Sloane

She kept staring at Licht with awe in her eyes and then she thought about what Licht said, asking her to be his disciple. She did not know what but she felt it would be a good thing to be this silver-haired man's disciple.

She also remembered the saying "A master for a day, a parent for life". For someone who had lost everyone when she was little, she craved familial love and she saw how close Licht was to Regallas and the twins.

She smiled back and it was the most cheerful thing any of them had ever seen.

"Sloane greets Master," She said as she knelt down.

"Don't worry Sloane. We will help avenge your parents. You can trust your master and your senior brothers."

She was overjoyed and felt it was the best decision she had ever made.

"It is rare, some people will even say it is impossible seeing an orc that can control ether energy. It is even rarer seeing someone that controls an element like Gravity." Licht said as he studied Sloane.

Regallas and the twins finally understood it was not normal pressure emitting from Sloane but she increased the gravitational force around them. Sloane just shrugged and said "I have always been weird when I was little. Despite my small size, I could lift the weights our chieftain struggled to lift with a single hand and after growing, my tattoos kept increasing, and so did my strength. After my parents and everyone died, I was so heartbroken I think I awakened the gravity ether energy within me."

Licht looked at Sloane, like she was his most prized possession. "It must have been the emperor's potential. Magnificent"

Sloane's stomach rumbled then a red blush appeared on her face.

"Okay let's go get something to eat then we would talk about everything else after" Licht said, signaling at Regallas who understood what Licht meant.

Regallas brought out his dual-bladed staff and walked into the forest. A couple minutes later, he was back with a boar the size of a car.

Sloane saw it and licked her lips. She jumped into the beast and started feasting without roasting or cooking it. Licht saw this and thought about how she had to survive by eating the raw flesh of her kills. She was an orc and sometimes orcs ate their food raw as it would waste time during hunting but Licht knew that was mostly used as an alternative. An orc that ate cooked food would barely ever eat food raw.

He pulled Sloane out of the beast. She was covered in blood and looked at Licht confused.

"We will roast the meat first. It tastes better that way." Licht told Sloane, then he used water ether on her to clean her up.

They swiftly roasted the meat. Sloane took a bite and fireworks were going off in her head. She remembered her mom's cooking and tears came to her eyes once more.

Licht sat beside her, he moved closer as he comforted her by giving her a hug. The others were confused as to why Licht was so sensitive this time. Sure it was true that Licht loved and cared for his disciples and their aides but even when Midas was injured he still had a smile on his face. Licht had three expressions they registered, most of the time he always had a smile, when he got pissed, he had a cold expression and sometimes, he had a blank expression when he was thinking. This was the first time they were seeing an expression of melancholy. It looked like seeing her sad made him sad.

What they did not know was Licht had a little girl he cared for, she was like his daughter in his early years. She was the sun in his life. Sadly, she died due to his negligence against an enemy. It was a long time ago but Licht always kept that guilt in his heart and now seeing Sloane sad, it made him remember her. He looked at Sloane and promised he would make sure this orc girl did not feel pain ever again.

He patted her head and said "It is going to be okay, little one"

She nodded her head as she slowly ate the beast's meat.

After they were done eating, Licht said "Okay, tell me what happened with the village"

She nodded "A man wearing a cloak was passing through the town. He looked really suspicious and our chieftain was very uncomfortable with him being in the town. Everyone in the town actually felt their skin crawl as they stared at him, myself included. We could not see his face but I remember his shadow was on him—"

"Wait, what do you mean on him?" Regallas asked.

"His shadow kept moving on the ground and all around like tentacles. It finally settled on his body. Like our tattoo markings, under his cloak, we could see his arms and the shadow showed from there. He slowly turned into a ten-meter black dragon with tentacles instead of wings" Sloane continued talking till she saw the surrounding was a bit tense.

"Sounds like the people Sir Licht defeated in Oasis" Luna said

"Yes but this guy sounds stronger than the others. The ones Sir Licht faced did not have full transformations or even increase that much in size." Solana said as she thought.

"I remember the loli boss said something about a master. Maybe that's who destroyed the village." Regallas said looking at Licht for his thoughts.

"I think this is bigger than you all are speculating. I remember this continent faced shadow creatures several centuries ago. Maybe some of them survived and are now trying to cause the fall they craved for those centuries ago" Licht said with a shrug.

The others were in shock but felt that Licht was right. They now feared for the future as it took several hundred heroes coming together to face the shadow creatures but now the empires were not united.

"Don't worry. It does not matter to me. As far as he caused your village's destruction, he will meet his end by your hands" Licht said