros and this one was a variant with fur. But now I knew, I was wrong. I wouldn¡¯t have imagined this happening. Something emerged from between the two heads. It was another head. ¡­..this thing ¡­.it isn¡¯t a Orthoros. It¡¯s a Cerberus. I was shocked and didn¡¯t realize the new head had captured my other arm. This thing, I should¡¯ve guessed it. It was intelligent. It understood how to counter monsters, so it shouldn¡¯t have been impossible that it kept a trump card. While holding the palm of my hand in its mouth, it looked like it was smiling. Like the prey was in its trap. I understood now, why there was a cave here? Why it pushed me there? Why it would go to the length of sacrificing one head just for that sake? It wanted to kill me, where this head would hidden from others? Even in this situation, it was able to make that call. I knew what would happen next, just like the boar, my body would also be ripped into two. Even if my [ Enhanced Defense ] could hold its external attacks, it couldn¡¯t strengthen my inner bones and ligaments which were still developing in this child¡¯s body. I really hated that smiling look on its face. It pissed me off for some reason. But after a while its face contorted. The Cerberus looked at me with a questioned look. It was probably wondering why was I was smiling. That¡¯s right, I was smiling. I didn¡¯t know this thing was a Cerberus, but I had seen its attack against the boar and knew that was the only way this mut could hurt me. So when it grab my hands or feet or the sides of my body to kill me. I had already rubbed on myself the sleep drug. Thought none of it came to my face, I also attached two of the large balls I made yesterday. I threw them as hard as I could into its throat. The Cerberus let my hands free, I knew that even if the drug didn¡¯t work it would confuse the beast to let go making it think I made it swallow some sort of poison. But it was staggering now, that meant the drug worked. It lost its balance and fell. I took this chance and pierced the three heads using my dagger. It was a little hard, but I was able finally cut of the heads. Let me hope, this thing can¡¯t regenerate even from something like that. It shouldn¡¯t be possible right. It could heal fast, but not grow back all heads. As the dead body laid there , I leaned against the wall in the cave. I was dead tired. I was exhausted, more mentally though. I was shocked it had something like an extra head. I don¡¯t know the relation between the Orthoros and Cerberus to understand how the physiology of the monsters worked. I was resting and when simply looking at the cave. I found a pair of limbs. It wasn¡¯t a monster¡¯s. It was a human¡¯s legs. I didn¡¯t want to know, since it could be Targ¡¯s father. I checked anyway. I don¡¯t think he would be alive by now. It had been almost a week. When I went and checked it, I saw. The head was completely mangled. I couldn¡¯t recognize the face, but the clothes were similar to the villagers. The body had a tattoo on its left hand, which showed that he was a hunter from our village. I didn¡¯t want to accept it, but the corpse which had its right half completely missing would understandably be Targ¡¯s father. This monster, it saved up corpses in case it didn¡¯t get any food on certain days. I wanted to get angry, but the beast was dead and I felt empty. I noticed that the corpse was holding onto something in its left hand. I opened it and it looked something like a pendant. Maybe it was a family heirloom. I¡¯ll give it to Targ when I get back to the village. I felt empty, I didn¡¯t want to move after seeing the corpse. My mind imagined the corpse could¡¯ve been anyone from my family as well. It was at that time, a certain memory appeared in my head. It was my past life. I remember it perfectly now. I was crying, I couldn¡¯t help my parents on that planet. They died. I was alone for a long time. Tears welled up in my current body, I thought my previous memories didn¡¯t bother me. I was crying not just because I lost them, but also because I could lose the parents I had in this world too. I felt powerless. If I left the village, I could explore but what if something happened to them when I wasn¡¯t there. Could I live with that? What if a monster stronger than this Cerberus appeared, could I still protect them even if I found out how? The people in the village were kind. There were all kinds of people, and everyone had lost someone important to them there. So they cherished the bond they had between each other. I don¡¯t know the circumstances as to why a village was there. But I was certain that it wouldn¡¯t always be a safe place to stay. Nobody ever left the village, so that would mean something had kept them inside for some reason. I didn¡¯t know why yet. But my mind was still showing it, I knew there would be a time where I would lose them. I didn¡¯t want that. I wanted to save them at any cost. They were all I had to protect. They were treasures greater than anything. They were Family. I wanted to protect them. I got a nagging feeling in my mind. Whenever the [Status] changed this feeling came and went. I opened my [ Status ].
Then let¡¯s protect them.
I was shocked at what I saw. It was a message of some sort and my [ Status ] was showing it to me similar to [ Info ]. Then when I prodded it, it went to my skill.
Unique: Gift of Time
Backtrack: Can secure your future experience and return them to the present time.
Chamber: By enhancing your thinking ability, you can think with a speed where time would not seem to move.
Ability3: Sending the information to the past self to change the future. Caution advised not to use, since time would be affected for your present self. If the past changes to something different from the future, the time lived by the sender will be transferred to the only existing timeline of the recipient.
--------------Sara¡¯s POV------------- Orian¡¯s always been weird. He would read books and start writing from when he was young. I¡¯m glad he finally made some friends. But it seems to me, he spends a lot of time alone. He disappears to somewhere most of the time. I can¡¯t find him even if I look for him. He has enough strength to lift that heavy basket. Those who are even twice as old as him have a hard time doing that. Being his sister, I have to look after him. But he keeps insisting on going to dangerous places. He even asked to come with me when I go picking for fruits outside into the forest. Is he even scared? Since his friends haven¡¯t been showing up with him much, maybe he¡¯s lonely. Sigh¡­.. I¡¯ll find him tomorrow and have a good chat. He¡¯s been nice enough to help me with the chores, I suppose he needs his sister''s advice now and then. ¡­¡­.. Why is he coming near the wall today? Is this where he comes when he¡¯s alone? I wonder what he¡¯s doing here. I¡¯ll hide behind those folded carpets to see what he does here. ¡­¡­.the heck? How? He just jumped over the wall in two steps. Did he enter the forest when the guards weren¡¯t watching? Does that mean he¡¯s been entering the forest behind our backs? Doesn¡¯t he know how dangerous this is? This is bad. I should ask Uncle to help me. If I tell Mom and Dad they¡¯ll just go crazy. For now, I¡¯ll go ask help to find that brat. We need to catch him quick. Chapter 10 - Worry Author''s Note: Uploading this from a cafe, updates will be a little slow, since i write long chapters and college exams are nearing. wanted to finish the first arc before exams , but looks like it won''t be possible, Thank you for reading Neo cosmos, mon. since the story doesnt take much of a comedy route, i''ll try to crack some jokes in the author''s section. :) --------------------------------------------------------------- Worry -----------Sara¡¯s POV------------------- It¡¯s been a few hours since Orian jumped over the wall and entered the forest. I informed Uncle Guez, he was shocked when he heard it. He gathered the rest of the hunters who didn¡¯t need to watch over the village. They searched the entire village and after they couldn¡¯t find him, they believed me. They wasted so much time, they should¡¯ve checked the forest first. They opened the gates and a group along with uncle were heading out. I also insisted on going with him, but he told me to wait near the entrance of the wall. ¡° But wouldn¡¯t it be better if I also came to search with you?¡±(Sara) ¡° No¡­¡­.Sara, please try to understand lad. In case Orian is nearby, you can find him easier. And you can inform us by blowing the horn, so we can return when he¡¯s found. That and you already know why you can¡¯t go.¡±(Guez) ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡­.it¡¯s because of the law, isn¡¯t it?¡±(Sara) ¡°Afraid so¡­¡­..again. I¡¯m sorry.¡± (Guez) Guez left while I simply stood helpless. If it weren¡¯t for that law, I¡¯d go find that irresponsible brat of a brother of mine. How could Orian jump so high? What was he doing all this time when we weren¡¯t keeping an eye on him? Why did he go into the forest? Just be safe this time, please Orian. I was only fidgeting around, waiting for him to be found quickly. Hoping he was just playing around nearby somewhere. I checked in the bushes and the trees, not going more than 30 meters away from the gate. The guards stationed at the top were also looking in the direction Guez had left, in case he sent some sort of signal that Orian was found. What would Mother and Father do when they find about this? Father isn¡¯t a hunter, so he can¡¯t go into the forest by himself. Mother would only worry non-stop, her body isn¡¯t strong enough to even walk around the village. But both of them, if they find out about this they¡¯ll push themselves enough to find him, no matter what. Then what about me? As his Sister, what am I doing? Shouldn¡¯t I have been watching over him all this time? All because of that incident a week ago¡­¡­his friends wouldn¡¯t meet with him. He couldn¡¯t be found anywhere in the village and he¡¯d return around when its dinner time. He isn¡¯t even two years old yet. What were his thoughts, when he was lonely? Why did he have to resort to step into the forest? Does he even understand what that forest is like? How many years ago, was it? I think I was five at the time. It was just like this. Uncle gathered the hunters who were still in the village and had gone outside to kill some monster which had suddenly shown up. They didn¡¯t come for two whole days, I thought they couldn¡¯t simply find the monster at that time. But they returned and I saw them. He had entered the forest with more than 10 hunters. But only came back with six and all them were heavily injured. I didn¡¯t know much then and I kept asking them what happened like a little kid. Their eyes only had terror, it felt like they could snap at any moment. Two of the survivors died after three days, they were shouting in pain at the end and died with nothing but the same fear they had when they came back from the forest. Before they died, they simply kept screaming, ¡° it was smiling at me , really ¡­¡­..that thing¡± , ¡° it didn¡¯t scream or anything, it just ¡­¡­.kept ¡­¡­¡­.smiling¡­¡­even when it ate Jvarg¡¯s head¡± . The rest somehow recovered as the days went by, but they didn¡¯t want to enter the forest ever again. Even Uncle Guez, he stayed in bed for days. He probably wouldn¡¯t have gone into the forest, if it weren¡¯t for Azela. They got married, after she bought him back from that nightmare. But when she died during child birth, he became depressed. He didn¡¯t talk much for the whole year, until¡­¡­ when Orian was born. He came to see Orian, during his birth. But he left quickly. Me, Father and Mother already knew what he had been through, so we didn¡¯t mind it at that time. Then it was during my 8th Birthday. I somehow managed to invite him to have dinner with us. Then he met Orian again, after he was half a year old. He didn¡¯t want to face Orian but kept staring at him. It was when Orian was able to call out for Uncle. Just like how he called out to Mother, Father and me. Uncle finally smiled¡­¡­after so long, I saw him smiling. Orian¡­¡­I don¡¯t know why this happened, but just come back to us safely. Uncle had that same face, the fear that came out from his eyes was the same one seven days ago. ¡­¡­¡­ ------Night-------- It¡¯s almost becoming dark. I¡¯ve been doing nothing but worrying this whole time. What happened to him? Where is he? Is he safe? Why hasn¡¯t Uncle found him yet? ¡°¡­..¡± What¡¯s that sound? Someone¡¯s coming. Is it Orian? Did he come back by himself? Thank God. Let¡¯s get him back to the house. I¡¯ll scold him after I let Father and Mother know about what happened today. *slow steps* Why is he coming here so slowly? Aghh! I can¡¯t see anything. Let¡¯s take that torch the torch they lighted using the pillars for now. ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡­..Orian?¡±(Sara) ------------Guez¡¯s POV----------------- Orian¡­¡­where¡¯d that lad go? Why did he come into the forest himself? Sara told me, he jumped over the wall, like that¡¯s possible. Not even A rank adventurers have that much athletic ability and strength. Why¡¯d he have to go to the forest though? Was it cause he found something interesting, when we took him here? He told me he saw the damn beast on the path we use to the city. I¡¯m just hoping he didn¡¯t go too far trying to find it. ¡­¡­¡­ Was it my fault? Did he hear us, when I was talking with Dari? Damn it, if only I¡¯d known that kid would do something like this. If something happens to him, then I won¡¯t be able to live with myself. Because of me seven days ago, we lost Garrem. It¡¯s the same, just like three years ago¡­¡­..all those men died and I was sulking, not facing my fears. I can¡¯t face Olivia, unless I bring him back somehow. I can¡¯t face Azela in the afterlife, if my mistake made a kid lose his life. Let¡¯s search the path for now, he¡¯s got to be there. If he had heard us, he¡¯d go check if that beast returned to the path again. I¡¯ll have to think of something if we have to meet the damn beast again. ¡­¡­¡­ It¡¯s been a few hours now. Damn it, we still don¡¯t have any clues where he went. We searched half the distance to the city already. Did the beast get him? I don¡¯t want to think that. I don¡¯t care how long it takes, I don¡¯t care if it¡¯s during the night, I will keep searching for him even if the others leave. Still, did he even go through here? Maybe Sara was only imagining things and we just couldn¡¯t find him at the village. ¡° Guez, we¡¯re not going to find the kid and at this rate, it¡¯s going to be dark soon.¡±(Algon) ¡°¡­..Tch¡±(Guez) ¡°It¡¯s best if you guys leave, I¡¯ll try to search a little more¡­¡­¡­..¡±(Guez) ¡°Leader, Algon¡¯s right. We need to go back, for now. It¡¯s possible he never even set foot on this route.¡±(Igo) He had a point, but ¡­¡­.. it¡¯s just a nagging feeling that maybe¡­.just maybe¡­. !? Someone¡¯s coming here. It¡¯s Hid, I stationed him between this group and the main gate. He¡¯s running over here, did something happen? ¡°Leader¡­¡­huff¡­¡­¡­huff¡±(Hid) ¡°Calm down, what¡¯s the matter?¡± (Guez) ¡°it¡¯s ¡­..the main ¡­.gate¡­..huff¡­.¡±(Hid) ¡° They¡¯ve called for us¡­¡­I came to relay that¡­..phew¡±(Hid) They¡¯re calling us back? Did Orian return? So, he didn¡¯t take this path and was probably nearby the gate after all? It¡¯s already dark anyway and we need to check back. We¡¯ll need to be careful when we use the torches, while heading back. ¡°Two of you, handle the torches. We¡¯re going back.¡±(Guez) ¡°Aye, Sir.¡±(All) ¡­¡­¡­¡­.. We came back as soon as we could, I can see Sara trembling there. She¡¯s holding onto someone. That should be the kid, why hasn¡¯t she already taken him inside? ¡°Oi lad, why are you still standing around here huh? Take your brother, back to your house.¡±(Guez) ¡°Uncle¡­¡­Uncle¡­¡­Orian he¡¯s ¡­¡­.¡±(Sara) ¡°Don¡¯t stutter lad, what¡¯s the matter? Let me take a good look at the kid.¡±(Guez) I couldn¡¯t see clearly, since it was dark. I get the torches closer to check if something¡¯s wrong. ¡­¡­.it¡¯s the kid alright¡­¡­.but why is he covered in blood? ¡°Someone take him inside fast. Open the damn gates. Get some towels and medicine. Lad, go call your parents.¡± (Guez) ¡°Aye,Sir¡± (All Hunters) ¡°uncle¡­.is he¡­.¡±(Sara) ¡°Just hold on, lad. He¡¯s still breathing, let¡¯s take care of him.¡±(Guez) ¡­¡­¡­¡­ I was a little worried about the kid. But looks like he wasn¡¯t injured. That means he did go out of the village. So the blood must be from¡­¡­. -----------Orian¡¯s POV--------- Huff¡­..huff¡­¡­my head is hurting like hell. Ever since I got that notice on my [ Status ], it feels like my head¡¯s spinning like crazy. I wanted to rest, but couldn¡¯t do so at the cave. The Cerberus blood may attract other monsters. I need to wash this off. This similar feeling¡­¡­it¡¯s like when I overused my mana. But I checked my [ Status], it hasn¡¯t decreased so much that I would faint. Was the Cerberus poisonous? But it didn¡¯t pierce through my defense, so I don¡¯t even have scratches to get infected. Was this because of the skill? I can¡¯t tell. I¡¯ll have to get back to the village. I don¡¯t want to stay in the cave, other than because of the Cerberus also due to the corpse being there. I only feel bad memories rising up whenever I think about it. I can¡¯t climb and hop trees in this condition, and I don¡¯t know where I can rest without a monster attacking me. I¡¯ll have to somehow make it back. ¡­¡­¡­¡­ It¡¯s been an hour already, I¡¯m still slowly moving. Five miles, it shouldn¡¯t have taken so long. But my body is getting painful, I have to avoid all the monsters. ¡­¡­¡­ It¡¯s no good. I¡¯m surrounded by three claw wolves. They look ready to pounce on me. My breathing¡¯s becoming hard. The village is close, I can get there if I get past these things. Can I beat them, right now? I couldn¡¯t focus enough to use [ Backtrack ]. My headache would increase if I started using it, the same with [ Chamber ]. I already learned their movements from a few days ago. These things can¡¯t react quickly to sudden movements or speed based attacks. They only attack when they are given the first chance. [ Enhanced Defense ] already being active, I use [ Force Rush ] along with [ Weapon Create ] and quickly kill two of them. I don¡¯t have time to use my weapons. They¡¯ll simply attack when I¡¯m going for the weapons. So the claws will have to be of enough use right now. What¡¯s worse is, I can¡¯t hold the weapons and use any martial arts I know with them right now. I need concentration, but my headache would only increase. So I choose to eliminate them while aim their necks with the claws. The final one looks scared after seeing its comrade die. It still doesn¡¯t try to run, but instead it¡¯s attacking me. I really don¡¯t know how these things think, is it that confident that it can kill me without acknowledging its surroundings? Claw wolves really don¡¯t give much thought when attacking, do they? After observing them and after all this time, that¡¯s the best conclusion I can come up with. I didn¡¯t have time to escape the attack, I took it head on. The claws on the wolf broke and I was able to retaliate. I pierced it¡¯s chest using the claws, I think I was able to damage a vital organ, so it fell to the ground. I headed towards the village, it was near and I couldn¡¯t think straight. The headache had increased. I saw the torches they had planted near the main gate, someone was standing there. I kept moving, I couldn¡¯t see who was at the main gate. Before I could see who it was, the darkness reached my eyes, I had fainted. --------The Next Day---------- --------Orian¡¯s POV--------------- It was morning when I had woken up and I saw that I was in my room. It took me a few moments to realize the events that had transpired the previous day. Ah¡­¡­..this is bad, really bad. The worst outcome which I had been trying to avoid had arrived. The one who secured me back to my house, would¡¯ve already explained what had happened that day. But then again, why was there someone outside the gate when it was already dark outside. That¡¯s not important, right now how should I explain things? No matter what type of excuse I come up with, they¡¯ll question me how I was able to enter the forest in the first place. This is that feeling when someone you¡¯re close with finds out how you truly are, like an embarrassing photo from the past or your female friend finding your porn stash. The memories when I had a roommate in the hunter¡¯s association come back to haunt me, when I think of this. why is it that bad memories are the ones we usually remember first? But this is bad, the people who are finding out the truth about me aren¡¯t random strangers who I got close with. They¡¯re my parents and for some reason I feel as though something worse than the universe ending is going to happen. Should I make a run for it? I can still escape into the forest, if I go far enough I can get to places with more monsters so they won¡¯t look for me, right? Even risking my life in the forest feels to be a better choice, than having to go through what will come next. ¡­¡­.. I need to calm down. For now, I¡¯ll go meet them. I was prepared to tell them about all this at some point. Though I don¡¯t think revealing that I¡¯m from the previous universe is going to help much, so I¡¯d rather omit that. Also telling about [ Gift of Time ] is forbidden. It¡¯s a [ Unique ] skill and its mostly from the power that God gave me. Telling everything about oneself is the worst possible idea. ¡­¡­¡­ I go to the living room which is also the kitchen, where we usually have dinner. Olivia seems to be cooking something. She doesn¡¯t notice me, yet. Plan B, should I go with that? She turned back? Did she know I was here? this is bad¡­¡­. ¡­¡­huh? It¡¯s a warm feeling. She just hugged my small body on the spot. How did she rush up to me so fast? I can feel her trembling. Is she crying? ¡°Guu¡­¡­Orian, where were you yesterday? *sniff*¡±(Olivia) I can¡¯t answer her. I can¡¯t say I went and killed the Cerberus, can I? She just kept crying, asking me. When I turned back, Guez, Sara and Dari are also present near the room. They must¡¯ve came here, when they heard her crying. I am a shameful man who makes girls cry. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ A little time has passed, but everyone¡¯s silent. Olivia, Sara and Dari have a sad look on them and Guez serious face is sort of scary. ¡°umm¡­¡­¡±(Orian) I tried to break the silence, but Guez stood up. ¡°kid¡­..come with me, for now please. We¡¯ll listen to your side after this.¡±(Guez) I was puzzled. Olivia and Dari had a scared face when they heard Guez. Sara didn¡¯t seem to understand the situation. Well, it¡¯s not like I understood it much either. ¡­¡­.. A few minutes later, we were out of the house and had reached a building which always looked out of place in the village. It had four pillars supporting the ceiling and had an entrance to a single room. I didn¡¯t really know what it was, since nobody explained it to me. A building with a single room didn¡¯t exactly pique my interest, I thought it was where people would store things but was simply left unattended. ¡° Orian, this is the shrine of the God we follow. Lord Rudra resides here.¡±(Guez) Ah¡­..so this is a shrine and the deity the village worships must be called Rudra. I wasn¡¯t much of a believer, but I had met one after all. Olivia did say this world had many gods. ¡° so why am I here, uncle?¡±(Orian) ¡° To be judged, Sara told us that you jumped over the wall.¡±(Guez) Sara was fidgeting. Was she the one who I felt the gaze from yesterday? Of all the people¡­¡­. ¡°A normal child shouldn¡¯t be that strong, especially someone your age. So we¡¯re here to check, if you are blessed or not.¡±(Guez) ¡° Blessed?¡±(Orian) ¡°The Gods bless us humans during birth with superior powers from time to time. Such humans, we call them the [ Blessed ]. If you could use [ Status ] magic, you should be able to tell. But you can¡¯t use magic until you mature. So entering the shrine, can tell us if you are blessed or not.¡±(Guez) Basically I get the gist of it, it seems there are superhumans in this world who are known as the [ Blessed ]. If the [ Status ] allowed us to know that fact, then that would mean I¡¯m not one of them. I check it every day, there was no such indication. I enter the shrine, to see if something would happen. ¡­¡­..nothing. Surprisingly there was no change. I even checked [Status]. No blessing, yet. The Gods must really hate me. ¡°that¡¯s enough kid, you can come out now. Looks like you aren¡¯t being possessed by some monster.¡±(Guez) Huh? That¡¯s not what you said before. ¡°Sorry for lying there. Although we can¡¯t tell if you are blessed or not right now. We made you go inside, to check if you were being possessed in case.¡±(Guez) Olivia and Dari sighed in relief. It looks like they were worried. ¡° what would¡¯ve happened if I was being possessed, uncle?¡±(Orian) ¡°well, you would be burning from the holy fire of Rudra in case that happened.¡±(Guez) ¡­¡­.WHAT? burned? How can you casually say that? ¡°but I¡¯m glad kid. Chances are you must be blessed by Lord Rudra or another God. But the only god we worship is Lord Rudra, so it being another god is less. If you were favored though, then that would make one of blessed from the legend thousands of years ago. Lord Rudra hasn¡¯t blessed another human for almost five thousand years now. We¡¯ll know when you become of age, so don¡¯t worry.¡± (Guez) ¡°But¡­.I¡¯m not blessed.¡±(Orian) ¡°¡­..what?¡±(Guez) I don¡¯t plan on hiding the magic I can use right now. I suppose right now is a good time to tell them. I¡¯ll have to tell them about the Cerberus as well, otherwise what¡¯s left of Targ¡¯s father will be eaten by other monsters. We need to make sure to give me a proper burial. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡° Can we head home first? I want to talk about yesterday.¡±(Orian) Everyone nodded and we headed back. ¡­¡­¡­¡­ It took a while but everyone listened, from when I first understood how to use [Status] and how I learned about various skills. I didn¡¯t tell them about [ Mana Sight ] since they¡¯d probably learn about [ Gift of Time ] by constantly observing my eyes at some point. I just told them I did it with the same feeling as [ Status ]. ¡°¡­..I see. So you¡¯ve been training to go travel the outside world one day, huh?¡±(Guez) I nodded. ¡°But kid, you¡¯ve broken the laws of the village. Not only did you enter the forest, before you were of age. You also said that you found the beast¡¯s lair, that it had three heads not two and you killed it. It¡¯s hard to understand that as child of not even two years, you killed a monster which was of S rank.¡±(Guez) Guez slowly explained to me, that various monsters had ranks and this was the same for adventurers. If word got out, that I had killed something like that outside the village, there¡¯d be too many problems to deal with for everyone. He explained that this village was formed because of people who were banished to the forest long ago. That outside the village, there was endless discrimination against us and any others who didn¡¯t follow the God of Light. I wanted to doze off against so much information, but the situation didn¡¯t allow me to. ¡° Orian, didn¡¯t you promise me that you won¡¯t leave the village until you were 10 years old.¡±(Olivia) ¡°I¡¯m not going to leave the village, but I need to know what¡¯s outside if I want to survive. I don¡¯t want someone else to risk their life for me, because wanting to go outside is due to my selfishness.¡±(Orian) Olivia stayed silent, her face was downtrodden. I also felt bad saying that, but I want to assure her I¡¯ll stay here as I promised. I prostrated before them, I had to make this request. ¡° can you please let me explore the outside forest? I want to know¡­.otherwise something like seven days ago will happen again. I promise to come back safe. If I broke the rules, then shouldn¡¯t I be thrown out?¡±(Orian) Both Guez and Dari held their heads low. This must¡¯ve seemed like they allowed a kid to take care of adult matters. But it won¡¯t stop me from going out. Guez sighed. ¡°well that¡¯s how it is, Olivia , Dari. You can¡¯t keep this one confined here. He¡¯ll jump to danger the first sight he sees.¡±(Guez) They both stayed silent. Guez turned to me. ¡°kid¡­. We made the laws for the village as such, so children wouldn¡¯t be in danger. So things won¡¯t go out of hand. We won¡¯t throw you out because of this.¡±(Guez) He paused for a while, then continued. ¡°Rather, we¡¯ll take you as a apprentice hunter from now on. It¡¯s best if you went with us rather than alone.¡±(Guez) ¡°Brother¡­¡­what are you saying?¡±(Olivia) ¡°That¡¯s right, Guez, no matter what he did, he¡¯s still our child, he shouldn¡¯t be out there¡­..¡±(Dari) ¡° it doesn¡¯t matter, even if we bind him to the village. He¡¯ll find out somehow and go outside. If he could kill a Cerberus, I don¡¯t think even with all the hunters try we can hold him down. I¡¯ll make the same promise as I did to you, Dari. I won¡¯t let harm come to the kid, even if it costs me my own life.¡±(Guez) ¡­¡­¡­¡­. The conversation continued for some time, but my parents finally accepted my request to survey the forest. I guess I can do that for the next eight more years. But they prohibited me from entering the city, I should only go there when I was a proper adult. I conceded. Sara was pouting about me getting preferential treatment, but Guez told me about how worried she was. Siblings sure are weird. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­. After all the matters were settled, I went to Targ¡¯s house. I gave him the pendant his father was holding onto. His mother recognized it and said it was a present that they had exchanged when they got married. She had a identical one. Targ was crying again and hugged me with snot still running down his face. I don¡¯t know what I should exactly call this feeling. I feel disgusted as well as happy. Gina arrived when I was still at Targ¡¯s house. After Targ explained what happened, she also cried for a while and apologized to me. I don¡¯t know why she did that anyway. ¡­¡­¡­. It was already afternoon and since there was still time, I asked the hunters to accompany me to the lair of the Cerberus. They showed surprise, when Guez told them I had killed it. Most of them probably participated to go, so they could confirm that the deed was done. I saw the guard who was there on the first day, looks like he remembered me. He started yelling monster all of a sudden. ¡°¡­.Shut it, Garun ¡°(Guez) ¡°But¡­..but¡­..leader, he really had black skin ¡­..like a monster¡¯s¡­.¡±(Garun) ¡°hmph¡­ this is why you haven¡¯t become A rank yet. That¡¯s a higher level [ Enhanced Defense ]. Even as a A rank, I can only use the first level. But those of S ranks can use 2nd level and sometimes higher. I¡¯ve seen it being used by them when I had gone outside the city.¡±(Guez) So that doesn¡¯t make it special, [ Enhanced Defense ] was something adventures could use. It¡¯s best if I don¡¯t make those of S rank or higher my enemies. After Guez explained about the skill, the other hunters started accepting as to why I was able to kill it. I should tell them, that beast doesn¡¯t actually care about defense. But then again, it wasn¡¯t able pierce through my skin. Even if I hadn¡¯t used the drug, as long as it couldn¡¯t pierce the defense, it wouldn¡¯t get the necessary grip to force on both sides. Being careful never hurt though. I can¡¯t say that the armor that covers me right now is made from strong material. At best it would be slightly stronger than steel. I still don¡¯t know why it feels like hardened graphite. I later explained it to them how I killed it. They were in awe when they learnt the method. Guez planned on making use of the Sleep balls in the future. We left after that. While going around the forest till the river where the cave was located, we encountered a few monsters. The hunters took care of the Claw Wolves easily, since they had the number advantage. I suppose this is how they worked till now. We were able to reach the cave after that without much incident. Everyone stood surprised as they saw the corpse of Cerberus. After witnessing the other body, they gathered a lot of firewood and burnt the corpse of the brave hunter. I wonder if I can use that ability to save him. Luckily it had not been much time since the beast died and monsters rarely set foot here. So the body still remained, but the rotting smell was difficult to deal with. They dismantled the Cerberus for its fur, took the claws and fangs as well. Guez told me they could be used for certain equipment and weapon as well. I doubted at first how the fangs could be stronger than normal steel. But then I remembered how the boar with a iron hide was killed. Looks like they could sell the items for a lot of money at the city. Thanks to that, I learned the currency system humans in this world use. It seems the currency was divided into copper, silver and gold coins. Copper coin was the most basic currency and one silver coin would be equal to 100 copper coin, respectively one gold coin to be 1000 silver coins. If one had 100 gold coins, they could live for most of their lives without earning. Wonder if there¡¯s a lottery, where I could win the jackpot. The fur and claws themselves would earn more than 500 silver coins and a single fang would cost around 1 gold coin. WHAT?......that¡¯s a lot. I hit the jackpot. Would I get a share? When Guez noticed my greed, he said I won¡¯t be getting any. That all the money from this would go to the development of the village and my share would be taken as compensation for breaking the laws and allowing me to go outside. He said that because Sara would be angry if I was spoiled without a reason. But still¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­. After finishing up the work at the cave, we headed back. I spotted two Iron Boars on the way back. It doesn¡¯t matter if I don¡¯t get the money. The pigs will satisfy me for today. I was able to neutralize them using the drug. I didn¡¯t want to use force, since we¡¯ll get the whole meat this way and it also saves time. They¡¯re small compared to the first one I had met. Too bad the Cerberus killed it. That day, the village was in a good mood. Two full grown boars were caught, there was still money from the Cerberus, the path to the city was secure from now on and finally there were zero casualties. There was a feast today and everyone got drunk and danced around the whole night. Amidst all the merriment, two people still were restless. Even Dari was happy at the good news, but Olivia and Sara still had sullen faces. I promised Olivia that what I was doing was ultimately for mine and everyone¡¯s safety. Even though she was listening, she still couldn¡¯t accept that. ¡° Orian, I¡¯m glad you¡¯re growing up. But at this rate, I¡¯m just afraid you¡¯ll grow up too fast.¡±(Olivia) ¡°I won¡¯t grow up fast mother, I¡¯m only learning magic fast. But I still don¡¯t know what to do when my friends are sad. I don¡¯t know how to cheer others up. But everyone else in the village are always positive, even when we know it won¡¯t be safe. I still can¡¯t do that. So I won¡¯t leave until I¡¯m old enough.¡±(Orian) I said puffing my chest out. What am I being proud of? I just revealed my bad points. Olivia smiled. ¡°haha¡­.you try really hard for others. I¡¯m just worried whether you¡¯ll come back when you leave the village.¡±(Olivia) ¡°I¡¯ll come back. I have to. Mother makes the best boar stew.¡±(Orian) Olivia finally seemed content. That restless feeling didn¡¯t show on her face anymore. I wonder how to cheer up Sara, she¡¯s always angry whenever I talk to her. Speaking of which, I think I¡¯m forgetting something¡­¡­¡­ Ah¡­..that¡¯s right. Her birthday, it¡¯s the day after tomorrow. She¡¯s going to be 9 years and when she hits 10 she¡¯ll be a full-fledged adult. Ah¡­.I¡¯m glad I remembered it in the nick of time. This time I can get a good gift from the forest. It¡¯s kind of odd though¡­.. Wasn¡¯t I more careful and alert whenever going in to the forest? Am I getting conceited? Let¡¯s just keep that in mind, either way I can¡¯t really think of any gifts from the village. I¡¯d just make the same thing as the previous year. Wonder if she¡¯ll be happy with boar meat? ¡­¡­¡­¡­ I went to the forest alone the next day and I found some shiny stones in the cave. I was reluctant to enter it but it doesn¡¯t bother me as much before. I¡¯ve been wondering about the ability I got in this place from yesterday night. If I had summarize it, it¡¯s a message from a future possible timeline. I named the ability [ Message ], since that is what it basically does. I thought about saving Targ¡¯s father using this. I didn¡¯t want to use it since caution was advised. From what I understood, if the me from the present sends it to the past and if the future doesn¡¯t end the same way as the sender then that possible timeline is erased and it¡¯ll become a memory to the timeline which I had sent earlier. Basically if I use [ Message ], then its game over for the current me unless the one I sent to also ends up with the same result. Then why use [ Message ] in the first place, isn¡¯t it to change the past that one would send the message? I didn¡¯t want all the experiences I had , the lives of people who lived along with me to become simple memories to the me of some other time. But I wanted to save the person whom my friend holds dear. I wrote the detail about where the Cerberus was located, when it would attack, the right skills to defeat it, the sleep drug and the day to attack it or just prevent the carriage from leaving in the first place into a small block on [ Status ]. I used [ Message ] and sent it, by imagining the day and time for it to be sent. I made it to be sent at least 4 days earlier. ¡­¡­¡­.huh?
Failed
What the¡­¡­ I¡¯m sure I did everything correctly. So why? I tried to read the detail about [ Message ] again. Huh? Was there this part last time?
Message: Sending the information to the past self to change the future. Caution advised not to use, since time would be affected for your present self. If the past changes to something different from the future, the time lived by the sender will be transferred to the only existing timeline of the recipient. Restrictions: The skill cannot be used on the time before its origin.
This [ Status ] literally is a collection of information on simply what happens, isn¡¯t it? It¡¯s saying this now, after I had to go through of writing such a long message.What kind of cruelty is this? But that means, I can¡¯t send a message before the first one I got. I only received it when I had killed off the Cerberus and had found that corpse. So I can¡¯t save him after all. Why couldn¡¯t my future self send it earlier? If I think about it, all the abilities I got were because I had some kind of desire associated with time. At that time, I wanted to avert any danger for those I cared. Thinking that way, I didn¡¯t have any such desire before I faced off against Cerberus. So the point of Origin is fixed for all possible futures. Was it some me from the future who realized this and sent it? I wish I had a better manual than [ Status ] right now. I tried a few more times but since it failed, I had no choice but to give up. I got back home with Sara¡¯s present and slept my worries away. Even though I have the ability to change a timeline with the risk of erasing my existence of this timeline, I still can¡¯t do everything. I suppose I¡¯ll have to understand the rules of time of this world to make use of [Gift of Time ] effectively. ¡­¡­¡­ The next day, I finished Sara¡¯s chores by myself and let her have the day free. I had gone to the forest also to hunt for a boar. I couldn¡¯t find a large one, but rather an infant. If I see it carefully, it looks the same as the child of the large Iron Boar. Maybe it¡¯s alone now that its parent is dead. It was scared of me, so I used the drug to catch it easily. I wonder if the younger ones have tender meat. I¡¯m looking forward to the delicacy, it will be made into today. Sara seemed a little happy today, I was hoping she won¡¯t get angry on me. I invited Targ and Gina to celebrate as well. I showed today¡¯s dinner to Sara, one of the hunters named Igo was going to help us butcher it. But¡­¡­ Sara didn¡¯t let us, the Boar infant suddenly woke up and had run behind her. She said she wouldn¡¯t like for Boa to be eaten. That¡¯s right, she named it Boa. I sometimes question the naming sense of this world¡¯s inhabitants. Right now, I¡¯m sad I can¡¯t taste tender boar meat. Please grow up fast, Boa. But its good, thanks to that she doesn¡¯t seem to be in a bad mood. The birthday ended on a good note. --------Two Months Later-------- ¡° now tell me, how did the kid run off this time?¡±(Guez) ¡° I¡¯m sorry, leader. We couldn¡¯t stop him. He¡¯s too fast. We even tried the net, he escaped it like he already knew that it was going to be there.¡±(Hid) ¡°that brat, he does the same thing every day, even though we warned him to come with us. How am I going to tell this to Olivia and Dari?¡±(Guez) ¡° He sure plays us like fools. Huh?¡±(Algon) The village was lively as usual, it had gotten used to the existence of Orian who held the role of the blessed child of the village. ----------Orian¡¯s POV------- I¡¯ve already searched about 6 mile radius of the village. That¡¯s not much compared to when I started. But this forest really has a lot of different monsters, although none were like the Cerberus. I found monsters called Blade Vipers, they are similar to snakes but their fangs are extremely strong and sharp as well. They attack in groups and try to bite the victim to death. I can¡¯t really say if their fangs contain any direct poison. Hunting them was quite hard since I couldn¡¯t find one alone. They ganged on me but their fangs hardly grazed my skin. That tickles, you little rascals. I captured quite a few of them because of that. Though I couldn¡¯t learn any skills, I took them to the village and extracted the fangs for materials. It seems their skin can be sold for good price and their meat was exceptional as well. The age of pigs is over. It is now the grand era of vipers. There was certain monster similar to the Somniferon, but the agent it released aroused other monsters into attacking the one who had the scent nearby. I don¡¯t really have any idea on how to use it, but I was able to extract and create another drug. I kept the drug in its liquid state and store it in a glass container from the village. I don¡¯t really want to keep it in a ball form like the sleep drug, monsters are easily attracted by its smell. For me who frequented the forest often had to make sure return early, so I was only able to survey so less even though I went to the forest daily. I had to make sure I spent time with Targ and Gina, otherwise Sara would rant about how I had become a forest maniac. I also had to make sure I didn¡¯t fail in training my body, so I was occupied until the day ended. Every week I tried to hunt at least a few Vipers or Boars for food. No matter what, meat is tasty. In a few days, I¡¯ll be two years old. Eight more years to go. Having a good day, I went to sleep early as usual. A child¡¯s body requires a lot, so it can develop. Looks like I¡¯m already getting a good dream. Hope Gina is in it. Hmm¡­. I¡¯m sure dreams don¡¯t start with a slab in front of them. No, that¡¯s¡­.. My [Status] had opened up on its own¡­..
Please, save Olivia no matter what. Please I beg you.
Chapter 11 - Rot Disease Author''s Note: Sorry that this chapter took so long. Since it''s my final year in college, things are busy and exams start tomorrow. I need to create more detailed character lists, surrounding,etc. The next chapter will be after this wednesday when my exam ends. It takes a while for me take reference of many things and if my internet isnt working then it wont be possible. Thank you for reading Neo Cosmos :) here''s the Author''s jokes when he writes the chapter during night, Author: Damn it, just die already...... Mosquitoes: sie sind das essen und wie sind j?ger Author: *kills his friends while showing a content face, kills main one while slowly pulling off the wings of the mosquitoe and then goes to sleep after finishing the chapter* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rot Disease Huh?!........... It¡¯s a message, from a different timeline but¡­¡­. Save her from what exactly? I gaze at the message which appeared in my mind. Did myself from a different timeline send this in a hurry or was something interfering with the skill? The first guess couldn¡¯t be right, since he¡¯ll have ample time to do it using [ Chamber ]. Or is there a character limit on the use of [ Message ]? I¡¯ll just check [Status]. There doesn¡¯t seem to any update about the ability. Let me check the previous message again. I focus on the message appeared in my mind, it seems more information is showing up as I do. Hmm¡­. It¡¯s likely that when a message appears, it only shows a part of it and I have to expand the hidden message. Why does this skill make this part harder to use? Huh?! The information is growing¡­¡­.. Ah¡­. So that¡¯s why, when there¡¯s too much which can¡¯t be completely displayed in my mind, I suppose the ability reduces at the start and I can gain more information as I read it. For now, let¡¯s see the whole message¡­
Please, save Olivia no matter what. Please I beg you. I don¡¯t know if the person who¡¯s receiving this message is me from another timeline or not. But I¡¯ve got no other choice; I couldn¡¯t save her in mine. I don¡¯t have a means to confirm if this ability works or not. But please listen, if you¡¯ve got this ability from the point of origin then there¡¯s not much time. Olivia will die on the night of your second birthday. No matter how much I did, I couldn¡¯t save her that time. I lived a few more years so I could understand what had happened to her at the time. It was painful, living such a life. Olivia gets infected by the Rot disease probably around 10 days earlier to your birthday. Even though I received a similar message during my timeline, all I did was observe what she ate and where she was a whole month. There was no change other than when she had gone out a few times. I tried checking if she had any wound openings which could¡¯ve caused the infection. But none, no matter how much I checked I couldn¡¯t find how she became victim to it. So, I tried to gain as much information on the Rot Disease after leaving the village at 8 years old. Dari and Sara tried to stop me, but I couldn¡¯t stay there, not where she died without living till the promised date when I would set off. After that, I didn¡¯t return to the village, not until I had found some way to help. I traveled to the City of Veda, to search for a cure to the Rot Disease; I tried finding anything I could from the grand library there. But nothing, all the records only said about rareness of the disease and how there had been no cure up till now. I was out of ideas, I tried searching as much as I could on how it could be treated, but it seems at best one could only prolong the life of the person using healing magic. There exists no technology currently which could even analyze a similar case. During when she was alive I kept observing her as much as possible using [ Mana Sight] but I couldn''t find any changes even when her symptoms kept becoming worse and worse.
Phew¡­¡­.that was a lot. I looked at my [ Status ] confirming my age. It showed 1 year 8 months 10 days. So 10 days from now, she¡¯ll be infected by the disease. I¡¯m not much of a doctor, but even I know how basic infections get carried out. It seems the me from that time had already done the basic analysis, would that mean any infection or disease is different in this world? Even though the human structure is roughly the same, there is a large difference on how microorganisms act in this world. There¡¯s still more information from the message, but I need to summarize it so I can handle the situation differently from the one who failed. He had the resolve to change the past, such that he spent his entire life time only researching it save her. I don¡¯t know if I could also do something like that, since I don¡¯t understand his feelings yet, because his timeline may greatly differ from mine. But he also got a message from someone else and yet he failed. I can¡¯t afford to fail, if I did then no matter how many years I live, they¡¯ll be for naught and only as helpful as a guide to another Orian. I brace myself to understand more what the possible future had sent me.
Here¡¯s the information on what I gathered on the Rot Disease, it seems to be incredibly rare such that there have been cases only every 50 or 100 years so. The victim is infected 10 days before when they actually die. The symptoms for it start showing from the third day, so they estimated the infection had occurred prior to it during the incubation period. I initially thought that maybe they were infected years earlier, but it seems there was a special case with the rot. There was an entire royal family who had once died because of it, yet they died at different periods. The disease shouldn¡¯t actually be able to spread, so many thought it was somehow hereditary in the family. So they tried to cure the family in some way or the other. They tried all the medicinal plant within the continent and even from the desert, but no cure was found. The members of the family had started showing symptoms each at later stages of their life and it was the same for previous cases as well. Why they decided the infection would take place only 10 days prior to the death was due to the fact there was a large time gap when the symptoms began to show. One had died at the age of 33 while another 44 and the members of the royal family had deaths even at 4 and 9 years old. Some of them didn¡¯t even have the chance to get infected, being far away from where the infection took place and yet they died. But those not of the royal family which stayed with the infected for a long time never got infected at all and lived long lives. Because of the way the rot acted, no one had immunity over it either. No matter what, the reason it occurred was never found and even with all the possible methods there had been no cure. I assumed the medicinal plants to be used in creating drugs to cure, so this method wouldn¡¯t work. I couldn¡¯t access the unknown lands to search for other plants and even if I could I know you wouldn¡¯t be able to save her using that method. Since travelling to the lands seldom takes years. The symptoms vary a little from individuals but they mostly stay the same during the further stages. They get worse as the days pass by. It seems there wasn¡¯t a case where a monster was affected by the rot. The only ones who became victims were humans in the end. During the 3rd day of infection, the body becomes pale and the victim starts to lose stamina and appetite. Olivia rarely ate and also refused water as the days went by. On the 6th day she started coughing blood out, her skin became paler, she looked dead. On the 8th day her breathing had become worse and her eyes were bloodshot, her body had shrunk, the skin had dried out. She grasped for whatever life she had left on the night of when I turned 2 years old and apologized to me. It was a painful set of 10 days for me. The rot had taken her internal organs and had affected her to that level in only a short time. I don¡¯t know at what point this message has reached you, but after so many years this is all I could do. Even I thought of abandoning this at some point, but I had to try. I¡¯m really useless, I couldn¡¯t do much and I almost forgot about her. I¡¯m sending this message now, because even I am at the end of my life. If only I made the right choices, I probably would¡¯ve found the solution at a later point. So my advice to you is, even if you couldn¡¯t save her, please be patient and try to slowly figure things out so things could be changed. Looks like the future didn¡¯t change and Olivia died, so the one who sent me the message didn¡¯t lose his timeline. It doesn¡¯t matter to me at this point though. I passed you all the information my time could gather. I hoped that the friends I made in my timeline could live. So I took my time to send it you, I know I¡¯m a terrible person. I can¡¯t accept someone¡¯s death or even be ready to sacrifice the time others lived for it. I hope you won¡¯t die the same way I did. I¡¯m using [ Chamber ] so I¡¯m prolonging my living for a little bit more time, it feels like the last moments in my life are ending this way. This is my last gift to you which I learned pursuing the cure to the disease. Forgive me, but I don¡¯t have anything else useful.
Ah¡­. This man, even though he is me, I can¡¯t really help but feel sympathy. Or would it be empathy in this case? Even if we want to save someone from the past, can we sacrifice other¡¯s happiness for it? Won¡¯t some person be living the happiest time of their life in that timeline and because I¡¯m changing it, they lose it in this one? But¡­.I can¡¯t and I won¡¯t let Olivia die for it. I don¡¯t know how I died in that timeline but I was halfhearted at some points. I resolved to continue what I had set to do. I read the last part which explained on using magic for healing, to which he had found a method to use without using magic chants. He described that all magic needed chants or devices or transformation circles to use, but you could use it in another similar method. Maybe he found this technique because he could use [ Mana Sight] or probably a monster could use it or mostly because he couldn¡¯t teach me [ Magic Language ] which was needed for chants or the transformation circles using only the message. Either way if I manipulated my mana with the desire to repair or restore their body to how it was I could use [ Healing Magic ]. I made a small cut on my fingers and used the techniques he had described. The mana which attached itself to the wound began restoring it, but the blood I lost probably wouldn¡¯t have returned. After applying various other techniques he had tried out, I was able to advance my [ Healing Magic ] to a high level.
Healing Magic Learned
Healing Magic improved to +1
Healing Magic improved to +2
Healing Magic improved to +3
Healing Magic improved to +4
The fourth level of advanced healing. Mana is used to restore even internally damaged organs at the expenditure of high amount of Mana. The healing is fast enough to recover even vital wounds on the battlefield.
Although I haven¡¯t understood why [ Status ] describes skills in that manner, I can understand that [ Healing Magic ] consumes a lot of mana and rate of recovery is incredible. It¡¯s almost as though no wound was ever there. The first level only closed the wound and the second level just closed it much faster while removing the cut mark a little, but the fourth level was remarkable. I¡¯ll have to study his methods again and see if I can find another way to save her. If not maybe, I can prolong her life until I find the cure. But he had already rebutted this, since that method had not worked and the most someone survived was only five extra days. ----------Ten Days Later-------- I had halted my training from the time I received the message. I didn¡¯t go out into the forest considering that maybe I carried the pathogen. I requested Sara and Guez to also not venture there, at least not until 10 more days. They agreed, I assume they thought I was trying to avoid the Cerberus situation. Luckily Dari didn¡¯t need to go to the city. Not when his cute son is requesting it. From the time I had received the message, I couldn¡¯t sleep well and have been constantly observing Olivia. Although my mental state will worsen if this continues and I don¡¯t know how clear my thinking will be, the thought of losing her doesn¡¯t allow me to have any peace. ¡­¡­.. ---------Day 1------------ Everyday it¡¯s been the same, I constantly use [ Mana Sight ] trying to observe any changes. The same what he had already done, I just repeat it. I know that I won¡¯t get anywhere if I keep going like this, but I haven¡¯t really got any other ideas. It¡¯s the same, her condition doesn¡¯t change and neither does the mana around her or within her. It¡¯s almost like the message I received was nothing but a lie. But this was already predicted by him, that would mean in two days time the first symptom can be spotted. ¡° Are you alright, Mother?¡±(Orian) ¡°Yes, quite. Why do you ask, Orian?¡±(Olivia) ¡°No¡­¡­No reason¡±(Orian) I wonder if she suspects me for asking that. If the infection has already occurred today and I can¡¯t see anything out of the ordinary changing, then what am I supposed to do? -------Day 2-------- I¡¯m sure the others are restless seeing me behave this way, but I can¡¯t exactly tell them about this. I ask Dari, if he knew anything about the Rot Disease. He knew about it, he readily replied that, there had been no cure to the disease and showed me what little information he had from a book. He gives me the book. I try to gain a better understanding than simply what the message had sent. I read the book from start to end, everything is the same as he had described but not so much in detail. It just gave what were the usual symptoms, the survival rate of the victim and that it also had a name called the ¡¯Ten day death.¡¯ Ah¡­ there seems to be a brief history regarding it. It¡¯s weird though. Usually most writers begin with the history and then end with talking about the finer details, so why is that method reversed here? A lot of things are subject to change than what common sense I normally have. ¡® The Rot Disease was first discovered in humans who had settled in the northern regions of the Carthos Continent, roughly around the 512th year of Light. The Dogra tribe was the first to be infected, having around 30 victims. As no cure was established, any and all who were infected were either banished or buried before it could spread. But few decades later, the entire tribe followed and the land in which they were based had been prohibited from entry. The Disease was believed to have died off along with the Dogra, until another case emerged on the year 720. During the third holy war, the disease had reemerged in the Kingdom of Ylvetal. A prominent researcher in the field of medicine, Thevanus diagnosed the third prince who was said to be infected. Thevanus was the first who had concluded that the disease never spread to others, as the servants, himself and rest of the royal family did not get infected in the least. But the rotting could not be stopped and the blame had fallen onto Thevanus, as a fraud who could not cure the prince. He was beheaded but his research safely reached the vaults of the library in the city of Veda. As per his findings, only the third prince had succumbed and the disease once again seemed to have gone extinct. A similar case occurred during the 1156th year of light, to the Royal family of Niveam which ruled the local regions near the capital, in the Trnokina Empire. All the members of the Royal Family died, this incident has been recorded as ¡® Blue Blood rotting¡¯ incident.¡¯ The history record ends there¡­¡­ Did me from that time, go to the Grand Library after reading this? The final case¡­. Not much information was available on that one. Maybe that was the same family he was talking about. Well he did mention it as the most recent case. Considering that this is the 1270th year of light. But still, its occurring was more than a 100 years ago. No wonder he never got much information going there. I returned the book, since there wasn¡¯t anything more it could provide me. I was tired, mentally as I had been contemplating on this matter for hours. I still didn¡¯t have a lead to go on. If I take more time, then the faster her organs will begin to rot. I¡¯ll have to assume that, in the case I couldn¡¯t save her within four days before my birthday. She would have no extra time after that, even if a cure was possible. Internal injuries don¡¯t recover easily and I haven¡¯t tested [ Healing Magic ] if it can heal someone up to that point. But still¡­..the book mentioned the tribe had over 30 people who were infected. That¡¯s a high victim rate compared to the later ones. Considering that they compared the most common symptoms, I don¡¯t think the disease at that time and this one would be different ones. If only, there was more information, then probably the others from a different time could¡¯ve probably created a cure. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. After checking everything I could, I tried to rest so I could regain my composure. I finished having dinner and headed to sleep. *THUD* ¡­¡­what was that sound? I turn back and Olivia had fallen to the ground. Dari rushed to her, he was panicking. He tried asking what was wrong, but she had fainted. ¡°Father, get mother to a bed.¡±(Orian) ¡°Right¡­¡­.¡±(Dari) Everyone had a worried look, Sara was cooling her down using a wet towel. I checked her temperature, her skin felt like it was burning and her breathing seemed rough. She was suffering from a fever. I thought the symptoms would show tomorrow¡­¡­wait, when he meant she became pale¡­¡­. That must be because the fever had her, run out of energy by the morning. So she would be freed from the fever by morning, but she wouldn¡¯t eat anything tomorrow, since she would probably feel the loss of appetite. This is bad, the scenario is going like he had described it and I still don¡¯t know what should be done. -------Day 3-------- It¡¯s already morning, huh? *yawn* I feel tired, I did have a all-nighter after all. I was awake the whole night, Sara was changing the cloth on Olivia¡¯s forehead and Dari gave her some medicine to reduce the fever. For me, I didn¡¯t help out much since they were doing most of the work. They insisted me to go to bed, but even if I did the thoughts on my brain wouldn¡¯t disappear. I looked over her, but in the morning I felt like she had changed. Her skin was losing its color little by little. If she hadn¡¯t been awake and started slowly moving, I would¡¯ve thought she was already dead. I used [ Mana Sight ], but I couldn¡¯t see much change in her mana, except the density seemed to have reduced a little. Damn it¡­¡­.did I miss anything? The message¡­..the records¡­..all of them simply keep pointing out that there¡¯s no cure. Can I save her? What should I do? All I could do was check on her, just like him¡­¡­¡­. No, don¡¯t give up. It¡¯s not right. I still haven¡¯t tried anything different from all the possibilities available to me. Think¡­¡­.maybe they¡¯re wrong? Maybe the rot isn¡¯t a disease, at least not in this world. But¡­¡­everything in this world maybe different but the underlying basic principles coincides with the previous one. The rot may have some connection to something in the previous world. If I could make a connection¡­¡­. Think¡­¡­think¡­¡­.was there a similar case like this in the previous world? I may not be a doctor, but there should be something that I can find to relate to this incident. ¡­¡­..wait¡­. ¡­¡­now that I understand its behavior¡­..yes¡­¡­¡­.there was something like this in the old world. No, if I think about it clearly, even the history for it is also similar too. But how should I handle such a case in this world? There aren¡¯t any devices or the suitable technology to attempt such a solution. ¡­¡­.Ahh!! I almost forget, every single time, this world is made of [ Mana ]. Every human, monster, plant, light, gravity and everything around us, it¡¯s all completely mana. If I can clear the first stage, then I can do it. I can save her. -----------Day 5------------ *yawn* Ah¡­¡­a day went by already. If I remember right, she¡¯ll start coughing blood tomorrow. It¡¯s probably due to the complete rotting of a internal organ, probably the stomach. She didn¡¯t have any food, she refused to drink water and I can see some wrinkles on her hands, as though her muscles are slowly falling apart. I can¡¯t watch her be like this anymore. Dari left already to call for a doctor, he probably guessed that this could be the rot, but he didn¡¯t want to admit until he confirmed from an actual one. I wonder what the doctors of this world are like. Do they also have bad handwriting? Sara was trying to feed her, but at the end failed. Olivia¡¯s eyes, they had the same look. I remember seeing that face on people in my previous life, the feeling that they had, they knew already they were going to die. But not this time, I¡¯m not going to lose her over something as pathetic as this. I won¡¯t make the same mistake, like he did. Our kind which suffered the same from something this for a long time, finally made their way to advancement, it¡¯s that knowledge which shouldn¡¯t be lost. I trained and tried two days for this, I rested enough so I could think straight. I didn¡¯t think it was possible, but I was able to confirm with [ Status ]. I opened [ Status ] to ready the skill that I was finally able to attain. Although it felt really simple once I got it, I didn¡¯t think it was such a case when I strived through my mind thinking of various methods and establishing a pattern to how skills were linked.
Mana Sight +5
The eyes of power, capable of staring in to the deepest layers of mana, sight which can show even its building blocks. The core of all living beings is visible to the beholder of the Fifth level of Mana Sight.
It certainly wasn¡¯t easy, I used what time I had left to learn about this ability. I had to understand the pattern of how these skills exactly worked. By burning the desire to see even the most miniscule of what [ Mana ] holds on to my mind, I trained. I made use of [ Backtrack ] repeatedly and took some time slowly replenish my mana. After a few tries and by relentlessly observing the finer details of edges I was able to grasp the Fourth level, but that still wasn¡¯t enough to accomplish what I need to do. I think I used [ Backtrack ] about 52 times to be exact after that. It was constant practice to try various methods. Once I simply tried to keep sending more mana into my eyes and kept building up focus. In 52 times, everything became dark in about 14 tries. I think I lost my eye sight, by overloading it with too much mana. If I didn¡¯t have [ Gift of Time ], I probably would have become blind. I wondered if blindness could be healed, but I tried so with [ Backtrack ] and my healing didn¡¯t work. Maybe it was because the optic nerves would get damaged and which in turn I couldn¡¯t send my mana there to even heal it. or probably I would need a higher level healing. But I still haven¡¯t much idea about healing, since I only learned so little from the message. I would have to experiment with it. I was finally able to obtain the Fifth level, by slowly and carefully sending mana in minute amounts in to the cones. The cones which are used to distinguish the colors which we observe, I had to contract the pupils in a certain angle while doing this. It was said that human fingers could feel small objects to the size of nanometers, but couldn¡¯t that also mean it would be able to easily observe if our eyes had enough strength. It was at the end, when I checked my [ Status ] that I had finally obtained it. But I fainted after depleting my mana yesterday, so today I¡¯m wide awake to finish the rest of my objective. Anything and everything in this world is made of Mana. So is the organism that¡¯s been killing her all this time. Damaging, trying to grow, leeching off its host, the rot virus that¡¯s been hurting Olivia. I could finally see it now. ¡­¡­. Up till now, any and every bit of mana I¡¯ve seen with my eyes was always a shade of blue in color, either dark or light. The cores of monsters varied, most were same as the surroundings, but the Cerberus had a tinge of black to it. The mana from Olivia which was always blue until now, had small red spots moving around in her body. I had checked Sara, Guez who had visited as well as myself. There were no red spots of mana swirling around in our bodies, like Olivia¡¯s. So I arrived at a conclusion, that it was the rot virus which had multiplied over the course of time. Luckily they were all visible and limited. Perhaps the virus took more time replicate itself. Although I say limited, they weren¡¯t an easy count and were above 50 in general. Fortunately, they weren¡¯t moving around the whole body and had segregated at stomach and intestinal regions. [ Mana Sight ] allowed me only to see minute existing mana, but didn¡¯t show me what they themselves looked like. I don¡¯t know what the body is made of, but it simply contains mana, so for anything to be classified as living, it should have mana and it should be moving. Then the rot virus is a living being or better I¡¯d rather call it a monster. But now how can I kill it? I can¡¯t use any weapon, I hardly know much about any of the other magic. The ones I have currently won¡¯t be of much use. The first stage of my plan was to confirm the existence of the virus. The Second stage would be to find a way to attack it. I could try to learn how to use [ Fire Magic ] but I don¡¯t think I could use that to kill it. I would need a weapon which is at the size of the virus to kill or weaken it. Hmm¡­.. could I use mana itself? Thinking about it, it was because of [ Mana Sight ] that I was able learn most of my skills. So shouldn¡¯t I be able to do more with such an advanced one? I had a similar thought while I was planning the second stage yesterday. By using the least amount of mana, while giving it shape for the right use was now possible by me. I was short on time, although he said she won¡¯t die until a few days, that wouldn¡¯t mean one could save her within said time. That would be lesser. With this thought in mind, even being as careless as to exhaust all my mana, I advanced the first stage by the fifth day. And now I had to try implementing the second. I molded mana onto my fingertips, creating a thin line which was protruding from my nails. I adjusted the size of the line slowly and carefully. Thinning the line repeatedly again and again, its size should be as small as the virus or even smaller. It was a careful and delicate practice. But finally, it was done. The creation of the Mana Needle was complete. In truth though, it wasn¡¯t a needle rather something much thinner. I was holding it in a solidified position. It was incredibly hard to maintain it, with the needle protruding from only finger. It would be inefficient to kill all the viruses one by one which currently inhabited her body. Although it became harder to maintain, I tried copying the same action to the rest of the fingers in my right hand. I used [ Backtrack ] to quickly master it. After 20 trials, it was possible to create and maintain the mana needles at three fingers namely the index, middle and ring finger. This was the limit. After 30 more trials, it became apparent that it was impossible after this. Finally, stage two was also complete. I checked my [ Status ] as it was giving off that nagging feeling and also I wanted to see if I had enough [ Mana ] to attempt the final stage of my plan right now.
Mana Mastery improved to +2
Mana Mastery improved to +3
Mana Mastery improved to +4
Mana Mastery improved to +5
The conscious mind capable of freely controlling mana to abuse it, in any way desired. The Fifth level of Mana Mastery allows the user to grasp the underlying mana to the highest level.
Ah¡­. So that would mean, I can lessen high usage of mana on my skills. Thanks to this, I can conserve more mana to when I absolutely need it. [ Weapon Create ] didn¡¯t improve though. Is it because whatever is made from mana must be solidified for it to be called a weapon? Speaking of which the claws which solidified were much easier to maintain, in fact I didn¡¯t even need to concentrate on them compared to now. I suppose comparing the claws to the needle wouldn¡¯t be right. Since I checked my mana, it looks like I still have more than half of it. I¡¯ll attempt the final stage now. ¡­¡­¡­. It¡¯s almost night, the light is slowly fading. There were only three people currently in the house right now. Dari hadn¡¯t returned yet and Guez had gone to check on the security on the walls. Olivia was sleeping and seemed liked a corpse which was kept lying on the bed. She was still breathing. This really makes me nauseous. Sara had completed all the tasks Olivia normally did. Cleaning the house, washing the clothes and preparing dinner¡­¡­now she sat here with me watching over Olivia. ¡°Sister, please forgive me for what I¡¯m about to do.¡±(Orian) ¡°Huh!?.....¡±(Sara) Sara who couldn¡¯t stand anymore, fell asleep. I had laced her food with the Sleeping agent during dinner. It was a small dose, so the effects took some time. I leave Sara in her room, her dark circled eyes were visible to me every day. I put her to sleep so that there were no distractions for me to attempt the final stage. I needed all the focus I could gather for this. I ready [ Mana Sight ] and head to where Olivia was currently resting. I pour mana into to my right hand and create three needles. The red spots are moving fast at the present areas. I time myself using [ Backtrack ] so I make no mistakes. *pierce* It was a single moment, and I was able to neutralize one of them. Once they were pierced, I had slowly pour my mana into the pierced spot to completely dissipate it. If I destroy the core, then it¡¯s easy to finish them off. I can see Olivia showing signs of pain. The needle no matter how small, does give a piercing sensation. I use [ Healing Magic ] to close the location I had wounded on the body. I retrace my steps and again mark at another red spot. I destroy the core the same way. I wonder if humans can also die like this, in case if I destroy their cores which are much larger. ¡­¡­.. I don¡¯t know how long it took, but I was able clear away most of them. There are only 4 more spots left. Olivia is still breathing albeit faintly. For some reason, the spots are moving faster and are trying to enter other locations which they weren¡¯t part of. Is it their defense mechanism? They must be trying to replicate again. I get the mana needles ready. Only ten percent of mana is still left. I time carefully using [ Backtrack ] as much as I can and pierce it at the moment they enter the right area. ¡­¡­¡­.. One more left¡­.but¡­¡­¡­ why is it moving near the heart? Damn it, is it trying to rot the only organ which keeps humans alive? Is this virus that intelligent enough to know when it¡¯s dying? Is that why there wasn¡¯t a cure? It was adapting constantly to changing environments. The one thing it couldn¡¯t do was spread easily. Perhaps it would die if in the outside environment. It did have a major weakness, but there wasn¡¯t anything to force it out. But why is it attacking itself to the heart? I have to be careful not to pierce the heart, else Olivia may die not because of the rot but because of me. I don¡¯t know if [ Healing Magic ] can even close the internal wounds, but it¡¯s been working so far. I can¡¯t help but hesitate when I don¡¯t know what my actions will result in. I don¡¯t want to use [ Message ] if I can. I want to make the changes in my own timeline not erase my life and depend on another. *pierce* The needle landed on the virus, and I used the other needles to inhibit its movement. Sending my mana from all three ends, I was able to quickly dissipate it. ¡­¡­¡­ Phew¡­¡­.none, no more of the virus is left. Although Olivia may simply get infected in the future or probably some are still left incubating within her. This was what I had been aiming for. To weaken the virus, so it wouldn¡¯t cause any more damage. To prolong Olivia¡¯s life, so her body could obtain immunity using what was left of the virus with its dead nucleus. There was a method called inoculation, this method was created specifically against such diseases. There were numerous ones in the old world, but one of the most dangerous ones was the ¡®Poliovirus¡¯. If I had to compare it to the rot, I think the rot was much better since it would kill of its victim. But the Poliovirus simply left its victims crippled with almost no chance of recovery in most other than using artificial method. Just like the rot, it didn¡¯t have a cure. There was never one for it, so instead of a cure, a method to prevent it was made. The Poliovirus had infected various planets, fortunately because we found ancient records on it prevention and since there were many humans who were immune to it from their ancestors, a solution was easily found. I thought it didn¡¯t matter at that time, but the ones who found the method of Inoculation, they have my respect. I could understand now, when they meant ¡®Prevention was better than any cure¡¯. Now all I could do was heal her body completely and hope Olivia is able to obtain immunity over the rot. ¡­¡­ Just as I¡¯m healing her, I feel a strong headache passing over me. It¡¯s the same as the first time I obtained the [ Message ] skill. I feel tired. Before I faint, I use [ Healing Magic ] on Olivia with all the mana I have left and fall down to the ground awaiting the darkness encroaching my mind. Chapter 12 - Distress Author''s Note: Took a little long to update, chapter is also quite long. The updates will be a little slow, but the first arc will be completed in some time.Thank you for reading Neo Cosmos:). No author''s joke section since i can''t come up with a good one right now. Also the complete Status window(with tables) will be shown on the next chapter. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Distress ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ Hn!........... Ah! What happened? Last thing, I remember is healing Olivia and everything went dark after that. I remember feeling a strong headache, just before I fainted. I can see something, did I wake up? Ah¡­Olivia¡¯s watching me, but¡­¡­. Her skin, it¡¯s completely dried up. It¡¯s like she¡¯s mummified. Didn¡¯t my method work? No¡­¡­.this can¡¯t be. The virus shouldn¡¯t be alive, it shouldn¡¯t be able to replicate. Did I miss them? But then shouldn¡¯t it still take time to act, since most of them were cleared off by me. Then¡­..why? why did it fail? ¡°O¡­ri¡­..a..n¡±(Olivia) She¡¯s speaking, what is it? Come on, get a grip over yourself. Why can¡¯t I move, damn it? No, I¡¯m standing but I can¡¯t seem to move. ¡°For¡­..gi¡­ve¡­.me¡±(Olivia) No, no , no¡­..don¡¯t die. It¡¯s not your time, I won¡¯t let it be. Please, anyone¡­ someone ¡­¡­. help her please. What are Dari and Sara doing? And who¡¯s this guy in the same room? Don¡¯t just stand there, do something for god¡¯s sake? Don¡¯t let her leave like this? Ah¡­¡­ my body¡­.it¡¯s hurting¡­..the headache it¡¯s increasing. Where am I? What happened to Olivia? Who was that other person? Again, I can see something. Did I get¡­¡­taller? Ah¡­¡­. I know where this is. This is the front gate of the village. why am I outside? I still can¡¯t control my body. I¡¯m running towards the forest, this is the safe path used for travelling to the city. Why am I going there? Did I run away? Why?........ why are you throwing stones at me? Why are you looking at me that way? Who are all these people? It hurts, I¡¯m bleeding. Why didn¡¯t I simply use my defense form? Wait¡­..this blood, it isn¡¯t mine? Who is this woman? Did I kill her? Agh¡­¡­. Again, this headache¡­¡­ it¡¯s occurring too many times now. It¡¯s dark again. I still can¡¯t move. ¡­¡­¡­ This time I¡¯m in a room full of books, is this a library? There¡¯s someone else here, he¡¯s trying to tell me¡­..no, he¡¯s teaching me something. This old guy, he¡¯s got a serious look. Aughhhh¡­. Damn it. Again, when will they stop? Huh? Who are these people? There¡¯s a group of five in front of me. All of them are males. They¡¯re all holding weapons facing against me. Wait, why are you attacking me? I need to get ready quickly or I¡¯m dead. I can¡¯t use [Enchanted Defense ]. Ughh¡­my throat. *cough* *cough* why is there¡­¡­. blood? My hands are pale¡­¡­ I can¡¯t move, my body is completely in pain. By the time I raise my head to see what¡¯s going on, the guy who was at the forefront of the group is already in front of me. He¡¯s holding a sword, its coming at great force. No, no , no ¡­.don¡¯t come near me. Go away¡­¡­¡­ GET AWAY FROM ME. It was only an instant. I don¡¯t clearly understand what happened. But my vision had shifted. I was looking at the sky and fell with a thud. Ah¡­.my head. Did I land? I look to my front, I can¡¯t seem to move my neck. It¡¯s the one who attacked and my body¡­.its headless. He¡­ he ¡­..he chopped my head off. I died. ¡°NOOOOOOOO¡±(Orian) Gah!........ what happened? I touch my neck, to check my state. Phew¡­it¡¯s still attached. What the heck? Was that a dream? No, I should¡¯ve realized it was. It wasn¡¯t the first bad dream, I had. But the pain I felt in this one was all too real. Well, it isn¡¯t like people haven¡¯t tried to realize they were in a dream. They¡¯ve been trying for a long time, but there were only a few. Rather, I don¡¯t believe them, even if they told me they did it. But this dream, it felt like I died and wound up here. It felt all too real. I shouldn¡¯t feel pain in a dream. Let¡¯s leave that aside for now. *whack* ¡°oww¡­. Who hit me?¡±(Orian) ¡°Shut it, Orian. What were you doing here? Shouldn¡¯t you be asleep in your room?¡±(Sara) Ah¡­. It¡¯s the nemesis for all little kids. The tyrant elder one. It has a wicked mind and it bothers you and attacks you for no reason. ¡° now¡­now ¡­ stop that, Sara¡±(Olivia) ¡°But, Mother¡­..he was too noisy. You should be-¡°(Sara) ¡°it¡¯s alright now. I¡¯m feeling much better. I¡¯m sure Orian was just worried. You know how much he cries.¡±(Olivia) And the boss of the tyrant elder one. This one brings up such embarrassing memories. Wait¡­¡­.. Olivia, she¡¯s fine¡­.. She looks healthy. She¡¯s still pale, but it seems to have gotten better. No, I can¡¯t stop. Tears are welling up¡­¡­.. I hugged her. I want to stop crying. Damn it, I¡¯m old as who knows what. But my emotions won¡¯t let up. She¡¯s fine, it worked. Inoculation worked. ¡°that¡¯s enough, Orian. You¡¯re going to be a crybaby in the future too. Rather, come here already. Mother is still weak.¡±(Sara) Sara pulled me away from Olivia. I didn¡¯t want to let go of her. But I let go, thinking my strength would be too much if I continued any further. Sara pulled me out of the room. owww¡­.why smack my head again? She sighed and spoke. ¡° Mother needs more food for her recovery. Go and get the things on this list.¡±(Sara) ¡°Ah! Alright¡±(Orian) ¡°Good¡­.. seriously, you¡¯re being a brat. Sleeping till late in the afternoon, waking up being so noisy. Luckily mother had gotten well and was already awake in the morning. She told me not to wake you up.¡±(Sara) ¡°Mother¡­.. was awake and well¡­¡­wait I slept so late¡±(Orian) Sara sighs and nods at me. She couldn¡¯t be wrong about the timing, could she? But then again, she wakes up much earlier than me and usually handles most of the housework. How can some people, wake up without an alarm? So that meant Olivia had gotten well over the night. I think I heard about this from Dari, prior when her body was weak. After she had taken medicine, she didn¡¯t fall sick again for a long time. Does that mean she would have a strong immunity against the rot in case, she were to be inoculated beforehand? But why did I wake up so late? Even if I was drained of mana, I shouldn¡¯t have taken so much time. Was it the dream? ¡°Orian, get going..¡±(Sara) Sara has angry look, I better head right now. I can think of this later. ¡­¡­¡­¡­ Phew¡­.I didn¡¯t think, she¡¯d have me bring so much boar¡¯s meat. I had to drug the entire boar. Claw wolves are easy to kill, but going against boars is still annoying. If the fight goes for enough time, then the boar could use [ Force Rush ] to escape or even come at me. But this is the first time, Sara actually requested me to get boar meat considering she didn¡¯t want to harm Boa. Fortunately, Gina¡¯s taking care of him right now. The list had quite the amount of food, were there more people coming? Did Dari somehow receive the news of her recovery? If Guez and Gina are coming, I should get more, maybe some viper meat. I should get more fruits and edible roots. The roots are minced and also a paste is mixed with the boar meat to give it a deep flavor. I¡¯m already salivating just thinking about what will be cooked with a whole boar. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­.what am¡­.I..seeing? It¡¯s Olivia, right? It is really my mother, right. No, I must be mistaken. *chew**chew**chew* *swallow* Empty plates are gathering on the table, Sara is reusing them to place more food on the table. *swoosh* My eyes aren¡¯t lying to me, right? It was only a moment, that plate was full, but now it sits there completely empty before me. What type of Magic is this? After watching the entire event with my mind still in a daze, I could see Olivia returning back to her usual complexion. It felt like I didn¡¯t do anything much at all, that the rot never existed in the first place. While I was happy over this fact, I still couldn¡¯t believe what had happened before that. Sara explained to me that this was how much she would consume whenever she recovered from some form of exhaustion. It had happened when I was born as well. The day after I had been born, Olivia had munched heavily on food. I wonder how her body works or is it the same for all humans? When she¡¯s sick, she hardly has any appetite but when she gets better her hunger rises to its peak. This explains where my gluttonous behavior stems from. Sara didn¡¯t inherit that part though. After having a good meal myself, I went outside to clear my head. I had to get all the information in my head sorted. Firstly, the method to kill the virus was a success and recovery seems to be fine. Rather healing magic is quite convenient. I don¡¯t know how old average humans live, but I¡¯d like her to live long enough to reach that old age. If her condition gets better, I won¡¯t have to worry about the rot attacking her again since her body would be immune to it by then. But that doesn¡¯t mean, the rest of us are in the clear. The rot could aim any of the family members, this much I will assume considering its previous pattern. Rather I¡¯m certain now, because of that downpour of memories. Yes, I can confirm that was the side effect of using [ Message ]. The future changed and his timeline doesn¡¯t exist anymore. But then what about the other ones which failed to change, will their memories also pass onto me? I suppose not, since now I sorted all the memories that entered my mind, and I can conclude it was only from the one who sent me. The reason I accepted this would be, since there was a understandable flow in them, but then again various memories from different timelines which got erased could also be mixed into them and I couldn¡¯t see it. It¡¯s not something I can determine right now anyway. For now, I have a good amount of information from him. The fires above the pillars were lit and even though it was dark, I walked as I saw my reflection in the lake. Blonde hair, black eyes, the height which was close to a five year old and light skin, I imagined my figure when I would become 10 years old since I didn¡¯t find my older image in the memories. The current me and the older me who had died at the age of 13, it looks like he experienced a lot worse than I gave him credit for. I could understand why he hesitated slightly to send me the message. He didn¡¯t want others in his timeline to suffer. ¡­¡­¡­. {AN: the other timeline¡¯s memories are being read as his own} On the day when Olivia breathed her last, Dari had somehow found a doctor from the city to accompany him to the village. But it was too late and even if he had arrived earlier, I don¡¯t think the situation would have changed. The Doctor had confirmed her dead, with the cause being the rot, only sadness loomed that day in the house. But calling the doctor had made it worse for our situation. The information that someone in the village had been affected by the rot was leaked to the city, this made the good trade we established with them to wither. Things went south after that, Dari¡¯s license to trade was revoked and development halted. Guez and a few hunters were imprisoned by the knight guards when they went to the city. The Knight Commander must have been changed by the church. The village was in shambles, it wouldn¡¯t have survived if I hadn¡¯t gone out to hunt. Dari and Sara somehow held strong, but even though I myself seemed alright, I always had the urge to use [ Message ] to save her somehow. Not letting go of the past, I left after doing all I can for the village. Gina also confessed her feelings to me, but I couldn¡¯t answer them. I still wanted to save my mother and left the village with her behind as well. I was eight years old at the time and when I reached the city, I somehow lied about my age and became an adventurer. I was able to earn much and raise my rank to S within a year. The guild members were happy to be able to employ me, but there were a few who held envy. There were many people who I had helped, some I had saved and gotten along with. There were only two S ranked in the city including me and I was the one most available for the dangerous jobs, I gained a lot of contacts over time. I never met the other S ranker in the time I was there in the city. There were certain quests such as escorting an important person and some of them took quite long to finish but they paid well. Such quests were S ranked, so it was common I was the only one available, since I didn¡¯t have much interest in accepting such tasks. After some incident with the church, they found out I was from the village and almost everyone in the city came to hate me. The civilian¡¯s wrath ensued, stones were pelted at me. I escaped the city and took route to the City of Veda. From the information, I had gathered I could find something about the rot from the grand library there. On my travel, I had to fight against certain adventurers. It was later that I found out, there was a bounty placed on me by the church. Although none were clearly strong enough to catch much less kill me, I was able to continue. But there was an S ranked adventurer who also took up the bounty. She was an elf, I could guess from her long ears. While I was hunting some monsters for food, she attacked me with magic imbued arrow to kill me quickly. But thanks to fourth level of enhanced defense, at best they made scratched the surface. But that was only her gauging my strength. Her attacks became much fierce and even with my defense I took enough damage. If an S ranked adventurer has enough advantage, they could kill even an army of 500 by themselves. I realized that fact and made use of [ Backtrack ] and as many skills and tactics to finally defeat her. Although she was an enemy, I felt remorse when I killed her. It was later I had found out, she had been tricked into attacking me. They had framed me for killing the children at the orphanage in Lafrice city. She was the other S rank, who had returned after completing her work. But when she came back, she found out a relative of hers who lived in the orphanage had died by the hands of a human who was clad in grey defense armor. She assumed it had to be a high level adventurer and since I had run away, the most suitable culprit would be me. She died with a sad look on her face, after realizing that I wasn¡¯t the one. I felt that this world was a cruel one similar to the one I came from. I continued on my path to the City of Veda. There I wasn¡¯t discriminated against at least, so I was able to gain information on the rot. I met a friend of Olivia, who was a mage working in the grand library. She told me how she couldn¡¯t come to visit us, since the cities guard didn¡¯t allow anyone to enter the village. Since she knew my mother, I was able to easily gain access to the library to study about the rot. There I met an enthusiastic professor who was also researching the subject. He started to teach me what he knew, since I was also interested in learning as much as I could about the rot. Later, he accepted me as a student to test the skills I could learn. He was really strict, but he taught me a lot about magic and I was able to learn [ Healing Magic ] as well as few others. I had reached a bottleneck, after trying and thinking of various methods, there wasn¡¯t a single solution to the rot. After a long time, I was about to give up. I wanted to return to the village, to see everyone again. Sara had gotten married to one of the villagers when I was four years old, I could probably meet my nephew or niece by now. Even though I wasted so much of my life trying to save Olivia, I was able to accept her death and I knew my younger self couldn¡¯t find a cure even if I sent him everything I learnt. I set out from Veda, to go back to the village. After giving my regards, I departed to the nearest town. There I acquired some information about the village. I should have expected something like this could have happened. But news reached me too late, the church had sent the Inquisition to the village. After barring them as heretics, everyone in the village had been killed. Various thoughts filled me that time, I wanted to destroy the church of light which made our life unfair. I was devoured by revenge but thoughts of regret also flew by. If only I stayed back, I could¡¯ve avoided this. I calmed down and returned as quickly as I could. But all that was left, was nothing but barren land. The huts were burnt, the bodies were placed on stakes. I searched for any survivor I could find. The stench was horrendous. Gina, Targ¡­.. I found their mangled corpses near the lake¡­.. tears were welling up in my eyes, but I held back.. someone had to be alive. Our house was destroyed, the place where we buried Olivia was desecrated. I held my anger and kept searching, after a while I found Dari¡¯s corpse protecting the door and when I looked inside, Sara was¡­..her corpse was¡­. ¡­.( Guh!.. that image hurts my conscience¡­ reading all these memories is hard) I buried the bodies and gave them the funeral they deserved. I couldn¡¯t find any children within the village. They were mostly captured and sold as slaves. I blamed myself and this world, this was something I was supposed to be used to. But at those times, I never had my emotions peak up like this. The thought then came to me, if only Olivia was alive. Maybe I wouldn¡¯t have taken such a path. The church wouldn¡¯t have a reason to attack us, Guez wouldn¡¯t be captured, Dari could still trade and I wouldn¡¯t be framed. The desire which I had lost, became stronger. I wanted to find a cure to the rot no matter what happened. I hated my powerlessness, but I had no choice but to accept that I couldn¡¯t do anything by myself. I wished that this reality wouldn¡¯t exist. I began preparing to head to the unknown lands, from where I could find a solution to the rot, a way to stop all these events from unfolding. I left the village for the last time and headed towards the southern kingdom which would allow me access to the unknown lands. I was feeling weak and tired, I simply ignored it thinking it was due to what I experienced a few days ago. It was en route I was intercepted. I hadn¡¯t realized when I was drowning in my emotions, that this information reaching me so late would be a trap. I was surrounded by five adventurers. A prominent figure among them came forth drawing a sword, he attacked a few times but couldn¡¯t breach my defense. Then he used [ Enhanced defense ] himself. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. It all came rushing back to me, the gray skin colored culprit, the one who had enough strength to capture A rank hunters from the village. This person was the reason¡­.. He started laughing and told me how much he enjoyed killing all the villagers. He was behind that as well? The tattoo that was on his face was similar to the church. The church probably hired him or he¡¯s probably one of the church¡¯s dogs. I escaped to the cliff side to think of a plan, but my breathing became harder. *cough* *cough* I could see blood and my throat felt dry. My hands seemed pale. It was a little late, but I could understand my body was suffering from the rot. Damn it, why now? Was the rot also his doing? I couldn¡¯t make it to the cliff, I fell to the ground near the lake in the forest. I turned back and saw that they had already reached where I was. I tried to activate my defense but I didn¡¯t have the strength to, the rot was eating away at me each second. I tried using the elementary magic I learned from my teacher, but before I could muster my strength, he had closed the distance between us. He beheaded me before I could react, I hadn¡¯t expected for him to be so agile. I held what little conscious I had left to use [ Message ]. Everything is completely dark¡­¡­¡­.. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ *sigh* Looks like the rot won¡¯t leave me or my family so soon. But still, I can feel a little of what he felt at those times. Did a part of his emotions also pass into me? I don¡¯t really want more than what I already have. Those same emotions which give me purpose can also cloud my judgment. These memories aren¡¯t a part of me, but I feel like in some way they are. It¡¯s like when you lose sight of your own personality and start doubting your own memories. Let¡¯s just hope using [ Message ] doesn¡¯t result in too many side effects. Fortunately with this, the future has changed. I also have information on two possible enemies, at least how they may fight and also a lot of information on the outside world. It¡¯s a major loss on his timeline but a good trade off when compared to mine. Why does it feel like I¡¯m taking advantage of myself? The language that I speak here in the village is called [ Rigian ] and the one which most of the Carthos Continent speaks in, is called [ Luminus ]. Luckily I had studied most of it from the books in the study room, but I didn¡¯t have anyone to converse before in [ Lumina ]. Thanks to him, I have what you could call Fake Experience. There were many tribes that existed outside the village. Although humans were the majority, there was also the Elven race, which had long lifespan because of their mana density. Humans could also have long lives, but one couldn¡¯t compare it to the elves which always looked young no matter the age. They speak the magic language which is also used in incantations called [ Qunad ]. I had to learn it, if I wanted to use magic. Thankfully, he learned it for me. From what I know about S rank adventurers, it seems most of them can use [ Enhanced Defense ], but none of them refer to it in the same way. They use [ Qunad ] term called [ Raksha ] throughout the whole continent. Was it because that¡¯s how the [ Status ] showed it to them? But I could gauge how strong someone could be thanks to them using the skill, though it¡¯s not like they would be weak just because they couldn¡¯t use it. The S ranked Elf-girl who fought never used [ Raksha ], but she wasn¡¯t weak in the least. She could fire stronger arrows if she concentrated enough mana into them and what¡¯s worse is, the attack is long ranged. If I hadn¡¯t developed my sixth sense in my previous life, I don¡¯t think I could escape unharmed from a sniping. From what I can guess, [ Raksha ] could be classified like this¡­.. [ Enhanced Defense +1 ] -> No change in skin color, stone-hard body [ Enhanced Defense +2 ] -> Light gray skin color, stronger defense than first level [ Enhanced Defense +3 ] -> Slightly Darker grey skin color, Strongest compared to both almost hard as certain steel or metal, but unnecessarily hard to maintain on the body. Also restricts movements. [ Enhanced Defense +4] -> Soot colored, feels a little stronger but it¡¯s probably due to binding all three layers. The elf girl could break even the fourth level if she used enough magic power, so I¡¯ll have to really careful. The guy who killed me, used the second level [ Raksha ] I think. That¡¯s a minimum requirement for people to quickly recognize you as a S rank. No wonder Guez looked proud whenever I used this skill. But even with that, this world is annoying to figure out. Rather why do I have so many enemies so quickly? I must¡¯ve underestimated how dangerous the rot was. I don¡¯t think I could use the same method on myself like I did with Olivia. Ah¡­right, shouldn¡¯t I also be able to use elementary magic now? I¡¯ll take some time off to practice them later. It¡¯s getting quite late. I headed home after sorting out most of the details and slept a good night¡¯s sleep after what felt like a long time. ------Two Days Later----- Dari returned as quickly as he heard the news. Since he hadn¡¯t taken the whole carriage, he was able to make it back fast. It looked like he had almost found a Doctor, but rushed here instead. You could¡¯ve had him check her at least once, you know just to be careful. But it would be better if he didn¡¯t come and declare she had the rot. I already knew what I¡¯d face outside in case that happened. He was crying and hugging Olivia who had recovered to such an extent, there wasn¡¯t even a single sign of the symptoms. But it probably would¡¯ve affected her life span in some way. Then again, I had met quite long lived humans who were even past 100 that were quite active. -------Four Days later----- My second birthday went by without too many problems, we had a feast that night and many people were invited. Targ and Gina came to give me their regards; I couldn¡¯t face Gina right now because there was that memory of her confession. She might¡¯ve noticed it, hope she doesn¡¯t misunderstand. It¡¯s not like I could explain it to her anyway. But what was interesting was what happened after that night. My now two year old body had grown again, it was just like the morning of my first birthday. Do humans have growth spurts almost every year, exactly after they age? It really will take me some time to figure these things out. ¡­¡­ Today, I had entered the forest to practice elementary magic by reciting the incantations in [ Qunad ]. It took a while but I was able succeed in using Fire and Earth attributes. I hadn¡¯t learned how to use the other two. Instead of remembering the incantations, it seems one could use it the same way as the other skills. But for magic this required desire, control and imagination to do so. If one had to use Fire magic, he should not only use mana correctly to control the flow but should also know how it would look as well as what it would do. If you simply imagined how fire looked and didn¡¯t know how it felt or what it exactly did then you would produce something which only looked like fire or should I say [ Fake Fire ]? Even if you touched such fire it wouldn¡¯t feel warm or hot in any way. If you used the fire to burn leaves then it would only appear on the leaf and would hardly consume any air to burn it. [ Fake Fire ] could only be categorized as some form of illusion rather than actual fire itself. But Earth magic was quite different, all you had to was bend the surrounding earth using your mana directly. By injecting your mana into the earth and giving it a shape using your mind, you could manipulate it in various ways. I knew how touching Fire felt like, since I burned my hand using the tool in the kitchen once. But I could already feel the use of Earth magic, in creating traps and also building something made of mud or rocks. I checked [ Status ] to see the changes.
Language Comprehension improved to +1
Skill: Fire Magic Learned
Fire Magic Improved to +1
Skill: Earth Magic Learned
Earth Magic Improved to +1
Earth Magic Improved to +2
Hmm¡­.. the levels are quite low. But even with [ Mana Sight ] I don¡¯t know how to improve them. The other me, didn¡¯t learn too much about magic since he was researching the rot. But just these two skills, give a wide variety of uses for me improve my tactics for now. I could learn myself if go to Veda at any point. I spent the whole time practicing them and trying to create short strategies which I could use at a moment¡¯s notice. ¡­¡­¡­. I returned home after the training, Olivia seems to have recovered completely. While she was handling the work in the kitchen, she cut her finger. I rushed to her, to use [ Healing Magic ]. ¡­¡­when I saw the bleeding finger, I stopped. Instead of healing her, I placed her finger in my mouth and began to suck out the blood until it clotted. Don¡¯t look at me like that mother, I am no pervert neither do I have any such fetish? It was just a wild thought that ran across my mind. What if I could also be inoculated by using her blood as the source? Would I be able to gain immunity against the rot in the future? It was worth checking, but I wouldn¡¯t know the effects until I became much older. I stored a vial of blood thinking it would come to use later. I added a few drops of it to the food that day as well. The whole family could have immunity to the rot that way. ---------1 year later-------- Ah¡­by the time I realized it, looks like my third birthday is almost nearing. Sara is now already an adult. Because of the growth spurt from my previous birthday, my height was at 45 inches and my muscles felt a little denser. I wonder how much I would grow this time. The days have been passing by as usual, but I still don¡¯t know what to do against S rank adventurers. I¡¯m trying to improve my current level of [ Raksha ] right now. I got a better grasp on how the smaller particles of mana are around my [ Enhanced Defense ] covering my body. It was now possible to see these incredibly smaller particles due to my improved [ Mana Sight ]. After weeks of trial and error, I used to mana needles to change the shape in which the particles had been arranged in. Mostly I was just playing around with the arrangement anyway, but the way they had formed to make the defense was somehow familiar. It took me some time, but I changed the shape of the particles to that of honeycomb. Joining multiple regular hexagons, it looked just like a honeycomb. Although it was an accident, the armor covering me had changed. I had pitch black skin, it wasn¡¯t the same color where one would have more melanin. My skin was completely dark, black colored like one of the armors I used to wear during my previous life. I checked [ Status ] to see if anything had changed.
Enhanced Defense improved to +5
The fifth level of defense. The user¡¯s body is covered by mana which is changed at the atomic level. The user is protected against all physical attacks without the defense wearing down at any point.
I touch the armor with my bare fingers on one hand. This is¡­¡­ There¡¯s no doubt about it, this is Graphene. Now that I think about it, Graphene has a Honeycomb lattice structure. This is the same alloy my armor was made of during my previous life. If I said it was unbreakable armor it was no joke. An estimation of how strong it is, it¡¯s at least 100 times stronger than most steel. They only ever used Graphene to make nano-sheets. To make armor it would cost hundreds thousands in my previous world. But this defense which made this possible¡­.. The world of mana is truly convenient in every way. Wearing this would not only increase my defense to a great level, but it¡¯s also very flexible since it¡¯s forming over my skin. Then again, since [ Status ] named it, someone else in this world might have also found out how to do the same. Well I learnt one more skill in case, but I don¡¯t know how I can use it perfectly yet. ¡­¡­¡­¡­.. I could see the main gate was being opened today for some reason. Who even visits the village? Dari hasn¡¯t left yet. The person who entered wore a long robe which was also hiding a part of their face. That getup just screams suspicious. Wait¡­ they¡¯re heading over to my house, I don¡¯t think we were expecting any guests. I should carefully follow this person. Olivia as soon as she saw the hooded figure rushed to meet him¡­.. or her? She raised her hood, it was a face I could recognize from the memories of the other me. She was the mage who was a close friend with my mother. She looked like a elf, but the ears were shorter than the normal ones. She had blue colored hair which was seemed shining in the light. She was the same height as Olivia. Her name was Jena from what I knew. She was quite a looker. I wonder if she¡¯s married. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m into older women, but considering my actual age ¡­.. When the other me met her at Veda, she helped him by allowing access to most of the books there. Someone with enough authority needed to vouch for you to be permitted to enter the library. From what I had seen, she was a close friend of Olivia and she chose to help me after hearing my story. All in all she was a nice person. I assumed it was only to meet Olivia that she had come to the village, but there were other matters as well. Olivia explained to me that since Sara had become 10 years old, she would take the first step to learn magic. Jena had a ecstatic look on her face when she met me, I on the other hand felt like I met someone who I couldn¡¯t quite remember well. She hugged me outright. ¡° Olivia, your son looks just like you. He¡¯s very cute. I wonder how he¡¯ll look when he grows up.¡±(Jena) ¡°Ah¡­ I suppose. He¡¯s also very talented. He learnt Status magic by himself.¡±(Olivia) ¡°Awa¡­. Is that so? You could send him to Veda once he grows up, I can teach him myself. He¡¯ll make a great mage in the future, if he¡¯s already that much of genius. By the way Orian, are you also blessed?¡±(Jena) ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­..¡±(Orian) ¡°I suppose it should show up on your [ Status ], but I don¡¯t think you¡¯d know even if you saw it. We can have you checked in the Magi Kingdom. I have a relative there who could ready the procedure for you.¡±(Jena) ¡°haha¡­. Orian seems to want to adventure by himself once he leaves the village, if you do meet him by any chance please take care of him.¡±(Olivia) ¡°you can count on me¡±(Jena) Jena let go of me and continued speaking with Olivia for a long time. She stayed at our house in the village and used my room. I didn¡¯t much of a good sleep, she kept hugging me like a pillow most of the night. I would¡¯ve liked this if I was older, but within this body it just feels suffocating. ¡­¡­.. Jena and Sara entered a room and were there for some time. The first step to teach magic would be to use [ Status ]. Jena is probably teaching her right now, but to pull mana onto your brain isn¡¯t easy. I use [ Mana Sight ] and I can see both of their mana through the wall. I can see Sara trying to push the mana up through her spinal cord but she keeps failing. ¡­¡­ It¡¯s been two hours already, aren¡¯t they going to come out? I¡¯m getting bored simply waiting, should I go out? When I stood up, the door suddenly opened. Sara rushed out, it seemed like she was running away for some reason. Jena came out of the room and looked sad. Olivia came from the kitchen to find out what was happening. She had a faint idea what had happened. ¡° ¡­.so it didn¡¯t work.¡±(Olivia) Jena sighed and spoke. ¡°Looks like, she doesn¡¯t have much talent for magic. This happens much too often but I didn¡¯t think it would happen to her. I thought she would also do well, considering your son did it by himself.¡±(Jane) ¡°mu¡­¡­. Well she will come back later. I wanted her to learn magic as well, but¡­. She¡¯s angry for another reason.¡±(Olivia) Ah¡­. Sara could probably be jealous?...... this isn¡¯t all to uncommon between siblings though. It¡¯s best if I don¡¯t meet her right now. I¡¯ll just do the chores she was assigned to. ¡­¡­. The next day arrived and Sara had returned late during the night. When I saw her eyes, I could see she¡¯d been crying for a long time. I don¡¯t know how to comfort another person, never was good at it. It would be wise leave them alone when such things happen. Jena also left, she was escorted by a few hunters back to the city. Wonder if she would come back when I also grew up to be 10? Sara didn¡¯t talk to me, I only helped her with the chores and left. I played the morning with Targ and Gina but even I was growing bored this way. Rather I didn¡¯t have any desire to be blissful while someone else was feeling worse. I took a walk to the lake during the night, when the pillars were lit. I had been resting in my secret place, but someone had also arrived there today. So much for it being a secret. It was Sara, she was looking down on me. While patting my head, she spoke. ¡° Orian¡­¡­ I want a favor from you.¡±(Sara) ¡°What?¡±(Orian) ¡° I want you to Train me.¡±(Sara) Chapter 13 - Ordinary Author''s note: well finally managed to finish this one, despite a lot of problems. graduation is nearby and i took some time to do this chapter in parts. I was going to upload this chapter yesterday, but i fell asleep on my laptop and typed whatnot into the file. woke up corrected it. Proofread it again( a person never perfectly proofreads his own work). i particularly enjoyed writing this one, hope you enjoy reading it. Will try to post the next two chapters together. The arc or this volume is ending soon. i''ll try to upload them before exams start. As always, thank you for reading Neo Cosmos :). Author''s life Friend: stop typing for now and start studying. Author:i will.....i will.......(still typing) Friend: will you put sex scenes? Author: The kid is below 10 years you sick...... Friend: it''s because of your inexperience in that particular field ,right? Author:........(stayed silent whole of the conversation) P.S can someone help me get the background color of that table to grey, i''ll post the code i used for it in the comments later. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ordinary ¡°¡­¡­..?!..........what?¡±(Orian) Sara sighed and spoke, ¡° It¡¯s what I said. I ¨C need ¨C you ¨C to ¨C train ¨C me.¡±(Sara) ¡°Train you in what exactly?¡±(Orian) She¡¯s not thinking about going hunting monsters all on her own, is she? That¡¯s just dumb, I had to use [ Backtrack ] to be safe even with all the skills I currently possess. Even without it, I still have my experience of many years where I had learned to tackle any situation that arose. Sara had a downtrodden look on her face as she spoke. ¡°I don¡¯t think you get it. Do you know what happens to someone who can¡¯t learn [ Status ] magic? Do you what it¡¯s like to be labeled as someone who can¡¯t learn how to use mana?¡±(Sara) I pondered over this for a while before, but basically that just labels them as weaklings. It¡¯s not really that bad though. She could learn how to use a bow against those monsters, but she¡¯d have to adjust fighting in a group. The only answer I arrived at was¡­¡­ ¡°hmm¡­.. you can¡¯t leave the village to explore outside?¡±(Orian) Well you would basically become part of the village hunters, since you had to get stronger. But that meant, you can¡¯t solo outside. With people like S ¨C ranked adventurers and above, monsters which may be stronger than those here in the forest, someone who doesn¡¯t know how to use mana is simply on a suicide quest. You can¡¯t even form a group, since people wouldn¡¯t want associate with a weak person. After my reply, Sara was shaking her head from left to right. Was I wrong? She sighed again. What? You feel that tired just speaking to me. It¡¯s like she¡¯s saying ¡® Do I have to explain this?¡¯ ¡°Orian¡­.. You¡¯re still young. I don¡¯t have any desire to go outside the village. I¡¯m not interested in what¡¯s out there anyway.¡±(Sara) ¡°then¡­..why?¡±(Orian) ¡°You might¡¯ve not understood it yet. But the village has a law, not just the one you know. The village doesn¡¯t treat girls and boys who grow up the same way. If you¡¯re a boy, even if you don¡¯t have a means to use mana, you can still be allowed to become strong and with enough experience can venture outside if you wanted to.¡±(Sara) So that means¡­. There was discrimination between gender within the village. Come to think of it, all the hunters I¡¯ve seen so far are all male. ¡°But if you¡¯re born a girl, it isn¡¯t the same. If you have no talent in manipulating mana then you don¡¯t even have the right to speak out your opinion. After a girl reaches 10, the only thing that¡¯s left to do is have her married to someone within the village. I don¡¯t really ¡­.have¡­.anyone I want to be betrothed to.¡±(Sara) Hmm¡­. That¡¯s weird. I¡¯m sure she married after she became 11 in that other timeline. Wasn¡¯t she happy at that time? Though in that timeline, Jena never came and tested Sara, so why is it different in this mine? ¡°so you want me to train you¡­¡­¡­so that you don¡¯t get married?¡±(Orian) Sara looked at me with a disappointed look on her face. It¡¯s the ¡®Oh god, just how dumb is this guy?¡¯ face. Why are expecting me to know everything? ¡°Orian¡­.. you want to leave the village, right? You want to see what¡¯s out there, right?¡±(Sara) ¡°Right, but-¡°(Orian) ¡°What do you think may happen to our parents, while you¡¯re out there adventuring to your heart¡¯s content?¡±(Sara) ¡°huh?!¡±(Orian) ¡°Right now, in this village. I don¡¯t have sliver of doubt, that you¡¯re the strongest here. You managed to kill a Cerberus all by yourself, you rush to the forest without hesitation to hunt when others worry just going on a path where there are no monsters, that¡¯s something not even the best hunter in this village can do even if they worked like hell for a lifetime.¡±(Sara) Best hunter, huh? She must be talking about Guez. ¡°I¡¯ve lived longer and understand the village better than you. Even if you¡¯re a genius when it comes to using mana, that won¡¯t mean you can solve everything.¡±(Sara) She has a point. But even I don¡¯t consider myself a genius, I had to do many trials to obtain more than half the skills under my arsenal. After all, I¡¯m more than thankful for having [ Gift of Time ], though I don¡¯t really want to rely too much on it. ¡°This village¡­ it¡¯s always in some sort of trouble. We¡¯re surrounded by danger most of the time and the hunters here won¡¯t know when they die. If you were going to stay, I wouldn¡¯t be asking you this but¡­¡­.. Also don¡¯t you want to travel outside without worrying about those who to stay here? Who knows when a beast stronger than a Cerberus could enter this forest and how do you think those wooden walls will protect us then?¡±(Sara) That¡¯s right. I still haven¡¯t explored this forest completely yet. Even if I did that, how can I be sure enough that a new type of monster won¡¯t make its habitat here? ¡°I think you understand now. If you leave, then I don¡¯t know how long this village will survive. It¡¯s a miracle that it survived for so long anyway. After hearing this, you probably want to stay here¡­..but¡­. I don¡¯t want to be part of something that takes away such a precious dream. Forcing you to stay here, for a village which isn¡¯t capable of forgetting old traditions, I¡¯m not such a selfish older sister. So Orian, even if a mage decides that I can¡¯t learn magic, I don¡¯t want to give up by simply being told that.¡±(Sara) ¡°But¡­. I don¡¯t really know how I can train you?¡±(Orian) It¡¯s utterly stupid to simply apply the same training as myself on her. I don¡¯t know if she can learn the skills the same way I did. Even if I showed her how, there¡¯s more than enough chance she won¡¯t understand how to use it. I still think something¡¯s wrong here, why would someone older ask one younger than herself to be taught something? How can she be sure she¡¯ll learn from me? ¡°Orian¡­. I suppose you are still a little kid. Are you getting arrogant, thinking that I can¡¯t learn what you can? Or ¡­¡­ Are you afraid? ¡­¡­ Afraid that I¡¯ll get stronger than you, that I¡¯ll steal your title of being something special. Are you that afraid, that I¡¯ll take the place of being mother¡¯s favorite by surpassing you?¡±(Sara) Sara was smiling deviously as she said this. This little¡­.. No, I get it now. Siblings¡­. There¡¯s a reason why we always have some form of hatred against each other. It¡¯s not got something to do with circumstances or blood-feuds, it¡¯s a hate of having to tolerate them at a primal level. This is truly what it feels like to have an archenemy, from the moment you were born. Making fun of my height too, just because she was born a little earlier. ¡°Fine¡­.. I¡¯ll teach you¡­¡­ every little¡­ thing ¡­. I know. I¡¯ll train you until your bones ground to dust. Complain even a little and you¡¯ll have a fitting punishment.¡±(Orian) Sara was a little taken aback. ¡° hou. ¡­ it¡¯s like I thought, this part of you is the real one, which you always hide huh? Give me your best then, little brat. I¡¯ll show you that, you shouldn¡¯t underestimate this older sister of yours.¡±(Sara) And that¡¯s how a new type of foundation for a rigorous upbringing had been born in this world. But that¡¯s a story for another time. ------A few days later------- It was quite early in the morning and I was standing in the unused field which was also my secret training ground. None of the villagers were awake, yet I was and along with me Sara, who was breathing hard and almost prostrating to the ground. ¡°well¡­.. I don¡¯t really know, how your planning on catching up to me big sister¡±(Orian) ¡°not yet¡­. I can still go far¡­¡±(Sara) I have to commend her, she¡¯s got enough perseverance to outdo anyone in my previous world. Does she really hate being weaker than me that much? What she¡¯s currently doing now is training her body? I haven¡¯t started using [ Gravity Magic ] on her yet, but I think I¡¯ll need to start at some point. In order for the body to grow strong, it needs to be given training and then a day of rest. Currently I only thought her the movements and positions she needs to practice to actually begin higher training, but she can already understand them and easily performs standing, sitting and walking postures. It isn¡¯t just training the body, but also training on making her use her mana during the evening after all the chores are done. If her body isn¡¯t strong to handle the mana she uses, it could be a very bad problem at later stages. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s the requirement, but I know how dangerous it¡¯s actually to make a mistake while manipulating it. I tried explaining in detail on how to use [Status] but she didn¡¯t understand it. Regardless, I made her do the same as I did to use [Status]. I carefully observed using [Mana Sight], as she moved her mana to her brain. The source of the mana you move during this stage is the from the centre of your body. The basic ball of mana at the centre of everyone¡­. No every living being including monsters which also have it. What I saw was, the mana wouldn¡¯t move, when it reached the nape of her neck. It¡¯s better for me to say, something was inhibiting it from reaching the brain. I checked others if they also had something dark at the nape shaped like a small ball. Olivia didn¡¯t have it, but Dari did. I concluded it was a sort of defect in humans which created those who could send and control mana from their brain and those who couldn¡¯t. This defect probably must be hereditary. I feel thankful, that I inherited Olivia¡¯s dominant genes or else I wouldn¡¯t be where I was right now. If it was me from before saving Olivia, I probably would¡¯ve given up on Sara¡¯s case. But at my level of [Mana mastery], since I could create mana needles, I tried an experiment. Of course, I obviously used [Backtrack] for safety measures. ¡°Sis, I think I have an idea why you couldn¡¯t use [Status].¡±(Orian) ¡°huh?¡±(Sara) ¡°This will sting a little,but please continue to keep sending mana to the upper region of your head.¡±(Orian) Sara nodded and followed my words. I can¡¯t believe my first guinea pig for this will be her, but if I don¡¯t do this then we can¡¯t proceed. As the mana that¡¯s being sent was inhibited at the nape, I slowly pierce at that point using the mana needle. It was a slow and careful process and I could see Sara shaking a little. Maybe she felt pain from this. I imagined creating a small bridge using the mana needle, pulling the mana she was sending into her at one end and letting it out at the other end. The mana which finally penetrated the dark colored inhibitor started flowing into the brain quickly. Sara stopped shaking at this moment. I healed the spot I had pierced and observed. The entry I had made on the dark colored inhibitor was still flowing with her mana. It¡¯s like I made a small hole in a water tank and the water would start moving out in its direction. Even though I healed the wound, it seems the path to her brain was still there. No¡­¡­.it¡¯s probably because she¡¯s maintaining it by herself. It seems she got the right idea how to send it going through whatever was blocking in between. I don¡¯t know how strong she¡¯ll get, but I don¡¯t think she¡¯ll be the same person as in the other timeline. So I can¡¯t really count on the same events happening again, but then again this time I¡¯ll be leaving the village at the age of 10 rather than 8. Everything changed when Olivia became well again. As I was thinking this, Sara finally opened her eyes. She was crying ¡­.. almost. Only one tear, damn it, how can she control her emotions so well. Did it hurt too much? But it should have healed by now, and she¡¯s not the type of cry over pain. I know that personally, even if she¡¯d scrape her knee, she wouldn¡¯t even look at the wound in the least. So she¡¯s crying for some other reason. ¡°I ¡­..did it. ¡­.. I used [Status].¡±(Sara) Oh! That¡¯s a weird smile. This is the first time I¡¯ve seen her so pleased. ¡°Guess you aren¡¯t without talent, after all.¡±(Orian) She came up to me and patted me on the head still holding that same smile. ¡°Good work, you can teach well if you try.¡±(Sara) Siblings, huh?..¡­ No matter older or younger have an unspoken rule among them. They¡¯ll never apologize to each other when they make a mistake. But that also means they¡¯ll never thank one another when helped, just the feelings are enough to be heard between such existences. I never had anyone who was like a brother or a sister to me. But the feeling of being familiar to it dwelled within me for some reason. Was this the feeling of experiencing something new or did I forget something from my past? This I would never come to know. {AN: Planning on a side-story/prequel i.e his previous life, for the space cowboy contest thing. Don¡¯t know how I plan to write it or even if I will. Will inform you in case I do and that if you would want to read it.} ------Few Days Later----- It¡¯s been some time, since she started using [Status]. Once Olivia heard about this, she was overjoyed and hugged me. Did she realize I helped Sara to learn how to use it? I hope she doesn¡¯t hate Jena for this, it wasn¡¯t her fault. Maybe they wouldn¡¯t have found out about such a defect in people without [ Mana Sight]. Sara looks at me with a displeased face. It was her accomplishment after all. Ah-ha! Do what you want, you foolish demon, mother will always love me more. I¡¯ve been observing the dark inhibitor object which was on Sara, but as the days went by and she started using her mana more, it seems to be fading away. Teaching has been hard work for me. Rather teaching is the hardest work anyone can do. I had students during my previous life as well but most of them died by being overconfident in their abilities. So I was quite hesitant to teach anyone ever again. I don¡¯t if she will take same path as well, but for now I don¡¯t think it will happen. Seriously though, I have to analyze how she understands things and based on that have to teach her. I probably had a few sleepless nights because of this. But she absorbs anything I teach her like a sponge. I don¡¯t think it will take much time to catch up with me and she has a more grown up body as well. I¡¯ve also found out a lot myself by teaching her, so it works out for me as well. It seems I can see the [Status] of others, if they had learnt to use it. Or rather all they needed to do was use [Status] and when the brain has mana sent to it. I needed to place my hand on the individuals head and borrow that mana to my brain through my hand. This way I was able to see her [Status] as well. Of course if I had to see it then, they would have to be using [Status] magic in the first place otherwise it wouldn¡¯t be possible.
Status changing to accustom viewer
This was the message I would get, whenever I tried to see her [Status]. I think it was changing into the view suitable to how I saw my own. That meant, others didn¡¯t see their status the same way they did. So how did they see it? But still, this magic capable of adjusting to the user is indeed quite helpful.
Status
NameSara Mellinus
Age10 years 15 days
RaceHuman
Growth15
Skills
Strength60
Intelligence40
Resistancenone
Endurancenone
Wisdom8
Agility40
Mana300
That¡¯s quite¡­¡­ disappointing. Why is it that she has no skills? Not even [ Language Comprehension ]. If I think about it, it¡¯s possibly due to me trying to figure out the language spoken here. So Sara didn¡¯t learn how to speak that way? It could change if I teach her how to speak in But if I look at her physical attributes, they are lesser compared to mine. It must be the difference due to the training. The only thing that¡¯s bothering me is she has [Wisdom] but I don¡¯t even after all this time. I get the feeling, it¡¯s trying to prove my sister is wiser than me. Damned [Status]. The only thing that exceeds compared to my [Status] is her growth, mine is still 9. So I can understand that, [Growth] is affected by age. I wonder what else [ Growth ] will affect. I suppose I won¡¯t get much time to experiment on magic now. But I have a good understanding on how it works for now. My [ Fire Magic ] improved when I tried to increase its combustible range by burning the surrounding oxygen. It wasn¡¯t easy to figure out if we even breathed oxygen or if fire in this world relied on it. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I performed a simple experiment where I lit a small wooden block and kept it within a small opaque glass. Even though I couldn¡¯t see the fire go out, I was able to observe the mana which created the fire and consumed the surrounding particles to keep the fire going. I kept a small plate filled with water underneath it, so that I could figure out when the oxygen within that particular space was completely consumed. It took me days, but I simply kept at it. After that, it was simple to find out which were the oxygen particles in the air. But focusing my [ Fire Magic ] in order to burn only oxygen and increase its combustion rate was a really hard task. Of course, [ Fire Magic ] improved, but once I tried to implement it using the method the other me had thought of, it actually became easier. I just had to experience the level of heat the improved version gave and use it produce fire. Then, whatever I did previously felt as a waste of time. He probably also thought of this method at some point and reached the same conclusion. Then what I did was simply redundant. This way, I found a glaring problem with [ Message]. Although it gave me the memories and part of the emotions of the other timeline, it didn¡¯t provide me with all the thoughts he had gone through to make his decisions. I applied the same method as I remembered the memories of my past life. Although I can¡¯t say it¡¯s accurate, but there was one particular memory which was etched deeply into my mind. It was when I had been stranded on a particularly very cold planet. I had already sent a SOS, but I had to stay on that place for almost an entire month. I remember where I had to cut off a few fingers which had frozen due to frostbite. I had to do that or I would¡¯ve lost consciousness waiting for help to arrive. I can¡¯t believe that particularly bad memory would help me now. I imagined mana gathering around me the same way and remembered the exact feelings I had during that time. I was producing a similar effect, the extreme cold which could freeze nerves. Luckily I could control it, without endangering my own body. When I checked [ Status ], it showed me something which I couldn¡¯t understand.
Skill: Frost Nova learned
Frost Nova improved to +1
Frost Nova improved to +2
Why was this skill particularly named [Frost Nova]? I was almost sure, I¡¯d get something along the lines of [ Ice Magic ]. Maybe this wasn¡¯t the same magic I had learned till now. It was probably a skill of a monster then. But I couldn¡¯t be sure without proof anyway. The only other thing I had to focus other than such menial tasks were playing games with Targ and Gina. Lately they¡¯ve been following me to the training grounds and watching me train Sara. I wonder if they plan on taking part as well. That would just increase my burden though. Since I have to understand every basic trait of the individual, to teach them what I know in a way they understand. ------------4 years Later----------- The years passed, as I kept improving my skills and training Sara as well. Targ and Gina along with several other kids as well as hunters also joined us during the time. I didn¡¯t get enough time for other activities. Since a lot had joined, I had to make a curriculum based on the average abilities of each individual. But many kept complaining that the training was hard. So I lessened the level of difficulty but they also kept complaining about how they wanted to learn new skills. This was impossible to cope with, since the danger of just learning a skill in itself was high. Because of this, many left after learning simply learning only how to use [ Status ] magic. I became depressed a little at this. Targ quit later, because he had realized what he wanted to do. His plan was to become a merchant rather than an adventurer, so instead he started taking lessons from Dari after I had taught him how to read and write in [Qunad]. It seems one would get the [ Language Comprehension ] skill once they learn another language. Following Targ, Gina quit after learning [ Status ]. Although I wanted to teach her, it would be best since her body was frail to endure this level of training. Sara was the only one who actually put up with the increasing difficulty. I could feel her tenacity to surpass me, every day I sparred with her. There were a few hunters who stayed to train. But they had to leave since guarding the village would tire them out. They only joined for the physical training sessions and didn¡¯t bother to attend the magic training. After experiencing this, I made an oath to only teach those who actually have the perseverance to back it up. At the end, only Sara managed to learn [ Mana Sight ] as well as certain other skills from me. But she couldn¡¯t master anything other than [ Fire Magic ]. She even created her own version of skills, few were adapted to her close combat techniques. I didn¡¯t think fire could be used that way, since I¡¯d rather use a fire ball from a far away distance than close where I could injure myself. I decided to incorporate that into how I fight, but I like fighting with a pole than barehanded combat. Although I could use the fire attribute on the pole, it was nowhere comparable to the explosive attack Sara could use. I, sometimes question myself, was she actually a genius or something? It wasn¡¯t because of the techniques, but rather when I compared our [ Status ].
Status
NameOrian Mellinus
Age7 years 2 months 3 days
RaceHuman
Growth12
Skills
Language Comprehension +1
Equipment Builder +1
Unique: Gift of Time
Exploring +1
Organizing +3
Mana Sight +5
Enhanced Defense +5
Enhance Weapon +5
Gravity Magic +2
Fire Magic +3
Earth Magic +3
Healing Magic +4
Frost Nova +2
Force Rush +4
Weapon Create +1
Mana Mastery +5
Strength205
Intelligence201
Resistancenone
EnduranceEquipped Enhanced Defense +5
Agility225
Mana10929
Info
I suppose that improvement is due to me wearing [ Gravity Magic ] at five times the normal weight. I measured that based on the amount of mana I used on the magic. But that¡¯s as far as I can increase the weight. Anymore and it will simply fade away. There may be a way to increase the weight but none of my trails bore fruit. One could only get so strong using weight training but after that it becomes extremely hard to continue the same way. [Organizing] and [Exploring] leveled up because I finally managed to survey every nook and cranny of the forest in these last four years. It was fun to search the forest even though it felt as a menial task, it was more fun than teaching those who weren¡¯t interested. I was mainly interested in exploring this world anyway, but I hate repeating from the same starting point and exploring only a part of the forest in a systematic manner. It ensured my safety though and I was restricted from entering anywhere near the city. Since I had aged, it seems my height and looks all could be based on my current [ Growth ]. I had become quite tall when compared to few years ago, but my growth spurts happened less frequently during the previous two years. Like Olivia had explained, I¡¯ll reach my maximum growth once I reach the age of 10. After which I probably won¡¯t grow any taller. I was about 5 feet tall now. But my body was now strong enough to use [ Force Rush ] in the least ten times contiguously. I was happy about since most of my combat directly depended on it. If I used it so many times, I had to rest for five minutes until I could use it again. But if I used it much less than that, then I could recover again within a minute. I was really surprised when I saw my body could house so much [Mana]. Now coming to Sara¡¯s [Status]¡­¡­. I could only cry and feel bad at myself.
Status
NameSara Mellinus
Age14 years 3 months 22 days
RaceHuman
Growth22
Skills
Language Comprehension
Mana Sight +3
Enhanced Defense +4
Fire Magic +3
Force Rush +4
Mana Mastery +1
Strength279
Intelligence100
Resistancenone
EnduranceEquipped Enhanced Defense +4
Wisdom20
Agility315
Mana1200
What¡¯s with this unfairness? Although I can¡¯t complain since I possess [ Gift of Time ]. But all her stats are much above mine, even though we do the same training. She took a while to learn each skill and progress it over time but it was much better compared to many who had quit very early. I suppose it¡¯s also due to the [ Growth ] factor. Her body is significantly heavier than mine, so the training she goes through with [ Gravity Magic ] is more. I¡¯ll have an incredibly hard time in the next sparring sessions. I haven¡¯t used [ Backtrack ] till now, but I may have to use if she comes at me seriously. She¡¯s been thorough with her training and she¡¯s also avoided giving me chores, chances are her anger may be at the peak. Who knows when she¡¯ll pound me to death? The only advantage I have over her is my mana capacity and slightly advanced skills. She couldn¡¯t improve [ Mana Sight ] after that, but I suppose that¡¯s the limit. Having [Gift of Time] is the only reason I was able to master it and it was an utmost emergency situation that I was actually able to learn and use it. It probably is much harder to do, but I didn¡¯t notice since it became easier for me later. She would have to be put in a similar situation to learn it, but that¡¯s impossible for now. Another thing I had learned from Jena in the other timeline was that, the more mana that a person held, the more their outward appearance was affected. But it was only true in case said person was female, the more mana one held the more beautiful they looked. I didn¡¯t really buy it, but the elf-girl I had in my memories was indeed beautiful. But Sara¡¯s mana increased as well, but I could hardly even see that. Maybe they had to have a large amount of mana, though I don¡¯t really know how much. Even though I say that, it seems Sara had gotten offers from many men within the village. She had rejected them all though. There was a reason for that. It was when I was five years old. In my other timeline, Sara had married at the age of eleven to a particular man from the village. But I didn¡¯t know the relationship between them prior to marriage. Now she was 12 years old in my current timeline and still hadn¡¯t married. The same particular said man tried to propose to her again and when she had rejected, it seems he attempted to make her his by whatever means. One can already guess what action he had taken, this also happened in the other timeline but I never knew it since the other me was still in a depressed state. This part I deeply regret even though it was averted in this timeline. She had been training two years prior leading to the event and said particular man had been beaten to a pulp such that one couldn¡¯t recognize his face for the next two months. Because of this, although the offers didn¡¯t stop people were quite careful and simply left once they were rejected. I suppose Sara doesn¡¯t have any intention to get married to the men in this village now. Olivia didn¡¯t speak much on the matter and simply sighed when she found out about it. Sara may become a great saint leaving the path of marriage and family in the future. Oh well, my job of training her is completed anyway, so I don¡¯t really want to worry about what she does. It seems she¡¯s joined the hunter group on regular hunts in to the forest and can manage to hold against an iron boar all on her own. With this I won¡¯t have to worry about Dari and Olivia¡¯s safety when I leave. {AN: my writing style may change here into a more narrative form, to describe certain events} -----------Outskirts of Lafrice City----------- A single carriage had stopped near the forest. Such a carriage wouldn¡¯t attract any attention even when checked by the city guards but this one had bribed its way to gain entry into the forest. The guard had allowed its entry since their destination was to enter the forest. The carriage looked as if it had travelled a great distance, its wheels were scathed and sides had been covered by dirt and dust. From within the carriage, four men exited and they stood anxiously waiting for another to come out. With one look, it would feel as though the men were servants awaiting their master. But their clothes looked as that of adventurers. Few of them wore armor like chainmail and few with strong looking vests. The final traveler exited the carriage and the rest of the men bowed to him. This man didn¡¯t look like a rich client or anyone noble-like since they would be the ones to take help of adventurers. Rather he had a barbaric type of armor and looked to be a adventurer himself. Because there was a wide variety of adventures even thieves or bandits wouldn¡¯t look any different if they were to wear the same. But the five who had gathered here exerted a pressure that was different to a normal group. The four men and their boss who had a constant smile on his face looked towards the forest. The boss signaled the carriage to return, since they had reached their destination. If one would take a quick look at their faces rather than their equipment, one would feel nothing but fear, a fear not to approach them. Their body and faces had scars indicating they were experienced fighters. The boss himself had a large scar on his bald head, which most would question as to how he had survived getting a wound there. Each member had adequate amount of muscles which showed they had fought or trained somewhere. As he smacked his lips in joy, the man who controlled the entire group spoke happily, ¡° It¡¯s time ta make some quick money boys. Da legal kind, yah hear me. In case the goods are more this time, yah¡¯ll get a first hand taste at them before we sell em to our kind patrons.¡± The smile never left his face. One of the lackeys who was unpacking a crate they had taken from the carriage asked,¡± You sure boss, we heard the place is cursed or something. They say them forest got some crazy monsters. The guild here in the city a¡¯int even gonna send to clear em.¡± The boss, removed his arm protector on his left hand and showed off a tattoo which had a lightning symbol and a skull at the middle with various carvings on the sides. He said with a dangerous tone indicating his presence to the four of them ¡° yah think something like dat ,would scare me. I made my time in Jebu¡¯rah, it took a few a screws to tight, a little hand cuttin but I escaped from there jah. Speak again like dat and yer head¡¯ll be splittin.¡± The man gulped with sweat coming down from his brow. He could feel the killing intent the boss had been letting. He felt as though he couldn¡¯t breathe under that pressure. He reminded himself not to speak without care and continued unpacking the weapons from the crates. The other members started talking to themselves about the oncoming event with excitement. ¡°dis gonna be easy money for us. I wonder the quality of them goods. can¡¯t wait get me mah action. ¡° spoke the skinniest one in the group. ¡°with da boss we wont needtch¡¯a worry abot nothin. Let me have em little ones will yah. I like em when they be fresh.¡± spoke a particularly obese member from the group. ¡°don¡¯t be so hasty ya dimwits. I¡¯ll cut some few goods so they obey. Don¡¯t forget to hold a few who¡¯ll be useful to the gang. We need more members yah know¡±. The boss began speaking after all the commotion between his subordinates. ¡°let¡¯s move and take the treasures. Kill the dumb ones who resist but no harmin the goods yah hear. If yah find a dumb but good one keep em, we can knock a few ones if we need more members. If the place¡¯s good we¡¯ll take that as base.¡± All the members nodded at his words. The boss looked at the forest again. ¡° let da huntin begin¡±