"Nux, how are you feeling?" Mr Nicole asked with a smile on his face.
Mr Nicole had tiny, almost unseeable wrinkles at the sides of his eyes, a beard that circled around his mouth and aligned with his side hair, brown hair that was short and combed smoothly, a pair of thick glasses, and had by his side, a cane. Nux couldn't see how tall he was because he was seated, but from the bodies memories, Mr Nicole was a tall man with ripped muscles.
"I feel better." Nux replied, before his facial expression changed to one of overwhelming sadness. "Although, I don't think I'm okay, mentally."
Mr Nicole sighed. "Come take a seat." Nux did as told and sat down on a soft chair situated opposite Miss Moraya.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Mr Nicole asked calmly. Nux replied by shaking his head lightly, still with the sad smile.
"Tea?" An outstretched arm entered his view. Nux looked up and saw Miss Moraya with a cup of tea stretched to him, he smiled and accepted it.
Nux took whiff of the tea and immediately fell in love with the aroma, he savoured the smell for some seconds before taking a sip, as soon as the first drop of the tea touched his tatse buds, he shuddered in ecstasy.
Miss Moraya smiled at the reaction. "It's one of the recipes I got from my Soul Book. You like it?"
"I.. I.. love it." Nux said in between large gulps. This caused Miss Moraya to laugh cutely and Mr Nicole to smile.
When Nux emptied the contents of the cup, he realized that he had forcefully stopped the conversation due to him downing the tea in large mouthfuls. He suddenly felt embarrassed by his actions.
"I'm sorry for the unsightly behaviour." Nux bowed his head slightly and smacked his lips discretely, still savouring the wonderful taste of the tea.
"No need to apologize, you haven't eaten anything have you? I will not be surprised if you devour a Mountain Ox right now." Mr Nicole joked. If only he knew that Nux was suppressing his hunger.
Nux's belly growled fiercely, confirming Mr Nicole's words, causing him to smile wryly and look away too embarrassed.
"Moraya." Mr Nicole called out. She nodded her head, understanding what he needed from her.
Moraya conjured her Soul Book and once again spoke some words. Out from the book, several items formed from a myriad of green sparks.
The items were placed neatly on a round table a little to their right, and right before Nux's eyes, Moraya began to cook.
__________
A few minutes later, Nux was wiping his mouth clean with a clothing. The meal was delicious, and he could feel his mind feel clearer. Not that his mind wasn't clear before, but his body was still reacting to the death of his 'father'.
Nux was brimming with energy, no doubt, it was the work of the utensils and ingredients used to prepare the meal.
Just like the body's mother, Miss Moraya was a Plant/Life user. Her specialty was healing, be it physical injuries, mental injuries, or even soul injuries, she was capable of healing them all. And the tools she used were beast equipments made specially for her.
Nux was still baffled at the power she had, if he could just awaken his Soul book, then he could wield that kind of power too.
He knew how powerful his father was when he awakened the Green Gila Monster Soul Beast. His poison abilities were able to kill a full grown men in seconds just by taking even a single drop.
Still, that didn't matter when he faced off the bandit leader, his fire abilities were truly a perfect counter to his poison, and the body Nux was in was just a random martial artist without any boost from a Treasure or his Soul Book, although he was still able to defeat some bandits who had awakened with his skills.
The body intended to awaken his Beast Soul when he reached the next kingdom, but that ambition was short-lived when he faced a real awakened for the first time in his life.
"Nux!" He heard Mr Nicole and turned his attention to him. "Your mother.. she heard about what happened to you and your father." Nux felt his heart beat increase all of a sudden, the body was reacting again.
"She thought the both of you had died..."
"Is she alright?" Nux heard himself say. He didn't know why he was reacting, he didn't feel as if his body was being controlled by someone else, but he was feeling worried about the bodies mother.
Perhaps he and the body had merged which made him feel and understand the emotions like they were his own.
"She's alright." Mr Nicole said, Nux sighed. "Though she's in a coma."
Nux felt his head spin for a second, he felt like his head had been struck with a hammer and nail several times in a row, driving him to unconsciousneds. He clenched his chest and gasped for air, oxygen had become scarce all of a sudden.
Miss Moraya immediately shot up from her chair, manifested her Soul Book and conjured a flower, she tore off a petal and placed it over his chest.
The petal dissolved like salt in water, and entered his body. Nux soon felt his heart beat return to its normal rhythm and oxygen finally finding him.
"That was close." Miss Moraya mumbled. "Try to regulate your breathing."
Nux listened, he new that he had just survived a heart attack. He initially wanted to let the emotions out to make them look as real as possible to throw off any suspicions they had on him, but what he didn't expect was to actually have a heart attack!
"Your mother is stabilized by the best healers we have in the kingdom, her guild is taking good care of her, but it seems like she needs some things to help her wake successfully. And they are as rare as Supreme Level Beasts." Mr Nicole said while rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"I'll do anything to save her, she's the only one I have left." Nux said with pleading eyes.
"You can't even procure the easiest material. So the first thing to do if you want to be of help... Is to get stronger."