Another victim

Having run out of the city and into the forrest close by Richard turned his head and could spot an elderly man in a purple robe quickly gaining on him. Obvious to anyone looking at him the mans eyes were filled with greed.

It was made apparent that the man had noticed something about him, most likely that his speed was to great, he was also wearing much nicer clothes then all the other kids and he had therefore come to steal whatever made him so fast.

Having run out the city Richard found that it was now safe to defend himself while the scrolls so far had worked to great effect they were limited and showing them of would most likely evoke a greater greed then his speed did. While he truly wanted to discuss with the old man about the way of being an immortal, his wellbeing came before his thirst for knowledge and he was experienced enough to know that the man most likely wouldn't stop at only taking his wealth.

"Young man wait, wait and let me tell you about how you can easily enter the sect even though you lack a spirit root. You see there are many treasures and pills that can help you with this so you need not worry." Having easily closed the distance the man simply overtook him and stopped before him blocking his way before giving enticing words that would make any kid looking to cultivate kneel down and beg before him.

Stopping Richard had long since been clutching one of the scrolls and slowly pulled it out. The old man watched him and suddenly felt a chill but unsure of why he was feeling it he observed Richard closely incase he would make any sudden move.

"Really? Please tell me more! I am surnamed Lei and I would pay anything for a chance to enter the sect, as proof of my obligation to you good sir, here please take my clans letter of gratitude." Rapidly speaking Richard quickly took out and unfurled his scroll.

Unsure of where the bad feeling was coming from he could only smile and nod at this sensible kid who did not refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. A bit expectantly he was curious to see which Lei clan the kid was part of. Perhaps it was best to do things discretely depending on which clan it was.

As the scroll opened rows of golden text flashed briefly before the whole scroll turned to dust, the bad feeling instantly magnified. A flash of light surrounded his body and before he could react his body had disappeared and only his purple robe fell to the ground.

A few seconds later a small bulge could be seen making its way out of the robe. Reaching one of the arms a small squirrel looked up with horror plastered on its furry little face.

Holding up its little paws it looked at them with disbelief before the horror deepened and it started to sprint away on two legs, falling over several times because of the now imbalanced body and trying to run like a human while in the body of a squirrel.

Watching it run away Richard decided to pay it no heed the polymorph other spell was a sixth tier spell that permanently turned someone into a small animal they would need to find at least a fifth tier caster to dispel it so he had nothing to worry about in this mana less world.

Moving forward and searching through the robes the thought suddenly hid him that he had no clue about this world so even if there wasn't any casters it wouldn't mean the spell couldn't be dispelled, the old man had also ran in terror towards the city so there was no telling if he would get hunted down by that sect because of it.

Feeling a headache coming about because of his indiscretion, he could only blame on his own mentality becoming more childish and perhaps in his arrogance forgetting he wasn't even a first tier wizard at the moment.

Quickly searching the robe he found a small bag that had been hidden on the inside of the robe and three small pamphlets with the language he had so far not been able to learn. Putting it all into his satchel he decidedly started to hurry out of the forrest and towards a road that would lead him to a nearby village the inn owner had told him about.

After a few hours of traveling he had managed to find the village. It was fairly small with only a few hundred of villagers living in it, but it suited his needs and after haggling a bit with the village chief he had managed to procure a living space and food for as long as he helped to work the fields.

With the thundercloud sect aggressively hiring people there was a shortage of people to work the fields. Which led to the village happily accepting any kind of work force even someone like Richard who was just a small child.

The biggest problem at the moment however was that he had no idea how to read which had to be rectified promptly hopefully someone in the village could help with this while he stayed low.

He also wished that no one would be able to dispel polymorph other or he would likely have a lot of trouble chasing after him.

-

Unbeknownst to Richard old man squirrel had managed to find his way back to the city sadly it was not meant to be for him to find any help as a guard who had forgotten to buy a present to his baby girls fifth birthday caught him shortly after he reached the gate. Old man squirrel was then forced to dress up in fancy dresses and attend tea parties in the guards family for generations to come as while reduced to a squirrel his strong vitality gave him a few hundreds years to live.