Discovery (2) - Unease

Felix did not know why, but after stepping foot into this area, a sense of unease overcame him and his men felt the same thing from how they reacted.

"...Could this be...where they all disappeared too...unbelievable...."

"My lord could these be from...my god.....to be used for such inhumane acts....."

".....Even if we treated them differently, this is...."

".....Lord what are your orders...should we survey the area.....or should we pay our respects to the dead then leave...."

...

After a brief moment of silence, Felix strengthen his resolve and gave the following orders to search the entire scene for any clues of the perpetrator. But they are not to tamper it in anyway, as traps may have been set to alert the individual to return.

Not only that, Felix's intuition told him that the next time they set foot here, Stigma would need to accompany them as he might provide some answers they could not see.

'.....I just hope he can stomach this....'

While Felix and two others searched the area, one was given the task to stand guards and be the look out.

Unfortunately, as Felix continued his investigation from the sudden discovery, none had noticed a lone figure observing them in the distance by the shadows of the forest.

Silently giving his thoughts on what was before him.

'Hmm.....it appears as though someone has found the offerings again, but no matter. Even if another one had discovered this one. It does not change the situation in whole.....'

With his mind made up, the figure was about to raise his hand and pull out a weapons to perform his task in guarding the area, but when Felix and his companions removed their hoods and revealed their faces.

The figure immediately ceased all movements the moment he saw a familiar face among the men.

'....Where have I seen that man before.....Yes, I remember, he was with that white haired boy not long ago.....it appears as though fate is calling us earlier than expected....'

With an opportunity before him, instead of pulling out a weapon, the figure used his space ring and fished out a red lantern with a bluish light floating inside.

The lantern had an overall appearance of ghost lantern[1] with a dirty bandages wrapped around it and a very long tail in the end. Inside the lantern was a blue orb of light that floated aimlessly like a large firefly.

As the fire ball drifted in the air, the lantern illuminated its surface with a beautiful hue, but one can only question what kept the flame alive as it moved.

'Since I had only found one tribute, I can only use this for a limited time, better make it count.....em oot meht gnirB...'

As the figure chanted phrases of a bizarre dialect, patterns started to appear on the surface of the lantern as he it swung side to side like a pendulum like manner.

As the lantern moved, the space around him soon distorted, slowly melding him into the surroundings.

By the time one of the Boars men turned his head towards the figure position in the forest, the man had long vanished.

Mistaking it appear as though branches were moved by the wind.

Before he had a chance to ask what had happened, Felix's unease returned as he soon noticed a slight change to his vision. After lifting his head, Felix soon found his surroundings started to bend and stretch in unnatural manner.

'Shit....an illusion....trap.....!!!'

From the sudden change of his environment along with the heavy feeling in his heart, Felix could only kneel then deduce the cause of his sudden predicament and curse from his negligence.

When he turned towards his men to order an escape, Felix had found that they too were in a similar state of confusion and could not even lift their heads.

With limited options at hand, Felix could only force himself to stand and escape to call for help.

But each time he tried to stand at a certain height, Felix's vision became more erratic as the pressure of his heart increased, leaving him no choice but to kneel back down on one leg and submit to the trap.

'The trap is not meant for injuring us.....is it meant for capturing.....?'

As he slowly caught his breath, Felix started to hear a distorted voice, from what he assumed to be the perpetrator who had set the trap.

Sadly, with his breathing being limited, Felix could hardly comprehend what was happening.

'Hello young man...I need something from you.....I hope you can help me....'

By the time he realized it, Felix vision darkened as he fainted from the extreme sense of vertigo.

...

***

By the time the sky had turned dark, but festivities relating to gambling continued in the market. Yet Stigma continued to Cultivate in his inner world - a place that followed different laws of time.

Though he had used this method a number of times and was aware of the time displacement, Stigma was not fully aware on how far apart the timezone the inner world followed, forcing his body to remain an empty vessel.

Which, to an outsider's point of view, looked as though he was sleeping peacefully.

Nevertheless, only one individual was aware of Stigma's actual situation, but could not provide any form of assistance unless his cultivation had ended.

Which only made the Demon Sword Hilda's worry increase as time passed.

'Master.....when are you going to return....Last time it took an hour for you to wake up, why is he not waking up after four more hours....Wait!??!? Did something happened and Master is in danger!!!!'

'What should I do?!!!? I can't disturb the mental link or it might damage Master permanently, but five hours have past since the cultivation had began and I can still sense the mental link, so Master should be fine....But what if...'

As Hilda leaned on Stigma's side, rambling on with worry, Dusk remained staring into space.

While Kirin had longed climbed out of Stigma's clothes and snuggled onto his neck, yawning with its paws stretched out.

But one must not mistake their appearances to reflect their actual ability, true each one had a unique trait that puts them above each other, there was still a fatal weakness that each familiar had.

Dusk would be considered a perfect guard against all enemies, but the shadowy servant needed orders to move and needed specific instructions to perform it's task properly.

Kirin is a powerful Heavenly Beast species that can kill another beast larger than itself, but was still a coward before an actual beast that have lived in the wild through out its life as it was still a new born.

And, much to Hilda's dismay, the Demon Sword had intelligence to think and plan, but could not act on its own and needed to rely on the two familiars.

But with the lack of reaction to the Demon Swords concern, Hilda could only grumble with dissatisfaction to its fellow familiars.

Granted, there had been no disturbance as of late and they had not left Stigma's side, that did not stop Hilda's persistence to have it's fellow familiars give a verbal comply to its concern.

'How relaxed can these two be, for goodness sake...even if he is talented and strong, Master is still a young boy!!!!! We familiars are responsible for the Master's safety, so take it seriously!!!!!'

With two of the familiar rejecting to reply, Hilda could only scowl in anger.

Unfortunately, Hilda had misunderstood her fellow Familiars disposition to Stigma's situation, and were only confidence of their master's ability to survive.

But such a misunderstanding had lead the Demon Sword to repeatedly find faults and worry, to the point of unneeded paranoia.

'Dusk is but an obedient child that needs to be ordered around to move, while Kirin is but a puppy with an infant like mentality due to Master spoiling it. Can I trust these two for the task....Am I in the wrong for doubting them. No, no, no that would mean doubting Master's judgement in trusting them...'

As Stigma continued his slumber like cultivation, such thoughts continued to circle in the mind of the living weapon known as Hilda, who took charge of caring for it's master's body with her abilities of sensing the surrounding presence.

With the shadowy servant Dusk continued to hide in the shadows as a sentinel and Kirin, the Wolf Heavenly Beast, guarded Stigma's body in close proximity like a loyal guard dog.

No enemy would get near them without getting noticed, but that did not stop Hilda's unease to the unknown danger.

Although Stigma was currently in a position where he was vulnerable from moving, the white haired boy's body was presently inside a private tent owned by Emily Album Aurum, one of the richest merchants in the market that had the VIP treatment.

Which meant only her closest aids, Lara and Roger, are free to enter and leave without arousing suspicion to the surrounding guards.

As such, the familiar's presence were only for added protection and would only act in case of sudden emergencies.

But to the familiar's overall perspective, Emily's safety was only secondary while Stigma's life was their priority.

Even for Hilda, who held the most rational mindset among them, believed that Emily held no importance and only thought of her as a responsibility rather than an obligation.

And when the situation calls for it, Hilda decided to immediately order Dusk to abandon Emily and leave the market with Stigma's body regardless of his associates situation.

But make no mistake, these thoughts and actions were not out of cruelty but out of loyalty.

Since no form of danger was near their vicinity, Hilda's thoughts wondered over personal matters.

'.....Please return soon Master.....I feel like I'm on an island with no one to talk to....'

If any one had heard that Hilda described it's situation as being on an island, they would believe the statement was being overly dramatic unless they knew the truth of its origins.

Ever since Hilda gained awareness, from being a sword that had been buried for centuries turning it into a living object like those in the folklore's of Stigma's world[2], the Demon Sword had very little patience from isolation as it could not stand the thought of being abandoned again.

Hence the need for Stigma's presence and attention from time to time, and the recent worry of proving its worth to each situation.

It was not that Hilda could speak out in the open and interact with others people, the Demon Sword chose not too, as its true identity may cause harm to Stigma at his current level of strength.

Nevertheless, compared to the time it had spent being buried alone in the earth, Hilda was willing to tolerate the boredom of the lengthily silence.

As the Demon Sword now had a master who would recognize it's existence, along with two companion/subordinates to keep it company during his absence.

But that was under the assumption that Dusk would respond outside of orders, while Kirin would develop into a stage where it was capable of speaking in a clear sentence.

'Dusk aside, Kirin should be possible as it is a descendant of a Wolf Heavenly Beast that was able to speak in broken sentences. So there is a possibility for Kirin to speak once it grows older...but the question remain is, how long will it take?'

As the Demon Sword continued to ponder on the theory of the blue furred wolf's growth rate, a thought of relevance crossed its mind, when the topic of growth came to mind.

'Now that I think about it...How did Master even gain so much aura just by touching that bronze horn? And in such short time no less....Did Master receive insight from gazing at that odd piece? But that does not explain the sudden increase of his reserves.....'

After a few moments of silence, the Demon Sword could only give a logical solution with the information it had on hand.

'Is it possible Master is using an advance method for his Cultivation? That must be it!!! Master is a genius for discovering the solution from just gazing at a piece of garbage!!!! No, just by putting a theory into practice is already considered beyond genius!?!?!?! Especially for his age!!!!'

While Stigma was being praised from his supposed potential and intelligence, Hilda failed to notice that it had misunderstood it's master's abilities due to blinding loyalty, yet the topic was not far from the truth.

Especially when the item in question, known as the Bronze Horn, held significant value to Stigma for his Cultivation.

To an outsiders point of view, the item held no significance of any kind, as it's appearance was that of being low quality metal with its deformed shape of a common commodity.

But Stigma found it's true value after using his skill 'Essence Reader' and despite being downgraded, it was still revealed that is was part of a high ranking Heavenly Beast that still held an abundant reserve of aura.

In which Stigma believed to rival even the Demon Imp in ogre form.

Other than Stigma, none had yet seen the true value of the Bronze, classifying it as a priceless treasure where he could not imagine trading.

As such, Hilda was unable to understand why such an object held importance to be treasured, especially when it could not be compared to itself in combat.

As for Hilda's assumption that Stigma was using an advance method of Cultivation, that was mainly due to one reason - the number of steps being attempted.

Cultivation via Meditation, in general, is but a basic mental exercise that requires Cultivators to follow three processes:

Concentration. Circulation. Refinement.

Lastly, the unspoken step known as patience.

The first step was for Cultivators to empty their mind of all types of distraction, then concentrate on how to image their aura once they release it. Such as imaging fire that draws oxygen and the need of wood to grow stronger or water lowering it's temperature to freeze into ice.

Which led to the next steps in where the Cultivator is to draw the surrounding energy with their own aura as the center - like a magnet or an eye of a storm.

A crucial part for Cultivator was for them to contain the said energy inside their body, then circulate it through their meridians, during which they must refine the energy by mixing their own aura.

Likewise, mixing one's own aura with the foreign energy takes up most of a Cultivators time and concentration, hence the unspoken step of patience.

While the minimum requirements for Advance level Cultivation technique needed more than ten step with a harsh to impossible requirements for a Cultivator to attempt it.

To Hilda's perspective and understanding to her Master's explanation, Stigma's Cultivation training was classified under the advance level category, due to the possibility of having ten to eleven steps or maybe more.

Although unaware to most Cultivation techniques, Hilda understood the logic on how they were developed. Dictating that the more steps a Cultivation method had, the more powerful the Cultivation method was.

Which Hilda believed to be the reason on why Stigma had an above average strength despite his age and physical size of a child.

But one must not mistake the simple logic behind the development of a Cultivation.

The more steps a Cultivation method, is equal to the difficulty behind the requirements that a Cultivator will need to meet in order to reach a higher Tier.

Unless a Cultivator was given guidance with a Senior present, it would also be to impossible for even a member of a prestigious clan to learn it unless one of their present members had already learned it.

Even learning at a young would be difficult, as it would take up most of their life to understand the principle behind it.

So it was justifiable for Hilda to believe that Stigma was a genius to understand a difficult Cultivation and reach a breakthrough in a short amount of time, especially to someone in his age group without a mentor.

But to dive deeper in the subject, that would require Stigma's presence for him to verify such claims, along with further discussion to understand the significance behind his Cultivation technique.

And it was at that moment, Hilda had suddenly felt Stigma's aura slowly growing stronger from his body, indicating his return was near.

With that in mind, Hilda's worry slowly faded, but soon remembered a peculiar incident that had been pushed aside as it was unrelated to it's Master condition.

'....Come to think of it, something about that recent earthquake seemed.....rather strange..... it didn't feel natural from the aura it produced.....it felt consistent as if it did not belong to one source.....was it my imagination.....but it felt somewhat....familiar....'

When such thoughts circled its mind, Hilda could only grunt from its poor memory and continued to ponder on the mystery behind the recent event that shocked the entire market.

Unfortunately, Hilda had failed to notice a dangerous element approaching Stigma from the shadows, something that even Dusk failed to defend against when it finally reached him from behind.

****

*Clap!**Clap!**Clap!**Clap!* x 200

With the multiple sounds of clapping echoing in the air, Stigma could only smile awkwardly to the overly zealous Imp leading the applause as it stood on a pedestal with faceless servants clapping alongside it.

With the rows of well dressed servants lined up in succession, Stigma was given a sense of regal[3] feel as he sat in front of them on the stair case, appearing as though he was a Young Master in a wealthy household.

But it was obvious that between the two of them, the Demon Imp was in a festive mood, while Stigma was the opposite.

As he sat in front of the Demon Imp, Stigma could only wander his gaze to the surrounding room he was presently in to the numerous servants and finally landings his sights on the double large doors behind them.

In short, their present location was where Stigma first arrived in when he began his Cultivation.

There were a number of locations he had yet to venture in the inner world, so Stigma decided to call their regular meeting place the Lobby.

As it had similar function to both a place to where Stigma frequently interacts with the Imp upon his arrival, as well as where most rooms and corridors are connected too.

Before Stigma realized it, the clapping had ceased when the Imp jumped down and began to speak in a joyful tone.

"Fuffuffuffuffu. Congratulation Dear Sir for completing your trials, as expected to the one who I acknowledge. An individual who goes beyond, even the destinies of the Heavens dictate, even I can only imagine your greatness once you reach the pinnacle of your abilities. Truly Heaven must be blind for........."

'....And there he goes again...'

When the Demon Imp began it's sudden speech, Stigma could only sigh, knowing full well that it was next to impossible for him to cut in once it started.

Although Stigma had succeed in all five of the trials, earning him what would be called the devil's favor. Stigma's sense of accomplishment did not compare to his accumulated exhaustion from what he had been through.

In his honest opinion, all five of the trials were brutal and beyond what a human can handle, but it made Stigma experience part of what Cultivator had to go through to get stronger in some way.

And uncover some areas he can use in the future.

From the endless praises that showered him, Stigma watched the Imp's enthusiasm with mixed feelings as he know full well that the little Demon fully enjoyed the little 'games' they played.

With such colorful words pouring out if its mouth nonstop, Stigma would believe that even scholars would be tongue tied from listening to the first thirty minutes of the Demon long oration.

Therefore, the white haired boy could only follow his own train of thought, as he could barely understand half of what the Imp was saying.

Fortunately, he was well aware that there was an extra bit of time to waste from looking at the hourglass, so Stigma decided to wait out the Imp's speech as he still owe a great debt to it.

Sadly, even after an hour, the Demon was only able to finish the introduction of the speech.[4]

Which made Stigma believed that his inner world was another version of Hell.

".....Generals will tremble in the name of your....lords would bend over backwards to gain your favor, so it is a must that...."

....

....

'.....How much free time does this guy have to make up all these overly dramatic line? Then again, it was alone for most of the time. Was it because I lost my side of the bet the little Imp had gotten itself in a good mood. *Sigh* But not like I can't complain and stop him when he won and made it fair.'

While the Demon continued to ramble on with praises, Stigma could only recall that despite surviving the extreme like trials, Stigma felt cheated due to one reason - he lost a bet with the Imp.

The bet in question was made when the Demon approached Stigma and gave a suggestion to make the trials more interesting to both sides.

Though Stigma did not believe the Demon was going to 'play fair' and had a scheme in mind, the terms along with the reward had caught his interest.

The challenge was brought up due to Stigma's recent action of brazenly pushing himself in fights and the use of drastic measures when backed against a corner.

An example would an earlier incident of when Stigma had endangered his life by performing a suicide attack when he created a bomb out of Fire energy then detonating it at close range.

Fortunately he survived, but the Imp was concerned that Stigma might develop a strange mindset that disregards his safety for victory, instead of prioritizing a victory without endangering his life.

With that in mind, the Imp's challenge was whether Stigma is able to avoid relying on the spring for more than thirty times.

During the said challenge, the Imp will compensate the duration of his stay in the Inner World with its own Zen energy, meaning Stigma was allowed to remain for as long as needed until the thirty limit is reached.

There were only two rules, if Stigma were to leave the spring after using it, then it counts as one use. Remaining in the Spring does not affect the count in anyway.

Second, to avoid abusing the trial's duration time and the Imp's good will, Stigma was not allowed to repeat each challenge for at least three time. The same rules are apply of exceeding such failures.

This scenario was made so that Stigma should not remain reckless in the future.

But in reality, as it mimicked its own way of fighting, the Imp rather enjoyed the style and tactic Stigma used in their fight and wanted to push beyond his limit.

So the actual purpose of the challenge was for Stigma to experience and adjust his style during a fight and gain more understanding on how to lessen wasted movements, which needed experience rather than an explanation.

As for the reward.

If Stigma were to succeed and avoided reaching the limit, then the Demon will comply to any of his demands without question.

Likewise, if Stigma were to fail, he will have to listen to one of the Demon's request without question.

Though the terms sounded simple, it relied heavily on Stigma's ability to coop at each trial and to make full use of his current abilities.

With that in mind Stigma accepted the challenge, as the Demon had little intention in harming his life, but had the best interest in mind for his growth.

Knowing full well that if Stigma died, it would be equivalent to ending the Imp's life, but that did not stop the Demon from injuring him to the point of being beaten half to death.

Which made Stigma doubt whether the Demon true purpose of existence was to help him grow as a Cultivator or was the literal manifestation of his pent up frustration in his previous life and was acting out on what he could not do.

Being openly bold, violent and deceptive of others without paying mind of the repercussions to each actions held.

In any case, through experiencing the countless failures on the remaining trials, Stigma eventually accomplished each task and reached the final trial without reaching the quota.

Unfortunately, there was a technicality Stigma failed to notice.

Though Stigma could not go too much into details on how he lost, as it was one of the causes for his mental exhaustion.

It would be summarize as Stigma and the Imp debating whether it was valid if they are to include the previous usage on the first trial or was it the fault of both side for never stating the terms clearly in the first place.

With the Imp providing reasonable points time after time, Stigma could only concede to his defeat when he fell into it's continues use of verbal traps. Hence the reason why he felt cheated when the Demon pointed out his misconception when the terms sounded fair.

Fortunate or not, the Imp made a comprise for both sides to get what they want as the Demon was also at fault for never confirming that both sides understood, which felt like Stigma was receiving pity.

Granted it was his fault for not realizing it's ploy in an earlier time, Stigma could only voice out his dissatisfaction from the outcome and reluctantly accepted the reward and use it when the time comes.

Nevertheless, the outcome of the bet was half of Stigma's concern, as he made a number of discoveries that truly....baffled him.

One of the strange phenomenons, would be how Stigma's body functioned differently in the inner world.

During his trials, Stigma calculated the time he had spent in each trial and had noticed that he had been in the inner world for roughly three weeks.

But one must not mistake Stigma's claim as an over exaggeration from his exhaustion or wild imagination.

It must be reminded that the Demon was compensating for his time to the remaining trials, as first trial alone had Stigma preoccupied for more than ten hours as a time limit.

That would mean the following trials would have a similar level of requirements that took up most of Stigma time and concentration to force him to retire early.

If one included the duration, followed by the number of failed attempt and penalty, including the time to recover his stamina in each trial.

Then Stigma's earlier declaration was by no means an exaggeration.

Strangely enough, even though Stigma had experienced pain and exhaustion after each trial, the need to eat never seemed to have bothered him especially when one of the trials took a duration of three days to accomplish.

Which made Stigma question whether he was till human.

Even the sensation to relieving himself seemed to have disappeared, making Stigma worry of his physical body.

When the Imp was confronted on the matter. It simply stated that because Stigma was separated from his physical body, physical needs such as eating or drinking was limited, as he was technically an existence of the Spirit Realm that follows its Unique rules.

So there was no need to worry if he soiled himself, much to Stigma's relief.

The Imp also confirmed Stigma's claim and told him that only a few hours had passed in the real world not weeks.

Though Stigma did not fully understand the logic behind the laws of Spirit Realm, the Demon pointed out his current state was similar to how the body reacts when it enters a state of slumber.

It was pointed out that when a body is sleeping, some organs that keep the body alive, like the heart and stomach slow downs their individual functions.

Hence breathing becomes minimal, the digestion of food becomes slower as his senses tend to dull over time.

In other words, Stigma's current state was similar to sleeping peacefully or being in a coma, so his need to sleep and eat did not disappear, but merely diminished as he stayed in the inner world.[5]

Even if three weeks had passed since Stigma entered the inner world to train with the Demon, so long as he had eaten and drank enough fluids beforehand, his physical body would not starve or dehydrate.

With so much mysteries left unanswered, Stigma could only stop his unease, as he had other matters to attend when he returned to his body.

Before he realized it, the Demon Imp had finished its long ending monologue and waited for Stigma' response.

Unfortunately, because Stigma's mind was preoccupied, he could not answer much.

"....Oh your done.....Well, la di da to me... wait, what did you say before. Never mind...sorry I never paid much attention to the speech cause I have something in my mind and could never understand most of what you said. It's not that I don't respect you, its just that it's hard to keep track of a very long conversations."

Though it was rude that Stigma did not pay much attention, he gave an honest answer, but the Imp did not seem to mind and laughed it out.

"Fuffuffuffuffu. Oh I don't mind Dear Sir, it brings this one great joy that I could have someone to interact with. I too respect you to some extent so this one does not pay heed to your response. After all, the servants here are numerous, but they barely respond with actual words and only grunt or react with body movements. So having you here to give your honest opinions is good enough for me. Also, the speech was for formality in finishing the trials, and I find it more amusing when we try to kill each other rather than talking. Oh such joys I had when you stabbed my throat and my blood boiled in excitement. Fuffuffuffuffu."

"....."

From his past interactions, Stigma realized that although the Demon was unable to lie to him, it was still capable to deny any information to its free will.

Stigma also felt that even if he asked the obvious question to the last sentence, the Demon would either reply with cryptic or vague messages so he dropped the thought from asking what it meant.

Other than that, Stigma found the Demon more of a sibling that wanted to annoy him when it had the chance, so he got along with its comedic antics.

'I wonder how much time do I have left...'Essence Reader'.....''

With about three hour left in his original time, Stigma stood up from the staircase and started performing some stretches. Stigma destination in mind, would be the underground lake he went recently to observe his soon to born subordinate - Tsuchigumo.

With the Inner world following a different law of time, Stigma initially thought he found a way in making powerful souls in a short amount of time.

It had been almost a day since he last checked, so Stigma had high hopes in Tsuchigumo being born during the trial.

Unfortunately, Stigma discovered his method to be useless as the timer only showed that five hours had only passed.

With the sudden discovery to unable to cheat time, all of Stigma's future experiments have been changed.

".....So the request....."

Though Stigma was never actually tired in a physical sense, the need to lie down on a soft bed and relax could never escape him.

There was a thought of sleeping in the inner world, but Stigma would remain defenseless in protecting his actual body, so such an idea was avoided. Stigma also needed to train himself physically, so his body would keep up to the new changes to his soul.

"Ah yes, my request.....You see Dear Sir, this one believes that you are lacking in....certain areas of protection...Namely, not enough means to protect yourself in battle."

"....Don't I have Dusk as my bodyguard? Besides him, Kirin is still a puppy, so I can't force it to fight as of yet until it grows and Hilda is capable in certain areas. So don't look down on them, please."

Though he did understand what the Demon had in mind, Stigma was not going to allow the Imp to abandon or harm his familiars in any way.

"Ah, Dear Sir had misunderstood, your familiars are yours to command, so I don't have a say on how you raise them. But how would you feel if you had a means to.....strengthen your aura.... What this one is requesting Dear Sir, is for Sir to fully devour the Grudge Soul and merge it with your own soul.....and gain its permanent abilities."

????

When Stigma heard those last words he looked back with confusion, but when he did, the Imp gave its usual wide grin and told what needed to be done for its request.

By the time the Demon finalized the details, Stigma was in shock for the sudden revelation but understood what needed to be done and had left to return to his body to begin preparations before he checked Tsuchigumo's development.

Leaving the Imp in the center of the room with servants surrounding it, grinning by itself as it chewed on its own fingers with excitement.

'....Fuffuffuffuffu..... I cannot wait for your growth Dear Sir.....No.....I can't wait for your future ascension...'

*****

[1] Ghost Lanterns - seen in festivals of a Lunar New Year. (has different varieties such as lotus shaped, circular shaped or rectangular shaped. The one being used here is shaped like the ones seen hanging on the roofs or balconies of adjacent buildings.

[2] Tsukumogami - Yokais of Japanese folklore, originally objects that have turned into 'living objects' or 'objects with souls/spirits residing inside them' after reaching a hundred years of age and turning into possessed objects. This Yokai takes the form of the said object and have the ability to talk with supernatural abilities.

There are some stories relating it leaving houses or wandering around on its own, making it the reason on why some objects that were hidden in storage or attics tend to disappear and get misplaced over the years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukumogami

[3] Regal - of, relating to, or suitable for a king; of notable excellence or magnificence

[4] Sadly, that was how I felt during an orientation the last few weeks. Fell asleep halfway, did not regret it after they all clapped. Venting my complaints here along with my reason for the long delay.

[5] I always wondered how coma patients are still alive after not eating for a long time. Is it really because the bodies function tends to slow down or did the brain automatically shut down to protect the body from dying from other causes. Or was it they are being fed liquid vitamins or food during their sleep to prevent the body from damaging itself from hunger and dehydration?

Give your thoughts or a link to a study to this. Quite curious.