Empirical Survival System: Return to the Enchanted Planet - Chapter 11 Totem or Slave contract!?

“Old man, don’t stop right now. Complete the story.” Aiden, 6, nudged the old man who was drowsy in the middle of the story.

“Huh!” The old man opened his eyes. It took him quite a few moments before he could understand what was going on. Looking at Little Aiden, he showed his yellow teeth and patted his head.

“Oh, come on,” Aiden grunted as he pushed the old hand from the top of his head, “come on, tell me. What happened? Did people know that Harry saved them? He was the hero, he killed Voldemort, and he saved the world.

The old man could not help but smile again. Looking at Aiden, he remembered his days back on earth. His first grandson wanted to hear the old fairy tale, so he read it to him. And now…

The old man sighed hard, remembering the death of his grandchild, who died in the first year when it all started. What did they call it? Mana63. It was the year of the year 2163. It was the beginning of the Pandemic Mana, the beginning of the Mana Apo…

“Come on, don’t fall asleep again,” the child pleaded, “you didn’t even say a word this time.”

“Oh, yes.” He patted the child again, even though the child frowned, “Aiden, what’s a hero?”

“A hero?” Little Aiden was serious about that. He wanted to give the correct answer, “The hero is the one who gets the rewards.”

“But Harry didn’t get the reward.”

“Didn’t he?” He couldn’t believe the old man. He said, “but he saved the world.”

“Yes, he saved the world, but even so he didn’t expect anything back. And that’s why he was called a hero.”

“But …” Aiden wanted to say something when the older girl ran in.

“Aiden, let’s go. You’re accepted. You can go there now.” Aiden was shocked for a moment but soon ran away in excitement.

“Arya? What happened?” The old man was confused. So Arya explained to him that Aiden had been chosen as a stronghold recruit. He’s going to have a chance to go back to the earth.

After carefully explaining all this to the old man, she left the house. Looking at their excitement, the old man could not help but sigh.

‘How can it be a good thing to go back to that hellhole?’ The more the old man thought, the more scared he was.

Humans turned into stones or disintegrated into ashes by breathing. The chicken turned into firebirds, the cat-sized rats eating a human in a matter of seconds, the pet dogs becoming more ferocious than the tigers. It’s been a nightmare.

**************

‘Why did I have such a dream?’ Aiden did not know why he remembered that day. It was the day he sold his life. Thinking back, that made him feel sad. It’s always been a good day.

He sat back up after taking a deep breath. His body was sore here and there, but it wasn’t that bad. The first thing he did was to check his body. He had a cut mark on his abdomen, as well as on his chest.

The thought made him frightened. When he checked, his worst nightmare proved to be true. He can no longer cultivate. ‘Is that how I’ve survived?’

Aiden wasn’t sure of that. But when he moved his hand, he could still feel the beating heart in his chest and the scar that covered it. ‘Didn’t that spear has pierced my heart?

Aiden was sure that he took the spear in his heart to activate his [Skill Mine] so that his hand could reach within 1 meter of his body.

‘I succeeded.’ There was an empty smile on his face, ‘ESS? Are you in there? Or I’ve already died.’

[The host is alive.]

‘How many days do I have to live? If I remember correctly, it should be around 80 or 90 days.’ He had to take into account the time he was asleep. ‘These wounds could not be healed in one day.’

[87 years 9 months and 18 days.]

Hearing the notification, Aiden frowned, “Are you kidding again? Have you turned off the emotionless mode?”

[The ESS is running in motionless mode.]

‘I am healed right now?’ Aiden couldn’t believe that.

[The host has been cured.]

After coming to this world, he was happy far too many times, only to have his hopes shattered most devastatingly. First, he needed to confirm everything. ‘Show me the status.’

[[NAME: Aiden Law

Age:16

Rank: First officer

Team: EP00 (Previously UG93)

Condition: Perfect

Element: Wind[locked], Water[??]

Level: 1

Grade: none

Strength: 32

Agility: 47

Endurance: 54

Dexterity: 38

Intelligence: 67

Health: 189/189

Mana: 5/5

Battle rating: Level 6

Innate skill: [Light Foot] [Skill Mine] [Zone]

Passive skill: [Mana Acceleration(??)] (Locked)

Skill: [Reduce Drag] [Air Punch] [Air spike] [Wind Skin] [Wind Burst] [Wind Scythe] [Wind Gale]

]

‘My stats have increased? ‘Aiden never expected this to happen. To begin with, he had never expected to live, yet he had survived. It’s like a fortune out of his misfortune.

[Stats of the host haven’t increased. Due to mana poisoning and injury, the host was unable to use his full strength.]

‘Now that I was thinking about it, something like that had been reported before.’ Looking at his status, he couldn’t understand a lot of things. ‘Huh! Right now, I’m the first officer. When did that happen?’

[After the death of Team Leader Alex, Vice-Captain Liya was promoted to Captain, First Officer Elijah to Vice-Captain and the host…]

Aiden could no longer hear it. He couldn’t breathe just as that name hit his ear. It took a few moments before he could recover. His eyes were clear, there was no pain or sorrow. There was no hint of anger or hatred either.

‘I’ll take back everything that’s been taken from me, and I’ll pay back what I owe to them.’ he clenched his fist tighter, ‘This is a precious second life of mine. If someone is trying to mess with my life again…’ Aiden took a deep breath before he calmed down and asked,’ ESS, where am I?’

[Identifying…

Unable to identify…

Recording new location…]

“If you want to know, you should come out first.” The hoarse voice sounded from the outside, as someone cast a shadow at the mouth of the dark place where he was staying.

Aiden jumped quickly to his feet. There was nothing to cover his chest, only a ragged pant in his waist. Aiden was unable to find any weapons or the dog tag. There was nothing inside the place, to be precise.

Aiden stepped out with caution and was mesmerized. “Is this the earth?” That was all he could have said.

There was a peal of laughter coming from his side, but it sounded more like two stones grinding against each other.

‘What is this?’ The man who spoke to him was anything but human. It was shaped like a human, and it even had the bones of a human being, but that was all. There was no skin, no muscle, no flesh.

Thick vines grew inside and outside the skeleton, giving it the feeling that it was a human plant. To his surprise, thick green grasses grew above his skull.

“I am Adi,” said the thing, but Aiden could pay little attention to it. If there’s anything like paradise here, it’s supposed to be the one. And there was a giant tree at the centre of all this.

‘Huge’ is not the perfect word to explain. It was a giant, to be precise. Aiden wouldn’t be surprised if anyone said that it was the same size as the skeleton that had knocked them out of the sky.

What was more wonderful was the top of the tree. It was so high that the cloud of the sky parted, making a giant whole in those dark grey clouds.

“This is the first time I saw the sun after I came down,” Aiden whispered to himself.

“Yes, that’s the source of our life.” The man went up to Aiden. With each step, he had to tear off the root that had connected him to the earth in a brief moment of contact.

“You’re almost 20 kilometres away from the tree, it still looked so mesmerizing,” said the man, “when that thing happened, it protected us. All the green you see here is a gift. The dark forest behind it is also part of its territory.”

“But, what are you? You’re not human.” After Aiden recovered his clam, he took another look at the man.

“I’m the one who saved you.” As if Adi was smiling.

“Saved me!?” Aiden was confused. “Why?”

“Because she wanted it,” said the thing, pointing to the distance.

Looking in the direction, a chill ran down his spine. He took a step back by instinct. ‘The devil?’

Now that the devil was in the light, he could see his outline. It was the same height as Aiden, and the red rings were even brighter. The light had devoured as soon as it had touched it.

“Ha ha ha.” Aiden burst into thunderous laughter. Even the devil was stopped in its tracks, “You saved me, so you can kill me? I thought that only humans had the same hobby.”

The plant skeleton shook its head. “She wants to play with you.”

“She?!” Aiden was surprised by its choice of words, “What does ‘she’ want to play? Tag to kill?”

It was hard to understand whether there was a smile on that vine face as it said, “Touch her, and you will understand.”

*Dong* Dong*

The next moment the devil disappeared. Aiden wanted to step back but he found that his legs were wrapped with vines. He couldn’t tear it even with increased strength.

“What are you scared of? You didn’t want her to touch you? “Aiden wanted to reply, but it had appeared before. Same dark hand stretched out towards him…

* Khuuk *

The shackles on his legs vanished and he fell on his ass. He looked up to find a smile on its dark, expressionless face. He touched his cheek instinctively, and it was there, a little colder now.

But at the next moment, the devil jumped at him, wrapping itself around him. It rubbed its head on his chest like a child who had found her favourite toy. Aiden couldn’t believe that, other than feeling a little chillier, there was no feeling of pain.

“What? But how?” Aiden couldn’t believe that ‘is it a dream?’

“She was a human once, so she longed for human friends…”

“No, not that? Why didn’t I die?”

“Sorry, I don’t interact with human beings,” Adi said with a stupid smile. “Well, there might be many reasons, but one of the most important is that … you’re no longer human.”

Even if he was scared, he still pushed the devil out of his body as he stood up. “What did you say about that? Am I not a human being? Well, then what? A monster, huh? A mana beast?”

That thing shook his head, “You have a mana heart, as well as mana crystal. But you can’t use them. So you are none of them.”

“Mana heart? Mana crystal?” Nothing made sense to Aiden. He didn’t know much about mana crystal, but he knew very well that it wasn’t easy to cultivate the mana heart. Only one of the five could survive, but…

The devil was still clinging to him as if she was checking every part of Aiden. Even if he wanted to, he would not be able to remove her, so he decided to accept the invasion.

“Is that the heart of Alex?” Now that he’s been thinking about it, he’s seen Alex’s element and passive skill in status.

On the other hand, the vine man sighed as he said, “Your heart was destroyed, so we replaced yours with the other boy.”

“Alex,” he couldn’t stop his hand from touching his chest. For the first time, there was a tinge of sadness on his face, but it vanished on the next. Before turning to Adi, he shook his head. “Is it even possible to implant a water mana heart in the body of wind mage?”

“No, but the heart is different. That heart had a mana rejection effect. It can absorb mana, but it can’t circulate through the body. That boy would have died soon, even if you didn’t kill him.”

‘Why are you telling me this?’ Aiden frowned, ‘did I look like someone in need of your condolences?’

It was as if Adi had been able to read his mind. He smiled at Aiden before continuing. “When she found you, you were already going through the process of becoming a beast, condensing the crystal of mana.”

There was confusion in its eyes and voice, “Why didn’t you cultivate it?”

“Cultivate?” Aiden spoke with doubt, “Mana crystal?”

Adi nodded, “If you had cultivated it, you would have been a mana general.”

‘Mana general? Is that a designation of a mana beast?’ Again Adi didn’t quench his curiosity.

“But it was too late, though. If I was a little late, your body would have exploded and died, leaving behind the crystal.”

‘He’s the one who saved me.’ Aiden now understands everything. Aiden wanted to say his own words, but first, he bowed to Adi.

“No, no. There’s no need to thank me. If there was anyone else, he might have done better. And just one more thing. You don’t have to try to cultivate. Neither the crystal nor the heart.”

‘Didn’t you say I couldn’t cultivate it in the first place? Why should I try it, then?’ Aiden was a little confused by his choice of words.

“It may be because of my lack of knowledge of the mana heart, but the crystal and the heart have a very delicate balance of power between them. If you try to cultivate again…” the man sighed and bowed, “I’m sorry about that.”

“No, no. I am alive because of you.” Aiden said, “There is no need to think about that. If I don’t cultivate I won’t die. I’m very thankful to you.”

Adi paused for a moment. As if he was aware of it, “There is a different way.”

Aiden’s heart thumped. Even if he had accepted his fate, he was sad. Who doesn’t want to become strong? He was very eager inside, but outside he was calm, “What kind of method?”

“If somebody imprints you.”

“Imprint?” Aiden was unable to understand the meaning.

“Oh! You’re not from here, so you might not know that.”

‘Was that his whole plan? Is it to imprint me?’ Aiden was surprised, but he understood after thinking about it. ‘After all, there is no free lunch.’

“We call it the imprint. The human is calling it ‘Totem.’ If you’ve got a totem. You can cultivate it again. You could get stronger, too.”

Aiden was tempted but never dared to make the same mistake again. If this ‘imprinting’ is the same thing as a slave collar, he’d choose to die now instead of becoming a totemic warrior.

“From the look of it, she’d be happy to give you the totem.” Hearing Adi’s word, Aiden turned to the devil, only to find the red rings that were pleading to him.