Lucio stared into the starry sky, deep in thought as he chewed on some jerky.
In his previous life, Lucio had dived into Oscuro in 2047, when he was almost forty years old. This life however, he had made a connection to the two words twenty-two years faster, also meaning that the time he entered Oscuro in his present life was almost a hundred fifty years.
The changes were too high as Oscuro in his previous life was highly advanced, making him wonder how it was possible in just a century and a half. There were a lot of things he did not know and the fact unsettled him.
'There is nothing I can do about it… the only possibility should be an infiltration from an alien species or a few great minds rising up at the same time. Both of which are highly unlikely but not impossible.
My goal is to make Oscuro mine…. And to do that, I'll have to fight these unknown forces. If it's just some normal human, I can kill them myself… but if it's a different species… things are going to get hard.'
Lucio redressed his wound, only this time he tied the knots to his side instead of the back.
Sleep was something he did not want in his current situation as he did not know what or who would attack him while he was at it.
So, to fight sleep, Lucio played with his magic as he wanted to get a familiar feel with it.
The time flowed slowly and since he could not do anything physical, he tried playing games which he improvised on the spot.
He tried pushing a small stone off the top of a stick with wind, tried to make water flow according to his will, which was harder to do compared to simply forcing the air to flow in a particular direction.
Slowly, he could feel that the whole process feel natural to him compared to before where he had to concentrate a lot to simply push air.
'Not bad…' He thought as he continued experimenting more with water, which took him a few hours for the process to feel natural to him.
He could currently push a small stone with an approximate diameter of one centimetre, off of any object with wind manipulation and could manipulate the flow of little bit of water.
Lucio could only control a fixed amount of water at once and no matter how much he practiced, the volume could not increase.
He continued playing with it and soon found out that making water move on top of any surface was far easier than making it fly in air. It also made him realise why water manipulation seemed so hard to him as he tried to move it in the air which required the combination of water and air control.
"Hmm…" he voiced out loud before going deep into thought.
'Since I tested the wind and water magic to my limits and cannot control fire from nothing, I guess I should try earth magic… there must be a way…'
He went from normal sized stones to the smaller ones, failing every single time as he was unable to move a single one. He continued on to smaller and smaller stones and finally had to move to sand grains.
He felt he could control the bigger particles of graven and sand but, it was the limit. He could simply feel them with his magic, not control them. So, in the end, Lucio collected a handful of sand and tried to mass manipulate the sand like he did with water.
He tried moving it all to the side and only little bit from the pile was out. The sand particles were very minute and smooth to the touch, like talcum power.
'Finally…' Lucio thought happily as he piled up more sand from outside of the cave before separating the smallest particles from the rest. A few minutes later, he collected two handfuls of fine sand which looked more like silt.
Using both wind and earth magic, he was able to make it work similar to the way he moved water but unlike water, he could make figures and small shapes with the sand.
Of course, the shapes were fragile as they maintained their structure due to Lucio's magic, which was too weak to withstand external force.
'It's not too helpful in fights…'
That was the conclusion he came to after he tried three basic elements as he needed to concentrate at least a little to use magic, which would be fatal in fights.
Lucio continued using his magic to pass time, making sand and water collide before trying to separate them.
Time passed quickly and morning soon arrived. Lucio wondered when Aarah would arrive as he walked out from the cave. He walked around to keep his tiredness out.
A few minutes later Lucio saw someone's leg poking out from behind a huge rock. He cautiously walked around as he maintained a safe distance and soon recognised the person, who was actually Mark.
Amelia lay in front of him, unconscious. Mark had a cloth tied around his shoulder and torso tightly, which was probably preventing a wound to reopen. Lucio walked up to them before waking Mark up.
A few light taps to the cheek did the trick as Mark opened his eyes, ready to attack, only stopping when he saw Lucio. "What are you doing here?"
"Umm… I was resting in a cave nearby. Why's she like that?" Lucio asked as he gazed at Amelia who looked pale.
"I had to knock her out. She was acting weird."
"Hmm… maybe she ate some random plant or something." Lucio said as he observed her.
Without his [Inspect] he was as knowledgeable as a dog. He still used it but it didn't show anything new as it only showed information on the present status of anything, which meant than Amelia was most probably fine currently.
"No, there were two men who had dragged her away. I had to find them before I fought them and when I did, one of them engaged me while the other fed her something before joining his partner. They were the ones who injured me to this extent."
Lucio nodded in understanding before he invited Mark over to the cave, which he gladly accepted.
Mark carried his sister on his back while Lucio led the way.
Both of them walked inside the cave and placed Amelia down gently on the ground before Mark punched Lucio right at the centre of his face, flattening his nose.
Lucio fell backwards, having already lost consciousness due to not getting sleep and "overworking" with magic. Luckily for him, Mark caught him before placing him down beside his sister.
Mark looked panicked as he tried to see if Lucio was breathing or not. He simply wanted to get back at Lucio for running away when he fought and never expected that he would simply faint.
Lucio soon woke up as Mark shook him violently a few hours later.
"There are people coming." Mark said as Lucio opened his eyes, feeling blood on him lips.
"They are probably here to take us to the city, but it's better to be cautious." Lucio said as he took out his daggers.
Mark nodded and unsheathed the daggers he had taken from the archer a day ago before standing at the entrance of the cave.
Luckily, they were safe as Aarah's voice was soon heard.
"Uhh… Mister Mercenary, I'm back to take you to the city. Please come out."
Lucio signalled to Mark before walking out together.
"You forgot my name." Lucio said as he looked at the girl who had changed into new clothes.
"There is no need for the Young Miss to remember a peasant's name. Shut up and follow us." A guard at the front said. He wore high-quality chainmail and rode a muscular horse.
Lucio shrugged, indicating that he didn't really care before speaking to Aarah.
"Mark and his sister have been injured too. Mind taking them with me? Remember that they also helped you."
Aarah nodded before getting into her carriage.
The guards guided them into a carriage that was right behind Aarah's. Lucio got in but mark went back into the cave before carrying his sister back.
Lucio slept peacefully with blood on his face and body, which made him look like a dead person if not for his rhythmic breathing.
Lucio was woken up by one of the guards and was told to move out, which he did.
Aarah gave Lucio a leather bag filled with coins and said "Thank you for escorting me back to the city. Here is your remaining payment."
Lucio left after thanking her, ignoring the invitation to have dinner with her family.
The only reason he declined the invitation was because he considered noble etiquette as something bothersome and complex. He would not eat in such a complicated way, full of rules, unless it was absolutely necessary.
He walked along a wide road, attracting stares and gazes from people every second.
'I need to heal up and recover...'