"Boy, is this the way you came from? There is nothing here," Eric shouted, and soon some rocks hovered up and came close to his face. Aric trembled on his knees, and though he couldn't see the mage's reaction, he could feel the smirk and superiority emanating from him.

If it were a modern society, Aric would have loved to give him a piece of his mind, but he couldn't. He just stood there in fear, slowly growing courage because he could tell that Eric was greedy and he needed to know where his clothes came from.

"I swear... I may have been lost, but I have a general sense of direction to my home. It's not far... I am just... I am just..." Aric pleaded.

"I am just what?" Eric shouted, wanting to know.

"I... I want to poop," Aric replied.

"What?" Eric asked in confusion, as if the word 'poop' didn't register well with him.

"Uh... Yes... You know... I want to shit," Aric said. There was a small pause before he heard the loudest shout from this man, enough to scare away some birds that were quite happily chirping on the high trees nearby. Aric looked embarrassed, but he slowly turned around and looked at Eric.

"Then shit in your pants and stay away from me," Eric shouted back, showing no care.

"I can do that, but will you like it if you smell shit all the way up to the village?" Aric said. This made Eric pause again, as he seemed to be calculating.

"Go to the side and shit," Eric replied, and the floating rocks fell down. Aric turned around and looked at the masked face again. Aric showed him his tied wrists, and before he could say anything, he received a resounding slap. The slap was so powerful that Aric felt one of his teeth being a bit loose.

"You think I am foolish enough to let your hands free? Go and shit. And stay two feet away from me, you filth," Eric roared. Aric almost lashed out in words but stopped himself.

"May I go behind the tree to relieve myself?" Aric said. Eric just nodded and looked around. He seemed to be a little wary of the forest and repeatedly looked around. This forest has a notoriety for being dangerous and filled with dangerous animals and even plants.

Eric, before entering the forest, wanted to refuse, but the greed was too much. He and his brother had been running around, looting, pillaging, doing shady business just so they could fund their further magical studies. His brother was very close to being an Acolyte, and once he became one, he and his brother could live their lives like kings.

But to become an Acolyte, they needed a proper mantra to progress, and one couldn't get one if one wasn't rich enough or wasn't talented enough to be accepted to a school. If he and his brother could start a cloth-making process, they could get rich and afford to buy one.

He couldn't let this opportunity slip away from his hands. And though he felt like this young kid was bullshitting, he let him have the time. He was basically toying with his food, letting him see the hope before snatching and crushing it.

He had a feeling that this kid was lying about the shit, but he didn't care. He had put a tracker spell on him; once activated, he could easily track him within 200 meters. That was enough. Aric kept his cool as he came to the other side of a huge tree in order to 'hide' himself while shitting.

As soon as he was hidden, it didn't take a moment to vanish from his place and was back at Echorysia. The moment he was back at the cave, he actually broke down in tears. The tears came naturally, and he didn't know why. Maybe it was the anxiety, the fear, the humiliation, and the exhilaration.

Aric felt every kind of emotion together as he was back at a safe place. He could still feel the burning mark on his cheek and the loose tooth. He had his knife and lighter taken away already, and he was out of utilities. Along with all those emotions, he also felt another kind of emotion.

Anger.

Extreme anger and rage. A rage for vengeance. Not for himself but for those ones from the village. He didn't know them, but he wanted to save them and send these evil and vile men to the jaws of death. There was no justice there, and Aric never believed in justice because it came very slowly. He had seen his previous life and cases where people just suffered, and the only thing that held supreme was power.

Power is what mattered.

"Apis, is there a delivery service to my location?" Aric asked. He had researched before about online services, and things could be delivered via drones in this place and in most of the universe where there was an interstellar civilization.

"Yes, but you will have to pay an extra 10 credits. Aric, I would also ask you to go to a doctor because you have an injury on your left cheek and also a loose tooth," Apis replied, which was lying on the ground.

"You can read my vitals without being in touch with me?" Aric asked.

"Yes, only when I am awake. I can also see that your hands are tied with coarse ropes. I would recommend you ask for help from someone..."

"No. No asking for help. Help me untie the ropes," Aric jumped in and stopped Apis from spewing out long nonsense.

"Then I would suggest you buy a Pledge blade. There are plasma-edged knives, which are chargeable, and one charge could last a day of continuous usage. After losing its charge, you can still use it like a metal blade, but it can't cut things smoothly as you can with a pledge blade."

"Good. Buy one and deliver it here," Aric didn't care for the price at the moment. If he got himself a metal blade, it would take ages to free himself, and he didn't want to struggle doing that.