Chapter 18: War

Felix didn't need much time to get back to the capital and submit the head of the lion traitor, Landers was especially happy to see him as they met at the mission quarters.

Landers looked as Felix submitted the head and gained another pouch of bronze bones then he came closer to him and patted him on the head while saying:

"It seems you are doing hard work out there."

Felix nodded at him and tied the pouch to his neck, seeing his situation Landers decided to give him some advice:

"You should have enough money to buy this thing, it should help you carry stuff around."

He pointed towards the bag tied to his bag and told him his functions, it was basically a bigger bag that could fit a lot of things, it was created from Hex infused cloth and it could handle more things than usual, it also had some hex runes inscribed into the cloth to make it lighter.

It cost around half of Felix's savings and the headquarters could supply it for him, since he was in the army he was getting a discount as the bag costed more than that.

Felix now had a new brown bag tied to his back which was filled with his money, he looked like a cute traveler with his current outfit and the bag on his back.

Felix thanked Landers for the advice than did some small talk with him, after a while Landers decided to invite Felix to dinner as it was getting dark outside and both of them didn't have food to eat yet.

Landers found a restaurant that was nearby the headquarters and entered along with Felix, both of them sat at a table with Felix needing a different chair as he didn't have a human form.

After the waiter came with a taller chair and food, Landers waved him off while he threw him a bunch of bronze bones as a tip.

Landers's eyes hardened as he took a better look at Felix and said:

"It seems you have grown stronger from this mission, I can't say what's different from you as I haven't touched your body but your aura intensified, it's strange considering your body doesn't have Hex in it."

Felix started to sweat inwardly as he was exposed to Landers's full aura, he felt way stronger than the people he had killed up till now, if he continued getting pressured by the aura he might even forget how to breathe.

Suddenly the aura disappeared as Landers started eating slowly, between dishes he would do some more small talk with Felix, finally, they reached the last dish and then drank some wine, it took Felix more to drink considering his feline body, even though his body was bigger than a normal cat he still couldn't drink even half a cup before he was satiated.

Lander's aura engulfed the duo as the surroundings darkened around them, Felix wasn't sure what kind of ability was this but he realized that he couldn't hear anything from the outside and if his guess was true the others wouldn't be able to hear what they said either, fortunately, the restaurant was empty bar the waiters and cooks.

Landers's fingers started to tap on the table in front of him as he observed Felix, then he shook his head and said:

"This news shouldn't have come for you yet but there is a talk about war coming, since you are in the army you will surely be conscripted for fighting."

Felix wasn't surprised by this, the air around the capital was extremely tense and he had seen the tigers acting strangely in their settlement, it was obvious something huge was going to happen, so it seemed it was war.

Landers took in Felix's reaction and nodded, it seemed he wasn't wrong about him, he had what he needed for his unit.

Landers stopped tapping his fingers on the table as he told Felix with a straight face:

"With my captain authority I can recruit people for the war in my squad, I like your growth ability combined with your strength, even though you are only a cat tribesman you are even stronger than some of our youths in true fights, I would like you to join my squad."

Felix was surprised by Landers's invitation but he also realized that it only made sense, after all, he was basically his underling so he could forcefully conscript him, so why would he ask him to join his squad?

Seeing his puzzled look Landers explained to him:

"You see, the war squad units will be appointed by the Shaman of the tribe and the shaman uses a different measuring unit for the soldiers of the army, thus he uses that measuring unit to create squads, however, captains and above can create special squads with their most trusted subordinates, while I do not know much about you, I can see that you are a rather truthful and strong fellow, You give out an odd smell that tells me you will be our lucky star during this war."

Odd smell? Felix wasn't sure what to say about that, he smelled the air around him but he couldn't feel anything, could this be another ability of Landers? Felix also didn't know much about being truthful, he only said what came to his mind.

Felix asked him but Landers just gave him a side glance and said:

"Would you tell me about your abilities?"

Felix froze as he realized that he made a mistake, it was quite rude of him to ask him about his personal skills if he didn't reveal his, however, if he revealed his skills there would be some major problems popping up and this information here wouldn't make up for it.

Felix decided to not ask about his personal abilities anymore, after all, he wasn't that close to Landers even though he was the captain of his squad, he only did solo missions and Landers was always either doing paperwork or missing, they weren't related nor friends, at most friendly acquaintances, then why did Landers act as he knew him?

Landers chuckled as he looked at Felix and said:

"You are asking yourself why do I know so much about you?"

Felix knew that a response would come quickly so he just nodded his head instead of saying anything else:

"You see, the Hex communication stone that you have on you is also monitoring your location and vital signs, this is a way to make our soldiers be obedient and not desert after all, bad things happen to deserters and traitors, you should know about this thing firsthand."

Felix watched as Landers stopped explaining and then looked at him waiting for his response, would he join his squad or not?

Felix didn't feel well considering all of his moves were seen by the lion tribe, however, now that he was in the army he couldn't abandon his post or he would draw the ire of the higher-ups and he would be hunted down, he could die and get a new identity but he didn't know how to change his appearance and the lion tribe had a huge information network, if he was ever found out to be alive they would realize something about his ability and things wouldn't end up well for him, who knew if they would try to experiment on him to take his ability away so they could have warriors who could revive?

Felix pondered his invitation for a few more seconds and decided to accept it, it made sense to join the squad of the captain where he would be able to protect himself, even though there was a chance for though missions ahead there was not much he could do in this situation, he joined the lion tribe without much information, normally he would have blamed Lucian but remembering how he looked so happy when he sent him off along with Sahee made him realize that he couldn't blame the man as he didn't know what he threw them into, maybe he thought something different would happen?

Seeing how Felix had blanked out for quite a while, Landers knocked on the table for a second, breaking Felix out of his reverie, Felix nodded at him and told him:

"I accept your invitation."

Landers's lips curved up as a smile appeared on his face and he told Felix:

"Good decision, the war is already brewing to start soon and the battlefield has been decided beforehand, both sides had already laid out traps in the battlefield and things won't go well for you if you don't know the location of your traps."

Landers threw him a booklet which had all of the information he needed and then told him one more thing:

"You are strong enough to survive the war right now, that's the only reason I want you in my squad, I need a squad of survivors..."

There was a dark look on his face when he mentioned survivors then he shook his head at the barrier around them dispersed and he left, Felix looked at his back as he left the restaurant and sighed, he felt that things wouldn't be as easy as before from now on.

After he left the restaurant Felix returned to his inn and decided to take a nap, resting was important for his ever-growing body and he could feel that after he went to sleep, the energy from the tiger's youth body would fully activate itself to strengthen him.

Felix's heavy eyes started dropping, the energy that was kept in his body which was locked inside started roaring as it launched itself at full speed through his veins, muscles, organs, and bones.

Felix's body even started to glow softly from the energy as he shuddered in his sleep, it seemed that even though he was sleeping he could feel the changes that were undergoing in his body.