A new fresh chapter, might be another tonight. Anyways enjoy it~!~
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“Master, can you explain more about the Sins?”
Owen looked towards Kovinth with a small glint of curiosity in his eyes. Although he was given the short explanation about the Sins, he wasn’t exactly how important it would be to pay attention to. He saw the result of the Keepers instigating their emotions and desires, and while it led to their downfalls, this was only because it was instigated in the first place. Other than that Owen wasn’t too sure what to make of the Sins while he would be walking down his Path.
Kovinth gave a look of understanding to his little disciple. All Kovinth wished to do was take Owen and personally teach him everything and watch him grow, but even he as a mighty god still had to follow rules. If he didn’t there would be no doubt that the Seraphim would come to remove him for the universe forever. This was something he knew, and because he knew of the rules he could only allow himself to tell Owen the necessary information. With a smile Kovinth started his explanation.
“Owen, although the Sins seem like they are absolute this is actually not the case. The Sins only apply to those who know they are sinning.”
As Kovinth said this Owen turned his head as if the very idea was something he couldn’t understand. Kovinth calmly raised his hand as if knowing Owen would ask for a clearer explanation. As he did he continued as to not allow his disciple to be anxious.
“For example, for those who are greedy. If you seek out one of the Awakened Artifacts in the world, for others it might seem like greed. But what about yourself? If I was to say that the artifact you were seeking was one that could strengthen your eyes to let you see, would you think of it as greed?”
“No.”
Owen answered firmly as he shook his head. He was sure that if it was something to gain his vision he would undoubtedly chase it until his death if needed. When Owen said this however he sort of understood his master’s intentions.
“There you go. This is infact the same thing with all the other Sins as well. One must eat because you need to eat to survive. One must gather riches in order to trade for services. One must mate in order to expand their species. One must be jealous to better themselves. One must be proud of their achievements and one must always relax when needed. Finally, everyone will feel anger to relieve their stress.”
Kovinth walked over to Owen and rested his hand on Owen’s shoulder slightly bending over so he was eye level with Owen.
“The Heavens made these laws, so that one day…Hmm better yet, Let’s speak of this another time. It is simply too early for you to find out.”
Owen opened his mouth as he clearly wished to find out more, but when he saw Kovinth’s eyes which seemed to be thinking of something entirely different Owen didn’t wish to bring it up anymore…….
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“Hm? A dream?”
Owen woke up on a soft comfy bed, as his sleep schedule was perfected he always woke up sound and coherent to everything around him. The moment he woke up he perfectly remembered his dream and looked towards the Cinder he had put down. Owen had wrapped it the hide of a Devourer he had killed on the way here as to try and control the heat radiating off of it as much as possible. Because it was wrapped in the hide Owen could only see the green hide and none of the red gas that would normally be escaping. The reason it was still wrapped was because he was already warned by Kovinth, that Owen would be unable to control his Solar Eyes unless he was at the Jade level of body refinement.
Maybe it was partly because he still held on to it, Owen remembered the words his master told him about the Sins, he thought it was indeed true that it was hard to say that a necessity was a Sin. It was different depending on the point of view, but for the Sins it was never dependent on how others thought of you, and only how you thought of yourself.
Owen had a greater understanding of the Sins the moment he was directly put in a situation where he was the one deciding if it was greed or necessity, and as this cleared up the question he had always kept in the back of his head, with a clear mind he got up and cleaned himself up for a new day.
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After arriving at Kincardine, he was surprised to see how ‘normal’ it was. The first thing Owen had done was grabbed a room from one of the inns in town. It was just like any other common town that he had visited as a monk before the Rebirth of the planet. Instead of using gold, silver or copper the currency was Essence Crystals. With arm still in pain he needed a place to relax and recover, even with the herbs he applied it was still sore but at the very least it was no longer broken. On the way he was able to find and kill a few weaker Land Devourers. As he wasn’t lucky enough to find any Sky Devourer’s, he was still very poor along with having used his Sky Essence Crystal and having no intention on selling the Cinder.
During the time he was resting his mind had gone over the past events numerous times, and although he wa confused about the sudden appearance of the Keeper and Fallen, the actions of Demia, he could no longer dwell on them further as it could potentially harm his Path. And because the most important thing was his Path and gaining his vision he was easily able to put the events behind him.
“Now then, this will be the first time I actually look around the village with a clear mind.”
Owen set off with the Tiny Thin Sash wrapped around his waist, the light blue gave a truly unique appearance to his dark brown robe that felt almost too old to be worn. His Little Light Rock was tucked in his pocket, and his body had fully recovered. As Owen walked down the hard wooden floors of the inn, he saw the dining room of the inn with a few customers inside eating their breakfast and waiters handing out food. The mood was lively and people were talking naturally to one another about the previous day’s hunt or the ridiculous actions of their friends being drunk the night before hand.
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‘To think that all of these people are Keepers.’
With the Blind Motion technique he could already tell that every person who was happily talking around the tables were Keepers. Only those in the corner of the room was a single regular Pathwalkers. Although Owen wasn’t able to tell the facial expression of the figure, from his erratic breathing he could tell he wasn’t exactly in the best of moods. After hearing the sounds Owen felt it an urge to find out what was bothering the person in the corner alone. And thus he walked over being a busy body but full of good intentions.
“Damnit! They ditched me once again. Is it my fault that I like my sleep? Can’t you guys at least wake me up.”
The man that Owen was walking towards mumbled his words under his breath, normally one wouldn’t be able to hear these words, but Owen wasn’t exactly normal when it came to his hearing. Without thinking much about the mumble Owen sat down in the chair opposite of the man. When the man saw this, his already sour mood got worse as he looked towards Owen with a cautious look and then spoke.
“Hey, asshole are you blind? Can’t you see I’m already sitting here?”
Owen gave his best fake surprised look he could muster and answered casually back.
“Actually I am blind, how observant for you to know that at our first meeting!”
Although Owen had wanted to add the words ‘I didn’t see or hear anyone was here sorry about that’, it was already hard enough for Owen to put on a fake expression. If he added anymore it would be easy to see through his lie.
“Oh! I’m so sorry, feel free to join me, actually let me buy you breakfast to make it up to you. I’m so sensitive these days don’t let it bother you!”
Owen nodded, of course he wasn’t bothered by the man’s comment, but he was actually pleased to get a free meal. Whether it was intentional or not, even Owen didn’t know at this point. He had only wanted to know more about the other Pathwalkers staying in the same town as him. Without meeting them how could he figure out anything? But the first person he met was originally cautious towards Owen but after ‘offending’ Owen his attitude took a complete turn and he was even offering to pay for Owen’s meal!
‘Is he actually a good guy?’
Owen momentarily thought as they both started to chatter back and forth.
“I’m Addie, you can call me Add. Truthfully, my group of friends had already left me to go explore the town a bit more. We only just arrived how about yourself?”
“I’m Owen, I arrived a few days ago myself, but because of an injury I had no choice other than to stay inside and recover.”
Owen gave a light response as they introduced themselves to one another. As they kept talking Owen found out that Add had come with the people he met during the test of the Pavilion. Add had also mentioned that they were in the second test after Owen, so it was natural for Add to not recognize Owen. There was 4 others with Add making a group of five people. It was a good number allowing them to easily gang up on weaker Devourers for money. Although like Owen they had yet to meet any Northern Pole Pathwalkers, but because it was still much too early, the chances of meeting one at this point was truly a bit difficult. Owen was finding himself to like Add more and more.
It was clear that Add was a tad bit lazy, but he took everything that came to his friends quite seriously. As Add explained their hunting, Owen could feel that in each dangerous role was always taken by Add. Whether the others knew about this or not, Owen wasn’t sure. Just then after they finished their bread, soup, and eggs breakfast Add suddenly came to a realisation. He hurriedly spoke as if it was something to rush.
“Hey Owen, you want to explore the town with me?”
Owen smirked as he heard the rushed words flow out from Add’s mouth.
“Sure, I’ve been wanting to explore this place for some time!”
Add immediately got up, picked out a Land Essence Crystal and called out to the owner.
“Owner, my group of five will be staying another night!”
“Sure thing kiddo!”
A quick response came from a man sitting chatting with the other Keepers, Owen too had paid a single Land Essence Crystal, but because a single crystal could allow one to stay for five days, he didn’t need to worry about paying again for sometime. Naturally the meals were included and after eating breakfast one would have to decide whether they wanted to stay again. With Add leaving the crystal on the table there was no worries of the other Keepers stealing the money. To them, stealing was way beneath them and could acquire the crystals with their own efforts if need be. After all to them, a single Land Essence Crystal was insignificant.
After paying, Add got up and started to walk out, Owen in turn followed after bowing, giving a light thanks to the owner of the inn then left with Add.
“The boys got some respect to him don’t he?”
“Would you shut up with that terrible way of speaking. I get you want to play your role, but if your wife saw you she would bash your skull destroying this inn once and for all.”
The Keeper across from the inn owner spoke with a slight tease in his words. Although there was some rude words spoken, behind it they were friends for ages. They both laughed happily as they both agreed that Owen was indeed someone to respect because without fail Owen would bow lightly thanking the inn owner for the food and shelter.