In Rans mind, a faint mist breezed it's way throughout his world. This mist carried with it a faint rainbow color that immediately brightened up the world; introducing a variety of new colors and an increasing amount of imaginative qualities. Everywhere it went, everything seemed to perk up. The Giant Sakura tree swayed its branches, as if it was dancing with the mist. And in particular, the blue parts of the tree seem to pulse with every waking moment that the mist was there.
The residents of the cities were happier and were smiling in delight. Even an aroma of pastries roamed through the streets; it seems the old couple at the bakeries were back in business!
Even the mysterious blue water that flowed through his world was livelier and crashed against the land it is surrounded by-creating waves upon waves of fun!
And in the water a peculiar fish stood out amidst the rest. And that was because it was huge! If there was an outer space here, you would definitely be able to see its shadow in the water. Well, that is if the Giant Sakura tree wasn't already blocking most of the light and space in the sky.
It poked its head out the water and looked at the Giant Sakura tree and the rest of the happenings of this world. Its fish lips curled up as it began doing huge flips in the water. It was Olly! She was c
early happy by the current events; even she felt energized. Yet the next second, she stopped. Her head popped out again as she noticed something on the beach nearby. On this very same beach, a tall figure could be seen playing with the blue water, having an extremely good time. It kicked the water with its legs and even created sand castles. Olly looked at the figure, nodded and smiled warmly, before resuming her bout of flips.
Yet even throughout all of this celebratory atmosphere, there was one place where silence was the only thing that existed. And I bet you want to know where, right? Haha, as if I'd tell you, the readers, all the information. Haha, figure it out yourself you f**kers!
***
Back inside the Ocean, a figure could be seen cross legged. It was Ran. Yet where was the Coelacanth? She was off to the side, watching… waiting.
"Ugh, can't this bugger just be normal? Then I can kill him! He just had to go and save the origin point. If he had just eaten them all, then I could kill him and be done with it. Yet now… ugh." The woman had conflicting emotions while looking at Ran. On one hand, he has the potential to be an extremely powerful and terrifying existence within this ocean. On the other hand, he has shown himself to be a rational (at least somewhat) being that even went out of his way to save some fish that he doesn't even know. After all, being an outsider means he didnt come from here and thus, couldn't possibly know the full story. Yet he did so anyway. And the worst part of it all is that she's literally helping him achieve his potential! The hypocrisy was enough to make her go insane, yet she continued. Why?
Sitting cross legged, Ran was actually sleeping! Well, meditating would be a more proper term to describe it. He thought no thoughts and his mind was completely relaxed. He just let his body do its thing and as the mist started to congregate around Ran, he felt himself be continuously rejuvenated. His body slowly began to grow stronger and his muscles were undergoing a process of condensation.
His blood was no longer at odds with his body and, instead, was harmonized. It slowly drizzled throughout the body like pouring honey over your morning cereal. The mist was sort of ethereal, in the sense that it passed straight through his body. As the blood constantly came into contact with the rainbow colored mist, it glowed a faint blue before the blue aura began spreading outwards and encompassed his entire being. His body was becoming stronger at an even faster rate.
Ran saw all of this happening in real time. Yet, he still wasn't thinking about anything, not even about getting stronger; even as he watched himself, he just… enjoyed the show.
This could also be considered a type of training. By not thinking about anything, you're no longer concentrating. Though, because of this, you're actually inadvertently training your concentration! With such a calm and still mind, one's ability to concentrate not only becomes easier, but also stronger.
After some time, he opened his eyes and they flashed a mysterious blue light. Now, the inner part of his iris began to resemble the blue color of lapis lazuli. Coupled with the shimmering lights, it appeared extremely mysterious and of great depth. This could be called a sign that he was beginning to near the first stage of growth in his bloodline.
He turned to the conflicted woman and said, "Granny, it's time." Granny, the woman, who was previously showing signs of stress on her face was now relaxed and smiled.
Finally, this f**ker was sucking the life out of me! Oh no, is that a gray hair? You bas***d, wait till I get my crummy little hands on you. What's that, you want to experience one thousands years of pain? Child, you sure have strange requests, but don't let that stop you. Now come over here and bend over!
Despite Granny's thoughts appearing… vulgar, she did nothing but smiled.
With his time here up, he could feel his body slowly waking up. He stood up and prepared to forcefully wake himself when he smelled something. It was strange, he couldn't smell it from here, in his dreams. It was as if it came from somewhere else like outside. Then it hit him. It was Ann's scent! He was really waking up now. Then hit him again. Particularly because he remembered her sad face last night.
Deciding to cheer her up, he thought about potential gifts. Then it hit him for a third time! Looking around, these blue crystals were quite nice weren't they? He quickly tried to pull one out of the bed rock, but found himself unable to. At this point, his vision was slowly darkening. This time, he put his all into it and his veins popped out of his body and he was able to pry it out.
Crunch.
At that exact moment, his body popped like a bubble and both he and the crystal disappeared.
Opening his eyes once again, they seemed to curl upwards as a sinister expression appeared on his face. Yet when he woke up, the first thing he saw was Fluffy's biga** head staring at him; close enough that they could have almost kissed each other… ugh. Fluffy was over three meters in length and was almost Rans height on all fours. In terms of width, she was lean enough. Though it was just enough to squeeze through the door. That said, her head was probably twice as big as his! But why was she so close to him?
Patting her head, she responded by licking his nose with her scratchy tongue before moving away. She layed back down and evidently revealed a sleeping figure behind her. Ann was sleeping soundly, so he decided not to wake her up right now. She probably just fell asleep otherwise he would have died.
Getting up slowly so as to not wake her up, he checked the condition of his body. He felt livier than ever and felt light on his feet. It was similar to when he first awakened his bloodline, but it was more pronounced. If he fought the Giant Snakehead again, that ram probably wouldn't cause organ damage and only heavily bruise his skin. If he compared this fish to the Cavern snake, he could confidently say that the fish was probably a mid rank 7. In other words, Rans body had ascended his previous strength by a whole rank.
While he wasn't as fast as Queenie, he sure as hell was stronger than her! And he thought rationally too. Back then during their fight, she probably wasn't using her whole strength while he did. Well, most of his strength. After all, she hadn't even used her fetal organs innate ability and who knows if she had some special move. Ran had yet to figure his fetal organs innate ability and as for special moves… exactly. And he highly doubted that the only thing she knew how to do was poke a stick and breathe fire.
Next was his soul. He was actually pleasantly surprised by it. Because of his ranking up, his purer energy was able to compensate for his soul construct, the soul heart. In other words, it cost less to maintain its current form and keep it functioning. Thus, he doesn't have to worry about dying in his sleep anymore! Whoopie.
Then, there was his rank. While his capacity and regeneration was still on the up and up (meaning slowly), his purity was actually increasing at a faster rate than the other two. Judging by the rate it's going at, he would level up in the next two weeks! And wouldn't ya know it, the beast horde was exactly two weeks as well!
If he didn't have the rune formation, he felt that he would have taken at least a month to level up from peak of rank-9 to rank the start of rank-7; with considerable risk as well. And that was if he fought tooth and nail every single day. If he fought normally, at least two months was needed, maybe more.
From there, it's clear that the decision to create this type of rune formation was the best one he could have ever made with his current situation. Of course some luck was involved because of the special runes he acquired in the cave. He even had a faint feeling that twenty normal runes wouldn't be enough to even create this type of formation, let alone to this caliber!
Yet all that s**t was thrown to the back of his head soon afterward. Grabbing hold of the crystal that appeared beside him, it confirmed how the Giant Snakehead appeared as well. Direct contact seemed to be the way to go.
The crystal itself was of an aquamarine hue. It sparkled a little when light scattered on its surface. It was, however, only the size of a thumbnail. He hadn't noticed it, but instead of pulling it out, he instead only broke off the surface while the majority stayed embedded in the wall.
However, those little details weren't what caught Rans attention. Upon feeling the crystal in his hand, his nerves sent back messages to his brain. Something wasn't right, or rather, things didn't appear as they're supposed to be. Looking closely, so close in fact that it was practically touching Rans eye, his eye tickled. Blinking, he surmised that it was just wind yet it happened again soon after.
Bringing it up to his nose, he smelled… nothing? Was it that it had no scent or was it that his nose isn't working properly? To confirm this, he sniffed Fluffy and was able to pick up on her scent. Yet soon afterwards, out of nowhere, he keeled over and layed on the ground; clutching his nose tightly.
Oh gosh, did Fluffy throw another fart!? Dang it, you know that Ran got that super nose, how could you do such a thing? Shame on you.
His nose had absolutely succumbed to the dangers of having a super nose. The overwhelmed olfactory senses screamed messages and battered his brain to the point that he almost barfed. He continuously rubbed his nose and refrained from breathing with it. He clearly remembered now.
It wasn't some fart, but rather the crystal! Basically after Ran arrived at the cave, he had constantly breathed in the scent of the crystals, allowing for his nose to adjust to the point where he no longer smelled them. Yet upon smelling something else, his nose had, in a sense, reset and the entirety of the accumulated aroma came rushing back in.
It didn't actually smell bad. But the scent of minerals was just so overwhelmingly saturated that he felt he could taste it on his tongue.
Shaking his head, he finally regained some clarity. He rubbed his nose again, breathed in, got ready and headed outside. With the recent loss of his enchanted clothing, he realized that the spell of darkness just wasn't reliable enough. What was the point of even having the spell if the clothing it was attached to was burnt to ash. Yet, without another way, he didn't have another choice.
While outside, Ran decided to have a helping hand, after all, he could barely see with a hood that was forcefully tucked all the way to his chin. Yet who was this mysterious helper?
***
"Meor?" "Yes, Fluffy, you just have to look up and when you see some special signs on the buildings, just let me know and I'll do the rest."
While walking, Fluffy looked around and only found the familiar cobblestone buildings. They all looked the same! Fluffy was confused on how she could ever find what he was looking for when she saw something. With her paw, she notified Ran to investigate.
On the two story building was a sign that hung from a pole. Looking up at the sign, he saw a glass beer mug that was filled to the brim with beer; foam spilling over the top.
"Hmm, Silver Wire Inn." He knew it was an inn, but he had no interest and thus moved on. Yet, his stomach appeared dissatisfied with his choice as it growled in displeasure. "Gulp, maybe just a peek."
He looked at the door and then at Fluffy. He sucked in a cold breath as he realized that she wouldn't fit within the frame of the door. Fluffy, however, just looked at him, curiously. He patted her head and told her to stay here. When she realized she was going to stay here, laying on the dirt road, she just slumped over and was bored. She had accepted her fate. Seeing this, he sighed and then thought of something.
He fetched something from his pendant. Taking it out, he it passed to Fluffy. She smelled it before she began trying to chew on it. "Fluffy, what are you doing, pendants aren't for eating." He fetched the pendant from her mouth, shook it to remove the saliva, and showed her how to use it. Luckily, he found this pendant along with his main one. While this can't hold nearly as much space, it was enough for Fluffy.
"Here Fluffy, you just have to use your energy to activate it. Hehe, and there's a surprise in there." He petted her head for a bit, opened the door to the inn and disappeared within.
Fluffy, looked at the black pendant that had a blue gem in the middle. When she tried to activate it at first, it didn't open up. But upon some firm concentration, she was finally able to activate it. Runes seeped out from within the pendant before glowing a resplendent purple.
Then out of nowhere, a fish just appeared in mid air, dropping to the ground. She looked at the fish and praised the heavens! Staring at the pendant, she held it above her, vowed this as her most valuable possession and then gobbled up the fish.
As soon as Ran entered the inn, he was immediately greeted by a young poster girl. She must have been around his age because she was extremely energetic. Yet what greeted him wasn't her face or alluring attire, it was instead a plate of food heading straight for his face! It had just slipped past the girl as it was hurled incredibly fast.
Oh s**t, how is he supposed to react to that!
Yet what happened next stunned the entire inn. After all, they were watching with… keen interest.
While his eyes weren't able to react fast enough, his nose had already surmised that something delicious was making its way over! His sigil sparkled dimly as the plate that was hurling over at fast speeds stopped in mid air; as if time itself stopped. It then dropped perfectly flat into Rans hand as he said, "for me? Oh how gracious, most perfect and merciful master. Don't worry, I'll make sure to repay you soon, very soon."
His mouth snarled as his eyes became cold and chilly. Of course no one noticed with that f**king hood over his head! He found a seat, yet, as soon as he began eating, a blood curdling scream called out to the world in agony.
Opposite to the room, a buff man with a scar on his left eye suddenly tumbled from his seat as the table was also turned over by his tumbling. While his friends watched in despair, the man was covered in food and grease as he clutched his groin. Screams of pain so high pitched were escaping out of his mouth that people thought that a pig was being slaughtered.
"Ahhhhhh! My balls, I can't feel my balls!" The entire inn was silent except for the cries of this poor, poor, man.
As his friends carried him out, everyone sucked in a cold breath. They then, simultaneously, looked at the white hooded man who was calmly eating his food.
After eating his food, he patted his stomach in satisfaction before it responded with another growl. It didn't like it when it was petted.
"Dang, one serving isn't enough huh? Excuse me!" He called out to the young poster girl and only then did they realize that this man seemed to be young. Too young! He sounded as if he was younger than the poster girl who serves them! Indeed, the poster girl was around twenty so he was two years younger than her.
Being called upon, she instinctively turned over to the direction she was being called from, yet upon seeing who it was that was calling her, she stiffened up. Who hadn't seen him stop a plate in mid air!? No one.
The only thing Ran could say about that was that, his bloodline did indeed become stronger. He was even able to smell the minute traces of oil and sweat from the man's palm, when he held the plate, and then trace it back to him! As for the plate stopping in mid air, it was simple. He had just removed the energy the man had transferred to the plate, which caused it to stop, and then placed the place energy back in the man's groin. Simple, easy, and efficient!
The poster girl stiffly walked up to Ran. "C-can I help you s-sir?" The girl was visibly frightened as she looked at his "menacing" figure. After all, she was just a normal commoner who barely knew anything about anything. In fact, the whole reason she was working here was to make enough money to buy books! Books that could possibly change her future. Knowledge, after all, is power. Without knowing how to use a sigil, without knowing about runes, without knowing how to fight and survive, how could anyone succeed in the world. A world where power reigns supreme.
"Is there something wrong?" Ran asked. "Oh! N-not at all sir, just that… it was a very vibrant display." Ran then figured why she was jittery, only to end up laughing. It was just normal laughter, but the girl only heard the sound of death.
At this point, he had looked up at her, but the hood had covered most of his head, leaving only his mouth for others to see. Yet the only thing the girl saw was the devilish grin of a mad man.
"Want to know a little secret?" The girl gulped at his words, not really willing to hear him out. Yet, she couldn't stop herself from slowly nodding.
"There's… no rest for the wicked!" Ran once again burst into a maniacal cackle that even the entire inn heard. They all shook their heads and prayed for the little girl as she was born to be a lamb; to be sacrificed before God himself!
Obviously, with the way I portrayed Ran as being mad and "evil", you would think that the poster girl would react the same way… right? No no, my friend, in fact she reacted in the exact opposite way!
Why? It's quite simple really. Because Rans not some maniac! Well, he is a little mad, but that's beside the point. During the encounter with the plate, he had used his energy, which we all know by now has a unique scent. The Sakura aroma originated from the use of his power, while it wasn't enough to permeate through the room, it was enough to stick on his clothes and radiate slightly from his person.
Its bitter sweet nature had an intense feel to it that had an effect on people who smell it. Thus, upon smelling the scent, she didn't grow "attracted" to Ran, but rather, grew more attentive; and sensitive. With her slightly heightened senses, she had the same intoxicating feeling that Ann had oh so loved. With this in hand, she then realized that the maniacal laugh and devilish grin that she had seen and heard were actually just normal expressions that people have and experience…
Haha, I'm just playing you. The truth is that it was maniacal and devilish. Only, she was able to see past it. She delved deeper and deeper into his expressions and felt his emotions. The maniac-like expressions were indeed there, but it wasn't directed at her or anyone in this place. It felt almost as if he was… placating himself.
After all, the loudest farts are almost never the deadliest. Instead, the deadliest of farts were always silent. Silent but deadly, untraceable and unnoticable! Wait, farts?
Point is, what was seen on the outside was merely the surface. A facade. For on the inside, an ever increasing storm brews; one so massive, those who end up facing it won't even see it coming!
Blah blah blah, conquering the world, blah, ah yes, where were we? Yes, the girl. Basically she no longer saw him as a threat, especially because of the following words:
"You have to be more careful next time. Those men were aiming for you, you know." Ran pointed at the door where screams were still faintly heard. That guy's balls were definitely crushed into a fine powder! Some of the men in the inn couldn't help but squeeze their thighs together in a hopeless attempt to hide their extremities.
Well, technically, it was his fault for throwing the plate so hard. If he had thrown it with less force, his balls might have been grounded into a less fine powder.
Of course, as a girl, she knew nothing of the fate of those balls and knowing that they were aiming for her, she personally wished to have been the one to have crushed those genitals. With her foot! Over and over again! What if all that grease and fat got on her hair? Her eyes flashed a cruel light as she smiled at Ran. They both smiled coldly and the person who sat near Ran got chills up his back. Great minds think alike.
"Ah? I can see you're still hungry, sir, why don't I get you another serving?" She smiled, went to the kitchen to get another serving of food and came out with two servings. Evidently, her lunch break was due and she decided to have lunch with this young man. He agreed and thus, they had a nice lunch together.
***
After Ran finished eating, he woke up Fluffy, patted the dirt off her and they continued their journey. After half an hour of searching, they finally found an Enchanting shop.
The building itself wasn't built with cobblestone, like the rest of them. Instead, it was still stone, but it was smooth and flat. It was as if the whole building itself was carved out of a giant piece of stone!
And its sign was a silver necklace that had a purple gem embedded in the middle. On the gem were tiny black runes.
"The Wild Catz Emporium. Hmm, it's… quaint." While they strode in, this time, Fluffy was able to fit in. In fact, it seemed like it was built specifically to fit big things inside. Fluffy got a weird feeling as well.
When they entered, they were greeted with jewelry. Lots of jewelry! And armor. Lots of armor! Though there weren't many weapons, they all had one thing in common. They were all f**king silver!
Oh gosh, it was blinding! Why did they have to have mirror polishes as well, it burns! My eyes!
Yet the next second, a noise was heard from somewhere.
Bonk. The next second, a pair of ears peaked out from the counter in front of him. They twitched and fluttered before turning in Rans direction. They were fluffy and small, reminiscent of Fluffy's. They were cat ears.
Yet what popped out next was a pleasant surprise to Ran.
That's because it was a woman!
A woman with cat ears!
And two tails!
It was a cat woman!