Chapter 8 - Little Girl Nana

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Although Leon had started to cultivate, the darkness energy around him quickly ran out and the speed of cultivation came to a standstill.

He groaned as he tried to run the Cultivation Manual once again, but it was of no use.

'This place is of no use anymore. If I didn't have these crystals with me, then I really would have to just sit down in agony.'

His gaze turned to the red crystal shining within his palm. As he observed it closely, he could feel the dense evil energy within it. If someone who is not practicing the 'Devil King's Cultivation Manual held it, he would start to attract the bad spirits around him, as his health would soon degrade resulting in that person ultimately dying a horrible death.

Leon thought to himself about gifting a beautiful ornament made with a crystal to someone he hated. It would become the most invisible of attacks since the curse will go around, and ultimately it would fall back into his hands.

He clasped his palms as he tried to run the Cultivation Manual again. A stream of darkness energy began to be absorbed through his skin as it started to move according to the Manual and the resulting pure Qi accumulated within his dantian.

'Ohhhh~ this feeling.. it's just too fuckin addictive!' Leon thought in his mind.

Suddenly, the speed of the operation of the Cultivation Manual increased tremendously as a large amount of darkness energy started to be absorbed within Leon's body. His hand holding the crystal swelled somewhat, as a thick red aura enveloped his whole body.

'Uhhh.. i-it's very hard to control..' Leon groaned in his mind as he tried to bear the sudden burden on his body.

When he cultivated in his previous world, the cultivation process never brought any pain or burden to the body. It instead was a refreshing activity and cleansed the body and mind to its most efficient state.

This time though, there was no such thing as refreshing or cleansing. The pain within his body was immense, and the use of the crystal increased that pain and burden to an extreme limit. He was having a very hard time controlling himself.

If there were any forces of Light around the area, they would definitely be able to sense the overwhelming amount of evil energy in the area and would definitely get curious. Fortunately, though, Leon didn't need to worry, since this place was quite far away from the main city.

As Leon continued to cultivate like a madman, a sudden gasp and shout brought him out of his state of meditation and halted the cultivation.

"Ah! M-Monster!!" A childish-sounding feminine voice came from his back.

Upon coming out of the cultivation state, Leon became breathless and tried to regain his breath somehow.

As he turned to look behind him, he found a little girl staring at him warily.

'What is a child so small doing in a place like this? It's in the middle of the night right now..' Leon mused to himself, as he felt his swollen arm recovering.

As he stared at the child, he couldn't help but observe her features closely.

She had big blue eyes and wavy blue hair. Her height was somewhat small, which made her look very adorable. A plain brown cloth covered her little body as she trembled & cowered in fear. She was like a fairy descending from heaven having been trapped in the mortal world.

Leon always had a soft spot for kids and put on a harmless-looking smile as he spoke,

"H-Hey there. Nice evening, right? Are you lost somehow?" Leon tried to probe the young child as he kept sitting in the meditative position.

As the young girl saw Leon not moving or attacking her, the unease within her diminished a bit as she spoke with a fearful voice,

"This.. this is my place of hiding.. what are you doing here?" The girl spoke as she prepared to run if needed.

Looking at the child acting like that, a shallow laugh came from within Leon, making the girl flinch back.

"Umm, I think you misunderstood me, little lady. I was just resting here for a little while. I didn't know that you play here, so forgive me this time, okay?" Leon spoke as he scratched his face in amusement.

"Then, then what about the red thingy around you before? A-Are you some ghost?! Big sis warned me against those.." The little girl tried to probe Leon as she doubted his intentions.

"No no, that.. was just a trick! I was preparing a secret magic trick for tomorrow and that was one of my newest tricks! Did you like it?" Leon tried to avoid the situation of confrontation and decided to lie about himself.

"R-Really? Then prove it!" The young girl became a bit more courageous as she stepped forward and pointed her finger at him.

Groaning to himself, Leon put the Essence Crystal back into his System Inventory. He thought to himself about how to convince the girl and took one of the stones beside him in his hands.

He showed the stone to the young girl and spoke,

"Look here! I will begin my magic trick now. Do you see this stone I have? I will make it disappear in a moment!" Leon tried to show a false act as he exaggerated his actions and quietly asked the System to store the stone within the Inventory.

Suddenly, the stone disappeared from Leon's hands, and the young girl exclaimed as she quickly rushed to inspect his hands and the area around him.

"I-It's really gone! How did you do it? Are you really a famous magician?" The little girl was now within his arm's reach as she spoke to him with a delighted expression.

Leon mused to himself, as he thought that his cultivation session for that night would end prematurely.

He nodded toward the young girl and spoke,

"But, you didn't tell me your name yet, young lady. My name is.. Leon. Do you live around here?"

The young girl shook her head in refusal as she brought her finger to her lips as she motioned Leon to come towards her.

Then, she quietly spoke within his ears,

"Me? Hehehe, I am Nana. You know, I am not supposed to tell anyone, but I am a Noble! My mother is the famous Duchess!" The little girl beamed in happiness as she proudly stuck out her flat chest.

Leon face palmed himself as he groaned in frustration.

'My first time out and I am already entangled with the nobility! I wonder what I should do?' Leon thought to himself as he looked at Nana.

Nana then froze for a second, before she clasped her mouth and spoke to Leon with her muffled voice,

"Oh no~. I did it again.. y-you would not tell anyone, right? Big Sister will scold me for sure.." Nana looked at him with pleading eyes.

Unable to be rude to the child, Leon nodded and spoke,

"Ok Ok. I will speak to no one about it, alright."

Upon getting his promise, Nana giggled in delight as she started to look around the place while humming to herself in delight.

Leon became a little confused by her actions and spoke to her with a puzzled expression,

"Well.. was there a reason why you came here so late at night? It's very dangerous here at night for someone as young as you."

Nana turned back at him with a few flowers in her hands, as she brought them near Leon and said,

"I come here every day to bring my Sister these flowers! She is very sick nowadays and does not even get up from bed..." Upon speaking till there, a sad look came upon the young girl as she looked down sorrowfully.

Then, as if she suddenly had an amazing idea, she spoke to Leon excitedly,

"You are a big magician, right? Then use your magic and make my Big Sister healthy again!" Nana walked closer to Leon until there was just a little distance left between them.

Leon looked at her in amusement, as he decided to tease the young girl for a bit.

"Oh? But, why should I? I really don't feel like going anywhere~~" Leon acted like a rouge as he wanted to see Nana's reaction.

Unfortunately, the reaction wasn't what he thought it would be.

The young girl's big blue eyes became teary in an instant, as she spoke while holding back her tears.

"Then!.. then I will.. I.. UWAAAHHHHH!!" Nana was unable to complete her sentence, as she started to bawl loudly.

Leon panicked as he tried to somehow calm the young child. But, he wasn't an expert at this and absolutely failed in his attempts.

In the end, he sighed to himself as he put his palm above her hair and softly spoke,

"Alright alright. I will go. Let's meet your Sister & see what I can do. But, I must warn you, the magic fails sometimes too. If I cannot heal her, then you cannot blame me, okay?"

Nana quickly wiped her eyes as she quietly nodded multiple times.

Then, to his shock and surprise, she held his hand and started to drag him out of the forest.

Leon became flustered as he tried to make the girl regain her senses.

"Wait! Hold on. We are going right now?"

But, the young girl kept dragging him quietly, as if her mind was fully occupied with the thought of rescuing her sister as soon as possible.

Leon looked up at the moon shining overhead, as he wondered how he would be able to explain his absence from his room to his family. He had only planned to go out for a while, but this short trip suddenly turned into an excursion instead.

'Let's hope that Mother won't worry too much..' Leon thought in his mind as the two soon approached the main City.

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A/N: Thanks for the love so far. See you all soon!