Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert

Chapter 66

Zeon left his house.

He had to walk down a whopping eighteen floors, but it was no problem for Zeon.

The streets were bustling with people, just as he had seen from home.

The city, which seemed to be asleep during the day, seemed to awaken as night fell.

On streets where there was not a single ant in sight, stalls were laid out and a market opened.

Some sold food, while others sold meat of unknown origin.

Among them were those selling advanced products hard to find in the slums. It was clear that everything was pilfered from Neo Seoul.

In the dim alleys, there were also those trading what appeared to be drugs. Zeon took in all of these sights.

Nothing had changed from eight years ago.

The only thing that seemed to have changed was Zeon himself.

When Zeon left the slums, he was young and powerless. But now, the biggest difference was that he had the power to protect himself.

The people in the slums glanced at Zeon.

They felt a sense of alienation from Zeon’s aura, which was completely different from theirs.

Instinctively, they recognized that Zeon belonged to a different class and were cautious of him.

Zeon noticed those people’s stares, but he didn’t care.

He had received similar looks wherever he went.

Zeon was an outsider.

He was not welcome wherever he went.

It was a little disappointing not to be welcomed even in his hometown slums, but it wasn’t enough to bother him greatly.

As he walked for a while, a delicious smell wafted from somewhere.

It was a scent he had never smelled in the desert or in any other colony.

Zeon walked towards the source of the smell.

At the place he arrived, people had laid out stalls, selling food.

Zeon took a seat at one of the stalls.

The reason he chose that stall among the many was simple.

It was because the most delicious smell was coming from there.

An old man was grilling meat with his back turned.

The old man turned around, perhaps sensing a customer had arrived.

His face was impressive with deep wrinkles, a beard, and a pair of glasses with cracks on one side, making it impossible to guess his age.

The old man spoke to Zeon.

“Here for a meal?”

“…”

Zeon didn’t answer, but stared intently at the old man.

Somewhere, the old man’s face seemed familiar to him.

After a moment, Zeon remembered the old man’s identity.

“Are you perhaps… old man Klexi?”

“You know me?”

The old man frowned slightly, looking at Zeon.

Hardly anyone on this street knew his real name. So it was unexpected for a stranger to call him by it for the first time today.

Naturally, he had to be cautious.

“Who the hell are you to know my name?”

“I thought it was strange since you were missing in the Mana Stone Mine, but it looks like you were doing business here.”

“I haven’t told you my name yet.”

Behind his glasses, old man Klexi’s eyes sharpened.

His gaze was so sharp that it was hard to believe he was just an old man selling food on a shabby stall.

Zeon chuckled and said.

“Your appearance seems the same, but it looks like your memory has deteriorated. Don’t you recognize me?”

“Come to think of it, your face does look familiar.”

Old man Klexi furrowed his brow as he searched through his memories.

After a while of effort, Klexi finally managed to remember Zeon.

“Mana Stone Mine? Now that I think about it, you’re that kid from back then.”

“I guess you still remember.”

“You were quite remarkable. Weren’t you the kid with a Mana Stone, who disappeared after just one day in the mine? I thought you were done for. So, you’ve been alive all this time. What happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m asking how you’ve been all this time.”

Klexi’s eyes were glimmering with curiosity.

Zeon smirked and replied.

“I managed somehow.”

“I’m asking how you managed.”

“Why does that matter? What’s important is that I’ve managed to survive and meet you again, old man.”

“Huh! You’ve become quite sly. You were naive back then.”

“I’ve paid a lot of tuition fees. Thanks to that, I’ve learned a lot.”

“Enough. If you don’t want to talk, then don’t. Who cares anyway?”

Klexi’s expression turned sour. But Zeon remained unfazed.

Zeon knew well how sinister and dangerous old man Klexi could be.

He was an old man who had spent his whole life in the rough Mana Stone Mine. Underestimating an old man who had dealt with rough miners and Awakened all his life would be a big mistake.

“I’m hungry. Please give me something to eat.”

“Do you have money?”

“I have enough to pay for the food.”

“Oh, really?”

Old man Klexi served the grilled meat on a plate.

Zeon picked up his chopsticks and said.

“Thank you for the food.”

It was the first meal he had eaten since entering Neo Seoul.

Zeon put a piece of the unknown meat into his mouth.

The meat gently melted in his mouth.

He didn’t know how it was seasoned, but the taste exploded in his mouth.

Zeon thought that food was a dividing line of human civilization.

Where civilization advanced, so did the food, but in backward places, the food couldn’t evolve beyond primitive levels.

Most of the colonies Zeon had visited so far hadn’t progressed beyond medieval civilization.

They were too busy surviving the threat of monsters to even think about advancing civilization.

In that sense, Neo Seoul was special.

Because even in a slum like this, one could eat such delicious food.

Zeon savored each bite of the meat.

Watching him for a moment, old man Klexi pulled out a bottle of alcohol.

“Would you like to drink some alcohol too?”

“No, thank you.”

“Why not?”

“It just doesn’t fit my taste.”

“Heh heh! You might have grown taller, but you still have the palate of a child. A true adult should know how to have a drink now and then.”

“I’m good. If alcohol is the standard for being an adult, then I’d rather not be one.”

“You’ve become quite clever. What on earth have you been through?”

Klexi scrutinized Zeon’s entire being as if dissecting him. But merely looking at him revealed nothing.

Zeon truly enjoyed the meat.

He enjoyed it so much that even old man Klexi, the one who made it, wanted to taste it.

“When did you come to the slum?”

“I arrived here this afternoon.”

“Do you have a place to stay?”

“Fortunately, my old house is still standing.”

“Is that so? That’s quite surprising. It’s against the nature of this place to have any empty houses.”

“I guess I was lucky.”

“I wish some of that luck would rub off on me.”

“Why? Something bad happen to you?”

“It’s not necessarily that you need bad things to happen to need luck. It’s just that as you get older, you start hoping for luck. To live longer, to earn more money.”

“You really want to live longer after living this long?”

At Zeon’s words, old man Klexi burst into a wide smile, revealing a few of his remaining teeth.

“Ah, my friend! The older you get, the more you want to live longer. If you could, you’d even make a deal with a dragon to gain immortality. That’s the desire of the human heart.”

“Do dragons really grant immortality?”

“How would I know? They say if you drink their blood, you’ll live forever. That’s why those on the other side of that wall are so obsessed with it.”

Old man Klexi’s gaze drifted toward the barrier visible in the distance.

It was the barrier dividing Neo Seoul from the slum.

With just that one barrier, citizens and slum dwellers were separated.

Those inside enjoyed all the benefits of civilization, while those outside faced various dangers just to survive each day.

It all came down to that one barrier.

That’s why some called it the Wall of Despair.

For ordinary people, it was an insurmountable wall no matter how hard they worked.

Only a select few had the extremely rare chance of crossing that barrier.

Zeon asked.

“Do they also seek the blood of dragons?”

“Who wouldn’t? Heh heh!”

“Tsk!”

Zeon clicked his tongue.

Dragons were also living beings.

The idea that the blood of a mere creature could grant immortality was laughable in itself.

Old man Klexi’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“That robe looks quite nice. Where did you get it?”

“I just happened to come across it.”

“Happened to?”

“Yes!”

“Do you expect me to believe that?”

“Didn’t I say? I have quite good luck.”

“Hmm!”

“I should be going now. Thank you for the meal. How much is it?”

“Never mind. Since we haven’t met in a long time, I’ll give it to you for free today.”

“That’s fine with me. Is this enough?”

Zeon took out money from his pocket and placed it on the table.

For a moment, an expression of disbelief crossed old man Klexi’s face.

The amount Zeon put down was exactly ten Sols.

It was the same amount Zeon had given to old man Klexi in the Mana Stone Mine.

Having put down ten Sols, Zeon stood up without hesitation.

“You?”

“I’ve settled the score exactly, so there won’t be any complaints later.”

Zeon left with a smile.

Old man Klexi stared blankly at Zeon’s back as he walked away.

It felt like he was hit on the head with a sledgehammer.

It had been a long time since he felt that way.

“So, you haven’t forgotten that day? You’re tougher than I thought.”

A smile crept onto his lips.

Old man Klexi stepped away from the stall and spoke.

“I think it’s time to call it a day. Fold up the stall.”

“Yes!”

The burly merchants who were selling next to him immediately approached.

They folded up old man Klexi’s stall and followed behind him. As they did, people on the street made way for them.

Old man Klexi said quietly.

“Keep an eye on that guy.”

“Is he worth it?”

“He is.”

The wrinkles on old man Klexi’s face grew deeper.

But this time, it was a smile.

“He’s the one who disappeared after going into the Mana Stone Mine. Everyone thought he was dead. But he came back alive. That alone is enough to make him worth it.”

The Mana Stone Mine was like a maze.

If you took the wrong path, you’d lose your sense of direction and starve to death.

Even in such cases, the bodies would be found.

But Zeon’s body was never found. It was puzzling at first, but it was soon forgotten.

At that time, Zeon was just an insignificant boy, and he wasn’t idle enough to care about the death of such a boy.

But now, the situation had changed.

The boy whom everyone thought was dead had returned safely. And it had been a whole eight years.

Old man Klexi was incredibly curious about what had happened in those eight years. However, he knew it was impossible to find out.

Events that occurred outside Neo Seoul and Mana Stone Mine were beyond his ability to know.

He couldn’t discern what happened in the desert. But he had a knack for finding out what happened in the slums as if reading his own palm.

“He has definitely Awakened. Find out everything about his skills, why he returned to Neo Seoul, leave nothing out.”

“Yes, understood.”

The merchant disappeared along with his response.

Old man Klexi looked at his palm.

In his hand lay the ten Sols that Zeon had left behind.

“Heh! A fascinating fellow has rolled into town.”

* * *

Zeon murmured to himself.

“He’s not an ordinary old man after all”

The covert glances felt the moment he sat at old man Klexi’s stall.

It seemed like the entire market was paying attention to Zeon.

It was clear that they were followers of old man Klexi.

Most of them were ordinary people, but some definitely gave off a special vibe.

Zeon knew that only Awakened individuals could give off such vibes.

Having Awakeneds under his command meant that old man Klexi was quite the large figure.

Zeon couldn’t fathom why such a figure would be selling food at the market.

Interesting things were happening right from the first day he entered Neo Seoul.

“How intriguing!”