'I asked you to shove a wealthy guy who looks weak from the streets in here and you two buffoons throw in an arrogant kid!!?
Whatever, this kid better have some cash with him, otherwise you two ain't gonna get a piece of food tonight.'
The man thinks to himself while checking out the young Zeno glaring at him. The white cold eyes of the kid reminded him of a lone direwolf he had met once in his life.
Lonesome but proud. Calm but cold in nature. May look harmless, but if injured will turn into a fearsome predator. Even if death itself stands in front of it, it won't die without biting a chunk off its opponent.
"What are you two waiting for? Get him!"
The burly man shouts at the youngsters. Even though the target is just a small kid, he doesn't want himself to be the first one to get his chunk torn off.
However the youngsters were frozen in their tracks not willing to move forward. They were scared senseless by the sudden outburst of bloodthirst and had not recovered from it.
'Idiots!! Why the fuck are you scared of a little kid, you pipsqueaks?' The burly man curses them in his mind.
"Fine, I will do it myself."
Saying so, he lunges forward with his constructed dagger pointed at Zeno.
However having immense strength is not the same as being able to win a fight. Being young and lighter, Zeno is more nimble than any of them and could dodge and move faster.
Zeno dodges the lunge at him effortlessly stepping sideways while taking off his jacket. Before the man could turn back, he parkours from the wall near him to climb over the man's shoulder holding the jacket wide open.
"Get down here, you little runt!! gjdjsgdfjf...."
The burly man's voice gets muffled as his face gets covered by the jacket and suffocates. He hadn't expected the little runt to wrap the jacket covering his face.
Zeno jumps forward from the man's shoulder kicking squarely on his face through the jacket. Due to the force of kick and height, the burly man ends up hitting his head forcefully on cold hard ground.
"MMPPHH....."
The burly man cries out muffled under the cloth. He starts feeling dizzy and finally ends up unconscious having the back side of his head impacted.
The constructed replica of Gift- Dagger falls on the ground which then gets picked up by Zeno. As he turns to stab the man, he notices the man knocked out.
"Wait, did he really get knocked out? I didn't even get to do anything.."
Zeno says twirling the dagger with his finger.
[User's Physical Trait: Muscle Power (+10) allows the user to possess twice the muscle strength of an ordinary person at all times.]
[User's forceful kick must have made him dizzy already with the fall ensuring his unconsciousness.]
Zeno turns his attention to the constructed dagger in hand which was glowing and getting thinner by minute.
"Scan"
[Currently losing its shape and form. Estimated time before dissolution: 18 seconds]
"Seems like these things can only maintain their shape for a certain time before their energy gets dispersed.
Can't help but say the conversion of energy to matter and matter to energy is really an interesting phenomena."
Zeno comments displaying his interest in the science behind the subject. He then turns his attention towards the youngsters who were coming back to their senses.
Since the fight between Zeno and the man took only 10 to 12 seconds, they couldn't react in time but watch it all unfold.
"What should we do?" The 'polite' youngster asks his 'rude' companion.
Apparently, they had seen the kid sell something and get too many coins at once from the store. That's why they followed him and shoved him into the corner where their boss was waiting. They thought it would be an easy task to rob this small kid compared to others. But who knew that the small kid would knock out their boss.
"What are you afraid of? There's still two of us. You attack from the right side and I will attack from the left." The previously rude youngsters comments before charging towards Zeno.
'Nope, I am outta here.' The previously polite youngster betrays his companion while escaping towards the exit.
Zeno throws the dagger to the right of the youngster charging at him. The youngster dodges his face out of the way to see the knife trail past him to hit the back of his friend's head.
"Ugh…"
The escaping youngster cries out due to the shock before falling unconscious on the floor. Fortunately or unfortunately, only the blunt side of the dagger hit the back side of his head not causing any danger to his life.
'Serves you right, you traitor.'
The other guy curses his friend while looking at the latter's unconscious body.
During this time, Zeno runs towards the man at greater speed borrowing strength from his passive Physical Trait: Muscle Strength (+10). The young man turns to face Zeno only to see a fist closing in on his face.
'Shit! I messed up.'
That was the last thought the youngster had in his mind before getting blasted away to a wall nearby from a punch to his nose bridge. He too falls unconscious hitting the wall like all his companions.
"Truth be told, I expected more blood."
Zeno says while searching for any valuables he could find from them. He gets a sum of 15 copper coins while searching the youngsters and a sum of 10 bronze coins while searching the burly man.
He retrieves his jacket from the face of the fainted man, which now smells of booze. It seems he would have to wash it before wearing it any further. He decides to leave the dark alley, leaving the unconscious trio to their fate.
Once again, he walks through the streets, this time carrying the jacket on his shoulders. Other than the lively market and pub, there is nothing much interesting to watch there.
Just as he is planning to leave for home, he notices a long line of men and women standing in queues.
"What is it that they are selling here? I can't even see the other side of the queue. How far is it?"
Zeno comments observing the long but patient queue of people.
"Uncle, what's the matter? Why are you all gathering here?" Zeno asks a random middle aged guy in the queue.
"Kiddo, don't you know about the Seeds of Sage?
By the way, I ain't an uncle. I will be just 33 years old as of next month."
The guy replies. Apparently he was hurt a bit mentally having heard a kid calling him uncle.
"Ehh? The seeds of Sage? What is it?"
"You really don't know!!? Are you really from our village?
The miracle seeds of Sage which can bloom vegetables and fruits within an overnight are the most famous goods in our village.
A packet of these seeds cost about 100 copper coins or one bronze coin. However if you are lucky you may even win a batch of seeds that can grow into Energy herbs."
The man explains excitedly with stars shining in his eyes. He ignores Zeno and continues to move forward with the receding queue.
'Profile, what is an Energy herb?'
Zeno asks Profile through his connection. There are many things about this place that even his predecessor didn't know about. His only hope to know more about it without depending on others lies with Profile.
[Energy herbs are mutated plants that have the capability to absorb World Energy in the same manner as beasts.]
[However, humans who can increase their Cosmic Grade by consuming such rare Energy herbs found in the forests.]
Zeno listens to Profile's explanation while passing the queue to find the stall selling these seeds. He isn't planning on buying any of these, but it wouldn't hurt to have a look at them.
He soon reaches a place following the queue from where he could see the stall. It isn't a decorated shop like that of the previous loot shop where he sold the rabbit fur. It is just a cart above which some small plastic like transparent packets are put on display.
However, the most interesting thing is that the person who is selling these seeds is Jeff, Zeno's previous classmate Syra's friend. Jeff however isn't doing anything except for sleeping on a chair keeping his legs on the table.
Each of the people in the queue would put forth their coins when their turn comes and take a packet before leaving. Not one of them is even willing to even try to rob him as if that thought never even occurs to them.
'That guy Jeff must be really gutsy to sleep while doing business. What if someone tries to steal right under his nose?' Zeno thinks to himself while checking out the rest of the stall.
In each of the packets that is put on display, you could see about 10 to 15 glowing seeds of various shapes and sizes. Each of those packets are numbered and with each one getting sold, a new one is replaced from somewhere.
'View'
Zeno uses his sub skill on one of the packets of seeds that is left on display.
[ITEM: Miracle Growth Seeds (Construct)
DURATION: Indefinite
DESCRIPTION: Seeds that are formed as a result of skill from a rare plant based Soul Gift that can grow within overnight if adequate moisture and soil nutrients are present.]
"So these are just constructs formed by the help of a skill. So these things can become real at some point and can even act as a substitute for real ones??"
Zeno asks himself. If what he thought is true, won't people with Weapon based Soul Gifts be able to mass produce weapons at the expense of World Energy. However before he could convey his thoughts to Profile, Profile sent a warning to him.
[DANGER! DANGER!
Unknown wave of hostile energy approaching User.]
DIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!
A blue screen from Profile springs up in front of his eyes as he hears a loud ringing sound in his ears. It resonates with his heart causing him to convulse for a moment in the middle of the road.
"Cough, cough"
Zeno coughs up some blood from his mouth before looking at his surroundings for who attacked him.
[It seems Mr. Jeff has set some sort of precautions on the packets to release an invisible shockwave at the person who tries to use their skill on it.]
[Unfortunately User has become the recipient of such precaution while checking out the packets.]
"I thought nobody could see me using the skill. How is it that this guy noticed me?"
Zeno asks Profile with a frosty voice. He is trying to reign in his anger having been injured because he knew that this time the fault lay in his part. He shouldn't have tried to use his skill on another guy's property especially if the guy is someone as powerful as Jeff.
[User's current level is too low to go undetected by high levelled Advancers.]
[That person must have a high amount of perception in addition to level to notice Profile's skill.]
Profile provides its explanation to why it was noticed.
Zeno once again looks at Jeff to notice that the latter has still not woken up from his sleep implying that the previous attack was an involuntary attack.
"I better get back home before getting further injured." Zeno leaves the place without being noticed further by anyone.
~Time: 11:30 pm~
Zeno is currently planning to sleep as it was a long day for him today. Today, he got to scan and process 5 Advancement techniques, brew a potion and drink it while gaining a new Trait, almost get robbed by a trio and also fell victim to an involuntary attack.
He even had to cook dinner for himself and Adam because of a deal he made which he regrets now. He would have to continue doing this until he reaches Cosmic Grade 3 and be able to master the movement technique.
"Is there any way I can level up my grade faster, Profile."
Zeno asks while lying down on his bed. Even though it was partly his fault that he suffered an internal injury, he doesn't want to get hurt once again just because he is weak.
Even though he was able to knock out the burly guy who was a level above him, he couldn't do anything other than suffer when a higher levelled Advancer like Jeff attacked him while sleeping.
[As of now, User have 2 rare and 4 uncommon rated manuals stored within the Hidden Codex. User can use these to level up before obtaining a manual with higher rating.]
"Can you then combine the teachings from all the 6 manuals to create a new technique?"
Zeno asks after thinking for a while. This was a thought he had since scanning the techniques from the Academy Library.
[Theoretically it is possible. However, the resulting technique can be harmful to User's body if the component techniques aren't complementary with each other.]
[Moreover, it would take ample time for Profile to do so, preventing User from contacting Profile during that time.]
"You told me once that your primary aim as a Soul Gift is to do complex analysis and find results. I believe you would be upto the task.
How much time would be required, atmost?"
Zeno asks worriedly. Even though because of Profile he has no privacy, Profile is the only one he could depend on to live in this place at this stage. Without Profile, he wouldn't be warned of any attacks coming towards him nor will he get a fresh perspective or opinion in a matter he can't discuss with anyone.
[Estimated time is about 15-16 hours. It can also be completed before the time limit too if luck prevails.]
"Then do it." Zeno gives his order.
[Task accepted.]
[Going offline…]
Noticing that Profile was not responding anymore even as he tried to scream in the Mindspace, he understood Profile truly went offline for the next 16 hours. Since he was tired from the events today, he falls to sleep pretty easily.