That day, Illyan didn’t continue his work in the laboratory and went to meditate to clear his mind. Obviously, the news he got was a little too disturbing for his current self, and he needed to come to terms with it.
So much time seeping through the palm of his hand like sand was something no one would want to happen to them, especially when they were as young as Illyan.
He was always consoling himself that he had a lot of time and could afford to waste some, but that was only theory. He could not test the limits of his ability as it would end up with him being either crippled or really dead. That meant that he could only theorize together with Kaoran back then.
Fortunately, it seemed that Kaoran was right.
While 13 years had passed, there was almost no change in Illyan’s look. It was as if his appearance was stuck in time. That didn’t mean that he looked to be in his teens though.
He always developed faster than his peers. He called his ability regeneration, but it was not an accurate name as it had much more to reveal.
Thanks to that, Illyan already looked to be in his mid-twenties at the peak of human body development since his teens.
In the north, he didn’t stand out because of that as other children also developed faster.
Through all that rigorous training during their youth and the right nutrition that most commoners in the Vanaras Kingdom lacked, they became larger than regular people in the south. Together with their wild visage, it was no wonder that they were called Barbarians…
……..
In the end, it didn’t change anything for him, and Illyan chose not to dwell on it like Zephyr told him to.
He took out all the hidden seeds he had and started to plant them in his new garden. He had little proficiency in this as he grew the edible herbs back then, but the ones he was planting today were medicinal, so he was extra careful. Their value was much higher, and he couldn’t afford to buy new.
Unfortunately, since he dried most herbs, he couldn’t replant them.
However, Illyan wasn’t disappointed. There was one herb that radiated enough heat for itself despite being uprooted and wasn’t in need of being dried.
Illyan took what remained out of the Firestorm Herb he stole from Thearas Clan and put it in the middle of the garden. With that, other herbs would have an easier time growing up.
He was satisfied that he chose not to use it all. Back then he didn’t think about it much and used up the first one completely to accelerate his progress of getting rid of the hidden ice energy, but now he realized what a big waste that was.
The aborigines probably did it the same way as they cut off only the surface level of the herb and let it regrow anew.
He just needed to find the right opportunity to use them. And that kind of opportunity would soon come…
He took the rest of his dried herbs and ventured into his new lab with the intention of creating several medicines and poisons.
However, he stopped what he was doing as he noticed that he still didn’t finish everything up as there were still several boxes littered on the ground and a few last wine racks in the corner of the cellar.
With a sigh, he took out everything in the box and put them away before he went to the racks and broke them down into planks for future use.
But just as he intended to leave with them under his armpits, he noticed a small breeze of wind. It was just a minuscule amount. In fact, it was so minuscule that if not for his eyes detecting the particles of spiritual energy within the wind he wouldn’t notice at all.
He narrowed his eyes. The wind was coming from the stone wall or rather the wall cracks.
‘Is there something behind?’
With hurry, he put the planks where he planned to put them and returned to the suspicious wall.
‘It was hidden behind the racks… Was it something that Korin wanted to hide?’ Thought passed through Illyan’s mind, but then he shook his head.
The room had to be here since the first owner. Korin said to reside in this place only for a few months before leaving. Such a hidden cellar would take time to build. Illyan was pretty sure that Korin didn’t lie about his early departure as there were several other old academics confirming this.
Of course, they could be lying too, but Illyan didn’t see the reason for them to do so.
He stared at the wall in the corner and tried to find something out of it. However, the only thing he saw was its unevenness.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Oh…” His eyes lit up as he thought of something and started to touch the wall systematically. From the left top to right down.
Eventually, he touched one of the uneven stones which then embedded itself a little deeper into the wall with a click almost inaudible to human ears. Once he heard that, he tried to push the wall with one hand, but it wouldn’t budge.
His brows raised as he put considerable strength in that push. This time, he used both of his hands and put the weight into it. Finally, the wall gave way as he was pushing it to the side slowly showing what was behind it.
Illyan grunted with satisfaction as he stared into the dark staircase that showed up in front of him.
‘This is hidden very well. If not for my Truth Eyes, unnatural hearing and my strength, I wouldn’t even notice it was here.’
With slight hesitation, he entered. He didn’t need the source of light as while it was dark, it didn’t pose a problem to him.
With a quick gait, he passed through the stairs only to appear before other doors. Those had a big lock on them with chains covering them.
Fortunately, they were rusty and weak after years of abandonment and couldn’t stop Illyan who literally tore them apart with a slight tug.
The stale smell permeated the place, but he ignored it as he opened the doors.
A wave of cold air passed through his body as the layers of dirt within the room rose up and swirled in the air.
Cough Cough
Illyan, who inhaled a little of the dust, started to cough as he waved his hand and blew away the dust in his vicinity.
Once the dust settled down, a dim room came into Illyan’s view.
It was so dark that even he had the problem to see as the light from the laboratory didn’t reach here. However, once his eyes finally got used to this, he could glimpse at the place.
But what he saw stumped him.
At one corner, there were several small cages filled with human skeletons. However, those skeletons were too small to be that of adults…
Then, Illyan looked at the other side. There, on the walls, were hanging some kind of weird tools that gave him chills down his spine.
Underneath them was a table that was high up with handcuffs in each corner signifying what it was used for.
“What in the hell was that noble doing here…”
Illyan got closer to one of the cages and opened it. Same as with the doors, its look was decrepit and shattered with a slight tug.
Once he did so, he crouched down and checked out the remains of those who passed away in the cage.
‘Young boys… The oldest is only 14 years old while the youngest one is as young as 8 years old.’ Illyan shook his head in disbelief.
He didn’t know what exactly was happening here back then, but seeing the tools hanging on the wall gave him an idea.
This place was probably one of the many spaces where degenerative nobles used to place helpless victims. In this case, it was young boys who suffered here back then.
Illyan used to hear stories since he was young that nobles of the kingdom were responsible for the well-being of the common folks, but a lot of them used this authority to terrorize them instead.
He didn’t think about it much back then since he never saw a noble and didn’t understand what the villagers and merchants talked about, but once he got to Winterfrost Town, he heard the same rumors once again.
Of course, in the town, the rumors were a lot more hushed down as nobody wanted to be caught when saying that.
Illyan knew that common people liked to exaggerate and gossip as there was nothing much else to do in their lives, and so he took the information with reservation and decided to believe only in things he saw with his own hands.
And now, he finally saw what a true deranged person could cause.
He saw what kind of life was lived by aborigines in Blood Crow Forest. But those were just brainwashed fools who ‘served’ their Lord. On the other hand, this noble or whoever did this was someone who was part of normal society.
The fact that such people were walking the same streets as normal people was very surreal.
‘Not that I am any different.’ After all, if people of this place knew his ‘true identity’ they would probably be even more scared than being in front of a noble.
What kind of identity? Well, first of all, he would be considered a barbarian who lived as an animal in the far north. When the word barbarian came in only negative thoughts showed up in the minds of people.
Even if that wasn’t enough, he had an ability to regrow even his limbs at this point. Illyan believed that there was no way that this kind of ability was unique to him, but that wasn’t something people cared about.
For them, he would be a monster born to kill.
And they would not be wrong.
Illyan’s eyes glinted with dangerous light when he looked at the tools and the table with handcuffs.
While he didn’t intend to kidnap boys or girls to play with, he definitely planned to kidnap people for his own gain.
At first, he planned to prepare a place in his laboratory since no better place was in the residence, but this changed a lot.
Illyan’s mouth curled a little. He didn’t know why the noble would sell this residence with such a secret to Korin, but since he got it into his hands, he would definitely use it to its fullest potential.
In the end, he was not so much different than the noble who did this.
He grew up in a quite good family with principles and then was living with warriors with hearts full of honor. However, Illyan never fully understood or wanted to understand this honor. He wanted to go by with his own principles and didn’t want to be shackled by others.
Ever since he got to the town, he considered a way to get stronger and didn’t really care about the way how to do it. Still, when he considered hurting those who he didn’t have a personal grudge, he still looked for justification.
Those guys were evil. They hurt innocent people, so they deserved it anyway.
‘So stupid.’ Illyan shook his head.
In the end, he considered doing the same thing that this noble did. Kidnapping someone because of his greed…
‘Whatever… I desire what they have. That’s enough of a reason for me to get it. If they cooperate there will be no need for carnage…’
Of course, Illyan didn’t expect them to cooperate. Nor did he care about it.
Once again, the small shackles made by society’s rules inside his mind were loosened. At first, he didn’t notice, but the more time passed after his parting with everyone he knew the more his mindset changed.
However, he didn’t mind. Instead, he embraced it without hesitation. He was still himself but more adapted to survive in this world. Kindness was like poison. Only those strong enough could even consider being kind to others.
‘Since I got a place to use for my plan, I can start with preparations…’
With such thoughts in his mind, Illyan decided that he would use this secret room for his own plans which could be considered as vicious as the previous owner’s...
‘Venomous Viper Gang…’ Illyan’s eyes turned determined as he got out of the hidden room.
Meanwhile, the gang that didn’t even know of his existence was unaware that they had become prey in someone’s eyes and was working as usual in the town, exploiting people and doing shady businesses with other forces. Everything went smoothly for them.
Not for long though…