(7) I will savour it like a supreme delicacy

Illuminated by the purple sun's hue, Mangrel walked beside Devis, exchanging a simple conversation. 

Mangrel solely asked about how the others were doing while he was gone. No other subjects were touched in the slightest.

'This kid is forgetting that he was looking for someone before meeting me. It doesn't matter to me anyway.' Mangrel didn't think deeply about it.

The quarters for kids who were still below 15 were located in the house being made on the right side. The frame of the three floors was already made, but nothing further than that was being constructed. 

'The interior would probably be made of material that only cultivators can process.' Mangrel thought this to be the most possible answer. 

Below the warehouse which had ceased any kind of further construction, A man could be seen sitting upon a squarish table. 

Kids ranging from 12 to 15 years stood in a line, accepting tasks once at a time. 

A group of three kids smiled at Devis and Mangrel, signaling them to hurry up.

Devis smiled too and moved towards the three people, who stood in a gang some distance from the entrance. These people had already accepted their task for today. but the next moment, Devis' face turned pale. 

"Ah...Amh, I...Yes, I..." Devis' eyes started going around in circles with unknown fear in them. 

"Devis, where is Javine?" A young girl among the four people stepped forward. Her face was adorned by a friendly smile, but her eyes and voice were anything but friendly. 

This young girl, Veneir looked somewhat healthy compared to others, but it was only somewhat. Her skin was sickly pale, while her physique was on the shorter side. 

Veneir was dressed in short sleeves made of patched-up clothes, the sleeves were in shreds too. 

"I-I forgot..." Not being able to take the pressure, Devis came clean. 

Veneir's black hair swayed in the air and green eyes rolled back: "You can't even do such a simple task properly, sigh...." her gaze shifted to Mangrel, who was digesting the memory awakening from seeing this person rapidly. 

This time anger in her expression was not hidden: "You! Where the hell have you been?!" An angry shout left her mouth without noticing. 

The two boys had already surrounded Mangrel, while Veneir dealt with Devis.

"Yeah, we were thinking something might have happened to you. We were going to look for you if you didn't appear within the next two days." 

One of the young men spoke with crossed hands, worry in his eyes was not hidden.

One of the youths with the same age as Mangrel moved forward and patted Mangrel's shoulder: "Welcome back." 

"Thank you, Meren and everyone for worrying about me." Mangrel bowed with a guilty and happy look. 

"It's no big deal, still what happened?" Veneir spoke discarding the faked anger, only relief, and joy were felt deep within her seeing Mangrel again. 

She and the others had already lost many of their friends in the past, they were not ready to part with Mangrel too.

"I was sick with a high fever, so I couldn't move for a while...." Mangrel rubbed his nose with a wry smile. 

"Sigh...We were worried for no reason." Veneir Lamented with her hand pressing on the forehead.

From Mangrel's further observation, it seems like most of the people here had black hair, while rarely some had brown hair. 

Just when everyone was sighing and rejoicing about their friend's well-being — a thunderous voice called out from the side. 

"What are you doing dilly-dallying here after accepting a task?! Move to your workspace right this instant!."  

Mangrel turned around — a burly man with Short sleeves and long pants stood there with a displeased look. 

Compared to the burly man, these five kids were like a cat before a mountain lion. 

Each of their foreheads was drenched in a cold sweat, and they felt restless, too afraid to even breathe heavily. 

All five of them bowed at once: "We're sorry for the inconvenience!" 

They moved away rapidly, almost like they were running away from something. 

'For him to pressure all of us with spiritual force. He wanted to plant a sense of subservience within me and the others.' Mangrel felt his head throbbing in pain, he could see through this person's intentions with not much difficulty. 

Mangrel stood at the end of the Seven People's long line. 

For some reason, the person standing in front of Mangrel had a dark look, filled with gloominess. But the moment Mangrel stood behind him, he heaved a sigh of relief.

This behavior attracted Mangrel's suspicion. His instinct which was refined by the experience of 700 years of his life, gave him a bad feeling.

The person assigning tasks put a sticker on the person standing before him, it was right in the middle of the beggar's back palm. The sticker had only two dots on it, red and green.

Taking up the task sheet, the assigner tapped upon the sticker and uttered emotionlessly: "Deliver all the 50 wooden boards to the second floor of the subsidiary building behind the central construction." 

The red dot on the sticker started shining at once.

This scene made a memory surface from deep within Mangrel. The moment the content contained in it was understood, Mangrel froze in his position. 

To anyone who comes last, an unbelievably hard task was assigned. Like picking up 100 bricks that were half a meter in size and delivering them to the stated location. 

How could Mangrel do such a thing? His body would lose mobility picking even just three of them!

'So no food from here today.' Mangrel was not dejected or discouraged. He turned around and left with no hesitation, there was no point in struggling pointlessly. 

The person standing before Mangrel in the line became restless seeing his actions.

He called out: "Friend, where are you going?"

Mangrel smiled with innocence: "I am going to pee." He walked away with no hesitation.

This was really an unfortunate situation, Mangrel's body needed nutrition right at the moment the most, but the situation didn't allow him. This might affect his body in a bad way in the future. 

How could everything go according to a person's will? If that were to be the case, what was the point of the struggle of all living beings in the world?!

The vast purple sky entered Mangrel's sight. The clouds in the sky swayed in the air, moving about in each direction. The clouds were a very good example of freedom, they moved wherever the wind took them, it was like, the clouds were ideal targets of human aspirations.

Every being sought to be like the clouds in the sky, free and unbridled. That was why, Mangrel liked staring at the sky.

Mangrel black eyes turned dark, looking like an endless miasma, much more thanks to the current black eyes.

'I struggled to live my life since the day I was born, I was forced to make extreme choices again and again by the world. Nevertheless, I lived my life according to my own will, following the feeling in my heart, choosing cultivation above others.'

'I was tossed up and down by the world again and again to the point of hopelessness. So many times that giving up on life seemed better. But, I still persevered even in the harsh waves of reality. At one point, I had grown indifferent to it.' 

'Thus, I will never worry or fear, neither will I despair nor lament. I will enjoy this process to the fullest, I will savor it like a supreme delicacy and continue walking in the path before me!' 

A real smile was drowned out by Mangrel as his eyes shone in a profound glow.