Return of the Mythic Bloodline

"I have my precious treasure stored in the ring," I murmured. "What if you take it?"

The watchman immediately drew his double-edged axe and growled, "Don't forget your place, slave! You don't have the right to own anything."

He snatched the space ring from my finger and tried to jerk everything out of it.

Well, that was what he tried to do. However, the only thing that came out was the empty bottle of wine Vyaghra had given me.

It smashed on the ground and shattered into pieces.

"NOO!!! My precious treasure!!!" I shouted, clutching my head. "How could you be so cruel?"

"Th-that empty bottle was your treasure!?" the watchman asked, shocked and disappointed at the same time.

My eyes brimmed with moisture as I began murmuring, "That... sniff... sniff... was the last bottle of wine I had. Its presence was what kept me alive till now."

I leapt at the watchman, grabbed his hand between both of mine, and blurted, "J-just kill me. There's nothing left to live for anymore."

"Vivi, what's the realm of this man?"

"Analyzing the target's realm..."

"Analysis completed!"

"The target is in the Late-stage Soul Adept Realm!"

"Stay away, slave!"

The watchman pulled his hand away and threw my space ring and the food packet toward me.

"Move back to the village."

"As you wish, Sir," I murmured, catching my stuff before turning toward the village.

"He is at the second level of realm ascension like me, but he's at the Late-stage while I'm in the Middle-stage. He might be slightly stronger than me," I thought inwardly.

"If even a watchman for non-Awakeners is this strong, I wonder how strong the watchmen guarding the Grade 2 and Grade 1 soul stones would be—and how much stronger the mastermind behind all of this must be?

Hehehe~ just the thought of it is making me excited."

I moved towards the well dug at the center of the village. There were already several slaves gathered around the area. Some were drinking water or eating food, while others stood in line, waiting for their turn to draw water.

Their faces, along with the dust, were covered in half-dead expressions, as if they had completely given up on living. Even though there were more than fifty of them, the only voices filling the surroundings were those of the children arguing with a skinny man.

"Give me the pouch," the skinny man demanded. "I work so hard every day, yet I only get a puny amount of food, while you brats only play around and have so much to eat."

He snatched the pouch from Night and began wolfing it down.

"Give it back!" Night shouted.

"Golden-eye gave that to us," Scar snapped. "Return it right now!"

She slammed a wooden stick across the skinny man's face, drawing blood from his nose.

"You little shits," he growled, raising his hand for a slap.

Before his hand could reach Scar's face, I caught his wrist and demanded in a low tone, "Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"

"Tsk, why should I be ashamed?" he scoffed. "My body can't withstand the mining work anymore. I've already failed their task twice. I'm going to be killed tomorrow, and an empty stomach is the last thing I want before dying."

He jerked his wrist free from my grip and continued munching down the food.

I had the strength to kill that skinny man with a flick of my finger, yet at the same time, I was so powerless that I couldn't take the food pouch from him.

"Our food," Stone choked out, barely holding back his tears.

"Kids, take this," I said, handing my food packet to them.

Without hesitation, Scar instantly seized the packet from my hand, and the downcast faces of the kids immediately brightened up.

"Red-head, are you also leaving?" Scar asked, already sharing the bread among them.

"No, I'm not. And what do you mean by 'also'?"

"Oh, so you aren't. I thought you must be leaving since Golden-eye... num... num... also left... gulp... after giving us his food."

"Huh? When and where did he leave?"

"He came out of the cave... num... num... within six hours... gulp... of going in. Then, after giving us the food... burp... he went that way with the guards."

She pointed toward the east of the village, where another gate, similar to the one we entered from, was embedded into the wall.

"Did Vyaghra already leave for the Grade 2 mines?" I thought inwardly. "I should also find a way to enter that mine number ten Jambavan mentioned."

The watchman wasn't the only guard watching over the slaves. There were more than a hundred towers mounted around the village, and each tower had at two onlookers stationed on it.

"Sigh... it's gonna be a headache to go there without getting noticed."

"Take this," Night murmured, extending his tiny hands that carried almost half of the food I had given them.

"What happened? Are you already full?"

"You must be hungry too. You should eat some as well."

"Aren't you a mature one," I chuckled, rubbing his head. "Share it with your friends. My tummy isn't fine, so I can't eat it."

"Fine then, don't blame us when you get hungry later."

The kids tore open the rest of the packet and began devouring every last bite. They must have been suppressing their hunger to offer that packet to me.

After admiring their innocent faces—gleaming with bright smiles—for a few minutes, I returned to the house Scar had shown me and sat on my comfortable stone bed.

The moment I did, a growling sound echoed in the empty room.

"I know you're hungry," I chuckled, patting my stomach. "Don't worry. I was about to feed you as well."

"Vivi, show me the inventory."

"Initializing Host's request..."

"Inventory [Level 1]: A subspace window that can store the Host's items.

Slots: 601 / 1000

Items:

– The Roaring Blade Vajra: Rank B

– White T.S. Exclusives: B Rank

– Magenta T.S. Exclusives: B Rank

– Royal Blue T.S. Exclusives: B Rank

– Black T.S. Exclusives: B Rank

– Goddess' Ring of Engagement: Unknown Rank

– White Ribbon: Common Item

– Low-tier Grade 3 Soul Stones: 5000 kilograms"

"Hehehe, it's time to eat!"