Chapter 11: Plans
Most of the previously confusing parts were now clearer, and it also allowed Morden to have a full view of his target and also realize another point.
"It seems the Mission has been telling me all along," Morden said while gently nodding.
"End the Mountain Lord’s reign of terror,"
"Which means I don’t just have to defeat him; I need to uncover the secrets behind that incident."
"But there are still a lot of questions that remain unanswered."
"How does he control that stuff, why is he even doing that stuff and is there a sort of trigger or requirements for the family he chooses?" Morden wondered.
Since he couldn’t get answers to all those himself, Morden raised his head to look at the girl that wasn’t too far away and then proceeded to ask a question.
"When you came to me previously but then suddenly ran off in the middle of the conversation, why are you the only one that reacted differently, every other person looked excited," Morden asked.
His question wasn’t baseless, since he could remember the villagers’ curious and excited gaze when they saw him, but this girl had hope in her eyes.
"I can’t say why they are excited, but I think it might be because they think you would be the one getting killed since you would have been the only one outside."
Morden immediately froze upon hearing those words as his heart sank like he was drenched in cold water.
"How could they be so... so heartless," he muttered under his breath.
Though she couldn’t hear his own words, from the faint details of his expression, the girl had an idea what Morden had just said, and she immediately raised her voice in rebuttal.
"Can you blame them? You absolutely can’t; you can’t blame any single one of them."
"Do you know how it feels to hear the screams of your friends or neighbors without daring to move?"
"Do you know how it feels to get out in the morning to see a family you shared a meal with last night completely dead?"
"So I ask again, Can you blame them for being happy an outsider would die instead?"
While she vented, Morden said nothing, nor did he attempt to; he just kept his mouth shut, stared at her, and listened. When she finally got to the end, Morden dropped his head and released a sigh.
"What’s your name?" he asked in a low voice.
The girl’s face couldn’t help but scrunch up into a frown upon hearing that question, but she ended up responding eventually.
"My name is Layla," she said.
"Alright, Layla, you still haven’t responded to my other question, why did you suddenly run off?" he asked again.
Hearing Morden ask the question again, Layla seemed hesitant to speak, but after ruminating for a bit, she finally spoke up.
"Because I felt a chill, it was the same chill I felt when the ghost was about to appear the last time," she finally answered.
But despite answering his question, Layla still looked like she had other things to add, but she remained hesitant.
Morden also noticed that reaction, but he decided not to press further and leave her be.
’She would spill it if she wanted to,’ he thought.
Having no more questions to ask Layla, Morden stood up and took in his surroundings; he wanted to clear his head a little so he could think better.
While he stood up to leave, Morden paused in between his steps and looked back at Layla, who was still sitting there lost in her thoughts.
"And Layla," he said, attracting her attention.
"I know how it feels."
After dropping those words, he turned back and continued on his path towards the deeper end.
After taking a few steps deeper into the cave, Morden ultimately stopped. He hadn’t forgotten why he chose to stay close to the entrance previously.
"Now, what do I do?" he said with a small sigh.
He had gotten quite a bit of information from Layla, and Morden felt it was enough to make a rough plan, and that was exactly what he was about to do.
"Though I don’t know why the Mountain Lord is killing his own people, I know it can be something small. "
"He must be performing some kind of weird evil ritual,"
He wasn’t too new to situations like this from the manga of certain demonic Cultivation books he had read in his past life, but he hadn’t expected this world to have things like that too.
"Isn’t it supposed to be about genes and vital energy, why are things like that here?"
"And also, do I even have a way of fighting that Red Ghost?" he thought.
He had noticed the speed at which that thing moves, and from his conclusion that it could possess others, Morden knew it would probably be ethereal.
"Punches and kicks probably won’t work,"
"And the gigantic Mountain Lord shouldn’t also be forgotten,"
"I have a vague analysis of my opponent, and now it’s time for me to think about mine."
He couldn’t doubt the fact that he had gotten so much stronger since he had arrived here, but that was only his physical stats. He still hadn’t gotten a hang of the ability he got from the gene yet.
From what he had read and slightly tested about ’Boost,’ it seemed like a really simple ability, but after a bit more thinking and in combination with his Innate ability it was bound to become really terrifying.
Thinking about his ability, Morden finally remembered the reward he got after finishing the temporary mission, so he immediately decided to pull up the inventory.
[In Inventory: Uncommon-grade Genetic Weapon]
He saw the uncommon-grade genetic weapon and willed its summon.
A mildly bright light suddenly flashed in the cave, and the next instant, a sword appeared in front of him.
The sword looked mostly ordinary, except for the red wavy marks that were all over the blade and the hilt.
The marks pulsed slightly for a bit before quieting down.
[Uncommon-grade Ghost Piercing Sword]
Reading the name of the sword, a smile couldn’t help but subconsciously form on Morden’s face as he realized something.
"The Omnisphere seems to be playing some sort of game."