A person sat on the carriage, wearing a golden glazed crown that seemed to reach the heavens. A great sun halo rested on his back, and the robe he wore—branded with the sun, moon, and stars, reflecting the heavens—slowly swirled as if encompassing the entire universe. Just one glance was enough to make Ribery Garcia dizzy and unable to stand steadily...
*Rumble...* The sun carriage rolled past, accompanied by overflowing golden light. A three-legged gilded bird, its wings spread like clouds hanging from the sky, let out a resounding, ancient cry.
The face of the person sitting on the sun carriage was obscured by sunlight and a hazy mist, making it impossible to see clearly. He merely turned his head and cast a faint glance at him... Ribery Garcia's knees gave out. With a wet spurt, several streams of blood sprayed from his mouth, nose, and ears. Like a flimsy piece of paper, he collapsed straight to the ground...
"You..." The man looked at Roy in terror. His hand dropped, and the three playing cards Roy had casually picked out scattered like cherry blossoms, carrying residual Nen aura as they covered his body...
In that instant, Ribery Garcia felt his body become incredibly light—so light that he couldn't feel any weight, so light that he began to float. It wasn't until he looked down and saw his own body lying on the ground, bleeding from all seven orifices, that he realized his soul was unknowingly... flying!
He felt somewhat bewildered...
'So, am I dead?'
"Not yet, but... you're getting there..." Roy watched as Ribery Garcia suddenly sprayed blood, collapsed, and began to convulse, his soul starting to separate. Deep in thought, Roy felt the karmic connection between them rapidly deepening, and he remained silent.
'Sure enough, the words of charlatans have never been trustworthy. And they said there was no risk...' If this guy really died because of him, then as the "consequence" of passively killing him... Roy would inevitably bear the burden of his death, the rivalry with the Church for merit, and the lingering resentment and jealousy of the powerful figures behind the Garcia family...
However, an abandoned one daring to kill a noble lord?
This was a provocation of authority, bringing shame to the Church and disgracing the gods!
It was absolutely unforgivable!
Even if this so-called noble lord was a [Blasphemer] who had betrayed his own class and committed a felony!
"Hehehehahaha..."
"It's fine if I die... It's fine if I die..." After a few seconds of dazed realization, Ribery Garcia began to laugh maniacally. Even though it was difficult to laugh, and blood even seeped from his eye sockets as his soul floated faster and faster, he didn't care at all. He only felt... comfortable, relieved... as if he had been liberated.
"Cough... cough... The divination from five days ago told me... hope is here... Now," Ribery Garcia held onto his last breath, his bleeding eyes wide open as he stared burning at Roy. "You... are that variable... just..."
With a rattling gasp, the man's voice gave out before he could finish his sentence. His head slumped to the side, and he collapsed into a pool of blood...
A gust of wind blew past, and as if receiving a signal, Ribery Garcia's soul rapidly ascended to the heavens.
In the vast, towering forest, only Roy remained, looking down at him without a word.
What was "risk," and what was "reward"? In the world of Nen, lacking sufficient "intelligence" meant one ultimately couldn't act recklessly...
The boy's waist-length silver hair swayed in the wind as he silently warned himself. He then reached out a hand, coated it in a gentle layer of Nen aura, and beckoned toward the sky... [Magnetism · Attract]
*Hum...* Just as Ribery Garcia was about to dissipate and vanish, he suddenly paused. He felt his body abruptly sink, and in the next blink, with a sharp whistle, he plummeted back down—forcibly shoved back into his physical body by a giant hand condensed from Roy's Nen aura!
Another invisible hum resonated as his soul trembled and merged with his flesh. Ribery Garcia could finally feel his body again. His eyes, weeping tears of blood, slowly opened. Looking at Roy with great difficulty, he asked, "Why did you save me?"
The boy cast a calm glance at him. "I advise you to stop talking."
[Sumeru Mustard Seed] activated.
A dark light shimmered on Roy's hand as he gently waved it toward Ribery Garcia. The dark light flared, suddenly tearing open a rift. Under Ribery Garcia's horrified gaze, the rift opened its mouth and swallowed him whole...
Just before disappearing, the man heard the boy say faintly, "Have a good sleep. When you wake up, I won't care even if you find a rock and bash your own head in. It's just that... you cannot die by my hands..."
"Why?"
"No reason," Roy said, suddenly clenching his palm and sealing the spatial rift. "I simply don't like owing people..."
"So... you really are different from the other gods..." Ribery Garcia's final, lingering murmur echoed in Roy's mind.
The young man retracted [Sumeru Mustard Seed] and stood quietly for a long while before mocking himself, "Gods aren't this weak."
"So weak that they can't even dispel a tiny curse..."
He then lifted his foot and slowly walked toward Old Mark and Mrs. Nora, whose body had been half-eaten, leaving only half a skeleton. Along the way, he opened his hand and conjured the yellow chrysanthemums he had picked from his own garden, gently planting them in front of the two.
"These chrysanthemums were picked from my home. They aren't dirty, so please don't disdain them."
"As for your granddaughter," Roy flipped his hand and took out a leather wine flask from [Sumeru Mustard Seed], burying it together with the remains of Old Mark and Mrs. Nora. He took a deep breath and said, "I brought her to you as well..."
"May you all pass on to a paradise of bliss, and suffer less sorrow in your next lives..."
"Thank you..." In the unseen depths, a gentle voice seemed to echo in his heart.
Roy paused slightly and reached up to touch his chest. When he looked up again, he seemed to see a family of three in the haze—the two elders on either side, holding the little girl's hands... They bowed to him, and he heard them say, "If there really is a next life, we won't be human either."
Then, they merged into the hazy sunlight and completely dissipated...
Roy just quietly stared ahead, remaining silent for a very, very long time...
He suddenly understood a little why he had seen so many tombstones in his great-grandfather's dream domain. Perhaps, for the owners of those tombstones, failing to rebel was not as satisfying as dying a martyr's death!
The towering forest remained tranquil at this moment...
After a moment, Roy looked up, pinched a ray of sunlight, and brought it to his nose to sniff. Snapping back to reality, he raised his eyes toward Bandel City, built on the edge of the forest adjacent to the human nations, and the shantytowns haphazardly constructed around it... As he rubbed his thumb and index finger together, crushing the ray of sunlight, his entire being—from head to toe, including his clothes and shoes—began to transform...
In the blink of an eye, using [Deception], he transformed into the appearance of Andrew Cooper and sped toward Bandel City...
Closer... The trees thinned out... Large expanses of plains were exposed before his eyes... His field of vision broadened... Roy had seen in the guide provided by his father, Silva, that the Uzuki Forest was massive enough to encompass any type of terrain. Scenes like this, where a plain suddenly appeared in the middle of the forest, were not uncommon. The locals called them "oases"—oases for cultivating crops and nourishing humans...
However, ironically, while the "oases" seemed to nourish "humans," they were actually indirectly cultivating "rations" for magical beasts. After all, whether it was an "oasis" or other terrains like "swamps" and "great rivers," they still hadn't escaped the boundaries of the Uzuki Forest. They were dominated by "magical beasts" and "calamities," and even [God] couldn't intervene.
*Step...* His feet rose and fell. Roy melted into the light, his figure flashing intermittently. Finally, after about five minutes, he saw signs of human habitation and fertile fields. At the same time, he saw the nearby shantytown—uneven, haphazardly arranged without a trace of order, dilapidated, and unbearably muddy...
He stopped his steps at the right moment, found a secluded corner, and stepped out of the sunlight. As he took in the sight, his nostrils flared, clearly catching the pungent stench of feces mixed with muddy water. Listening to the occasional shouts of vendors, the begging of vagrants, the playing of children, and the neighing of cattle, horses, and mules accompanied by the cracks of whips and curses within the shantytown, an illusion suddenly welled up within him...
It was as if he had suddenly plummeted from the modern world into the barbaric and archaic Middle Ages!
It gave him a strong illusion of turning back the wheel of history!
It completely contradicted the Dark Continent he had imagined—a place full of bizarre wonders and mysterious majesty!
The boy frowned. Looking up, he suppressed the absurdity and disappointment welling up in his heart, slightly straightened the hem of his clothes, and stepped into the shantytown. The shouts in his ears gradually became clearer...
"Want some mushrooms? Picked today, fresh..."
"Want a child? Selling children here! Two silver coins for the big one, one for the small one..."
"Hey, boss, how much for your dog?"
"Five silver coins for a male, three for a female..."
"You crook! How can you sell them for more than humans? Let me ask you, dogs can eat shit, can humans? Make it cheaper! Otherwise... I'll report you to the Security Force!"
"..."
Bustling and chaotic.
As soon as Roy entered, he listened to the chatter of the people around him. He saw that every single one of them—whether vendors, pawns, farmers, or servants—was emaciated and sallow. The clothes they wore were universally patched. They haggled and argued until they were red in the face over the smallest things...
Coupled with the stench of urine and livestock feces that lingered at the tip of his nose, refusing to dissipate and even seemingly intensifying as it rushed into his nasal cavity... The boy held his breath, inexplicably feeling a trace of sorrow and anger!
'The Dark Continent shouldn't be like this.'
'It clearly has vaster lands and abundant resources that outnumber Lake Mobius by countless times.'
'Yet, it presents such an impoverished, destitute, filthy, and muddy scene...'
Even though Roy had already gathered some intelligence from the spirits of Old Mark and Mrs. Nora and had mentally prepared himself, after witnessing all this with his own eyes, he finally understood where the problem lay—
[God], or the "privileged class" that established the "rules" revolving around [God]!
They were the ones who divided people into different classes, solidified the social hierarchy, and sealed off any path of upward mobility for those at the bottom. They were also the ones who monopolized "Nen aura" as a resource, further extinguishing the sliver of possibility that ordinary people should have had to ascend to the [Supernatural]. And they were also...
They didn't treat people as humans, but rather as expendable materials, concentrating resources and wealth for their own enjoyment... As a result, despite being the Dark Continent and sitting on countless resources, it was even more backward than Lake Mobius. Only sparse lights could be seen, along with the occasional hum of dilapidated motorcycle engines... It made Roy miss the Demon Slayer world.
At least in the Demon Slayer world, evil demons only acted at night. But in the shantytown beneath his feet, the nearby Bandel City, and the human empire backing it, there were "demons" walking freely under the sun, day and night, ravenously and greedily "eating people"!
Roy gently stroked the "curse" on the back of his hand, which was hidden by [Deception], and took a deep breath. It was hard to say, but right now, he was also among those "being eaten."
The boy snapped back to reality. He cast a cold glance at the slave trader peddling children nearby, then lifted his foot and stepped onto the muddy road...
*Squish.* Dirty muddy water splashed onto his pant legs, casting a shadow over his heart.
He just walked and watched, a faint red glow surging in the depths of his eyes. It was the [Eye of Truth], which he hadn't used in a long time—an eye capable of seeing through all falsehoods and illusions.
Perhaps his constitution had improved, and his understanding of "Nen" had deepened. This pair of eyes, inspired by Tanjuro and modeled after the [Transparent World], had subtly strengthened its ocular power through casual glances, to the point where...
Roy could vaguely see a person's current state with his naked eyes, including their "blood energy" and "Nen aura"...
'That shirtless uncle pulling the cart has a constitution of about 0.3 (Note: An ordinary person is 1). His aura nodes are unopened, and the Nen aura dissipating from the crown of his head is thin. He can't become a Nen user...'
'That auntie with her hair wrapped up, selling mushrooms, has a constitution of about 0.4 (Note: An ordinary person is 1). Her aura nodes are unopened, and her Nen aura is also thin. She likewise can't become a Nen user. If she were on Lake Mobius, her rating would probably be 0.4F (Note: An ordinary person is F, a prospective Nen user who just opened their aura nodes is E).'
'That child rummaging through the garbage has a constitution of about 0.1 (Note: An ordinary person is 1). His aura nodes are unopened, and his Nen aura is so thin it's almost invisible. He is in an extremely weakened state, clearly starving, and... he's coming over...'
Roy stopped in his tracks and lowered his eyes. An emaciated little beggar, dizzy from hunger and disoriented, blindly bumped into him. Pushed back by the reaction force, the child fell flat on his bottom...
Clutching his head, he looked up in a daze. When he groggily saw Roy's face, he trembled and froze in terror on the spot. A few other children like him immediately turned and fled, screaming as they ran, "Run! Andrew is back..."
In an instant, the central street of the shantytown fell dead silent!
The cart-pulling uncle, the mushroom-selling auntie, and even the slave traders peddling children noticeably lowered their voices. They all looked at him in unison, but as soon as his gaze swept over them, they hurriedly lowered their heads. The cart puller went back to pulling his cart, and the mushroom seller rolled up her mushrooms and tossed them aside...
They treated him exactly like... a god of plague!
Clearly, their fear had reached the point... where his mere name could stop a child from crying at night!
"Heh, the 4K Gang sure is prestigious..." A faint, weak mutter slipped from the mouth of that slave trader.
Facing the numerous gazes, Roy's expression remained calm and unmoved.
Suddenly, he heard someone call out from behind him, "Andrew, Lord Knight is looking for you."
The boy nodded slightly and stepped past the completely terrified little beggar, silently adding a sentence in his heart...
'His Nen aura is weak, but it doesn't lack resilience. With careful guidance, perhaps he could try opening his aura nodes...'