Micro awoke from his deep, dreamless sleep after the rain had stopped and the small fire Blue had constructed had completely died. His hand was still sore, but his neck was in much more pain due to the strange position he’d fallen asleep in.

“Blue…?” He yawned, stretched, and stood up to look around.

“Ow…” He heard her muffled voice from his pocket.

“Don’t just suddenly move like that.”

She popped out of his pocket with a grin.

“You didn’t tell me you had such a nice Core Card in here! It’s so warm!” She lifted the Ruby Core card a little to show him.

“Are you okay? That thing felt dangerous before…” Micro voiced his concerns, but the pixie dismissed his worries.

“For a big dumb human it might be.” She laughed.

“I’m no baby!”

“I see.” Micro smiled.

“How old are you?”

“Hmm…” Blue thought earnestly for a moment.

“I couldn’t tell you. Older than all those creepy magicians put together, probably…”

She gave up counting on her fingers and shrugged.

“Anyways.” She dropped the card back into the depths of his pocket and climbed back up on his shoulder.

“I hate to admit this, but I’m in a bit of trouble.”

“Oh no!” Sadness appeared on Micro’s face.

“What happened?”

“I took a bit more damage than I thought…” Blue seemed embarrassed to explain her problem.

“After being sacrificed in your stupid summoning and almost getting digested by that monster… add to that me using the blink spell, and then healing your shoulder…”

“Thanks again for that.” Micro nodded, and his nose nearly missed colliding with the head of the pixie on his shoulder.

“Watch where you’re swinging that thing!”

“Sorry.”

“So you’re in luck!” Blue pointed at Micro’s nose proudly.

“I am?”

“You are!” Blue announced.

“As lowly a creature as you are, I have deemed you worthy of carrying me for a little while longer.”

“Umm, that’s great.” Micro didn’t think too long on the pixie’s words as he poked his head out of the tree to confirm that the rain had stopped.

“Shall we go?”

Blue’s excitement faded as her lack of energy caught up with her, and she fell to a seated position atop Micro’s shoulder.

“Yes.” She spoke with a much quieter voice.

“Where are we going now?”

Micro began to walk, enjoying the sensation of mud squishing beneath his feet.

“I need to find a master in the Serpent Art section.”

“You mean sect?”

“That’s right!”

“Interesting. That may actually be a good destination. I think there was a sect like that between a natural well and a dungeon a day or two that way.” She pointed ahead and slightly to the right.

“Let me know when we get there.”

“Okay. You really know your way around this world.”

“Of course I do…” She yawned.

“It’s my kingdom…”

“I see…” Micro agreed as she curled up and fell asleep clinging to the strap keeping his rusty armour attached to his chest.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep, and the sky was too cloudy and dark to discern the time, but his eyes were adjusting to the light of the forest floor in time, and he was getting much better at walking. He only rarely tripped over rocks anymore, and he’d learned that allowing his arms to swing at his side drastically improved his balance.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

He stayed true to the direction he was pointed in, now more vigilant in scanning the way ahead for any creature that might wish to collide with him, and night fell once again. His first instinct was to continue on, but he was once again painfully reminded that he lacked the headlights required to do so safely.

The scenery around him had barely changed at all in the time he’d spent walking through it. Small hills and massive trees made it difficult to see far in any direction, so he considered finding a tree to sleep next to. As he sought out a comfortable looking tree, however, he noticed the smell of smoke. Not only smoke, but the smell of meat cooking over it. It was a smell he first experienced when his driver took his young wife camping long ago. It had always been a nostalgic smell, but now it was a tantalizing smell. He was drawn to it immediately and changed his course to investigate the source of the delicious smell.

He came to the top of a small hill and looked down to see the light of a campfire burning steadily in the distance. He didn’t hesitate to approach it, and he soon noticed three large men sitting around the fire watching a large chunk of meat sizzle and smoke.

Recalling Blue’s attitude to humans in general, he gently scooped her off his shoulder, almost dropping her due to the numbness he still felt in his hand, and dropped her into his pocket next to the Core Cards where she remained curled up and asleep.

“Good evening!” Micro shouted with a friendly voice and waved to the men who hadn’t yet noticed him.

One of the men stood up with a long metal object in his hand and a fearsome look on his face, while the other two scrambled to pick up their own shiny things. Micro hadn’t seen tools like that before, but he didn’t dwell on it.

“Umm, hello.” Micro greeted them again despite.

“I… well…”

Micro realized he had no idea what to say to the men and he came to a stop several paces from their fire, still looking at them with a friendly, though confused, expression.

“What’s your business with us?” The standing man was the first to speak. He was tall and strong, and his clothes looked to be made of old leather, adorned with bone buttons and ornaments. His long hair was tied back and his face was mostly hidden behind a short, thick beard.

His comrades were similarly dressed, though they didn’t seem as strong. The one to his left had a large belly, and the man to his right was almost as short as Micro.

“My business?” Micro wasn’t sure how to answer.

The man looked up and down the boy and continued his questions.

“Those clothes you're wearing… You a cultivator?” His voice showed a hint of fear when he uttered the final word of his sentence, a fear matched by the faces of his two comrades who now stood behind him holding their odd metal tools.

“These clothes? Oh, I found them…” Micro looked down and shrugged as he recalled their origins.

“Wait… You’re not with the Western Water Tiger Moon sect…?” He frowned suspiciously as he reexamined the boy’s attire.

“They’d kill a brat for wearing that…” The fat man mumbled with wide eyes.

“What should we do…?” The short one asked the tall man in front of him.

“Hmm…” The biggest man continued.

“Where are you from?”

“I don’t think you’d know it.” Micro replied politely.

“And I’m not sure how you’d get there from here exactly.”

“Who did you come here with?”

“I think I came here alone. But, I’m hungry, and I was wondering if I could-”

“You have a name?”

“I’m a Micro.”

“A Micro?” The man frowned.

“That’s your family name?”

“Not exactly… It’s my model name.”

Despite their confusion about the boy’s answers, the three men began to relax. The tallest man looked behind him and grinned, and the two men put down the objects in their hands and returned to their places by the fire.

“Come, sit!” The chubbier of the men beckoned to Micro.

“Eat your fill!”

Micro sat next to the man, his eyes on the meat suspended over the fire with a stick. The man reached out and tore a piece off with a knife and handed it to Micro, who didn’t waste any time devouring it as fast as he was able to.

“Ah… I missed oil…” He sighed. The feeling of the steak filling him up with warmth and satisfaction was indescribable, and he looked up at the dark treetops in glee.

“Thank you very much.”

“Don’t mention it, little guy.” The short man replied happily while digging through a big leather bag. He pulled out some rope and tossed it to the big man next to Micro.

Micro looked down at the rope, wondering if it was something else to eat, when he suddenly felt the force of the biggest man’s foot in his back, driving him face first into the ground.

“Wha-” Micro had no time to imagine what was happening before his hands had been pulled behind him and tied together.

“Aha!” The fat man shouted.

“We were out hunting that damned deer all day, and this big juicy meal ticket just wanders into our camp!”

“He’s young, but he’ll sell.” The tall man agreed, tugging on the rope to test the strength of the knot.

“Tie him to that tree there. We’ll bring him into town in the morning. It’s about time I slept in a bed again.”

“That sect might even pay us for the armour he’s wearing.”

“Or for finding the little thief who stole it!”

“There’s always the mines…”

“They always rip us off!”

“Same split as always?” The short man turned to ask the tall man.

“We’ll see what he goes for first.” The tall man shot back with a dark expression, causing his comrade to turn his head and abandon the conversation.

As instructed, the fat man grabbed Micro by the arms and dragged him to a tree near a tent.

“What are you doing?” Micro asked, but the man just mumbled happily to himself while tying him to the tree.

For the next few minutes, Micro sat watching the men laugh and eat together while waiting for an explanation. As he went through their words over again in his mind, something eventually stood out to him.

“I’ll sell..? I’ll-” Micro gasped.

“They’re planning to sell me!? I already have an owner!”