With the power of ki and his Shadow Steps, Lowen jumped over the crowd of people and landed in front of this young man with the now crushed eye.

Looking at this man roaring in anger, Lowen smiled and said.

"It was me, so what?"

The people in the crowd were completely confused. This was the weird child who had just come to their village only yesterday. His parents had been murdered by bandits and he miraculously made his way off the mountain before he finally found this village. He seemed completely without emotion just a day ago but now he was harming people and smiling about it. The villagers all had similar thoughts.

(This boy threw the rock; Why? Is he crazy?)

Nia, however, saw Lowen's confident smile and a sense of calm washed over her. Seeing this young boy who seemed to make things right with just his presence, her raging emotions began to melt away into nothing.

The roaring man seethed with anger, Looking at this small boy, he couldn't understand why this kid threw a rock at him. What animosity did they share for this boy to destroy his eye? Covering the left side of his face with his hand, with a resentful tone, he spoke slowly thru his teeth.

"You......Little......FUCK! Why did you throw that rock?"

Lowen's expression didn't change in the slightest, instead, he looked over the crowd and spoke in a loud yet childish voice.

"You tried to hurt my friend so I hurt you."

The crowd of onlookers was slightly confused.

(Did he mean Nia, was she his friend? He permanently harmed a villager over a traitors daughter.)

The young man was enraged, he yelled out.

"Friend, what friend? Are you talking about this thief and traitor? You ruined my eye for this little wench."

Lowen gave no more than a simple nod. His actions seemed simple on the surface, but his motives were more than just helping Nia. He also wanted to seek out the truth behind Roland. Ever since Lowen came to this village, he could feel a certain energy coming from all the villagers. With Lowen's senses he could feel tiny specks of it emanating from within them all, but from one of them, their energy seemed vastly greater. If each of the villager's energy was no more than a few specks of dust in size then Chief Rolands was the size of a small fist, the difference was like night and day. Lowen could feel that greater energy nearby as more and more people gathered around. It seemed Roland had made his way somewhere in the crowd but instead of coming out, he observed silently. Lowen decided to show a bit of skill to see how Roland would react, in this way he would teach this villager who attacked Nia a lesson and at the same time hopefully come to understand Roland a bit more. As the saying goes, he would kill two birds with one stone. First, he had to provoke this villager a little more but looking at the man with the crushed eye already on the verge of losing it, the task would not be too difficult.

As Lowen simply smiled and nodded at the villager with the crushed eye, the man grew more and more enraged. Lowen slowly helped Nia up and asked with a warm smile.

"Nia are you ok? This idiot didn't hurt you, did he?"

As Lowen said that he whispered into Nia's ear. "Nia help me provoke him."

Nia's looked slightly confused before she nodded in affirmation. While she didn't know what Lowen wanted to do, she had already decided to trust him. As she smiled back at Lowen she said loudly.

"I'm fine, that idiot only knocked me to the ground. Thankfully that idiot is an idiot, otherwise, I'd really be in trouble."

Lowen continued to nod in agreement while listening to Nia's every word.

"Yep, he's an idiot ."

At the same time, the villager was growing more and more enraged. The two were completely ignoring him while at the same time insulting him, finally, he shouted.

"You little shits, you're actually calling me an idiot. Nia, you do realize no one in this village would be upset if I killed you a traitor's daughter and you boy. Since your parents are dead already, who will come looking for you? You've already ruined my eye, so its only fair if I ruin one of yours, hehe."

But to these words, Lowen just looked at him as though he were an idiot.

"Ah, you really are an idiot, how can shit call you an idiot, only an idiot would think shit can actually talk, idiot. *Sigh* How can an idiot like you exist."

The villager's sword trembled in his hand. Although Lowen and Nia were just kids, he was being insulted again and again. His eye was completely smashed and now he was insulted in front of nearly the whole village, this villager finally snapped.

"AAAHHHHH, I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!"

With that roar, the villager lifted his sword high above his head and rushed at Lowen. Some of the villagers were actually enjoying the show , but when this happened, things quickly took a dark turn. A few men were about to step out and put a stop to it. Although most of them didn't care about Nia, due to her father's actions, when it came to Lowen they held no hatred. Even when he had smashed this young man's eye, the ones that saw that understood he did it for his friend. They didn't care for Nia but for their friend, many of them would have done the same thing. Before anyone could intervene it was already too late. Many of the villagers felt a bit of pity for Lowen, while still, others felt nothing one way or the other and some simply thought.

(Well, that's what happens when you keep provoking someone. Even the weakest person would lose their shit if they kept being pushed.)

Even when the sword was swung at her earlier, Nia held no fear but now that the swords target was Lowen and not her, she immediately grew worried for him but in the end, she found that her worry was completely unneeded. As the sword slashed down at Lowen's head, Lowen had already been prepared. Using his Shadow-Steps, Lowen skilfully twisted his body sideways and took a single half a step backward. As he did, the sword passed right in front of his nose by more than an inch and slashed the dirt in front of his feet. At this moment, a pair of emerald green eyes stared out from within the crowd observing silently. Some of the villagers were shocked that the young man missed while others began to yell out.

"Greg, stop this foolishness at once."

"Yea, stop before you really hurt the boy. It was you who started this nonsense, the Chief would not condone this."

This young villager named Greg ignored them. With his anger overflowing, there was no way he could stop, not now. But before he could even lift his sword to swing again, a small tiny fist came out of nowhere. Lowen with His Snake-Fist punched out, quickly hitting Greg's wrist. Although Lowen's physical power was nothing compared to a full grown adult, a person's weak point was a person's weak point and with this strike to Greg's wrist, it caused him to drop his sword before he knew what hit him. But it wasn't over. Lowen followed this punch with another one straight into Greg's balls. This caused Greg to collapse to his knees in pain while he held onto his grapes for protection but with Greg's body lowered it was now the perfect height for Lowen to finish up. With ki already gathered in his abdomen all the way down to his feet, Lowen spun sharply delivering a powerful kick to the man's temple. With this kick, the man's body fell over limp like a ragdoll, face down in the dirt. The crowd froze on the spot and silence filled the air. On each and every one of their faces, an expression of true shock appeared. Even the other village children were stunned with silence.

After what seemed to be minutes went by, finally, someone shouted.

"Amazing, Lowen! You're incredible. No wonder you could survive so long in the mountains by yourself. How did you learn to fight like that? You even dodged his sword. How do you even move like that? Weren't you scared at all?"

Nia was pulling on Lowen's small arm while praising him. Besides her father, she had never seen someone move like that and on top of that, he defeated him in only three blows. Nia's heart was racing with excitement, she suddenly thought.

( If only I could do that.)

After Nia's shouting, everyone seemed to come back to reality. Some of them looked at Lowen with a bit of fear while others were filled with questions. Just how can a child do that. Is this how he survived the mountains. The crowd began to grow loud talking over one another. No one even seemed to care about the young man named Greg lying in the dirt. Lowen wondered if no one would seek revenge.

(Hmm, no one seems to care much for this Greg fellow. I guess he's not important. Maybe that's why he was so eager to kill Nia. He probably thought if he killed a burden for the village, people would praise him or his reputation might go up, but no ones even coming to check on him.)

Lowen's thoughts were correct. This young man had no family in this village and was considered a cheat and scum. The only reason he had not been kicked out of the village yet, is that he hasn't done anything against the village or broken any laws. Had he actually killed Nia, who knows whether hed be punished or praised.

Lowen looked at the fish on the ground, it was caked in mud and dirt. In order to trade it, he would first need to take it back to the river to be cleaned. When it came to caught fish if you don't have it on ice then your suppose to throw it away after 2 hours. So Lowen figured if he hurried, then he could quickly be back with time to spare. The only part that worried him were these villagers. After what just happened, plus their attitude towards Nia, they probably wouldn't be up for a trade unless they greatly reduced how much food they were asking for. Lowen was irritated but the situation was still somewhat manageable. As Lowen thought about all this, suddenly, he heard Nia shout.

"Ahh look out!"

But it was too late. As Lowen turned around, the man that was lying face down in the dirt had already gotten to his feet and grabbed Lowen in a bear hug and as he squeezed with his full strength, Lowen felt one of his ribs on his left side break, causing him to scream out in pain.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!!"

The onlookers were shocked by this scream. Hearing a child scream in pain was, of course, one of the most harrowing things to hear, let alone witnessing it happen first hand. Two of the onlookers quickly ran out of the crowd to help Lowen. Greg saw them coming over and yelled out.

"Everyone back, if any of you dare to come near, then I'll fold his back in half."

The few people who ran out quickly stopped and backed up. No one could believe what they were witnessing. This man had gone mad.

Nia was unable to help in the slightest and became terrified for Lowen. She had just met him but she already cared for him. She had already lost her parents, she didn't know what she would do if she now lost Lowen as well.

"You all just watched as this kid humiliated me, now you'll all watch as I humiliate him."

Greg looked down at Lowen and grinned maliciously.

"You little shit, I only wanted one of your eyes earlier but now ill be taking them both."

As Lowen suppressed his screams of pain, his mind filled with fury.

(Fuck, my rib is broken, fuck fuck fuck. I shouldn't have dropped my guard. Why did I not make sure he was out completely. Because of that one mistake, this fucking weakling has crushed one of my ribs. Damn, I wanted that Roland to show some of his cards and yet he still hasn't made a move, fine then, ill stop holding back.)

Lowen circulated his ki to the utmost before launching his head forward like a huge rock.

*Bam*

Lowen head-butted Greg directly in the nose breaking it in many places. Blood gushed out like a fountain and Greg's grip loosened greatly. With this, Lowen's hands were free. With his palms filled with ki Lowen slapped the sides of Greg's ears with full force as though he was slapping a drum. Two minuscule pops were heard and once more Greg started to bleed, this time from his ears. With this, Greg's eyes had already rolled up into his head, he was out for real this time. But that wasn't enough, not for Lowen. It had been many decades since he last felt such rage and since he hasn't mastered the fourth stage of ki manipulation the [Mind-Stage], he wasn't completely in control of his emotions.

No longer conscious, Greg's arms fell silently to his sides. And as his body started to fall as well, Lowen had already gathered ki into his right fist once more and located the perfect target, Greg's throat. Lowen had truly lost control of his emotions and was ready to crush Greg's windpipe finishing him once and for all. As Lowen launched his fist forward, in his mind he roared.

(SNAKE-FIST!!!)

With this attack, Greg should have died instantly but although Lowen was right in front of him and although he punched out with his fastest speed before his fist made contact, a wall of Flame 6 feet high and 6 feet wide instantly formed between the two. A tall older man walked out from the crowd. As he stood there looking at Lowen with his pair of bright emerald green eyes, Roland spoke with authority.

"That's enough."