After traveling until nightfall, Glenn decided it was time to make camp and rest for the night. They put a good distance between the location of Joren killing the bandits and where they are currently.
Not wasting any time, Lenny and Pantera decided to use this chance to absorb the mana from the mana stone, hoping to break through. Arnold kept watch while Glenn and Derry went to sleep after setting up their tents.
'Ever since I came to this world, or I guess remembered my past life, I've encountered a lot of opportunities. Gramps helping me escape, Brok giving me the mark of the dwarves, and Gus, who just so happened to be the owner of the meat industry in Bakers Town. A lot of coincidences, like I'm the protagonist of a fantasy novel.'
Joren looked up at the night sky. The moon shined brightly, overshadowing the sparkling dots that accompanied it. He tried to pick out some of the constellations that he knew but couldn't find a single one, making him believe that he was in another part of the galaxy, a whole new galaxy, or in another universe.
'Who am I kidding? All these are protagonist elements. Next, I need to find a tsundere redhead noble girl and everything will come full circle. I mean, I even spoke to some golden glowing lady who's probably a god if I had to guess.'
[So it seems you remember me]
"Holy fuck!" Joren jumped to his feet brandishing his sword, his heart pounding like a drum in his chest.
Arnold went on alert after witnessing Joren's behavior. Even Glenn and Derry woke up thinking something happened while brandishing their weapons.
"Joren, what's wrong? Did something happen?" Arnold asked while Glenn and Derry also looked at him wondering what was going on. Lenny and Pantera didn't react to his outburst, too engrossed in their cultivation.
"N-No, nothing happened. I just thought of something that freaked me out. It seems like killing those bandits is ruining my sleep, heh." He lied. Surprisingly, he didn't feel anything when he killed them and even now he doesn't feel a thing. He thought he would have some trauma from taking a person's life, especially compared to the relatively peaceful era of his past life.
"Ahh, that makes sense. I wanted to talk to you about it eventually. I assumed something like this would happen. Listen Joren, taking a life isn't easy. If you are an honest, respectable person who values the life of others, then it will never be easy taking a life. But you must be strong to push through this hurdle. If you need someone to talk to, don't hesitate to talk to us, we're here for you." Glenn patted Joren on the shoulder and Derry gave him a big hug. Arnold gave a reaffirming nod before going back to keeping watch.
"Thank's Uncle. Sorry for waking you up."
"It's okay. Get some sleep, you'll need it." Glenn headed back to his tent and Derry did the same as well.
Joren sat back down and closed his eyes. He appeared in the black void once more and saw the golden lady in front of him.
"I thought you couldn't see me until I met with your followers after my 16th birthday."
[I thought so as well. My power is very limited where I am so I didn't have the strength to keep communicating with you even if I wanted to.]
"So what are you here for now?"
[I feel a disgusting presence! The presence of one of my captors! I want you to find and eliminate this presence.]
"Woah, woah, woah, slow down lady. You told me that your captors are people that have power similar to you. If I went to attack one of them now, I would die without even knowing what happened. Not only me, but all of my companions will die as well."
[Fret not child, the presence I feel is not my captor. If I had to guess, they are nothing but an apostle.]
"An apostle? As in your captor's worshiper?"
[That is correct]
"Where is this presence you feel? Is it nearby?"
[I feel remnants around this area but it's almost faded. The trail leads north, to the village up ahead.]
"The village? We're headed there in the morning to sell some of the things we took from the bandits. Wait. How do you know there's a village up ahead?"
[Do you question my power, child?]
"No, no, I don't. Sorry if I misspoke." he didn't want to go through the pain of his soul being destroyed again so he apologized immediately.
[Hmph! This is all I wanted to tell you. Once you are close to the presence, I'll be back.]
Joren opened his eyes and was back to reality. He gazed at the stars once more, remembering simpler times.
'Back on Earth, we questioned if there were intelligent life in the universe. Now I'm here on a planet with many humanoid sentient species and where Gods exist. People would think I'm crazy if I told them what happened to me.'
Putting his head down, he decided to get some sleep.
...
"How long until we reach the village?" Yawning, Joren stretched his arms and rubbed his eyes, still crusty from waking up not too long ago.
"We should reach it in about three hours." Glenn replied
"I hope we run into some conflict, I'm dying to test out my newfound strength." Lenny had broken through to the 3rd circle last night and ever since then, he wouldn't stop taking about how he was now the strongest in the group.
"Same! Having a few skulls to crack will definitely be exciting." Pantera broke through to the peak of the 2nd circle and was on the cusp of breathing through to the 3rd.
'Well, you might get your wish when we arrive at the village. I hope they don't make a scene though. It's cool that they broke through but something is bothering me' Joren then asked Derry a question.
"Hey, Derry, mana stones are rich in mana, right? They contain more mana than what a person normally absorbs so why didn't they break through to a higher level? Especially since they had mid-ranked mana stones."
"Oh, that? It's because of the impurities. I'm sure you know that our bodies contain impurities right? Well, because of that, some of the mana from the stone gets eaten by the impurities not allowing for growth akin to the rank of the stone. That's why mainly people in the 5th circle or higher use mana stones and those who aren't don't use it like that." She explained
"Ahh, that makes sense. But shouldn't people still use mana stones? You can literally jump into a higher circle faster than normal."
"That's not how it works. Yes, you can get stronger faster than normal, but your foundation would end up being as fragile as an eggshell. Not only that, but your power would be inconsistent and you could end up hurting yourself. So it's better to build your foundation and make it as strong as it can be before progressing."
'Duh Joren. That's literally what you're doing right now. Although I can break through any time I want, I'm following Gramp's advice of being as strong as I can be before progressing. I'm mentally 20 years old yet sometimes it doesn't feel that way.'
"Thanks, Derry, you're the best!" He gave her a big hug
"Fufu, of course, I am!" She hugged him back and he sat on her lap until they arrived at the village.
...
"Well, this isn't what I was expecting. Is this normal around here or are you all as surprised as I am?" Joren asked
"No, I'm just as surprised as you, I wasn't expecting to see something like this." Pantera agreed
"Well, there goes my chance at finding someone to fight." Lenny shook his head sighing.
"Something is wrong here, the village usually isn't like this. Let's check it out and find the problem." Glenn whipped the reigns and they rode into the empty village that seemed to be devoid of all life.
'Hmm? What's that weird mana I'm sensing? It feels murky and disgusting like it's trying to seep into my soul.' Joren looked at his companions trying to see if they also sensed that weird energy, but they didn't seem to notice anything.
"You guys don't feel that?" he asked, pausing to look around to find the center point of the energy.
"Feel what?" Lenny asked back.
"You guys don't feel that energy? That nasty murky evil feeling energy? It's all around us."
"What are you talking about? Kid you're scaring me!" Lenny grabbed his sword preparing for the worst. Normally, he wouldn't pay any attention to what a kid was saying, but he personally witnessed Joren slaughter a group of bandits by himself so he knew it was a good idea to listen to him when time was needed.
"I don't sense anything. Derry, you're the most mana-sensitive out of all of us, do you sense something?" Glenn stopped the caravan and turned to Derry awaiting her answer.
Derry closed her eyes and focused on her surroundings, feeling every bit of mana in the area. She scanned all over, searching for any traces of foreign energy that matched Joren's description, but it was to no avail.
Shaking her head "No, I don't sense anything out of the ordinary. The only thing that I could sense was that everyone in the village was indoors and wouldn't come outside for some reason. It's like they're avoiding something."
"Pantera, use your magic, see if you can find anything on this strange energy or perhaps some entity that's making these villagers stay inside their homes."
Nodding at Glenn's request, Pantera put her hand on the ground and green energy surged from it.
"What is she doing?" Joren asked
"She's connecting with nature. Since she has the wood element, she can feel the plant life in any area." Arnold, who was quiet this whole time decided to speak up.
"Oh, go it...wait...she has an element? The wood element? How come I never knew this? I thought she only had healing magic."
"Huh? I thought you knew. Didn't Glenn tell you?" Lenny chimed in
"No, he didn't tell me anything." Joren glared at Glenn with a betrayed expression. The reason he was reacting this was because Joren wanted to learn an element but he had no clue where to start. If he had known that Pantera was a wood mage, he would have bombarded her with many questions.
"It's not just her either. All of us have an element. I have Wind, Derry has Water, Arnold has Earth, and Glenn has Fire. That's actually the reason why our mercenary group is so popular." Lenny said, rubbing under his nose with pride
Joren was too stunned at this recent revolution. All of them having elements was not something he would have guessed. Glenn never used it in their training and the others didn't use or mention having an element.
"What the hell man!" Joren shouted in frustration.