Chapter 7 Orcs (I)

Feeling the familiar aura on one of the weaklings with doubt in its eyes it strode closer, at this point Elric and the rest had begun to hear its footsteps. turning their gaze it seemed as though the whole cave had lost its voice. Fear seemed to have stuck, as a creature such as a Tantibus carries an overwhelming sense of presence for normal humans who haven't even set foot in the realm of the extraordinary. However, what happened next was to everyone's surprise the creature ignored everyone and strode toward Elric with doubts in its eyes.

"A.I. chip what the heck is going on!?`` Although confused he still managed to put up a calm pretence as he spoke to the chip.

[ Report to the host! Due to the soul inscription earlier, the host soul is emitting a slight fluctuation similar to the Tantibus ahead ]

"Really? it seems my guess was not out of context, the creature that produced that mana crystal was either a Tantibus or was related to it especially after observing those sad eyes from before as it looked onto the crystal. However, the question is how do I deal with the current situation?" Thankfully it didn't seem malicious, gritting his teeth Elric stood up and approached it.

"What!? young master!" It was George and Davis who reacted quickly, the sudden action from the two seemed to bring the rest of the crowd back to their senses. Not giving Elric a chance to explain, both George and Davis appeared in front of him obstructing the Tantibus from reaching him. However, after taking a slight glance at them it turned into a could of black smoke and went through them.

"Human!" A cold and majestic voice rang in Elric's ears, not waiting for his reply the voice continued "warn these ants to cease their incessant behaviour or this seat shall not be kind!" After hearing this he realised the voice was most likely coming from the Tantibus.

"Stop everybody! George, Davis stand back." With Elric's shout, George and Davis who were about to charge forward again stopped in their tracks. Seeing that the somewhat tense atmosphere had calmed down after pausing for a bit he faced the Tantibus and spoke "Um...excuse me, senior...Tantibus? how may we help you today?`` Although nervous he still spoke somewhat calmly.

"Humph! human cease your trickery! you are not the first of your kind this seat has encountered" with its head turned to the sky as if to establish its superior presence. However, it's cold voice seemed to reduce the atmosphere's temperature by a few degrees.

"What trickery! you're the one who just came here and started posing!" although Elric thought so he could only say so in his mind. Taking a deep breath Elric decided to think about how to get out of the current situation.

"Excuse me Mr. Tantibus we're not sure what you-"

"Tulpar! Call me Tulpar! this seat was named by her highness Selene the goddess of the moon!" although he wasn't sure if it was his illusion Elric felt there seemed to be a bit of infatuation in his tone as he spoke of the goddess of the moon. as if feeling Eric's weird gaze towards him with a light cough he continued.

"Cough cough this seat came to ask you why you have a familiar presence as an old friend?" changing the subject with a slight blush the Tantibus now known as Tulpar pressured Elric again.

All of a sudden the gazes seemed to be directed at Elric, fortunately, he had already prepared a response to such a question as early as when the A.I. had given him the answer earlier.

"Mr. Tulp-"

"Tulpar! just Tulpar! I do not know of this mister of which you speak off!". It seemed rather annoyed that this human kept adding unknown words to its majestic name

"It seems that I still have some habits from the blue star" realising that not all blue star words are applicable here on Elias. Elric warned himself to be more careful lest he exposes his identity as a transmigrator.

"Well then Tulpar, I'm not sure, it seemed like after I came in contact with the crystal my body changed" without batting an eye Elric had decided to hide the fact of the soul inscription he had decided to hide the fact of the possibility of mortal self-cultivation till he had enough power to protect himself, Afterall no one would like a group of underdogs suddenly gaining power.

Thankfully though the ex-tribesmen may not be the brightest, under the leadership of George and Davis they understood what Elric meant and instantly spoke up to show their agreement. Thankfully Tulpar didn't seem to want to delve deep into the matter

Raising his head high again he looked towards Elric and said "Don't think you can deceive this seat if this seat finds you did anything to the corpse of my old friend neither your ant-like fellows would be spared!" with a cold snort it turned into a cloud of smoke and disappeared together with the crystal and the remains.

"Young master!" After confirming that Tulpar had left, everyone rushed up to Elric worried about his safety.

With a smile on his face, Elric motioned for them to calm down "It's fine, as you all saw it didn't seem to have any malicious intent however now that the crystal is gone finding more magical beasts to study while recording different inscriptions down should be put on the agenda" To this everyone nodded in agreement they were also dissatisfied as they were unable to help their you master in the current situation.

"Alright let's start to share duties of the day, Davis you pick five people and go and survey the surrounding of the cave if you find anything do not act remember to come back and report first" Signalling to Davis Elric gave the first order.

"Yes, young master!" With that, Davis picked out five people and led them out of the cave.

"George!"

"Yes, young master!" George replied with a serious face it seemed that he and Davis had built some sort of rivalry.

"You and the rest of the villagers go around and see if you can get anything to eat" After all they had just woken up not long ago and Elric himself was starting to feel hungry much as the rest of the villagers whose stats were much less than his.

"What about you? we can't just leave you all alone!"

"Yes, we can't!"

"let me stay and protect you!"

All of a sudden they all stood up against the idea of leaving him alone. Already expecting this scene he just walked over to a boulder twice the size of his head and smashed it with a punch.

"As you can see I do not need your protection; rather you'd be a burden in the occurrence of an accident" although harshly they realised their weakness, clenching their fists they promised to get stronger to better help him. Watching them leave he sat on the ground in relief "Although I get where the villagers are coming from, they tend to be too overprotective at times. A.i. chip, was I too harsh earlier?"

[beep! what does the host specify as the range of harsh?]

"neverminded it's my fault for expecting an answer from an A.i." sitting in a lotus position he began visualising the sun as his means of meditation.

The birds sing and the hours pass before he could tell the time had passed and George's group had already arrived.

"Young master we've found some fruit!" with a smile on their face George and his group entered the cave. Looking at fruits of different shapes and sizes it seemed that the harvest was a lot.

"That's good drop them beside me" gesturing to his side Elric pointed out, however before George could drop it crossed Elric's mind that Davis hadn't returned yet. "By the way did you see Davis' group on your way back?"

"No we did not, however if you want us to look for them we can go back and look for him we can" the rest of the group nodded agreeing with that proposition.

"No need, let's wait for a bit if they don't show in a while we'll go and look for them" Shaking his head slightly Elric disagreed after all it wouldn't make sense to just go charging blindly through what could be seen as a potentially dangerous situation. Suddenly a scream interrupted Eric's thinking, it turned out to be a bloody villager who had run into the cave.

"George, go bring him here!" without asking any question George had already gone to get him. Upon his arrival Elric spoke directly to the A.I. his mind. "A.I. Chip, scan his body!"

After a mere moment, the A.I. Chip's mechanical voice replied, [Beep! report to the host that several lacerations have been found on the target's body, a light concussion, and two broken ribs. Treatment is advised immediately!]

"gasp!" Although he knew it was serious he wasn't expecting it to be so bad. Thankfully there was still a chance to save him but before Elric could begin to treat him the villager spoke with his somewhat shaky voice.

"Young master run! they're coming!"

"Who's coming?"

"orcs! it's the orcs!"