Chapter 8: People

Hours or perhaps days later, Adonis opened his eyes, still in the same medical tent.

Calmly, he sat up.

"Ah, you've finally woken up! You must've been really tired, young man. Rarely do you see kids your age sleep for three days." Said Elder Jo with a chuckle.

"I'd like to thank you for healing me, Elder. At the moment, I don't have anything to repay you but I will remember this debt." Immediately said Adonis as he cupped his fists and sincerely thanked him.

Waving Adonis off with a smile, he motioned for him to follow.

"Don't mention it, it's my job after all, hahaha!"

As Elder Jo and Adonis walked out of the medical tent and made their way to the bonfire, a few gazes landed on them but none held any maliciousness, most were filled with intrigue and confusion, nothing more, nothing less.

'Weird.'

Soon, the duo arrived in front of the bonfire.

Without any issue, Adonis was presented to the people of the White Dragon Nomad group and he immediately sunk into their dynamic.

Though at first, he was showered with questions and strange looks, after a glare from Elder Jo, this all stopped and Adonis was finally left alone, able to eat in peace as he sat at the end of one of the many benches around the fire.

It was a simple meal. A stew of pork, potatoes, sweet beans and cheese and yet, it was perhaps the best meal he'd ever had in his life.

His eyes watered as the flavours flooded his mouth and his body warmed up at the intake of food.

He truly had forgotten how blissful the simplicities of life were. To think there was a time where he took it all for granted.

"Weirdo."

Hearing this, Adonis looked up, seeing another young man, probably in his late teens, looking at him with a gaze full of disgust and contempt.

"Can I help you?" He asked with a smile as he wiped the tears that had threatened to fall off his eyes.

"Did I say you could answer?!" Aggressively said the teen as his face twisted into an ugly frown.

Putting his bowl to the side, Adonis stood up and looked at the teen with a calm and steady gaze.

"Do we have a problem here?" He asked.

The youth was taken aback for a moment by Adonis' sudden bravado but it soon turned into a sneer as he grabbed his collar and pulled him in.

"Listen. I know what you fucking are you disgusting bastard. The others may let it slide because you're with the elder, but I don't care."

Unbothered, Adonis slapped the teen's hands away and fixed his robes.

"Is there a need for any of this? I haven't disturbed anyone and I've been as polite as one can be."

Adonis looked around and a slight smile bloomed on his face as he saw the other members of the camp act oblivious to what was happening here.

"What exactly am I being accused of here?"

Arel, the young man, frowned even more as he heard this.

"You think we're stupid, don't you? The way you walk, the way your eyes move, your presence and all your manners scream of an assassin's." He practically spat as his fury spilled over.

"An assassin from the Aksal Lineage. You vile bunch of fucking bastards." He added as his body began to tremble in rage.

As soon as Adonis heard this, he couldn't help but chuckle. He finally understood.

'I see. That high level soldier must've been personally trained by the Aksal Lineage and by fusing with his experience, I've taken some of his habits. The more you learn.'

Though to Arel, Adonis' chuckle was nothing more than blatant provocation.

His fury tipped over and his body burst into flames, his body moving on its own as his fist zipped across the air, heading for Adonis' head as he roared out in rage.

'I wonder, are those flames his Gift or is this one of the abilities one can gain through cultivation? Hm, I need to get more information on it so I can start cultivating as soon as possible.'

Though Adonis had completed his royal curriculum of studies, it was a rule within the upper circles of the strong lineages to not tell the youth anything about cultivation until the time was right.

As those thoughts popped into his mind, Adonis absentmindedly side stepped, dodging Arel's fist as his own leg moved and he tripped the latter, rewarding him with an embarrassing fall in front of the entire camp.

Unfortunately for Adonis, unlike him, Arel was a cultivator and despite his age, his achievements were high. He was a genius.

He immediately stood back up, his fist punching all the air out of Adonis' guts as he followed with a sweep breaking his balance before his flame covered hands came down like a hammer and drilled Adonis into the earth below.

In his rage, he lost all forms of rationality and gathered as much of his flames as he could, forming an orb of swirling crimson flames that soon turned into a horrifying ball of white flames that engulfed the entire camp in its overbearing heat.

"Just fucking die."

BOOM!

A tempest of flames swallowed the area as Arel coldly watched, waiting for the flames to clear so he could see Adonis' corpse.

Unfortunately for him, the only thing he saw was the untouched figure of a young man with long white hair and deep scarlet pupils, standing before Adonis' body.

Rylo looked at Arel with a calm gaze.

"Had I been a second late, the boy would've died."

Rylo looked around.

"And none of you acted."

Rylo looked toward Elder Jo.

"Not even you."

Adonis slowly stood up, his upper robes burnt and his face covered in blood as his back was littered with burn marks.

Though this was the case, these injuries didn't seem to truly bother him. In these last years, the relationship he held with the concept of pain had changed. One would have to go to an unbelievable extreme for him to feel it.