"Wow.. It sure is narrow down here.."
Ian went through the crack in the mountain as he complained.
His physique, which had improved remarkably thanks to the three familiars that stayed inside his body, had gotten more masculine and toned by the day.
The original Adrian, who was in a coma for a long time, the body that Noah had woken up into, was half the size he was right now. That's just how skin and bones he was before.
It was a huge improvement. But also a little bothersome at times like this. His broad shoulder was also of no help in this regard.
"Are you okay, brother?"
Ash asked from behind. They were all following Ian into the crack one by one, except the Queen perhaps. Ian didn't know since he couldn't see.
"Yeah.. I'm okay.. It's just a little troublesome sometimes.. How healthy I am.."
Ian spoke his honest thoughts as he tried to make himself small to pass through the cracks. He couldn't
"Should we take them all out first?"Louis asked Ian, who had been staring at the kids for a while now."Yeah.. I'll do it."Ian said as he looked back. The crack of the cave was too small for them to carry the kids themselves.The only choice was to carry them with the help of Ian's wind."Alright.. Up.We.Go!"Ian picked them all up like the bundle they were, wrapped in leaves and flowers. Of course, he couldn't take them out like that and would have to separate them from each other, but the sight was too cute for him to ruin."Can't we make the crack bigger?"Ian pondered for a moment as he looked at his teammates. The others shook their head while the wolf kid just looked around. He still hadn't started opening up to the others and would mostly keep quiet, observing everything.<
"Thank you.. thank you, young lad..""You're the savior of our village!""We'll forever be in your debt!"The villagers grabbed his hand and kept bowing their head repeatedly in gratitude. It was obvious with their expression just how genuine those feelings were. They were simple people afterall."Uh..umm...that.."And the one whose hand they were grabbing, it wasn't Ian but Louis. He looked back and glanced towards Ian again and again, flustered by the sudden situation.Ian nodded his head with a small smile as if telling him to go along with the flow. Louis, a member of the cat tribe, he was being used as a slave by the humans even months ago.It was the first time he was being surrounded by so many humans. He felt a little uncomfortable at first but seeing how Ian was standing right behind, smiling as if telling him that 'it was
Early morning.Ian and his party were departing from the village while everyone except the Meyer was asleep.The Meyer wanted to give them a proper farewell but Ian insisted on leaving quietly. When asked for his reasons behind that decision, Ian simply shrugged and said one sentence-'I hate attention.'It was understandable to some extent. And the Meyer also didn't request him anymore in order to not make him feel burdened.As such, the small party of initially six people, which had turned into seven due to the werewolf child, and then eight due to Ash's mother, had now turned nine and was finally on their way back.The little girl with the power of nature, she was sticking close to Ian by grabbing his finger. The two of them had a long talk the night before and Ian managed to persuade her to go with them."Say your goodbyes?"Ian asked the little girl and smiled. For some reason, she also preferred not sayi
"Hmm... So it's fine like this?" Ian wondered as he walked. It was a question but also an affirmation at the same time. "Isn't that.. troublesome.. brother..?" Ash asked from the side. His eyes were glued to the two baggage that Ian had on each of his shoulder. Ian smiled helplessly as he shrugged. For some unknown reason, the wolf kid was unusually attached to Ian. And it wasn't just to the level of simple attachment, he was obsessed. Sticking to Ian all the time without saying a word, showing no signs of opening up to the others of his team and getting jealous and overprotective over Ian, these were the things he was particularly good at. Even a few hour ago, he was constantly growling and glaring at Ria because Ian was carrying her. And he only stopped after Ian took him from Damon and put him on his shoulder.
Half an hour after Ian's kidnapping. He was finally thrown on the ground of an old storehouse. Even without using mana or opening his eyes, Ian could tell that there were a lot of people around him. Not just around him, but below and above him as well. He could feel their presences very clearly since all of his senses were much sharper than the normal people. 'The basement is probably where they are, right?' Ian asked the Phoenix. But he wasn't exactly waiting for an answer. It was more of a self talk. After reading hundreds of novels back at Earth, Ian had grown a sense or intuition that told him in advance what was going to happen next. And he was hardly ever wrong. "What did'ya bring this time?" A heavy voice sounded coming from the stairs. Ian's kidnappers straightened their posture instinctively as the
"Hmm..."Ian looked down at the scene in front of him with a thoughtful gaze. Although he wasn't particularly thinking anything.There were about thirty people in front of him, they had their hands tied and and were sitting on the cold hard floor.All of their faces were plastered with expression of terror and fear as they looked up at Ian.Their fear was reasonable by the way. They just saw Ian burning and vaporising a big chunk of wall with unbothered expression. It was a wall, made of cement and not wood."Y'all from Dharia village?"A cold and unbothered tone. They were questioned before as well, about their origin and home. But none of them uttered a word because they didn't want them to loot their home and hurt their family.But hearing that name from Ian's mouth made them almost choke as they gasped. A
"I'm okay."Ian said, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart. He had to use the gate twice again to go back so he wanted to gather as much mana as he possibly could in a short time.'Can't afford to be too late.'The kids were waiting for him back at the Inn. He definitely didn't want to worry them.After taking a half an hour break under the tree, Ian finally stood up. He had gathered enough mana to use the gate and not collapse once again."Alright! Let's go back now."He gave Damon a thumbs up and the boy nodded his head in reply.A significantly small gate opened up in front if them this time. Damon was trying to minimise the mana consumption and not strain Ian too much.Ian patted his head and they both entered the gate. But only after stepping inside the gate did Ian realise something.
Ian was malfunctioning. That's right. His body, which he was treating like some disposable good finally decided that it was enough.First, he exhausted his mana twice in a single day. As if that wasn't enough, he used even more mana, forcefully, to conceal his condition from the others.Then what? That much should've been fine as well. But rapidly decreasing his body's temperature and then increasing them instantly, that was the last straw. The miniscule amount of mana left inside his body went out of control due to the two opposite actions that were taking place inside his body."What's happening?""Brother? What.. what's wrong? Those.."The blue and red patches all over his skin became clearly visible as Ash and Louis approached him quickly. They looked shocked and baffled for a moment but soon regained their composure and started checking Ian's condition.Right now, he was sweating, had huge red and blue patches covering all of his body and the mana inside his body was going out