Ch-51 Photographing Nether Ashes

Jasper and Rhea open their eyes as their consciousness returns from the ring. Immediately they feel splitting headaches as they are forced to fall onto hard ground.

After collecting themselves together," Will the method work?"

"Luckily, there is a high chance it will."

Before Jasper could sigh in relief, an angry cry yelled at Rhea.

Rihan who was seething in rage shouted," You did it again!!! Just like 5 years ago leaving without even informing me. It took me a long time to recover from it but with this one act, all of those cruel feelings are rushing back. I wish you hadn't come back. "

Jasper sensed the tension between the two siblings and also understood the feeling of being left alone. The matter was between Rhea and Rihan, so they had to solve it on their own. His staying here was not going to benefit anyone besides he was already satisfied with Rhea's answer. He wished the siblings would make up with each other because it would make it easier to understand the village he was in as he left to explore Nether Ashes.

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Before, when Rihan appeared she was able to avoid him because of Jasper, but now there was no escaping it.

Rihan may have the character of a mature man, however, he was just a kid not more than 10 years old.

"Do you even have an idea of what I had to go through because of you, that night I had a nightmare that made my blood run cold, it was about you leaving the village. I didn't believe it and kept sleeping, how could my dear sister ever leave me alone? In this world, we only had each other.

But the next morning I realised in shock that my dream turned out to be true. You were gone with all your belongings. It was then, it hit me, the miserable life I have to live.

I changed a lot, too much, more than I ever had to. It hurts to act out of character but I needed to do that to somehow survive in this village." Rihan takes hiccups a little as he paused before again speaking, "I loved you and never once doubted my sister but the trust was broken in a day and I had to suffer because of your action for more than 5 years. 'Bohooo, Bohoo, Bohoo.'

"Why did you leave me alone?? You could have taken me with you. I was ready to follow you even to the depths of hell, you shouldn't have left me."

No matter how much a normal person tried to suppress their feelings, there was a time when these feelings would suddenly ambush them and they would like crying and bawling as much as possible. This was even more so considering Rihan's age who was still a very young kid. He was able to suppress his feelings for more than 5 years but today his emotion suddenly ambushed him and he couldn't stop the tears from flowing.

Rhea was the source of tears and couldn't look up at her younger brother in shame. Thoughts like," I am a bad person", " I don't even consider the feelings of my most precious family, the most vile creature that ever existed." and so on. But looking at Rihan cry, she acted instinctively as she embraced him lovingly and comforted this soul which had been deeply harmed by her action.

Rihan took his time to calm down and being embraced like this after 5 years helped him. The fact that he was able to do this showed the growth of his character. As Rhea remembered, 5 years back he was just a crybaby who couldn't stop bawling but now he had attained the powerful ability to bounce back. If not for the intense rush of emotions, he may never have even cried.

Both of them were in a world of them, like a bubble that no one could enter. However, disturbances in their surroundings made their senses tingle as they scanned for the root cause. Someone from the village had entered their field of view and seemed to be looking directly at them. Rihan immediately noticed him," That's Karan." He briefly looks at Karan then Rhea and tells her," Let's go to my room, we can have a long reminiscing chat there."

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Jasper was on his way back to the camp but took a detour to explore Nether Ashes. Just as it appeared from the window, it had an ancient design with two-story buildings. Its setting reminded him of the cities made during the Medival Era of Blue World, about which had read in history books.

He removes his camera and starts taking photos of the structures he finds interesting. The people of Nether Ashes stared at him from their house but none dared to come out and talk to him. It saved him the hassle of dealing with some unnecessary crap. He liked to be undisturbed when he was photographing since to take a good photo intense concentration was required.

After coming to Arcane World, when had his life ever gone smoothly, just when he was very close to taking the perfect picture a hand tapped on him, disturbing his concentration. At that moment all Jasper wanted was to scream at the injustice he had to face.

" Hey."

Jasper was pissed off at the moment and turned around to scold the intruder," Why did you disturb me at such a crucial ...." He stopped his sentence as the man who had talked to him was pounced on from the back by a woman who started liking his neck like some feral dog in heat. The man also seemed to be enjoying this as revealed an expression of ecstasy. Luckily he was still aware of where he was in, outside in broad-light disturbing Jasper.

" Do you recognize me? I talked to earlier in the crowd."

Indeed, when Jasper had a closer look at the stranger's face he realised who this man was," You are the Contractor."

"Oh, nice of you to remember my title. " He slightly tilted his head to look at the woman liking his neck. Suddenly a hand struck her buttock making a loud sound ' Slaaaaaaap ' from the friction of a hand hitting the fabric enclosing very firm parts. The strike should have hurt but the woman seemed to enjoy it and also stopped her romancing.

Jasper's expression was incredulous. 'Did they not know they are outside in front of me? How could they act like this??! If this was Blue World, then someone would have already called the cops on them. '

The Contractor didn't apologize for his previous action as explained, " This fine and elegant lady here happens to be my wife, the Connector. We can help a beast and a human form a magical bond between their souls and minds. After this merging it's as if two of you share each other's body which also includes the sharing of skills. "

It was hard to ignore the romancing couple but the women seemed to have stopped for now, " So, you mean, I can form such a contract between Lynx and me? An everlasting contact that would connect us deeply to each other."

" Yes, normally we don't go offering such deals. It's the people of Nether Ashes who come to us with their request. But you are a lucky person. I and my spouse just happened to pass by the commotion caused by your Lynx. It was a beast I don't normally come in contact with so decided to inspect but then I got to see the loving scene of your reuniting with the Lynx, It was heartwarming to watch the amount of care you had for the little furry creature. So I come with this proposal, I will help you form a contract with the Lynx if you can bring me, "The eyes, liver, heart and tongue of a 'Howling Wolf Pack Leader. ' ".

"What's that supposed to be?"

" You can ask dear Rhea or RIhan about it, they will tell you."

At the mention of Rhea, the women seemed to perk up," Oh, hey boy. Please on my behalf tell Rhea to at least visit me once. It's been 5 years since we last met, I would like to chat with her before she leaves again ."

The couple nodded once at Jasper and parted away from Jasper. He only responded in kind but at the moment his mind was filled with the words of the Contractor and Connecter. If the contractor was to be true about everything he said then it could completely boost his power and take it to the next level. Also, he could begin to naturally communicate with his pet, although they were now roughly able to understand each other, it was still a little exhausting process and was not beneficial during battle. However, if they could communicate anytime then it would remove the extra work and help a lot while fighting. A single command from him and Lynx who was busy battling some other opponent could immediately help him deal with his enemy and vice-versa, he could help Lynx deal with an enemy. On the other hand, there was a very rare possibility to have a similar ability so they wouldn't be able to react to their coordinated attack on their own which would make them the victor.

With these thoughts in mind, Jasper reached his assigned cottage and occupied the bed in a meditation pose as he started meditating for as long as possible.