Chapitre 41: Grasslands in the night, part 2

It was an incredible autumn night best for stargazing. Fragile stars stretching over the entire night sky while dark green grasses covering the whole of the grassy plains. The weather was pleasant with sweet mellows blowing up. A narrow muddy road dimly illuminated by five blue moons and the bonfires. Life seemed wonderful at the moment. If it was earth, it would be the perfect place for camping and picnics.

But in this world that Kiel was in, it was a regular occurrence. No high rise building, no industrial areas, only green fields stretching all around. The countries mainly depended on agriculture and tax revenues as the main source of income. The Areneu Kingdom, abundant in various types of herbs and trees, mainly depended on their natural herb harvests, potions, medicine and graded elixirs as sales and exports to sustain the economy.

The Areneu Kingdom, or more specifically the Areneu Royal Family, although they mainly consist of women, were a family associating with summoning elements. As a rare and pretty powerful source element, it aided them greatly to lord over the country.

Their bloodline allowed them to become beast tamers or Summoners easily, summoning powerful entities for fighting with them. So anyone with these elements awakened were considered the most aspiring candidates for serving the royal family. Although others were not discriminated on this fact, still no one can deny the fact that the Areneu Kingdom was the kingdom of beast tamers.

It is said that the first matriarch of the royal family had a huge phoenix as a summon which could spew fires covering the whole of the Kingdom. It was the real protector of the royal family and said to be still protecting the family line. Although it was considered a myth, the royal emblems in the various books which looked like a phoenix would symbolize their honour.

So most dreamed of becoming a beastmaster. The lavishly decorated caravan at the front was the same. The numerous carvings of beasts and other animals signify that they were associated with beast tamers.

"Looks like the night sky will be clear tonight. Good for camping. A big catch indeed."

Stirring his well-cooked stew and relishing a spoonful each time into his mouth, Kiel wondered about what he should do next.

Acquiring a few skills suitable for him, a few books on array formations would also be helpful in understanding mana circuits. Also after returning home, he would have to focus on creating a better lab for him. That would allow him to bring forth some gadgets from his previous world. For that, he would need to first generate electricity.

{A/N: spell glyphs have been changed to skills}

Electricity was one of the main building blocks of the technical world. So he would need some metals and other things for this purpose. The crude ways of moulding and refining metals, still relying on handmade products, this world needed too many revolutions.

Although relying on mana is wonderful and great, Kiel didn't have the facility. And he still understand his chakra. So he had to look for alternatives. But science always burned money. A poor kid like Kiel, how could he have so much money. Aunt Ena gave him 50 silvers and his mother had stored 20 silvers for him until now. That was all he had. And he had to worry about carrying them too.

Realising this, he still had a long way to go.

*Clap clap*

"Damn these mosquitoes! Why are there so big! What you think I was clapping out of joy?"

"Hehe, little kid don't be too harsh, here take this insect medicine. It will help you."

"Thanks, uncle Geremy."

Kiel held a yellow handmade paste covered within banana leaves. He didn't think that there would be mosquitoes like this big.

'Sigh! Should have bought the insect repellant, although it costs 20 coppers.'

The caravans were mostly protected by small scale mercenaries. So it was a hustle-bustle around the born fires. Although richer people sneered at these uncouth people, they had to tolerate them during the travel.

Geremy was one of the caravan drivers, middle-aged bulky and seemingly strong as you would expect from a regular horse driver. He looked kind, and seeing a lone child travelling, he advised Kiel to be safe. And even gave him some meat in the stew. So Kiel didn't mind responding a little to this fella who seemed to be excessively chatty.

Seeing the little kid, talking the insect repellent, the old driver seemed to be satisfied. This awfully quiet little kid travelling alone was enough to hint that he had troubles accompanying him. He had been driving for who knows when. And after all who would leave a small child to travel on their own. So, the most he could do was help the kid a little.

'A nice guy, but who knows what's inside? Better stay vigilant. I am not here to make friends like those heroes!'

As all kinds of thoughts would pass through an idle brain, Kiel seemed to be going through the same suffering. Everyone was busy, and cheering and talks were common. However, as Kiel was criticizing those cringy romance novels in his head, everything became silent. The sudden silence also woke him up. Looking at others, everyone had their gazes drawn towards the front coach.

Following everyone's line of sight, Kiel also looked ahead.

[A gorgeous lady came out from the caravan, so breathtaking that the young boy lost his heart the moment he looked at the sight. All the talks about cringiness vanished from his mind, as the sweet lingering dew of first love covered all his might! But the lady in front ignored the seemingly uncouth boy and traversed into the woods slowly with her maids. What would the story progress ahead? Will the lady fall for the boy, or would love remain unconditional again?]

'Pfft. What rubbish are you talking about system? She is just a little teenager. And I am just a five years old kid. Don't even have those hormones at this time. Ah hahaha system, you should have given a story storytelling kids. Ah hahaa'

Seeing its host, not able to even control his laughter, it became really embarrassing. Looks like its plan to bully the host ended in vain.

[Tsk. Host you bully…]

Getting such a cute response from the system was enough to make his day. So Kiel looked ahead again. But this time, his eyes became sharp like a knife.

A little girl of the same age as his sisters walked out of the caravan with a little cat on her back. Although Kiel could not see much due to the dim lights, he noticed that the girl had black hair. Everyone could tell at first glance that the girl would become a beautiful lady as she grows up.

Walking out of the caravan with four maids, the little girl looked like those second-generation rich kids looking for an adventure, with arrogance all over themselves. The girl was like a proud chicken, walking out into the woods. The maids themselves were beautiful too, each having her own beauty. But they were quite vigilant. They even held magic wands and swords, scrutinizing everyone with their vigilant eyes, as they followed the lady into the woods.

Looks like they were going to relieve themselves. Of course, seeing such delicate girls, many people would lose themselves, but the four maids and the guards ahead kept those uncouth people in check. The invisible pressure held everyone at their place. Nobody would like to offend some nobles like a hobby. They had their lives to take care of.

But Kiel was not interested in those girls. What piqued his interest was the fragile-looking cat on the girl's shoulders. It looked as if it had a high intelligence level comparable to humans. The way it was looking at others, was proof in itself.

'As I guessed. This young lady might be from a family of beast tamers. Interesting!'

***

After having his stew, Kiel washed the clay bowl and submitted it to Geremy. Then seeing that most people had fallen asleep, he slipped out. Applying the insect medicine paste on him, Kiel slowly slipped into the woods behinds to relieve himself. Well, the main issue was to continue his night practice. And he could not practice in the caravan as he could alert others. After all, he could not just stop his daily training. Today's morning also, he didn't get the time to practice because of his exhaustion while training Force.

Now come to think of the Force, it seemed to be a very cool ability. Controlling an object seems to be a very crude way of using it.

As Kiel walked into the woods, he realized that there was it was way too dense. Forest growths everywhere. Kiel picked a relatively closed place from the caravan location so that he may not get lost, and also where others may not find him easily.

'Damn this jungle! Hey, system! Don't you have a map function?'

[Ding! Replying host! To unlock the mapping function you have to complete a side mission! Does the host want to unlock the Mission Function?]

'Shouldn't you tell me about it before?'

[Host didn't ask!]

'… '

[ … ]

'Sigh! Initiate it now!'

[Beep… Initiating Mission Tab! Configuring first mission]

[1st mission:

Mission details: Discover an area of about 1000 square kilometres.

Mission status: 0/1000 square kilometres.

Mission Reward: Map installation]

'... Really now system! Is this your idea of a joke? It is not giving me anything new at all'

[Host, patience is the key to success]

That female mechanical voice inside his head seemed to be irritating to the extreme now. Looks like the system was playing revenge due to the taunts of Kiel.

'Sigh! Forget it. What about Appraisal? And when will I get my Inventory? What are the requirements for them?'

[Beep… Replying host! To get Appraisal, you have to have the knowledge of an object that you want to appraise. If you have no idea about it, the appraisal results could not be matched with database and that would lead to null appraisal. So the host needs to unlock the store function first. And then acquire knowledge about the various flora, fauna and minerals of this world from the store. Only then can host open the Appraisal!]

'Ehh! There's such a requirement how stingy! Forget about it. How about the inventory then?'

Ignoring the taunts of the host, scls94 continued.

[Beep… Initiating second mission

Mission details: Gain a rudimentary understanding of the space element!

Mission rewards: Inventory]

'Ehhhh!! Now how do I learn space now!! Even back in my world, no one knew how it worked.'

[Host can unlock the store function for gaining knowledge about space. Host can also gain additional knowledge about the world through the store. Host can also acquire knowledge about space from this world.]

'So indirectly you are telling me to unlock the store function right?'

[Host is smart!]

'System you do know that you sound like a salesman selling his wares right?'

[...]

'Well, whatever! How do I open the store function? And what's inside the store'

[Host can unlock the store function by upgrading the system to the first level]

'Great another obstacle! Just how many requirements do you have? '

[Host can upgrade the system by the knowledge points. Knowledge points are like experience points. You can upgrade various things from Kp]

'Eh! I didn't ask anything this time! Why did you give me the details? Do you feel awkward?'

[Host must be hallucinating. I am just a system without any emotions]

'Fine. Whatever!'

Now Kiel felt awkward. So he just sat down and began practising. Closing his eyes, Kiel focused whatever energy he could get from inside his body and let it enter the root chakra slowly and steadily. Like delivering food to a beast, the root chakra sucked up his life energy, and with it, Kiel's consciousness too this time.

What came into his sight was a dense fog of red colour covering every inch of this world, and he was floating in this world. However, the red colour didn't seem to be uninformed. Somewhere there was a lighter shade of red while somewhere there was a heavier shade of red. But it was all red.

And somewhere within, a bright red glow was shining its light in this world. The world was all covered up by the fog however to distinguish anything to know about distance. Kiel didn't try to go anywhere but tried calling out to his system to learn about what was happening, but this time he didn't get a response.

'It appears that I cannot reach the system now.'

Failing in his attempt, Kiel tried to get out of this world. And it was easy this time. Opening his eyes he saw the world again. The system seemed to be talking about something, but Kiel was focused somewhere else. Closing his eyes again, he tried to focus his consciousness on his root chakra.

It may seem complicated, but it was like closing one's eyes and focusing on the inside of one's body. It would be dark and you may get only a muscular spasm as a response only, but this time it was different for Kiel. He was in the red world again.

'Ehh looks like the root chakra is open now. I can enter it anytime I want.'

Kiel tried focusing on the red fog this time. And to his surprise, it worked. The red fog moved according to his will. However, his control was only over a metre around him, whereas the world seemed vast. And even within this metre, the more the distance increased, the vaguer his control over the fog became.

And there was that shining red glow at that distance, from which he sensed a familiarity. As he focused more, he could control more of the fog anyway he liked. And surprisingly it was fun, but the effective control was only a little distance around him.

He even tried to walk inside, but it lead to no avail. Playing and experimenting on and on, he, however, discovered something. He could change the intensity of the colour red around him. He could make it deep red, crimson, even pink. Kiel tried to bring the colour white, but with his present level of control over the fog seemed insufficient, as he controls the colour to a limit on both sides of the colour spectrum.

He could even try to make the red fog enter the whirlpool close to him, but that way, he would lose control of the fog.

Kiel even tried to make the fog into various shapes, but that seemed hard and impossible, giving him a headache.

So he had to open his eyes. Opening his eyes, however, gave him a miraculous feeling this time.