Chris decided to not think much of the month's end and instead decided to immerse himself into the day-to-day life of the brother and sister duo.

Things between Darius and Chris became much better after that night. Darius was now mostly busy making his armor. He revealed that he was planning to use most of the eggshell to make a Breastplate and with the remaining pieces he would make small armors protecting his legs. The egg can only provide materials to make armor for one person, they will use the remaining parts for other purposes.

Chris offered his help, which Darius gladly accepted. One day they ventured into the forest to extract sap from the Borracha tree, Chris was puzzled on why the sap was needed, he soon understood the usage.

Darius had drawn lines to form various shapes on the egg and then around the lines, he added the sap from the tree leaving a small gap in between. Once the sap solidified, he started pouring the termites paste, between the spaces. This helped to crack the egg in the exact shape they wanted. This had to be done very carefully as a small mistake could lead to ruining the whole armor.

The egg would still not crack easily and had to be kept like that for days. They had to repeat the process as the termite paste would often dissolve the sap from the tree. It was a tedious process that both Darius and Chris had to meticulously plan and coordinate. These activities really helped him to work closely with Darius and learn a great deal from him. Chris would always get the feeling that Darius knew what he was doing.

Other times they would go for hunts, their most common prey would be the wild boar and when they were scarce they would hunt smaller prey. Chris didn't want to be a freeloader so he asked Darius to teach him to hunt.

Darius taught Chris how to track the prey, this mostly involved watching animal tracks, how much vegetation was disturbed, feces texture to know how recent it was, animal noises, and many more.

For Chris, it was like training, unlike the one Roger gave, this one didn't have the net of safety that Roger's presence provided, he knew the danger every time they both ventured into the forest, this made Chris more alert. Maybe it was because he was getting used to forest life, he started feeling his senses were getting better.

Sadly for Chris though there were things he couldn't learn from Darius, it was his magic, after tracking down the prey Darius would get closer to the prey to use his beast taming magic, having weak blood meant that he cannot control them like other beast tamers, but he can slow them down enough for him to make the kill.

For Chris, this meant he had to depend more on his stealth, he would try to mimic Darius in his approach but would switch to his agility when he needed to go for the kill.

The more time he spend with him he also started noticing how Darius's magic worked. He noticed how it worked better against warm-blooded animals than cold-blooded ones. The bigger the size of the animal the tougher it was to control. Thus a Panthon or Laubek Lizard was out of the question, luckily it was rare for them to venture outside the deep forest.

Higher intelligence also made it difficult to tame an animal. Thus a beast tamer cannot tame other beastmen, though there were exceptions in it. Darius didn't speak much of it even when Chris pushed for it.

On top of his magic, Chris also started noticing the personality of Darius. It took Chris some time to realise that Darius's every move was very planned out, he wouldn't waste time doing anything. Even the most casual of ventures into the forest would be planned out.

Chris started realising this when he started noticing how he would completely avoid areas where he knew warm-blooded animals were less. He would know at what time of the day he can find different animals in which parts. He would note down even the minute change in the forest and would then plan his move in advance.

After Chris started offering his help for the hunt, he became part of Darius's variable in the hunt, often being used as a distraction to lure out or scare prey. Even when Chris would be immersed in a conversation with Darius, he would be late in realising that he was standing there because Darius wanted him to.

Chris was like an open and empty book who was taking it all in, what made the connection stronger with Darius was the fact that Darius understood his own weakness. Yet he used this to his own advantage, he envied the spirit that Darius held, to see the opportunity in everything.

He didn't chase what he didn't have, he knew very well what his position was in this world, but he also denied this position in his own way.

Without realising he started to look up to Darius.

-------

The forest provided for them, other than the hunt for hard meat, which they would store for later consumption. They would also forage for berries, roots, and other plant-based food, which they would use for consumption and medicinal purposes.

Where Darius was an expert in hunting, Anisa was an expert in identifying the different flora inside the forest. She was always around when both of them will be working on the armor, and suddenly on a whim she would get up and call out to Chris "Follow me, dummy."

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

Darius would just smile and Chris would sigh and follow her into the forest. She will teach him very patiently the different plants that are useful and ones that are not. It was always puzzling for Chris how she was able to identify the difference where Chris saw none. Just like Darius, she saw the world very differently than what Chris saw. While walking she would start sniffing and follow the scent to some plants often hidden deep under the ground or not visible to the naked eye.

He would try to learn as much as he can from observing her, but it would often end up in failure. Whenever he came back with the wrong plant, she will just call him "Dummy" and then follow him to the spot where he picked the plant, and make him understand the difference patiently.

Her explanations were as unique as her, she would say things like "Follow your nose", "Use your tongue to catch the molecules", "They know you are coming, so they are hiding", "We must be gentle with them, they are alive."

Chris knew she was weird from the day he met her, but it was the kind he was comfortable with. Chris would often catch her just staring at him, and even when he would make it visible that he knew she was watching him, she wouldn't avert her gaze. She would do the same to random objects. Chris would often catch her speaking to herself.

She saw the world more than she showed or expressed, her unique way of looking at things was what Chris envied about her. She had an "Anisa Filter" on everything, she decided to see the world in her own way.

Yet Chris liked spending time with her, he made her feel comfortable. He could be himself without the fear of being judged. Maybe she felt the same, as she would often share with him about her life before they moved to the forest.

She would speak about her mother, father, friends, and family. How their life was before the king passed. It was always a painful experience to hear her speak about them and tell how many of them are no more in this world. Many of the deaths she witnessed with her own eyes, she was so small and weak that they would often not notice her.

She was angry at being so weak, that she was not even worth being noticed by the strong. Most of her anger was towards the "World ways", why the Saugetiers ended up so weak, why the Devils made them so weak. Was it some kind of punishment?

Chris thought this is the reason why he connected with her so much, they both didn't know why they were born so weak in this world. Weakness became the unlikely similarity between them.

He often felt the urge to share his truth with her, how he had come to this world knowing that he had a previous life and that he was born without magic, but he never shared it.

He also noticed that Anisa never asked him about his family, maybe that's why he didn't share much about his past. It was as if she didn't want to know.

-------

Life went by in the forest, with each day Chris getting closer to Darius and Anisa and their way of life, he could sense the same feeling from both of them.

Every night while trying to sleep he would again start thinking, "What if I stayed?"

The armor was almost ready and along with it, the month's end was drawing close.

---------

The armor was done, and Darius was now testing and tweaking the same. Chris and Darius would mock a spar to test the flexibility and sturdiness of the armor. The armor was in its final stages of completion, the only thing remaining was to paint the armor.

Chris noticed that along with the armor's completion, Anisa became quieter than normal, he knew why.

Only three days remained before Chris would start his journey with Darius. He was helping Anisa with setting up materials to paint the Armor, while Darius had gone into the forest to get the remaining materials.

Suddenly they both looked up to see Darius come running out of the forest, with an expression he had never seen on Darius, he was scared. Chris guessed a wild animal attack?

"Anisa, Philip hide, take the armor with you." He called out on arrival.

Chris was about to ask what happened when Anisa caught his hand asking him to carry the armor and follow him. He mimicked both their instincts and followed Anisa, they went behind the hut and hid under the bush.

Chris could sense someone was coming it was a person, then he heard him speak to Darius.

"My my what do we have here Darius?"

Chris noticed from his voice that it belonged to an adult.

"What are you doing here Leach?"

"Is that the way you greet your uncle? Darius"

"Uncle?" Chris thought "Why are they afraid of their uncle?" Anisa sat motionless with her eyes closed, she held Chris's hands very tightly, she would jerk every time her uncle was speaking.

"Where is Anisa?"

"She is not here, why are you here Leach?"

"Is she hiding? Are you hiding from me, my dear Anisa? You can come out, your dear uncle is here"

Anisa was shaking terribly after hearing him call her out, he put his hands around her shoulder holding her tight.

"Stop that Leach, I told you she is not here, what are you doing here, we had a deal that we will only meet in the village."

"Well my Nephew, you were also supposed to keep part of the deal, you haven't visited the village for a while, so I got worried if you forgot me and what I did for you? Tell me are you surprised that I found this hut, did you think I didn't know?...... I knew all along about your little hiding place."

Chris noticed that Darius didn't respond to it, he was probably in shock he guessed.

"The reason I am here Darius is that we have a big assignment coming up in two days, and I need you, what you do only you can do."

Darius was silent again.

"And by the way, if you don't plan to join us, let me remind you, that there are a lot of beastmen in the village who would love to give you and your little sister a visit to this hut."

Chris was getting angry listening to their uncle speak and felt the urge to get up and punch him. He was more surprised that Darius kept silent.

The man spoke again "You know I am protecting you both from them, you are my family, and family protects each other, right? so be a good beast and be there ok? so let me hear it."

Darius was silent for a long time and then spoke "I will be there."

"That's the Darius I know, that wasn't so difficult to say right? So I will see you soon."

Chris could feel him walk in the direction he came, after walking some distance he stopped.

"And Darius...next time you call me leach, I will bash that face of yours." Saying that he went into the forest.

Anisa was in tears and shaking terribly, Chris held her tight. After a while, Darius came and took Anisa away into the hut.

Chris had a lot of questions he wanted to ask Darius.

Darius stepped out of the hut and spoke "It's time I tell you our whole story."