The Kill (Part 1)

Angele put the copper-colored ring on his palm. The emerald on the ring had the size of a nail. If it was not cracked, it would probably be clear and beautiful. It looked as if it was about to fall out of the ring. Aside from the cracks, Angele also saw some white patterns engraved on its surface.

“There must be something special about it.” Angele thought as he found it interesting. It was Dice’s ring; he would not carry it with him all the time if it was not important. He looked at the surface carefully, and realized there was a word engraved on it.

“Ma…ss.” The word was written in the universal language, so Angele could still read it.

“Mass?” Angele wasn’t too sure if he was correct. “There might be another way to read it, like… Manss?” The emerald started to shine right after Angele said the word.

“Unknown energy detected! Unknown radiation detected! Affected area or entity unknown!” Zero started sending warning messages.

Angele was surprised; he stared at the shiny green ring without doing anything else. The green color made his upper body look green as well. The whole room looked very weird as the green light filled it up. Angele could feel some chill wind blowing within his palm, and the wind was twisting. It felt like he was holding a mini tornado in his hand.

“What is this…” Angele was shocked, and the green light started flowing like a river. He could even smell the fragrance of the sea.

“Unknown energy is disappearing. Absorb it or not?” the chip asked.

“Wait? I can absorb it?” Angele had no idea that the chip had this function besides passive support.

“Will there be any impact on me?” he asked.

“Not enough data. It will have a positive radiation effect on your body. I can store the energy source,” Zero said.

“Absorb it!” Angele had no time to hesitate because the green light was becoming fainter.

The green light disappeared after some faint noise.

KA!

The emerald on the ring was now completely cracked, and it lost its luster. It looked like a normal green stone now. Angele held the ring in his hand, still thinking about the things that had just occurred.

“This power…” Angele remembered something from the biography he read. It mentioned that there was once a group of people that were stronger than the knights. They could control lightning and wind. They could bring disasters, but they could also bring hope. They knew everything, and they had the same level of power as the legendary monsters.

They called themselves Wizards, and they once existed in this world.

“That was the power of the Wizards…?” Angele took a deep breath; he was getting excited.

“Absorption complete. The energy can enhance your body slowly. I can start the enhance process if you want to, it will be very slow,” the chip reported.

“Enhancement? How does it work?” Angele asked.

“Parts related to your agility,” the chip reported.

“Wait, don’t do it yet.” Angele thought of the Blue Bamboo Shoots. The enhancement process of the Blue Bamboo Shoots wasn’t completed yet, and he could still use the bamboo shoots first. Though it gave him diarrhea, he could have as many bamboo shoots as he wanted. The mysterious energy was not unlimited, and it would be better for him to keep it first.

“Oh, how long does the enhancement process take exactly?” Angele asked.

“About 76 hours.” Zero answered.

Angele slightly nodded his head and grabbed the ring again. He wanted to check if the power was really gone.

“Manss… It means light like the wind. That was probably the function of the ring?” He was not sure, but he felt his body becoming lighter when he said the word. Maybe the enhancing effect was too small, and it could not help him in a real fight.

“Manss! Manss!” He said the word twice, but the ring did not shine at all. Though he knew the energy was gone already, he was still a bit disappointed. He decided to store the ring in his pouch.

“Zero, tell me what food will help me recover faster,” he ordered.

“Starting analysis…” Zero reported. The chip could easily find out what was best for Angele right now, and proper food selection would help him recover better than others.

Angele stayed on the bed for about three days, and he was recovering fast. With the food selection that the chip provided, he asked the maid to bring him the right dishes, and it helped to recover faster. On the fourth day, the chip finally confirmed that he could now do some basic exercises.

He could only barely walk recently, and all of his activities were in his bedroom. He could not go to the dining area to eat the bamboo shoots. He did not want to get diarrhea during the recovery period. Angele stood up and looked outside the window.

“It has been a long time…” Angele said, and he shook his head. He grabbed the silver crossguard sword on the side; it was Dice’s sword. His sword got broken after the fight, so he sent it to the blacksmith have it repaired. He left the room after changing to a white swordsman suit.

Cecilia took Angele’s dirty clothes to the washroom, and the maids at the stairs greeted Angele constantly. It was very quiet in the living area because the knights and the future knights went back to their own homes for the New Year’s celebration. There were only few students left in the castle because they had no family.

Those students needed to work in order to stay in the castle. They needed to guard the castle and patrol around the territory. After they became knights, they would need to work for the baron for five years before leaving. Most of them had the seeds, and they would probably become strong warriors in the future. It was like trading their services towards the chances to study in the castle.

Angele learned from his memory that this was a common thing in the world. Some lords abused this tradition by forcing the future knights to do the most difficult tasks for them, and the students revolted after they became real knights. Those things actually helped the tradition to be fairer after because now, the lords knew how they should treat the students properly.

Angele walked down to the training grounds, and he was the only one there. It was early in the morning and there were many clouds over in the sky. He felt a bit depressed.

“It’s going to rain.” Angele said after glancing at the sky.

He did not care if there were many students in the castle because he had no interest in them, and the students were not interested in him, too. The baron was young and strong; he could probably live for another fifty years, and those future knights were of no threat to him. He also did not care about others’ thoughts towards him.

The workers were in the bar drinking and chatting, and the girls were playing chess together. For noble children such as Celia, they were probably playing with some musical instruments. People barely had any entertainment at this age, so they spent most of their time working and studying.

“Maggie is probably playing chess right now.” Angele guessed. In his memory, many people had dogs as pets in the Candia City. Nobles like Viscount Candia loved a dog called Haball; it came from some other country and its fur was white. Angele thought it looked like the German shepherd on Earth.

However, the baron did not like pets, and no one was allowed to have one in the castle. Angele also heard that nobles from Rudin City loved to train eagles as pets, but he had never actually seen any.

Angele walked towards the door of the castle, and there were two guards by it. They saluted to Angele when they saw him.

“Are you heading out, Young Master?” One of the guards asked.

“Yea, I need some exercise. Is Master Wade back yet?” He nodded, and he asked.

“Yes, Master Wade is on his way back, and it seems like he is bringing back many people. It will take him a while.” One of the guards said in a light tone.

“Master Wade told us to make sure you don’t go too far away from the castle… Like the deep forest.” He said.

Angele smiled. Wade knew Angele would not listen to anybody other than the baron, so he only gave him a simple warning. Wade was just following the baron’s order, and he was actually not too concerned about Angele because he did not have high expectations in Angele anyway. Also, Wade was not too worried due to Angele’s archery skills.

Angele left the castle alone, and he held his sword tightly. He practiced his sword skill set at the empty ground, and then walked into the forest. He started to run after entering the forest, and headed straight to the location where he fought Dice.

About half an hour later, he saw the familiar downhill slope. There were still traces of dried blood on branches around. Two knives were still in the bush. Angele walked down towards the ditch and looked at the place that Dice was killed. There was nothing left besides some blood, and he could see the trail of the blood that went deep into the forest.

Angele walked towards the blood trail and dipped it with his finger.

“He was dragged into the forest.” He whispered.

Angele stood up and checked around. He took his quiver and longbow back, and took a glance at the blood trail again. After what happened with the green ring, Angele found this world much more mysterious than he thought. There was much for him to learn and explore.