Kai ran back to his camp with speed that was fast but not fast enough to hurt Mio who was on his back.

"Are you okay?"

Kai asked without turning back.

"Nn."

Mio's voice was weak, her wounds were getting more dangerous.

"Ah, wait."

Kai slowed down his pace then stopped.

"What is it...?"

Mio asked Kai who stopped.

"There are herbs here that should be able to stop the bleeding."

Kai laid down Mio and ran towards some nearby herbs.

"This one is poisonous, this one is poisonous, and that one is also poisonous."

Kai was pointing at a couple of herbs which made Mio feel sweat running down on her forehead.

"Please don't poison me by mistake."

"I won't. Oh, is that it? No, that's also poisonous."

"..."

Mio closed her eyes to try and rest.

"This is it!"

But before she could rest for even a little bit, Kai's voice rang out.

"Now, all I have to do is..."

Kai called on the power of darkness to crush the herbs inside his hand.

"Powdered, now time to rub it on the wounds."

Kai went to Mio who was on the floor.

"I have to rub it on the wounds now."

"Nn..."

Mio turned her head to the side and a small wound was on her cheek.

"This is bleeding pretty badly, must've cut deep."

Kai used two of his fingers and rubbed the powder on her wound.

"Now, this one."

Kai looked at her arm and rubbed the powder on the scratches.

"These wounds are pretty light, why is your state this bad?"

Kai scanned all over her body until it landed on the left side of her stomach.

"There."

Kai began to lift up Mio's clothes which elicited a shriek from Mio.

"Kyaaa! Get away!"

She stopped his hand and slapped Kai.

"Ouch... What are you doing?! I'm trying to heal your wounds!"

"You're stripping me off without permission!"

"...That's true, sorry. So can I lift up your clothes just a bit?"

"..."

Mio turned away from his face and nodded reluctantly.

When Kai had lifted up her clothes, a deep wound was on the left side of her body.

"This is worse than I thought."

"...What is it?"

Mio was turning slightly pink as she asked that but knew it wasn't the time.

"The wound is quite deep, I need the actual herb to cover this. I'll be right back."

Kai stood up and headed towards the herbs once again.

"I should need three at the very least."

Kai came back bringing five of the herbs.

"I'll sprinkle the powder then cover the wound with the leaf, this is gonna hurt so bear with me."

"Nn."

Mio lifted up the clothes on her stomach once more and nodded.

Kai began sprinkling the powder that was in his hand on the wound which elicited a groan of pain from Mio.

"It'll be over soon."

Kai took one of the herbs that looked a bit like leaves and covered the wound.

"Then two more to secure the wound."

Kai covered the entire left side of her stomach with leaves and used some sticky residue from a nearby tree to avoid letting it fall off.

"...This feels gross."

Mio complained when she had stood up.

"It's better than nothing, just get on my back."

Kai lifted her up on his back and began running towards the camp once more.

It took a bit more than half an hour for Kai to get back to the previous spot that he found the trails, Mio had noticed that she had been here before.

"Did you follow my trail?"

"Nn, I jogged for about half an hour before encountering some unusual things so I tried to find the cause. We're about halfway there, I ran to you so I only took about forty minutes before finding you. But, can I ask you a question?"

"Since you saved me, fine."

"The corpses I found were ice-cold but they were certainly just killed, could you perhaps wield the ice attribute?"

Kai asked straightforwardly which caught Mio off guard.

"...Yes."

"Then, how long were the beasts chasing you?"

"...About two days."

"Two days...? How did you manage that?"

"I looked for places I could hide everytime I create a diversion using my ice wall. I managed to escape their pursuit tens of times when I was at my peak, I sliced off a part of their meat and cooked them when I had the chance for food; I don't recommend tasting it."

"You've been through a lot, huh? I'm sorry for making you remember, now let's get back."

Kai increased his pace one more.

A fourth of an hour has passed and Kai had arrived at his camp, nearing the area they could smell the scent of food.

"Food? You aren't alone?"

"Well..."

Kai just laughed it off and didn't answer.

"Reo."

"Kai, who's with you? I sense another presence."

"I found a girl in the forest, she's injured."

"...I see. Humans who don't have enough spiritual power and mind power won't be able to see me so it's fine. You're a special exception though."

Reo didn't disappear and just stayed at the buffet table.

"The food is here..."

"Huh? Weird...hahaha..."

Kai began to act weirdly when they neared the food.

"You didn't arrange it?"

"Uhh...yeah...I made it before I left and added a magic barrier to preserve it."

"It looks freshly cooked though, and I don't sense any magic in the area..."

"Hahahaha..."

Mio raised her eyebrow at Kai's attitude but decided to stop; it was quite rude of her to pressure her host.

"Say, Mio, you should be hungry aren't you?"

"A bit..."

Mio meekly said so, Kai had no delicacy when it came to girls seeing as he grew up with Akane who was almost a guy when it came to attitude, the closest he was to another girl was only with his mother and Yoko.

In his past life, Kai had not interacted with any of them other than required.

"Go eat the food, it's not poisoned or anything so don't worry."

Kai set her down on a log that Kai uses for a chair.

"Just tell me what you want."

Kai had said so and proceeded to eat the food that was laid out before them.

"...Even so, there's still a lot of food. Is anything happening today?"

"Ah, well, I guess. It's my birthday today."

"Ah, sorry for not greeting you. Happy birthday, Kuroshi Kai."

"It's quite alright, thanks."

Kai smiled at her and went back to eating. Mio had only hesitated for a bit before she partook of the feast.

"...Delicious."

"Isn't it? I'm amazed at how good the food is. I wonder how long this was cooked."

"Eh? Didn't you cook it?"

"Uhh, I did, yep."

Kai stuffed the food in his mouth and ate faster to try and avoid the conversation.

After eating, Mio had wanted to rest. Even if it was only the middle of the day, she had been on the run for two days, she was certainly tired.

Kai led her in the cave and provided her a makeshift bed for sleeping.

"You didn't make a bed of your own?"

"No, I always just slept on the floor."

"Judging by how good and how fast you made the bed, you certainly would've lived in comfort."

Oh, that's because a spirit told me to sleep on the floor so that I won't experience comfort and become dull. Although his methods are a bit brutal, I understand what he's talking about. Like hell I could say that!

"I just like sleeping on the floor."

"I see, you're quite weird."

"Hey, Kai."

"Reo?"

"Tell me about her cirmcumstances once she's asleep."

Reo phased through the wall and to Kai's side.

"Alright, but I'll onl-"

Kai stopped his telepathic thoughts when he saw Mio staring at him.

"Eh?"

"Huh?"

Mio let out a sound to which Kai responded with his own.

"Oi, don't tell me."

Reo's voice was heard by Kai, it had disbelief hidden within. Mio's hand slowly raised and his finger pointed at something beside Kai, Reo.

"Eh?"

Kai let out a sound to which Mio asked.

"...What is that...?"

"...What do you mean?"

Kai asked one more to confirm.

"That floating ghost right beside you."

"This one?"

Kai pointed at Reo to confirm once more.

"Nn, that one."

"Ehh..."

"Why is there another one?!"

Reo suddenly yelled.

"Ouch, don't yell in my mind!"

Kai reproached Reo.

"It can speak telepathically...eh?"

Mio was dumbfounded as she looked at Kai and Reo.

"...Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag. This 'floating ghost' here is Reo, a spirit of the darkness attribute and also my contracted spirit."

"A spirit?!"

"Hahaha..."

And with that, another person who could see Reo appeared. After telling her to calm down, Kai began explaining the circumstances.

"Well do you know what spirits are?"

"Yes, I got the basic idea of spirits down by reading some books."

"Well, you know that they need a certain requirement to be seen and touched, right?"

"Nn, one must have sufficient mind and soul power."

"Exactly, for some strange reason; I was able to see him even though my mind and soul power were nowhere near, so he told me that he would like to make a contract to which I accepted."

"Then, how can I see him?"

"We don't even know how I could see him, I don't really get how I could explain why you can see him as well."

"...weird."

"I get you."

"So, since you two can see me; I'll just have to expand my range of telepathy."

"Ah, I can hear it."

"Yeah, spirits have the ability to talk to people like that."

"So the one who made the buffet was that?"

Mio pointed at Reo once more.

"I'm male, you don't have to refer to me as 'it' or 'that'."

"Spirits have genders?"

"Yeah, apparently."

Kai responded to Mio's question with a bit of doubt.

"Then, what are you two doing out in the forest?"

"We should be asking you that but..."

Kai explained on how he ended up in the forest but he hid the information that shouldn't be known, all he told her was that he had the darkness attribute but it went out of control, with the help of Reo, he had snuck out of his clan and into the forest to train himself in hopes that he can prevent a similar event from happening.

"This forest isn't too far from your clan but many people get lost here because of the sheer size of the forest."

"Yeah, I memorized the directions so I can get back anytime. My clan is east from here."

"I see."

"You can stay here as long as you want and when you want to go to my clan, just say the word. I won't accompany you inside though."

"...Did they blame you?"

"I left the clan before I heard anyone's opinions, though I have heard what my parents had to say, they didn't blame me and hoped that I would come back even if I don't suppress the darkness attribute. But now I have a question."

Mio was startled but after inquiring about the other party's secrets, it was only proper manners to reveal one's own when inquired.

"Ask away."

"How do you have the ice attribute? Are you a dual attribute user?"

Mio answered calmly.

"No, I'm what you call an irregular."

"Irregular?"

Kai turned to Reo.

"Dual attribute is a condition when born that two primary attributes will be inside one's body. Sometimes, when a dual attribute user who had unlocked a secondary attribute has a very small chance to get an offspring who has the power of the secondary attribute; everyone calls them irregulars."

"So you can't use any of the primary elements?"

"That's right."

"But aren't secondary attributes stronger than primary attributes?"

"Yes, that is why I'm stronger than any of my peers. Judging by the magic power in your body, I am certain that I am also stronger."

"...I see..."

Kai didn't tell her about his strengthened body because that would reveal one of Reo's secrets, the gravity orb.

"Alright, then I'll let you rest first."

"Nn, I thank you once again."

"No problem."

Kai stepped out of the cave, it was still afternoon so he had quite a bit of freetime.

"You spent your birthday with another human, looks like you aren't alone this year too."

"Nn, thanks for the feast by the way."

"It's only natural, my contractor."