’I’ve got to bla my dumbass for thinking this old man could have a sad backstory’
Hans thought, gazing at the blacksmith dumbfounded as the other brawled his eyes out.
’Just how bad do you have to be at gambling for you to lose all that money?’
"I’ve been aning to ask you, can you turn this into a wand or sothing like that?"
Hans said, taking out of his pocket the holy branch he had received as a birthday gift.
But to his surprise, the suddenly rejuvenated old man imdiately refused:
"I don’t know how to craft wands or staves kid, that’s not my expertise… a real man should hamr the steel!!"
"Well then, it’s ti for to get out of here old man, try not to gamble with your masterpieces on the line"
"Uh? You’re going already?"
"Yes, I have many preparations to do, I’m going to Europe in a few days"
"Uh? Whatt’re ya going there for?"
’Damm… the accent ca back’
Hans thought before answering the question.
"I need to et with a childhood friend, she’s in Italy right now, and she told to go and et her"
The old man’s eyes lit up as he grinned at the boy.
’I see… so it’s like that…’
He thought as he caressed his white beard.
Hans saw that devious smile and interrupted the old man’s thoughts:
"Don’t think about anything strange old man, I’m going there just because I haven’t seen her in a while"
"Yeah, yeah, then why did you tell about it?"
"Because I might be gone for a long ti after I go"
"Why? You gotta cuddle with ’er for a long ti?"
The old man asked blushing.
’Ugh… this old corpse’
"I have to do sothing after going to Europe, and it might take a few months"
"And what would dat be?"
’I suppose telling him would be fine…’
Hans thought.
"You know the abyssal snake?"
Hans asked as he walked towards the shop exit.
"Uh… oh yeah! Dat monster that attacked Manhattan so years ago…
What about it?"
"Nothing exciting…
I’ve just gotta kill it"
’Ha… haha… nothing exciting he says?’
Without giving the old man any ti to ask anything else, Hans left the Smithy.
’I think that I will be bringing Ember with when I leave, so before we depart, I will try my best to let her get used to the skill she gained when she created her second circle:
{snake sacred eyes (A-rank)
Effect: allow the creature to perceive not only the temperature but also the mana through its eyes}
A pretty insane skill, it could turn out to be useful in many situations for her, like when hunting, or if she ever needed to find the way towards the gate exit.
And to do that, it’s better if I take her to hunt a bit more.
Following this objective he had set in his mind, Hans spent the rest of the remaining ti with Ember, raiding the low-ranking gates all around the city, and helping her adapt to her newly acquired skill.
In just two days, her level rose by four, bringing her up to the level thirty-one.
Other than her {consu} skill being extrely overpowered, her leveling speed was also out of the world, it truly was a good fit for the talent rank to be labeled as Half Divine.
When it was ti for Hans to leave, he bid his goodbyes to Aiden and passed by the association and the hospital before being driven to the airport, where a little jet waited for him just beside the landing strip.
As he entered the plane, he greeted the man in the pilot cabin before sitting on his usual seat.
His flight was headed to New York, but Hans’s mind was focused on sothing else.
"Hey Caelan"
"Mh?"
"That place where I t you, what do you think that is?"
"I have a slight idea about what that place might be, but.."
"You can’t say it?"
"Yeah…"
"I thought your answers were only limited when you were inside the plain of darkness, are you just refusing to answer?"
"It is true that my limitations are applied only whilst inside that place, and that I should be able to say what I want when you summon , but the reason why I can’t tell you has nothing to do with that place’s restrictions.
It’s sothing I could not speak about even when I was alive, sothing my goddess told using a dium."
"We do have a dium don’t we?"
"It’s not just about the dium, the dium protects the received not the speaker, since gods can’t be punished for them that’s not a problem, but if I were to try and speak about things that should not be known then I would probably suffer extre consequences.
I wouldn’t be scared of losing a circle or sothing like that, but since I don’t have a body or a soul anymore, I would probably start to lose my… existence, if I were to tell you sothing like that."
"Lose your existence? How would that happen?"
"I don’t know… my mories would probably be erased, and I would beco a worthless being without mory nor knowledge of anything."
"I see… it does sound terrific indeed"
"But I have given you a huge hint just by telling you that I can’t talk about it, I told you last ti, right? When we first t, I misspoke, and luckily, my words just got encrypted, otherwise, I might’ve been erased right that mont."
’Let’s see… when we first t, he told I was soone’s successor, and that my powers were sowhat related to the gods… maybe sothing like a god of death… I could be the successor of the god of death, then it would make sense…
But, can a god just choose a successor? I an, it feels like sothing is off, also, the fact that I’m sowhat related to the gods doesn’t imply that I’m so close to them… it could also be sothing like:
Your great great great grandfather fell in love with a god so you have their blood in you…
Or sothing like that.
No, wait, actually scratch that, I’ve got to get used to the fact that the gods I am talking about aren’t like those we believe in here on Earth, they can’t just do what they want, they can’t intervene with the world, and they don’t have a physical appearance…
Sigh… I don’t know’
"Don’t try to wrap your head around it, it’ll probably be revealed to you sooner or later, and even if you were to guess it right, you wouldn’t be able to confirm your hypothesis until you find out the truth..."
"I guess you’re right, I should just try to use it the best I can for now"
"Use it?"
"Mh, the reason why I asked about these powers is that I need to find sothing, I need to find soone who can give enough information on alchemy.
Since I want to know their secrets, it’s better if it is soone who has no regrets about revealing them, so it would be better to find soone who… you know.."
"Soone who’s already dead"
"Mh… yeah"
"I can’t tell you anything regarding that, but trying won’t hurt right?"
"Right… I’m going to try and see if I can find soone now, I’ll call you later"
Hans patted Ember before closing his eyes and focusing on the dark power residing in his chest.
’Here we go… once again back to you…’
He thought as he started to feed mana to the power.
Slowly, his mind drifted away, and he soon found himself back in the plain of darkness.
He observed his surroundings…
Not much had changed… actually almost anything, but he could feel that sothing was slightly different…
It took him a couple of monts to figure it out…
’The silhouettes emitting light… there are… more than last ti’
His observation was right, this ti, more than a third of the people emitted a faint light.
Also… the silhouettes had started changing, so of them were slightly taller than others, and so slightly wider.
When compared to the first ti Hans had crossed paths with them, it seed like these silhouettes had gained their own ’personality’, even if only slightly.
He walked around a bit, careful not to touch any silhouette, before finally rembering the objective he had in mind when he decided to enter the plain of darkness.
He closed his eyes, and focused his mind…
’Alchemy…’
He thought.
’I need to find soone who is an alchemist… soone who can create potions above their rank…’
He then opened his eyes, and the scenery around him changed again.
The silhouettes around him had changed, he could tell, especially since amongst all the silhouettes now surrounding him… only around one every three hundred, maybe even less, emitted any light.
Hans closed onto one of these few and touched it, just a mont before being transported into another dark place.
That is when… a silhouette appeared in front of him.
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