Powerless

Even though Tino saw that Taku could control himself, he was still somewhat hesitant when he passed by him. He reached the captured three and greeted them sincerely.

"My name is Tino and over there meditating is Taku. It is a pleasure to meet you all."

"Of course, it is a pleasure to meet this King. How could it not b…"

Before Ranga could even finish his sentence he received a slap to the back of the head by Tadi.

Nyasha smiled seeing this scene and then proceeded to greet Tino and then introduced the other two. "My name is Nyasha. This is Tadi and Ranga. I would like to thank you on behalf of everyone for saving us. Please do not take Ranga's words to heart. He is just like this."

Tino just smiled and nodded. "We are teammates, after all, it was only right that we save you. We will have to wait till after Taku stops meditating so that we can discuss a few other issues in depth."

"It's ok…" The one to talk about this time was Tadi. "Though aren't you guys a little bit late?"

Tino smiled embarrassingly when he heard this. He knew that if he and Taku had arrived on schedule then the trio would not have been captured. He sincerely apologized as he narrated what had happened to them in the valley.

"You actually met those irritating apes, and you even fought with them before you even had started cultivating. That's impressive." Nyasha was the first one to heap praise on the two youths as he stared in amazement.

These two were faster than him by a year when it came to sensing zesa, which greatly shocked him. It was known that most people usually sense zesa when they turn 16, but then there were geniuses like the trio, Tino, and Taku who began cultivating before that age. And there was also a rumour that the little princess of the Gutu Empire began cultivating when she was 9 years old.

That news had shattered the pride of all the people who considered themselves geniuses. All they could do is lower their heads with respect because they knew that they would never be able to compete with such a monster in their whole lives.

"It was nothing…" Tino started. "We had the help of Sirivha spears when we fought with them so we were ok. Apart from that, there was this other demonic…"

Reaching this part Tino suddenly stopped talking and started looking left and right for something. He walked around the place for five whole minutes before he stopped. "Where is it?" he mumbled but it still did not escape the ears of the trio.

"What are you looking for?" Ranga asked.

"Oh…" Tino was snapped back to reality by this question. "I am searching for Taku's son."

The trio were shocked. Son? They all looked at Taku suspiciously before turning to Tino expecting an explanation. Tino saw the Trio's expression and began laughing. "Haha… sorry, how do I put this…" Tino pondered for a moment before sighing and telling them about the little cub.

The trio's eyes almost fell out of their sockets when they heard the story. It was normal for a normal beast to eat a demonic beast core and then start cultivating but that was only if the beast could take the damage that the energy brought. So for a cub which had not matured yet to consume a tier-two beast core was shocking.

They had never heard of anything like it before. The trio became excited when they heard that neither Taku nor Tino had subdued it yet. The excited trio began helping Tino as they searched for the little beast. Even though it was a risk to form a contract with a beast when it was still young, most would be willing to take the risk due to the fact that it survived when it consumed a tier two beast core when it was an infant and it survived.

But after searching for half an hour the quartet stopped very unwillingly. They just could not find it. It was very puzzling to Tino who knew that the little guy never left Taku's side. In the end, he could only think of the possibility that Taku had placed it within his storage pouch because he had not seen it since they arrived at the enemy's camp.

After pondering for a while Ranga could not help but ask. "Could he have placed it inside a storage ring or storage sack?"

Tino did not hesitate to shake his head when he heard this. "I was with him all the time. If he had placed it inside any type of storage item then I would have noticed. And if it did run away, then why now?"

They had travelled with the cub for almost a month now. Even when they faced some danger the little cub did not run, but instead, it helped them from time to time. It had stayed by Taku's side like a servant following its master. So for it to just disappear was truly shocking to Tino. The best he could do was wait until Taku woke up.

The wait took longer than all four of them expected. By the time half an hour passed by, Taku's expression was incredibly ugly. It did not take long for the quartet to realize that Taku was in pain, but the problem was that they could not do anything about it. The four teens could only sit down and share their experiences amongst themselves.

Taku on the other hand was trying to keep his consciousness from crumbling down. The minute he sat down to meditate he realized just how dangerous it was to use his weird power at his current level. The problem now was that not only was it dangerous to others but to his body and mind as well.

When he entered his sea of consciousness he realized the lighting and the flame were still fighting. He was shocked that he was able to see this scene in front of him with ease. The only way a person could look into their souls was if they had the assistance of a high-level Muroyi. The other way was to reach a certain level of cultivation.

The level of smoke had clearly increased from four years ago. The fight between the two entities in him had created the smoke, which at times was able to subdue the two entities but when he used the smoke ability just now, the equilibrium it brought was temporarily absent; which led to the two entities fighting again.

What shocked Taku the most was that the smoke no longer tried to calm things between the two. Another detail that shocked Taku was that when these two forces clashed, parts of the torrents of lightning would dim and or fade away but the remaining lighting would be purer.

The same thing applied to the fire. The fire did not have its previous dark colour; instead, it had a faint golden hue that was radiating from it. The flame was a size smaller than last time, but it was definitely purer than before.

Taku looked helplessly at this scene. He had no way to intervene in this fight, and he was worried that if he left then he might lose control again. So he just stared there, looking helpless as the two forces came closer to killing him.

After a couple of breaths, the fight became intense. It was at this moment that Taku became worried. Am I really going to die a second time? He was truly unwilling, but his life at the moment did not seem like it was in his own hands so he could not think of a way to resolve this problem.

He couldn't help but think of the time he spent back home on Earth. Even though not every day was peaceful, it was still his home. It would be a lie if he said that he did not miss it. Even though this world had everything he could only dream about back on earth, it was still lacking in certain aspects in his eyes.

One of the things that he greatly missed was an actual toilet. Even though they had toilets here in the Gutu Empire, the toilets were a bit, ugh…

He could not help but smile when he reached this point. The one thing that this world gave him that Earth did not were actual friends. He felt sad having to leave after only spending a decade in this world. He had a feeling that he might actually have made this place his new home after another decade or two, but it looked as though he would not have that chance.

He thought back to when he arrived and how seeing someone lift up a boulder was very shocking to him, but he himself was now able to do it. The time he left the village and entered that battle examination was the most intense part of his second life so far.

He thought of the way the kids looked at him after his slaughter-fest. They all made way for him as if their king was the one walking. Even though it was quite amusing, he still felt rather embarrassed about scaring a bunch of kids. He thought back to Saru and how he will never be able to know what favours the man would have asked for.

The moment he thought of Saru another person suddenly drifted into his mind as he smiled wryly. He knew that he was attracted to her. That time when he first saw her he had the same expression of lust as those soldiers who were behind her. Behind his small childish frame was the mind of an adult and he could not help but feel attracted towards her.

When they were travelling together to the Foot Guard, he had tried his best to not look like a crazy ten-year-old. During that journey, he couldn't help but steal a couple of glances towards her. He knew that he had no way of being with her so he had thrown the issue at the back of his mind almost as soon as the thought appeared.

Even after entering the Foot Guard and gaining a bit of power he still knew that he was far away from her level. Maka had already been Cultivating for over a year when he first saw her. That was four years ago. There was a five-year gap between their cultivation and this gap was incredibly hard to overcome.

So at the end of the day, even though he was attracted to the girl, the thing that gave him the most motivation was Earth. He wanted to go back at first, but the more time he spent here. The more that he questioned his own desire.

Do I really want to go back? This question plagued his thoughts every day. He was not even sure if it was even possible for him to go back. But he knew that if he reached the peak then he might have some hope.

He looked at the fight between the two and realized that as he was lost in his thoughts the two entities had unexpectedly stopped attacking each other. He saw that the smoke was now creating equilibrium between the two. It was almost as if the smoke saw that he was about to die and then stepped in to preserve his life.

Why does it feel like the smoke was allowing the two to fight, and then when it really became dangerous to me it stepped in?

He knew nothing about the soul. Only Muroyis who had a high enough level could help him.

He made a mental note to search for Saru to ask him about this but just how will he find such a figure? Just as the disappointment was about to set in, his eyes suddenly brightened as he exited his consciousness.