Chapter 20

Chapter 20 - LOT - Edited version 2.0

Several minutes passed. Jack laid back down on his bed, giving himself some time to recover. As he did so, he faintly heard the sounds of everyday life continuing in a semblance of normalcy.

Snowbank City had suffered devastating damage. A huge swath of the southern portion of the city was completely destroyed. Casualty counts were relatively low due to evacuation efforts, but the actual damages themselves were catastrophic. Fully one fifth of the enormous city was obliterated.

Thus, the main focus of most inhabitants of the city was on reconstruction. The Duke of Snow had generously offered his support to help rebuild the city, citing funding from the Kingdom his duchy was part of. The Snowbank City Lord accepted his offer, finally coming out of hiding now that the battle was over.

The faint sounds of wagons full of wood or supplies being driven inward, cries of workers and peasants heading off to work on repairs, and the general sounds of life gradually drifted in through the window in Jack’s room.

Jack sat still for a time, his head going over everything that had happened.

*KNOCK KNOCK*

A knocking at Jack’s door abruptly drew him away from his musings, causing him to look up from the bed. He glanced down at the golden sword at his side for a moment before standing up, securing it to his waist.

“Yes?” Jack said as he opened the door, looking outward curiously.

A man wearing a dull set of grey armor with the insignia of the Hunter Association stood outside the room, holding a small package.

“The Branch Chief sent this, and his thanks.” The guard handed Jack the package and then, with a terse nod, left, not waiting to hear a response.

Jack watched him go bemusedly, shaking his head. He closed the door behind him, opening up the package. In it he found a letter, and three books.

He picked up the letter first. He quickly scanned through the contents, and then began to frown.

The letter was written by the heavily injured Branch Chief. Thanks to Jack, the Chief had lived, though barely. The same people that had healed Jack had also healed the Branch Chief, to some degree, but apparently not fully. His injuries had been too severe.

In the letter, the Branch Chief thanked Jack for saving him, tactfully not asking how. However, the Branch Chief also gave Jack a warning. After he had come to, the Branch Chief had decided to pull a few strings to make sure Jack was safe, as his own form of thanks.

Through the course of gaining information, the Branch Chief discovered that the Seven Aura Tracker, Corker, had somehow survived the incredible explosion in the southern portion of the city. He was last seen talking to members of the Frostplate Guard and being shuffled off to the residence of the Snowbank City Lord.

Jack was no longer safe in Snowbank City. Once the Snowbank City Lord found out about his relation to the disaster and his son’s death, Jack would undoubtedly be hunted down, not to mention what the Duke of Snow would do.

The Branch Chief urged Jack to flee immediately. Further, he outlined a few plans for Jack to flee, from using a set of caravans to sneak off to the south to even listing the location of the recently discovered damaged Space Gate as an emergency measure.

Jack felt his heart warm slightly, grateful for the actions of the Branch Chief. While he had saved the man, Garmen had no obligation to do any of this. People weren’t all bad in this world.

Jack then turned to look at the rest of the contents of the package, the three books.

The Branch Chief, in his letter, had added a note at the end, stating that he apologized for not being able to formally introduce Jack as a Hunter. Instead, he included three books, one on the world and the Hunter Association as a whole, another about various beasts, and the last one focusing on cultivation of Spirit. Three of the basic book resources Direct Members of the Hunter Association had access too.

Information on the Worlde was the first book. The second was called Spiritual Beasts, Gem Beasts, and the Beasts of the Worlde. The third book was named Spirit, The Six Great Stages.

Jack glanced at them, deciding to study them later in detail. He carried both the letter and the books over to his bed, setting them down for now. He then looked at the pouch that the intimidating clone of that lady had given him.

As soon as he touched it, Jack felt an odd sensation in his soul.

He blinked with surprise, focusing for a moment. He closed his eyes.

Gradually, his soul came into being around him. The fog covered landscape, mostly empty. In it, he saw his Spirit Circle, which he noted with joy, had reached a full 20 meters. He had reached completion of the first of the Six Great Stages of Spirit. He made a mental note to read the book about Spirit to figure out what to do next.

Next to the shining Spirit Circle was a small ball of white light that Jack instinctively knew was Time Essence. It was pitifully small compared to the amount stored in his scar, but this amount was inherently his own. As Jack felt it, he somehow knew that as long as he meditated and practiced using the Time Essence, he would be able to increase the amount of Time Essence stored in his Soul.

Finally, however, Jack found what he was looking for. As soon as he touched the brown pouch, an identical pouch had appeared in his soul. Jack looked at it for a moment before lightly tapping it, curious.

Immediately, Jack felt a sense of belonging to the pouch, of ownership. A second later the pouch vanished from his soul. Jack’s mind, however, was filled with a sense of newfound control over the pouch.

And as he felt this, he automatically knew what the pouch was.

It was one of those rare Spirit Artifacts. He remembered the term the intimidating lady used to describe it, a ‘Space Sealed Pouch.’

It was a small pouch on the outside, but on the inside it contained roughly two meters of space within it, easily able to carry far more than it looks. Further, anything put in the space instantly becomes weightless, the artifact cancelling out its weight.

“How magical.” Jack muttered as he returned his focus to the real world, looking down at the pouch in his hands. After a moment, he opened the pouch, feeling with his soul the contents of it.

Spirit Crystals, at least fifty of them, all shining brightly, similar to the ones Jack had used before. Jack looked over at the small pouch on his waist, pulling out his last remaining Spirit Crystal he had saved. He smiled and placed it inside the artifact, watching it settle with the dozens of other ones.

Apart from the many Spirit Crystals, there were also two small, green pills that gave off a light, airy scent. When Jack touched one, he immediately felt a refreshing, cooling feeling. They seemed to be some type of medicine.

“Excellent. I can use this.” Jack nodded his head, pleased as he could be in the circumstances. He stored the letter from Garmen and the three books in the space pouch, tying it to his waist.

After securing everything, Jack went downstairs to the common room of the inn, and ordered some food to be brought to his room. He saw a few guards in the common room, nodding his head amicably when he met eyes with them. This inn was popular with the various guards of the city.

As he moved back upstairs, Jack activated his Slowed State, scanning the room one last time.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw a furtive figure that glanced at Jack a half dozen times before turning away. The man had short black hair and seemed like a normal city guard. The unusual amount of attention he paid to Jack, however, put him on edge.

“I really am not safe here, huh?” Jack muttered quietly as he walked back upstairs, releasing his slowed state.

He then settled in to eat, and waited for nightfall.

..

..

A cold evening breeze swept across the wounded city, the sounds of restful sleep abounding.

Jack, however, barely felt the cold. The breeze moved far too slowly to have any affect on him. Not when he was in a world slowed by time.

The world around Jack was slowed to 1/100th of its normal speed. The remaining energy in Jack’s scar was fading quickly and would only last a few more hours. Therefore, Jack decided to use all of the remnant energy while he could. If it was as he thought it was, the remnant energy from his mother, Jack intended to spend it wisely.

Two minutes of time for Jack translated to just over a single second in the real world, in this state. As such, even though time wasn’t as slow as it had been before, the world around Jack was still incredibly slow. People’s movements in the Inn common room seemed frozen in the air, conversations halted mid word, drinks frozen mid pour.

Jack was more or less invisible to these people, his presence far too fleeting. It was an awe inspiring, godly feeling Jack felt, akin to a supreme being looking down upon mortals. The more Jack experienced it, the more addicting it became to him.

This ability, this was true strength.

Jack quickly exited his inn, dodging various figures in his way. As he moved away from the inn in the slowed time he carefully began to scan his surroundings, looking for anything out of place. After 30 seconds of looking, Jack spotted a pair of black suited figures looking down from rooftop, each staring at a separate exit from the inn.

He felt a sheen of sweat cover his forehead as he saw this. He was already this close to death. If he didn’t have this remnant energy…

Making his way out of the area, Jack began to rush towards the north. The city streets were mostly empty, allowing him to easily move through them. He rushed past the figures of city guards patrolling, simply ignoring them as he ran by. Their frozen expressions were completely unable to even register Jack, let alone raise the alarm.

After running for several minutes, Jack came across the orphanage he had grown up at. He paused for a brief moment, looking at it with a sad smile. His memories here were… troubled. The only person he truly loved with Little Seven. Auntie Elm had always been good to him, but she never truly treated him like a son, and Jack never treated her as a mother. More like a strict teacher.

He sighed, shaking his head, and continued running north.

Eventually, he passed the merchant shop where he read books. The legless shop owner was nowhere to be seen when Jack walked up to the window, hardly surprising considering the late hour. He took a moment to pilfer a few foodstuffs and supplies from a neighboring shop, stuffing them into his Space Sealed Pouch and leaving a few gold coins, before returning his focus to the old general store.

Jack once more felt a sense of bittersweet melancholy settle in.

He was leaving everything behind. Everything he knew.

No, rather, Jack thought, his eyes focusing.

He was moving on, to search for the things he needed. Little Seven. His family and his past. Knowledge.

Strength.

It was not something to be sad about. Rather, it was something to celebrate.

Jack sighed as he looked at one of the northern gates of Snowbank City, his stomach a mess with worry.

Jack had been forced to choose the most desperate of options outlined for him by Garmen.

His choices had been few. He could infiltrate and flee the city in a merchant’s caravan. He could join a group of Hunters heading south on a mission. He could try to hide his identity and remain behind. Or, he could use the damaged Space Gate to be teleported somewhere random.

Infiltrating a merchant’s caravan was something he could try, but the tracker Corker would find him before they managed to make any real distance. Joining a group of Hunters heading south wasn’t a terrible idea, but he would need to use his official Hunter badge and identity, and the Duke of Snow or the Snowbank City Lord would be able to trace this. Hiding among the city itself ran into the same issue: The tracker would find him.

Unless he was willing to abandon his blade, and the inheritance of the Sundering Sword Monarch. Which Jack absolutely was unwilling to do. It was one of his very few trump cards, and his most precious technique. With the manual to guide him and this sword to support him, Jack had no doubts that he would be able to reach the Swordmaster stage. Without it, however, finding a suitable teacher and blade would be very difficult. The inheritance in his mind was inherently linked with the sword.

Thus, Jack was left with the last option, and the most risky. Use the newly discovered Space Gate to teleport himself far away. Since the Space Gate was damaged, according to the Branch Chief, the location he would be sent to was random, but it would be somewhere on the continent near another Space Gate.

Still, if he fled like this, it would be impossible to track him.

Jack looked at the steep gate that blocked of the northern exit, his eyes shining as he began to test something.

The strange Time Essence was a bendable force that surrounded him. Jack felt, however, that he could not only use this force to slow time, but also to help him manipulate things in time. Like how when he picked up Little Seven and the Branch Chief, they felt weightless.

Thus, Jack stepped up to the gate and rested his hand on it. Then, with a quiet heave, he tugged on the gate and launched himself upwards, jumping as high as he could.

*VWHOOOM*

Jack felt an almost magical feeling of weightlessness rush into him, and then an odd shifting feeling, as if gravity was warping. Instinctively Jack started running, staring with astonishment at what was happening.

From a combination of his momentum and the strange Time Essence, Jack was now literally running up the dozens of meters high city gate!

Jack laughed out loud in joy as he ran, forgetting his worries for the moment as he jogged. The world itself felt surreal, as if everything had twisted, the city behind him transforming into the sky, the sky becoming the horizon.

After a few moments, Jack completely scaled the gate, smiling as he reached the top. He accidentally knocked into a guard that was leaning against the side of the wall, causing the guard to begin to trip towards the stairs. Jack quickly grabbed the guard and set him down on the ground of wall, smiling apologetically.

He then turned northward, his eyes focusing on the landmarks that Garmen had stated he should follow to find this abandoned Space Gate.

With a sharp nod, Jack began to scale down the other side of the gate, this time a bit more cautious, and head northward. Meanwhile, the remnant energy in his scar began to completely fade, leaving just enough energy to get him halfway to his destination.

..

..

Within the city, an hour had passed since Jack fled.

After that hour, several black garbed figures moved in on Jack’s inn, all of them giving off a ferocious and cold aura. Half of these these figures surrounded the inn while the other half charged into the inn itself, rushing towards the room Jack had slept in. They made no noise, the silence of the night reigning undisturbed.

With powerful but silent movements, two of the figures burst directly into the room, blades formed out of ice gleaming as they prepared to attack. However, the men paused, looking about in confusion.

The room was empty. Devoid of Jack.

After a few moments of searching, the black robed figures left the room. The rest of the black robed figures left the inn after a few minutes of searching.

Gradually, the warriors all left the area, vanishing into the night.

Just minutes later, in the guest area of the residence of the Snowbank City Lord, a middle-aged, man with cold, blue eyes glared at a group of kneeling black robed figures. They were in a cold, undecorated stone pavilion, alone in the night.

“What do you mean he escaped? Did you not set a constant watch?” The Duke of Snow’s voice was filled with venom as he spoke, a blade of ice hovering above his shoulder.

One of the black robed figures, the apparent leader of the group, bowed his head to the ground.

“Your Highness, we kept a constant guard. The boy disappeared regardless. We are at a loss to explain his escape. We, Icy Night, will accept whatever punishment Your Highness deems just, and will refund you the Crystals you paid.” Despite his humble words and bowing, the black robed man’s voice was filled with arrogance.

The Duke of Snow glared at the powerful night assassin, his eyes filled with frustration. A moment later, however, a calm look overcame his visage.

“Where is that tracker you used, Corker was his name, yes?”