Chapter 26: Threat To Peace

"Got what?" Shun asked in a puzzled tone.

"Nothing. But I wanted to confirm one thing. Aren't Dreadlings actually beasts in essence with a pranic heart, right?"

Shun looked at him and said with a focused gaze, "Dreadlings, you mean those man-eating monsters? Yeah, obviously, they do have a pranic heart. Why the sudden interest in them?"

"Are there dragon-like beings among them?" Arion asked with a thoughtful light in his eyes.

Shun looked at him with a peculiar gaze but then sighed and said, "Look at who you are asking."

Arion facepalmed, "Ah, right. You are suffering from memory loss. But how do you know about Dreadlings then? Are you sure you have memory loss?"

Shun blinked his eyes and shrugged, "Of course, I do. I only knew about it because Miss Mei briefed me about them. You have no idea how much of a fast learner I am. Heck, you give me one day, and I can behave like a native of this village, and even you would have been fooled if you didn't know better."

Arion scoffed and continued to think about this crazy and dangerous idea he had come up with after getting an idea from Shun's words.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt as if his idea was making sense.

He knew he shouldn't think of this idea as it would probably end up with him dead. But he could feel in his heart that he would never be able to connect with Prana again if he kept sitting inside his home just because that was the safest thing to do.

He had enough of running in his previous life, and in this life, he had enough of leeching off another person while feeling helpless in case the other person ever needed help.

If he wanted to gain the power to control his life and be there for Mei, then he had to do something now.

"You know what, Shun? At least for the first time, something useful came out of your mouth, and thank you for that," Arion said before he steered his wheelchair towards the door.

"Huh? Really? You are welcome!" Shun casually said while popping in another meatball in his mouth. For an injured person, he seemed energetic enough to keep on eating.

Arion was now completely interested in the emergency message Old Zi had for Yuro.

However, as he got outside his home, he was surprised to see a large gathering of adults and youngsters, some even in the same age group as him.

"Arion, what happened? Do you need something?" A middle-aged man who was in between a conversation with Yuro asked.

"Nothing, Uncle Erik. I just wanted to know what's going on. What made you all come together?" Arion asked in a curious tone.

Yuro explained on behalf of Erik, "What else can it be other than those loathful Dreadlings? We were living in peace for a while, but it seems as if they have once again begun to bare their dirty claws at us near our ward."

Arion wrinkled his brows, "So, they haven't attacked here yet, right?"

"Not yet. The people in our neighboring ward, the Ascot Ward, are facing a surprise attack from the Dreadlings. Apparently, they have requested help from us. If they attacked our neighboring wards, then there is a high chance the Dreadlings might make their way here. That's why we should also try our best to help them and contain the threat."

"Arion, remember, we are telling you all this as a warning that you should stay inside your home, okay?" Yuro said in a serious tone and continued, "Don't wander off like before. We are going to split forces to deal with those threats while the kids here will scout around our ward for any developments."

Arion looked at the group of youngsters who waved a 'hi' to him. He now understood that they were to stay put since they were too inexperienced to fight Dreadlings.

There were three boys and three girls, and Arian knew all of them as he could say that they were kind of acquaintances to him since he had interacted with them since his childhood.

They were nice to him, and that's why he had a good impression of all of them.

Arion nodded at Yuro before she turned towards Erik again and continued to discuss something.

The youngsters scuttled towards Arion after the adults finished giving instructions to them.

The three boys were named Alv, Bari, Cayden, while the three girls were named Silvi, Nena, Ina.

The oldest among them was Cayden, who was seventeen years old and was the strongest one among them, while Nena was the youngest, aging around fifteen years.

Cayden was at the tenth and final cycle of the Prana Binding Stage and thus was only a half step away from the Prana Releasing Stage.

There were a total of ten cycles in the Prana Binding Stage, where each cycle was said to be completed when the body is strengthened once as a whole. Only after strengthening it ten times would one be able to cross the Prana Binding Stage successfully.

But the difficulty of passing from one cycle to the next would only get harder as they complete more cycles since a higher amount of prana would be required to strengthen their body again.

Surely, some can do it casually and finish these cycles faster. But their bodies won't get much stronger compared to the ones who did those cycles diligently.

However, all of them had nervous expressions since this was the first time they were going to set out on a mission. So, they also couldn't help but feel excited as well.

"Hi Arion, we heard about what happened, man. Don't worry about it. We can give you some helpful tips if you want. Maybe they might help you form a connection with Prana again." Cayden said with a smile while others nodded in support.

Arion looked at this tall youngster and said with a smile, 'Thanks, guys. But I wanted to ask you guys something."