The old man, Grandfather Elder, came to the room just as Veronica started to repeat herself. "I see you survived your attempt." grandfather stated abruptly. This caught Veronica and I both off guard. She went silent and just stared downcast at the floor. "It was only by the mercy of my new master." She sounded almost in tears and didn't raise her head when she spoke to him. He seemed upset but not with the fight but that she was alive. So I spoke up to defend her. "Grandfather I have questions about the fight and the sword and did you set this up?" The old man seemed surprised at the questions. "Yes I approved the fight and set it up. The sword was a surprise along with her survival. I had hoped to push you into tapping into the power of hidden inside of you and she volunteered her life to increase your power and be your first kill so you would be less likely to hesitate when it comes to death." I was horrified by his explanation. I never would have thought that this old man was that ruthless. It just shows that I can't judge a book by the cover. "You accomplished little with your attempt and I am not very happy about it." I complain hoping to get him to not think like that anymore and to not have anymore surprise attacks. "Good as long as some progress is made I will keep you fighting for your life till the trials begin." The old man spoke quickly then turned to leave. "keep the demon blood sword it was made from the same tree you where born from." After saying this, he left the room. After a moment of him being gone with the door closed Veronica finally lifted her head again. "Do you feel alright, I know I must have left more than scratches with that sword." as I finished saying it I jumped into the menu and pull the sword from her menu and equiped it summoning it to my hand. As I left the menu the sword seemingly has disappeared from her back and appeared in my hand. This startled Veronica and she jumped back. "The Village Elder ordered my healing because I now belonged to you." "He also stated that I would still die because of the sword so only enough to stop the bleeding the curse would most likely kill me anyway." I am again appalled by the actions of the old man. but there was a bit of understanding if the curse killed her. Though it didn't and I could tell she was still in pain so I next, summoned one of the health potions and told her to drink it again startling her. She stairs at it unsure but takes it looking at it... She suddenly screams and throws the bottle... looking at me, "what did you do to me, why am I seeing things now?!" she screams. I hurriedly hushed her and asked what she is talking about. "Do you see the menu now too, what all do you have?" She just looked at me defeated, mouth was slightly agape from shock. "I can only see an inventory list." "I already know your inventory." I responded quickly. "I need you to keep this between us." Being only 8 soon to be 9 I don't want it to get out I have some strange power. The old man already seems determined to find the extent of them. I know this won't be over soon. I just don't want everyone to start finding out. Veronica is now a different story because she is bound to me, I think and there was a long list of rules in the guide I didn't look at I all, but I skimmed a few details and I know she isn't capable of lying to me or betraying me now. I ask in my head for the little voice, "do you know about this curse and do you know what we can do to remove it?" She responds quickly " I already did, that mark on her chest is what I rewrote the curse to be she is bound by her blood to you under your symbol" "It was either that or her blood would turn to poison from the curse." "I made the choice from your state of mind." she said without letting me interrupt. I'm actually quite alright with the outcome and go back to the menu before closing it to look at Veronica. "The curse is taken care of now." I pick up the health potion and hand it back to her asking her to use it. "Thank you master." I smack my forehead. "Just call me suki." I stretch reaching up even though I'm still sore and it hurts. I decide that I need to find out more about these trials coming up. "do you know anything about the trials coming up Veronica?" "Yes although it isn't much, it's a strong magic region and the further you can make it into the tunnels through enemies the higher you rate, but they are controlled by some of the most powerful people on the planet. The higher you can make it though the better off you are to get good education and higher ranks in life." "I've heard they pump magic into summoned monsters and can control their fighting." I was pretty impressed with that explanation and figured the rest would be a surprise. I find a change of clothes on the seat to the desk and grab them up to try warm water soaking to help ease the pain. I start to leave the room and Veronica starts to follow me. "Stay in the room it's alright. I'm just going to soak." She responds with a good point, "that's where I attacked you from!" I just laugh, "And you didn't kill me there either!" She giggled, "I win, now stay here." she pouted for a moment and agreed to stay for me to wash up. As I leave the room, I start to wonder what the old man has planned next. That mischievous asshole. He really wanted me to kill someone. "I'm not even 9!" I ramble out loud kinda hoping he hears me. Even though Veronica seems to only be a little older than me and she had no problem trying to kill me. I scratch my head as I walk into the washroom looking around the changing room before getting undressed. I get rinsed off then step into the tub of hot water and put my head back before dozing off in the relaxing hot tub. As I started to fall asleep I feel a weird aura inside of me start to build pressure in my chest.