Although Jean couldn't see anything because of the bright light, he felt soft grass with dew drops appear under his feet. A light breeze ruffled his hair. Slowly, the bright light was replaced by the view of a forest clearing with flowers and trees.

 

- Where is it?

 

Jean asked in confusion without hope of getting an answer. To his surprise, the answer still came, although he did not answer anything.

 

- I don't know.

 

Turning to the voice, Jean saw Alexander standing and carefully examining the neighborhood. His brows were furrowed, and there was caution in his eyes. Suddenly, he saw something and went towards a rather ordinary stump.  

 

Jean turned around and saw that Nabushi and Horn were also looking around. Suddenly, from the direction in which Alexander went, there was a sound of breaking wood. Turning around, Jean saw Alexander examining with a dagger in his hands.

 

- Apparently we can find a weapon. -  Horn said in a surprised tone.

 

Hearing him, Alexander nodded, lowering his dagger. After examining the surroundings, he looked at the three people.

 

- We need to determine how we will act. From what the voice said, we can conclude that we are not alone and there are still groups like us. Dangerous criminals may be present among these groups. – Having received positive nods, he continued. – Because of my activities, I have been trained in several types of weapons, but I am best at using a sword. What about you?

 

Turning back, Jean looked at Nabushi and Horn who were looking back at him. Sighing, he said.

 

- I was trained in swordsmanship, but I'm also a good bowman.

 

Nodding, Alexander looked at the remaining two. Clearing his throat, Horn said hesitantly.

 

- Well, I've been a villager for most of my life, although as an elder I should have had the power to protect the settlement from some bandits or monsters if anything. Previously, I was quite good with a spear, although, sitting in the cell, I may have lost my shape.

 

Alexander nodded again and said soothingly.

 

- Don't worry, if anything, I will be able to restrain two people of the same level with me for a short time.  Looking at the remaining person, he continued, - Now it's your turn.

 

Looking coldly at the answer, Nabushi replied in a sharp tone.

 

- Although I would not like to work with you because you were previously one of these animals. But since there is no other way... I wield a one-handed sword and a dagger.

 

After thinking for a second, Alexander carefully looked at Nabushi. Having made sure of his thoughts, he went in her direction, making her wary. Approaching the ready to attack Nabushi, Alexander, with a calm but cold face, held out the dagger hilt forward.

 

- I am also not happy to be in the same boat with criminals. Unfortunately, this is the only way to survive. But I also don't want a dagger stuck in my back during a battle.   

 

Nabushi frowned at the proffered dagger. The atmosphere has become quite heavy. Jean and Horn, with frowning and slightly worried expressions, were closely monitoring the situation in order to be able to intervene. Nabushi carefully looked at the outstretched dagger, then, with a chill in her eyes, at the calm Alexander. After standing there for several tens of seconds, she grunted and quickly took the dagger.

 

- Okay, the right choice. Now we need to find a weapon, so let's move. Does everyone agree?

 

Jean and Horn nodded understandingly, while Nabushi said nothing. Seeing that everyone agreed, Alexander ran towards the hillock visible in the distance.

 

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A small patch of ground was covered with a fairly copious amount of blood. On the ground lay several corpses with missing limbs, which were lying a few meters from the torso. Each corpse had a rather small neat hole in the chest, in place of the heart, with an abundance of blood around. There was an expression of pain and agony on the faces smeared with blood.

 

A 10-year-old boy was sitting on his haunches next to one of the corpses. He had pale skin, delicate and beautiful facial features, a neat little nose, thin pale lips and piercing, as if glowing with light, blue eyes.

 

White, medium-length hair was secured with a strange tiara. It was silvery-white in color, with an inlaid transparent gemstone, in which a strange clot of pale blue energy floated. 

 

The child himself was dressed in a long white unbuttoned raincoat, with slightly prominent silver stripes and a rather high collar, straightened to the side. Under the raincoat, a black shirt could be seen, which was fastened with several white  buttons, its collar completely covered the neck and covered the lower part of the face.

 

The pants also had a white color with silver stripes, which were connected with rather unusual high boots, looking like they were made of leather and metal. They were black in color and fastened with many silver fasteners.

 

On his hip was strapped a rather long sword in a scabbard. The handle was black and had several precious red stones, between which, connecting them with each other, there was a pattern of white metal. The scabbard was covered with white and rather smooth leather, in the center they were separated by a strip of emerging black metal, with white patterns and various jewels. 

 

The boy's hand, wearing a white glove with prominent stripes, held a strange device stuck in the heart of the corpse. It had a long pointed shape, part of which was immersed in the chest of an already dead person. The surface of this object was transparent, bluish in color, and in its depths, blue energy could be seen slowly gathering from the corpse.

 

On the wider part of the object, a transparent gemstone was visible, similar to the one in the tiara, but having a smaller size. It contained yellow-colored energy.  

 

Slowly, the amount of incoming energy from the corpse decreased until it completely stopped. The boy, seeing this, pulled the object out of the corpse and wiped the bloody sharp tip on the clothes of the dead man, stood up.

 

Lifting the object to eye level, he looked at a fairly uniform ball of blue energy. After carefully assessing it, he directed his energy into the object. As if opening a tap, a thin trickle of yellow energy began to flow into the subject from a transparent gemstone. 

 

Upon contact with the yellow energy, a fairly stable ball of blue energy began to slowly collapse. After waiting for some time, the boy blocked the flow of yellow energy and began to carefully observe what was happening.

 

After a few seconds, the yellow energy received in the object was depleted, leaving behind a cloud of unstructured blue energy, the amount of which was significantly reduced.

 

Suddenly, blue energy began to flow into the object from the boy's hand. Surrounding the blue cloud in the dome, she began to be absorbed by the child's hand. Soon, the sphere was absorbed, leaving no trace of energy behind. 

 

"It takes a few dozen more people and pure spiritual energy will be enough, it will only be necessary to recycle. Due to the fact that with the help of this rather aggressive rashu, I destroy most of the impurities and remnants of consciousness, the processing time has been reduced. If nothing serious happens, it will take about 378 days to complete all the preparations and begin structuring the soul. It's time to move on."

 

In an instant, having finished thinking, the boy ran in an uncertain direction with a fairly fast speed for an ordinary person.