"I bear no ill will towards you," Kirk said, but his words seemingly fell on deaf ears.
Kirk stood with his hands up, calmly facing the group of three. They quickly surrounded him, keeping a constant eye on their target; the coordination with which they completed this task could be described as perfect.
Kirk didn't expect things to proceed smoothly. In fact, in a similar situation, his reaction would've been identical to theirs.
"Are there others?"
The speaker was a young woman. Judging from her voice and her looks, she seemed to be in her late teens. But it was just a rough guess, for a good half of her face was hidden under a layer of bandages.
"No, I am by myself," he answered without hiding the truth.
She examined him carefully from a safe distance. Kirk wore plain-looking shorts made from the hide of an unknown beast. His sloppy imitation of footwear was crafted of rough skin material that was already reaching the end of its lifespan.
He was also carefully examining the three of them.
Of the other two, the younger, short-haired girl looked alarmed, in stark contrast to the white-clothed young man, who appeared to be quite relaxed. From their earlier conversation, Kirk knew that the girl's name was Izetta and the young man's name – Erland. When Kirk saw the posture and the way Erland held his sword, his lips curved into a barely noticeable smile.
"Do you have weapons on you? If you lie..."
"I don't," Kirk replied, bringing his attention back to her.
"Erland, go check what's under his clothes."
"Why me?"
"Because you are a man! Just do it already!"
With a reluctant sigh, the young man started to slowly walk towards Kirk. He made a full circle before coming to a sudden stop. "This stranger doesn't look strong at all," was his first thought. Kirk's physique was weak, with bones poking from under his skin, yet he stood straight and tall, his eyes calm as a still lake.
"Don't move," he said, and with a careful and precise swing of his sword, Kirk's clothes were split in half. They floated to the ground, revealing his malnourished body. "He is clean," Erland said and turned around.
"..."
Both girls were rendered speechless – none of them had expected such a sudden turn of events. They blushed and turned to look away.
"E-Erland, you idiot! Cover him with something..." Izetta stuttered through her lips.
Kirk was also stunned but quickly regained his composure. He glanced down at his wasted clothes and sighed. Was this really necessary? He looked at the culprit, but the latter had already walked away towards the campfire. There, he started extracting something from his bag.
A few moments later.
"Thank you," Kirk said as Erland handed him a set of clean clothes; they looked identical to his own – a pair of decent-looking sandals and a belted white martial tunic.
Everyone waited for Kirk to put on his new clothes as they stood in the shadows of the ancient forest. The campfire emanated crackling sounds, creating a relaxing atmosphere. Here, the winds were non-existent, and birds preferred to stay hidden without making as much as a sound.
"You said you can save my sister?" the bandaged young woman asked him, her voice oozing with doubt.
"Well, it depends," Kirk answered while tightening his belt. "First, I need to take a look at the cave."
"What is your cultivation level? Your aura is weak, and your body doesn't look strong at all," Izetta chimed in, frowning; she was still on alert. She walked up to her bag and took out a peculiar-looking stone from it. "Here, you know how to use it, right?" She threw the stone at his feet, not daring to step any closer.
Kirk leaned forward and picked up the stone. He gave it a quick look and then said, "This stone will assess one's cultivation level once infused with their chakra. But what a pity, with the passage of time, the damage accumulated is too serious. Its current accuracy is debatable at best."
"I-it's more than enough!" Izetta's face turned red from embarrassment.
He smiled at her words and poured his energy into the stone. It immediately lit up and started emanating faint noises. Of the three rings carved onto its oval shape, only one shone with a dim light.
"First Stage, Chakra Manifestation!" the girl exclaimed as she stared at the shining stone in Kirk's hand. "This is my first time seeing such a weak response! How many chakra points have you opened, just one?"
Kirk ignored her and looked at the stone with a rueful smile on his face. After fifteen years of relentless and almost mind-numbing cultivation, he was back to nearly zero. He suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, what year is it?" he asked them as he secretly held his breath.
"Hmm? Were you hit on the head or something?" Izetta sent him a strange look, but in the end, gave him a straight answer, "193rd Great Cycle, year 874 of the Vascanian calendar."
After Kirk heard those words, he exhaled slowly and closed his eyes; it felt like a mountain was suddenly lifted off his shoulders. During the past few days, he had casually studied the stars and other celestial objects, in the hope of figuring out the time and place he had woken up in. But there were too many "ifs," so the answer could only be that accurate. In the end, he decided that he would not spend any more time on this pointless activity, and directly ask someone at a later time. Fortunately, the answer he received meant that the year count remained in the double digits.
"33 years... At least, there is still hope," he mumbled to himself.
Suddenly, Kirk's entire being became filled with determination. Even though his father's soul had most likely entered the land of samsara, and the memories of his master's death were still vivid in his mind, there was still Kathryn – the only person that he still cared about in this world. Hopefully, she remembered him after all these years.
Time was an elusive and relative concept – for him, it felt like everything happened yesterday, whereas she must have gone through decades of loneliness and anxiety. As he thought about it, guilt seeped deep into his soul as he started to regret his past decisions even more. He suddenly began hoping that she had found a happy life without him and... If that were the case, it would probably be better if they lived separate lives from this point on.
"But of course, how clever of me... The Lifebound Soulstone..."
Suddenly, Kirk's memories traveled back to the day he decided to write that letter. The Lifebound Soulstone was a relatively rare treasure that, once linked to a soul, would always shine unless that person perished and their soul shattered. Kirk's soul was still with him, so the stone should be working just fine. He concentrated his mind and tried to feel its existence, yet there was no response.
"Maybe I'm too far away? No, it was mentioned in the scroll that the bond can't be severed so easily, only... if the stone itself was shattered. Either way, there's nothing I can currently do."
"Sis, I think he is not quite right in the head."
He heard Izetta's voice and opened his eyes. To the outside world, it looked like he had blanked out for a moment.
He ignored her once again and turned to the injured young woman, whom he identified as Izetta's elder sister. "So, where is the cave?"
She looked at him with uncertainty and then said, "At the foot of a local mountain."
The hope in her eyes started to fade away slowly.
"And?" he asked her after noticing that she suddenly grew quiet.
"It's... relatively far away, and it will take at least two hours to get there on foot. Also, we can only enter the mountain at nighttime."
"Why's that?"
She ruefully smiled at him and then said, "Somewhere near the mountain lives a beast that has recently awakened its bloodline. It sleeps during the day and hunts at night – that's when the mountain becomes safe for a few hours. You can come with us later this evening but... The truth is, with your current cultivation, there is nothing you can do to help us."
As he listened to them, Kirk became startled for a moment. Not every beast possessed a bloodline that could be awakened, for the bloodline has to be of the highest quality.
After maturing, some beasts would sense the calling of their bloodline and finally become aware of the hidden energies of the world. They would continuously absorb those energies and grow stronger, eventually reaching a bottleneck – that's when a chance to fully awaken their bloodline would finally arrive. The failure meant death, while success – a life full of new possibilities and a significant increase in strength; some would even develop the ability to speak various languages. Usually, it took a group of half a dozen seasoned experts at the Etheric Body Stage to deal with just one Awakened Beast.
"Sis, I don't agree – he will only drag us down. He can't go with us." Izetta said after receiving back the oval-shaped stone.
"I can prove my worth," Kirk replied calmly. He walked up to a human-sized boulder and pointed with his finger at a specific spot. "Here," he gestured for Izetta to come closer. "Use your sword and strike with all your might at an angle of close to 30 degrees." He demonstrated with his hand.
"Hmm?" Izetta looked at the boulder as she raised her eyebrows. "Do you want me to break it or something? Even if I'm far stronger than you, it's still not enough. Do you even know what that thing is made of? It's probably even harder than the walls that surround a major city!"
Indeed, the stone Kirk chose wasn't an ordinary one. Its smooth surface was a dark green, polished by the river of time. The world's primal energies that permeated every inch of this ancient forest made it so that its toughness had reached an unimaginable level. If they were experts at the Etheric Body stage that specialized in the Earth Laws, they would undoubtedly try to excavate and then sell it at an auction house for a sky-high price.
Since they believed that he was weak, Kirk decided to hide the little strength he managed to recover during the past few days.
The elemental energy his body could hold was minimal. Even with the support of the Sword Laws that he comprehended during his 15 years of training at the Regal Phoenix Academy, the sword light he could summon would possess only one-thousandth of its previous peak striking power.
For a 'mortal' like him, this level of strength and comprehension was absolutely unprecedented. Even so, If he really chose to attack, just one such strike would consume more than half of his energy, immediately putting him in a weakened state. Kirk calculated that simply relying on his brute strength, it would take him at least a week to cut this boulder in half.
Kirk preferred to maintain his battle condition in a peak state whenever it was possible. So, he conveniently decided to borrow someone else's power.
"Let me," Erland said and suddenly thrust out his sword.
Kirk only managed to retreat a few steps when the sword had already stabbed into the boulder. After years of practice, the blade had long since become a natural extension of Erland's body; the degree to which he could control it was simply monstrous. The boulder shook slightly, and a small crack appeared on its surface.
A single 'oh' escaped Erland's lips as strange light flashed in his eyes. It was hard to tell just what he was thinking at this moment.
"It... it cracked?" Izetta's eyes almost bulged out of her head. "Maybe there is something wrong with the boulder?" she speculated.
Erland repeated the same move but chose a different spot this time, and as expected, nothing happened; the surface remained intact. "Friend," he turned to face Kirk, "can you explain?" He appeared to be sincere; it looked like he really wanted to know the answer.
"Oh, it's not as complicated as you think. My father was a sculptor," Kirk thoughtlessly came up with an explanation, "I learned a thing or two under his tutelage." He didn't expect them to believe his nonsense. In fact, in this situation, it didn't really matter. Why would they excessively interrogate someone who was clearly trying to help them?
Erland gave him a long look, clearly finding this explanation hard to believe. In the end, he gave up and returned to his previous spot. With his head lowered, he appeared to be in deep thought.
Izetta's sister took a deep breath, clasped her hands together, and then asked, "Friend, what do you want in return?"
She began to realize that Kirk was covered in a layer of mystery. He could even be a hidden expert who decided to play with them a little; such stories were rare but not that uncommon. Thinking back to when Erland had swung his sword and they saw him naked... She suddenly found herself drenched in cold sweat.
Kirk, of course, wasn't aware of her thoughts.
"Just some food and protection until we reach the nearest city," he also clasped his hands together, returning the courtesy.
"That's all?" She found it hard to believe. She hesitated for a moment and then said, "My name is Agnetta. How may I address you?"
"Just call me Kirk."