Chapter 2: Decent Man
[WARNING]
"..."
After the mission got about three days left, it would turn into a red screen that he could only dismiss when he did the mission, so now he is stuck with this cursed panel that will occasionally create a-
Beep—!
"..."
It's truly annoying.
Ignoring the system warning, Liam closed his eyes and went back to sleep on top of the leaf house, knowing full well that cursing at this thing more would only cause him more stress so he ignored it.
He doesn't really want to get rid of his eyes so the only option for him to avoid it is to sleep.
"zzz"
It took exactly ten seconds for Liam to go into a deep sleep as he's already snoring.
But his blissful dream didn't last for a while.
"Praise the chieftain!"
"Prepare the finest pig for the ceremony!"
"Aighh, what do you think you're doing! Get off my roof!"
"..."
The commotion was too loud for him to fall asleep, but he still tried to close his eyes, believing that he would sleep eventually.
Growl~
"..."
Not only are the people disturbing his sleep, but even his own body is against him.
"I shouldn't have given those candies to the kids."
Grumbling, Liam woke up with a frown on his face and decided to join the crowd to see the ceremony since he had nothing to do anyway.
"Careful! This roasted pig will be served during the ceremony, so you better"
The rich and fatty aroma entered Liam's nostrils, causing his eyes to divert toward the delicious dark red pig that was carried by two people.
Growl~~
His stomach growled even more, and he unknowingly drooled from this.
"No, I shouldn't. I may be poor but I am not a thief."
He may not have been born in a decent place, but he was taught to be a decent man, and decent men don't steal food from people!
Avoiding the temptation, he walks past the pig and walks a little faster to create a distance between that group.
"Huh? That's weird? Why is this in my hand?"
Maybe someone dropped it and he unknowingly picked up the slippery thing on the ground.
At least that's what Liam believed to be the case.
Liam continued his walk, and before long, he reached the center of the village, where about two or three hundred people had gathered around.
That's already half of this small village, and there are still more people coming!
Among the crowd of people, there is a particular group of young men and women standing up straight with a serious face and their hands behind their backs.
They are youth who will turn seventeen years old this year and will be the participants of this ceremony.
"It's not like there would be any Spirit Bearer emerging."
He had lived here for the past five years and had just experienced the ceremony himself last year, but he still hadn't seen anyone become a Spirit Bearer.
The reason people still retained hope in such odds is that the village chief is a Spirit Bearer himself and possesses two spirits!
'One in a decade, and people still have hope for this ceremony.'
Talk about the one in a decade; he had finally shown up with his usual outfit, though his method of arriving was different this year.
Liam looked up where the crowd's gaze was, where he saw a lone figure floating above the people.
Unlike all of the villagers who only wore a simple brown tunic and long pants, his clothes were a garment made out of animal hide, fur, and skin, with a dark violet cloak covering the figure's body.
"Even now, I haven't seen his true face."
Every time he met him, the man always put on the traditional mask of this ceremony, which is the mask of a black boar with fur on its forehead and two giant ivory tusks curved to its ears.
That's the chieftain of this small village, Astella Terra, the man who was feared and loved by everyone in the village.
'Well, let's see any change aside from his flashy entrance.'
Last time, he brought his giant pet known as an elephant to this place and it sure wasn't a pleasant memory for Liam since that damned thing smelled.
Liam looked at the chieftain for a while before squinting his eyes.
The red system in front of him suddenly changed completely into the profile of someone else, more specifically, the chieftain.
| The Path Of Spirit Bearer |
[Stat]
Title: None
Age: 38
Status: Alive
Rank: Pioneer
[Spirits] (3/7)
Spirit Of Fleeting Wind (Lesser Spirit) (Unification Completed)
Spirit Of Snake (True Spirit) (Unification Completed)
Spirit Of Breeze (Avatar Spirit) (Unification Started)
[Ability]
Blood Snake: You could create snakes from your blood.
Wind Burst: The wind you created will have the effect "burst" on it.
Wind Cloak: You are capable of flying in the air.
"Oh! His ability, Push Of Wind, became Wind Burst."
Maybe that is due to his new spirit, Spirit Of Breeze, that caused the evolution to happen.
A Spirit at the rank of Avatar, huh? ...Pioneer and Apprentice, Lesser and Great… I still have no idea what these ranks are.
These ranks are named by the system and are not public knowledge in the world; the same goes for the Lesser Spirit or Avatar Spirit. He had asked for basically everyone inside the village, but no one had a clue about it.
'Well, I haven't asked the chieftain himself.'
The guy only returned to the village three times a year: once at the start of the new year, once at the azure sky holiday and now here at the ceremony.
The reason for that is, from the rumor he heard, the chieftain is a special soldier of an Empire known as the Wistto Empire, one of the four empires that ruled over this world, and was led by not a human but a spirit known as the Spirit of Wisdom.
Out there existed spirits that are more powerful than humans could contain, and just one of them alone is enough to eradicate the entire human race!
Thankfully, unlike those wild spirits that caused havoc everywhere they went, these powerful beings have a level of intellect at the same level as or even above that of humans!
They know there is no meaning in causing the death of the human race, so instead of killing us all, they created an Empire for themselves to use humans as a way to do whatever they are doing in this place.
"So in the end, we are nothing but a puppet of those spirits?"
Kind of sad when you think about it, but that's it, but unlike the cursed system that chained him to its way, the powerful spirit didn't care about someone like him; in fact, they even helped the human in our development.
If there's a spirit that he despises, then it would be—
"My people, friends, and family. Today we gathered here to receive our blessing from the Wisto Empire!"
"So let us pray for the Spirit Of Wisdom through the one might who has saved us from the hunger and thirst made by the accursed Spirit Of Hardships!"
"Yeah, screw that hideous thing!"
"Only the might of wisdom could transcend above!"
Just when the people were mocking the Spirit Of Hardships, they heard the words so foul they wouldn't even dare to say them in secret spewing out of a young man's mouth at lightning speed.
"Yeah, F************* that ********* Spirit Of ****—"
"Oi, oi, Liam, calm down!"
"To think that I would see such a devotion to Wisdom."
"Cover the children's ears and then your ears too!"
Of course, Liam's cursing at Hardship isn't due to his belief in Wisdom but due to the damn spirit, which is the reason why his hatred toward the system is immeasurable.
That damn spirit must be the one who created his quests and also the one to bring out those shitty failures!
And the reward barely satisfies him, and only those that seem to be able to satisfy him are far-fetched!
He had no idea why a spirit similar to a god on the other side of the continent was with him but it didn't stop him from cursing it.
He would have kept on cursing it forever if not for the fact that his mouth was blocked by something.
Crunch—!
"Damn, this is good!"
At the same time, he heard a commotion behind him about a missing leg of roasted pig.
He could also see many gazes land on him, but they just shook their heads and ignored him.
The effect of [Fool Deduction] is working pretty fine.
"Poor guy, someone must have stolen it."
Saying so, Liam continued eating the juicy pig leg that he coincidentally found somewhere on the ground, deciding not to waste the food.
He was taught to be a decent man, after all.
Then he heard the loud voice of the chieftain from above, along with the burst of cheer among the people.
"Now, let the first phase of the ceremony BEGIN!"