Melchior finished at the mines faster than everyone else there and had even helped Erin finish her set tasks for the day. Elias sported a twisted face, seeing the boy walk out looking like he'd just gone on a luxury trip rather than a mining expedition.
He had found that his body was suited to these kinds of tasks. In the memories he'd received so far, the one thing he could determine was that Melchior was kind of a prodigy in mostly everything he did.
Back when the children had first begun training to be bonded, and up till the very end, he was the most brilliant one there. Faster, stronger, and smarter than the rest of his peers.
Then the time for Bond came, and he found that he was useless. The burden of disappointment collapsed upon him, and his perfect life was soon nowhere to be found.
But he never gave up. Even when he was tossed into the mines, he still managed to excel at that too, becoming the most efficient miner in the entire town.
Melchior could relate to only a singular part of his counterpart's struggles. He found it difficult to empathize with the successes.
'I was a useless bum back in my previous life. What did she even see in me?' he murmured, Lora's face coming to mind.
The thought flew by as quickly as it entered his head. He had no time to begin pondering. He had a set objective. One which had been there since he was still on earth.
To conquer this planet; Elgross. What would happen if he didn't? He didn't know, but he didn't want to find out either.
This system had given him the miraculous ability to control spirits as their king. He'd be nothing more than a common fool if he let that generosity go to waste.
He needed to map out some stuff if he was even half serious about conquering an entire planet, which was more than two times the size of Earth.
'I have some time till night falls, and no other tasks on my schedule. What should I do now?'
There were several things that he couldn't do because he lacked power. Melchior wished he could turn time forward just a little and learn everything he needed, but that wasn't possible.
His reality was simple right now.
'I can't use Spirit Energy, and I can't fight…. But I still have my mind.'
In the short few hours till night came, he would have to use his mind to bridge the gap.
Easier said than done, however. The amount of things he could do without Spirit Energy could be counted on one hand.
Due to his counterpart being an overachiever, he didn't need to go study further in the world. All the relevant materials remained within his brain. So that eliminated the very obvious library option.
And he was very much uninterested in other menial labour for now.
"Hunting…,"
Melchior had lingered on the outskirts of the town this entire time, thinking about what steps he'd have to take in this time. And it just so happened that they were near the hunting grounds, primarily utilized by the townspeople.
'This'll be a good way to personally see the spirits used by Bonded here. Andy and Clyde were amateurs and their weapons still looked crude, if anything. I need to assess the power of these people,'
So, that was what he did.
He jumped to the surface of a short tree branch and hung on there. It was natural, though he'd never done any exercise in his life before. This body was more than familiar with physical activity.
'Nice…'
Melchior swung himself from that branch onto another one, this time landing on his feet. He continued like that, jumping until he reached the area where the hunters gathered food.
It was a small clearing, with tons of grass in the middle, and a flowing stream of water to the side. Multiple deer-like creatures grazed around, eating and drinking their fill, blissfully unaware.
They had tough-looking red fur and sported horns that curled and twisted up high into the air. One blinked, and all eight eyes closed for a second. Melchior felt a little irked, but he watched on.
'Spirit Beasts… they're one of the reasons humans Bond with spirits. Powerful Spirit Beasts almost drove humanity to the brink of extinction. Although, these deer are Common-grade beasts. Their only danger lies in their huge numbers.'
And that was why the hunters lurked carefully.
He spotted them from the corner of his eye when one of the bushes rustled. Several of them crouched behind the ingrowth of leaves, waiting for their opportunity to strike. One person in particular stood out to him too.
'Zale,'
His father was the same, eyes sharp as ever
Melchior took up a similar pose, though he was high up in the trees where they wouldn't be able to find him. He looked between the dear creatures and the hunters.
Silence, aside from the occasional rustling of grass.
The deers stood, and it was almost peaceful-
WHOOOSH~!
Till the hunters suddenly sped out of their bushes. The herd of beasts went up fearfully into a stampede.
Melchior kept his eyes on one person in particular. His father led the charge.
A small black spark lit up in his hand as he reached forward to grab a nearby beast.
BAM!
He slammed the creature into the ground, killing it in an instant. The spark grew wider as he did that, but he didn't stop. Zale moved forward like the wind once more and kicked into another close beast, sending it staggering back a few metres before finally collapsing.
This time, the strange red light coating his hands didn't grow.
Next, the fierce man grabbed another one by the horns and twisted it till it gave out. The beast screamed out in pain and collapsed, bleeding and dead.
All around, similar scenes took place, though none with such intensity as his father's own.
And finally, as a grand finale, his father spread his palm open and slammed the darkness-coated fist down into the ground.
SWISH~!
The air currents in the air picked up and a small swirl appeared in the ground the beasts tried to escape from. It was like they got trapped in a whirlpool immediately after, dragging them back and dragging them to the centre of it all;
Zale.
"EEEEEEEEEE~!"
The loud bleats and cries of the beasts were overpowered by the sheer intensity of the aura Zale gave off. And soon they disappeared altogether.
A second later, all the deer beasts were gathered in a small pile at his feet.
The man dusted both hands together, then walked away, speaking.
"Take care of them and preserve them per the usual protocol. And… I know how many are in that pile, so don't even try anything."
All the other warriors in the area stared in admiration, then took to his instructions immediately.
Meanwhile, Melchior peered on excitedly at the display of power his father had just shown now.
'He didn't even use his axe…'
The boy felt the same way as the warriors, but many more questions lay bare in his mind. What was that power? How powerful was his father? How did the abilities work?
Before he could even begin to start thinking, a small wisp of dark smoke rapidly approached him.
Melchior nearly fell over. He'd been caught, hadn't he? He was going to get in trouble?
But… the wisp stopped, and a voice came out.
"It's good to see that you've returned, my lord."
