Theo felt a moment of triumph as he defeated his enemy, but as he looked to the bandit leader’s indented and bleeding head he suddenly felt sick. Theo suddenly bent over to the side and emptied the contents of his stomach onto the ground.
After a moment of trying to puke with nothing to puke out, Theo stood back up, his face a sickly pale colour.
At this point, the others gathered around Theo. Elaine’s face was also pale from puking after her first time killing another human being. Ronin almost puked himself but forced himself not to; his view of bandits keeping him from having any remorse. Shio was unexpectedly the most composed of them all, with only a grimace on his face. It was not I that sought you out, he thought to himself.
“Come on, let’s go.” Shio said, seeing that Theo had finished.
“Are we going to find the rest?” Ronin asked, bordering between eagerness and reluctance.
“No. Fighting with our state of mind is asking for death; we’re going around.” Shio replied decisively.
The rest didn’t say anything else and followed Shio into the forest.
An hour later they set up camp within the forest. They didn’t prepare any food as none of them had the appetite, and simply went to sleep. Shio naturally kept watch since he could sleep in that mysterious place without losing time, and the others didn’t question this as Shio knew all sorts of magic. As far as they knew, Shio slept with his eyes open. Shio attributed it to a secret cultivation technique, through which Shio’s friends immediately saw the bullshit, but they didn’t really mind. If Shio wanted to keep watch all night, it was only to their benefit. Shio didn’t mind either, as he was used to solitude, without having anyone to talk to, because of his time in that place beyond his mind.
Shio had started calling that place beyond the portal the Mysterious Estate, for obvious reasons, and over recent years, he has spent at least 30 years secluded in that place.
Shio eventually found out that his mandala inscriptions could use the energy in the Mysterious Estate and thanks to that he was even able to set up a greenhouse of sorts in that place, where he used mandala inscriptions to produce sunlight and rain. It was quite useful for the group’s cultivation and the plants grew quite fast in that place.
Shio wad confused at first about the fact that he wouldn’t age in that place but plants could grow, but then he just assumed it was related to his state of mind and his needs. When he first entered that place, he foolishly thought that he wouldn’t age, and he didn’t. After some time he started needing certain things; a martial arts training room, a mandala inscription room, a greenhouse, and the place always responded to his needs as if the place was connected to himself on a much deeper level.
But Shio now knew that because, in the Mysterious Estate, his body still functioned, that meant that his cells were still continuously dying and aging. This led to the conclusion that because he assumed that certain truth, the Mysterious Estate provided some sort of life force or other magic to keep him young.
But the place would sometimes reject Shio’s needs. Whenever he was in a fight, he couldn’t escape to that place to heal. It was unfortunate that he didn’t have a life-saving method such as that, but Shio has come to accept it. Also, it wouldn’t directly allow Shio to absorb the energy there. It’s as if that place didn’t want to spoil Shio too much. That place really was like a doting parent that wanted to raise its child right.
But still, even considering those limitations, Shio was still spoiled. Just based on the fact that he was able to learn about mandala inscriptions in the Mysterious Estate’s library, it could be seen that Shio was spoiled since mandala inscriptions was basically a cheat code in this world, depending on how much knowledge you had on it; and Shio knew a lot.
Morning time…
Morning light eventually peeked through the trees, hours after Shio re-entered the world. A night for Shio was usually several days of learning, as there were many books in the Mysterious Estate and his curiosity was boundless.
Shio didn’t rouse the camp, though. They need their sleep, he thought to himself.
Two hours later Elaine woke up, followed by Ronin, then Theo. Each allowed the others time to wake on their own. By the time Theo woke up it was noon.
Everyone seemed much better than yesterday but there was still definitely some residual effects.
In that way they continued onwards.
After walking for a couple hour Elaine started to giggle for some unknown reason. The others looked to each other, confused, and eventually Elaine’s giggling grew louder and longer.
Theo’s brows furrowed in worry. “Elaine, what is it?” He asked.
“Haha, ah… Oh, it’s nothing.” She replied mysteriously.
“Come on, Elaine. Is something wrong? Tell me.” Theo responded, worried.
“It’s just that… who yells out the name of their attack?” Elaine replied with a grin.
Theo suddenly realized what she was talking about and immediately blushed. Ronin also realized, and immediately burst out laughing.
“What are you guys talking about? Everyone does it. I read about it in a book once.” Theo replied, his face red.
“Just because a comic book character did it, doesn’t mean everyone does it.” Elaine replied, seeing through Theo’s words. “But don’t worry, Theo. It’s still cool when you do it.”
Theo didn’t say anymore and continued to walk with a red face.
“And why’d you take so long with that fight anyways? In the end Elaine was even forced to help out.” Ronin asked.
“I mainly wanted to test out my skill in using my war hammers. But my battle experience is just too small. I lost several exchanges.” Theo replied, his composure slightly better.
“Ah…” Ronin responded in understanding. When the group fight, they were usually supported by their magic, sometimes making fighting much too easy. As such, it would be useful to experience a fight without their magic if it forced them to grow more clever and skillful. But for Theo, in comparison to the bandit leader, was much too poorly skilled.
As they walked they continued to talk, with the mood becoming better the further they went. On the way they were also able to process their recent encounter and grow in their resolve to get stronger. Elaine thought about getting strong enough to live in peace one day. Theo thought of becoming strong enough to protect Elaine. Ronin thought of becoming strong enough to be able to wipe out any threat. As for Shio, he didn’t have any of those thoughts. All he thought about was living long enough to see the world. As for whether this made him weak, only the heavens knew.
It was peaceful for a time but after several days they once again encountered another small group of highwaymen, which they naturally wiped out. They knew there were more camped within the woods and at Ronin’s urging they slowly but surely wiped out the rest.
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As Shio participated in the slaughter he couldn’t help but think, Will murdering evildoers really gain karmic merit? Or is the act of participating in ending a life just as evil as allowing bandits to rob others when I have the power to stop it?
After this slaughter the group was better able to distance themselves from the reality of killing, though their faces were still a little pale.
Eventually, as they neared the end of the forest they encountered yet another group of bandits. But as Shio looked around at the bandits that surrounded them, Shio could only shake his head. They’re just kids. I’m not going to kill a bunch of kids.
The others’ faces were also a little worried. Although they were a little used to killing by now, killing a bunch of kids seriously wasn’t something they wanted to do. Even Ronin was hesitant.
“Give us all your belongings and you won’t get hurt!” Cried a slightly taller kid with a kitchen knife in his hands. Most of the other kids had wooden spears.
Shio looked up, his face solemn. “Are you the oldest here?” He asked simply.
“Yeah, what of it? I’m even older than you, so just listen to your elder and hand over your money!” The kid, seemingly around 17 years of age cried out once again. Although there was resolve in his eyes, you could also see a hint of regret.
Shio sighed. “OK, elder brother. I have an offer for you. Do you want to listen or am I going to have to murder a child today?” Shio said as he gave a cold look at the child bandit leader.
As the 17 or so year-old looked at him, he felt a chill run down his spine. Shio’s eyes told him he really could kill him anytime he wanted. But he’s so much younger than me! He thought. He suppressed the feeling and replied, “Speak!”
Shio looked to Elaine next to her. She had an inkling as to what Shio was going to do, and she nodded. Though she didn’t like it, she could only sigh in regret when she thought of how these kids were forced to banditry.
“Elder brother, you have three options.” Shio started replying. “You can either attack and we’ll be forced to kill you. You can walk away. Or you can join us. It’s up to you.”
The child bandit leader was silent for a moment as he looked at his little brothers before replying. “Why would we want to join you?”
“First of all you guys aren’t qualified to be bandits.” Shio replied with a slight smile. “You guys don’t even cultivate any body essence arts. If you join me I’ll provide you all with suitable body essence arts and allow you to practice magic.” Some of kids’ eyes instantly brightened at the thought of this. “Secondly,” Shio continued. “You won’t have to live in the forest anymore. And third, you won’t need to rob anymore. You can even leave at the end of all of this, as you’ll have an easier time surviving if you become stronger.” Shio finished, looking at the child bandit leader’s suspicious gaze.
There was eagerness in the eyes of the child bandit leader, but he was still wary. “How do I know you’re not trying to trick us?” He responded.
Theo immediately laughed at this. “Kid, you don’t. But I’ll give you some advice. If you were to ever trust another human being, Shio’s not a bad choice.” Theo said with a smile.
The child bandit leader looked to his little brothers. “What do you guys think?” He asked.
Theo shook his head. To even think about it, considering your life… To not realize a gift when it’s given.
“Let’s do it, Jackson. I don’t like robbing people, it makes me feel dirty. And we usually return empty handed anyway.” One kid said.
“Yeah,” said another kid. “And they’ll teach us magic too! I’ve always wanted to learn magic.”
Other kids also couldn’t resist Shio’s offer and immediately voiced their agreement.
Jackson’s eyes softened. He also couldn’t bear to lead these kids’ lives in this way. Up until now he never had a choice, but now that it was here he also wanted to take hold of it. “Okay,” he said, giving Shio a serious look. “We’ll go with you.”
Shio smiled. “Right, let’s go.”
And with that the Band of the Night Star grew.
The group went off deeper into the forest where the kid bandits set up camp. The girls there and the smaller children gave worried looks as they looked at the strangers, but after hearing the situation joyous smiles appeared on their faces. Most of them really hated this lifestyle.
Before leaving, Shio saw that most of these kids looked malnourished and thus prepared a big meal for the group first, which the others were very grateful for.
Shio learned that these kids were from an orphanage in Lookout City. They’re lives were peaceful until someone murdered their caretakers and the landlord kicked them out of their homes for not being able to pay rent. Some of the kids had jobs but it wasn’t enough, thus they were forced into this unfortunate lifestyle. They came to the forest to find a town with a Goodwill Church, but all of the towns they found didn’t have one. Some families offered to provide for several of them, but they didn’t want to be separated, so they resorted to hunting and banditry.
Shio suggested they rest for the night, but Jackson urged them to go. He was sick of looking at this forest.
And so they left. It wasn’t long before they were out of the forest and were traveling amongst the tall grass of the wide plain.
As they walked they ended up on the main road. They started to see large farms and small towns along the way. Unfortunately they didn’t have the money to stay in an inn and thus camped nearby. When Jackson saw this, he gave Shio a doubtful look to which Shio simply smiled. With Jackson and his little brothers and sisters, there were now 19 people to provide for in the Band of the Night Star which Jackson was often worried about. He first thought Shio’s group was rich which was why they could afford to accept so many people, but now he saw Shio actually had no money. When he asked Shio about it he simply said, “Don’t worry about it. I naturally have a way to make money.” Though Jackson was doubtful he still continued to follow.
Along the way, Shio started to teach Body Essence Arts to the other kids. At first Jackson refused because his foster father had tested him long ago to see if he was suitable for cultivation but it turns out he wasn’t. But after Shio gave him a Body Essence Art after looking at his soul he realized that he could. It wasn’t just him, all the other kids of suitable age were able to cultivate too, which simply shocked Jackson. Even when Shio taught magic, it was easy. After that Jackson looked at Shio differently. Though he still wasn’t sure if following Shio was a good idea, he had to admit that he was very knowledgeable.
Eventually the group started to encounter rolling hills, then, eventually they saw Lookout City.