“What’s this Alfrick? How can it be alive after seeing it die after being pierced by a sword from its neck” Olen nervously said.

“Feimshall was subduing the monster after seeing it refusing to admit defeat,” Aflrick replied shaking his head.

“What!” as he stared stupefied at Alfrick's helpless expression, looking like someone who had just been fed with a dog food.

“Let’s just hope it's not a naked yeti,” Olen flustered at the image of naked yeti floating from his head with trembling legs as he silently prayed that it might be just his imagination playing with his head.

Worrying about his sanity, Olen shrugged it off and forcefully ingrained a happy thought of a Yeti covered in its thick fur of snow.

Walking to the area where the sound was at, Olen whistled its own companion, Metatron. Just in case the Yeti might show up with a fight as soon as they reached toward its dwelling.

Reaching the backyard of the [Town Hall] where the sign of the trails leading to, Olen silently prayed for his sanity and clenched his fist.

Despite having reincarnated as an Old Man, well, ironically also his past life. Olen somehow still retained a mentality that resembled that of a child due to the illness he suffered through most of his life. Resigning to the vast expanse of the fictional world he had reminisced throughout the time he spent his years reading fantasy books in his life.

'My past is nothing but an image of my mind now, if I keep having these thoughts as I was before. Then it won’t be any different from a man walking toward a pit with his eyes peered open. I need to accept the reality in front of me, or else I'll be blindly jumping into anything that surprises me'

Olen shook off his thoughts and glanced at the surroundings in front of him. Realizing that he had reached the area where the trail led to. He found himself in disbelief as he saw the location of the sound was just the backyard of their [Town Hall]

And worst of all, a yeti standing a meter tall was lying before in the middle of rubbles of stones, mindlessly devouring at the scattered stones amidst the ground.

Strangely enough, a peculiar swarm of energy surged all around its body as it consumed the stones in front of it growing stronger by a second as it kept munching the energy amassed within the stone lingering around its body.

Noticing the changes, Alfrick drew out his sword but was suddenly stopped by a hand, as they felt it was not a good option to further provoke it since the Yeti had already become too strong for them to handle its strength.

Olen trembled at the Yeti intimidating aura in front of him, as the size of its height doubled since the time they met it a while ago. However, Olen left a breath of relief upon seeing the Yeti still had its own fur covered throughout its body.

Olen silently took a step back and shot a glance at Alfrick, staring deep into his eyes, grabbing his shoulder away from the Yeti. After arriving at a relatively safe distance, Olen took a deep breath and looked at Alfrick, and said, “If what you said is true about the competition between that fool and Yeti, then that idiot might have a chance to salvage the situation,”

“It would have been easier if that damn idiot just killed it” Olen rubbed his temple and continued with a grim look written on his face.

“Alfrick, call that damn idiot over here, also do me a favor, if you still find that idiot still sleeping, look for an ice anywhere and place it back on his body”

While waiting, Olen took his time and strolled outside the vicinity of the town hall. He glanced over his surroundings and looked at the rocks scattered everywhere outside the zone. Recalling the encounter earlier ago, Olen inspected the stone and pondered over it.

The stone resembles that of a withered stone painted with a decayed hue of black and grey, emanating a baleful aura reminiscent of a dead object that was once brimmed with life, while a streak of energy made of gold outlined beneath the surface of its exterior.

Olen realized it might be the reason why the Yeti managed to increased its strength to a tier. Feeling uneasy, he felt hesitant to grab the stone in front of him. But the temptation of having his strength left him only to grow stronger and stronger. Eventually succumbing to it because of the recent events giving him no choice but to grab the stone.

Olen looked at his own hands in doubt, but shook his head and decisively crumbed the stone placed in its palm, as the energy surged from the stone and broke into pieces, and dispersed into his veins.

Olen felt something running through his body, as he sensed the sliver of its energy coursing through the unknown parts of his body.

Soon, a blurry figure emerged from his mind, portraying an image of a silhouette moving gracefully as its steps fused to the wind and nimbly dodged the silhouette in front of it. The images repeated in his memory countless times until the image of the two silhouettes blurred into nothingness.

[You have assimilated a shard through the process]

[You have gained a proficiency [Agility]

[Your understanding toward your proficiency [Agility] has increased subtly]

[Your understanding toward [Essence] has increased subtly]

[You have gained an [Essence]

“As expected, my guess was correct. There’s more to this place than I thought” Olen thought.

Olen heaved a deep breath and recollected the experience he had gained from the images seen from his memory. He looked over his arm and felt the changes brimming within his body. Trying out his newfound strength. Olen threw a punch through the air, as he saw a slight bump of wind formed right after throwing the punch.

Olen shook his head, he might have indeed increased his strength to a level, but the strain of his Old age still heavily put his actions to a limit. However, he was truly glad that the Essence had lengthened his stamina and his movements to a certain degree. Giving him more opportunities to further exert his strength.

Adapting to the experience he had gained from his memory. He suddenly hear a sound of moving footsteps treading over the snow coming toward him.

“Liege, I have completed per your request, the captive is now under the mercy of your hands my liege,” Alfrick said, bowing and while holding a block of ice melting in his left hand.

Olen's mouth twitched, for a second thought, he was sure that it had to do with the other figure they captured a long night ago. But right after seeing the ice melting in Alfrick's hand. Olen already knew the captive Alfrick was referring to... It was none other than Feimshall.

‘What captive, that’s our companion, your companion!’

“Where is he?”

“He should be here by any moment and speaking of the Ice trick liege. I shall humbly keep this in mind and accept this knowledge and use it for future arrangements” Alfrick replied with unwavering loyalty.

*cough*

‘Having an idiot is one thing, but to have you as well, sigh… why can’t I just have a normal conversation for once in my life’

Sometime later, following footsteps could be heard coming near them. The man wore a breastplate and a blue scarf wrapped over his shoulder, and a helmet resembling that of a knight with criss-cross outlined between the center of his two golden eyes. Meanwhile, a goblin stood behind the man, cowering while looking deep in fear at Alfrick's intimidating aura. The goblin snarled and threatened the man in front of it, voicing out its fear and hostility.

“Hmph, Feimshall, you better take care of that mutt of yours before it loses its hand”

“Bah, don’t think I forgot what you just did a moment ago” Feimshall angrily remarked.

Olen knew that if he didn't meddle in this situation, there’s a high chance that two of the warriors would escalate it to a fight. And considering Feimshall's simple attitude and Alfrick indifferent bearing. There’s no doubt both that with their two conflicting personalities will drag the bickering into a mess.

Having to live the vicissitudes and the suffering of life. Olen had developed a keen perception of the people around him. And from the moment Alfrick began to manifest his strict and cold character. He already knew that one way or another, Feimshall would cross daggers with him.

It seems fate decided to play tricks on him. Having reincarnated as an Old man with supernatural abilities is fine, but to have two adult men suffering from amnesia and acting like a child. He might as well die in old age than to leave a bag of bones like him to look after two children crying over a cube of ice.

‘And speaking of amnesia’

“You two! there’s no point in arguing anymore. Alfrick's decision was my decision, end of story” Olen said with an air of authority.

“Hmph, luckily you made the right decision, otherwise I’ll do it myself,” Feimshall said.

Hearing Feimshall's speech of declaration only made Olen rub his head in frustration.

“Alright, since the two of you are here, especially you Feimshall. I’m going to have to ask you both with a question—”

Olen then firmly stared at their eyes “Who are you? And why do you obey me unconditionally?”

The two of them looked at each other bewildered, but afterward, both of their eyes shone with an agreement and nodded together. And pointed their fingers in the same direction where the Rift shard was located.

Alfrick moved forward as he looked at Olen with confusion gleaming in his eyes “Liege, the moment you stepped to the “Gate of souls” the souls that lingered around the crystal responded to your presence.

Feimshall continued and nodded, “To be more exact, a presence between you and the crystal merge together, forming a connection from an unknown presence within the crystal urging us to follow you.

“The light it says,”

“Light… So are you saying that you are a soul guided by a presence?” Olen said as he closed his eyes and thought for a moment of the silhouette that appeared in his memories.

“We were once a soul but…”

"Until that crystal turned us into shards and got absorbed by it. The essence of our souls seems to be different from others and somehow mitigated the effects of the crystal which changed us into something else,'' Alfrick replied.

Feimshall continued “I believe we are not entirely an entity, but an entity created by the crystal using our past personality to create us into a whole. Which is why most of our memories are scattered due to the countless fragments merged together so an idea could persist and merge as an existence”

“Whether or not we are loyal, our soul is bound to the crystal, especially to the ones who hold it,”

“I see…” Olen said as he thought of the recent events that transpired between the three of them. He still felt stifled inside at the ridiculousness of the event that had transpired since the moment he got sent into this world. But considering how the world looks right now, he shook his head.

Everything might have been unbelievable so far. But he knew, when he reached out his hand from the sky, he thought—

'Sigh… so this is now my reality'