"Nanny Lan!"

One of the taller kids ran up the stone stairs and into the mansion, calling out for Nanny Lan excitedly.

After a minute, he walked out of the wooden doors with a hunching middle-aged looking woman by his side. Nanny Lan slowly walked down the stone steps, her messy grey hair rustling with each step.

Seeing that the elderly woman seemed to be struggling with each step, Asura reacted quickly and ran towards her, so that she would not have to walk all the way over to the gates.

Controlling his running speed within the capabilities of a normal 12 year old boy, he had to run for ten seconds before he reached the elderly lady and stopped her from continuing to go down the stairs. "Granny, you don't have to walk all the way over to me, I am still young and have plenty of energy!"

"Wow, this child is so sensible!" Nanny Lan chuckled. Turning to the children, she then said, "Look at yourselves, running around all over the place like animals!" Nanny Lan admonished the children who were all looking at the newcomer, eager to ask him to join their games. Some of them pouted, but they knew that Nanny Lan was not serious, and was only joking.

Turning her head back to Asura, Nanny Lan took a closer look at him, and gasped. "Oh, my... Look at your clothes! Come, winter is coming, we should get you some warm clothes! Poor boy, where did you come from?" Nanny Lan looked at Asura with pity.

It is a very common occurrence for unarmed villages to either be wiped out by magical beasts, or raided by bandits.

"I came from a mountain village..." Asura lied. He was starting to get uncomfortable with the situation, as he was being stared at by dozens of children, so he quickly said, "Granny, is there anything to eat? I am very hungry..." Asura rubbed his stomach, indicating that he was starving.

"Silly me! How could I not realize that! My, you must have lost a lot of weight.... Come, come!" Nanny Lan beckoned, leading Asura towards the mansion.

Entering the mansion, Nanny Lan led Asura towards the Dining Hall, indicating where the bedroms and toilets were on the way. According to Nanny Lan, there are a total of ten bedrooms, each bedroom housing five children.

"The seven occupied bedrooms are already full, but the other three rooms and completely empty. Will you be all right for you to sleep alone?" Nanny Lan asked, worried that Asura would be too scared to sleep alone. If he was, she would have to ask some of the children from other rooms to accompany Asura.

"It's all right, Granny. My parents often went down the mountain to hunt wild animals, and I am already used to living alone." Asura explained. He was pleasantly surprised when Nanny Lan had told him that he had to sleep alone.

After all, he had yet to study the contents of the remaining 4 scrolls he had in his robe. On the way to the City of Blackfire on Sanzu's back, he had already finished memorizing the remaining contents of the 'Elemental Synergy' he had not yet read at the time when Doerba had attacked him, and the 'Mana Sense' scroll, before burning them by transferring fire elemental essences from his hand and into the scrolls.

Four scrolls to go!

"That's good to know. Tonight, you can sleep at Room 8. It's near the end of the hall over there," Nanny Lan pointed towards a hall at a corner.

After eating his dinner which consisted of mainly rice and some side dishes, Asura told Nanny Lan that he felt tired and had decided to go to sleep early.

Within Room 8, there were five beds with clean white mattresses and pillows, added with some decorations and paintings on the walls. The only source of light within the room was a candle and the moonlight seeping through the windows, giving off a feel of gloominess.

Asura had already settled onto a bed with an unrolled scroll in front of him, and was sitting in a meditative position, slowly and steadily pushing out his mana, forming an invisible sphere around him.

'Mana Sense!'

Chapter 17: Burning the Midnight Oil