Outcast Truth

When morning came, Lander was awakened by Grey who was sleeping on his chest. He also noticed Yan Yan very close to him and was hugging him. He then removed her hand and carried Grey from his chest placing it beside Yan Yan.

He remembered how he spent all evening reading and comprehending the book of magic. He remembered the lines from the book of magic, 'Magic can only be learned depending on your affinity: fire, water, air and earth.'

"Sigh! So as an outcast, I am bound not to do magic because of this tattoo? NO! I can't accept it. There must be a way. I will never give up." Lander said as he was outside doing some light exercise.

"I have to go back to the village to learn more things about the outcasts and this tattoo. But first, training." He continued as he went back to the cave to get his bag.

In his bag, he retrieved a soccer ball and a pump. He pumped the ball, cleaned the ground around the entrance of the cave, and started juggling. He also dribbled the ball and did some image training.

***

Not far from him was Great Baron Bobby, he was watching Lander practicing football. Yesterday, he was been amazed by Lander and saw his capabilities. He ordered some men to look for his background, but they never found anything.

And every time he watched Lander, he felt like he was watching an extraordinary man whom he could be proud of. And so he followed him yesterday and now? There he saw him intrigued by the ball and Lander's action. "What is that round thing he's playing?"

He wanted to go and meet him but he urged himself not to. So he just watched and he was amused when he saw Lander juggling and not even dropping the ball. He also saw him with some football tricks that made him smile and nod, "Interesting! He can control that round thing without even magic."

Then without further ado, he strode forward towards Lander. "It seems like you're having fun?"

Lander was startled, he was in full concentration when he always practiced so he didn't notice Great Baron Bobby, "Forgive me, Elder. I didn't know you were there."

"What is that round thing?" Great Baron Bobby asked as he looked at Lander.

"Aah.. This is called a football ball. I'm just playing with it." Lander said smiling and continued juggling.

"Football ball?" Great Baron Bobby asked with curiosity.

Lander faced palm, he forgot that this was not Earth. He was grateful to this Elder because he healed him and Grey's dad, but he can't put his trust in him yet so he didn't say anything and continued juggling.

"I have been watching you from afar for a while and found this thing you're doing, interesting." Great Baron Bobby said as he continued watching him.

Lander stopped and kicked the ball toward the Elder. Great Baron Bobby copied Lander and found it very hard to control the ball. He tried it many times but he was not able to accomplish what Lander could do so he used his magic. He was able to control the ball for a while but it weakened him, he didn't think that controlling such a ball with magic could make him exhausted.

While the Elder was still doing the juggling with his magic, Lander moved aside as he practiced his fighting skills.

Then for a while, Yan Yan and Grey went out of the cave. They saw Great Baron Bobby and Lander with full concentration on what they were doing. As usual, upon seeing the Great Baron, Yan Yan kowtowed, "Greetings Great Baron!"

The Great Baron Bobby who was in full concentration was disrupted when he heard Yan Yan's words. He was about to get angry when his line of sight caught Lander practicing martial arts. "This young man never fails to amuse me."

"Are you a descendant of a monk?" The Great Baron asked.

"No, sir." Lander calmly answered as he finished his practice with a backflip.

"Then perhaps a monk taught you those moves?" The Great Baron asked another.

"Yes sire," Lander truthfully answered. Yes, he was taught by a monk when he was still on the streets. At first, he was good at brawling and nearly died when fighting against a group of gangs but because of this monk, he was saved.

"I didn't expect a monk to teach an outcast those fists and legs combat movements. Especially that those combat movements are very kept and the monks don't teach it to outsiders otherwise they would be punished and put to jail." The Great Baron said wondering why a monk taught Lander those combat movements.

'Maybe in your world, but in our world the monk who taught me told me that martial arts is an art that can be shared with everyone who has the heart and discipline,' Lander said in his mind not revealing anything as he just smiled on the Great Baron.

"Yan Yan, what are you doing? Get up!" Lander saw Yan Yan on the ground still kowtowing.

"I dared not, in front of a Great Baron!" Yan Yan solemnly said afraid that the Great Baron would punish her.

"Courtesy is a must, especially to our elders. But didn't I tell you to leave your past and face the present? Get up, you already paid respect to our Elder here." Lander commanded with anger.

Yan Yan grew up with the norms in this world implanted in her heart. Lander hated this kind of norm where the people with status would look down on people and sometimes not even give those people with no status the respect they deserve.

"It's okay young girl you can get up. And every time you see me, you don't have to kowtow and just bow to me as a sign of respect," Great Baron Boby said as he wondered if this young man was revolting against the norms. Lander smiled on his words and his respect towards this Great Baron grew.

Yan Yan stood up while Grey ran towards the ball and played with it. It was wondering about the ball and enjoyed playing it upon touching it. It jumped around, from side to side, and would sometimes hit the ball.

Lander went inside the cave to get his cooking utensils and went back outside. Before he read the book of magic last night, Lander marinated meat in the wok. Using this, he wanted to cook adobo for breakfast.

On the side, the Great Baron was observing Lander while the two, Yan Yan and Grey were happily playing with the ball. The Great Baron knew that Lander was cooking and never expected a good result but after sometimes of observing, an aroma drifted off and caught the Great Baron's nostrils making him excited. Yan Yan and Grey also stopped playing upon sniffing the aroma of the food.

"What are you cooking? It smelled so good!" The Great Baron Bobby commented as he enjoyed sniffing the aroma of the food.

"Adobo," Lander smiled as he saw the faces of the three who looked like they were intoxicated.

Before they knew it, Lander finished cooking and served the three with his dish. Then he sat down as he enjoyed the adobo.

"Unbelievable!" The Great Baron exclaimed upon tasting the adobo while his eyes twinkled with delight.

"Delicious as always! Inuy-a's food is always the best!" Yan Yan complimented as she enjoyed munching the meat. Grey also agreed as he howled before continuing to devour the adobo.

After they were done eating, the Great Baron touched his belly as he smiled with bliss. "What a wonderful dish! Say, can you be my cook?"

"I told you before Elder, I won't be your slave," Lander said.

"No, I won't make you a slave. I want you to cook for me and I will pay you." The Great Baron said with hope.

"Sorry Elder but I don't have a plan on being a cook," Lander said as he cleaned the utensils they used.

The Great Baron Bobby sighed when he was rejected and thought, 'You're giving me a lot of surprises that make me more interested in you.'

After resting, Lander called for Yan Yan, "I am going to train you so you can at least protect yourself. And whatever happens during the training you should persevere. Remember this, 'Bare with the pain and advance.' "

Then Lander taught her some exercises and also told her to always go run every morning. He told her that this training should consume an hour or two and she should only rest if she was tired. Then she should continue. He also told Grey to accompany Yan Yan on running. He doesn't know how to train an animal but this was the least he could do.

The Great Baron was watching on the side and when he saw how Lander personally taught Yan Yan, he left without even saying goodbye. He doesn't want to disturb them.

After twenty minutes of instructing, Lander told them to continue with what their doing as he made his way through the Sunny Village.

Unexpectedly, Lander met perverted elder Shing, "YOU? You are the reason why people despised me so much after touching me!"

"So am I now?" Lander said casually.

"I will exterminate you!" Perverted elder Shing said with gnashed teeth as he cast a spell. Unfortunately, before the casting took effect, perverted elder Shing was struck by lightning. He just went 'poof' and afterward, a black charred body stumbled down lifeless.

A lot of people were shocked and clamored, "What happened?"

"Why was he struck with lighting?" A passerby asked.

"Good Heavens! We are being punished by the Gods," A middle-aged woman claimed as she ran away.

"That lightning is a sign of catastrophe," An elder said while trembling.

While people were giving their opinions about what happened, Lander stood still with lots of sweat on his face. He was scared witless which made him stumble down on the ground.

Suddenly, a group of armored men came led by the Young Maste Brokko, "What happened here?"

People around who saw what happened explained to him and he calmed down the people. Upon hearing the events happened, he sighed as he looked at Lander with a murderous glare.

Young Master Brokko knew the reason why perverted elder Shing was struck by lightning was because he wasn't able to cleanse himself by bathing in Blessed Water. It was due to him being a half-outcast that he was put to his demise.

Seeing Lander still slumped on the ground, Young Master Brokko wanted to erase him from this world to relieve him of the shame he had felt when he was touched by him. It was a humiliation for him as a son of a Lord to be touched and lost to an outcast. So he cast a ball of fire towards him, "Fieros Ballos!"

Lander who was still on the ground with sweat all around his face, felt an attack coming towards him so he rolled to the side to dodge, "Boom!"

The place where the ball of fire hit caused the ground to have a small pit charred with black color.

Seeing that his attack failed, Young Master Brokko together with his men tried to surround Lander, some cast their attacks while others drew their swords and arrows.

After dodging, Lander didn't give them an opportunity as he made his way through one of Young Master Brokko's allies. In an instant, before he was hit by their attacks, he touched the one nearest to him then went to another one as he rolled, jumped, stepped back, and moved forward dodging their attacks.

In just a mere thirty seconds, Lander was able to touch Young Master Brokko's allies before they surrounded him. Young Master Brokko's allies cast their magics, but before they could generate their attack, all of them were struck by lightning and just like what happened earlier with perverted Elder Shing, several black charred bodies slumped down on the ground lifeless.

Several onlookers were terrified that some were pissed while slumping or standing. Some got scared witless that they collapsed on the ground. Others ran as they were afraid that more lightning would come.

Young Master Brokko's face was so pale when things happened in front of him. He also slumped down on the ground trembling with terror.

"So this might be the reason why people are afraid of us? Outcasts?" Lander said pondering. After encountering the first lightning that struck perverted Elder Shing to death, the terror of the lightning that struck Young Master Brokko's allies wasn't able to scare him to his bones. Though he still felt his heart beating fastly.