"It's been two days since Jago departed for Sylvia, and only Mr. Valtor showed up to pick up Jago, saying, 'Master Jago is my priority now. I can't waste time with Ian's case here. We will send people to investigate his disappearance.' And so he left. Mr. Ian's whereabouts haven't been found since that afternoon," Bowen thought, reflecting on the days he spent with his childhood friend.
[Even though my childhood friend was annoying, I can't deny that it was fun. The truth is, I miss him a little] Bowen reminisced about his days with the cheerful brown-haired boy, his mind slowly drifting to memories of another childhood friend of his.
Two boys, aged 12 or 13, were skating on a sloped terrain filled with snow when one of them slipped and injured his leg. The other boy volunteered to carry the injured boy on his back all the way to the top with his small body.
"Jake, it's okay, I can walk. Moreover, how will you win the race if you walk carrying me?" William said.
"No, mom said that a good person should never let their friend in need down. Moreover, I can win the race next Christmas," Jake replied.
"But I am heavy," William protested.
"William, you know that I'm good at sports, so don't worry. I am strong enough to carry you to the top. I will never leave you alone," Jake assured him. Just like he promised, that childhood friend never left William alone. Every Christmas, they ate, drank, laughed, and celebrated together. Bowen didn't know when Jake changed so much to the point of deciding to kill him. "Is it because of Jenna? Or was he always hiding his true intentions?" Bowen wondered.
Bowen shook off the disturbing thoughts about his previous life. It had nothing to do with him now. His priority was to finish the targets given by his employer (God) as Bowen in this world. To achieve that, he had been steadily improving himself by cultivating through Nova's Breathing Technique. His Celestial Mana vessel was almost near completion, and he could now conjure better mana balls that could kill small animals like rats or rabbits in one or two hits.
He had also been practicing the quick dash that he learned from Casper, his familiar. However, he realized that using it continuously put a lot of pressure on his body and depleted his mana in less than a minute. As a result, he decided to use it only during emergency situations, such as escaping an attack or surprising an enemy.
In addition to his combat training, Bowen had also prepared some simple potions, poisons, and antidotes from the herbs he picked from Elu mountains. For example, he had created a poison potion from the concoction of Ragis seed and Perila roots that could cause severe diarrhea and deplete the potassium content from the body. If left untreated, the patient would die within an hour of ingestion. Another potion he had created was a temporary blinding potion made with mombos tree sap. When it came in contact with the eyes, it would cause immediate blindness that would last for a day or two until its effects wore off, and then the eyes would be restored to their previous condition even without treatment.
During the process of creating these vile concoctions, Bowen sustained some rashes and injuries. He used captured field rats to experiment with his creations, and many of them died, while some mutated into suffering abominations. But to his surprise, one of the rats evolved and opened itself a path to becoming a spirit beast. Spirit beasts were beasts that had formed mana vessels in them, just like awakened humans. This revelation made Bowen realize how strong spirit beasts could be, considering that the wild boar that attacked the village was just a common wild animal of Grime Sphere and not a spirit beast.
Just then, Bowen's familiar Casper gave him an alerting signal. He had been training Casper to share its vision with him by flying discreetly all over his village at night.
"What is it, Casper? Is there something abnormal?" Bowen asked.
"Yes, master. Something seems wrong around the chief's house. There is someone... a figure... trying to enter..." Casper replied.
"Share your vision, Casper," Bowen ordered.
"Yes, master."
In a split second, Bowen's vision turned to that of a bird's eye view. He could clearly see all around the Village Chief's house. Nothing seemed abnormal at first glance, but his enhanced vision caught a transparent figure entering the house from the back door. Some guards who were near the figure sensed something wrong but were soon beheaded before they could raise an alarm. The guards at the main entrance didn't have any clue about what was going on.
"Should I attack, Master? If I could use Quick Dash, I can at least injure them," Casper, who had been learning some attack and defensive skills, urged to test them out on the live target.
"No, Casper, you are not strong enough yet. Moreover, we don't know how powerful our enemy is."
"Then should I alert the guards and people of the house?"
"Hmm... not until we find the motive of the intruder."
"Oh! Then I will keep watch, Master."
Bowen didn't fear the chance of the intruder being an assassin. If he came to kill the old chief, Dale, or Renault, then so be it. He was not a hero, nor did he have a system mission to save these people, risking his familiar's life. He was just curious about the abnormality and wanted to stay alert to possible dangers that may be directed towards him or his family in the future. After five minutes, the transparent figure came out carrying a small figure on his shoulders.
"[Renault???. Why is that, always this kid ends up in danger?]" Bowen had a small inkling that the transparent figure might be involved with Bale or may even be Bale himself.
True to Bowen's guess, after running for another five minutes, the transparent figure flickered and the real body of the intruder was revealed. Yes, it was Bale wearing the same brown coat and hat. This time he didn't mind wearing the mask. Bale started running towards the west with the maximum speed possible.
"[This guy didn't give up yet? Never mind, it's better like this. I can find the real mastermind now that the puppet's whereabouts have been revealed.]" Bowen ordered Casper to follow Bale from a distance. Bowen slowly exited his house without alerting his sleeping parents and started running towards the west.
"Now, let's finish my first target," said Bowen with a smile.
Author’s Rambling Corner
Hey there, fellow readers!
I know you've been devouring the chapters and probably have tons of opinions and questions swirling in your minds. As a newbie author, I'm all ears for your feedback and guidance. So, please do share your thoughts in the comment section below. Your words of wisdom mean the world to me, and I greatly appreciate your support! Don't hesitate to let those fingers fly on the keyboard. Thanks a bunch!
"It's been two days since Jago departed for Sylvia, and only Mr. Valtor showed up to pick up Jago, saying, 'Master Jago is my priority now. I can't waste time with Ian's case here. We will send people to investigate his disappearance.' And so he left. Mr. Ian's whereabouts haven't been found since that afternoon," Bowen thought, reflecting on the days he spent with his childhood friend.
[Even though my childhood friend was annoying, I can't deny that it was fun. The truth is, I miss him a little] Bowen reminisced about his days with the cheerful brown-haired boy, his mind slowly drifting to memories of another childhood friend of his.
Two boys, aged 12 or 13, were skating on a sloped terrain filled with snow when one of them slipped and injured his leg. The other boy volunteered to carry the injured boy on his back all the way to the top with his small body.
"Jake, it's okay, I can walk. Moreover, how will you win the race if you walk carrying me?" William said.
"No, mom said that a good person should never let their friend in need down. Moreover, I can win the race next Christmas," Jake replied.
"But I am heavy," William protested.
"William, you know that I'm good at sports, so don't worry. I am strong enough to carry you to the top. I will never leave you alone," Jake assured him. Just like he promised, that childhood friend never left William alone. Every Christmas, they ate, drank, laughed, and celebrated together. Bowen didn't know when Jake changed so much to the point of deciding to kill him. "Is it because of Jenna? Or was he always hiding his true intentions?" Bowen wondered.
Bowen shook off the disturbing thoughts about his previous life. It had nothing to do with him now. His priority was to finish the targets given by his employer (God) as Bowen in this world. To achieve that, he had been steadily improving himself by cultivating through Nova's Breathing Technique. His Celestial Mana vessel was almost near completion, and he could now conjure better mana balls that could kill small animals like rats or rabbits in one or two hits.
He had also been practicing the quick dash that he learned from Casper, his familiar. However, he realized that using it continuously put a lot of pressure on his body and depleted his mana in less than a minute. As a result, he decided to use it only during emergency situations, such as escaping an attack or surprising an enemy.
In addition to his combat training, Bowen had also prepared some simple potions, poisons, and antidotes from the herbs he picked from Elu mountains. For example, he had created a poison potion from the concoction of Ragis seed and Perila roots that could cause severe diarrhea and deplete the potassium content from the body. If left untreated, the patient would die within an hour of ingestion. Another potion he had created was a temporary blinding potion made with mombos tree sap. When it came in contact with the eyes, it would cause immediate blindness that would last for a day or two until its effects wore off, and then the eyes would be restored to their previous condition even without treatment.
During the process of creating these vile concoctions, Bowen sustained some rashes and injuries. He used captured field rats to experiment with his creations, and many of them died, while some mutated into suffering abominations. But to his surprise, one of the rats evolved and opened itself a path to becoming a spirit beast. Spirit beasts were beasts that had formed mana vessels in them, just like awakened humans. This revelation made Bowen realize how strong spirit beasts could be, considering that the wild boar that attacked the village was just a common wild animal of Grime Sphere and not a spirit beast.
Just then, Bowen's familiar Casper gave him an alerting signal. He had been training Casper to share its vision with him by flying discreetly all over his village at night.
"What is it, Casper? Is there something abnormal?" Bowen asked.
"Yes, master. Something seems wrong around the chief's house. There is someone... a figure... trying to enter..." Casper replied.
"Share your vision, Casper," Bowen ordered.
"Yes, master."
In a split second, Bowen's vision turned to that of a bird's eye view. He could clearly see all around the Village Chief's house. Nothing seemed abnormal at first glance, but his enhanced vision caught a transparent figure entering the house from the back door. Some guards who were near the figure sensed something wrong but were soon beheaded before they could raise an alarm. The guards at the main entrance didn't have any clue about what was going on.
"Should I attack, Master? If I could use Quick Dash, I can at least injure them," Casper, who had been learning some attack and defensive skills, urged to test them out on the live target.
"No, Casper, you are not strong enough yet. Moreover, we don't know how powerful our enemy is."
"Then should I alert the guards and people of the house?"
"Hmm... not until we find the motive of the intruder."
"Oh! Then I will keep watch, Master."
Bowen didn't fear the chance of the intruder being an assassin. If he came to kill the old chief, Dale, or Renault, then so be it. He was not a hero, nor did he have a system mission to save these people, risking his familiar's life. He was just curious about the abnormality and wanted to stay alert to possible dangers that may be directed towards him or his family in the future. After five minutes, the transparent figure came out carrying a small figure on his shoulders.
"[Renault???. Why is that, always this kid ends up in danger?]" Bowen had a small inkling that the transparent figure might be involved with Bale or may even be Bale himself.
True to Bowen's guess, after running for another five minutes, the transparent figure flickered and the real body of the intruder was revealed. Yes, it was Bale wearing the same brown coat and hat. This time he didn't mind wearing the mask. Bale started running towards the west with the maximum speed possible.
"[This guy didn't give up yet? Never mind, it's better like this. I can find the real mastermind now that the puppet's whereabouts have been revealed.]" Bowen ordered Casper to follow Bale from a distance. Bowen slowly exited his house without alerting his sleeping parents and started running towards the west.
"Now, let's finish my first target," said Bowen with a smile.
Author’s Rambling Corner
Hey there, fellow readers!
I know you've been devouring the chapters and probably have tons of opinions and questions swirling in your minds. As a newbie author, I'm all ears for your feedback and guidance. So, please do share your thoughts in the comment section below. Your words of wisdom mean the world to me, and I greatly appreciate your support! Don't hesitate to let those fingers fly on the keyboard. Thanks a bunch!
