In the morning, Mike woke up because of the sunlight. He got up and looked around, seeing the old man sitting on the wagon as he prepared to depart.
When Mike saw the old man, he looked up at him with sleepy eyes and asked: “Is it already time?”
The old man nodded his head and said: “Yeah, we need to start moving now. If we don't depart early in the morning, we won't be able to reach the capital within a day.”
Mike nodded his head in agreement, and suddenly, his stomach protested.
The old man heard it, looked at Mike while smiling, and asked: “Are you hungry?”
Mike touched his stomach and replied shyly: “Well, I guess. Yes, I think the soup barely suppressed my hunger last night.”
The old man tossed a beef steak, saying: “I can share some of my snack with you.”
Mike caught it and expressed his gratitude: “Thank you, old man.”
Seeing this, the old man only nodded his head and commanded: “Now let's go; we need to start moving now.”
Mike agreed, and he then jumped beside the old man.
While Mike and the old man were traveling, Mike checked the snack that the old man tossed to him. When he opened it, he was surprised to find out that it was a meat or a beef steak.
Mike looked at the old man and asked: “Hey, old man, what about the soup when you have meat?”
The old man replied while still looking forward: “Nights are cold, and you need to heat up your body.”
Upon hearing the old man, Mike was concerned: “Since you didn’t eat last night, were you cold this whole night?”
The old man replied casually: “Oh, I felt hot last night.”
Mike looked at the old man, but he didn't ask again.
On their journey, Mike saw a lot of different races like an elf, a cat man, and a cat woman. Mike was so amazed, and it felt like he was living inside an MMORPG game or in a fantasy.
Mike was so happy when he saw an elf woman with a nice figure: “Wow, nice! It was like I was dreaming! An elf in this world never betrays my expectations! Hahahaha, such a lovely world.”
While Mike was still enthusiastic in his imagination, the old man noticed Mike drooling, and he followed Mike's gaze. He saw a matured elf with stunning beauty.
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The old man shook his head and found it funny, but he didn't bother. Instead, he asked Mike's name: “Hey, young man, what is your name?”
Mike was pulled back into reality when he heard the old man's voice, and he replied: “My name is Mike from the Zeit clan. And you are?”
The old man replied: “I am Rod, but you can call me an old man because I preferred old man, for I am already used to it.”
Mike asked the old man about his background: “Old man, what clan are you from?”
When the old man heard it, his eyes went blank, and old memories flashed back into his head. He used to be a young master in one of the top 5 clans. During that time, Rod was still young, and the Zue clan used a lot of resources just to awaken Rod's spirit root, but to no avail. However, Rod's parents didn’t give up on him. Things went wrong when his mother and father were assassinated in the clan. His father, the clan leader, and his mother, who was also a powerful cultivator, were killed. The clan elders and the grand elder were displeased with Rod's parents for using too many resources on him. The grand elder also desired to become the clan leader for a very long time. When his mother and father died, the clan elder Gian took over the clan, and Rod was kicked out. At the same time, his fiancée Lily was set to marry the grand elder's son, Dimitri. Rod felt despair when he heard the news that his childhood sweetheart was going to marry the grand elder's son. Rod couldn’t accept it, and he confronted his childhood sweetheart.
Rod asked, full of tears: “Why are you doing this to me? You are the only one I've got! Why?”
Lily replied with a monotone voice: “You are no longer valuable, and who would want to marry a trash like you? Besides, at the age of 50, you are old trash while I am still in my youth.”
The young Rod's face turned pale, as if the vast sky and earth slammed into him at the same time. He fell to his knees while staring at the ground, and his tears kept dropping. He knew there was nothing he could do, even though he suspected the cause of his parents' death was the grand elder. Since his father and the grand elder were not on good terms, Rod suspected the grand elder's involvement in the assassination. He also knew the reason the elders supported the grand elder. The late clan leader had no successor, since Rod had no spirit root. From that moment onwards, Rod vanished from the clan and started his journey as a merchant.
While Rod was still in a daze, Mike asked as he noticed the old man's unusual behavior: “What's wrong, old man?”
When Rod heard it, he was jolted awake from his painful memories. He took a side glance at Mike, quickly reverted his gaze, and then continued to look forward, replying: “Nothing. I just remembered something from my past. As for your question, my answer is no. Not all people belong to a clan. There are a lot of people in this world who only have a name but no clan name. Most of them are exiles or common people. Having a clan name next to your name is a sign of honor for others, but not everyone can join a clan. Most of the people who don’t have a clan are mostly slaves or descendants of slaves.”
Mike was shocked, he didn’t expect that there is something like that in this world, and it was totally different from his past life. After a while, Mike asked: “So you are a descendant of a slave?”
Rod shook his head in disagreement and replied: “No, I used to be a young master back then. But I don’t have spirit roots, and my father, the clan leader, got assassinated alongside my mother. The clan decided to banish me from the clan since I can’t cultivate. My clan wanted to make me a mortal slave, but one of the elders is a good friend of my father. He opposed the clan and insisted that I should be sent to the desolate continent, and the clan agreed since that elder, who is a friend of my father, possesses an equal cultivation level with the grand elder. That's why I am here.”