Taboo

"The end is nigh! Listen to me, people of Rosewood Town! The end is near! I saw it in my dreams!"

"Shut up, you decrepit old fool! Get off the horse carriage's way, the Mayor is expecting guests today!"

Thud!

Ye Qing looked for the source of this noise, what greeted him was the sight of four robust young men hurtling an old man of weak stature and ragged clothes to the side.

Even as he rolled on the ground, the old man kept shouting relentlessly. "Listen to me, people of Rosewood Town! The Mayor is making a mistake! Don't trust these evil spawns that suddenly spawned in our world… They're the devils I tell you! Devils from the 'Other Side'! The end is nigh! The end is NIGH!"

"Insolent old man, shut up!"

Whack! One of the four smacked the old man's back with a twisted log, almost causing the former to cough his lungs out. However, the old man shook his head, even as saliva mixed with blood splattered around.

"Listen to me! They have no parents and sire no offspring! Then, where did they come from? Huh?! They're devils!"

Ye Qing was stunned, having understood which devils this old man was referring to. However, listening to the hushed murmurs of the crowd, he seemed to understand that the identity of the 'players' in the Realm of Titans is a sensitive topic of controversy.

After some thinking, Ye Qing checked his inventory once again and found two sets of clothes. The first was a reward for achieving rudimentary mastery, it was the robes of a Talisman Apprentice, fashioned after the robes of the clergy from the Church of Law and Order.

This was to be expected as it was Themis, Goddess of Law and Order, who introduced talismans to the world with the heralding of the Fourth Epoch. The other set of clothing was the incognito hooded garb.

Ye Qing rushed back into the house, donned the apprentice robes, and doubled down with the incognito grab, effectively concealing his identity as a player.

Not even other players would recognize his profile if they were to encounter him, let alone these NPCs… Children of the Realm. With a hood on, Ye Qing rushed back outside and approached the group of young adults beating up the old man, his steps steady and measured.

"Lay off him, that's enough!"

Ye Qing stepped through their formation and blocked the twisted log with one hand, his other tossing out one of his five lesser healing talismans on the old man's body.

5x offensive talismans, 5x defensive talismans, 5x lesser healing talismans, and 5x lesser binding contract talismans. These were supposed to be Ye Qing's starter kit as a Talisman Master.

The four were about to burst up in anger when they noticed Ye Qing's use of a lesser healing talismans, their expressions immediately growing stiff with fear and trepidation.

"Sir! He's just a blind fool running his mouth, don't mind him!"

"Yeah, Sir! This old fool has been doing this for as long as I can remember— beating him up has grown into a tradition for the young and old of Rosewood Town!"

"Shut up," the old man unhooked his arms that had been occupied protecting his head, revealing a pair of blank muddled eyes. "I may be old, but I am no fool! I can't see the things you see, but I can see the unseen! I see things no man can see!"

"Look around you," breathed out the old man. "All you see in me is an old man— yet you fail to see the wisdom time left on my skin! But I can see a lot more than you do; I see the darkness in your hearts! It festers in your consciousness and feeds on your vile nature; you're already blind yet you're too stupid to notice it!"

"Have you no shame?! You beat an old man at day and brag about it at night; like it's some honorable achievement! Damn, both you and those who praise you for what you do!"

"Have you not seen it yet? I see you in me! Just like you, I used to be young, and just like me, you'll one day grow old…"

Even as the divine light of faith enveloped the old man to heal him, he continued to ramble, "It's because of fools like you that history is so easily rewritten! Fools like you brought Lord Esteros to his downfall!"

"Don't mention the Cursed Three-Eyed Crow by name you fool!" The four young adults screamed in horror, running away like the wind.

Even as Ye Qing was shocked, the old man's face contorted like wiggling worms swam under his skin, exploding into bits of blood and brain matter with a dull bang.

Ye Qing stood there in the shower of blood, dumbfounded.

Everyone within earshot was horrified, turning their heels to scramble away. Alas, it was already too late.

Ye Qing watched in shock as people exploded like bloody firecrackers, their sanguine remains splattered all over the walls and the streets, a viscous spell of death smearing the grounds. It smelled too real, felt too real, and tasted too real.

Shaking, Ye Qing rushed back into his safe house and fell on his bum, back facing the wooden door that wouldn't really provide much of shelter.

Ye Qing's body shook all over as he began to see things in pairs. That was too real. The people didn't turn into motes of light and fade away upon death, but they literally degraded into disfigured corpses.

Taking a deep breath, reluctantly and powerlessly, Ye Qing turned around just enough to push a slit through the door.

A pungent waft of blood rushed into the house as a morbid scene of fragmented corpses littered the street. Ye Qing lurched, clamping a hand over his mouth as he felt vomit rush to his throat and sink back into his stomach.

Bang!

Ye Qing shut the door very quickly, not daring to look outside. Suddenly, a notice popped up on his quest interface; The Lost Inheritance quest was updated.

Apparently, the name Lord Esteros is a clue to unearthing the concealed history behind the Ancient Exorcist vocation.

Lost?! No fucking surprise! If anyone who as little as mentions these names dies and drags an entire block of people to hell with them, it's no fucking surprise the inheritance would be lost in the river of history!

Was Lord Esteros an exorcist? What's the attitude of the Seven Titans when it comes to this ancient vocation?

What would happen to him when his hidden talent as an exorcist gets exposed?! This entire scenario was a good wake-up call for Ye Qing, lest he goes around publicly investigating this stupid lost inheritance!

Luckily, he was clad in his incognito set, no one should recognize him. So he thought.

"Fuck! Move! I need to leave here!" Ye Qing started to violently punch at his paralyzed legs to get his muscles in order; his body was unresponsive, ignoring his urges to leave.

He shakily got up to his feet, took a deep breath, and rushed outside while avoiding the gore and blood even as he dashed away. He didn't want to be around when people came to investigate and clean up!

Luckily for Ye Qing, running is what he does best. Over the years, he cultivated a set of particular skills in the art of running away.

One wall after the next; high and low, one fence after the next; high and low. After keeping up the pace for a couple of blocks, the sweet sounds of hushed discussions finally graced Ye Qing's ears.

He estimated that shrubbery to be the last obstacle in his way, and without hesitation, he blasted through the thick greenery while disrobing himself from the incognito cloak.

Ye Qing breathed in deeply as he stepped foot on nothing.

Looking down, it was a beautiful slanted hill leading to the town square.

Very beautiful.

"Fuck!" Ye Qing cursed as the powerful inertia pulled him rolling down the hill; all sorts of earthly delicacies from grass to mud and stone washed his mouth.

People heard someone screaming intermittently and gave the location a look, but they quickly ignored the childish antics of rolling down the hill; everyone was young at some point in time.

The children wanted to replicate what they've witnessed but their parents denied them the joy of doing so.

As soon as Ye Qing's world stopped spinning, he cast a lesser healing talisman on himself, now he only has three of those. Swiftly, the discomfort and nausea were gone and even his clothes got cleaned up.

The moment he sat up, he spotted three people jogging over at a brisk pace, the green markers above their heads indicating their status.

Two guys and one girl. Respectively a Bard; Luke, a Gunslinger; Quinton, and a Summoner; Anna.

It was easy to tell from their gear and clothing, they did little to hide their vocations— especially Anna who had a fleet of fluffy little wolves running after her.