Chapter 147 - 101 : A Bit Strong ?

Chapter 147: Chapter 101 : A Bit Strong ?

The forest looked different in daylight. After a night of heavy rain, it simply looked like a forest that had weathered a storm. Mist still clung to the lower ground, while droplets gathered on leaves and branches before falling whenever the wind moved through the canopy. The earth was dark and damp beneath their feet, and the fresh scent of wet soil lingered in the air. With the darkness gone, the path ahead was easier to see.

Lucian led the way while Ethan followed behind him. Ethan’s movements were still slower than they had been before his injuries, but he no longer needed assistance to walk, and the strange energy within his body continued to weaken. The process was slow and painful, but it was gradually losing its hold over him, allowing him to move more naturally with each passing moment.

They had not traveled for very long when Ethan’s blood perception caught several unfamiliar presences approaching from ahead. He slowed slightly and looked through the trees.

"We have company."

Lucian glanced back at him, puzzled. "What?"

"Someone is coming."

Lucian looked around, clearly seeing nothing unusual. "How do you know?"

Before Ethan could answer, the distant sound of hooves reached them.

Lucian’s expression changed.

He looked at Ethan, surprise flashing across his face as the sound grew clearer. He seemed unable to understand how Ethan could have known before he had heard anything himself.

A moment later, several mounted men emerged between the trees.

They were dressed like the armed retainers of a noble household, their bodies covered in fitted metal armor that had been darkened by the rain. Swords hung at their sides, and their horses moved steadily through the wet forest. At the front rode a broad-shouldered middle-aged man whose clothing was far simpler than the armored soldiers around him. There was no heavy plate covering his body, and his bearing carried a quiet strength that set him apart from the others.

His clothes were wet from the search.

The moment he saw Lucian, his expression changed.

"Young master!"

Several guards behind him called out almost at once.

"Young master!"

Lucian’s shoulders relaxed when he heard the familiar voices. "Uncle."

The older man dismounted before his horse had fully come to a stop. His body moved with startling speed as he crossed the distance between them in only a few swift steps, the movement carrying a sharpness that was far beyond what an ordinary man could manage. He reached Lucian and immediately seized him by the shoulders, looking him over from head to toe.

"Lucian, are you injured?"

"I’m fine."

"One of your guards returned wounded before dawn. He told us your party had been ambushed and that you had escaped alone. You were supposed to reach the city last night." His uncle’s voice carried both relief and lingering worry. "We searched through the entire night. I thought something had happened to you."

Lucian gave him a tired smile. "Something did happen."

His uncle’s eyes moved over him again before settling on the bandaged arm. His expression tightened immediately.

"Your hand. What happened?"

"A wolf bit me."

"A wolf?" His uncle frowned, clearly dissatisfied with the answer. "Let me see it."

"It’s nothing serious."

"Even so, we’ll have a physician look at it when we return. It should be cleaned and properly dressed. We don’t know what kind of wolf it was, and I won’t have you risking an infection over something that can be treated easily."

Lucian nodded. "I’ll explain everything on the way back."

His uncle finally accepted the answer, though his concern did not completely leave his face. Only then did his gaze shift toward Ethan.

He remained silent for several seconds.

Ethan could feel the man’s vitality the moment their eyes met. It was strong, much stronger than Lucian’s, but still limited. His strength was close to what Ethan would expect from someone at the peak of Body Tempering. It was not enough to make Ethan cautious, but it was more than enough to separate the man from ordinary mortals.

The other guards were weaker. Some were around the early stage of Body Tempering, while others had reached the middle stage. A few were close to late Body Tempering, but none approached the older man.

Ethan’s gaze passed over them once.

The guards noticed.

Several exchanged brief glances, their curiosity impossible to miss. Who was this man? Why had their young master been traveling with him? And why did he appear so calm after spending the night alone in the wilderness?

Even Lucian’s uncle seemed to be studying Ethan now, his eyes narrowing slightly as he took in the unfamiliar young man standing beside his nephew.

"Who is he?"

Lucian turned toward his uncle.

"This is Ethan." He briefly explained what had happened, from the wolves in the forest to finding Ethan badly injured and bringing him to the cave. He kept the explanation simple, leaving out the things he did not understand himself.

His uncle listened without interrupting, and when Lucian finished, his gaze returned to Ethan. His expression gradually became more complicated as he studied the young man before him. There was something about Ethan that unsettled him.

It was not fear. At least, not in the ordinary sense. It was the instinctive discomfort that came from standing before someone whose strength he could not properly judge.

He had encountered powerful martial experts before. The strongest ones he knew were the old monsters of the capital, people who had spent decades refining themselves and whose presence alone could make others instinctively cautious. Even among the younger generation, there were rare talents who could stand above their peers and display strength far beyond their years.

But Ethan was different.

The feeling he gave off was far beyond what his appearance should have allowed.

He looked young, perhaps even younger than Lucian. His pale complexion and calm expression gave little indication of the strength hidden beneath them. There was no obvious display of power, no imposing posture, and nothing about his appearance that suggested he should be someone of extraordinary ability.

Yet the older man could not bring himself to regard him as an ordinary member of the younger generation.

His instincts refused to accept it.

There was something about Ethan that he could not explain, something that made him feel as though the young man standing before him was far more dangerous than he appeared.

Very dangerous.

Lucian noticed the silence between Ethan and his uncle, the two of them still quietly studying each other. Neither seemed willing to look away first, and the atmosphere had become noticeably stiff. Not wanting to let it continue, Lucian spoke up.

"Uncle, let’s return first."

The older man finally shifted his gaze away from Ethan and nodded. "Everyone, back to the city."

The guards moved immediately, and the group began the journey back.

The carriage was far more comfortable than the cave. Lucian sat opposite Ethan while his uncle rode ahead with the guards, leaving the two of them alone inside. The wheels rolled steadily along the damp road, occasionally splashing through shallow puddles left behind by the night’s rain.

For a while, neither of them spoke.

Ethan watched the landscape pass through the carriage window. The forest gradually gave way to open fields, then scattered houses and small farms. Farmers worked along the roadside while children carried baskets between the houses, and merchants guided loaded carts toward the distant city.

Everything looked ordinary.

People went about their lives without the slightest awareness that a world far beyond their horizon might even exist.

Eventually, Ethan broke the silence.

"Your uncle seems to be a bit strong."

Lucian looked at him. "My uncle?"

"Yes." Ethan leaned slightly against the side of the carriage. "He’s stronger than the others."

Lucian’s expression remained calm, but inwardly, he was stunned.

A bit strong?

That was how Ethan had described his uncle?

His uncle was a Force Tempering martial artist, a level that placed him among the strongest people in the entire kingdom. There were not many who could stand against him, and yet Ethan had spoken of his strength as casually as someone commenting on the weather.

Lucian had already learned that Ethan’s understanding of strength was probably very different from his own, so he decided not to make much of it.

"He’s a Force Tempering martial artist," he explained. "One of the strongest martial artists in our kingdom."

He gestured vaguely toward the guards riding outside the carriage. "Some of the guards are Blood Tempered. Others have reached Bone Tempering or Skin Tempering."

Ethan listened carefully, his expression unchanged. He did not interrupt, but Lucian noticed the faint interest in his eyes.

"You’ve never heard of these?"

"No."

Lucian almost smiled.

Of course.

The more he spoke with Ethan, the more convinced he became that this man truly knew almost nothing about the world around him. At this point, explaining martial arts to Ethan felt a little like explaining ordinary life to someone who had spent his entire existence isolated from everyone else.

Lucian turned his gaze toward the passing scenery outside the carriage before continuing.

"Martial arts are the main path here. There are different schools and methods, but that’s the general path."

Ethan gave a small nod.

He did not ask about every stage or press Lucian for a detailed explanation. There would be time for that. For now, knowing that this world had its own system of martial arts, and that even its strongest people were still within a range Ethan could understand, was enough.

The carriage continued toward the city.