Chapter 40- 45 Year Old Virgin
The five of them stood there in a daze as they saw the material they had to transport. It came as a shock because initially they only had to transport a couple of weapons but seeing the mountain of herbs and medicine in front of them caused them to hesitate, seeing that the amount of care they had to put into the goods now was far more than they had to put in a pile of metal. Taku could only shake his head as he moved towards the carriage, the rest of the team followed but it was evident that none of them really wanted to take this mission on anymore.
Taku then said, "I am inexperienced when it comes to driving carriages, I would like to ask if anyone among you guys actually has any experience in driving a carriage."
The four of them looked at each other solemnly, most of them were spoiled brats, growing up they never really had any time to learn simple things like driving a carriage or any form of miscellaneous tasks.
Ranga then said, "This King is not a peasant, do not ask me stupid questions about tasks that are only meant for those who serve this king."
Nyasha, Tadi and Tino just shook their heads when they heard what Ranga had said. By now the whole team was used to hearing such crap from Ranga.
Nyasha thought for a while and then shook his head, "I have only done such tasks a couple of times when I was a child, I barely even remember most of this. The other problem is we are travelling through a tunnel so even if I could drive a carriage, we still need a professional so I suggest we hire someone."
Due to the fact that they had only stayed a few weeks within the town, they still had additional gold left. It was expensive to try to hire coachmen using contribution points as there was no set price for hiring using points.
Taku nodded, "One of you can go and hire the coachman and one of you can go and grab necessities that we will need during the journey, Tino and I will stay here and meditate."
They all agreed since Taku and Tino were the weakest in the group in terms of Zesa accumulation, they needed all the time that they needed to cultivate. Tino went to one side and sat in the lotus position and began his meditation. Taku, on the other hand, calmed himself down and began moving his finger in the air. It all looked random at first but after a while, there was a golden hue that was suspended in the air as his finger moved. He managed to draw an arc but just as he was about to continue he started sweating profusely as his hand stopped, staying suspended in the air.
He realized that even though his soul power had increased from the previous night, it was still not enough to draw a quarter of the Zesa amplification seal. He knew that this was not something that he could just attain within a night but he couldn't help but be impatient because so far everything had just come so easily to him...well except the dombo endeavour.
His master had told him that drawing stuff like seals would at least take him up to six months but then the problem was Taku knew the dangers that were coming and he knew that if he didn't raise his level or at least raise his battle prowess, he would not only put himself in a bad position but he would also endanger the lives of his teammates.
Taku was aware that he did not really have the qualities to be a leader but due to the hierarchy in this world, he was unable to step down from his role. Be it in terms of wealth or experience he was the weakest in the team. So as a way to compensate for his lack of experience and wealth, he wanted to at least have enough strength and skill to lead in battle.
At that moment he realized that with his soul power seals were slightly beyond him, so he decided to try and cultivate the soul manifestation art. Even though the process of cultivating the soul manifestation art was similar to cultivating the seals, from experience he knew that he had a higher chance of drawing a bow than trying to draw something as complicated as a soul seal.
He tried to put the failure of not being able to complete the seal behind him but he couldn't help but feel irritated every time he used his soul power. He felt as if cultivating the seals would improve his power faster than soul manifestation. The art required him to at least draw over a thousand objects using his soul power, this made him feel lazy because he knew that by the time he was done drawing all one thousand objects, he could have already cultivated one or even two seals. On one hand, he wanted to improve his power on the other; he knew that the soul manifestation art wouldn't improve his power significantly but he was aware that he had to cultivate it in order for him to have any impact during a battle.
Even though the Zesa amplification skill enabled him to make his energy more robust and domineering, it did not allow him a chance to actually improve his skill and technique. Whereas he needed a weapon to use during battle, he did not feel comfortable holding an actual physical weapon. At some point during the training, Taku had an insight. Instead of using a bow, why not make one himself?
The smoke his body made was tangible and its physical properties could be partially manipulated by him. After quite some time of experimenting, Taku succeeded, and the results were more than pleasing. When Taku used the smoke inside him to create a bow, he felt as if the bow itself was a part of him.
He was satisfied with his hand-to-hand combat but after experiencing the might of a weapon when he was saving his teammates he understood that it wouldn't hurt for him to pick up a weapon or two.
For some reason, he felt as though the path of being an archer which he had chosen was actually harder than he had initially imagined, not because he wasn't talented in it but because of his current condition whereby there were certain things he couldn't ignore.
The fact that he found it uncomfortable to use physical weapons was a mystery to him. He had asked his master about the issue, but even he who had a soul that was slightly similar to his had no idea why this problem was appearing now.
At the end of the day to Taku, skill and technique trump power any day, so he cast all unnecessary thoughts aside and then began to attempt to draw a bow. There were simpler things he could have chosen to draw first but since a bow and an arrow were his weapons of choice he had decided to start by drawing a bow and then follow that up with an arrow. By the time his teammates came back, he was only able to draw about three-quarters of a bow before it crumbled into nothing.
The people who were not present could only stare in shock at the sight before them. Even though his teammates knew that Taku had a slightly more powerful soul. They didn't realize that he was at the level where he could already use soul power.
Nyasha came with a middle-aged man who was wearing a long blue robe.
Nyasha then introduced the man, "This is Tapiwa, he has been a coachman for the last twenty years and he has experience in travelling through the tunnels. He knows the dangers that lie ahead and he wants a salary of two gold coins to go from here to Bindura and back."
Taku did not think too much of it because even though they only had five gold coins, the road ahead was dangerous and since the coachman would be at the forefront he would be prone to more danger.
Taku nodded and turned towards Ranga and Tadi, the two of them had gone to grab necessities such as dried meat and other rations and were holding six bags that were the size of a small boulder. Taku did not bother checking the bags; he just nodded as he trusted his two subordinates.
Nyasha woke Tino up from his meditation and told him that they were about to leave and with that, the five of them boarded the carriage that was filled with herbs and medicines and waited for the coachman to complete his preparations. It did not take long. In about two minutes they were already close to the tunnel.
Just as they entered the tunnel, Taku turned towards Tino, "With your spear, it would be simpler for you to fight against any danger we come across since you have such a long reach. You and Tadi can go and guard the coachman as the rest of us meditate."
Just as Tadi and Tino stood up, Ranga who was sitting next to Tadi stood up as well, "This King feels as if he has reached a bottleneck in his training, and this King feels as if only combat will help me break through this bottleneck, thus this King suggests that I go with Tadi and Tino."
Taku was about to open his mouth to tell Tadi to stay behind but that's when he realized that if he was to do that, Ranga would also want to stay behind. Taku just nodded as he felt it was unnecessary for him to even attempt to explain the situation to Ranga.
The other reason why he decided to shut his mouth was that Ranga was a leader of a team and he knew that even though he was infatuated with Tadi he would not do anything which would put the team in danger.
Just as the three got out of the carriage Nyasha began chuckling softly, "I swear if any of my brothers were as whipped as this guy is, I would disown them in a breath, I mean look at that. Did you know he had a reputation of going to brothels and screwing his maids but now look how the mighty have fallen."
Taku smiled wryly, "I think it's actually sweet because it shows that he would do anything to make sure that she is safe and protected."
Nyasha cleared his throat and replied, "He is at the apex of the Zhanje level and so is Tadi, things like demonic rats of the second tear are of no threat to them. If he really wanted to protect her, he should have stayed inside and mediated instead of going outside and forcing her to listen to his arrogant rubbish."
Taku laughed a little and said, "Even though I am all for the love, one can't help but feel pity for Tadi having to live through all his antics."
Nyasha replied, "I get that she is probably in love with the guy, and that's why she stays, but if I was a girl and I heard that a guy that I love has been with a thousand women, I would not exactly see him the same way after that, or maybe it's just that I've never been in love yet but if it's the same feeling that I get when I'm drunk, then I've been in love a thousand times."
Taku scoffed at himself at this moment, he was now 45 years old, back when he was on Earth he had never even tasted alcohol before and now that he was in this world where you would see even ten-year-olds drinking he was yet to take even a single sip.
Even though he did not find it weird himself; that he was yet to drink, he knew that if he was to tell Nyasha this fact it would be a bit embarrassing but nonetheless he still said it, "I actually don't know what it feels like."
Nyasha was flabbergasted by Taku's words, he couldn't help but look at him and solemnly asked, "Don't tell me by your age, you're still a virgin as well?"