The next morning, Cedric opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was Shino's face looking at him intently like he wanted to swallow him whole.
"?!!!"
"You! Where have you been Ceddie? It has just been a few days since you can move around and suddenly someone called me and said they found you unconscious in the forest. Do you know how worried-"
Before Shino managed to continue with his ramblings, Cedric interrupted, "What do you mean I was unconscious inside the forest? I was at...wait where was I before?"
"Hey don't tell me you even lost your memories. Why are you always jumping around even after you're badly injured? Can't you just sit quietly like an obedient kid, like me? I spend my days peacefully like a *salted fish."
*(In Cantonese, a salted fish is a metaphor for a corpse, but now it was mainly used to describe people who have no intention of doing anything or just lazed around.)
"I remember I met someone, he helped me..." Cedric didn't manage to finish his sentence since he didn't remember how he met that person and what he actually did that made him unconscious.
"Oh, you mean the mercenaries that helped you. You needed to thank them later."
Cedric still didn't think that person he saw was the mercenaries since that person seemed somewhat familiar but also foreign to him.
"Is there any of the mercenaries with red eyes?" Cedric asked.
"I don't think so since that eye color is rare, isn't it? You can check later if any of the mercenaries might wear red contact lenses instead." Shino suggested.
If the eye color wasn't genuine, there was only one other thing that could determine whether I see the right person.
The tattoo.
I don't know who that person was or would we meet each other again in the future, but I did know he was the one who helped me before I lost consciousness.
Ting!
[Quest Reward: Blessing from the successor of the Tree of Life & Peaceful method to face a troll]
'Sure enough, I didn't remember doing the quest. That person might also be the one that causes parts of my memories to be missing.'
"Hey hey Ceddie, what the hell are you thinking so deeply. Did you even hear what the healer said, you can't go out of the house for a week? A week. Remember that. Summer break is almost over so you have to make sure you will be fine for our new semester"
"Yeah sure" Cedric replied uninterested.
Meanwhile, Ares who was still in the forest looked at the old Druid named Tuah in front of him.
"Nice name, it sounds lucky," Ares said flatly but he was actually genuine when he said that.
Because it was a rare name even from his previous world. The meaning of the name in his native language means luck or fortune.
'I don't know whether my luck point had been blessed on Cedric but it seems I got another luck and the annoying system like words didn't appear anymore.'
"Hahaha you're the second person who commented about my name like that" Tuah seemed happy with the random comment Ares made.
"So can we continue with our business?"
"Kid, it's your business but since I'm the one who discovers your problem, then you could say that it's our business. So now take out the Ice Crystal Core."
Ares took out the core from his spatial bag. The Ice Crystal Core that was only the size of a kid's punch shone in a pale blue light while faint mist lingered around it.
"It seems your Fire core already influenced your physical body's constitute that you can even hold the Ice Crystal Core bare-handed like that," Tuah commented seeing Ares ignorantly holding the core like he was holding a normal stone.
Tuah explained that since the Ice Crystal Core contained really high concentration of ice elements inside it, normal humans needed extra caution when touching it since they could freeze upon slight carelessness but nothing happened to Ares all thanks to all the fire cores and orbs he ate previously.
"Don't you think you're too lucky?" Tuah commented when he realized Ares was totally clueless about it.
"...." Ares didn't know what to reply to that.
He just ate as many fire cores and orbs that he could find for the Eight Trigram Urns method to make him fully immune to any poisons. He never thought it also unknowingly helped him handle the Ice Crystal Core.
'No wonder Ramon sent it inside a really expensive-looking crystal box. I thought it was just his wimp or style to put it inside that box.'
Ares felt like he was a stupid kid being taught how to read once again. He was too careless. This is a fantasy world where magic existed, how could he think the box keeping the Ice Crystal Core was normal. Why didn't he research more about the core in detail? What if he suddenly froze to death?
Looking at Ares's depressed face, Tuah decided not to say anything much, "Let's start, shall we? It might take some time until your body is fully balanced."
With Tuah's guidance, Ares started to consume the Ice Crystal Core after he entered the capsule-like crystal embedded in the center of the Tree of Life trunk.
Tuah said, inside the capsule was the perfect condition for convergence and resonance between each different element.
However, Ares and Tuah never expected that the process took the whole week.
While Ares was stabilizing inside the capsule, Tuah on the other hand started to change his appearance into a young good looking red hair youth with chromatic eyes.
"Let's see what is inside that lad's bag, oh a face mask, a handphone, smartwatch, ID. Name Ares, 15 years old. Tsk too young that's why he was too reckless and ignorant."
While Tuah still looking through Ares's things, the handphone rang.
[Eris]
That was what appeared on the screen.
Tuah decided to take the call since he was curious about who was the one calling.
It was a video call thus after answering, a figure of a young red-haired lady appeared on the screen.
[Ares where are you? Inside a cave?]
"I'm in Yaro Mountain hillside, I found an empty cave and decided to camp inside it," Tuah tried to imitate Ares as much as he could.
Since he didn't know who Eris was to Ares, he tried to be as polite and as docile as ever even though the way Ares talked to him was far from docile. There was a hint of stubbornness and coldness in the way he talked but Tuah decided not to talk like that since his guts told him not to.
Eris on the other hand didn't sense any weirdness from his 'brother' other than he looked cuter in her eyes. Maybe it's because he was alone and far away from her.
[Sigh, I should have accompanied you there but there are a lot of things to do here. Later we will go on a vacation together. We can ask the others to come along.]
"Sure. The line wasn't good here so I think I needed to move somewhere else," Tuah tried to give the most plausible excuse he could think of to end the suffocating video call.
[Oh sure. Don't forget to eat properly and take care]
"Hn"
Tut tut...
The call finally ended.
"Fuh, it's been a long time since I try to imitate someone," Tuah muttered.
Still, in Ares's form, Tuah went out of the room to go see Ratata since he already decided on what to do.
"???" Ratata was confused at first but then she accepted it as it is.
Troll ways of thinking weren't as complicated as humans thus it was easy for her to accept the different looking Druid, Tuah.
"Come on brat, quickly wake up so we can do a lot of interesting things"
Ratata just shook her head, feeling slightly pity for the unconscious Ares.
*********************
Half of his body felt extremely cold while the half felt like it was melting.
At first, he just felt like he was eating ordinary ice but a few seconds later, he felt an extreme cramp inside his abdomen.
When he opened his mouth, vapor came out as if his body started freezing from the inside. His limbs started to feel numb.
He quickly utilized the fire core inside his body to counter-react with the Ice Crystal effect.
He was currently sweating but the sweat became frozen on his skin causing him to shiver.
He couldn't move. The layer of ice covering him became thicker and thicker. He didn't know how many hours had passed but it felt like an eternity for him.
Moments later it was his inside that felt boiling hot while his outside was freezing cold.
At the same time, he could also feel something in between the hot and cold feeling trying to brace him, wrapping around him tightly.
Later due to exhaustion, he unknowingly fell asleep when he knew he couldn't afford to do so or else he wouldn't able to wake up anymore.
He knew he had already lost his consciousness but at the same time, he could clearly think.
'Is this what they called *lucid dream?'
*(A lucid dream is a type of dream in which the dreamer becomes aware that they are dreaming.)
I looked around me and see nothing. I felt like I was floating inside an ocean in the pitch-black night without any lights, not even from the stars let alone the moon.
"Ares @!e%#!..."
An almost audible voice reverberated around the pitch-black area.
I felt like someone trying to talk to me while drowning in water, that was what it sounds like.
"Our power %#%$&...."
I tried to listen to it but my head hurt the more I tried.
Suddenly a few blurry glass-like fragments appeared in front of him. He could see humans like silhouettes inside the fragments but none of them were clear enough for him to deduce who they were or what the scene was actually about.
"Remember"
The only word he managed to hear clearly was the last one.
'Remember what?' Ares was confused
At the same time, he didn't know how much time has passed since he lost his consciousness. He was worried if Eris suddenly called his phone at random to check on him.
That was one of the things Eris started doing since the artificial dungeon incident.
'Eris might burn down the cave along with the tree if she felt something amiss if I didn't contact her more than two days in a row.'
Ares felt like he kept on sinking into the deep sea. The more he sunk the greater the pressure he felt.
He tried to move his body but it was hard as if he had been turned into a stone. He could feel something lingering around his body.
However, the previously uncomfortable feeling turned into something comfy.
The hot and cold sensation seemed to tone down creating a comfortable temperature for him. The more comfortable he felt, the more he felt like he going to lose himself.
However, he just let it be. He could feel three different forces inside his body swirling in harmony while another force seemed to be binding them together. The harmony between the forces made him feel relaxed and caused him to sink deeper into the deep unconsciousness.
Day 5th
Eris called once again saying that she wanted to ask Ares to eat dinner with her and their cousins in a few days together. Tuah who was the one acting as Ares felt more and more troubled while looking at the still unconscious Ares.
"Sigh, shouldn't he wake up now. How long is he supposed to stay unconscious?"
Feeling wary and curious at the same time, he tried to check Ares's body in more detail. He already checked it on the first day but it was only a basic checkup.
"Let's see, mana affinity is as I expected and holy energy affinity is also there. Black mana affinity and demonic energy affinity oh wait for a second, this...."
Feeling that he might have sensed something completely outrageous, he checked on Ares once again using his mana.
Despite the Druids didn't have any healing abilities, they have a superior skills comparable to a CT scan machine that humans' invented. He could easily sense if someone has an affinity with certain elements or energies.
Due to his old age which was almost 1000 years old, he had come across multiple encounters but something like Ares was the first one.
"I thought he was just a reckless and curious lad but it seems that isn't the only case here. It wasn't surprising if this was the reason why he was still alive and kicking hihihi. This is interesting"
Unlike other Druids who always acted like wise old sages, Tuah prefer to act more free-spirited.
Day 7th
Tomorrow was the day when Ares was supposed to meet with Eris but currently, he was still unconscious.
"Do I have to act like him and go out tomorrow? That girl Eris and this lad Ares seemed like they are siblings thus she might sense something off with me"
Even though Tuah had the ability to mimic someone else, he couldn't conceal his aura and smell, thus anyone keen enough would immediately realize he wasn't the real Ares.
"Ughhh..." a groaning sound suddenly came from Ares's direction.
With much difficulty, Ares opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was his own face.
No to be exact it was someone that looked frighteningly similar to him, looking at him from outside the capsule.
'That brown monk robe...Tskk that old druid.' Ares thought, feeling annoyed when he almost had a heart attack after seeing another Ares in front of him just after he woke up.
"Finally you woke up," Tuah said seemingly relief.
"Why the hell you look like this?"
"Tskk you should feel grateful I have this kind of ability. Eris call and asked you to eat dinner with her tomorrow,"
Listening to Tuah's explanation, Ares felt grateful that Tuah didn't take advantage to go out and pretend to be him but instead help him to assure Eris he was fine.
'Well, Druid has a neutral alignment thus it might not even cross his mind to pretend as someone else for money or other things, unlike humans.'
In the novel, there was another person who has the ability to mimic someone else regardless of their gender, size, age, and species. She used it to her advantage to be the greatest thief ever, stealing dozens of expensive artifacts and treasures.
"How many days have I been unconscious?"
"Today was the seventh day"
"!!!!!"
Summer break was almost over and I had only less than a week before the new semester started. Fortunately, I have enough time to prepare and take some rest before class started.
"Hey wait, before you go, why not we make a deal?" Tuah suddenly said.
Ares who wanted to leave quickly felt like he wanted to tie up Tuah for interrupting but after he thought like that suddenly multiple vines from the Tree of Life suddenly moved and quickly subdue and tied up Tuah, disabling him from moving.
"What the?!" Ares was stunned.
"This is why I couldn't let you leave just like that. Didn't I say you're the Tree of Life successor? You need to learn how to control its power and I'm the only that could teach you."
Ares seemed to contemplate even though he already decided to agree but he didn't want to be seen as a rash youth, making decisions recklessly.
In ancient Celtic cultures, Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lore keepers, medical professionals, and political advisors.
Druids also play a prominent role in Irish folklore, generally serving lords and kings as high-ranking priest-counselors with the gift of prophecy and other assorted mystical abilities.
However, Ares didn't know what kind of role or abilities a Druid has in this world. But Tuah seemed like an old Druid, thus maybe it was a wise choice to learn from him.
"Sure but I don't think I can bring you along while you looked like this" Ares decided.
"Don't worry, I will come to find you when the times come so don't be shocked. At the same time, I still have to guard this place until you could properly use your power."
Despite having more questions, Ares decided it was time to leave.
"My Lord, your successor resembled you a lot more than I expected but isn't he too much. He wasn't a soft talker like you and he doesn't even smile at me. The weird book he mentioned before might be the catalyst that lead him here. As expected, my Lord had prepared everything," Tuah muttered after Ares had long gone from the cave.
At the same, there were two stone tablets not far from him, put on the ground in front of the Tree of Life roots.
If Ares saw the stone tablets, one of them was the one that helped him find the cave while the other one was a new completely different stone tablet with an inscription of the same writing and language as the first one.
Unfortunately, Ares didn't see them and might even forget about them.