The ten-year-old continued to stay seated with his eyes closed for the next fifteen to twenty seconds. Feeling no surge of power inside him, he opened his eyes to look at his brother, only to see him in depression.
At once, realization dawned upon him, and tears filled his eyes.
He got up and started running away.
"Xiao Wei, where are you going? Wait…" Qin Yu followed him from behind. He caught his brother and hugged him as the latter was crying without making any sound.
Usually, people who are mute could still make some type of sound, but Qin Wei couldn't do that either, even while crying. It's as if he were born with no vocal cords.
Qin Wei's heart broke when he saw that.
"Now, let's stop crying, brother. Awakening a spirit beast and mana isn't everything. We have huge deposits of Arcanite in our treasury and a whole lot in the mines. You can still train like warriors and use them to stand on par with the rest of the Divinians. Okay?"
Wiping his tears, Qin Yu further said while looking into his eyes, "Now, my brother is a brave boy, isn't he?"
As the little boy nodded, Qin Yu forced himself to smile and continued, "You shouldn't give up just because of a little setback. A true warrior never cowers under… Hmm?"
Before he finished his sentence, his senses picked up something unnatural and his gaze swiftly shifted to the ceiling above his head.
His eyes glowed blue, and his vision went past the ceiling to look at the sky. "Is that..." A deep frown appeared on his face.
The sky above the town of Elinor has turned red. And a huge portal appeared out of nowhere.
A giant armored centipede slowly exited the portal. Standing on top of it looks like a human but has scarlet eyes without any visible pupils, a pair of horns on the head, and huge bat-like wings on the back.
"An Archdemon?" Qin Yu let out a gasp of shock.
The screams of the citizens filled the entire town as more and more demon soldiers exited the portal.
Qin Wei tugged his brother's shirt and made the signs, asking him what was going on.
Grabbing his little brother's shoulders, Qin Yu forced out a smile, "Nothing. Just some idiots trying to cause a bit of trouble. How about this? I will go outside and solve it while you go with Uncle Shi?" He gestured with a meaningful nod to the Bishop, who also felt the commotion on the outside and became worried.
As Qin Yu nodded in understanding, the ten-year-old handed over his brother to the former and left the building in a flash.
The Bishop hurriedly spoke to the 10-year-old, grabbing his arm, "Young Master Qin, follow me to the crypt."
Qin Wei might not sense what was going on, but he wasn't a fool either. He could feel that this tiny trouble was far more troublesome.
Unfortunately, he cannot talk, and the Bishop doesn't understand him either. Hence, he was only left with the option to quietly follow him in obedience.
As they went down to the crypt, Bishop Eric asked him to hide there until he returned with the guards to safely escort him to the castle.
Poor Qin Wei was left alone in the crypt filled with tombs, coffins, sarcophagi, and other burial structures.
He wasn't scared of staying alone amidst the dead bodies. He was rather curious.
To pass his time, as he looked around to check the names of the buried heroes, one of those structures captured his attention.
It was a small tomb built in a corner, made of stone. While its size is of no significance, the dead body that was sleeping in the tomb belongs to the Qin clan.
This is what attracted Qin Wei's attention. After all, they have a family grave built behind the castle.
Then, why was this man, who could be considered his relative was sleeping here? And why is it full of dust as if no one came here to pay their respects?
"Was he, perhaps, exiled from the family?" The ten-year-old wondered.
He went near the tomb and started cleaning the stone slab with his handkerchief. It's not just out of gratitude or something. Qin Wei felt pity for the relative.
At first, he was cleaning it casually without much thought, hoping that the Bishop would return as quickly as possible.
But, as time passed, he saw some mysterious marking drawn on the stone slab and his curiosity increased.
For the following 15 minutes, the ten-year-old diligently cleaned up the stone slab until he saw the full picture.
"What is this creature?" thought the kid as he took a closer look.
Obviously, there was no reception in the Divinian Hall, but then again, it was only the flashlight he needed.
As the light fell on the image, Qin Wei saw the image of a creature with scales like a dragon, the body of a dinosaur, feathers like a bird, and vertical slit pupils like a snake.
Curious Qin Wei caressed the engraved 3D life-like image of the creature.
Just as his hand touched its teeth, sharp pain passed through his body. Cuts appeared on his fingers and he started bleeding all of a sudden.
"Ahhh" He cried in pain and retracted his hand, smearing the blood onto the image.
In an instant, the drops of his blood disappeared and the image started glowing brightly in dim-lit surroundings, scaring the hell out of Qin Wei.
He no longer worried about the wounds, but worried more for his life.
Qin Wei started running away from the tomb.
As if the entire universe wanted to stop him from leaving, the whole building started shaking out of nowhere. Before he even made it halfway to the exit, the ceiling above the crypt collapsed and the whole building turned into ruins.
At once, Qin Wei was crushed under the rubble and everything went dark for him.
*Ding! A potential host is found. Proceeding with the merge.
Several weeks later;
"Ugh…"
Qin Wei opened his eyes slowly while inwardly groaning in discomfort.
His eyes fell on the white ceiling with a fan. It is usually uncommon to see ceiling fans these days. Hence, the boy was surprised.
"I'm alive?" Qin Wei slowly raised his heavily-feeling upper body and sat on his butt. He looked around. It was a small room with nothing but a bed below him and a wardrobe in the corner. "Where am I?" He wondered.
The scene of the glowing tomb, followed by the collapse of the ceiling came to his mind and he shuddered at once.
He wanted to step down and go out of the room to see who it was that saved him, but it was at that moment, that the sound of a bell rang in his ears, startling him.
Something like a holographic screen suddenly made its appearance, followed by a robotic voice in his head.
*Ding! Welcome back, host. Would you like to go through the tutorial?
"Ahhhh"
A high-pitched pitched powerful roar of a beast escaped from his throat instead of a scream, shaking the wall of the house.