Chapter 266

  Unforgiven (VII)

  It seemed as soon as the beast drew its last breath, the white haze began to dissipate.

  It revealed a scorched little square with only two signs of life anywhere: one being the kid we were expecting, and the other being a flower we were not.

  We approached cautiously and slowly, though the kid was fast asleep. Better safe than sorry, as it were.

  [--Creator's Eyes used]

  [Target: Xing Feng]

  [Age: 10]

  [Talent: Mortal]

  [Cultivation Realm: None]

  [Cultivation Arts: None]

  [...]

  [Traits]

  [Lucky (Rare) -- has somewhat unnatural luck]

  [Quiet (Common) -- a naturally withdrawn countenance]

  [...]

  [Assessing Suitability...]

  [No special physiques or bloodlines discovered]

  [...]

  [Recommendation: a completely ordinary mortal with less than stellar talent for cultivation. Their somewhat lucky disposition, however, has ties with the nature of existence itself. Host is recommended to remold the target's lackluster talents and take him in]

  [...]

  [Final assessment: a blank slate seedling with no prior exposure to any manner of Qi. Silently perfect for forging a unique Physique and grafting an unnatural set of Roots]

  ... hmm.

  What?

  No, seriously.

  WHAT?

  All this... for a literally slightly lucky kid?!

  Where is my monster?! Where is the heaven-defying talent that can one day become an Emperor?! What is this absolutely ordinary kid doing here?! And how the hell is he even here?!

  Wow.

  Just... wow.

  Supremely wow.

  So much anticipation, so many expectations, and it's a dud.

  ... this world really did change me. I just thought of a completely innocent kid as a dud. Hey, at least it's not a psychopath, and--wait, the system is telling me to take him in and remold him.

  Oh!

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  Is it finally the time?

  I've been packing two rather neat tools in my spatial rings for a while, with nowhere to use them. The custom Jade-tier implant that grants someone the Martial Body physique and the more recent Talent Imbuement, which turns an ordinary person with no discernable talent for cultivation into a Heaven-tier one.

  Is that what it's implying? That I should blow both of them on this one kid?

  ... just because they're lucky?

  To be fair, the only person I've ever inspected that had the remotely similar description was likely Long Tao, under the 'Heavenly Chosen' mantle, where it indicated the world favors him in the outcomes.

  It's all intangible, at least to me, but though I just assumed that other kids also had something similar, the system never explicitly said that they did.

  This kid, even if it's just 'Lucky', I suppose it's rare enough of a trait that it warrants investing? I don't know.

  Regardless, I may as well use them--it's not like I was saving them for anything special or particular. There was also my ability to put one of my Disciples into the state of Enlightenment that I got a while back and hadn't used (partly because I don't really have a good explanation for it, and partly because I didn't know what it specifically entailed), so I can use the newcomer to test it.

  Hooh.

  All kinds of things are spilling out of me today, like a tidal torrent that I've forgotten to dam up.

  "He's waking up," Dai Xiu warned.

  "Don't crowd him," I warned. "Give him space."

  The kid slowly woke up, yawned, stretched, and stood up, practically ignoring us as he went over to the flower, crouching next to it, and mumbling something.

  After a little while, he started seemingly looking for something, his expression turning strange as he couldn't find it.

  "Uh, Mr. Ghosts, did you see anyone drop some food here?"

  Ghosts? There are Ghosts here?!!

  --no, wait, you idiot! He means us, clearly! Oh, thank God I kept my mouth shut, or I would have never lived to hear the end of it.

  "We're not ghosts," I said.

  "What are you, then?" he asked.

  "People, like you."

  "Impossible. Grandpa said there would be no other person here, and Grandpa never lies."

  "Well, we weren't here before, but we are here now."

  "Prove it."

  "... prove what?"

  "Prove that you are here."

  Hey, system, you bastard, didn't you say that this kid is 'Quiet'? How come your assessment of people's personalities tends to be quite off-base?

  "Alright," I walked up to him and flicked his brow.

  "Auu!" he yelped and pulled back, his annoyed expression quickly turning into one of horror.

  "Y-y-y-ou are... here..."

  Yeah.

  I mean, we did find the kid in one of the most inhospitable places I've seen in my life, guarded by a creature that's tens of thousands of years old, who basically died trying to protect him.

  Which begged the question... why?

  Why did the chimera care?

  No, wait, maybe the kid was nice to it 'cause he thought it was a ghost. He did seem to take it better when we were dead rather than just ordinary people.

  "We are. And we've come for you," I spat out a lie.

  "You... did?"

  "Hm. Your friend called for us to come and take you."

  "My friend? The one who gave me food?"

  "Hm, that one," I nodded. "He's gotten... tired and can't give you food anymore, which is why he called for us."

  "Are... are you his friend, too?"

  "Of course. We once peed into a river together!"

  "Aah! I--I did that with my friends, too!"

  "It's so much fun, isn't it?"

  "He he, so much fun~"

  ... alright.

  You know what?

  This isn't so bad. He's a completely normal, ordinary ten-year-old boy. He's not like my other 'kids,' who behaved as such only when it suited them.

  "So, will you come with us?"

  "Uhm... you... you will not eat me, will you?"

  "Oh? I look like someone who eats kids? Aah, I'm so hurt... to think I look so ugly..."

  "N-no, that's not it! I didn't mean it; I take it back!"

  "Master, don't be mean," Wan Lan added from the side. "Everyone knows you sound like you eat kids, not that you look like it."

  "..." Hey, Wan Lan, weren't you the sensible one? The one that's always on my side?

  "Wan Lan, don't be mean!" That's right, Dai Xiu! You tell her! No, wait this-- "Master smells like he eats the kids, not sounds!"

  "Dai Xiu, you are wrong. He--"

  "Okay, that's enough out of you," I interrupted Light, as I'm sure hers would have hurt the most because I know the other two held back somewhat, at least. "Do you want to give your Master permanent heartache?"

  "Big Sisters, is... is your Master nice?"

  "..."

  Yeah.

  Those squeals were rather nostalgic, I gotta say. Whenever my sis would bring her friends home, and they'd chat about one or another hot celeb of the week, they'd squeal like that. Or whenever they'd see a cute cat.

  Or a cute rat.

  Or whenever one would show off a text from one of the boys in their class.

  ... now that I think about it, was there an event in which teenage girls didn't squeal, one way or another?

  Dai Xiu, Wan Lan, and even Light bolted over like bullets and started doting on the boy.

  Hm.

  Normal.

  Everything is completely normal.

  ... though, I might be the insane one.