“Alright, you are coming with me,” I said to the translator after I changed clothing to my standard blue Champion armor set. I also got a pack of food and water for the road. This would take a couple of days even with my travel speed to get to the next city.

“What?” he asked stupidly.

“I don’t have time to teach the kid English, you do. Also you helped me. If the Divine Empress finds out, you will suffer.” He looked at the kid and his face paled. “Yep, exactly what you are thinking.” I went over and picked up the guy with one arm. Much more annoying than a kid.

I set off slowly, making sure not to injure them as I made my way towards the East gate and the road back to the East and the Forbidden City. I would get off the road right away and head due East toward Nanjing.

I would resupply there and get the kid healed up again. Then we would make our way to the North and take the road back East towards Purgatory. It was going to be a long trek. I really was zipping all over the evil empire.

“The kid is asking for his nanny and his mother,” the translator said as I ran. He looked a bit ill.

“I will have you translate more in depth when we stop. But for now we are making tracks,” I told him. Thankfully Fuyuka had told me some of the terrain of the Dragon Empire while we had been together. There were mistlands to our East and a bit South.

I would also rather go through the stonelands after that than through the swamp. But it would be unavoidable regardless. I exited New Harkarta without any issue and quickly angled my way towards the Southeast.

The only time I stopped was once for a bathroom break. The tribes people kept out of my way thankfully. Someone traveling at my speed and with armor clearly had high stats and was powerful. As evening came, I reached the mistlands.

I rushed into the mist which was pushed back quite far. The translator and the kid began to get loopy and white crystal monsters were hiding. I could sense their location with my Mind stat being over a thousand. I unleashed Acid Shot, and killed them off. I went a bit further in, having to stop and put the translator down occasionally to kill off the monsters.

Finally, I called it a day and cleared out the surround area from our campsite. It probably wasn’t necessary, but I wanted a little buffer just in case. I went back to the translator who was waving his hand in front of his face and set the kid next to him.

“Alright, translate this to the kid and listen up as well,” I told the skinny man who nodded. “I am Champion Michael. I have defeated the Inquisitor and sacked the Forbidden City. This child is the son of the Divine Empress.” The translator gulped and got to work explaining things to the kid who didn’t really understand but I would have him do it anyway.

The kid spoke up and the translator looked at me. “He is asking if you killed his mother and who will train him in Kung-fu if you killed his teacher.”

“His mother lives. And I will have you teach him English. As for Kung-fu. I will find people who will watch and take care of him, who will teach him martial arts,” I explained. The translator said all of that and the kid began screaming. The translator looked back at me.

“Alright, I am going to put food and water in your hands. Don’t wander off or you will die. I won’t come and save you. I can always get a new translator. If the kid needs to use the bathroom. The chain has some length. If he pisses himself, that is his problem. If he pisses on me, I will beat him and pull out his teeth. Translate that clearly.”

The translator got to work explaining it all to the crying brat as I got the food and water out and gave it to them. They ate quietly on the raw fruit and vegetables. The kid complained but I had the translator tell him to shut up and projected terror on the kid. He shut up right after that.

I was losing the new aspect of Aura. It was useless against anyone with stats, but it was perfect for a brat like this with no stats. I lay down to sleep. The kid couldn’t hurt me, and the translator had barely any stats. It would also be hard to track us down in a level 3 zone.

For the other two I had purchased blankets for each of them to use a pillow or sleep under. I didn’t care which. I made sure to rest my head on the water flasks in the pack and not the fruit. I closed my eyes and let out a long sigh.

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I felt the kid pull on the chain. I didn’t even move slightly. Sorry kid, you aren’t going anywhere. There was no lock to pick. I had bent the metal into shape around his neck. While not tight, it was not loose so it wouldn’t jiggle while I was running.

That was the thing about hide speed movement. Having everything stable was important. Zero chances or anything happening. The chain was the best compromise I could come up with. It felt wrong to collar a 5 year old, but this child was a walking piece of drama. I could already feel it in my soul.

The fact that the Almighty System went out of its way to save the child was a clear sign that Qi Ji Long was drama incarnate. I hadn’t made up my mind yet on if I should bring him into the tower with me. It would be risky, but letting him out of my sight or control for a moment, seemed risky as well.

The Divine Empress would be laser focused on me now. Like a dragon swooping down onto a poor person that stole from its horde. Unlike gold, I had stolen her child. She wouldn’t hold back if we met again unless I could use the child as a shield. That was for sure.

I tried to get to sleep, but I just couldn’t help but think how such a confrontation would be handled. I couldn’t let the child go and the Divine Empress would not walk away. I hated the idea of hostage negotiations.

What I needed to do was implant the child with a bomb of some kind and get him a restoration right after. Yes, that was what I needed to do. Turn the child into a suicide bomber. I would need the good doctor for this. It would take a lot of restorations and maybe some skills, but I am sure I could figure something out.

I couldn’t risk the child escaping out of my control for one nanosecond. That thought etched itself deep in my brain over and over. For some reason I just felt that the moment I wasn’t watching the child, he would get away and it would be maximum drama and headache. No chances. Double check everything.

After a bit of worrying, I finally drifted off to sleep.

I woke up and it was night time. The child was curled up next to the translator. I didn’t care. I would never be the father figure or mentor type. I was uncle no one talked about type. The child could grow up hating me and I hoped he lived. I let them rest. We had a long day ahead and I would be running for quite some time once they woke up.

There just wasn’t any other option. Even if the Almighty System blasted me. I was turning the child into a bomb. It was my only hope to prevent a rescue. I could just imagine me holding the child as the Divine Empress showed up.

She would demand I let the child go and offer me a quick death. I would refuse and grip the child’s neck. She would slowly advance and I knew there would be no running away. She would come close enough we would be arm’s length apart.

I would threaten the child, but I loved my life too much. She would close in and place her hands on mine, slowly pulling them off. Off my body, not wanting to risk her child. Then she would torture me forever. Possibly the nugget treatment like the Avatar.

There was no way to win against her. Turning her child into a bomb was the only way. I would let him go and run myself. She would secure her child first and foremost before coming after me. I would then detonate the bomb.

Killing her child and her along with it. I no longer had the bomb Clarissa had give me. I let it go with my old armor just in case it had a tracker of some kind. Perhaps something similar to that shoved into the child here.

Would need something large and powerful to catch the Divine Empress. But it also needed to fit inside of a child. Well that was a problem I would have to talk to the good doctor about. I looked at the swirling mist above me. My Aura stat was just enough to almost make a hole through the top of the mist to the sky above.

I liked looking at the pinpoints of light in the night sky after a long day of grinding. I needed to take my mind off the kid and the Divine Empress. I forced myself to think about the mist and what it was. It was something I had often considered and my Aura stat.

The fact there was a lot more depth to the Perception stat and the danger sense that came with it, made me think there might be more depth to the Aura stat as well. I could project emotions. I focused on my Sense stat and tried to withdraw my aura.

The mist came in closer. It was clearly a mental effect, since the mist distance was different for everyone. I couldn’t see my energy, but then why was the mist affecting me at a distance. It should be all or nothing?

I turned the question over in my head. I could focus and adjust the range, but what was being adjusted, since it wasn’t my energy. Body was force being generated. Perception was taking in the energy around you to observe threats and the physical world with it. Sense was doing that but with energy. What was Aura doing exactly and how was I transmitting emotions?

The fact the Avatar could speak in my head like she had indicated that there might be an actual method to do so that wasn’t a skill. I wouldn’t waste a skill slot on something like that. Did she even have skill slots? If she did, I couldn’t see her wasting one on a something like speech. Since the Divine Empress crippled her after she became the Avatar.

That meant it was probably something like raw control. I wasn’t touching the Channel stat for right now. I wanted to get some enchanted gear first. A shame I hadn’t been able to steal any. What was important was this mind communication. It probably crossed all language barriers, like the mental downloads.

The fact I couldn’t speak to people had been annoying me. I wanted to be able to yell at the kid. He wouldn’t be able to respond back, but it would be nice to yell at people in their minds. Also, it was a very good way to distract someone in combat while also using skills. The combat implications were massive like the danger sense realization had been.