12 A Cannibal?

"Maybe she doesn't look like one, but she's a 'Mana King'."Adi continued with pride, "She's a death elemental on top of that. Something very rare in this world, too."

Looking at the uninterested Aiden, Adi added, "To tell you the truth, it's very hard to evolve from 'Mana Noble' to 'Mana King'. But she did it without giving anyone a totem. But becoming a 'Mana Emperor' would be almost impossible for her if she couldn't imprint someone."

"To begin with, it's hard to find someone who could contain her mana," thinking about it, all Adi could do was sigh. At the next moment, his face lit up, "If you carry her imprint, you'll become a 'Mana General.' It's going to be easy for you to become a 'Mana Noble' as..."

"I'm sorry," said Aiden, surprising Adi. He didn't know how to respond, "Don't be like that. You don't have to make your decision..."

Aiden shook his head, "I am sorry." He didn't even hesitate for a moment. He looked at his eyes and said, "I thank you again for saving me. But, I like to leave now, if I have permission to leave."

"I want to go back to my team. If I survive the time of the mission, I want to go back home. I have no intention of cultivating again." Aiden said those words loud and clear, without a hint of hesitation.

Still, when he looked at Adi's eyes, he felt that Adi had seen him through his lies. And to his surprise, he was smiling at him.

"You're free to leave."

It was Aiden's turn to be surprised. He never expected Adi to let him leave just like that, 'could it be that it wasn't a bad thing...'

As Adi had said, something had come from far away. A little wolf with something like a green pumpkin-headed tree man on its back.

The wolf was made entirely of green vines, and the pumpkin-headed creature was wearing the armour of some unknown tree bark. He also carried a club made by tying a stone to a stick.

They bowed as soon as they appeared in front of Adi. Adi nodded, "Take this child to the south forest." They nodded, turning to Aiden, and signing him to follow them.

"Boy, don't misunderstand me. I don't intend to force you. After all, that's your life." Adi gave Aiden a blade. It was a single-edged blade with a handle slightly bent outward. It was the 40 cm long blade that attracted him most.

It was black, but it felt like someone had drawn intricate silver designs all over its body. Looking at mesmerized Aiden, Adi smiled, "Take it. The path you're going to take won't be without blood."

Aiden was surprised by those words, yet again he smiled at Aiden, "The men of this land will recognize you as soon as they see your weapon. This, however, is something that the men of this land use."

"You want me to fight with them, huh?"

Adi smiled and shook his head. He said, "I want you to be prepared. And in that direction, there's someone you might want to save." And he put the blade on the hand of Aiden.

'Someone that I want to save?' Aiden didn't hesitate any longer, 'Compared to my life, how much more costly this blade could be?' But when he stepped forward to leave, someone stopped him from behind.

As soon as Aiden understood that her power could not affect him, Aiden's fear had died. Aiden tried to free his hand from her grip, only then did he realize that even if it had a child's body, it was still an 'A' graded monster.

Aiden turned to Adi for help. He smiled, but he did nothing. "Let me go, please," Aiden said. She shook her head to his surprise.

Aiden was dumbfounded, 'If you are an 'A' graded beast, then act like one. Why are you acting like a kid?'

"Looks like she is very fond of you." Adi acted like he was enjoying the show.

Looking at nonchalant Adi, Aiden turned to her, "Listen to me, you can come to me whenever you want. I will play with you."

'How am I supposed to play with the most dangerous monster with the death count of 300?' But, to his surprise, his words were effective. He could feel it, the grip loosened a little bit.

"As long as you don't show up when I am working or you don't hurt my Fri… my teammates. I will play with you." Looking at her, Aiden felt that her already bright eyes were shining. "So, let me go now." And she complied without wasting a moment.

'Somehow I have gotten myself a new sister.' Aiden shook his head and followed the already waiting green wolf rider.

As soon as Aiden had gone far enough, the devil had also vanished, intending to follow him. Adi stood alone, looking at the giant tree in the distance.

The wind rose a moment later. They began to gather the leaves and flowers that were scattered across the earth. It soon took the form of a woman.

"Master, should I kill him?" she asked.

Adi smiled at her, "Why is that?"

"He is the only child of a man who can defy the power of the princess."

"Do you think it was a joke when I said that if he tried to cultivate, he would die?"

"My king. I wouldn't dare," said the woman on her knees.

"Only if he could ingest the essence of... Let's not talk about the impossible. He's not going to hinder our revenge."

"But the prophecy ...

"Yes, the prophecy of the seer." Adi turned to look at the giant tree, "The man who can defy death will rule the land." Adi laughed for an unknown reason, "No man can defy death. I was the one who denied death for him. And I am the one who will rule the land."

**************

Aiden, on the other hand, was following the wolf rider.

'So Mana's beast has some kind of level, huh? Mana General, Mana Noble, Mana King, Mana Emperor... There must be more, too.' Aiden was amused, 'I never expected the Mana beast to be ranked by themselves.'

'ESS, what is the level of Adi?'

[Unable to identify. Not a mana beast.]

'Not a mana beast? Could it be because it's a tree?'

[System can identify flora.]

'What's the problem, then? What he did to my body is not something to laugh at.'

[There was no sign of life on his body.]

'Can this be some kind of golem? A puppet? 'The more he thought about it, the more curious he was. 'If it wasn't a living body, it would explain how he was able to touch the devil.'

[Does the host want to set up new data?]

'Do it. Put the tag of the species as the golem.'

[Name: Adi

Species: Golem

Grade: S (??)

Element: Unknown

Feature: Red crystal eyes, Human skeleton with vines and moss.

Comment: Golem with consciousness (?)]

[Does the host want to modify it?]

'No.' Aiden wasn't sure if it was a golem of not, but he felt that the system measured the grade correctly.

[Autor note: Level A: Mana Emperor]

'If the golem is at the level of mana emperor, then who made it?' He was curious, however, he had no intention of wasting time on it. He asked, 'How many days have it been?'

[Looking at the position of the sun, it is the 17th day of the mission]

'17 days? So I was sleeping for 11 days. That was a lot.' As Aiden thought, the view in front of him changed again. The grey, colourless forest appeared before his eyes. But in the vicinity, there was no beast.

The bright place wasn't there any more as he turned back. There was a dark forest as long as he could see. 'Where did the forest go?'

[The concentration of Mana is too high. Unable to discern.]

'Can this be some sort of spell?' The more he thought about it, the more fearful he was. At that moment, the wolf rider stopped and pointed his finger to the direction.

"You want me to go in that direction, huh?" It nodded to his question and turned the wolf around to disappear into the darkness.

'What am I supposed to do now?' All of a sudden, Aiden was feeling empty. He never thought he was going to live to see another day.

All the struggles to resist death for one more day, the conflict that was bred by his idiocy and the death... All his past actions seemed to be a joke to him right now.

'Should I kill her as well?' No one was there to see the flash of intense hatred in his eyes as he clenched. But it vanished as soon as it had appeared.

A moment later he shook his head, "How many of them should I kill? Elijah, Asher, huh? Perhaps Lyla also knew about it. Then there's the director back on the planet and the federation..." Aiden sighed.

Aiden was trying to scream his heart out, but he couldn't. "I just want to go home, I just want to be with my..." he couldn't say. The pain, the grief, the guilt, and the happiness turned into tears.

The peace of the forest was destroyed by his painful howl. Aiden, on his knees, was like a little lamb for slaughter, but no one dared to disturb him.

Nobody knew how long it went, but when he stood up, his eyes were calm. As if he had undergone a complete transformation.

"I killed the captain of the team. So there's going to be a punishment, too." It wasn't like he was afraid of anything, but thinking about his family, his heart hurt. 'Maybe I could reduce my sentence by completing some of the missions.'

For a non-member of the team, credit points are just money. But for those who don't lack the money, that's the price of prestige and fame.

"Should I do the mission?"

[Seven Missions are available.]

Like a seasoned salesman, ESS responded at the right time. Aiden smiled and said, "Show me."

[1. Fauna sample collection. New fauna identification: 2 credit points. Blood sample: 5 credit points. Mana crystal: 2-10 credit points.

2. City ruin exploration: 100 credit points.

3. Contact with the natives and knowledge of current development: 100 credit point

4. Mine exploration: 100 credit points

5. Chaos ore collection: 5 credit point/ kg

6. Knowledge of native magic theory: 200 credit points

7. Knowledge of human stronghold: 100 credit points

]

'The New Wildlife? ESS, show me the current credit point.'

[New species identification: 8

Recorded data correction: 2]

'10, isn't it? Aiden frowned,' Even if he could explain the reason behind his action, he knew very well that the punishment for killing an on-duty senior officer would not be light.'

'They might cancel my rewards.' Aiden sighed in his heart and took another look at the mission list. 'The best way to do this is to collect mana crystal. With my new strength, it's not going to be a problem.'

Aiden looked around to find a potential target. Even after reading all the missions, he felt that hunting for mana crystals would be the best option, but before that, 'Can you find the way to Levi's shuttle pod?'

[The system can only identify the shuttle pod of the host.]

'That's going to do too. It wasn't far away.' Aiden was forced to stop thinking, 'What was that?'

[Identified a cry for human help. It is 882 meters to the east.]

'Hearing the sound from a distance.' He was happy, but it didn't last long, because the number of cries grew.

At first, he thought there might be a chance that it was one of his teammates, but now that the number of voices grew, he knew very well that it couldn't be.

'They're natives.' Aiden gave another look to the east, before turning to the direction of his pod. 'It doesn't have anything to do with me. I don't want to interfere with other people's problems.'

[Rescuing victims can increase the chance of cordiality between the host and the natives.]

'What happens if the other party attacks me?'

[If the other party is a mana beast, the host will also have a chance to harvest mana crystal.]

'There's no need. It didn't have anything to do with me. I'm going to the shuttle pod.'

[A mine is 123 meters away from this place.]

'A mine, huh? 100 credit points? Maybe there's a chance to know more about the current situation…' Aiden sighed in his heart as he turned toward the direction. 'Let's just watch for the moment.'

[The host has activated innate skill [Light Foot]]

And the wind began to roar in his ears. Only when the heavy wind clashed against his chest did he remember that he was wearing no shirts.

To his surprise, it wasn't even ten seconds before he had to stop. The groaning became louder as things came to be seen. Aiden had been quick to hide behind the tree.

If it had been before, he would have vomited, but now he wasn't so weak. Still, the deep stench of blood was not something he could have enjoyed.

And it was a human being in front of him or something that was shaped like one. The right shoulder was much larger than the other shoulder, and the right hand was thicker than the human thigh.

But the other shoulder was more human-like. But on closer inspection, he understood that there was not just one, but two left hands. Although these hands were still of normal size when one stacked above the other, it seemed like a rejected human by-product.

"Grrrrrrr"

Aiden had no idea whether he felt his gaze or not, but when those grey eyes stared into his eyes, his heart was forced to skip a beat.

The thing called the lips weren't on his face, and the jaw looked more like a snout than a human jaw. Only when that big body moved, Aiden could see the thing he was eating.

'A human.' His legs still had spasms, yet his eyes were dead. A large piece of his shoulder was missing, and the open stomachs were spilling out of the intestines.

'A cannibal?' Aiden couldn't help but suck a lung full of cold air.