Night was completely different compared to daytime. During the day, the forest had been filled with life and sound, but now it was dark and quiet, and strangely, Arah got the slight feeling that he was being watched, and he was sure the sleeping Kren could feel it too, but he simply ignored it.
The only sound that Arah could hear was the rhythmic breathing of Kren, who could somehow, through the creepiness of this forest, sleep, and the small tremors of the gigantic tiger caused by walking.
His body had rested somewhat, and his fatigue was mostly gone, surprisingly. The scratch marks he had received from the monkey were already healed. They looked like they had gone through days of healing already and were starting to fade.
It must have been related to the ability that was written on the floating letters. He closed his eyes and felt a slight shift in his body, and when he opened his eyes again, they were there already.
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Name- Arah KianthuAge-13Rank- UnawakenedInnate Trait-Purifying bloodSoul Weapon-Spear
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He had been experimenting with these letters for the past few minutes. He knew how to bring them up and make them fade. Not only that, but he had tried to identify how that shift in him kept happening and how, but could not.
Kren had called it Athena, the last gift of the gods. How powerful were the gods to be able to create something like this, something that knew every single piece of your information down to the age and abilities?
The other thing he discovered about the letters is that when he focused his attention on one of the descriptions, it would become more detailed.
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Age- 13
Description: Your bones and flesh are 13 years old.
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The descriptions were mostly vague and weren't too detailed. Well, most of them. He then looked at his innate ability, and his eyes had a strange glint.
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Innate Trait- Purifying blood
Description: Your blood closes wounds faster, your immune system is stronger, high poison resistance, higher blood efficiency, lower chance of bleeding out.
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This was the reason he was healing faster than normal. It was honestly a terrifying ability. At least he knew that he wouldn't bleed out and lose too much blood during fights. And he seemed to have a higher resistance towards poison, although that was not something he wanted to test out any time soon.
His attention then landed on the soul weapon description.
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Soul Weapon-Spear
Description: A weapon that embodies the soul, the mind, and the body...
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Not much was said, but a lot of things were answered. Like how the spear had been with him in the egg. It would also explain why the spear was the only weapon he had found, since in his last life he spent a majority of it perfecting his art in the spear.
One of his proudest achievements was when he had split the sky and divided the heavens with a swing of his spear.
'Ahhh... the good old days...'
One of the things he didn't understand was how this weapon embodied his soul, since it was weak... well, looked weak, but he assumed it was due to his loss in power. Staring at it for a while, he sighed. He turned his attention to the last, but also the most surprising, description.
His name.
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Name- Arah Kianthu
Description: "Burn... burn... BURN EVERYTHING TO ASH... teach them that the light bringer does not always bring good news..." he said as he grabbed his leg... "Teach them... teach... them." The man turned to ash.
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He stared at the description and sighed. He didn't know what to make of this. It seemed that the letters didn't just describe what it was, but its history as well? Was this a description for his name now, or when it belonged to the sun god? From what he was reading, the man might have been one of the cult members, or simply someone else close to the sun god.
Really, everything about this name was ominous.
He was snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed Kren's rhythmic breathing stop, and soon the tiger halted as well.
He looked at him as he got up from his bed. He looked at the forest for a moment in silence.
"Is something wrong?"
"Shhh."
He did a shushing motion, signaling him to stop talking. He closed his eyes, and for a second, Arah could see them twitch. He suddenly opened his eyes with a wide grin on his face.
"Heheh, I found our dinner, kid."
Before he could say anything, Kren vanished from sight.
'He's ridiculously fast for a man his size.'
He turned in the direction he assumed Kren had gone. He could not see anything in the pitch blackness. Soon, however, the silence was broken by something cracking in the distance, and a few moments later, he reappeared, this time holding two rabbits the size of a dog, grinning.
He weighed them with his arms a bit, then threw a glance at him. He coughed a bit to clear his throat and pointed at the smaller rabbit.
"Uhh... you take the smaller one, kid... you might not be able to finish it...uhh i will take the larger one"
'Just say that you want more...'
He sighed and nodded.
A few minutes later, a camp was set, and a bonfire was lit. The darkness of the forest instantly retreated.
"Are... you sure beasts won't sense us?"
Kren waved his hand dismissively as he set the rabbits on a skewer.
"Don't worry, kiddo, we already left the Beast forest. We are simply in a normal forest right now. Nothing dangerous usually lives here."
He wasn't completely wrong. The feeling of being watched had reduced but not gone.
"We... are being watched."
Kren stared at him and smiled.
"Oh... you got sharp senses, but don't worry, kiddo. Those beasts won't attack us, they are to weak to cause a problem they aren't suicidal. And if they are, Kiki will take care of it."
He pointed at the large tiger that had been staring at them.
"Won't you, Kiki?"
The tiger only let out a low growl.
Arah looked at the tiger. He had been examining it during the ride.
Kiki was not a normal beast like the others. Yes, he did emit the same pressure as the others, but it was different. While the other beasts had released an energy that felt savage, Kiki was different. The energy he released was overwhelming, but it was tame, controlled, and from the looks of it, Kiki had humanlike intelligence.
"Your tiger... Kiki, what is it? A tamed beast?"
Kren stared at him and smiled.
"Oh, Kiki? He's my soul beast, born from my soul."
Arah looked at him with interest.
"Soul beast?"
Kren nodded and continued.
"Yes, he's basically like your soul weapon over there. Everyone has a soul, you see. Well, the soul chooses to manifest in forms you see."
Kren pointed at him.
"Take you for example. Your soul weapon is a spear, so if you awaken, you will be called a soul weapon master. I am a soul beast master, because my soul formed a beast. Other people can form other things as well. Like tools, such as a hammer, a pair of scissors, a fan, you name it!"
He got up to spin the rabbit skewer.
"When your soul releases one of these, usually at the age of four or five, they remain with you. You also get something called an innate ability. It's something different from your awakened ability. It's a power you can use without the need of using soul energy. And the power you can use is usually based on the element you have or tool."
Kren then gave the skewer to him and put the other one on to cook. He remained quiet, absorbing all the information he had just learned.
"Then... can you have more than one?"
Kren laughed at his question.
"Oh no. No one can have more than one soul beast, weapon, or tool. You would need to have two souls or something like that for that to be possible, and people only have one!"
So he could only wield his spear. It wasn't like he was planning on switching weapons in this life, still...
"Can... you use other weapons?"
Kren nodded.
"Yes, you can use other types of none soul weapons if you want, but there is no guarantee you will learn how to use it faster than your soul weapon. After all, it was tailored for your soul."
He chewed on the rabbit meat... it was burnt. He sighed and asked his next question.
"You... don't use any?"
Kren laughed again.
"Oh, I do use a weapon i just don't have it on me right now. After all, unlike soul weapon masters, I can't rely on my beast all the time."
Kiki gave a low growl.
"No offence, Kiki, but you won't be much help if I was facing more than one enemy."
Kiki seemed to... pout?
"So... you going to finish that?"
He looked at the burnt rabbit and passed it to him.
Silence returned as Kren stuffed his mouth with the two rabbits.
"Is... Kiki going to eat?"
Kren put a rib in his mouth, and a second later, he spit out the bone.
"Soul beasts don't eat like the other beasts need to. He mostly feeds on some of my soul energy."
After a while, Kren got up and turned off the fire.
"Any more questions, kiddo?"
"Actually—"
"Never mind, too tired... we will talk in the morning... try to get some sleep... Night!"
He instantly went inside the caravan.
'Didn't... you just wake up?'
He sighed in irritation. Well, it couldn't be helped. He went inside the caravan and laid his back against its wall.
He didn't want to sleep. But even so, his mind was pretty tired, so he did the next best option to rest his mind.
Meditate.
It was a state where he could rest his mind and organize his memories while remaining aware of his surroundings. He had found it weird how he could not remember his old name and had decided to see the reason why it was happening, as well as to see if any other memories had been compromised.
He closed his eyes and slowed down his breathing rate. From the outside, it looked like he was sleeping, and Kren glanced in his direction. When he noticed this, he sighed and also closed his eyes.
Soon his breathing was matching Arah's, but the difference was that he was actually asleep.
The caravan continued to travel in the darkness of the forest.