"My name is Silas Nyxborn. You can call me Grandpa Silas from now on," the young man in front of Draven said as he took a sip from his wine gourd.
Draven looked at the young man with an amused look on his face. The guy appeared to be barely in his thirties. Instead of making him call him big brother or uncle, this guy had directly claimed the title of grandfather. But Draven didn't dare ask this out loud. He kept his expression neutral and introduced himself, "My name is Draven Skywalker, Grandpa Silas."
Silas curled his lips into a smile when he heard Draven call him grandfather. He walked forward and patted Draven's shoulder. "Kid, don't go by my appearance. I am probably even older than your grandparents. By the way, what were you searching for here and there in the forest?"
Hearing this, Draven's eyes lit up. He hurriedly explained the situation. "Grandpa, me and my friend were chased all the way into the deep forest by an Ascendant Realm beast. Now we are lost, and I was hoping to find some markings left behind by hunters to see if it could lead the way back to the 36th Stronghold."
Silas looked towards the distance and frowned. "Is that female pig who is still sleeping in the tree house despite the sun being high in the sky, your so-called friend?"
Draven looked in the direction Silas was looking, but all he could see were tightly grown trees and wild plants. Since this man mentioned 'tree house' and 'sleeping', he was sure he was talking about Alexandria. This made Draven even more shocked, as this was a super power he hadn't even thought was possible. He was already about ten kilometers away from the tree house.
Scratching his head awkwardly, he nodded. "Yesterday we were wandering outside for too long. She was tired and overslept."
Silas shook his head in disapproval. "A human should wake up before the sun no matter what. That is the sign of a true warrior. If you cannot even start your day with discipline, you are doomed to lead a mediocre life."
Draven could only nod along with him, but in his mind, he cursed his bad luck. What a mess. Ever since I stepped inside the forest this time, everyone I meet is an expert in disguise. First was that tiger demon which pretended to be a Mortal Realm beast, second was that old man who turned out to be the remnant soul of a god-level existence, and third is this unknown man.
"Let's go. We can talk inside the house," Silas said. After he said that, Draven suddenly found himself standing inside the tree house.
The change in his surroundings was so sudden that he didn't even notice how he appeared there. The only thing he knew was that one second he was standing in the forest, and the next second he was back in the tree house.
As Draven was still processing what had happened, he noticed Silas staring at the still-sleeping Alexandria with a displeased look on his face. Draven's mouth twitched. He was sure the root of all his problems was this little demon.
First, it was to rescue her that he got entangled with the tiger demon. Second, it was her yelling that caused the ghost puppets outside the Asura God mansion to notice them. Thirdly, she was even making this mysterious new grandpa of his angry just by sleeping soundly.
Lifting his foot, he gave a kick to her butt.
"Aoooch!" Alexandria jolted awake like a spring doll and rubbed her bottom with an angry look on her face. "Pervert!"
Draven pretended not to hear her accusation and signaled towards Silas with his eyes. "Lexa, senior is here to help us."
Alexandria followed Draven's sight and saw Silas standing behind her with a wine gourd in his hand. Although she didn't understand why Draven was calling this young man 'senior' with so much respect, she still bowed respectfully. After all, if even Draven had to be polite before this man, who was she to put up airs?
"Alexandria greets senior."
Silas's expression eased a bit and he waved his hand dismissively. "So you guys want to go back to the 36th stronghold, right?"
Alexandria and Draven nodded their heads.
Silas stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment and said to Draven, "Fine then, I will drop you back at the 36th Stronghold for now. We can meet later; I am also a little busy right now."
As he said this, both Alexandria and Draven found themselves standing outside the main gate of the 36th Stronghold, the one that led to the devil Swamp Forest. Silas was nowhere to be found, as though he had never even appeared there in the first place.
"What... what just happened?" Alexandria asked in confusion as she rubbed her eyes, thinking that she was dreaming. After all, as far as she knew, she had just woken from her sleep and was talking with a man Draven had brought back to the tree house, but the next second she was standing outside the main gate.
"Who am I supposed to ask?" Draven asked helplessly.
After racking their brains for a good while, both of them concluded that it was some powerful space magic, though even a little child could conclude that much.
As Draven and Alexandria walked inside after showing their hunter IDs to the soldiers stationed at the main gate, all the passersby looked at Draven strangely when they saw his shirtless appearance. Coupled with his strong form, the golden dragon tattoo on his left arm, and the black sun tattoo on his back, he looked like a complete art piece made by heaven. This was the reason why most young girls around looked at him, but there were also other knowledgeable people who frowned when they saw this.
They could immediately tell that these two tattoos had the presence of vital qi flickering in them, which meant they were most probably not just regular tattoos, but life-bound weapon tattoos.
Draven ignored all the people around him as though they were air and walked into the Hunter Association.
The receptionist was still Jasmine. Draven walked towards her and handed her his smart watch and hunter ID. This watch is used to check information on different wild plants and animals; its database contains information on a vast collection of flora and fauna gathered over generations. Each hunter who enters the jungle is given one of these as a guide by the Hunter Association so that if they come across any rare herbs or animals, they won't miss them because of their limited knowledge.
Jasmine gave a polite smile and began typing on her computer, completing the return registration for Draven.
"By the way, when did you start wearing an earring?" Alexandria asked in confusion as she noticed the black hoop earring on Draven's ear.
"It's that mysterious man's doing. I tried to take it off, but this thing seems to be attached to my skin. The only relief is that I didn't feel any threat from it. After all, if that man wanted to kill a minor character like me, probably just waving his hand would have been enough."
Just as Draven and Alexandria were talking idly as they stood before the reception, Draven noticed a group of policemen in light blue uniforms with high-tech looking guns in their hands walking towards him from the door.
"Whatever happens, pretend you don't know me," Draven whispered to Alexandria. Without much change in his expression, he received the hunter ID back with a light smile.
Alexandria was stunned by Draven's words, but she still pretended not to know him and handed her hunter ID and smart watch for return registration to Jasmine.
"Draven Skywalker, you are under arrest for committing the murder of six innocent people. We have already recovered the bodies of the victims from your house. Do not try to escape like you did before," a burly looking man among the group said with a cold smile as he looked at Draven.
The aura emanating from his body was also not of the Mortal Realm, but of the genuine Ascendant Realm. This level of strength was among the elite forces of the 36th Stronghold.
Previously, there were more than a hundred murder cases on Draven's head, all of them related to people from the Stonewill family, but due to a lack of evidence, he had managed to slip away from the police until now. This time, however, it seemed the Stonewills didn't intend to let him go that easily.