Chapter 165 – The Night Before

It still feels like a dream.

Calron placed his hand on the statue and gazed at it while recalling everything that had occurred in the white room.

Instead of finding answers, he had now more questions.

Meanwhile, the bird statue remained still and even the liveliness that Calron felt before from the giant structure had completely diminished. It seemed like it would be awhile before he would get to meet the golden-eyed man again.

I didn’t even ask him for his name.

Calron smiled as he slowly removed his hand from the statue.

Glancing down his body, Calron began to get excited about discovering the changes that resulted from his recent breakthrough to the ninth rank and the new form of the dark metallic bow.

*kat-kat-kat*

Calron summoned the two pieces of metal from his spacial bracelet and the noise of metal sliding against each other echoed in the air as they rapidly transformed into two black mini-crossbows.

Sending a bit of his essence into the weapons, a golden bolt coalesced on each crossbow as Calron took aim at a nearby tree.

The old man might get pissed again.

Calron remembered that earlier today, he had already destroyed a part of the Patriarch’s mansion, so it was probably not a good idea to butcher his trees as well. He did not know the full extent of the power behind the crossbows, hence it was better to aim somewhere else.

Altering his aim towards the sky, Calron let the bolts loose.

*snap*

Under a deathly silence, the bolts shot up into the dark night sky and instantly vanished into the darkness. Calron could not even tell how fast or where the bolts flew towards, as it all happened in the span of a fraction of a second.

What surprised Calron was how silent and fast the crossbows were at the same time, and if an assassin had used them on him, then even Calron was not sure whether he would be able to detect it in time.

Its previous owner was someone who was feared in the Divine Realm itself… 

He recalled the words of the golden-eyed man, and he also remembered the shocked look on Ezkael’s face when his Teacher first saw the dark bow in his possession. 

Calron wanted to experiment more with the dual mini-crossbows, but without a target to practice on, he would not be able to properly gauge their true capabilities. Letting out a tired sigh, he decided to return back to his hut and prepare a few God Tiles for tomorrow morning before sleeping.

“Goodbye, Senior.”

Calron gave a final bow to the massive statue and turned around to leave.

Retracing his steps, Calron eventually detected the path to his hut and treaded towards it. Various thoughts filled his mind, ranging from the Azure Pavilion’s future, how Roran and Ellie were faring, and what his plans were in regards to the Raizel clan. However, the one thought that kept surfacing was the issue that Balis wanted to talk about.

Calron felt guilty about being so consumed in his own affairs, that he did not even give time to Elder Balis for what he wanted to discuss. For some reason, he felt like he had a made a big mistake there.

The first thing that I should do after I leave the First Tower is to meet Elder Balis and listen to what he wanted to talk about.

Calron resolved in his mind.

“Hahaha, I win! One more ale for me, Linda!”

“What!? You clearly cheated at the end! Harol, you saw him use his essence as well, right?”

All of a sudden, Calron heard multiple voices to the right of the bushes when he was nearing his own hut. Curious as to who they were, he quietly walked to the edge of the bushes and parted them slightly so he could peek through.

He was met with the sight of a group of teenagers drinking and playing games around a small bonfire, while a medium-sized cow was being slowly roasted on top of a spitfire. They were the same teenagers that Calron had met in the morning.

“Who’s there?”

A girl’s voice alerted the others, as they quickly stopped what they were doing and stared in Calron’s direction.

I forgot that everyone here has the same abilities as me.

Calron chortled at the thought and stepped out of the bushes. He was not really focused on hiding his presence, so it was no wonder that he was easily detected.

“Oh, it’s you!”

The pony-tailed girl bounced towards Calron and held out her hand.

“I was shocked that there was another Raizel clan member outside of our family, so please forgive me for my rudeness this morning. I’m Linda by the way.”

The auburn-haired girl introduced herself, as the rest of the teens all gathered around Calron.

“Yo, nice fight with Asra this morning! I’m Misha, but everyone calls me Rain here.”

A skinny youth yelled with a grin on his face.

“That’s because your real name sounds like a girl’s one.”

A bulky youth retorted in laughter and scurried away once Rain summoned a thick bolt of lightning above him.

“The Elders will come here if you brazenly call out your lightning in the open. Put it away, Rain.”

A calm voice echoed behind the group, as Asra gradually walked towards the front.

“I came to your hut to invite you, but you were not there. I’ll introduce the others to you one by one, so come and grab a drink!”

Asra patted the smiling Calron on the back and handed him a jug full of ale. 

Following Asra’s lead, everyone settled around the bonfire in a leisurely attitude.

“We usually gather together every week or so in order to relax from the training routine and just discuss various stuff. As long as we don’t cause a ruckus, the Elders don’t mind much.”

Asra spoke while tearing off a piece of meat from the roasted cow and giving half of it to Calron. 

“Everyone is curious about you, so start off by introducing yourself.”

Asra put the other half of the meat in his mouth and slowly chewed it, while the other teens’ eyes glowed in anticipation of Calron’s tale. He was the first member of the clan to come from the outside, and they were all curious about his origins, especially after seeing his astonishing strength when he faced off Asra.

Taking a long gulp of his ale, Calron wiped his mouth against his shoulder and put the jug down on the ground.

“My name is Calron… ”

The warm light from the fire covered the teenagers’ faces, as they all silently listened to the starting story of Calron and his journey.

Unknown to the youngsters, even the Elders of the clan were listening to this tale from the shadows.

………………………………..

Inside a colorful and ornate bedroom, a young girl who appeared to be around sixteen years old, stood near her window as she gazed at the starry night above. Her simple and plain white dress was a stark contrast to the rest of her lavishly decorated room.

*thak thak*

A knock sounded on the door, but the young girl’s eyes remained fixed on the scenery above.

“Did my little girl miss her daddy?”

A cheerful voice came from behind her, as a blonde-haired man rushed up to the young girl and began to tickle her sides.

The concentration on the girl’s face was broken by the outburst of giggles and yells, as she tried to struggle out of her father’s grasp.

“I’m not a little baby anymore, father!”

The red-faced girl pouted while folding her hands, as she glared at her father.

“Haha, you’ll always be my baby!”

The man fondly patted the head of the young girl.

“Father, do we need to have a big celebration tomorrow? I want to celebrate my sixteenth birthday with just our family… ”

The girl jumped on her bed face-down and muttered through the bed sheet.

“I wish we could do that, but custom dictates that we have to do a public celebration.”

The blonde man sat down on the bed and answered in a gentle voice.

“Why do we have to follow this custom?”

The girl complained without lifting her head.

“Because you are the princess of the kingdom, and it is my duty as the king to make sure that our traditions are not broken.”

The man chuckled, as he got up and walked towards the window where his daughter was just standing.

I have a bad feeling… 

The king hid this foreboding thought from his daughter and closed his eyes.

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