Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Sniff-sniff...!

"…! what happened!?"

"Sniff… It's nothing, it's just... You had it rough, old man Riku. I mean it when I say I respect you, old man Riku. "Don't you feel lonely and have any regrets?" I asked as I bawled my eyes out upon hearing him tell his whole story to me.

"…"

"Ho ho You don't have to cry on my behalf, son; I really appreciate your gesture, but you should know that I lived my life till now without any regret; I achieved everything I wanted and accomplished all my goals; I truly lived a blissful life.

So, I don't have any regrets." He said this while looking back at me in the eye with a pleasant smile as we walked.

"Why is that? Don't you feel any anger towards the world government? Haven't you ever thought about leaving this island and seeking your revenge?" I asked while removing the vines and shrubs on my path.

"Ha-ha… I won't say I haven't thought about it, but you see, as I told you, I lived my life till now without doing anything I regret, so I don't have anything that I want to do now.

Not only that, but now is the time for you, young ones to shine, I've already lived the majority of my life, and now, I only have more or less 60 days left... The only thing I wished for was someone to talk to before I died. "I lived on this island all alone for 20 years, so yes, I felt lonely. That's why I felt quite happy when I saw you.

"…!!" I was shocked when he said he had only 60 days left to live. I know he looks quite old, but he doesn't look like someone who has a few days left. If anything, he looks quite healthy for his age.

"Y-you look so healthy, so how can you say that you have only a few days left?"

"Ha-ha!!… Thanks for the compliment, son, but that's the reality: I already lived my age. Believe it or not, I'm 83 years old now. " "I too am surprised to see myself living this long when I was supposed to die 10 years before." He spoke.

"Why!?"

"When I was on trial for my crimes, I was diagnosed with a brain tumour. " "Doctors said that I had only 5 years to live, but now that I've lived over that period, I think my time is near."

"…" I was silent and had no words.

"Sigh... listen, my child; as I said before, you don't have to feel sad over me. I really appreciate your sentiments. Thank you for that." He said that to me as he walked in front of me, and I followed his back.

"Is there anything I could do for you?" I asked.

"Hmm. Let's see. If you really want to help me, then can you stay on this island with me for a few days? " "I don't want to die while feeling lonely. In exchange, I'll teach you the basics of Maya."

"Sure, why not?" It's not like I know how to leave this island anyway."

"Ho-Ho… About that, you don't need to worry; in a few days, a government vessel will arrive on this island to retrieve me. I can request them to drop you at a nearby location."

"Thanks! "It will be a huge help!"

I replied as we reached our destination. At first glance, the place that Riku calls home is a small cave. In front of the cave,

"Just asking, but why was this place so far from where we were before? And why in the middle of a jungle?" I asked a stupid question.

"This place is quite safe for the night, as some of the dangerous animals like to hunt at night. Let me tell you, they are quite strong. " Can you see the reddish-shaped tree on top of the cave? That tree repels all the animals that come near this place, so be careful when you go somewhere outside the zone because the fragrance of this plant cannot defend you when you are far from it," he said while pointing towards the tree.

"Ok, I'll keep that in mind."

"Can you collect some dry branches or wood for the fire, so we can cook?" he asked.

"I'm on it," I said and went to collect some wood.

.

.

.

.

I arrived with a few dozen dry branches and leaves held tightly in my hand.

"You've arrived, good. Now put those down and sit while I prepare the food." I did as I was told and sat on the soft grassy ground. while Old Man Riku set up the bonfire. He arranged the branches pyramidally while putting dry leaves beneath them. He lit leaves on fire by striking two black, small stones with each other.

The sparks flew, and now the branches were on fire. Then he screwed the four pieces of a huge chunk of meat onto the stick and put them near the flames, to let the fire do its job.

As the sun goes down, the hot surroundings begin to cool down, and the grass on which I sat feels soft and cool. This whole scene kind of reminded me of me the time when I spent my time with grandpa and uncle Kureha when we were camping.

Danny was so angry, when she heard

He slathered the meat with yellow cream, and upon doing that, the meat started making a sizzling sound and emitting an aroma that was making me hungry.

"What did you put on meat to make the meat produce this kind of aroma?" I asked as I ogled the meat and gulped the saliva that was dripping from my mouth.

"Nothing much. It's just animal fat that I acquired from the bear. "Let me tell you, boy, this stuff is quite tasty." He said this as he picked up the screwed meat and waved it in front of me.

The whole scene was a

'Gulped'

I picked up the meat and took the first bite.

My teeth sank into the meat with ease, and a crunchy sound resonated throughout my ear. The juicy texture of the meat started to melt inside my mouth as the meat touched my tongue. The whole thing tasted like a... I don't know how to describe it. My palate tasted a little bit of salt with a sour taste.

The meat was soft from the inside, and the juice that the meat contained was now mixed with my saliva. I enjoyed the whole process of chewing. One after another, I took another bite, and after a few minutes, I finished the whole thing in a fraction of a second.

"Ho-Ho... You have quite an appetite, considering you are so young." He spoke as he looked at me. as I stuffed my whole mouth with the pieces of meat.

Now I'm embarrassed. I slowed down and offered to eat.

"Now, now, don't be embarrassed. You don't have to slow down. "I'm just quite happy to have shared food with someone in quite a long time." "Keep on eating, don't stop." He spoke happily.

"By the way, you had told me before that you fought with one of the king candidates. Isn't that right?" He asked, and I nodded.

"I wanted tho knhow what arhe…"

"Hahaha… you should finish the food inside your mouth, first."

Gulped…

"That's what I wanted to ask you: Who are the king's candidates?" As I asked, I took another bite of meat.

"To answer your question, first you should let me know. "How much do you know about what Maya is?" He asked with a smile.

"Let's see, well for the first thing... Maya is a form of energy, more precisely, life energy, that is present inside everything that exists in this world. "An inanimate object has very little energy inside them; on the other hand, animals and plants have a huge amount of Maya compared to non-living objects." This energy is present in the surrounding area, and living beings circulate this energy inside them from the outside. I finished two whole pieces of meat and picked up another. This time, the feeling of fullness was overpowering, but... I took another bite, chewed it, and continued speaking.

"Not everybody can unlock the true potential of the energy inside them. Because the majority of living beings have only a limited amount of Maya inside them. So, the majority are unable to use the energy. But they are few and far between in this world.Roughly 1 in 20,000 people are able to sense Maya; they are the ones who are blessed by Maya. They can draw Maya from their surroundings and store it inside their body.

By doing that, let those who are blessed with it have the ability to utilise the Maya in two ways: one for body enhancement with Maya That makes the body a lot stronger and tougher, tougher than steel; they are known as "osmosians." I stopped for a second and threw the pieces of dry wood onto the fire. And I felt something was about to come; my stomach was...

BURP!!

"Ho-Ho... you seem to be full now, which is good.""A healthy man should eat as much as he can."

"…!" Fuck, it looks like I ate too much, and now I'm embarrassed.

"Cough! "Where was I?" Yeah, the second way to utilise Maya is through the emission of stored Maya to the outside world from the body, more specifically from the core. "Those with this talent are known as conjurers," I said as I pointed towards the centre of my stomach.

"Conjurers can use Maya to project their personality and nature in the surrounding area or directly at a target."

While augmenters have greater physical ability than conjurers, their weakness is their limited range.

The same goes for conjurers. They may possess unfathomable powers, being able to bend their surroundings to their will; however, such power comes with limits. Unlike augmenters, who trained their bodies to the absolute limit to utilise the Maya, they have strong bodies and strong wills. Conjurers, on the other hand, generally have weak bodies and weak wills. They need to have the absolute power of concentration to perform the feats that they can do. "That's all now." I explained everything I could've remembered.

This is what happens when you don't pay attention to others; I'm surprised that I can remember this much.

"Good! Now, I know how much you know about Maya. Everything you told me up till now is correct. But there's more to it than what you have been taught. I don't know who taught, but they have done a good job. "You have at least your basics down." Kureha fucked and tied my limbs to my desk just to teach me, so sigh... Just thinking about those times gives me chills.

"Just asking, does being one of the King's candidates relate to having a mastery of Maya?" I asked.

"No child, being a king's candidate does not mean you have to have good control over Maya. You said that one in twenty thousand is compatible with Maya. Isn't that right?" I don't know if I'm right or not, but this is what I have been taught, at least.

"Probably, but I'm not sure if I'm correct."

"Nope, you were absolutely right, but the king's candidate is one in one hundred million. They are way rarer than anything you can think of.

The title of the King's Candidate is not something every person can acquire just by hard work or sheer strength alone. "You cannot acquire or learn through training; the title is something that is given to you by the world."

"The title given by the world What do you mean?"

"I mean what it sounds like, child. When the world recognises you as the one born to, shall we say, rule the world, you are given the title of King Candidate.lead, rule, and anomaly. " "Think of them as people with great futures and upcoming leaders."

"…?"

"I know, it's tough to process what I'm telling you. I get that. I was in the same situation when I first heard it.

Simply put, they are people with an unwavering determination to achieve their goals, and the world recognised their determination by bestowing the power known as "deva" upon them.

That's all I can tell you about the King's candidate title. More than this will go over your head, I presume. Remember that you are currently eligible for the title and thus cannot learn the power."

"Hmm… Ok, I get what you're saying, but old man Riku, you still didn't tell me, "How did you come to know that the jackass I fought was one of the king's candidates?"

"I mean, he wasn't that strong in the first place, and given his personality, well, let's just say he was clearly only an idiot, not the king," I told him as I re-imagined him.

A frown formed over my face as his smirking image formed inside my head.

"Ho~ho… I really want to meet that guy. Well, heed a piece of advice, my child: never judge a book by its cover. He may be an idiot now, but the world still recognised him. I'm not sure why either, but I've met people who were weak when they arrived but were recognised by the world, and after a few years, they were as strong as I was, if not stronger. They held power comparable to my own.

"And about how I came to the conclusion that he be one of the king's candidates, it's simple: the way you told me about him and the power he held."

"…?"

"Sigh… To put it in a simple term, "I too am one of the king's candidates, or more precisely, I was one of them."

"…!?"

"Nothing to surprise you about; didn't I tell you I was the strongest, if not the strongest being?"

"You seem to brag a lot, aren't you?"

"Oww!! What!?"

"After just showing the strength I wield, still any doubts?"

"…nope."

"Well, where was I? Yeah, so I forgot to tell you that every king's candidate possesses unique powers based on their nature. Remember, he possessed the power of telekinesis; well, that power is unique to him. That's how I can tell that he was one of the contenders."

This whole stuff is so confusing. Now I wonder what my grandfather was capable of. I mean, I never saw him use anything but his fist and his uncle Kureha (a spiritual weapon).

To be continued...