It has been almost a week, and I have been busy doing the many things I had previously mentioned. Alongside that, I've been spending more time with Chris, Eric, and Erika.
Of course, Erika is still the closest to me, and she comes to my house almost every single day to stay in here, we have practically become her second family at this point.
Chris and Eric were slowly growing closer to me and Erika once more. We saw them every one or two days, sometimes we spent entire days practicing magic and seeing the limits of our Spirits. I have also awakened Qi in Chris and Eric, and I have taught them the same thing as my father, the Qi Breathing Technique.
They're still having some issues with it, as they cannot keep concentration as much as my father can due to his own experiences, calm demeanor, and his own mature nature, and as these are children, they have problems with maintaining their attention in what they're doing.
For now they just have to practice this and create a foundation . There will be techniques I will teach them later on along the line. And as of Erika, who is more advanced than them as she had learned various Unarmed Fighting Techniques, I had taught her the Mana Cultivation Technique, which uses similar principles than the Qi Breathing Technique, but with Mana.
It usually not recommended to do for younglings as Chris and Eric, but Erika has no other energy to work with at the moment, so she's using this to strengthen the power of her magic.
She cannot nourish her physical body though, so this mana is mostly used to do something else.
Indeed, I had secretly taught her about Aether and also about Mana. I told her that she had a "talent" for it, just not to tell her that I know she has a doll body without Qi and used my abilities to help her "see" her own soul.
So what she is doing now is making her soul flow from her Spirit Orb all the way into her Soul, nourishing it, this is what's called Soul Cultivation, and she's strengthening both her Mana and Aether.
She's unique. Children of her age wouldn't be able to do this, even I have difficulties doing this every night, but she was doing it with utmost ease.
Perhaps the complete lack of a true body had made it incredibly easy for her to use Mana to nourish her Soul, often people without experience would feel pain in their soul when they did this, but Erika felt no pain at all.
Because she lacks a flesh body, she'll have to skip in improving into that aspect and go directly into Soul Cultivation! It will take a while for her to showcase her true talents, but I am expecting great things for her.
And aside from all of this, I've been hunting around what I can find.
The First Layer had turned into a deserted forest, not even wild wolves appear in the night, but I've been keeping myself around this place for the moment, the EXP I've gained over almost a week seems almost like nothing, and the necessity for more Spirit Orbs have made me push myself to the second layer of this very big forest.
This is the layer where my father and the other hunters were attacked by the mysterious demon, whose power not only almost killed half the group, but it was even able to steal the giant boar they just hunted with all their effort.
To be strong enough to carry a five-meter-big Giant Wild Boar like that… that demon must surely be a Boss-Class One at the very least.
I suspect it might be a Club-Wielding Red Demon, and if its red-skinned, it might even be able to wield fire magic.
Tonight, I've decided to go in the second layer and explore with Eleanora. Chris and Eric are not ready yet, but Erika could come if she practices more with her Dolls, and manages a way to use Martial Arts with them too, perhaps even infusing them with Aether to strengthen them…
But for now, there are other things I want to do.
Since that incident, I've gained some sort of status within the village.
People look at me with surprise, some even point their fingers at me and say "the savior child!".
And other times, people who have complications ask me to help them in exchange for compensation.
Due to this, I've begun to go to the village alone sometimes, and the people flock around me naturally.
…Of course, this is also an excellent way to gain more proficiency in First Aids and Savior Skills! I also get paid with food and other things, even monster pelt or spirit orbs, so I take it all, especially that I've gotten a shortage of these things in the family with my father being bedridden.
By gaining the favor of the people, I could even one day manipulate the masses… but for what purpose? Perhaps I might end up finding one in the future. Of course, for the moment I still stay mostly low-key, just some child with mild healing abilities that the people like, nothing too much.
The guards of the Duchy have kept an eye on me but seem to not find anything suspicious about me. However, I am mostly avoiding the Church Priests, I've heard that they have been trying to find me, thankfully they don't know where I live because my house is very far away from the main village, even though we are still within the walls.
The church of the Holy Spirits is rather corrupt on its own way, I wouldn't really want to get involved with them if possible…
For the moment, I already knew most of the people that always needed help.
An elderly woman approached me.
"Yes? Is there something you need?" I wondered.
"Ah, my left shoulder has been hurting me for so long, and my back too… I've been having such a hard time walking lately…" she sighed.