Chương 21: Distraction
"What a weird dude," Zayn mumbled to himself as he walked away from the main street of the town.
He stored the Normie King's business card in his backpack while recalling what had happened during the last few hours.
Exhausted from his first hunt and from carrying around the heavy Selvia Warhammer, and annoyed at being mistreated, he ended up doing something plain stupid.
Without adequate strength or connections to back him, Zayn had survived purely due to an ingenious stroke of luck. If not for the Normie King's sudden appearance, things would have gotten much worse.
'Is that puberty? The feeling of unfairness from getting mistreated for the last few years? The arrogance I felt when the fragmented memories resurfaced?' Zayn asked himself, trying to find out why he was so hot-tempered in the Alliance Hall.
He might be more mature than his peers because he had some memories of his past life, but they were mere fragments, and from another world at that. It was not as if he knew everything, whether it was about this or his world.
In fact, Zayn realized that he knew much less than he wanted to acknowledge. He was oblivious to everything… Zayn was also quite immature in certain situations which he presumed to be caused by the hormones his body released.
Sometimes he felt like he had to act much older and more mature than his body's biological age suggested, while he felt like a child during other times. It was confusing, and incomprehensible.
After all, he was thrown into this world at the age of eight, without any solid memories except the 'feeling' that he was already in his mid-20s and some fragmented memories that confused him more than help him.
'It is okay to be confused…I will get my act together, sooner or later!' Zayn concluded, determined to not let gloom make residence in his heart.
He couldn't change the things that happened in the past. His past actions would inevitably influence his present and future, but that was something he could also affect actively.
With that understanding, Zayn's train of thought switched over to the Alliance Hall, the Normie King, and the Goblin Caves which could be considered Undead Caves by now.
'The Normie King knew about the Undead, and the staff of the Adventurer Hall didn't really seem too shocked. She was a little vary of the Cores of the Undead, but that was already it…the reaction from Phillip was also not too normal…and the ominously that radiated from his Stigma was oddly familiar…'
Shaking his head, Zayn was trying to sort his thoughts just to end up thinking about Phillip Cerk once again.
His stomach rumbled loudly at the same time, Thus, he walked over to one of the many food stalls in the city where he purchased some meat dishes and beverages. Eating good food and quenching his thirst was a great way to distract himself.
However, an even better way to distract his mind was to get busy after a good meal.
After he was done eating, Zayn walked over to a different stall where he bought well-preserved jerky and two leather flasks which he filled with water from the well.
He also purchased some bandages, two vials with a yellowish liquid, a mask, a different-colored set of clothes, and a cloak.
Some may say that it would be best for him to leave the town as soon as possible and go to one of the adjacent villages or towns to hide there until nobody would remember him, but that was exactly what everyone would expect from him.
Staying in the town was the stupidest thing Zayn could do but that was exactly why he chose to stay in the town. He was not going to spend his time cowering in fear. But, he was also not stupid enough to roam around revealing his identity. Thus, he decided to hide under a cloak and mask since there were far more robed men and women than one may think.
It wouldn't be a perfect cover, let alone hide the fact that he was a Normie in a perfect manner but there were several people who preferred hiding their Stigmatas than showing them off. There were many Blessed who didn't like others to know what kind of powers they might possess, which was why they hid their entire arm under clothes or a specially customized fabric that could hide even the unique fluctuations certain stigmas released.
Unfortunately, the customized fabric was too expensive for Zayn, otherwise, he would have already acted as if he was a bigshot who wanted to hide his unique stigma.
But now that he was done buying a bunch of things to hide his appearance and to go out hunting, he spent some of his remaining fortune to rent a small room in an Inn in the outermost parts of the town.
'This expense is necessary to make sure that I can put my stuff somewhere,' Zayn told himself when lodging a room in the Inn.
He understood his turtle look with the long shield on the back was not something that could be hidden under a cloak. Others, especially the Blessed from the Alliance Hall should be able to put two and two together the moment they saw the turtle look, whether hidden or not.
For a moment, Zayn had considered summoning the Human Spirit, giving him a cloak and some fabric to cover up every single inch of his body before handing him the large iron mace and the long shield, but he discarded that thought.
It would attract even more attention if a huge herculean dude were to walk around the town all of a sudden. The mummified Human Spirit would attract more attention than the shorter Zayn.
That was why Zayn came up with the most efficient way to stay unnoticed while inside the town. He was not as strong as the Normie King, after all!
'Normie King…just how strong is he, either way?'
Thinking about the Normie King after his mind was finally freed from the mess his brain had caused, Zayn figured that it was plain impossible for the Normie King to be bothered about something as simple as Goblin Skeletons, or low-ranked Adventurers who had turned into Skeletons as well.
'There has to be something bigger…something much bigger…' Zayn realized and his eyes widened as he went on his way outside the town. The Inn he chose was not even 100 meters away from the wilderness. That made it convenient for him to enter and leave the town unnoticed when it was dark, which was the time he planned to return; when it was already dark!
But just when he stepped outside the town he noticed something that was obvious to everyone but Zayn.
'Was I just lucky?'
He shook his head and dispelled the thought. It was not important whether he was lucky or not to have come out alive from the Undead Cave.
His highest priority should be to become stronger, not seeking a safe path to walk on but a path with countless obstacles and dangers.
Becoming stronger was not something everyone could achieve. It was dangerous, it has always been.
However, was it really wise to enter the Undead Cave again now that he knew what kind of dangers lurked within?
There was a difference between choosing a suicidal path and a dangerous path.
One would lead straight to his death and the other one could become an opportunity…
But what was the Undead Cave? A path toward death, or an opportunity?
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