Again

"Lucius Clan?"

Kiefer, Millie, and the other children seem to have heard this name before but they couldn't recall it.

On the other hand, Village Chief August only sighed as if he has been expecting this already.

"How many have come?" He asked calmly as if there was no problem at all.

"There are only three of them. They seem to be very young. Around the ages of twenty to twenty-five." The guard replied as he tried to recall their appearance.

"One of them is female and she seemed to be the leader considering how she walks in front of the two males."

"Hmm… I understand. Accept them inside the village. I won't be welcoming them, Arthur. If they want to meet me. They can come here to my house. I'm already old."

"Y-yes, Chief. I will inform them."

"Mhmm… You may go." August faintly smiled at the kids as he told them that it was time for them to leave.

"Vincent… I know you've been listening there while hiding. Take your friends with you. I'll handle the people from the Lucius Clan."

With the Chief's sudden words, Millie gasped in shock as she looked around.

Soon, Vincent appeared behind them and he didn't seem to be hiding in the first place.

"V-vincent! You're here! Why didn't you call us?!"

Kiefer asked seeing the familiar face of their friend.

"Ahh… I wanted to meet the Village Chief as well but when I came, I heard his storytelling and I didn't want to interrupt."

Vincent replied with a smile.

Since he's already nine years old, he had gotten a bit taller and wore better clothes. As a matter of fact, he made several adjustments to his existing clothes that the tailor of the village even decided to copy his style.

Thanks to that, the way everyone dressed in the village had changed. They are no longer using wool as their main fabric and started using linen as an improvement. Though fur and leather are still being used, they aren't as common any longer.

However, as for using silk, it is still a bit too much considering how expensive they are.

"You're becoming more and more mysterious to me, Vincent. Did you just use the Shrouded Steps to enter here?" August ask as he recalled how he just suddenly felt Vincent's presence.

Shrouded Steps is only a Tier 1 Movement Technique but not any nine-year-old kid living in a remote village can learn it in an Advanced state. There might even be a chance that Vincent reached the Perfected state already.

During his younger days, he had seen many Mana Practitioners use this Tier 1 Technique as well, however, this is definitely his first time to see such a young practitioner use it so flawlessly.

"I did, Chief August… I was planning to have a chat with you but I guess I came at the wrong time." Vincent replied acknowledging that he indeed use the said technique.

"I will be meeting the people from the Lucius Clan right now, Vincent. So I won't be able to accompany you. Maybe later after they're gone. Anyway, you guys can go outside as they should be coming here in a short while."

"Yes, Chief! Thanks for telling us that story." Millie said her goodbye before leaving the place together with her friends.

Vincent joined them as well and decided to just stick with them for a while. Anyway, he's planning to take a break now after achieving one of his goals today.

Apparently, this is his way to celebrate after he reached the Advanced State of the fourth Mana Art taught to him by his grandfather.

"Vincent! You were able to move like a ghost… I guess the technique taught by your grandfather is better than my Silent Toad Fist, huh."

Kiefer said as he showed his interest in the movement technique he used a while ago.

"Well, it is Mana Art after all. You can only practice it after having a certain amount of mana."

"Oh… I also use a bit of mana in my fist technique."

"Ehem… Vincent, did you hear the Chief's story a while ago?" Millie suddenly asked as she looked at him with an expectant gaze.

'Hmm?' Vincent realized that Millie seem to have something in her mind so he nodded his head to give her an answer.

"Are you not curious about it? Isn't the Withered Mountain close to us? Perhaps there's a treasure there?"

As expected, Millie had a strange idea after hearing the story. However, he really can't blame her since he had also gotten curious since the mountain in the said story isn't too far from them.

But it should still be too early for them to be thinking of adventuring outside the village.

"Do you want to visit that mountain?" He asked.

"Well, if it's possible. I also want to practice Mana, Vincent…" Millie replied with her pitiful eyes looking at him.

'Ugh… This is why I don't want to meet her. My heart is going crazy…' Vincent knows that the orginal owner of this body has a crush on this girl for some reason.

During the past three years, it did not dissipate at all and had only gotten stronger. It would feel like he wouldn't be in control of this body if Millie is always there.

"It's only a legend though. Even if it's real, I'm sure that many people had visited that mountain already and searched for treasure… Maybe that young man in the story even took everything there."

Vincent answered. Though he was interested as well, it's not like he's expecting to find treasures there. At most, he just wanted to see it to satisfy his curiosity.

As he was about to convince her and the others, they suddenly felt a familiar pressure shrouding the whole village…

"W-what? Celestials?!" Kiefer said in horror.

Everyone had the same expression. Ever since they first saw a Celestial, they had gotten curious about them and asked their parents about it.

In the end, there is one common thing they find out about their existence, they are dangerous beings capable of destroying mountains and rivers with their might!