Science/Magic

"Master, don't you think the monster destroying the villages is weird?" Regina asked after they left the tent.

Bloed frowned. "Actually, I'm also curious about it."

"Do you want to investigate it?"

Bloed thought for a moment before shaking his head. "No. As Lui Ying said, the exiled lands are filled with monsters able to destroy human villages as easily as flipping a coin. If we investigate each dangerous monster, we will never finish. Plus, we are already leaving this place anyway, there is no need to delay our journey for something unnecessary."

After saying that, Bloed fell silent and put on a thoughtful expression.

"Master, did something happen?" Regina asked curiously.

Bloed thought for a moment and shook his head. "Nothing, it's just that the name Liu Ying rings a bell."

"… An acquittance?" Regina tensed up.

"Nothing like that." Bloed smiled wryly. "But I think I know who she is."

"Huh?"

"The Demons' royal family carries the surname Liu, and If my memory does not fail me, the name of the demons' current princess is Ying."

Regina was startled. "Is such a coincidence possible?"

"I think not, she is definitively the demon princess." Bloed affirmed confidently. "Everything matches. Age, race, name, features, and her powerful bloodline. She must be the princess."

Demons and humans shared many features, but demons had a horn on their foreheads that humans not. The Demons' royal family was a bit more special, though. They were known for their fiery red hair and amber eyes, just like the girl they just met. Of course, perhaps the hair and eyes were a coincidence, but when the name, age, and other things also matched, then it was almost certain that she was the one.

"What is a princess doing in a place like this?" Regina asked with a frown.

Bloed looked at her with a smile. "I'm wondering the same question. It looks like the world changed a lot since I was gone."

Regina nodded in agreement.

It had been four years since Bloed was abandoned in the exiled lands, and now he was sixteen. It was normal for the world to see some changes during this time. Bloed, himself, had also changed a lot in the last four years. The last year, in particular, was one where he changed greatly.

Not only he was now taller and more handsome than one year ago, but his face showed signs of maturity rarely seen in people of his age.

However, the most important change was in his eyes and hair.

When Bloed entered the exiled lands, his eyes and hair were pitch black, but now his eyes and hair had turned blue.

It was a result of one of his experiments in bioengineering and biomechanics.

Ten months ago, Bloed decided to modify his body, much to the worry of Regina. Specifically, he decided to change his hair and eyes.

His new eyes were custom-made devices that, not only increased his field of vision, but also added new features such as microscopic vision, telescopic vision, thermal vision, energy vision, enhanced perception, and mathematical predictions.

Bloed added every feature he could think of and could add. Currently, his new eyes were filled with all kinds of surprises. Unfortunately, they could not shot laser rays.

Apparently, shooting laser rays through the eyes was much harder to achieve than he thought. Bloed ran into tens of problems when he started the experiments.

Back to the topic, such eyes were impossible to use for anyone else. The thought capacity necessary to keep up with all that information the eyes supplied would fry a normal brain. But with Bloed's ESP ability, the thought capacity required by the eyes was not even a third of his total capacity.

The blue hair was something similar, but with more subdues effects. They could only measure temperature, wind speed, atmospheric pressure, and also perceived light waves to get an approximated image of everything ten meters around Bloed.

In other words, Bloed did not have blind spots.

Those modifications, together with his now C-Grade ESPer capabilities, his new armor, his saber, and the other things he had created during the last year, brought his strength up to a level comparable to normal B-Grade ESPers. Moreover, if Bloed decided to use his trump card, then maybe he could face an A-Grade opponent.

Unfortunately, now that he reached C-Grade, his psychic energy started to show signs of stagnation.

Bloed was already expecting it, so he was not too worried. Plus, he managed to find a way to use his second ESP ability, even if barely, so his psychic growth was not completely stagnated, just much slower than before.

And he was still experimenting with new ways to use his second ESP ability. He had already gotten some results.

When they left the tent, a small animal charged towards Bloed.

*Woof!*

The puppy jumped into Bloed arms and started to lick his face. Bloed caressed its jaw happily and smiled. "You are very playful today, Tito."

*Woof!*

"Yes, yes, you did a good work guarding the tent."

*Woof Woof!* Tito waged his tail happily and ran around Bloed. He then ran towards a giant wolf-like dog that was sleeping in the ground. The wolf-like dog was called Leto.

Tito and Leto were another of Bloed's latest works. They were two mechanical pets, a puppy and a wolf, named after the deceased AI. Of course, they were more than just pets. Tito and Leto could be considered as two of Bloed's proudest works.

Regina also smiled when she saw the puppy. She had to admit that Bloed became much happier since he created the dogs.

So, she had to make sure that nothing destroys his newfound happiness.

"… Master, what are we going to do with the girl?"

Bloed fell silent. "… What do you think?" He asked after a few seconds.

"We know nothing about her, master. And we already helped her enough."

Bloed smiled wryly. Of course Regina would say something like that.

She was not wrong, though. Bloed couldn't simply help any pitiful person he meets. The fact that he saved her life and helped to heal her injuries is already more than enough kindness.

But…

"… Let's do it, Regina. We will take her with us until we leave the exiled lands. After that, we part ways. We are leaving, anyway, so bringing another person is not a problem."

Regina thought for a moment but she did not refuse. They had already saved the girl, so taking her out of the exiled lands was the least they could do to guarantee she continues alive. Even if Regina did not like the thought of another girl traveling with them, she did not mind having another companion for a few days.

Anyway, everything was alright as long as they part ways later.

...

Support me on P4TRE0N if you like the story. It only has 6 chapters ahead, but I'll add more this week :p

P4TRE0N: pat-reon.com/aidnovels