Captured

Leo sat in a lotus position absorbing mana, he had been doing this for a few hours and it was now morning.

Ethan had left the room after lecturing him on cultivating to different levels and told him to try it out and see how it felt.

Amelia still stayed in her room, she had replenished the mana she lost yesterday, but she was trying to cultivate her divine mana even if it was just little.

Ethan had gone to meet Matthew to help him on his own cultivation, Matthew had woken up early this morning ready to cultivate which was unlike him.

He sat down in his room following Ethan's words.

"Can you feel the energy which exist around us?"Ethan asked Matthew.

"Yes I feel it, it's really strong"

They had been doing this for hours and Matthew just started to feel the mana in the atmosphere.

"Okay, then pull it to yourself carefully and steadily, remember not to lose concentration" Ethan said to him

"Okay, I'll try"

He went quiet a few minutes later, Ethan stood up seeing this and left Matthew's room, went back to his room taking the list which he had written yesterday.

Ethan went downstairs, leaving the inn and heading to the market to find the list of herbs.

After some minutes of walking, he had finally reached the market, going to places where they sold herbs for alchemy, he asked but none of the herbs could be found there

He went to five different places and still got the same response until he reached the sixth shop.

"Um, sorry to bother you but do you have any of these herbs" he questioned the seller.

The man collected the list from Ethan's hand and looked through it with a look of confusion on his face.

"Kid, where have you been living under a rock?"

"Well no, but..."

"Everyone knows these herbs have been taken by the kingdoms and are now sold there, you can't see them here"

Ethan was shocked to hear such news, he wouldn't have thought of the kingdoms to be so greedy to the point of taking the best selling herbs to make more money for themselves.

"Thank you for your help sir"

Ethan started heading back to the inn when the man stopped him

"Psst kid, there is another way you can get those herbs though" the man whispered making sure it was only Ethan who heard him.

"How?" Ethan asked, curious to know where this location was.

"You can get them from the black market and it can also be gotten cheap"

"Wouldn't that be considered illegal" Ethan acted worried while saying those words.

"Well it is illegal, if the authorities find out but this will be our little secret" he then handed Ethan a card and added

"Call me when you're ready, the black market will welcome you, oh, I'm John by the way I hope we can do business together" he stretched his hand out after his words.

"I'm Ethan, I will think about your offer and call you when I'm ready" Ethan also stretched his hand and they Shook each other, that day a business contact between the two was formed.

Ethan had now gotten to the inn and he saw Amelia at the front of the door.

"Where have you been?" she asked him

"I was at the market, wanted to buy some herbs but met an interesting guy" he smiled saying those words

"Okay...come, I have something to show you"

She took him to Matthew's room, upon entering the room he was surprised to see Matthew already at the beginners foundation of mortal realm.

"How?" he asked surprised at the fast cultivation of Matthew.

"I was also surprised, I felt a sudden surge of mana coming from his room and came to check when I saw this" she explained to Ethan.

"It's like his hidden talent in the past, but that didn't happen until he got his hands on that technique"

"I know, which is why I checked his soul and I found something shocking"

"What was that?"

"The technique which he found in the past was linked to his soul"

His eyes widened when he heard her words, he sat down on the bed in disbelief but he also had a joyous expression on his face.

"Are you telling me, there is a chance they are the reincarnation of their past selves" he asked Amelia.

"There is a slight chance but those memories can't be unsealed but can only be gained when they have reached the masters foundation of the ascension realm"

His expression dimmed when he heard her reply, it wasn't an easy task to reach the ascension realm and it could take years but he won't let that stop him.

He got up, his gloomy expression gone, replaced with a smile he asked a question.

"Did you pass the world for alchemists while heading here?"

"Yes?, why did you ask?"

She had started to get curious as Ethan now had a smile on his face, a mischievous one at that.

"That is the first world we're heading to after we leave this place"

"What?!" she exclaimed and added after getting over her shock

"Have you forgotten the chaos that we caused the last time we were there?!, I had to sneak to leave that world, I knew if they saw me they might have killed me!"

"Amelia, calm down, I am here with you they won't touch a strand of hair on your head when they see me"

"Well, you are forgetting something, you're still trying to recover your full strength, I won't allow you to fight with those people if you are not fully recovered"

Leo entered the room where the noise was coming from

"Can the both of you just shut up?! I'm trying to concentrate here!"

Matthew had also lost concentration from all this noise being made in his own room, he kicked the couple out of his room and locked the door, finally getting some peace and quiet he continued his cultivation.

The both of them had calmed down and were now in Amelia's room

"You know the powers they hold with those pills right?" she asked Ethan with a calm tone

"Yes, I know"

"You also know how we could have died if not for us escaping in time right?"

"Yes"

"Then why do you choose to return there?"

Ethan looked into both of eyes and told her

"Because I have to save my friends, and if I'm correct, bringing back the memories they lost might bring back their lost powers"

She sighed and gave up on arguing as she had seen there was no way to change his mind.

"Thanks for trusting in me" Ethan said to her

"I will always trust you" She replied him with a loving smile on her face.

Leo and Matthew had gone out for lunch as they weren't able to concentrate when they went back to cultivate.

They continued to chat when they heard a knock on the door.

Amelia checked it out but saw no one there, she closed the door and turned to face Ethan only to see he was being held hostage by an unknown figure.

"Who are you? and what do you want?"

She asked the masked individual hoping there would be an answer but none came.

After some minutes the masked individual finally talked.

"My name is not of your concern, what you need to concern yourself of is this man right here as he is coming with me"

"He never did anything to you so why do you want to take him"

"That's also not of your concern, I would advise you to keep quiet"

Amelia was about to cast a mind control spell on the figure, who said

"I would advise you not to do that, you wouldn't want to see him die now would you?"

"You coward, you hide using him as a shield and expect me to watch while this happens"

Amelia then took her staff and shot a fire spell to the individual who dodged it causing a massive explosion to occur at the inn.

She kept throwing spell after spell but the individual continued to dodge every single one still holding Ethan.

Ethan had tried to free himself but found out he was being held by chains made with mana which made it hard for him to even move.

Leo and Matthew ran to the inn when they saw the explosion which continued, they had finally reached Amelia's room and were shocked to see their friend being held hostage by someone they didn't know.

The both of them had their weapons and were ready to fight this unknown individual to get their friend back

"Who are you?!" Leo asked

"It's no use, we can't get any information from that person, I tried"

None of them asked anymore questions and were ready for the fight.

The individual was outnumbered and made a decision saying some words before leaving with Ethan.

"Go to the Kingdom of Hamilton if you want to find him again"

Saying that the individual disappeared with Ethan leaving now trace behind.

Amelia, seeing the individual had disappeared with ethan fell to the ground and screamed

"Ethaaaaan!!!"