Last One Standing is the Winner
After listening to Mayton's explanation and asking several questions to ascertain his guesses, Old Mert finally said;
'' If I understood your situation correctly, it was probably your different qi that attracted the senior's curiosity. There are two explanations for seniors action I can think of; first, the senior might be interested in taking you to his sect to become a disciple. If this is the case then it might be an unexpected good fortune for you. The second scenario is much worse. There are lots of evil cultivators roaming the world. They are especially concentrated in the wilderness since divine sects aren't active around here. Evil cultivators, especially devil cultivators, tend to not follow any rules which means this senior might be after you for things like researching your body or using you in cultivation. ''
Mayton seemed to be confused as he listened and couldn't help but ask;
'' Grandpa Mert, what do you mean by researching? Isn't it good for me too? After all, I also don't know much about my situation. With the help of their research, I might learn more about my situation.''
Old Mert sighed as he explained with a grim look on his face;
''You are simply too inexperienced. That's why you think like that. Do you think those evil cultivators are some good Samaritans who help people in need? They will use every method available to dig out your secrets for their own benefit and won't consider your safety at all. They might even pull out your soul for a close inspection. You tell me is it good for you or not?''
Mayton finally understood why Old Mert looked so terrified whenever he talked about the evil cultivators.
'' As for your different than normal qi, I am pretty sure it's fire elemental qi after your description. It really is a miracle to have elemental qi inside your body without absorbing it. And since you didn't see any pure white particles, it means for some reason your soul do not purify the qi inside you to produce pure qi. As for the reason I am also not sure. If only...''
Old Mert stopped there as he sighed with melancholy and grasped the pendant he always wore. This pendant had a strange red eye on it. The eye looked like as if it was real and gazing around disinterestedly. Seeing the curious expression of Mayton, he scolded somewhat jokingly;
''You brat, you have such a huge problem and you still want to meddle in other peoples affairs? Take a look at yourself in a mirror to see if you are capable enough first.''
Mayton felt gratitude as he knew that Old Mert was trying to cheer him up despite his own difficulties. ' Indeed I am not capable enough right now but who says I'll be incapable forever?' thought Mayton as a determination to help solve whatever problem caused Old Mert to be so distressed was born in his heart.
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It has been a week since Mayton sensed the qi inside him and the subsequent events happened. Unfortunately, Mayton could not continue his cultivation. Cultivating by absorbing the qi from the atmosphere without a proper cultivation technique was slow and it increased the risk of being found out by that senior who sensed him a week ago.
Even though that senior may have kind intentions, Mayton wasn't going to bet on this. After all, he and maybe the whole village together with his sister and parents may get implicated if the senior had some evil intentions. Risks far outweighed the gains.
Since he couldn't cultivate, Mayton decided to increase his knowledge about hunting instead. When he told his father, Babrak, about his situation and his desire to further his hunting skills, Babrak felt happy as he said ''Good'' three times delightedly. Which father didn't want to pass on his knowledge and be a role model for his son?
Mayton already knew the basics of how to use a weapon, and he was fairly proficient in swordplay and archery. Swords and bows were the basic weapons of the guards in his past life, hence his proficiency in them. Only things left to be learned were things related to beasts in the nearby areas and stuff like how to make camp in the wilderness or which herb could be eaten safely in case of hunger.
He already had theoretical knowledge about these subjects thanks to the last few months lessons from his dad, thus all that was left to be learned were practical knowledge. After all, things rarely went exactly like you expected them to. Only after enough practice can someone proclaim himself or herself to be an expert in a field.
When Babrak realized what Mayton needed was practice rather than more training in the village, he went to Old Mert's shack at the outskirts of the village to arrange a hunting party for youngsters of the village. Babrak knew that with Old Mert's care and concern for Mayton he wouldn't reject such a simple request. Indeed things have proceeded just as Babrak predicted and after a brief discussion Old Mert went to the village square and loudly declared to the villagers;
'' Listen to me you brats of the hunting squad and little brats who just started to learn hunting. Tomorrow at dawn all of you are to gather here, at this square. Anyone who comes late can expect to not eat any meat for the following month.''
Excitement could be seen in the eyes of youngsters of the village. Old Mert no longer went to hunting as frequently as he used to when he was younger. Even though Old Mert was a demonic cultivator, his cultivation wasn't that high and he was already more than a hundred years old. Which meant his power has been on the decline for the last decade and he felt tired more than ever.
This was a good opportunity to learn hunting from the best hunter in the village. Plus their safety was almost guaranteed. Which beast can hurt them when they were under the protection of the strongest person in the vicinity? These were also the reasons for Babrak to request Old Mert to organize the learning experience.
Just like any other father he wanted his son to be safe. But a bird will leave its nest sooner or later thus it was necessary for Mayton to gain some experience so when to time came for him to leave his nest he can spread his wings and fly. With Old Mert teaching Mayton, Babrak believed there will be no problems when Mayton needed to stand on his own feet.
Following day, at dawn, about a three dozen hunters and a dozen aspiring hunters could be seen at the village square. Most of the youngsters felt that instead of their excitement yesterday when they heard the announcement of Old Mert, they felt anxious just like little children leaving the safety of their home for the first time to attend school. Except for two of them.
One was Mayton whose eyes gleamed with excitement as a few strands of his black hair which got loose and escaped from his bun, scattered in the wind. He wore a pale green hemp robe, as did every other person in the square.
This robe was made specifically for hunters of the village using a herb harvested from the nearby forests. They extracted the essence of the herb and used it as a dye. This herb extracts pale green color helped to camouflage the hunters, but its main usage lied elsewhere. It had the property of masking the scent of its wearer.
The importance of masking human scent can't be stressed enough in an environment which had numerous predators ready to strike at any time whom also had a very strong sense of smell. Thus this was the choice of clothing for hunters in every village around this area with access to this herb.
The second youngster who didn't look anxious at all was an average looking young man with short black hair named Ghorzhang. He was about the same age as Mayton (12) but looked at least 3 to 4 years older because of his rather big body frame.
Ghorzhang was an orphan raised by the villagers who found him abandoned in the forest when they were hunting. Ghorzhang was a baby, not yet able to talk or walk, the first time he got to the village. No one knew who abandoned him or for what reason he got abandoned.
At first, no one noticed anything different about Ghorzhang but a short while after he passed his 10th year anniversary of being found by the villagers, he started to rapidly grow and he still continued to grow rapidly to this day. Proportionate to his body size, his strength grew too. Now he was already stronger than most adults in the village.
Old Mert speculated that Ghorzhang had something different than humans in his ancestry. According to the stories Old Mert told, there were many such people in the world outside the village. There were people with wings, people who can communicate with beasts, there were even people who can use just their bare hands to crush rocks and bend metal.
Actually first time Old Mert heard Mayton's experience while sensing the qi in his body, Old Mert thought that Mayton may also have some special ancestry. But he rejected that notion quickly.
Old Mert personally knew Mayton's great grandfather and even heard about Mayton's great great grandfather from his father. They were all normal people with nothing to indicate otherwise. Thus he couldn't wrap his head around Mayton's situation.
Old Mert waited for a few minutes for people who were late then selected five of the hunters to guard the village with Babrak who can't move fast enough to join the hunts anymore because of his leg. When everyone checked their equipment one last time and made sure they were all ready, the party moved out of the village towards the rising sun on the horizon.
East of the village there was a lush forest rife with herbs and strange fauna. Magically this forest expanded over one kilometer per decade in every direction. If not for the villagers who cut down the trees at the edge of the forest continuously the village would be long swallowed up by the forest. Because of its expanding rate and stories of horrifyingly powerful beings living in the depths of the forest, this forest was called The Demonic Forest.
According to legends, the forest itself was alive. Some of the travelers who tried to explore the depths of the forest and were lucky enough to return with their lives were saying not only the beast there know how to cultivate and talk, even trees were conscious of their surroundings as they tried to obstruct any human trying to intrude.
This forest was their target for this expedition. Old Mert personally chose this forest because it had everything the juniors should learn about. There were all kinds of poisonous plants as well as medicinal herbs.
Occasionally some ferocious beasts wandered to the outskirts of the forest, but as long as they didn't go too deep, it wasn't too dangerous with Old Mert present in the group to protect them from any unexpected situation that could possibly arise.
After walking briskly for about ten minutes, they entered the forest.
''Listen well, brats, now we will split into three groups with ten experienced hunters in each group. Group leaders are Bart, Doyle and me. Youngsters do not do anything your leaders didn't instruct you to do lest you brought a calamity upon us. Don't forget the forest we are in is called The Demonic Forest for a reason. There are things even I am helpless against in this forest. As for the leaders, you know what to do but this time different from our normal formation the groups will move a little closer to each other so that I can reach in time to any party that needs help. ''
Old Mert gave his instructions and conveniently assigned Mayton to his own group. They had to move in groups because there were simply too many hunters in this group. If they moved too close to each other, they would scare any potential prey away.
Mayton was looking around him with wonder and excitement, but the strongest feeling he had right now was hope. After all that stressful days because of that pressure, this lush forest, buzzing of insects, distant sounds of various beasts howling all uplifted his mood. Feeling the extraordinary vitality of the forest and wildlife around him made him feel like he can do anything in this world as long he persevered.
Didn't several villages around the forest cut the trees to limit its expanding? Didn't the humans who entered the forest hunted down countless beasts? How many of those who harmed the forest for any reason could outlast the forest? How many villages got swallowed by the forest with the passage of time?
For Mayton, this forest symbolized the importance of perseverance and trivialities of present days worries. As long as he persevered and strived to always do his best, in the future, he was sure that even the senior's threat will seem like a small episode in his life.