at least I can say with confidence that the tiger has been understanding everything I have been saying. as for why I know that the damnable beast has been keeping a spy on me.
it was a phantom wolf, As for how I know this, that damn spy was in front of me. maintaining a mind link with me and the tiger.
the tiger - what happens mister human, why are you not replying.
me - so let me get this right, you had me followed by a wolf, who has been testing me for what?
the tiger - to see if you have lost control or not.
me - and why will I lose control,
the tiger - you don't know about the voices, do you? . just what are they teaching you, humans, hiding in your small cities, you do lose touch with the real world. whatever, you do know about spirits, don't you?
me - yes, they are the remains of a soul left after a person dies.
the tiger- something like that, to be honest I don't have the patience to explain it to you. wolf explain it to him.
wolf - as you say, boss. the voices that we are talking about are the spirits of every being that has fallen in this land. the spirits are specifically the parts of the soul of the moments before their death, so they are full of memories and thoughts about their death.
me - but I am sure that I have never heard any voice.
wolf - it is not that kind of voice, it is heard at a spiritual level, you would be abnormal if you could hear it directly. there are more indirect signs. answer the following questions I am going to ask.
first, have you recently been having the feeling somebody is speaking.
me - you just said that that you won't hear any voice.
wolf - yes or no,
me - no.
wolf - any nightmares.
me - yes.
wolf - any damage to your soul.
me - yes.
wolf - having trouble sleeping.
me - yes.
wolf - lastly do you feel that something is stalking you.
me - all the time.
wolf- tiger, I think his soul is fragmenting. while I can't say for sure till I test him properly, I can tell you this much, this kid has seriously mutilated his own soul.
me - what are you saying, can you tell it as if you are telling a ten year old kid.
over the course of the few months that I spent with miss mist and dragon slayer, I realized that I barely knew anything about the world. what they considered to be general knowledge we're stuff I don't know about.
normal stuff we're still fine, but stuff related to magic was something that every kid knows. not knowing stuff related to magic was very dangerous. magic was a dangerous art.
the book of the bloody mage gave me the basics of blood magics. since I still did not create blood mana, most of it was useless.
wolf - you do know what are souls rights.
me - I have a basic idea, I know that they exist in our head, that is where we get our special abilities. after that, I don't know much.
wolf - not you though human. anything with an ability can never practice magic from the book of the bloody mage. that is an absolute rule with that book. anyway, the soul is the source of your life. while your thoughts still come from your head, it is closely interconnected with your soul. that's why whenever there is any change in your soul it directly affects your personality.
while nobody is really sure what it exactly is, damaging it is a very dangerous business. to explain the present situation I will take a couple of analogies.
your soul is kind of like the cities that exist in your lands. it is a perfect structure with a powerful wall protecting it from the threats outside. whether it attacks from the voice which is like wild beasts in our scenario or getting attacked by another soul, as long as the wall works properly, you are safe. nothing can damage your soul.
me - so damaging my soul is like breaking a part of the wall, leaving a weak spot in my defense.
wolf - normally yes, but in your case, I think what you have done is much worse, but I can't properly unless I get more detailed information. anyway, we will help you later, first you need to take care of mister toad. he is already in a dangerous situation. I have already delayed you enough. heal him and we will try to help you figure out I'm what it is with you.
me - but first I want a guarantee, once you are done with me you could just kill me.
suddenly it was like gravity had intensified in the region.
a familiar feeling, if you want me to be honest. though one I hate to feel, it's been so long. moving would be tough so I just sat down. willing my sword to be at the ready.
me - mister tiger, you must be many more times powerful than me. you must have even killed a god, but I hold all the cards in this negotiation. only I can save the toad in front of me. kill me and he will die. so unless there is a way that I can guarantee my safety, your friend will die.
I was shivering and sweating all over. I am pretty sure that I had already shit in my pants, but my body was feeling so numb that I can't even tell.
the tiger began to growl. I am sure that my heart has left its position and was jumping around. right now I was starting at the tiger with all my focus. every move that it made, made me want to jump and run away, screaming at the top of my lungs.
as I had trained myself to do, I forced myself to remain and keep staring at the beast. any move it makes, I will be ready for it.
suddenly the beast disappeared. the instant that I jumped to the left, making my sword move toward my previous position, and then the world became black.
( after a few minutes)
wolf - I will give you my word, I will make sure that nothing will happen to you. just stop provoking the tiger will you. you are lucky he did not directly kill you .
the word of a beast was something akin to a contract magic.a beast couldn't easily break their word once they made it. if they did, they would suffer a lot. as for the why, just like most things in this world, I don't know.
me - so what do you want me to do wolf - replace his blood with a new one. that is the only way to remove this poison.
me - okay
as I had guessed they wanted me to replace his blood. too bad that I can't record it. this kind of thing I need full focus in. basically what I need to do is make two small wounds on the beast, in which I must remove the poisoned blood and the other I keep injecting blood and life force to heal his body. both needed to be done at the same rate, too much blood and its blood vessels will get damaged, and too little, the body will die of blood loss.
normally, I wouldn't care about all this, but the poison this time was very weird. I told you that I can sense blood. with a bit of focus, I can see it's individual parts. rather than seeing it's more like knowing.
that is also why I can completely change the blood of one type into another. it was just rearranging the components after all.
anyways as I was saying this poison is changing the very nature of the blood of the beast.
rather than calling it a poison, it would be more accurate saying that it is making blood into a poison.
this meant that I can't even allow, the two types of blood to mix even for a second of there would be no point in this entire thing.
( after a while, precisely seven hours and fifty-three minutes. the wolf was counting the time)
me - for now take this blood and hide it somewhere. no matter what happens, do not throw this blood on the forest floor. keep it faraway from the normal people.
I told the wolf before collapsing in exhaustion. write now I felt as if someone had put weights on my head. naturally I am still conscious.
maybe sleeping would help and I think if I slept now, it would take me a long time to wake up. but I was in enemy territory and I just couldn't go to sleep here. I swear to you that the tiger is staring like I am its next lunch and I have feeling that it is the truth for it.
wolf - come with me, we have a lot to talk about.
me - just let me sit for a few minutes. what I have just done has completely exhausted me, I need to rest for a day before moving.
wolf - I would like to say a couple of things about your book. it's best if you just follow me.
me - not right now, my brain is not working right now. I won't understand anything complex anyway.
within a couple of minutes, I ended up outside. it had nothing to do with a tiger catching me by my legs and then flinging me across the ruin, which I have just realized has no roof.
me - was there any reason for the damn beast to fling me like that.
wolf - you had been testing its limit since the beginning. you seemed very eager to die, kid.
go to sleep kid. we can't have you behaving like a partial zombie.
( I had a good sleep after what seemed like an eternity. I had no dreams so it gave me well-needed rest. the next day, after hunting breakfast, me and the wolf split it. the wolf tapped his half of the deer and the meat began to smoke, whereas I was still trying to light a fire. )
me - how are you doing that, wasn't your ability to pass through objects. how can you cook meat just by tapping it? why do you need to cook meat to eat it? dont you guys like eating it raw.
wolf - magic, little one. you should also be able to do it in a few years. you seem to have the talent to be a mage. as for the remaining questions, I can eat it raw but I like the taste of it cooked and if you were trying to poison me with that poison you are carrying in your sword, I will kill you regardless of the fact that I am supposed to protect you.
and there went my last card of defence, I really should stop it by now, they seem to be able to catch everything I am doing anyway.
me - how did you even find out, I was careful indeed.
wolf - regardless kid, I would be thankful if you stopped these childish attempts at killing me. they are only charming in the beginning. they are plain annoying.
me - but the thing is, I don't know you, I don't know if I can fight you will most like kill me in a fair fight. so why in hell should I trust you. you said that you have given your word, but the thing is every contract has it's loopholes. so you can't really blame me for doing anything that furthers my existence. this is the forest after all. might is never enough in this place. you should be able to do anything, use any trick in the book if you want to live.
the wolf - well said kid, it's no wonder a human like you had survived so long in the forest. the thing is, I won't kill you. not because of who are what you are, but because I have given my word to the one before you, to protect the next owner of the book.