Plundering Souls as the Blessed of an Ancient God

Des's expression was a mix of emotions that Cifer couldn't quite identify.

"Cool? Foolish fool! You completely destroyed the prey! How would we handle a half destroyed prey?" Des began scolding. "Not only that, did you see the amount of mana you used on your arm, do you want your arm to go kapow?"

At this point, Cifer didn't hold back. 

"Oh really? You gave me a bow and arrow, and suddenly expect me to get the hang of it all. Aren't you supposed to be complimenting how I got it on my first try despite you not teaching me anything?!"

"Haha," Des laughed, his tone remaining serious. "I see the chick has decided to leave his egg shell behind."

Des approached the unbalanced Cifer and swiftly delivered a knock that caused Cifer to fall.

"Just be careful next time so you won't get hurt…" Des said, concern evident in his voice and expression.

He sighed and said to Cifer, "Rest for a bit. Now that I've gauged your ability, I'll brief you so you'll get a better hang of things…"

Even though he wasn't showing it on the surface, Des was also excited. 

'This kid… is a genius!' He exclaimed to himself.

From Cifer's physical strength, his control over his mana and the quality of the mana, Des found it all impressive.

Maybe not the control over mana, but for the others, very few children with similar age as Cifer were able to show such feats.

While Des just stood, wallowing in his thoughts, Cifer sat on the ground, staring at the rabbit he killed in the distance.

'That actually worked? I guess the fiction back on earth is not so wrong after all. This place is really not bad for practice after all… I should be more careful like Des said though, I accidentally used a lot of mana, my hand almost couldn't handle it…'

'Des seems to know about mana better than others with the way he reacted and how he controls the mana he exudes. Will he eventually tutor me regarding that, when we encounter stronger creatures?'

"Alright, now that you've caught your breath, I'll begin." Des said, calling Cifer's attention. "First thing, we don't let blood permeate to avoid attracting other wildlife to our location."

'Makes sense…' Cifer nodded his head in understanding.

"So now, we'll take the body of the one I killed and we'll be on the move. After that, I'll teach you how to use weapons better." Des said, already walking towards their kill.

'Thinking about that mana practice… maybe I should just ask him?' Cifer pondered.

After hesitating for a bit, Cifer called out, "Mr. Des?"

Des paused mid-step and turned, his usual playful smile already in place.

"I don't like the sound of that, just call me Des," he said. "Do you want something?"

"Can you teach me how to use mana? I want to learn." Cifer's voice was steady despite the hesitation that's clawing at him from within.

Des raised an eyebrow, his grin becoming wider. "Oh, I also want you to learn mana, I can't let your talent go to waste." 

"After spending a day gauging your abilities, I believe you have talent. I don't believe I'll be able to bring out your full potential, so later today, I'll talk to someone else to help me."

'When did he gauge my abilities? I underestimated him…He also figured out what type of skill I have because of how observant he was…'

Des' statement unsettled Cifer; he hadn't realized he'd been observed so closely.

He was having a whole lot of thoughts, but he decided to put them aside for now to reply to Des.

"Really? You'll do that for me?"

Des smiled brightly as he said. 

"Of course. As far as I'm concerned, you're under me – I now consider you as family to an extent and I'll raise anyone that's in my family to be successful. In the end, I'm also likely to benefit from your win, that depends on how much you want to extend your success to me.

"Well, if you didn't help me, you're still under me as my worker, and sooner or later, you'll be there to support me when I go for bigger hunts – that's already a huge boon for me."

'A family… that's something I'm not familiar with…' Cifer smiled awkwardly as he listened. "It's only right that I repay my helper. Thank you… Des."

Cifer was sincerely grateful, this way, things were even easier for him. 

"It's no problem, kid." Des said, waving his arms. "Hopefully, you go beyond all my expectations and earn Vyrid's blessing."

"Vyrid Blessing?" Cifer repeated with confusion. The term 'blessing' had immediately piqued his interest.

"Yes, Vyrid blessing. When a God was about to die, he blessed our world to help us grant us more opportunity," Des explained, "It's quite an extensive topic, I'll explain later."

'God… die? What is going on...?' Confused, Cifer was eager to know more on this topic, but he refrained from raising questions until Des fully explained.

"Part of me believes you've already been blessed by Vyrid." Des stated as he bent to pick up the carcass of the rabbit he killed.

"Why?" Cifer blurted out.

"Because you're abnormal. You are stronger than the average person physically and you have an aura befitting one that is a genius at using mana. I want to believe it's Vyrid skills that are helping you."

As Cifer heard the term 'skills', his eyes twitched. He had assumed skills are something unique to him – the Blessed of a God. 'I'm really confused. I need to gain more knowledge as soon as possible. I'm dying to know more at this point.'

"If you want to know if you're blessed by Vyrid, I hear a form of information about you and only available to you will appear," Des explained. He then chuckled as he said, "If you are already blessed by Vyrid, I advise you to be careful with how you share that information."

This was Cifer's confirmation. He was blessed by this so-called Vyrid. 'Is this the God I'm to help…? Or Vyrid is another God? Just how many Gods are there in this world?'

Cifer was in an internal debate, he forgot to respond to Des. This made Des feel like he was right about Cifer being blessed by Vyrid.

As Des handled the rabbits' carcass, he addressed Cifer, "Alright, that aside, let's pay attention to what we have at hand."

Des' word relieved Cifer and pulled him back to reality.

While Cifer watched Des pack one of the rabbit's carcasses in a bag and dig a hole for the other, something caught his attention in the distance.

'Today is a really long day…' Cifer muttered tiredly.

Not far from where they were, deeper into the forest, there were multiple blue metaphysical figures that were similar in shape to rabbits.

They all wandered aimlessly with deep black soulless eyes.

Cifer secretly scrutinized them from where he was, that was when he had an enlightenment.

'These things… they're related to my Rune Gift and my skill, [I See You].'