"Shit," cursed Luz, and unlocked the chains with a key before running out with Jodoc on his shoulder to get Liv inside.

"Why are you running?" asked a 14-year-old boy who suspiciously followed Luz outside.

On the floor, Liv was lying with a contorted face covered in sweat. Her breathing was erratic while her skin, on the other hand, was hot.

"Shit," whispered Luz, who knelt down and gently pressed his fingers against her sweaty throat.

"She still seems to have a pulse," Luz murmured while Jodoc merely commented, "Of course, she has one. Can't you see how she's breathing erratically?"

When the boy chasing the duo also arrived outside, he immediately exclaimed in shock, "What happened here? Why is my older sister lying on the floor?"

"We don't know what happened here," Luz heaved a sigh, and the boy slowly became furious.

Luz chose to disregard him and continued talking to Jodoc. "What do you think should we be doing now? Do you have any expertise when it comes to such stuff at all?"

"No. I'm just a simple parrot. But I think it would be better to take Liv inside instead of leaving her outside. Who knows what else might be lurking around here," Jodoc commented.

Nodding, Luz picked Liv up from the floor and replied, "Yeah, you're right, and damn she's heavier than I expected."

The kid, left out of their conversation, felt embarrassed being ignored and cursed: "You two are a curse that only brings misfortune. Since you've been here, one mage after another has come and wreaked havoc here because of you."

Luz glanced at Liv's purple hair before turning his attention to the little boy. "I openly admit that I am a curse. But don't forget who brought the curse upon you guys in the first place," Luz replied while shaking his head.

Hearing his words, the kid balled his hand into a fist as his eyes slowly turned a slight red tone. His veins were seen clearly under his skin.

Seeing the kid's reaction, Luz sighed: "Kid, I don't want to fight you since I would probably beat you, so let's just carry her inside and worry about the other stuff later on."

'Yeah, that kid seemed to be easily influenced by the old memories of his parasites, resulting in him easily getting enraged by the slightest comment. I should be careful about him. Jodoc, you better use some barrier spell or something the like around me,' went through Luz's head as he glanced at Jodoc for a second, who understood his intention.

An invisible mantle wrapped slowly around Luz. The latter only realized it, being a barrier because it felt a bit warm.

'Yeah, that's enough preparation if anything were to go wrong.'

With a grin, Luz slowly knelt down to take the unconscious Liz from the ground before carrying her via a princess hug.

The kid realized that he got distracted by his anger went forward to open the door for Luz. With a sigh, he stated: "I would probably beat you since you don't even have your parasites under your control yet."

Hearing his words, Luz stopped before replying: "Listen, you little shit, I admit that it would be hard to pull it off, but I could probably hurt you pretty badly, resulting in some permanent injury, young man."

"Are you sure old man, who could be my grandpa?" threw the younger one back.

The older one immediately began shouting: "WHO ARE YOU CALLING OLD MAN? I'M A MAN IN HIS PRIME!"

"YEAH, A MAN IN HIS PRIME THAT ARGUES WITH A YOUNG CHILD. THAT'S NOT WHAT I WOULD EXPECT FROM A MAN IN HIS PRIME," reminded the kid Luz.

Jodoc, hearing their petty argument, merely laughed loudly: "How will you recover from such a burn?"

Getting reminded of how he was using the time in his prime, Luz felt a tingle of shame and embarrassment since the words uttered by the kid were kind of true.

Shaking his head, Luz replied: "Yeah, no way can I recover from such a burn. Anyway, let's bring Liv back before continuing our discussion."

And so, the two continued moving in silence through the tunnels before reaching Liv's door. Her room was comparable to Luz's room at Master Simon's mage tower.

It wasn't that big and had all the necessities such as a bed, a closet was inside it. But it looked a bit old and ran down.

As the kid saw Luz's reaction, he immediately commented:  "We'll probably soon move from here. It's just our destination for the time being till we are ready to move further into the north.

"I see, by the way, what is your name?" responded Luz as he turned his back to move out of the room.

"Well, I'm Jasper. What about you? And wait, could I at least hang out with you for a bit? The other five with whom I was hanging out till yet are kind of boring?" asked the kid.

"Wait, there six other brats whom I haven't seen yet??" asked Luz shocked before stating his name.

"Let's say we don't want anyone to meet them till they get themselves under control. It could end up pretty nasty," answered Jasper, and the two left to the living room.

As the two walked, Jasper showed Luz and Jodoc what he was capable of. With the help of his parasite, he could form out of biological matter stuff such as a spear, for example.

To showcase his ability to the curious duo, Jasper summoned a black matter that began leaving his pores, forming into a shield and a short sword. After creating his weapons, the rest of the black stuff wrapped around his body like armor.

'Interesting. I don't know what kind of material it is and how it can seamlessly form into shapes around Jasper's body without costing a lot of energy or concentration. … Very interesting, indeed,' went through Jodoc's head as he pecked Jaspers black suit. 

Seeing how it could withstand the physical force of an intermediate mage, Jodoc was astonished by it.

Unlike the two, most of them here only knew how to use their parasites, which was kind of weird since all of them were also awakened.

But if one thinks it through, one understands it. The last thing one would do after escaping is to approach human settlements. The security there is tighter there, and the chance of getting caught/overwhelmed is also higher in a city. And even if one were to visit a city, one would stock up on necessities, especially if they are short on money.

Buying magic books is, in that case, a pretty unwise choice and is therefore of lower priority.