As time went by, All I could think about was how my life is going to change. There are so many unanswered questions, everything I've learned about hunting and slaying titans is starting to make little sense now. The phenomenon of the titan’s heart shrinking, the power gained from consuming the hearts of titans, the very existence of the titans themselves… What’s behind their existence and why’re they here? Many have tried to uncover the truth behind them, but little information has still yet to be uncovered.

If I'm to figure out what’s happened to me, I might have to go and find out the truth about the titans and how they came to be. In any case, this has become very troublesome for me, now I’m starting to regret hunting down the frostborn. He sighs… well, it’s too late for that now, but the best thing to do at the moment would be to focus on assimilating the rest of the frostborn’s power

Usually, after consuming the heart of a titan, its power usually starts forcing the body to undergo a change in order to become strong enough to contain that power. But it doesn’t end there, after the body has been fully adapted to handle all that power, the titan heart’s power needs to fully assimilate into the body. Once the process is complete, the hunter can then freely use a titan's unique ability at will.

Now that my body has adapted to the frostborns’ power, it needs time to assimilate into my body. Aside from the frostborns’ ability, there were six others, along with one that I had used the most. That titan ability was called Iron Will. After Slaying the iron lotus titan known as the Iron Fortress and consuming its heart, the iron will become my most valuable ability. It granted my body incredible strength and durability, there were many times that I could’ve lost my life if it weren’t for that ability 

After I had turned seventy-three, my titan-gained abilities started to fade. My body just couldn’t handle all that power anymore until eventually… I lost the power to use them all completely. The only thing I had left was my strengthened body. It wasn’t all that bad though, even in my old body, I could still hunt and fight with the best of them. But now that I'm young again, I’m certain I'll be able to use my powers again, I just know it. It’s a shame that I can’t test them out yet. Assimilation of titan energy tends to disrupt other titan-gained abilities, so I'll have to wait until the frostborns’ power has settled into my body.

………….……..

Sometime later, I heard someone walk into the house, and I could hear that the guest was quickly greeted by Chiyo. It was hard to hear what they were saying from here, but after a few moments, I could hear the shuffling of footsteps going up the stairs and stopping at my door. Chiyo was the first to come in. She brought in a bowl of food and sat it on the table near my bedside. Then an old man walked in, something seemed off about him. Sure he looked human, but everything about him seemed almost... robotic? It was as if he wasn’t a real person. Then I saw the number ninety-five tattooed on his neck. I immediately knew what he was, this man was a homunculus.

He spoke and said “ Chiyo, would you leave us for a moment? I would like to talk to this young man in private. I’ll come down for dinner after I’ve had a talk with him”

Chiyo walked out saying “Don’t talk for too long grandfather, or else your dinner will get cold” 

she closed the door behind her

The homunculus sat down in a chair and said “ Glad to see that you’re awake, It’s also good to see that your injuries have almost been healed. You were already half dead by the time I found you.” He rubs the back of his neck “Fortunately I managed to pull out that blasted icicle out of you, and I guess it was fortunate your body was still in its transformative state as well, or else you really could've died.”

I couldn’t help but laugh nervously when he said that “yeah, well I never expected to actually die during the hunt.” 

I lied, I was already half expecting to die when I took on the hunt for the frostborn. But he doesn’t need to know that

Then I asked, “ But how did you know what was happening to my body at the time?”

He sighed “Well you see, I am a homunculus, and after all, even a 1st generation like myself would have noticed something like that. But, I guess proper introductions are in order. My name is Marcus Cainwood, and the healer of this village, and Chiyo's grandfather”

“I am Kenzo, of the Iron-Tusk tribe. It’s a pleasure to meet you, and thank you for saving my life”

Marcus chuckled a bit and said “No thanks necessary, I did only what was right, and what kind of healer would I be if I let someone die. It would be disgraceful”

I was about to say something when I felt a powerful presence nearby. It was so overwhelming that it even started having effects on my assimilation process.

“What is that?”

Marcus stood up “ so you can sense it? interesting”

Confused, I said “ sense what?”

Marcus stroked his beard and said “I’ll tell you later, but for right now it would be best that you rest. We’re going to have a long day tomorrow” as he walked away he said “ oh, and by the way, good job on taking down that frostborn” then he left

I was stunned. There are quite a few titans roaming the north but…. To think he knew that I had slain the frostborn. I know that he is a homunculus, but still… what on earth is he?